The Surgeon's Studio

[The hidden mission, Social Warmth, has been triggered. Mission accomplished.

[Reward 1—The second phase of Doctors with Parental Heart is complete. This reward will be calculated independently.

[Reward 2—200 points to related interventional radiology skills and 20000 experience points obtained.]

Zheng Ren was slightly confused. Was the fickle-minded System giving out red packets?

Judging by the descriptions provided, the System must have decided to reward him at the last minute after he had chosen to give up the previous mission and flawlessly finish Zheng Yunxia’s surgery.

Since when had the fickle System become so kind?

Moreover, 200 points would be added to every related interventional radiology skill. That was awesome.

Previously, all his interventional radiology skills—cardiovascular, neurosurgery, endovascular and visceral—had been upgraded to the Master rank. Even though 200 points were basically a drop in the ocean compared to the 5000 required for further advancement, he had still obtained a total of 800 skill points from this mission.

The System was indeed generous.

The second phase of Doctors with Parental Heart had turned from grey to a completed state in the System panel. Zheng Ren then received its rewards—10 skill points and 1000 experience points; unfortunately, there was no additional bonus due to the missed deadline.

As for the main mission, since he had performed two interventional radiology-assisted surgeries as well as a tier-three surgery, he had been awarded a 4+4=8 completion rate, which meant that he had completed another cycle of the mission.

10 skill points and 1000 experience points were just a miniscule part of his current “wealth”.

The fact that Zheng Ren had accumulated 3162 points in his general surgery skill tree exhilarated him as the Master rank was achievable if he threw all of his saved-up 1849 points into it.

However, after hesitating for a while, he decided to give up his dream of acquiring the Master rank in general surgery.

After all, the emergency department was a f*cked-up place. God only knew when a difficult situation beyond his capabilities would arise and demand he resolve it with a life at stake.

He had enough skill books to increase one skill to Graduate rank. If he could save up 4000 points…One subspecialty would be instantly upgraded to the Master rank…

Zheng Ren started daydreaming.

Greed was a normal trait in all human beings.

That was only part of it, though. More importantly, Zheng Ren reasoned that the addition of skill points had to be coupled with surgical practice before he could proficiently perform operations using highly advanced techniques, just like how interventional radiological treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma had given him plenty of insight into interventional radiology.

Staring regretfully at the general surgery skill tree, Zheng Ren decided to study hard and gain as many skill points as he could.

It was better to save up the points for now as his current Expert rank was more than enough to deal with existing emergency cases.

It had been a while since he had last converted experience points to surgery intensive training time. However, with 111260 points sitting in his inventory, he could only exchange them for slightly below 31 hours.

Zheng Ren felt that the System had been more generous during his intensive training for appendectomy as its time had been calculated in days.

Even so, there was no way he would willingly go through that again.

Unlike the current peace and quiet, he had been threatened with elimination, and the System had been unstable and on the verge of collapse. Thus, he was very happy for this continued tranquility despite the reduced rewards from the unpredictable System.

He was quite conservative with his resources, anyway.

Content, Zheng Ren quietly sat beside the pond in the mysterious world and enjoyed this quiet moment, a luxury he rarely had.

Zheng Ren stared blankly at the pond and completely emptied his mind, savoring the calm and escape from his hectic medical life.

The pond had grown to twice its size without his knowledge, and the water was crystal-clear, resembling a large, beautifully carved gem. The thatched cottage opposite him was still the same with its unlatched wooden door, but the door would not budge at all after numerous attempts at pushing it.

The little fox statue at the door was getting increasingly realistic, and he would not have been surprised if the statue came alive.

Silence reigned in the mysterious world. When Zheng Ren met the fox’s gaze, he was overcome with déjà vu rather than fear or other negative emotions.

When, where or why they had met remained a mystery to him.

Nor was he willing to think about it. It was better not to let these trivial matters disturb such a quiet and warm moment.

A smile gradually formed on Zheng Ren’s face as he stared into the little fox statue’s eyes.

He was truly having a good time.

…

…

Not knowing how much time had passed, Zheng Ren suddenly detected a presence in the on-call room. He quickly summoned himself back to reality and opened his eyes.

The person who had returned was Su Yun. Zheng Ren, who was in a good mood, greeted him enthusiastically, “Done with dinner?”

“Yes.” Su Yun was still reluctant to speak to Zheng Ren. “Professor Pei wanted you to replace him as a fly-in, fly-out surgeon in case he can’t attend surgeries, and Old Chief Physician Pan promised you to him after a couple of drinks.”

A fly-in, fly-out surgeon?

It never occured to Zheng Ren that he would have taken such a title one day.

Come to think of it, he had already achieved the Master rank in interventional radiology, so it was within reason that he would be a fly-in, fly-out surgeon once in a while.

“Bullsh*t,” Su Yun said angrily, “Professor Pei doesn’t understand the situation, but what about Old Chief Physician Pan? What is the scope of practice registered on your medical license? A fly-in, fly-out surgeon? Any registered hospital will require a copy of your license, so are you going to perform interventional radiology as a general surgeon?”

Zheng Ren thought about it and realized that Su Yun’s words made sense.

However, that was just a minor and insignificant detail.

He truly had no desire to fly around as well. There was a lot on his plate already; was that not enough? Although he could secure a large income by being a fly-in, fly-out surgeon, why would he, a chief resident, even need so much money for?

He was just a bachelor who had no courage to find a girlfriend.

“Where are they?” Zheng Ren changed the topic.

“Chu Yanran, Chu Yanzhi and Xie Yiren returned home together because Xie Yiren’s house is nearer and more convenient for them if there are any emergency cases tonight.”

“How convenient?” Zheng Ren could not grasp the scope of the matter. Xie Yiren had once mentioned that she had a house nearby with its own garage.

However, poverty had limited his imagination, and he was unable to form a picture that was even close to the actual situation.

“Somewhere near the hospital within a five-minute walking distance,” answered Su Yun bluntly as he changed out of his clothes, took out a clean sheet from a cabinet and put it on the bed.

Sea City General Hospital was located in the city center, and every area reachable with a five-minute walk was a high-end community area.

A five-minute walk was equivalent to a one- to two-minute drive. She could drive directly from her house to the hospital’s underground parking lot, take the elevator to the operating theater, and still arrive at the same time as he did with the patient.

‘Tut-tut… It’s nice to be wealthy,’ Zheng Ren thought.

“By the way, I performed another interventional radiological treatment for postpartum hemorrhaging while you were out having a meal. Take a look at the patient when you’re free,” said Zheng Ren, recalling it.

“Got it,” replied Su Yun plainly, unsurprised.

The night went on uneventfully. There was no drunk driving, drunken brawl, drug overdose or hemorrhaging. The world had seemed to quiet down.

How good it would be if there was no disease in the world.

Zheng Ren had a dream where everyone was prosperous and lived a healthy life, which greatly satisfied him.

However, it was just a dream.

At half-past three in the morning, Zheng Ren was awoken by a phone call. “Chief Zheng, something has happened!”