Chapter 555: Starting with Hell Difficulty

"Teacher, the patient in the next bed, does this also count as Empathy?" Ji Xiang asked.

The System NPC said, "Of course it counts. You see others' successes or failures, find experience and lessons from them, and avoid taking detours yourself; this is also a very powerful ability."

"That's simple!" Ji Xiang happily clicked on the patient in the next bed.

"Simple?"

The System NPC's voice came faintly, light and shadow flickered, and Ji Xiang appeared in a hospital room.

He had long since grown accustomed to the world of Empathy and immediately familiarized himself with his own data.

He was a 40-year-old male, hospitalized for severe abdominal pain after binge eating and several heavy drinking sessions.

Ji Xiang estimated "himself" had Acute Pancreatitis, a very dangerous disease.

The hospital he was currently in was a Grade A Tertiary Hospital's General Surgery department; it did not separate hepatobiliary, pancreatic, and gastrointestinal here, as it was still General Surgery before sub-specialization.

There were 3 patients in the room, and Ji Xiang was in the middle; the one on the left by the window was a 76-year-old patient, the very one he was to Empathize with.

Intestinal Obstruction, with a question mark in parentheses behind it; theoretically, this patient's condition should not be very serious.

Ji Xiang had a judgment on the patient's situation; he glanced at the patient and began to ponder what the System NPC wanted him to feel.

However, being able to choose his perspective was indeed a very good reward, so Ji Xiang lay honestly on the bed to observe.

The 76-year-old male patient was being cared for by his wife; the old couple looked harmonious and quite affectionate.

What exactly was he supposed to feel? Was the System NPC trying to feed him a mouthful of dog food?!

Ji Xiang guessed in his heart.

"Bang~"

The ward door was pushed open, and a middle-aged woman walked in angrily.

Ji Xiang knew this was his "spouse."

"I told the doctor, but he insisted on putting a tube in you and using medicine that costs over a thousand. What is this? The doctors in the hospital now wear white coats, but their hearts are fucking black!"

The woman said angrily.

"..." Ji Xiang was shocked by his "spouse's" words.

What was all this? He had Acute Pancreatitis; if he didn't get a gastric tube, didn't fast, and didn't use drugs like octreotide for suppression, was he looking for death?!

As for the medicine being expensive, octreotide or upgraded drugs were expensive by nature; they were all imported. This had nothing to do with whether the doctor's heart was black or not; the treatment plan was very standard and very normal.

What Ji Xiang never expected was that he had chosen the bystander mode for the next bed, but had started the Empathy from "himself."

And it started with an unreasonable Hell Difficulty.

Without the gastric tube, he estimated he wouldn't even last 48 hours.

"I've signed the papers to discharge against medical advice. Let's go, let's go home!" the "spouse" said disdainfully.

"..." Ji Xiang said with a mournful face, "I don't want to go home."

Acute Pancreatitis, discharging against medical advice to go home? Even though it was Empathy, Ji Xiang didn't want to make things difficult for himself.

The "spouse" paused, frowning as she looked at Ji Xiang, "Weren't you the one insisting on going home just now? You said your stomach didn't hurt anymore, that it must have been because you caught a cold draft while drinking outside last night, and that it was actually just that you hadn't finished taking a shit."

Ji Xiang immediately recalled, and he finally realized that ten minutes ago he had just refused the Nurse's attempt to insert a gastric tube, argued a few times with the attending Doctor who came to persuade him, and insisted on being discharged.

It was over!

Ji Xiang said immediately, "I'm not being discharged; go help me find the Nurse to insert the gastric tube."

The woman froze, looking at Ji Xiang with a face full of surprise, then reached out to touch Ji Xiang's forehead.

"I don't have a fever, I was just... a bit cowardly just now," Ji Xiang said helplessly.

Hearing Ji Xiang say this, the woman was even more surprised; she looked Ji Xiang up and down and said suspiciously, "I've never heard you say you were cowardly in your whole life, what's wrong with you today? Didn't you say it didn't hurt anymore?"

"Even if it doesn't hurt, it's life-threatening."

"If you want to say it, go say it yourself!" The woman sat on the chair unhappily and began to pack things, "I just finished arguing with the doctor; that doctor's attitude was terrible, what kind of service is that!"

"A doctor isn't a service..." Ji Xiang corrected.

"The Dean says it's a service, and even says we need to improve the quality of service!"

"The Dean is an idiot, talking nonsense with his eyes open. They don't have to come and clip my toenails, so they just say it casually; you actually take it seriously."

Seeing that his "spouse" wouldn't go find the doctor at all, Ji Xiang was truly afraid that the attending Doctor was efficient and had already processed the discharge against medical advice, and the Nurse had already settled the account.

Glancing at the suspected Intestinal Obstruction patient in the next bed, Ji Xiang had no choice but to go find the Doctor himself to explain.

Sigh, this is fucking ridiculous.

Ji Xiang cursed in his heart.

Acute Pancreatitis, with high blood and urine amylase; if he didn't get a gastric tube, didn't use medicine, and didn't fast, what was this if not courting death?

"Sister Sun, process the discharge against medical advice for 7-20!"

Just as Ji Xiang reached the door of the Doctor's Office, he heard the Doctor's voice coming from inside.

Damn, they were efficient; they didn't act like Surgeons at all. Usually, Surgeons rarely wrote Medical Records, and even for discharge against medical advice, it wouldn't be processed so quickly.

But the Doctor here worked at a speed far beyond Ji Xiang's imagination, so he hurriedly walked into the Doctor's Office.

Ji Xiang knew very well that it must have been because his and his spouse's attitudes were bad before, and the Doctor and Nurse didn't want to cause trouble, so they processed the discharge with extreme urgency.

"Doctor Zhao." Ji Xiang smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't want to be discharged."

"Hmm?"

The attending Doctor paused and looked at Ji Xiang carefully.

He felt that there must be something fishy about Ji Xiang; otherwise, why would he refuse the gastric tube, refuse the medication, and even refuse to fast, yet still insist on staying?

"Didn't we just agree?" the Doctor said cautiously, frowning, "You didn't agree with my treatment plan and were preparing to discharge against medical advice to continue treatment at another hospital."

The last sentence was the Doctor shifting responsibility; Ji Xiang was very clear about that.

He smiled sheepishly, "I was in so much pain that I was a bit confused, I'm truly sorry, sorry. Insert the gastric tube, do it now! Doctor, insert it right in front of you, I definitely won't have any problems."

Ji Xiang's attitude was so enthusiastic that it left the attending Doctor Zhao bewildered.

He looked at Ji Xiang in surprise, wondering to himself how this person had seemed to change into a different person in just over ten minutes after he turned his head.

"For medication, you must use octreotide, whether it's by drip or pumped in via a micro-pump. A micro-pump isn't inconvenient at all; I'm fasting from food and water, and I don't have much in the way of bowel movements or urination, it's all in bed. Doctor, rest assured, I will definitely do as you say."

Such an attitude!

He was simply the kind of Patient with the best medical compliance, leaving Zhao Yisheng with a belly full of complaints with nowhere to vent.

"I'm really sorry, Doctor Zhao, I was truly in too much pain, please don't take it to heart." Ji Xiang rubbed his hands and apologized repeatedly.

The string of words hit Zhao Yisheng's heart like bullets, and he had nothing to say.

(End of chapter)