"Are you having an allergic reaction?"

Looking at the man before him, Du Heng couldn’t help but voice his suspicion. However, he soon realized something was amiss.

He had seen allergic reactions before—either isolated, small, bead-like rashes or widespread redness.

The lesions on the man’s body could no longer be called small beads; they were large red bumps. Some had already begun to ulcerate slightly, developing into sores.

Moreover, some of these red bumps were isolated, while others were connected in lines. The connected ones, in particular, resembled peeled earthworms, vividly red and raised.

Realizing something was amiss, Du Heng immediately withdrew the hand he had extended for pulse diagnosis, frowning at the man. "What happened?"

The man’s expression twitched intermittently, and he was clearly making an effort to control himself, looking to be in great discomfort.

What was he suppressing? Du Heng wondered. Itchiness? Pain?

Seeing the man’s obvious discomfort, Du Heng felt a surge of anxiety.

Before the man could speak, Du Heng was already wondering, Could this be some kind of contagious skin disease?

The man, seemingly lost in his discomfort, inhaled sharply before speaking, "I don’t know. It just started happening a few days ago."

"Didn’t you go to get it checked before?"

"SIGH... At first, there weren’t many of these things. They were a bit itchy, but scratching seemed to help, so I didn’t see a doctor. A few days ago, it became unbearably itchy. I was passing by here and bought some Piyanping ointment. After applying it, the itching did subside for a day or two."

The man’s shoulders twitched, and he kept shifting uncomfortably on the stool, his expression pained. "But starting this morning, they suddenly multiplied, and these red bumps grew more numerous, even merging together. The itching is unbearable, and I don’t dare scratch. If I scratch, they break open, and then it’s both painful and even itchier. Doctor, please stop asking questions and hurry up with a solution! I can’t stand this anymore."

The man, clearly in agony, urged him on, but Du Heng remained composed, frowning as he continued his inquiry, "Do you have them all over your body right now?"

"Yes, all over, and they’re all terribly itchy. So itchy I don’t know what to do," the man said, his body swaying slightly. Even his legs were shifting restlessly.

He seems to be using the friction from his clothes to relieve the itching all over his body, Du Heng surmised.

"You said some have broken open. Let me see what those look like."

"Doctor, can’t you figure something out first? I really can’t stand this itching any longer."

Du Heng said sternly, "This is a medical consultation, not a joke. How can I prescribe medication if I don’t understand your specific condition? What if I use the wrong medicine and make you feel even worse? Just endure it for a moment. Once I have a clear understanding, I will definitely treat you. Come on, show me where they’ve broken open. I need to see if there’s any pus or anything similar."

The man had no choice but to comply. He reluctantly straightened up and lifted his shirt, revealing his abdomen.

Du Heng examined them closely. The broken areas he mentioned were indeed a tender red, likely from being scratched due to the intense itching.

However, Du Heng was surprised by the sheer number of red bumps on the man’s waist and abdomen. There were far more there than on the back of his hands, his neck, or his face, and they were also larger.

"Have you been to places like bath centers or swimming pools where people gather recently?"

The man shook his head. "No, I don’t swim, and I don’t like going to bath centers. Even when I bathe, I usually just take a quick shower, and that’s it."

Various terms flashed through Du Heng’s mind. Pityriasis rosea? Erythema multiforme?

Du Heng said to Wei Kaida at his side, "Give me a pair of gloves."

Snapping out of his daze, Wei Kaida quickly stood up, retrieved a packet of disposable gloves from a nearby drawer, and handed it to Du Heng.

Du Heng tore open the packaging, put on the gloves, then asked the man to open his mouth so he could examine his tongue coating. After that, he began the pulse diagnosis.

The further Du Heng delved into the pulse diagnosis, the more surprised he became.

A deep pulse!

According to *Binhu Sphygmology*: A deep pulse in the inch position suggests phlegm congestion or excess fluid in the chest. A deep pulse at the barrier position indicates internal cold causing pain and obstruction. And a deep pulse at the foot position can point to diarrhea from accumulated dampness and turbidity, or to kidney deficiency causing lower back pain and weakness in the lower body.

The sunken pulse is fundamentally similar to the deep pulse.

On both hands, at all three positions—cun, guan, and chi—regardless of the pressure applied, the pulse was consistently deep and sunken.

This method of pulse diagnosis, examining six locations on both hands with varying pressure, could reveal issues in twelve distinct areas of the body.

This meant there wasn’t a single healthy part inside this man’s body. Is this situation normal? Definitely not. How could a normal person deteriorate to this extent? Even if it were an illness, there should be varying degrees of severity, a progression. How could his entire internal system be completely out of balance?

Du Heng slowly withdrew his hands and looked again at the man’s external signs. This time, an unsettling thought began to form in his mind.

Widespread red sores externally, and depleted original qi internally... These two signs, taken together, clearly indicated a toxic invasion affecting both the exterior and interior.

Du Heng felt his teeth ache slightly. He now fully understood. This wasn’t any mere skin disease; it was an eruption of toxic sores.

And this poison... it wasn’t one of the commonly known types like mercury, arsenic, or hydrogen chloride.