Chapter 17: Passerby A, B, C, and D

"A private hospital, huh." Ji Xiang mused.

"No one is supporting the doctors, so multi-site practice is encouraged; this is legal and compliant... but let's not talk about that for now." Professor Mo looked at Ji Xiang with a beaming smile, as if looking at a prospective son-in-law; the joy in his eyes was already overflowing before he even realized it.

"How many cases of surgery with a suturing device have you performed? Normally, no matter how capable you were during your internship, your Attending Teacher would have let you do one or two at most."

Professor Mo said, his tone somewhat strange.

Being able to perform surgery during an internship—this achievement alone is something many people never manage to reach, not to mention that what Ji Xiang claimed he could do was likely different from what others understood.

"I've done a few, and watched many. I don't think it's very difficult," Ji Xiang said vaguely.

"I'll take you to do one today." Professor Mo rubbed his hands together.

Ji Xiang was somewhat puzzled by the attitude Professor Mo and Wang Daxiao had toward him. After all, he was young and not that deep; when he frowned and pondered, Professor Mo caught it in his eyes.

Professor Mo laughed, "Doctor Xiao Ji, let me tell you a joke."

Ji Xiang listened intently.

It wasn't that he had paranoid delusions, but the attitude from Wang Daxiao to Professor Mo toward him was genuinely wrong.

He was only a Pre-service Trainee, and his family hadn't laid any groundwork for him in this regard; there was no reason for them to take a fancy to him at first sight.

Was it simply because he performed surgery well?

Although Ji Xiang knew he had surgical training in the System Space, his technical level... wasn't necessarily very high, but it was definitely not low.

But there is no such thing as love without a cause in this world.

"A nurse in our department wanted to take her mother to see an eye doctor for something like a cataract. She had already contacted the Director of Ophthalmology, but her mother said the level at our hospital was average, and finally decided to go to Elizabeth Eye Hospital."

The word "Elizabeth" had already become a trademark, a synonym for the banner of a certain large private hospital; it was impossible for Ji Xiang not to know it.

The overwhelming advertisements had long since subtly brainwashed everyone.

"The nurse in our department tried to persuade her for a long time, but it was useless. In the end, she accompanied her mother to Elizabeth Eye Hospital to see her eyes, and the doctor on duty was the Director of Ophthalmology from the Second Affiliated Hospital."

"An Expert Number at the Second Affiliated Hospital is 25, hahaha." Professor Mo laughed heartily when he mentioned this, "An Expert Number over there is 600. You tell me about this."

Ji Xiang scratched his head.

"I won't tell you too much. You're still young; after you step into society and see more, you'll understand what's going on," Professor Mo said. "Wang Daxiao and I are performing surgeries at a private hospital, and we're missing a young and strong assistant."

Ji Xiang understood.

If that was the case... he glanced at the System Panel in the top right corner of his field of vision.

This seemed to be a good place to farm Surgical Points, if there really was a large volume of surgeries.

Then again, if the surgical volume was small, it seemed there would be no need to look for a "young and strong" assistant.

Professor Mo had been very blunt; he was just going there to work like an ox or a horse, and at best, he'd get some money.

But money or not wasn't important to Ji Xiang.

He wasn't short on money either.

It was the fact that one surgery could accumulate a portion of Experience Points that was more important.

"Private hospitals are different from public hospitals; you can slack off at our Second Affiliated Hospital." As he spoke, Professor Mo shook his head, a sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth, "There are only so many people doing clinical work, yet they support three to five times as many logistics personnel."

The key is that these people being supported still point fingers every single day.

The funding is low, and the money earned still has to support a bunch of big shots..."

Mo Chenggui became more agitated as he spoke, but as he went on, he immediately realized his emotions were off and cut himself short.

"Let's not talk about this. First, do a surgery with me, and then I'll see how much you've learned. If it's okay, come to my Urology Department for your Standardized Residency Training and do surgeries with me."

"Okay." Ji Xiang readily agreed.

It seemed his luck was really quite good.

Once inside the operating room, Professor Mo wasted no time preparing for the surgery.

Today, he had a Skin Pouch Suturing Device placed beside him; the surgical procedure was different from the last two days.

Ji Xiang didn't ask why; Professor Mo had only told half the story, and Ji Xiang didn't care about these things—what he cared about now were the Surgical Points.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, feel the suturing device first," Professor Mo said. "This thing is truly convenient, and there are quite a few benefits post-surgery. As for the downsides—the biggest downside is that it's expensive."

"Is 1680 really expensive? You haven't seen how much housing prices have risen over the years," the Nurse chimed in. "If you go by the rate of housing price increases, one shot would cost over eight thousand. Here, including the doctor, nurse, and medicine costs, it's less than three thousand. It's quite cheap."

Professor Mo didn't bicker with the Nurse; there were many surgeries today, and he had "wasted" a lot of time on Ji Xiang's test, so he had to hurry to catch up.

He patted the Patient and used that set of standard phrases to comfort him.

"So, don't be nervous." Professor Mo finished speaking with a smile, not forgetting to give the Patient a smile in his busy schedule.

Although it was multi-site practice, Mo Chenggui didn't have much utilitarianism toward the Patient in front of him; it was about the same as at the Second Affiliated Hospital.

"Doctor, I... is there anything I need to pay attention to after the surgery?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Professor Mo asked while preparing the instruments.

"I have a few..." The Patient was clearly very nervous; one could see his mind was a complete blank just by looking at his eyes.

"You mean female friends, right?" Professor Mo saw the Patient and knew he was a rookie, so he joked.

Young people nowadays wouldn't necessarily fail to distinguish between a girlfriend and a female friend; it was likely that his mind was a blank from nervousness.

The Patient nodded vigorously.

"Lie down." Professor Mo smiled, "There's a habit when naming people: in reality, whatever is missing must be supplemented in the name for the Five Elements to be complete. Those two terms are still different; you understand now, right?"

"So you answered wrong just now."

"..."

If he hadn't already scrubbed in and stood at the table, Ji Xiang would have really wanted to reach out and scratch his head.

Doctors in the Urology Department really say whatever comes to mind without any hesitation. Professor Mo looked serious, but in fact, his ability to "drive" was also maxed out.

Professor Mo's words were a bit convoluted, and it took the Patient a few seconds to understand what he was talking about.

Just as the Patient was pondering, Professor Mo handed the Syringe, having finished drawing the Anesthesia, to Ji Xiang, watching Ji Xiang's movements without blinking.

As for the previous words, Professor Mo seemed to have forgotten them.

However, these words still had their effect; they were like a placebo, clearly easing the Patient's nervous mood.

His fear of the surgery was mixed with a little joke about "filling in whatever the Five Elements are lacking," and the concentration of his fear decreased.

Between a doctor with a face like iron who looks like a Director of Teaching and a kind, humorous doctor, it is clear at a glance which one is more likable.

Mo Jiaoshou stared at Ji Xiang's movements in performing Local Infiltration Anesthesia, his pupils gradually shrinking once again, as if he were suffering from poisoning due to an intravenous push of a large dose of diazepam.

Ji Xiang was just like he was performing surgery in the System Operating Room, entering a state of focus the moment the Syringe needle touched the Patient's skin.

After the Local Infiltration Anesthesia, Ji Xiang patted the Syringe to one side and immediately reached out his hand.

Mo Jiaoshou was startled.

This child, Ji Xiang...

This movement was purely the movement of a surgeon; if he were doing it himself, it would be a matter of course. But after finishing the Anesthesia, Ji Xiang reached out to ask for the stapler to perform the surgery directly!

Isn't this a joke!!

But Mo Jiaoshou said nothing; the scene he had just seen in the conference room of Ji Xiang answering questions surfaced in his mind.

Anyway, I am watching, so even if Ji Xiang doesn't know how to do it, it's impossible for anything major to happen, Mo Jiaoshou thought to himself.

He handed the stapler to Ji Xiang.

After the local dissection, Ji Xiang skillfully inserted the pull rod into the center hole of the shell, reaching the tail end.

Then, he adjusted the knob counterclockwise and removed the Bell Base.

Mo Jiaoshou's eyebrows twitched lightly, unable to be suppressed.

This movement is just too skillful!

Mo Jiaoshou even had a faint feeling that Ji Xiang's surgical proficiency was almost the same as his own, having performed 3000+ Circumcisions.

And it wasn't just the proficiency; the moment Ji Xiang took the stapler, Mo Jiaoshou had a strange feeling—Ji Xiang's hand speed had "whooshed" up to a level he couldn't comprehend.

Ji Xiang then placed the Bell Base inside the prepuce; because of the initial dissection, he had no difficulty placing the Bell Base.

This was a key step; Mo Jiaoshou watched silently as Ji Xiang passed this step with ease, clearly understanding that Ji Xiang must have performed at least dozens or hundreds of similar surgeries.

And that's not all; Ji Xiang must have had guidance from a master, combined with his own strong Comprehension and hands-on ability, to display such powerful surgical techniques.

Lacking any one of these, it would be impossible to perform the surgery so skillfully.

Asking himself, Mo Jiaoshou knew that he was very good at Surgery and had strong hands-on ability.

But when he was Ji Xiang's age, or even when he had reached the stage of Resident Chief, he was far worse than Ji Xiang's level.

Mo Jiaoshou no longer pondered the matter of having found a treasure, but instead focused all his attention on watching Ji Xiang's movements, even more intently than when he performed surgery himself.

After all, if something went wrong, the Patient would suffer, and he would have to bear the responsibility.

The word "responsibility" is as heavy as Mount Tai.

Ji Xiang handed the pull rod to Mo Jiaoshou and then used a zip tie to secure the prepuce.

The force he used for Tying Knots was neither too much nor too little, just right; it was neither too tight nor too loose.

"Just right"—these two words are easy to say, but for a Surgeon, achieving "just right" requires countless times of tempering and extremely high Comprehension to reach.

After finishing Tying Knots, Ji Xiang inserted the pull rod into the center hole of the shell, reaching the tail end.

The more Mo Jiaoshou watched, the more shocked he became, and the more he watched, the more silent he grew.

He knew Ji Xiang was good at surgery, but he hadn't expected Ji Xiang to be this good.

And this wasn't the Manual Circumcision he had seen before, but Stapler Surgery! It was a completely different surgical procedure!!

Originally, he wanted to find a strong assistant to help himself and Wang Daxiao perform surgery.

But Ji Xiang was too capable; the surgery was fast, and it was fast without being chaotic, steady as a rock.

Mo Jiaoshou was silent, watching helplessly as Ji Xiang finished a surgery in less than 5 minutes.

The moment he saw the Titanium Nail stapled perfectly and appearing in his field of vision, Mo Jiaoshou felt that the time he had spent all night adjusting his state and wanting to teach Ji Xiang how to perform surgery was as ridiculous as it could get.

The facts told Mo Chenggui—he himself was just an insignificant System NPC.

After the surgery was finished, Ji Xiang saw the Experience Points in the System Space increase by 100 points and grinned.

It's just that this surgery was hard to describe.

Ji Xiang glanced at Mo Jiaoshou.

The surgery hadn't gone very smoothly, and there was only one reason—the person assisting him was Mo Chenggui, not a System NPC.

Mo Jiaoshou didn't expect that in Ji Xiang's heart, not only was he not a System NPC, he didn't even compare to one; he was just a passerby.

(End of this chapter)