Chapter 749: Young Man, You Are Too Naive

【"Mom, I've asked my best friend to come keep me company, don't you worry."】

【"Mom, I can't sleep. That person's video invitation keeps popping up on my phone, and he keeps asking me why I won't come find him."】

【"Should I try answering the video next time? Mom, I'm so scared, please come quickly."】

About an hour or so after the time marked above, the girl sent another long message to her mother.

【"Mom, I don't think I can hold on much longer. My best friend just fainted, and I don't know when a rope appeared around her neck. I feel like... she's going to be strangled to death."】

【"No, I can't leave her behind. I'm going out to walk around, find a crowded place, and wait for you to come."】

"Huh? A rope? Is that for real?" Shen Lang asked, puzzled.

"That's what the deceased said; it certainly looks quite frightening," Zhou Jiaoshou said slowly. "Shen Lang, if you were to encounter a situation like this—say, we were sleeping in the Duty Room and an emergency came in at midnight, you couldn't wake me no matter how hard you pushed, and then you saw a rope looped around my neck."

"If you encountered this situation, what would you think?"

Ji Xiang put himself in that position; a rope suddenly appearing around Meng Qingfei's neck, and he couldn't wake Meng Qingfei no matter what—his heart began to pound.

But Shen Lang said dismissively, "It must be you guys plotting to prank me. Pranking me is a small matter, just don't let it delay a rescue."

"Heh, I think so too now," Zhou Jiaoshou said. "Wait for it; something will probably happen after dark."

"Why after dark?"

"If it's a prank, the middle of the night is more appropriate," Zhou Jiaoshou said. "I hope there are no emergencies today. If there are, Shen Lang, you won't be able to witness it with your own eyes."

Zhou Congwen's words hit Shen Lang's weak spot precisely.

Watching the constipated expression on Shen Lang's face, Ji Xiang snickered.

Holding the deceased's phone, Zhou Jiaoshou first went to visit the deceased's parents at the funeral home, stuffed a large envelope of money as a gesture of sympathy, and only then brought Shen Lang and Ji Xiang back to the hospital.

In the Director's office, Zhou Jiaoshou was focused on writing content related to the Baptista Procedure on his computer.

Ji Xiang stood behind him watching; the content was very novel, and Ji Xiang knew this must be a benefit the system had given him.

Just like in the incident where Lao Wangtou was absorbing people's life force, he had learned Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiac Interventional Surgery; now he could learn the surgical treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy—the Baptista Procedure.

Shen Lang sat to one side, holding his phone, smiling foolishly from time to time.

The phone suddenly lit up.

It was the deceased's phone!

Shen Lang leaped up, but before he could touch the phone, Zhou Jiaoshou picked it up and squinted at it.

"A video call, should I answer?"

"Of course answer! If you're chickening out, Cong Wen, then I'll answer it," Shen Lang said impatiently.

Zhou Jiaoshou completely ignored Shen Lang's talk of chickening out, placed the phone in front of him, propped it up against the computer screen, and clicked answer without haste.

A pale tongue appeared on the screen.

Seeing this scene, Ji Xiang's body couldn't help but shudder.

What the hell!

Could it be real?!

No, it definitely couldn't be! Ji Xiang immediately comforted himself.

It was just that the tongue looked too terrifying, so he shifted his gaze to Zhou Congwen and Shen Lang.

Zhou Jiaoshou's expression was calm, without a trace of surprise, elegant and composed.

Shen Lang's tongue poked out a little, as if he wanted to imitate the person making the video call, but he couldn't stick it out nearly that long; Ji Xiang even suspected that in the next second, Shen Lang would reach out and pull on his own tongue.

"You're the one who was pursuing my sister and then said you were going to hang yourself?" Zhou Jiaoshou asked slowly.

The person didn't speak; his face was a purplish-blue, and one look told you he had been strangled to death.

If there had been any doubts before, at this very moment, Ji Xiang's first instinct was—this must be a supernatural phenomenon.

"You're not acting very well; I'll tell you where you went wrong," Zhou Jiaoshou said slowly.

"In forensic medicine, the method of hanging is called Hanging; in layman's terms, it is death caused by using the body's gravity to press and close the blood vessels and airways of the neck with a rope. Most deaths by hanging involve the feet being off the ground with the neck suspended."

"In principle, twenty kilograms of force is enough to completely compress all the blood vessels and the trachea in the neck, so don't think it's impossible to encounter someone who died while kneeling or lying down; that is a very common situation."

"Furthermore, people who die by hanging have no ability to save themselves; for example, if they regret it and don't want to die anymore, sorry, they can't get themselves down."

On the screen, the pale tongue seemed to move, and Ji Xiang felt like the tongue would reach out from the screen and "lick" his face at any moment.

But neither Zhou Jiaoshou nor Shen Lang were afraid; Shen Lang even let out a cold snort.

What had they discovered? Ji Xiang wondered to himself.

"The force-bearing point on the neck can be divided into anterior, posterior, and lateral positions."

"The mechanism of death by hanging is nothing more than the following aspects: first, compressing the airway; second, compressing the blood vessels; third, compressing the nerves leading to cardiac arrest; and fourth, injury to the cervical spinal cord."

"You think that people who commit suicide by hanging all have long tongues sticking out and eyes bulging wide, just like they act in movies and TV shows."

Young man, you are too naive.

For people who die by hanging, look at whether the rope is above or below the Adam's apple. If it is above the Adam's apple, the tongue usually presses against the palate and does not protrude; if it is below the Adam's apple, the tip of the tongue usually protrudes between the teeth by 1-2 centimeters, meaning only the tip of the tongue sticks out."

"Like you, buying a cow's tongue to keep in your mouth to scare people—isn't that disgusting!"

After Zhou Jiaoshou finished speaking, the tongue on the other side of the video flickered.

"Playing god and acting like a ghost—did you find another girl to help you act this out? Putting a rope around your own neck in the middle of the night, you two are having quite a bit of fun!"

"Zhou Li is already dead, and this video of yours, along with her best friend's behavior... just wait for the police to come knocking."

"!!!"

Ji Xiang was stunned.

The scene that had been so terrifying was full of flaws once explained by Zhou Jiaoshou.

"Moron! You don't even know how to hold back when joking. And that's only assuming you two are joking; I suspect there's a higher probability that you two conspired to commit murder!"

Just as Zhou Jiaoshou said this, a hand appeared trembling from behind the tongue and ended the video.

There was no further communication throughout; there was only Zhou Jiaoshou's disdain for the other party's pretense of being a hanged ghost from a medical and forensic perspective.

And the hand that finally turned off the video proved that all of this was just a "prank."

"Assholes, a bunch of real assholes! Who the hell scares people like that!" Shen Lang cursed.

"Shen Lang, go call the police." Zhou Jiaoshou sighed, handed his phone to Shen Lang, then leaned back into his chair and slowly closed his eyes.

Shen Lang took the phone and began to call the police; he likely didn't dial 110 directly, but instead called someone he was familiar with.

"Director, have you studied forensic medicine? You sounded very proficient when you were talking about it," Ji Xiang asked.

Zhou Jiaoshou shook his head.

"Then..."

"This is also my first time encountering a similar situation. After seeing the state of the deceased, I consulted a friend in the forensic field," Zhou Jiaoshou replied.

"Your memory is truly excellent." Ji Xiang didn't know what else to say, so he could only offer a dry compliment.

"Sigh." Zhou Jiaoshou sighed; there was no joy or excitement from solving a difficult problem, but rather a low mood.

"Director, please don't be sad; there's nothing to be done when encountering such people."

Zhou Jiaoshou shook his head, ignored Ji Xiang's comfort, and closed his eyes to rest with an ugly expression on his face.

Ji Xiang recalled that if it were him, after answering the video call and seeing a large cow tongue dangling in front of him, he would definitely have panicked.

But whether it was Zhou Jiaoshou or Shen Lang, they both seemed to have had psychological expectations from the start.

Especially Shen Lang, who had been with him the whole time; he maintained his previous style—talking about supernatural nonsense on the surface, while actually knowing all along that it was a scam.

"When I was in school, I encountered an incident."

Suddenly, Zhou Jiaoshou said slowly.

"Our school beauty had quite good grades and was said to be recommended for postgraduate studies. Some female classmates were jealous, so a few of them plotted a farce."

"In the middle of the night, the school beauty got up to use the restroom and saw a light at the entrance of the public bathroom. She gathered her courage and walked over, seeing a woman with disheveled hair burning paper."

"!!!"

"Most of what followed is legend, with all sorts of versions. Some say a scream came from the side, startling the school beauty; others say the person burning paper wore a white bedsheet and turned back with a sinister smile."

"That was roughly the gist of it. As a result, the school beauty was scared into urinary incontinence, and someone took photos that circulated around the school. In the end, she had a mental breakdown, didn't go to graduate school, and there hasn't been any news of her for so many years."

"Such people are detestable!" Ji Xiang said bitterly.

Zhou Jiaoshou's voice was very soft, but Ji Xiang could perceive that his disgust had reached the Extreme Point.

"Director, how did you judge it this time?"

"There are many people who commit suicide; at least three or five nurses around here do it every year, but the vast majority are faking it. Eating some Estazolam is called suicide? Not to mention that all we see are empty bottles and empty blister packs; who knows if they actually ate them."

"This is the most common type; hanging is too rare. People who can be that ruthless... aren't thinking straight. To them, jumping off a building is simpler and more direct."

"And I felt something was wrong; I smelled a strange odor."

Ji Xiang suddenly thought of Zhao Tianjiao.

Zhou Jiaoshou's words seemed to be reminding him that the situation with Zhao Tianjiao was likely not right either.

"Director, but we are only doctors, and we can only be doctors." Ji Xiang asked the question that puzzled him.

"What's wrong with being a doctor? If you see something wrong, if you have the ability, just look into it while you're at it." Zhou Jiaoshou closed his eyes and said slowly, "Doctors are all honest, you know."

"Honest?" Ji Xiang didn't know what Zhou Jiaoshou meant.

"Scholars are all the same. If there is injustice in your heart, you should roar it out." Zhou Jiaoshou only said this briefly, then fell silent.

He wasn't as willing to preach as a system NPC, and he was too lazy to preach, leaving Ji Xiang with a belly full of questions he wanted to ask.

But no matter what he asked, Zhou Jiaoshou wouldn't speak again, as if he had fallen asleep.

"Cong Wen, I'm going to go follow and see, are you coming?"

"I'm not going, I'm going home to sleep."

"How boring."

Shen Lang said, walking away quickly.

Ji Xiang wanted to see Zhou Jiaoshou off, but was refused. Returning to the dormitory, Ji Xiang carefully recalled every scene he encountered today.

If not for the explanations from Zhou Jiaoshou and Shen Lang, he would definitely have been startled if he had suddenly seen a pale, white tongue appear in front of him.

As for the words Zhou Jiaoshou said with such clear logic, he wouldn't have been able to say them at all.

Looking at it this way, he was still too green.

As Ji Xiang thought, he drifted off to sleep in a daze.

The next morning, as soon as Ji Xiang arrived at the hospital, he was pulled into the Fire Exit by Shen Lang.

"Xiao Ji, guess what happened?"

Ji Xiang looked at Shen Lang with a smile; he knew that without him asking, Shen Lang would tell the truth.

"I followed them over yesterday; the man was already a mess at home, with a cow tongue placed in front of him. It really was a cow tongue! Asshole! Daring to pull any kind of prank." Shen Lang cursed.

"And then?"

"After we got there, he confessed everything before we even went in," Shen Lang said. "It was because the deceased kept rejecting his romantic advances, so he sought advice from a close friend of the deceased. It's said that all of this was taught by that friend."

"!!!"

"I suspect the rope that suddenly appeared on the deceased's friend's neck in the middle of the night was also arranged in advance, just to scare people."

"You say, the deceased was still worried about not harming others until the end, but she didn't expect to be plotted against by someone."

"Who wouldn't be scared, don't you think, Xiao Ji?"

"Lang Ge, you kept telling me, so I had some expectations, but I was still scared to death," Ji Xiang said. "If it were any other ordinary girl, her soul would have been scared right out of her."

"Exactly!"

"Then what happens with this matter? We are only doctors," Ji Xiang asked.

"Speaking of which, this is no longer our business. Let's see what the public security and judicial authorities plan to do, and what the deceased's family plans to do," Shen Lang said. "You're right, we are only doctors, we can't meddle."

"..."

Ji Xiang recalled Shen Lang's impatient expression and muttered to himself—you, Old Man, still know you are only a Doctor.

"But I checked the information; some people who die by hanging will stick their tongues out, but it's not absolute. Cong Wen was lying to him yesterday."

"Ah?!"

"It mainly depends on the position; if it presses on the muscles..."

Shen Lang's ability was sometimes serious, sometimes not.

Before he knew it, he had already turned the topic back to medical care.

"Lang Ge, how should similar situations be treated?" Ji Xiang asked.

"Need you ask!" Shen Lang raised his hand and patted Ji Xiang's head, "As long as they have a breath when they arrive at the hospital, they basically won't die. If you can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in time and the hanging time isn't long, there's basically no problem."

"Cervical spine injuries are more common in hangings. With a weight of over a hundred jin pulling downward, the cervical spine snaps—you get it. For such a Patient, sending them to the hospital is useless. For cervical spine surgery, even Cong Wen would have to use a Microscope, and I estimate he wouldn't be confident either."

Ji Xiang and Shen Lang discussed for a while, then Shen Lang took a phone call.

"The deceased's best friend fainted after finding out and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment; she was probably scared," Shen Lang said.

Ji Xiang sighed.

What is this?

Evil begets evil?

Probably not; in fact, he didn't know what to call it himself.

But the light didn't flicker for a long time, and he didn't return to the System Operating Room.

Ji Xiang knew this must be a System benefit, allowing him to continue working and learning alongside Zhou Jiaoshou and Shen Lang.

Since it was a benefit anyway, he couldn't just refuse it.

Ji Xiang patiently worked in the department for over a month and gained a lot.

One day, just after finishing a surgery, while taking off his Lead Clothing and preparing to lift the Patient, Shen Lang suddenly said, "Xiao Ji, why do you think that matter ended up the way it did?"

"What matter?"

Shen Lang looked at Ji Xiang as if he were a monster.

Ji Xiang sighed inwardly; it must be time for the System benefit to end, and Shen Lang was going to provide the final conclusion.

If given the chance, Ji Xiang truly wanted to learn techniques properly under Zhou Jiaoshou, and he also hoped to have colleagues like Shen Lang who had excellent technical skills and were gossipy and interesting.

"The man was actually just being used; the whole thing was the work of the deceased's best friend."

"Ah?!"

"They say they were in charge of different projects, and the deceased could always do better than her best friend. Plus, they both recently fell for the same boy. Look at what I said—you just can't fall in love."

"..."

"As a result, because of jealousy, and just happening to coincide with the appearance of this sycophant, it ended in tragedy."

"Were they sentenced?"

"Of course, but they are still in the appeal process; for it all to be finalized, it will take a long time."

"Oh, Lang Ge, you must tell me when there is a result!"

Ji Xiang wanted to use his own "little tricks" to delay the System benefit, but the light flickered before his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had already returned to the System Operating Room.

"You're back," the System NPC said.

"Teacher, I'm back," Ji Xiang scratched his head, "Teacher, the recent Empathy sessions have all been related to Medical Ethics; is this necessary?"

"Of course it is necessary," the System NPC looked up at Ji Xiang, "Do you know why I don't really like Organ Transplant surgeries?"

Ji Xiang didn't speak.

If one were to talk about that, the hidden complexities were terrifying.

"If there's nothing else, go back."

"Alright, Teacher."

Ji Xiang returned to the Emergency Department, and Meng Qingfei was still standing to one side.

Not even a second had passed in reality, but Ji Xiang had experienced countless things.

"Meng Laoshi, have you ever seen someone who died by hanging?"

"No, I've only seen it in movies and TV shows. What do you think is wrong with Zhao Tianjiao? Is he tired of everything going smoothly and insists on causing some trouble?" Meng Qingfei said.

"Perhaps someone saw him doing too well and was jealous, who knows."

"Oh?" Meng Qingfei glanced at Ji Xiang.

"It shouldn't be a big problem, don't be nervous. I heard from my teacher that coming to the hospital is already secondary; it mainly depends on how long the injured person was hanging, whether the cervical spine was damaged, and whether the rescue was timely."

"If Zhao Yuanzhang performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation immediately, I feel it shouldn't be a big problem."

Meng Qingfei looked at Ji Xiang deeply with slight surprise, then went to prepare the emergency medication.

That's what he said, but once it comes to emergency treatment, it's never good to be lacking anything.

After a few minutes, the sound of an Emergency Vehicle arrived.

Meng Qingfei pushed the gurney to the entrance.

Ji Xiang knew it wasn't because the injured person was Zhao Tianjiao, the son of Zhao Yuanzhang, but simply because Meng Qingfei had never seen a similar Patient, so he wanted to participate in the rescue from start to finish.

Including the very first moment the Patient was lifted off the Emergency Vehicle.

Ji Xiang understood this mindset all too well.

The vehicle stopped, the back door opened, and Zhao Yuanzhang jumped down with Agility.

He looked anxious, his movements nimble, not at all like someone in his late forties approaching fifty.

"Zhao Yuanzhang, how is it?"

"Did you prepare the Anesthesia Machine?"

"Prepared."

The person was lifted down and slid onto the gurney; Ji Xiang saw that Zhao Tianjiao's complexion was normal, his breathing steady, and his eyes open, so he knew there was nothing wrong and let out a long sigh of relief.

Regarding Zhao Tianjiao, Ji Xiang didn't have the slightest feeling, and he hadn't even realized that Zhao Tianjiao had once considered him a lifelong rival.

The gurney rumbled as the person was sent to the Emergency Rescue Room and connected to the Cardiac Monitor.

Vital signs were stable; the only thing that could tell what had happened was the red mark on Zhao Tianjiao's neck.

"Get a Cervical Spine CT to check the situation first; I've already spoken to the CT department."

"Alright." Zhao Jixiang nodded.

Although no problems were found during the physical examination of Zhao Tianjiao, it was better to be cautious.

"What happened?" Meng Qingfei asked.

Zhao Tianjiao pursed his lips, his expression somewhat fearful.

In their urgency, neither Dean Zhao nor Meng Qingfei wanted to know why; they only wanted to know if the cervical spine was alright and if there would be any serious sequelae.

After the CT was finished and an MRI was scanned, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming the cervical spine was fine.

It was fortunate that it was discovered early, and with Dean Zhao's foundation in Emergency Rescue, he was saved. If the timing had been delayed or if luck had been bad, Zhao Tianjiao might have ended up in a Vegetative State.

After sending the person to the inpatient department for observation, Meng Qingfei finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Brother Meng, how could Dean Zhao's son commit suicide when he was perfectly fine?" the Nurse asked.

Meng Qingfei shook his head.

"I have a classmate who encountered a similar situation a while ago," Ji Xiang suddenly said.

"Oh? What happened?" The Nurse was very interested, but Meng Qingfei was clearly uninterested.

"It was like this."

Ji Xiang briefly recounted the events he experienced through Empathy, from envy to jealousy, to the two of them teaming up to put on a double act, plus the video calls constantly being sent by the "dead person," Ji Xiang described it vividly.

He told it very vividly, and the Nurse's complexion began to get worse and worse, turning paler and paler.

Although what Ji Xiang told wasn't a ghost story, no one said a word until he finished.

"Your... classmate really has a lot of misfortunes," Meng Qingfei said.

After Ji Xiang finished speaking, he didn't say much else, thinking that the speculation he mentioned would soon reach Dean Zhao's ears.

Gossip has legs; it runs on its own, and it runs very fast—Dean Zhao might even know before he himself gets home.

Although Professor Zhou had proposed another theory during Empathy, Ji Xiang still felt that it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

In any case, it was trouble for Dean Zhao's family, and as for who was "pranking" Zhao Tianjiao, it had nothing to do with him.

After saying goodbye to Meng Qingfei, Ji Xiang rode his bicycle home.

After entering the door, Sha Paozi pounced on him all at once.

If you don't keep a dog, you won't know the joy of a dog pouncing on you.

Ji Xiang vigorously patted Sha Paozi's head, went upstairs to greet his father, washed up, and went to sleep early.

He had to take Sha Paozi running early tomorrow morning and carry it back after the halfway point; this work was very heavy, so he had to maintain enough good sleep.

(End of this chapter)