Chapter 3

The group was led by an old man and a young, beautiful girl in her twenties.

Director Liu kept a low posture, waist bent, face wearing an apologetic smile.

It is estimated that the Shou Bing became a bypass procedure, and to explain to the family, Zheng Ren guessed.

Seeing Zheng Ren come out, Director Liu's expression changed, he said something to that side, and loudly shouted at Zheng Ren: "How did you come out first? Why didn't you help lift the patient!"

"Director Liu, the tumor tissue has been removed, the Shou Bing was completed successfully." Zheng Ren said.

Director Liu was furious, and still dared to mention the Shou Bing! Didn't see this old man explaining here?

This is just putting eye drops on himself!

Just about to scold this disobedient little doctor a few sentences, Zheng Ren continued: "The tumor tissue has been removed, the effect is expected to be good. If the family wants to see, I'll go get it right away."

The old man and the young woman stared at each other, both stunned.

Before, Professor Sen Yu came out and told the family an unfortunate piece of news—the Shou Bing had failed. The tumor tissue and the inferior vena cava were severely adhered, making resection impossible; only a bypass procedure could be done.

The patient's postoperative survival period... about three months.

The family couldn't argue with Professor Sen Yu, but here Director Liu, a big problem arose.

Before the Shou Bing, the family and patient had inquired whether it could be done; after multiple checks, they were told it could be done.

Thus, the one left holding the bag was Director Liu.

But... wasn't it said to have failed? How could this little doctor say it was done?

"Who did it! You're just dreaming!" Director Liu roared angrily.

"I..." Zheng Ren hesitated a bit, but since someone had seen "himself" perform the Shou Bing, he directly replied: "Director Liu, I did it."

Liu Tianxing, Director Liu, was stunned, his eyes full of disbelief as he looked at Zheng Ren.

Afterwards, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and entered the Operating Room.

"May I ask your esteemed surname?" the beautiful woman asked.

"No need for formalities, I'm Zheng Ren." Zheng Ren let out a sigh. Really tired, the peak state Shou Bing consumes too much energy; I can't bear it anymore.

"Doctor Zheng, thank you." The patient's family gave a not-so-sincere thanks to this young doctor.

Who would believe it if it were anyone else?

Zheng Ren was too exhausted, couldn't be bothered to deal with it, just gave a faint smile.

"Doctor Zheng, I am the steward of Mr. Bu." The old man stepped forward, smiling, and said, "Today the family has many affairs, feeling unsettled; I will visit another day. This is my business card; if there is anything difficult in Hai Cheng, feel free to call me."

His tone is quite big, but I guess he really can do it.

If it were another day, Zheng Ren would chat a few sentences. But today, he was really exhausted. Perfunctorily taking the business card, he slipped it into his pocket, then Zheng Ren hailed a taxi like fleeing, returning to his cramped dwelling to sleep.

……

……

Hai Cheng's housing prices, although not as high as Di Du or Modu, are still those of a county-level city. The money to buy a flat outright, with Zheng Ren's current salary, he could never afford in a lifetime.

He was an orphan, raised in an orphanage from childhood. After getting into university, relying on work-study and a yearly unwavering first-class scholarship, he barely managed to support five years, obtaining his degree and graduation certificates.

But his ivory tower life also ended here. Financial straits forced him to ruthlessly reject the opportunity for exempted recommendation for graduate study, and he came to work at Hai Cheng People's Hospital.

No matter how diligent, his salary and bonuses were only so much; he could only rent a room nearby with others.

Returning to his few-square-meter room, Zheng Ren exhausted the last bit of his strength.

But he didn't want to rest; the curiosity in his heart was like a kitten scratching. Closing his eyes and focusing his mind, his consciousness arrived at a strange space.

Blue mountains, green waters, fresh air that refreshes the heart and spleen—completely another world.

Zheng Ren looked around; he was in a valley, in front of him stood a Thatched Hut, with a white fox statue lying at the doorway.

The statue was lifelike, every strand of hair so clear. Even if the statue came to life the next moment, Zheng Ren would not be surprised.

Between Zheng Ren and the Thatched Hut there was a small pond; the pond water was clean and transparent, clear to the bottom.

Am I dreaming? Zheng Ren felt a bit dazed.

"Welcome to the System Space, please claim the newbie task reward." The cold mechanical female voice appeared again.

Zheng Ren listened carefully; the sound came from all directions, and there was basically no way to locate the speaker by sound.

As the voice fell, the space before Zheng Ren fluctuated slightly, and immediately an antiquated wooden box appeared before him.

Is this the system reward? Zheng Ren grabbed the box and weighed it.

The box was made of ordinary wood, not heavy. Zheng Ren waited a moment, but the mechanical synthesized voice gave no further prompts.

It seemed to be letting him claim the reward; Zheng Ren took a deep breath and solemnly opened the wooden box.

A flash of brilliance passed, and the mechanical voice sounded again.

"The talent system is now open; the host has received 5 Experience Points from the newbie reward, and 1 energy potion."

The brilliance shot out from Zheng Ren's hand like a meteor, gorgeous and brilliant, falling straight onto the grass not far away.

A floating, semi-transparent panel appeared before Zheng Ren's eyes, clearly marked—General Surgery Department Skill 325 points.

Is this the Skill Tree? Zheng Ren observed carefully; beside it there were also tier explanations.

Beginner level: 0-100 points Skill.

Intermediate level: 101-300 points Skill.

Advanced level: 301-1000 points Skill.

Expert level: 1001-5000 points Skill.

After that there are markings for Master, Grand Master, Grandmaster, and Peak levels, but they are all gray, indicating they are not yet unlocked for him.

Zheng Ren pondered: the beginner level roughly corresponds to a newly employed Inpatient Doctor; the intermediate level corresponds to an Attending Physician. His General Surgery Department Skill has already surpassed intermediate, reaching advanced level, which should put him at Deputy Chief level.

He doesn't have this level, Zheng Ren knows. Could it be related to the Shou Bing just performed? Zheng Ren speculated.

As for the Master, Grand Master, and Grandmaster levels behind, Zheng Ren is very curious what kind of standard they are. If the Peak Experience represents the final peak standard, then Professor Sen Yu Ichiro's ability is probably between Grand Master and Grandmaster.

Thinking of this, Zheng Ren couldn't help clicking his tongue.

Even top professors worldwide aren't considered peak-level; the system's demands are too strict.

If he could reach that… a surge of heat rose in Zheng Ren's heart.

But thinking of his five years of arduous study, he had only accumulated 325 skill points—far from expert level, let alone master or peak.

The highest General Surgery Department skill was at intermediate level, while other skills like imaging reading, internal medicine, and physical examination were only at beginner level. The weakest was Obstetrics Department, with only a few skill points.

He decided to strengthen his General Surgery Department skill; Zheng Ren thought, and with a thought, he invested all 5 experience points from the newbie reward into his General Surgery Department skill.

The shining numbers confirmed that his General Surgery Department skill had reached 330 points.

Zheng Ren carefully observed his surroundings and tried to move a bit farther. He quickly discovered that the range he could move at intermediate level was only about 100 square meters, with an invisible wall isolating this small space.

And the cold, mechanical female voice of the system did not appear again.

"System, are there any other tasks?" Zheng Ren asked tentatively.

He received no reply; the whole space was unusually silent, and Zheng Ren seemed to hear an echo.

Really strange—normally a system would issue the next task to let the host keep growing stronger; that's the usual trope in web novels, so why is his system different?

But the air here really is fresh; Zheng Ren's emotions gradually stabilized, he took a deep breath, and almost got oxygen poisoning.

It seems he's grown used to smog; once the oxygen level returns to normal, he's still a bit unaccustomed, and Zheng Ren jokes to himself.

Without the expected exciting plot, Zheng Ren quickly felt fatigued.

It seems the peak experience drained too much energy; should he try an energy potion?

The thought flashed and was immediately killed by Zheng Ren.

Doing that would be too extravagant; better to rely on sleep to restore his body.

Zheng Ren had a fleeting thought, his consciousness returned to the real world, his mind filled with today's various strange things, and he quickly entered deep sleep.