Chapter 734: Do Your Own Part

Ji Xiang stood before the System NPC, feeling somewhat lost.

The System NPC looked at him kindly.

After a long while, Ji Xiang finally asked, "Teacher, what should be done when encountering such a situation?"

"There is no way."

No way; the System NPC, who seemed omnipotent in Ji Xiang's eyes, had actually given such an answer.

"Let me ask you, in modern medicine, is high blood pressure curable?" the System NPC asked.

Ji Xiang shook his head.

He quickly sobered up from the Empathy he had just experienced, where he had been lured step by step toward a cliff.

That's right, the vast majority of diseases in Clinical practice are incurable.

Why should he take it so seriously?

But a strange expression appeared on the System NPC's face; he scratched his head, looking a bit cute.

It was the first time Ji Xiang had seen the System NPC with such an expression, and he was stunned for a moment.

"Actually, there is a possibility that many diseases could be cured."

"???"

The shift in topic left Ji Xiang at a loss.

"It's just my feeling, but there's no evidence. You know, I work in Clinical practice, not basic research," the System NPC said. "Come, let's you and I have a chat."

Arriving at the locker room, the System NPC took out the box of White Lingzhi that Ji Xiang had bought for him, pulled out one, but after hesitating for a few minutes, he stuffed the cigarette back in.

"Teacher, what do you mean by 'cured'?"

"Suppose you are a major shareholder of a pharmaceutical company, and a researcher submits a report saying they have discovered a possibility—that high blood pressure can be cured through oral medication. What would you do?"

Ji Xiang thought for a moment and understood what the System NPC meant.

The researcher was proposing a possibility that would require massive capital investment later on. But if this medicine could cure high blood pressure, it could only be sold for a few years at most; once everyone no longer needed it, it could be thrown into the trash heap.

Calling it a trash heap might be an exaggeration, but a sharp price drop would be inevitable because there would be no demand.

If one were to understand this matter solely from the perspective of making money, then lowering the efficacy of the medicine—so that it works when taken but relapses when stopped, requiring a lifetime of medication—is what best serves the interests of the pharmaceutical company.

Take the medicine for Tuberculosis, for example; back in the day, it was a terminal illness, but nowadays it is extremely cheap.

Thinking about it is terrifying!

Ji Xiang was speechless.

"What I said is just a possibility; you don't need to think too much about it. We are just Clinical doctors, equivalent to soldiers charging on the front lines; we use whatever weapons the researchers at the weapons institute give us."

"Teacher, but..."

"Sigh, there are many things you can't think too much about," the System NPC smiled. "Not to mention you, even if it were me, I wouldn't be able to accomplish many things. Behind every seemingly unreasonable thing, there is a profound contradictory relationship."

Ji Xiang nodded.

He recalled several things his old man had mentioned to him, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Just like the System NPC, his old man was also helpless about many things.

"It is already quite good to do what you can within your power," the System NPC said. "This Empathy was added after we held a meeting and voted on it. To be honest, similar situations don't have much significance for doctors, but I felt it should exist."

"Many years ago, Zhou Congwen encountered a Patient. He left early and returned late, working to support his family. Suddenly, one day, disaster struck from the sky; he was hit by a drunk driver who had been drinking all night."

"Bilateral multiple rib fractures, complicated by Aortic Dissection. The most critical thing was that neither party in the car accident had money; the perpetrator would rather be sentenced than come up with that much money to treat the injured person."

As he spoke, the System NPC looked at Ji Xiang.

"Performing the surgery shouldn't be difficult," Ji Xiang said.

During that Empathy session where he absorbed human lifespan, he had followed Zhou Congwen to learn Heart Surgery Department and interventional surgeries.

For the current Ji Xiang, similar surgeries were indeed not difficult.

Unless it was some special situation, such as Elephant Trunk Surgery.

But even for Elephant Trunk Surgery, Ji Xiang was confident he could handle it.

"A large stent costs over a hundred thousand; when I first got involved in these types of surgeries, I often joked that the next large stent was equivalent to driving a small car inside."

Ji Xiang sighed.

He was not sensitive to money; although he often heard people say similar things, he could never truly Empathy with it.

What moved Ji Xiang the most was that student who had a Kidney Stone, the scene where he fell while carrying delicious food from the school cafeteria and couldn't bear to throw the food away.

But he had experienced too little.

"Teacher, what happened later? What did Zhou Jiaoshou do?"

"The Patient discharged themselves."

"!!!" Ji Xiang was stunned.

"We are just screws; there is no damn way," the System NPC said. "A young doctor under him used his own money to pay the hospitalization fees for the Patient, but it was a drop in the bucket; it could only be considered doing his best."

"So, there are many things you can't think too much about; save those who can be saved, and do your own duty..."

The System NPC then rambled on for more than ten minutes.

Although Ji Xiang was not repulsed by this indoctrination, he couldn't take a single word in.

He pretended to listen carefully to the System NPC, but his mind wandered, and he didn't hear a single word at all.

When the System NPC had rambled enough, Ji Xiang said goodbye and left.

Returning to the Emergency Department and seeing Meng Qingfei, Ji Xiang felt as if he had had a dream.

Even Meng Qingfei felt very unreal.

"Meng Laoshi, did that Patient go into surgery?" Ji Xiang asked.

"The way you put it, of course they went into surgery," Meng Qingfei said with a smile.

Ji Xiang looked at Meng Qingfei's smiling face, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"Meng Laoshi, what are you laughing at?"

"Such a troublesome Patient, hurry up and send her away. Who knows why she's acting crazy? If she stays here with us, there will be problems every single minute," Meng Qingfei said.

"???"

Ji Xiang could roughly understand what Meng Qingfei meant, but he could not agree with or accept it.

"Let me tell you a story."

"Mm."

"I hadn't been working long when I first started, and I still had a master guiding me. One day, my master and I encountered a similar Patient; I won't go into the specific details with you."

"Their injuries weren't as severe, so they stayed in the Emergency Department for observation. It was mainly because the extra beds in the Orthopedics Department were all full at the time, and they couldn't be admitted."

"Damn the Orthopedics Department!"

Meng Qingfei cursed.

"In the middle of the night, I got up to go to the restroom. The hallway was empty, and I saw bloodstains on the floor. It gave me such a jolt at the time."

"It turned out to be the Patient who had jumped from the building, crawling to the Treatment Room to find a blade and slit their radial artery."

"..."

Ji Xiang was silent.

"Later, because of this incident, my master was even suspended for 3 months."

"What does that have to do with the Doctor?" Ji Xiang asked, feeling indignant.

"A scapegoat, you really think there are so many people in Clinical practice who like to shift blame because they want to? Isn't it because the hospital leadership dumps the blame on the front-line medical staff whenever something happens?"

Ji Xiang understood partially, but he wasn't in a rush; he noted down Meng Qingfei's words.

The two chatted for a while, then a Patient with Appendicitis arrived, so Meng Qingfei shooed Ji Xiang home to sleep.

(End of this chapter)