Chapter 232: Diagnosis

"Teacher!" Ji Xiang's voice was 20 decibels higher than usual.

"Speak slowly, no need to rush." The System NPC remained calm.

"Why is it that every time I experience Empathy, I always feel like a little girl in red clothes is sitting on my shoulder?" Ji Xiang asked impatiently.

During Empathy, the explanation given by Zhou Jiaoshou was not very detailed, so he was desperate to know the reason.

"Recite the description of Temporal Arteritis." The System NPC stood with hands behind his back, looking slightly up into Ji Xiang's eyes.

"Giant Cell Arteritis is also known as Cranial Arteritis, Temporal Arteritis, and Granulomatous Arteritis. Later, it was recognized that any larger artery in the body can be affected..."

Ji Xiang recited the full text obediently.

Reciting the full text is a terrifying thing for others, but for Ji Xiang, it was relatively simple.

After Ji Xiang finished reciting, the System NPC nodded.

"Depression, memory loss, insomnia tendencies—you have recited these." The System NPC said, "The abnormal sensations you felt at the end all belong to a part of the depression."

"..." Ji Xiang was bewildered.

"Negativity, auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions, and so on." The System NPC said, "There can be countless forms of expression; for you, it was a little girl sitting on your shoulder blowing air."

As he spoke, the System NPC shook his head.

"Teacher, aren't these psychiatric symptoms? Why not send..." Ji Xiang stopped abruptly here.

The psychological shadow cast upon him by the little girl in red was so heavy that his spirit felt somewhat dazed.

Of course, patients like this cannot be sent to a psychiatric hospital!

Depression is merely a manifestation of Temporal Arteritis; it would be strange to cure the depression if one only treats the symptoms and not the root cause.

And as Temporal Arteritis continues to develop, it may involve the large arteries. Even if it doesn't progress, constant use of sedatives would cause irreversible damage to the human body.

"Figured it out?" The System NPC did not explain; he had already guessed what Ji Xiang was thinking just by seeing his expression.

"I understand, Teacher." Ji Xiang said.

"So, the Emergency Department doctor you mentioned not wanting to send the patient to a psychiatric hospital is a responsible way of acting. Not bad." The System NPC said, "The patient you mentioned might also have this type of rheumatic immune disease."

Ji Xiang pondered, and after a few seconds, he asked, "Teacher, this kind of disease is very difficult to diagnose."

"Hmm, otherwise, why would doctors in the Rheumatology and Immunology Department say that doctors in other departments don't know how to see patients?" The System NPC smiled, "Many diseases that are not considered rare are misdiagnosed, and it is also the difference between treating the symptoms and treating the root cause."

This was said a bit complexly and sounded illogical, but Ji Xiang understood it in a second.

"I know, Teacher." Ji Xiang replied, "Then what should be done about the patient?"

"Go to a higher-level hospital." The System NPC said, "There are a few hospitals with better Rheumatology and Immunology Departments... let's not talk about this. You bring up your idea; if the Emergency Department doctor keeps pondering this matter, he will definitely be moved."

"Okay."

Ji Xiang nodded immediately.

Leaving the System Operating Room, Ji Xiang saw the Emergency Department's Meng Yisheng sitting on a chair, looking slightly depressed and frowning in deep thought.

Meng Qingfei's brain CPU was running too fast; his head was even starting to smoke.

Ji Xiang calculated for a moment and said, "Meng Laoshi, I encountered a patient when I was an intern."

"Oh?" The Emergency Department's Meng Yisheng looked at Ji Xiang absent-mindedly.

A clinical novice telling gossip to an old hand—he really had some nerve. Meng Qingfei gave an "oh," mostly out of habitual politeness.

Ji Xiang told his experience during Empathy very plainly, starting from the onset of the illness, to the feeling of his shoulders becoming heavy, how this heavy feeling increased every day, and finally the feeling of a little girl in red clothes sitting on his shoulder blowing air and covering his eyes.

At first, Meng Qingfei wasn't listening carefully, but Ji Xiang's account was so vivid that in less than a minute, Meng Qingfei was listening with great interest, and even the passing Nurse came in to listen to Ji Xiang "tell a story."

But the more he told, the scarier it got. By the time Ji Xiang reached the part about the little girl in red sitting on his shoulder blowing air, the Nurse was scared pale, covering her mouth with her hands, her face full of terror.

That's how hospitals are; the yin energy is quite heavy, and there will always be a few strange things.

Especially in an old hospital like the Second Affiliated Hospital that has been passed down for decades, who among those working here hasn't heard a few ghost stories?

Plus, although Ji Xiang was just using plain description without the addition of horror music, it was a personal experience, and just telling twenty or thirty percent of it was enough to scare the Emergency Department medical staff.

"Xiao Ji Yisheng, you..." The Emergency Department's Meng Yisheng stopped Ji Xiang's "gossip," rubbed his cold hands, and gave a bitter smile, "Did you make this up?"

"It's a patient I asked." Ji Xiang said very seriously.

"What was the final diagnosis? It certainly wasn't that a little girl in red clothes was really sitting on your shoulder."

"Temporal Arteritis." Ji Xiang said, "It requires a Puncture Biopsy, but the treatment isn't difficult. The patient recovered a few months later and told me about it, so I remembered it."

Meng Qingfei's expression changed; he frowned in thought, then nodded.

"Thanks." After saying this, he ran to the Duty Room to make a call.

"You're the Ji Xiang who broke the record in the grand competition, right?" The Nurse asked.

"It's me."

"I didn't expect you to be so good at telling stories; you scared me to death." The Nurse stretched her limbs, which were still a bit stiff, "You said the patient saw that little girl; isn't that suggestion?"

Ji Xiang had encountered similar questions, so he patiently explained to the Nurse, repeating what the System NPC had said.

The Nurse listened, dumbfounded.

First, a mysterious and terrifying ghost story, and then Ji Xiang actually gave an explanation for every point!

It was as if Ji Xiang were facing a copy of "Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales" and had deduced everything using higher mathematics. The most critical part was that he could justify it; at least from the perspective of a clinical nurse, Ji Xiang's explanation was basically seamless.

"Xiao Ji Yisheng, you are really amazing. With that mouth of yours, you must be able to fool a lot of young girls." The Nurse sighed after listening, "If I were ten years younger, I'm afraid I'd be tempted."

"..."

Ji Xiang was stunned for a moment. He was telling a personal experience; how did it get misunderstood in such a direction?

"Tsk tsk, in the middle of the night, telling ghost stories to female classmates—you really have a way, you're dark." The Nurse smiled, "I'm going to get busy; I'll listen to your stories when I have time."

After hearing this, it took Ji Xiang a long time to understand what she meant.

He wasn't telling a story; everything was a real experience.

Thinking of everything he experienced during Empathy, Ji Xiang still felt a chill down his back.

At that time, how he wished the System NPC would call him back, knowing of Zhou Jiaoshou's appearance.

Ji Xiang thought to himself, hoping that Doctor Meng Qingfei could become a person like Zhou Jiaoshou in reality.

(End of this chapter)