The Surgeon’s Studio

The radiant light subsided and Zheng Ren saw three books before him.

They were identical to each other.

The System was being lazy. There were no surprises as the silver chests held the same thing.

Zheng Ren did not consider this the short end of the stick. Perhaps if he had a bit more luck, he could have obtained a much better reward.

The three books were skill books that could raise any skill tree to the Graduate rank.

If he were to calculate their value, each of them was worth approximately 1000 skill points.

Zheng Ren was a bit disappointed. He would rather have had 3000 skill points. In addition to the 930 skill points he had saved, he would have been able to reach the general surgery Master rank.

He did some calculations and decided to store the three skill books away for another time.

Zheng Ren was still slightly traumatized by the System’s death threat. He wanted to be equipped for the unforeseeable future.

A backup was necessary.

Much like the venipuncture skill set, if Zheng Ren had not had a few thousand experience points in reserve to purchase intensive training, he would not have been able to save so many patients.

He was not unintelligent. Back when he was in the orphanage, he read the many books donated by kind people from all over the world. After school, he would work multiple odd jobs to earn a living and still managed to get into the country’s top medical school.

When it came to his postgraduate research, any supervisor who was not blind had been willing to take him.

Zheng Ren was gradually picking up on the System’s behavior. Every mission given to him would beget patients of corresponding illnesses that required his attention.

In a way, the System had some minor predictive powers.

Then… Should he take up interventional surgery? Zheng Ren pondered. The thought of putting on a lead apron to have a go at interventional surgery crept into his mind.

It was just a thought. For now, Zheng Ren had yet to turn it into action.

The experience points in the System were precious. 75000 experience points would buy him less than 21 hours of intensive surgical training.

For a completely unfamiliar surgical procedure, 20 hours was good for nothing.

This was different from when the System gave him 20 days worth of intensive training. Back then, there had been some distortion within the System’s time and space, as if the surroundings would crack at any second.

Zheng Ren had a feeling the System was in danger then, which was why he had been given 20 days of intensive training. It was an act of desperation on the System’s part.

Now, Zheng Ren would slowly save up his training time.

His biggest problem now was not improving his surgical skills, but getting some solid rest time. He was already suffering hypoglycemia.

Zheng Ren did not want to end up in a funeral house tomorrow, watching the detestable hospital administrative board deliver an insincere eulogy for him.

Inside the System space, he was able to recover mentally, but his physical body was lagging behind.

There was no new mission from the System but the space seemed to be altering. At some point, Zheng Ren sensed danger approaching and within a heartbeat, returned to the real world.

…

…

“That’s him! That son of a b*tch hit my mother!” A loud cry sounded nearby.

“It’s him! He was the one who trampled me! A doctor, no less! More like a piece of sh*t!” A middle-aged lady pointed at Zheng Ren and spat angrily. The lady who had grabbed at Director Xiao’s neck was back in the hospital with renewed vigor.

She ignored the fact that Zheng Ren had not actually trampled her.

Zheng Ren’s blood sugar was returning to normal. His body was clammy with a film of sweat slowly drying on his back.

Zheng Ren lifted his head and saw a giant figure looming above him. An exposed neck and arms were covered in tattoos of a dragon motif. A heavy chain, thick as a finger, hung on the heavyset man’s neck. There were others with him.

The corridor was filled with anxious patients and families. They carefully gave way to the fierce-looking man.

There were few who dared to stand up to someone like him.

As the rescue work had already ended, the police force tasked to maintain order had left.

Hearing the loud voices, two hospital security guards peeked out from the security room.

“F*ck you!” the heavyset man swore. His eyes were narrowed as rage bubbled in him.

The guards had an amused look on their face. Without a second thought, the security room door was shut.

The loud bang serenaded the tense situation and Zheng Ren’s trepidation.

Zheng Ren felt helpless. Such incidents were all too common in the hospital.

The security guards were contract laborers dressed in security uniforms. If a fight did break out, they would not dare get involved. If someone got hurt, they would be fired without question. The hospital would then provide compensation and apologize to the injured party.

Zheng Ren did not blame the security guards for turning a blind eye. They were just working-class men trying to get by.

Now, how would he deal with this situation?

He guessed he would have to take a beating.

Every day, there were cases of medical personnel being assaulted nationwide. Xiang Ya Second Hospital was the most gutsy hospital when it came to the matter, but what happened in the end? The whole situation was chilling.

Facing this mountain of a man, a thought crossed his mind. If he was injured, would he be able to perform surgery on himself under local anesthesia?

Although he was afraid, he did not show it.

He knew it would not help his case.

He was going to get a beating regardless, so why make the effort to beg for mercy?

Zheng Ren silently got up from the floor. He shook his shoulders and neck.

A few trembling doctors and nurses wanted to defuse the situation but were overwhelmed by the heavyset man’s aura. They were civilized people who had never been in a fight before, and were all bark and no bite.

“Oh? The little man wants to give it a go?” The heavyset man grinned. He clenched his giant fists. From a few feet away, Zheng Ren could hear his knuckles cracking.

Zheng Ren was not ready to fight back. He had no knowledge of close-quarter combat, so what were his chances?

He was only loosening up his muscles so that he could recover faster after the beating.

Silence enveloped the hospital corridor as everyone looked at each other quietly.

“What are you doing?” Xie Yiren burst into the room and ran to Zheng Ren, arms raised to protect him with her body.

A bitter smile formed on Zheng Ren’s face. Xie Yiren’s small and slender figure was nice to look at but it was useless in a fight. One punch would break her bones.

He covered her mouth with his hand and pulled her back so that she was behind him. He had accepted his fate. He could only hope that this little lady did not get involved.

The heavyset man was pleased with the terror he invoked in people. Like a cat that had cornered a mouse, he grinned cruelly at Zheng Ren. “You’re quite a brave one. Wanna fight me?”

Zheng Ren smiled sardonically. It would be a joke to try to talk sense to this man.

This was the difference between the educated and the uneducated.

Zheng Ren tried to recall the self-defense techniques done by the man in the emergency operating theater before.

He realized that he was not capable of replicating them. That man must have been in many fights to be able to move so fluidly.

Luckily, Old Chief Physician Pan had gone to find more hospital beds. With his temper, he would probably have volunteered to join in the fight with Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren was a young man and could take a beating. Old Chief Physician Pan was the opposite; a fracture could mean very bad things.

Zheng Ren hunched his body and guarded Xie Yiren in a corner. His hands were around his ears. The stance was incredibly awkward.

“Young man, this doctor is a lifesaving buddha,” an old man murmured from one of the hospital beds in the emergency department corridor.

His quiet voice traveled through the soundless corridor. Many heard his words.

His symptoms of nitrite poisoning were mild, likely due to reduced food intake typical of the elderly.

After the administration of intravenous methylene blue, the blue tint had faded from his skin and he was on the path to recovery.

“Dad, stop talking,” a 40-year-old man whispered into the old man’s ear while giving the heavyset man a placating smile.

“Coward!” The old man slapped his son across the face in a fit of anger. “Was this how I brought you up?”

This time, the old man’s voice was louder. Two bulging veins appeared on his head.

There was not much strength in him. His voice, though raised, was still soft.

However, the slap was a wakeup call for everyone present. The atmosphere in the hospital corridor was momentarily charged.

The slap had shaken the middle-aged man. “Dad, control your emotions. Watch out for your blood pressure.” If his father lost his temper and suffered a brain aneurysm, there would be even more trouble.

“A drop of water in need should be returned with a spring in deed!” The old man struggled to get up from the bed. “This doctor has spent all his energy saving people and you’re all just going to sit there and watch him get beaten up? Go away! Don’t hold me, I don’t have a son like you!”