Chapter 52: Painful to the Point of Wishing for Death, Yet a Minor Ailment

The phone rang.

Ji Xiang picked it up, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and saw a message from his "girlfriend."

【Baby, I miss you so much on this business trip. Be a good boy and eat your meals.】

Faced with such affectionate words, Ji Xiang was at a loss.

He had never been in a relationship and had no idea how to reply. He couldn't bring himself to say affectionate words, but facing the word "baby," a reply that was too bland didn't seem right either.

However, out of politeness, Ji Xiang racked his brains and still replied to his "girlfriend" with a message.

Afterward, he returned home following the guidance of his memory.

This was a cramped Rental House, with a double bed occupying most of the space.

The room was kept fairly clean, and a pink photo frame sat on the headboard, containing a photo of Ji Xiang and a girl.

She must be the girlfriend; looking at the photo, she was very different from the girlfriend in Ji Xiang's memory. But then again, mobile phone cameras these days don't ask if you want it—they apply beauty effects, filters, and skin smoothing right away.

It was normal for there to be a difference.

The "girlfriend" spoke to Ji Xiang in a very gentle tone, constantly urging Ji Xiang to eat, sleep early, and play fewer games.

Ji Xiang lay on the bed, chatting with his "girlfriend" while waiting for his stomach to start hurting.

Because he had "foreseen" that his stomach would hurt, Ji Xiang wasn't very nervous.

After experiencing Empathy a few times, Ji Xiang vaguely sensed that the system issued Surgical Points based on difficulty.

The difficulty of a Kidney Stone was probably only worth 10 Surgical Points.

Although it was little, it was still something; after all, having some was better than having none.

Plus, being able to feel what the Patient felt was also helpful for future diagnosis and treatment, so Ji Xiang did not resist it.

Recalling that Patient in the Emergency Department now, Ji Xiang still felt he was a bit pretentious and guessed he might have an antisocial personality.

The Emergency Department Doctor said he couldn't just give an injection and had to undergo an examination first, yet he actually started cursing directly.

Just as he was scrolling through Bilibili, a breath suddenly surged up from his stomach, and a feeling of nausea rose up suddenly, like a sudden storm, coming so abruptly.

"Ugh~~~"

In less than a second, Ji Xiang began to feel nauseous, and the food remaining in his stomach began to surge upward.

He immediately covered his mouth, forcibly held it back, and headed straight for the bathroom.

Could it be that he ate something bad? Ji Xiang began to recall the symptoms of acute gastroenteritis.

Of course, Urological Calculus also has symptoms of nausea and retching.

But when Ji Xiang was in class at school, he could never understand what the urinary system had to do with the digestive tract, and why a stone would cause nausea.

Lying on the toilet, Ji Xiang looked as if he had grown onto it, retching continuously.

Because of the violent vomiting, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, all his strength was drained, and he felt incomparably miserable.

Water boils at one hundred degrees; people die at one hundred degrees.

Ji Xiang had never imagined that mere nausea and retching could make him feel so miserable, to the point of having thoughts that life was not worth living.

He was physically robust, the type who looked thin in clothes but had muscle when undressed. Moreover, his immunity was exceptionally good, and he rarely even caught a cold.

Ji Xiang once thought he would never get sick in his life, and he had only memorized the symptoms described in books without having any further experience of them.

Now, just from nausea and retching, Ji Xiang was on the verge of breaking down, with a faint thought at the bottom of his heart—there really is no point in living.

If the first time he experienced Empathy—the head injection being very painful and hard to accept—had left Ji Xiang with lingering fears, looking back now, that was only short-term pain.

He was now lying on the toilet, retching continuously, not knowing when it would end.

This was long-term pain.

About half an hour later.

Ji Xiang's T-shirt was already stained with sweat; he lay directly in the narrow and cramped bathroom like a soft-bodied animal, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Ji Xiang didn't know how much time had passed, but he knew this feeling was truly miserable.

And it was just like the weather in the mountains in June—suddenly a storm, suddenly bright sunshine.

He had "passed the peak" now, and apart from having used too much strength to retch, there was nothing else uncomfortable.

Is it Urological Calculus? Ji Xiang asked himself.

Books say that patients with Urological Calculus have no symptoms before the onset of the disease.

Due to certain triggers, such as strenuous exercise or labor, there is a sudden onset of severe colicky pain in one side of the waist, radiating to the lower abdomen, accompanied by abdominal distension, nausea, vomiting, and varying degrees of hematuria; bladder stones mainly manifest as difficulty in urination and pain during urination.

Nausea and vomiting symptoms matched, but he had fallen ill just by lying there, which didn't quite fit.

Ji Xiang was very puzzled; he even began to doubt his own memory.

Struggling to crawl up from the bathroom floor, Ji Xiang sipped a few mouthfuls of water.

He didn't dare to drink water in large gulps, fearing that his stomach was already overwhelmed and that adding a burden would cause nausea on its own, making the condition more complicated.

Returning to the bed, Ji Xiang picked up his phone and began searching for entries on Urological Calculus, Acute Appendicitis, and acute gastroenteritis.

Cross-referencing them, Ji Xiang was still completely confused.

Judging by his current situation, it didn't seem to be any of them.

Damn it!

He was looking up his own illness online again involuntarily!

Ji Xiang was in the midst of his confusion when he suddenly thought of this, which left him speechless.

When he was in school, he heard teachers say that people often hold their phones and ask doctors in the Outpatient Department or Emergency Department, "Do I have this disease?"

Now that it was his turn, he was actually just like an ordinary person.

Ji Xiang gave a self-deprecating laugh.

However, while the smile was still hanging on his face, a sudden, unknown feeling of nausea and vomiting surged up.

This time it was even more violent; in less than ten minutes, Ji Xiang almost pulled his stomach out from his abdomen, poured out all the gastric juice and bile, and then rinsed his stomach with tap water before stuffing it back in.

Moreover, unlike last time, Ji Xiang's abdomen had already begun to experience faint, colicky pain.

Just a moment ago, Ji Xiang was still thinking about tapping his own waist to see if there was any percussion tenderness.

But once the pain began, Ji Xiang knew just how naive he had been.

His body, once strong as an ox, had all its strength drained away by some inexplicable force, leaving behind only a weak and powerless shell.

Never mind examining himself to test for percussion tenderness in the bilateral kidney regions; right now, Ji Xiang could barely even lift a finger. He truly had not a shred of strength left.

This feeling... was even more severe than having his Basic Endurance completely drained.

Ji Xiang began to regret not drinking more water earlier; at least then there would have been something to vomit up.

Now, the gastric juices and bile that should have been vomited were gone, but his stomach felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible giant hand and mercilessly twisted together.

He wanted to vomit, but there wasn't a single drop; the feeling of being completely unable to vomit was terrible.

With his strength drained away, a feeling of weakness permeated every part of Ji Xiang's body.

Always energetic, he truly hadn't known before that nausea and vomiting could make it feel as if one's very spine had been pulled out.

His stomach had already begun to cramp, as if the gastric ailment had "transferred."

Taking advantage of the nausea and vomiting feeling slightly better, Ji Xiang used all his strength to reach for his phone.

Simple actions like taking out a phone and dialing a number had reached the limit of difficulty for the current Ji Xiang.

Using up all his remaining strength, Ji Xiang finally managed to dial the 120 emergency number.

He also wanted to hail a car to the hospital himself, but he truly couldn't do it.

This concubine cannot do it...

Compared to the kind of humiliation Dahai suffered, Ji Xiang couldn't tell for a moment whether the mental injury or the physical injury was more severe.

This feeling is so strange.

After reporting his address and symptoms, he hung up the phone.

Although the exchange was brief, Ji Xiang no longer had any strength left; he curled up on the bathroom floor, gasping for air.

His whole body was covered in cold, clammy sweat, and Ji Xiang highly suspected that a silhouette had already been soaked into the floor beneath him.

No!

Ji Xiang realized that even if the Emergency Vehicle arrived, it would be useless; the door was locked, and the Emergency Doctor wouldn't pry it open.

If they couldn't open the door, they would have to contact the police and firefighters, which would take a lot of time.

The bouts of abdominal colic were agonizing; Ji Xiang truly wished he could sprout wings and fly to the hospital.

No matter what, he had to get an injection first to survive this most difficult moment.

Now, Ji Xiang seemed to understand that Patient lying on the stretcher.

They weren't a sociopath; they were truly in agonizing pain.

After struggling for ten minutes, Ji Xiang finally opened the door under the shroud of abdominal colic and collapsed at the entrance.

Soon, the Emergency Doctor and Nurse arrived and used a stretcher to lift Ji Xiang onto the ambulance.

During the process of lifting him, they almost dropped Ji Xiang to the ground.

Once on the vehicle, Ji Xiang curled up on the stretcher. He didn't need to look to know that his face was pale and his body was cold and damp, just like the symptoms of Shock.

A stomachache isn't a disease, but when it hurts, it's truly life-threatening.

The waves of pain made Ji Xiang see stars; he couldn't endure it, but what else could he do besides endure?

Ji Xiang missed the System NPC; in his subconscious, the System NPC could perform miracles and cure any illness.

Softly muttering words he didn't even understand himself, saying something to make himself feel a bit better, Ji Xiang curled up on the stretcher as the consciousness in his mind faded away.

"Where does it hurt?" the Emergency Doctor asked for his medical history, while the Nurse efficiently measured Ji Xiang's blood pressure.

Ji Xiang cursed inwardly.

My whole body hurts like hell!

Extreme discomfort made Ji Xiang's temper flare, but with not a shred of strength in his body, he couldn't be irritable even if he wanted to.

Forcing himself to state his symptoms, Ji Xiang didn't even know what he was saying; it was like gibberish.

"Blood pressure is normal." The Nurse removed the cuff.

"I'll tap it; I suspect it's a Kidney Stone," the Emergency Doctor said.

After speaking, he pressed one hand against Ji Xiang's waist and struck it with the other.

"Aww~~~"

Ji Xiang was even more pathetic than the Patient he had encountered.

He was strong and sturdy; saying he had no strength left was just Ji Xiang's own perception.

When the fist struck through the palm and the shockwaves spread, Ji Xiang saw nothing but stars, countless knives churning wildly in his abdominal cavity, squeezing out his vitality and making him scream.

"Suspected Kidney Stone," the Emergency Doctor said. "It's fine, let's drive back."

Ji Xiang had been out on a few 120 emergency calls before; seeing that the Emergency Doctor hadn't communicated with the driver in front at all, he knew that in the doctor's eyes, he was just a minor case.

If it were a critical case, the kind where every second counts, the Emergency Vehicle would definitely have its lights flashing and siren blaring, running red lights all the way to the Emergency Department.

But now...

Ji Xiang wanted to cry but couldn't.

He was dying, yet in the doctor's eyes, he was just a minor case.

(End of this chapter)