Chapter 3

Three forty-five in the afternoon.

The piercing siren of an ambulance grew closer, urgent like death’s own summons.

“Quick! Clear the way! Car accident! Closed abdominal injury! Hemorrhagic shock!”

The accompanying doctor shouted hoarsely, pushing a stretcher into the hall.

On the stretcher, an elegantly dressed middle-aged woman had a face as pale as paper, her abdomen visibly swollen.

Blood stained half the sheet, and the blood pressure monitor's alarm shrieked.

Following closely behind was a well-dressed but disheveled middle-aged man – Mr. Anderson, the city's wealthiest man.

He grabbed the doctor’s hand and yelled:

“Save her! No matter the cost! You must save her!”

I was about to step forward to admit the patient, but a figure moved faster than me.

“I’m the Vice Dean! I’ll take this!”

Tony had somehow ambled into the ER with Korina.

He instantly recognized Anderson and saw the priceless sapphire bracelet on the woman’s wrist.

This was an enormous opportunity, the perfect ladder to climb among the powerful.

He pushed me aside and rushed to the stretcher, pretending to press the patient’s abdomen.

“Korina! Prepare for IV access! Prepare for ultrasound!”

Korina, still holding the iced coffee she’d just bought to watch me fail, casually tossed it aside and scurried around after Tony. Though clumsy, her voice was loud.

“Oh dear, so much blood! How scary!”

“Dean, you’re truly amazing, you spotted the problem right away!”

Tony fumbled around on the patient’s stomach a few times, then his face showed a flicker of certainty:

“Abdomen rigid as a board, obvious tenderness in the upper left quadrant, this is a classic case of traumatic splenic rupture with severe hemorrhage!”

“Quick! Notify General Surgery! Prepare for exploratory laparotomy and splenectomy immediately!”

He ordered loudly, adopting the air of a renowned physician.

Anderson, hearing a diagnosis, clutched at it like a drowning man:

“Okay! Cut it!”

“As long as she’s saved, cut whatever you need to!”

The surrounding medical staff immediately sprang into action, pushing the stretcher towards the General Surgery operating room.

That’s it! In my previous life, this diagnosis had killed her!

She didn’t have a splenic rupture!

I suddenly lunged forward, gripping the stretcher’s railing tightly, the immense inertia causing the cart to jerk to a halt.

“Don’t go to General Surgery!”

I shouted loudly, my voice cutting through the clamor.

“This isn’t a splenic rupture! This is a ruptured ectopic pregnancy!”

“And it’s an interstitial pregnancy rupture!”

“She needs to be sent to the Gynecology operating room immediately for uterine horn resection to stop the bleeding!”

The entire room fell silent.

Tony’s face twitched with rage.

He rushed over and grabbed my collar:

“Anthony! Are you insane?”

“The patient is fifty years old!”

“She’s probably already menopausal! How could she be pregnant?”

“Are you losing your mind just to steal credit? This is a matter of life and death!”

Korina also covered her mouth nearby, shrieking in feigned surprise:

“Anthony, you’re just disgusting!”

“Earlier in the exam room, you wanted to take off that lady’s pants, and now she’s in shock, and you’re still trying to link it to a female condition?”

“Do you only think about *that* area whenever you see a female patient?”

Her words were venomous.

Anderson’s already anxious face instantly contorted into a snarl.

As a man, hearing such words, his anger ignited immediately.

“You bastard!”

Anderson rushed forward and punched me hard in the face.

I staggered backward, tasting blood in my mouth, but I didn’t even bother to wipe it.

“Mr. Anderson! Listen to me!”

“I’ve observed her vital signs; the abdominal distension is asymmetrical, and there’s a clear mass in the right uterine horn!”

“If the bleeding isn’t stopped immediately, she’ll be in mortal danger within five minutes!”

I tried to rush back to block the stretcher but was firmly restrained by two ER security guards.

“Pull him away! Get this lunatic out of here!”

Tony roared.

“Don’t let him delay the rescue!”

“Anthony, you’re suspended! Get out of my sight!”

Korina hid by the stretcher, watching me being dragged away pitifully, a triumphant, malicious smirk playing on her lips.

She leaned in close to Anderson, thoughtfully offering him a tissue.

“Please don’t be angry, Mr. Anderson. This Anthony has always had a problematic reputation; everyone in our hospital knows it.”

“Don’t worry, Tony is an expert, he’ll definitely save your wife.”

Anderson shot me a look of disgust and spat on the floor:

“Once my wife’s surgery is done, I’ll get my lawyers to destroy you, you quack!”

The stretcher rumbled away, and the operating room door slammed shut with a bang.

The red light flickered on.

I was tossed onto the cold ER floor by the security guards.

Around me were the contemptuous stares of patients and their families, and whispered accusations.

“Is that the pervert doctor?”

“He doesn’t even spare a fifty-year-old, how disgusting.”

“Why hasn’t this kind of person been fired yet?”

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and slowly stood up, leaning against the wall.

A sense of powerlessness washed over me like a tide.

I knew the truth, I wanted to save her.

But I was crushed by authority and public opinion.

But I didn't leave.

I leaned against the wall outside the operating room, staring intently at that red light.

I glanced at my watch.

Four fifteen. Ten more minutes.

As soon as Tony opened the abdominal cavity and found the spleen perfectly intact,

While blood poured into the abdominal cavity.

That would be the beginning of his nightmare.

And I had to be here. Because a life was at stake.

Even if misunderstood, even if beaten.

I couldn’t watch her die at the hands of that idiot.

This is what it means to be a doctor.