Chapter 30: What Do Men Like?

The hint was obvious enough; Ji Xiang even felt it was an explicit statement.

It looks terrifying...

I can't sit down...

These two sentences echoed in Ji Xiang's mind.

If one were to put oneself in that position,

if there were any difference between this Dean Li before him and the Dean Sun that Dahai encountered in the Empathy,

if there were no complications after the surgery,

it seemed acceptable.

Even Ji Xiang was somewhat swayed by this "professional" atmosphere and the intense psychological suggestion.

Not to mention those "patients" who came with a certain purpose.

"Professor Mo, come, come, let me introduce you to a colleague; you two must know each other." Dean Li said, enthusiastically draping his arm over Professor Mo's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Mo Chenggui seemed to have sensed something.

"This young man is quite spirited! Is he your student?" Dean Li asked, looking at Ji Xiang beside Professor Mo.

"Hello, Dean Li. I am a student under Professor Mo. Today, Professor Mo brought me along to gain some experience," Ji Xiang said calmly.

"Not bad, not bad. Each generation produces its own talents; the future of the medical field will depend on you young people."

Dean Li's pleasantries sounded very sincere. Although Ji Xiang knew he was just being perfunctory, he couldn't detect any anomaly in his observation; there was only enthusiasm and sincerity.

"His name is Ji Xiang, Doctor Xiao Ji." Professor Mo, lacking interest, introduced Ji Xiang briefly.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, there are still matters to attend to here, so I won't entertain you further," Dean Li said. "Feel free to walk around and take a look. I hope we have a chance to cooperate in the future."

After saying this, he said to Professor Mo, "Professor Mo, won't you consider the Extension Surgery? It would be a real pity if you didn't perform more procedures given your level of expertise."

"The patients you have here do not meet the surgical indications, and you don't accept those who do. Therefore, I won't do it," Professor Mo refused flatly.

Dean Li shook his head slightly. "Professor Mo, it's not that I don't respect you."

Ji Xiang knew the unpleasant words were coming, and his eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Let's not talk about those empty, high-sounding things. What is our current primary contradiction?" Dean Li asked.

Professor Mo was silent.

"The contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backward productive forces!"

"!!!"

Ji Xiang truly admired this Dean Li.

He spoke with such eloquence; he could truly talk the dead back to life.

"What do the people need? It's different from when we were kids. When I was a child, my father carried sacks at the train station. If there was any white flour at home, it was steamed into buns for my father; none of the children could eat any."

"There was only one strong laborer in the family; once his body collapsed, the family was finished."

"Once, when I was going to school, the buns had just been steamed. I opened the steamer, grabbed one, stuffed it into my shirt, and ran. See, the burn on my chest is from that time."

As Dean Li spoke, he draped his arm over Professor Mo's shoulder, leading Professor Mo and Ji Xiang toward a room at the end of the corridor as intimately as if they were conjoined twins.

"At that time, I couldn't care about the pain at all. Once I ran out of sight, I took out the bun and ate it. It was so sweet, Professor Mo."

"But what about now? I'm sick of eating delicacies, so I think about having some light porridge and side dishes at home when I don't have social engagements in the evening."

Professor Mo was silent. Ji Xiang looked at Dean Li's back, but he couldn't associate him with a doctor at all.

The NPC in the system was more like a doctor.

"The times have changed, my friend," Dean Li sighed. "Young people today all want 18 centimeters; what can you do? Actually, you're right that there are no surgical indications; I understand. But this isn't a disease, it's a mental illness. Once the surgery is done, the mental illness is cured, don't you think?"

As he spoke, Dean Li led Mo Chenggui and Ji Xiang into that room.

A man in his early thirties was sitting in the room, wearing a White Uniform and gold-rimmed glasses, looking at some documents.

Although the middle-aged man didn't say or do anything, an aura of academic prestige arose spontaneously.

"Xiao Zhou? Why are you here?" Mo Chenggui asked in surprise.

"Professor Mo, hello." The middle-aged man stood up and reached out across the table.

The two shook hands, and the middle-aged man smiled. "Dean Li wants to launch the Extension Surgery and wants to make a name for himself, so he found my boss. The boss arrives tonight, and I'm here to pave the way."

"..."

Although Mo Chenggui had his suspicions, he still felt a bit disappointed to hear the middle-aged man say this.

Private hospitals are basically chains, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe them as having overwhelming power. To expand their business, they actually managed to move Professor Zhou's boss!

"My level is poor, so I'm just helping the boss, familiarizing myself first. If I don't know anything, I'll get scolded by the boss."

"Professor Zhou, look at what you're saying." Dean Li's expression became increasingly exuberant and enthusiastic. "You are the newly rising big shot in Urology Department in our Provincial Hospital."

"What big shot? I just do a bit more Phimosis Surgery," Professor Zhou laughed. "Urology Department surgery isn't just Circumcision. A real big shot... I can't even perform a Kidney Transplantation properly."

"You can't say it like that. Your surgical volume for Circumcision is the highest in the province; that doesn't mean you can't perform Kidney Transplantation. During this time you've been supporting the Provincial Hospital, you've personally performed over a dozen Kidney Transplantations!"

Oh, this person is quite strong, Ji Xiang thought to himself.

Kidney Transplantation belongs to the top-tier surgeries in Urology Department; Ji Xiang could only look up to it.

Mo Chenggui didn't listen to their pleasantries; his mind was entirely on Professor Zhou's boss.

That person is a renowned big shot in the industry; wanting to invite them to perform a "minor" surgery is not a matter of money at all.

It is likely that Professor Zhou Tianbo had someone pull strings on the teacher's side, which is how they managed to invite him.

Mo Chenggui's gaze toward Professor Zhou became extremely strange.

"Sigh, look at what you're saying." Dean Li offered a seat and then smiled. "I was just telling Professor Mo that this is the contradiction between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backward productive forces."

"That statement is a bit broad. Actually, according to the current reality, appearance is justice. If the people need it, we medical workers have an obligation to provide the necessary services."

Dean Li did not sit down, and his voice was not impassioned; instead, he looked at Professor Mo with a gentle smile and said slowly.

"I won't say much about the importance of appearance, but why is appearance so important, yet there are so many voices in public opinion that look down on plastic surgery?" He paused and raised his arm slightly. "Because using plastic surgery to improve one's appearance and figure is like using a cheat code."

This really is "lotus flowers spilling from the mouth"; Ji Xiang watched Dean Li's body language, pondering what he was saying.

Actually, Dean Li wasn't wrong; if Ji Xiang hadn't experienced the baptism of Empathy, he would have already been swayed by him.

"Think about it, who wouldn't want to use a cheat, right, young man?"

As he spoke, Dean Li looked at Ji Xiang and asked with a smile.

"Oh, I have high looks and I also have a cheat, but I find it average and don't recommend it," Ji Xiang said frankly.

Dean Li had been in the middle of his flow, but was blocked by Ji Xiang's single sentence; he felt as uncomfortable as if he were about to burst.

This young man... he's truly arrogant; he retorts whenever he disagrees, it seems he will only learn to restrain himself after the friction and violent collisions of society.

"Hehe," Professor Zhou laughed, "I actually think Dean Li is right; it's also for the sake of the young people in our Provincial Hospital."

Ji Xiang really disliked how they were secretly targeting Mo Jiaoshou.

After a few sentences, Ji Xiang had already seen through the conflict between the few: because there were no surgical indications, Mo Jiaoshou was unwilling to perform the Extension Surgery and would only agree to a circumcision.

But Mo Jiaoshou was, after all, a person of status in the Urology Department of the Provincial Hospital; neither Dean Li nor that up-and-coming Professor Zhou had burned their bridges with him.

Mo Jiaoshou remained silent.

"Mo Jiaoshou, young people really do like it," Dean Li said, "I won't say anything else, I'm afraid you'll be unhappy if I say too much. I hope you can think it through soon; we can develop close cooperation."

"Heh," Mo Jiaoshou gave a disdainful "heh."

"Do young people really like it?" Ji Xiang suddenly asked, muttering to himself.

He didn't seem to be asking Dean Li, but rather asking and answering himself.

Dean Li was somewhat annoyed; he stared at Ji Xiang and asked, "This Doctor Xiao Ji, then what do you say young people like?"

"I don't know what girls think, but the internet says men all like 'white, thin, and young,' but I don't think so."

"Oh?"

"I'll only speak about what I like," Ji Xiang sat on the sofa, looked into Dean Li's eyes, and said with a smile, "The clothes girls wear on the street are so average; it would be better if they wore aluminum alloy armor."

"..."

"It would have to be able to glow, the kind that can fly. When it flies, it could drag long, glowing wings behind it—so cool!"

"And it has to be translucent; the light of the wings must be translucent!"

"The eyes should glow blue, red in overclocked mode, and green when in sleep mode. Right, the RGB effects must be maxed out."

"When dissipating heat, the girls should open part of the outer armor, and when a strong wind blows, the armor should make a 'hiss~~~~' sound."

"If it could use high heat to light a cigarette, that would be best, just like the picture of the soldiers on the old mountain front lighting cigarettes on hot cannon barrels."

Dean Li was dumbstruck.

He thought he was quite the talker, but he hadn't expected this young man brought by Mo Chenggui to be so full of nonsense, talking about things as if they were falling from the sky.

The key was, there wasn't a single serious word.

Instead of liking girls, he actually liked mecha... what is a mecha? Dean Li was hit by Ji Xiang's words and fell into a coma mode.

"The right hand should be able to switch to cannon form and fire a Particle Cannon. The kind that blows up half a building in one blast. The left hand should be able to have a shield form."

"The height should preferably be around ten meters, and it would be best to have an Inner Mode..."

"Wait, what is Inner Mode?" Although Dean Li was listening in a daze, he remained clear-headed; he interrupted Ji Xiang after hearing a term he didn't understand at all.

"You don't even know this, and you're still talking about what young people like?" Ji Xiang raised an eyebrow.

Subconsciously, Ji Xiang already considered Mo Chenggui one of his own, and coupled with Dahai's encounter, his impression of the real-world Dean Li was not good.

When it came to retorting, he didn't hold back at all.

"..."

"Outer Mode is the ordinary person's mode, while Inner Mode is equivalent to a Berserk transformation or Beastification," Ji Xiang explained simply, "Add a code, something like '27149', and the mecha undergoes Beastification. Entering the Inner Mode state, the mecha's performance increases by a huge margin."

"As for 'white, thin, and young,' that's all a mistaken aesthetic; in front of this kind of image, it doesn't even rank."

Dean Li felt a nameless fire rising, but Professor Zhou's eyes lit up; after Ji Xiang finished speaking, he slapped his thigh, "That's right! If the streets were full of mecha, that would be too cool!"

(End of this chapter)