Chapter 1144: With the Wolf

Standing at the very top of the pyramid, the idol's questions were naturally of the very top difficulty.

Damn, it opened with three huge paragraphs detailing the conditions of three critical patients. Then below was a question: The safe-zone hospital currently has only one ICU bed left. Which patient do you think should be admitted?!

She had reviewed this, what was that knowledge point called again…

Xia Qing, who had completed nine years of compulsory education before the catastrophe and smoothly obtained her middle-school graduation certificate, bit the tip of her pen as she thought it over seriously. Meanwhile, the interview on the other side had already reached the sixth question.

"If this evolved bear is infected with parasites and needs to take medicine for treatment." Zhang San took out a color-printed photo of an evolved bear and placed it on the table, then took out a picture of a Yi snake. "This bear comes to you for help with such a prey. Will you help it?"

Broken-Waist Wolf shut its mouth, its face deadly serious.

Of course she wouldn't help—Broken-Waist Wolf was a very capable hunter, it didn't need this one snake. Xia Qing's train of thought was interrupted. She silently let go of the first question and looked at the second.

A 65-year-old patient infected with a high-mortality evolved bacterium—the doctor judged their survival period to be no more than three months. The patient's family demanded the condition be hidden from the patient to prevent a mental breakdown. But the patient themselves had repeatedly expressed the wish to know the true condition so they could arrange their affairs. As the attending doctor, how would you handle this ethical dilemma?

She was sure she'd seen this knowledge point in a video. Which ethical principle was it again? Xia Qing rolled her eyes up to stare at the ceiling…

"Won't save it? What if it gives you two Yi snakes?" Zhang San took out another photo of a Yi snake and placed it on the table.

Broken-Waist Wolf still kept its mouth tightly shut.

Xia Qing, whose train of thought had been interrupted, asked in a small voice, "Third Brother, can I go upstairs to answer the questions?"

"No, you still have 25 minutes."

……Suffering this unfair treatment, Xia Qing could only hold her breath and focus, summoning the state she used for sniping practice, and silently buried her head in the test paper.

On the other side, Zhang San took out another printed sheet. "Broken-Waist, of the three numbers in this picture, which one is 55?"

Broken-Waist Wolf lowered its head and stared solemnly at the numbers on the picture, then unhesitatingly pressed its big paw on "5105."

Sure enough, it had guessed right. Although this wolf had learned some numbers, because the videos Xia Qing had shown it contained no systematic instruction on this topic, the result of lacking structured learning was that the wolf had not yet grasped the logic behind how numbers were written.

Zhang San took out another picture and began the next question.

Xia Qing finally finished the second question and reached the last one. After reading the prompt, her expression grew even more serious:

Scientists have already used live animal tissue to cultivate artificial ears, helping patients with damaged or missing outer ears receive transplants. At present, research institutions are using animals such as evolved pigs, evolved sheep, evolved macaques, and evolved wolves to cultivate human organs—pancreas, liver, kidney, heart, and so forth—inside their bodies, in order to solve the shortage of human organs for transplant. Please discuss your views on this kind of research.

"Time's up, the exam is over." Zhang San gathered up the stack of pictures on the table and extended his hand to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing handed the unfinished test paper to her idol, her heart uneasy. "Third Brother, how about we eat first, and after the meal you take a rest. I'll finish the paper and then take you back?"

Zhang San flipped through the answer sheet—the first question blank, the second with three lines written, the third with four lines—and answered calmly, "No need."

……

What do you mean, no need? Did she pass? Does she still need to keep studying this course?

Xia Qing slapped away the question marks filling her head, stood up, and cheerfully headed for the kitchen. "Third Brother, you rest a bit. I'll make a couple of cold dishes, we'll eat right away."

Zhang San watched Xia Qing charge into the kitchen without looking back, and his head started aching again. "Wash your hands!"

"Don't worry, I'll wash my hands, disinfect, put on an apron, and then cook. I guarantee it's clean and sanitary."

Zhang San raised a hand and pressed his forehead, then looked at Broken-Waist Wolf, who was gazing at him eagerly. "You still want to take the test?"

Broken-Waist Wolf immediately bared its mouth, showing off its little fang tips.

Zhang San laughed despite himself, took the pen back out of his jacket pocket, and wrote two characters on the back of the printed sheet. "Of these two characters, which one is the 'brain' 腦?"

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the characters "腦" and "惱" in the picture for a while, then shut its mouth tight and looked up at Zhang San.

"Third Brother, Broken-Waist only recognizes machine-printed standard characters." Xia Qing poked her head out from the kitchen, then quickly pulled it back in.

Was this saying his handwriting wasn't legible enough? Zhang San was silent for a few seconds, then took out his phone, typed two characters, and asked again.

Broken-Waist Wolf glanced at the phone, then unexpectedly turned around, went upstairs, and fetched down a bag. It unzipped the bag, rummaged inside, and pulled out a stylus pen, slipping it over its right paw, then accurately tapped the tip on the character "腦."

Zhang San……

Good!

Very good!

"Woo—"

Broken-Waist Wolf felt Zhang San suddenly become extremely aggressive, and quickly retreated, baring its fangs at him.

Zhang San took a deep breath to steady his emotions, then imitated Xia Qing's gesture and stuck up his thumb. "Broken-Waist, you're amazing. You got it right."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at Zhang San with a fierce look, clearly not believing his words.

Zhang San explained gently, "I was thinking about something else. I'm not angry with you."

Xia Qing glanced out from the kitchen, then immediately ducked back in and sped up washing the vegetables.

Zhang San glanced at the pink notebook and pink-cased phone in the bag, then typed two characters on his own phone, placed the phone on the table, and pushed it in front of Broken-Waist Wolf. "Of these two characters, which one is the 'wolf' of evolved wolf?"

Broken-Waist Wolf, who loved taking tests, hesitated for a moment, but still limped over to the table and, brimming with confidence, tapped on the character "狠."

Zhang San shook his head. "Wrong. This character is the wolf—'狼' has two ears on top. This character is the '狠' meaning fierce."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the character "狠," thought about it for a moment, then looked back at Zhang San.

Finding that Zhang San didn't understand, Broken-Waist Wolf simply went to the kitchen to find Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, whose hearing was excellent, understood what Broken-Waist Wolf was thinking. "Broken-Waist, you want to say that in our wolf pack there's a wolf with only one ear, and the Queen's ear is also missing a piece, but they're all evolved wolves, right?"

Broken-Waist Wolf showed its little fang tips.

Zhang San, standing at the kitchen doorway, said nothing and quietly watched Xia Qing interacting with the evolved wolf.

"One-Ear and the Queen both lost one ear or half an ear only after being injured. Before that, they both had two ears, right?"

Broken-Waist Wolf showed its little fang tips again.

"Evolved wolves are all very powerful and fierce, so they must have a little something extra compared to the character '狠.' Broken-Waist, am I right?"

Broken-Waist Wolf showed four little fang tips.

Xia Qing gave her conclusion. "So the character with one extra little ear is the 'wolf' of evolved wolf."

Zhang San added very rigorously, "An evolved wolf with a physical defect might also be born with only one ear."

Xia Qing immediately followed up with a serious addition. "Third Brother is right. There are also humans born with only one ear, but they still belong to the human race. An evolved wolf born with only one ear is still an evolved wolf."

Broken-Waist Wolf thought it over for a moment, then turned around, went back to the living room, skillfully opened its notebook, and began flipping through videos.

Zhang San glanced at the wolf squatting in the living room playing with a laptop, and pressed a hand to his forehead.

Xia Qing, whose survival instinct was extremely strong, spoke first, "Third Brother, look how clean I washed the vegetables, alright?"

Zhang San asked casually, "What water did you use to wash them?"

"The vegetables for you to eat, of course were washed with pollution-free spring water!"

Zhang San……

Alright then.