Husband, quench this wicked fire.

Luo Hao gave a mischievous grin.

"Uncle, don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Luo Hao comforted him. "It was an emergency resuscitation, you know how it is, things get a bit rushed. It won't happen again next time."

"It's good that you know. Human life may be paramount, but your own life matters even more," Lin Yuming chided him, almost grabbing Luo Hao by the ear.

How come I didn't hear you say that when we were scrambling for eggs? Luo Hao muttered inwardly, but obediently nodded along.

"Put it another way, if you don't even cherish your own body, how can you expect to cherish your patients' bodies? Are you out of your mind?"

That made complete sense, and Luo Hao nodded repeatedly.

"Is the patient okay now?"

"I definitely can't say this to the patient's family, but with the door closed and just the two of us talking, he's out of danger," Luo Hao smiled. "I performed the surgery, Uncle, you can rest assured."

Lin Yuming's emotions were somewhat complex.

His family's young pup was growing up, but the speed of this growth left him utterly astonished.

It seemed just a few days ago, Luo Hao was the classic example of someone who showed promise early but might not amount to much later. A child hiding under his wings, making all sorts of unrealistic demands.

Yet, starting at some unknown point, he had quietly changed. Now he was sharp, capable, and had even accomplished things Lin Yuming wouldn't even dare to dream of.

"Look at what you've done to this place," Lin Yuming sighed. "What if things get stolen? We'll have to assign people to stand guard here."

Luo Hao also found it a bit tricky. After thinking for a moment, his eyes lit up.

"Uncle, wait a moment."

With that, Luo Hao walked out of the gastrointestinal endoscopy room and saw the operations manager sent by Nie Changchun sitting outside in the dim waiting area, scrolling on her smartphone.

"Hey," Luo Hao waved.

The female manager leaped up from her chair and jogged over, scampering like a character out of a cartoon.

"The surgery is done, thank you," Luo Hao expressed his gratitude in a warm, friendly, and sunny manner.

The female manager was momentarily stunned. This was completely different from the impression Luo Hao had just given her.

"It's all part of the job, Dr. Luo, you're too polite."

"What's your name?"

"My name is Wang Jiani. You can call me Little Wang, or... Big Nini, either is fine," Wang Jiani said.

Luo Hao always felt she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't recall where he had seen her.

"Manager Wang, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Ha! Dr. Luo, you are too polite. President Nie specifically instructed that you are an S-tier client of our company, and your needs are definitely S-tier as well. It's my honor to be able to serve you."

S-tier?

Boss?

Luo Hao wanted to check if there was a health bar floating above his head.

"Help me watch the door. If anyone tries to go in, call me immediately," Luo Hao thought for a moment and added, "If any strangers approach, call me too. Your safety is the most important thing."

Wang Jiani never expected to become a security guard thirty years ahead of schedule.

However, her professional ethics remained intact, and she firmly remembered what Nie Changchun had said—Luo Hao was an S-tier client of the company.

Besides, watching a door was infinitely better than dealing with wandering hands.

"Don't worry, Dr. Luo. I guarantee I'll complete the mission, and I guarantee my own safety so I won't waste your precious time."

Wang Jiani stood at attention and struck a quirky pose.

!!!

Luo Hao remembered now. Wang Jiani's movement was very similar to Elysia from the mobile game Honkai Impact 3rd.

"Are you a coser?" Luo Hao asked.

"Ah, you noticed!" Wang Jiani bounced up, as if she had found a kindred spirit.

But the very next second, she stood obediently in place, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Caution in front of an S-tier client took the upper hand.

Luo Hao smiled. "Then I'll be leaving, I'll leave this place to you. Right, let's exchange contact info first."

After exchanging phone numbers and WeChat IDs, Luo Hao turned around to find Lin Yuming.

Lin Yuming had already walked out and was standing behind Luo Hao. He looked Wang Jiani up and down, thinking this girl wasn't bad—she deserved his family's little pig.

It was a pity she probably worked for a medical device manufacturer. Doctors nowadays didn't dare get too close to such people; Luo Hao was truly bold, so he definitely needed to remind him more often.

On the way out, Luo Hao inevitably had to listen to Lin Yuming lecture him once again about keeping his distance from manufacturer representatives, otherwise, it looked suspicious and invited gossip.

Luo Hao listened with one ear and let all the words drift out the other, not taking it to heart at all.

He was a shareholder; could he take advantage of his own company? What a joke.

His uncle's perspective was simply too narrow.

After seeing Lin Yuming into his car, Luo Hao waved goodbye.

Capped in blood and grime, Luo Hao thought for a moment and decided to check on the patient in the ICU first.

Wang Guohua was standing by the patient's bedside, staring at the monitor. He was tall and built like a small mountain.

"Director Guohua, you should go get some rest, I've got things covered here. Dragging you out for surgery in the middle of the night, you've worked hard," Luo Hao said softly.

"..." The moment Wang Guohua saw Luo Hao, his PTSD flared up instantly.

In decades, no one had ever lectured him and treated him like a third-generation grandson the way Luo Hao did.

Although it was just a phone call, Wang Guohua's memory had already warped, stubbornly leaving him with the impression of Luo Hao pointing right at his nose and telling him to go home and hold his grandchildren.

"Director Guohua? Are you tired? Let me check your blood pressure," Luo Hao asked with concern.

"..."

What are you doing with your life?! If you don't get the patient to the operating room within three minutes, pack your bags and go home to hold your grandkids!

These words echoed with crystal clarity in his ears, stinging Wang Guohua's eardrums like needles.

Too outrageous!

Simply too outrageous!!

Yet, Wang Guohua was a reasonable man. Facts proved that the surgery was a success, and Luo Hao had single-handedly pulled the patient back from the gates of hell.

On this point alone, Wang Guohua had nothing to say.

The man managed to pull the patient back while he himself couldn't do it. Even if Luo Hao cursed at him to his face, he would just have to take it.

Wang Guohua was reasonable; he could curse at others, and others could curse at him too.

"Director Guohua, I'm sorry about earlier," Luo Hao apologized softly, bowing slightly at the waist with utmost sincerity. "It really was too urgent. You know it, the patient could vomit another mouthful of blood at any second and genuinely die right then and there."

"Of course I know, otherwise you think I'd pamper you?" Wang Guohua wanted to say something tough to save face.

The scolding had happened, he had taken it, so naturally, he felt he needed to say something after the fact.

Yet, the moment the words reached his lips, he recalled the surgical field in the gastrointestinal endoscope, completely stained with dark red blood.

Luo Hao had actually managed to use the suction device to achieve instant exposure and prepare to locate the bleeding source under a completely red, obscured camera view without any clear surgical field. That kind of capability was simply heaven-defying.

"How did you pull that off?" Wang Guohua swallowed back all his harsh words and turned to ask instead.

"Cirrhosis and gastric variceal bleeding—Rongcheng's technical level is very high. I have a senior martial brother working in West China Hospital who deals with this kind of work, and I learned it from him."

Wang Guohua was speechless.

Luo Hao had deployed the "I have a senior martial brother" defense mechanism, and Wang Guohua had no way to refute it.

As hepatitis B spread across the country, Sichuan—where people loved eating hot pot—had the highest number of infected patients. Similar to hepatitis B, anorectal diseases were also high-incidence ailments in Sichuan.

Later on, the joke went around: "Century-old West China, gold-medal stomatology, ace proctology"—all originated from right here.

Luo Hao wasn't entirely wrong in saying that.

However, Wang Guohua always felt that Luo Hao wasn't telling the whole truth.

A senior martial brother... no matter how he listened to it, it sounded like an evasion.

"Director Guohua, this surgical procedure can also be done electively," Luo Hao said.

"What?"

"Gastric variceal sclerotherapy; the surgical efficacy is very high. If you want to see more of it, you can admit some similar patients, and I'll perform it for you."

"!!!"

Wang Guohua was naturally curious, and hearing Luo Hao say this made his heart itch as if a little kitten was scratching at it.

During his era, there was no such thing as bandaging surgeries; relevant patients either went home to observe or took the risk of failing the procedure by undergoing a meso-azygos disconnection operation.

It sounded like a single procedure, but in reality, the meso-azygos disconnection operation was infinitely complex, including but not limited to: splenectomy and esophagogastric junction peripheral vascular disconnection (Hassab operation); circular stapler-assisted lower esophageal transection plus splenectomy; esophagogastric junction peripheral vascular disconnection and gastric fundus circular staple-clipping operation; transthoracic/transabdominal splenectomy, cardial peripheral vascular disconnection and lower esophageal transection (Sugiura operation); transabdominal splenectomy followed by gastric coronary vein embolization; gastric fundus transection; lower esophageal and gastric fundus resection, and so on.

In short, all related blood vessels had to be severed.

The surgery was complex as hell, and Wang Guohua still got a headache just thinking about it.

Although the postoperative results were definitely better than bandaging procedures, the surgical risks were immense, and the success rate was very low.

Who would do a meso-azygos disconnection if bandaging was an option!

"Alright!" Wang Guohua said loudly. "On outpatient clinic day, I'll see about admitting a few."

"Director Guohua, you should rest now," Luo Hao said again. "Don't worry, I'm here."

"Fine."

"I'll report to you if anything happens," Luo Hao said. "In a moment, you can mute my WeChat. I'll take photos of the lab results and send them to you. The moment you open your eyes tomorrow morning, you'll see them."

A sentence that would sound ordinary to anyone else made Wang Guohua feel considerably more at ease.

"I saw the village chief still outside just now. Does the patient have no family?"

"None. Just an old bachelor. He had his incident in the town and no one in the village even knew. It only reached the village later, which is why the village chief came looking for me."

Wang Guohua gave a brief explanation, patted Luo Hao on the shoulder without saying anything further, and turned to leave.

Luo Hao watched Wang Guohua leave, then called Chen Yong and agreed to meet him in the ICU.

Red blood cells were already being transfused, and the patient's vital signs were gradually stabilizing. Luo Hao relaxed and reviewed the system task from earlier.

The task required him to treat a patient vomiting blood. The rewards included conventional experience points, system surgical training time, and... a spinning roulette wheel.

The task had been completed for a while, but Luo Hao hadn't paid attention to the system reward, and the roulette wheel had just kept spinning.

Luo Hao was about to mentally click the roulette wheel when he suddenly realized something.

He didn't rush. Instead, he first went to the operating room locker room to take a shower and change into a set of clean isolation scrubs.

Feeling refreshed, Luo Hao observed again and saw that the roulette wheel had no time limit, so he wasn't in a hurry.

The most important matter at hand right now was that Wen Youren was secretly eyeing him.

He was like a vicious wolf, and no one knew when he would suddenly pounce and take a fierce bite out of him.

Even worse!

This matter could potentially impact liver cancer interventional therapy nationwide.

Although Wen Youren didn't have that much power on his own, he could still act as a butterfly flapping its wings.

He absolutely could not be careless.

It was already very late, and Luo Hao couldn't call friends or family for help at this hour.

He would deal with it tomorrow.

With the meticulousness of someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Luo Hao confirmed once more that the roulette wheel had no time limit, and only then did he leave.

Arriving at the ICU, Chen Yong had already arrived and was standing by the patient's bedside, watching the ECG monitor.

Vital signs were stable, and the blood pressure was slightly higher than when Luo Hao had sent Wang Guohua away.

It was foreseeable that the patient's blood pressure would steadily rise as the blood transfusion and fluid replacement progressed.

The patient could be transferred out of the ICU in about two days, and if things went smoothly, discharged in a week.

"Luo Hao, you're back." Chen Yong turned upon hearing footsteps, his phoenix eyes squinting through his surgical mask. "Since the priest has vented his evil fire, he should be able to rest easy for a few days, though it's tough on old Director Guohua."

"..."

Chen Yong never said anything serious. Right after an emergency resuscitation, this guy was already quoting lines from *The Plum in the Golden Vase* to tease him.

"Hey, Luo Hao, you were fierce as hell directing that rescue. That evil fire of yours was so blazing it made my liver tremble," Chen Yong whispered in praise. "You didn't see Director Guohua's face—how terribly dark it was when you roared at him to go home and hold his grandkids while I accompanied him to transfer the patient."

"No choice, your speed was too slow."

"Slow? Are you kidding me, do you think everyone is Superman?" Chen Yong rebuked. "We had to prepare the cart, bring the monitor, emergency medications, adrenaline, dopamine, metaraminol, whatever was needed—all of that takes time."

"Rush you guys, and you'll be faster."

Chen Yong rolled his eyes twice and asked with a mysterious air, "Luo Hao, was that gastrointestinal endoscopy room door kicked open by you? Technically, you broke and entered, right?"

"Break into, break into."

That terrible pun earned him Chen Yong's utter disdain.

"I'm looking for you because I have something to ask," Luo Hao said. "Wait a moment."

With that, Luo Hao found the ICU doctor to review the patient's emergency lab results, confirmed everything was stable, and gave his phone number to the ICU doctor, instructing him to call him immediately if there were any unstable fluctuations in the patient's condition.

After giving these instructions, Luo Hao and Chen Yong left.

Instead of returning directly to the ward, Luo Hao led Chen Yong to the fire exit and offered him a cigarette.

"Chen Yong, the magic you learned at Hogwarts is quite useful."

"???"

"Tell me, what suggestions do magic and mysticism have for hospital emergency resuscitations?" Luo Hao asked.

"Holy shit!" Chen Yong was surprised. "You actually believe it?"

"I do, why wouldn't I?" Luo Hao said. "The end of medicine is metaphysics, and the end of science is even more so. Which frontline on-duty doctor doesn't believe in the God of Night Shifts?"

"To artificially create a deity and enjoy the incense offerings of a million frontline clinical doctors nationwide—just thinking about it is exhilarating."

"Actually, I didn't go abroad the first year after graduation, I went the second year."

"Where did you go the first year?"

"Qingcheng Mountain Taoist College, sat in as an auditor for a year."

"!!!"

Luo Hao felt that Chen Yong truly did not apply himself to proper business; graduating university without doing residency training and instead wandering the mountains and rivers.

His parents must have been very wealthy and extremely indulgent toward him.

Chen Yong belonged to the category of children who grew up in a honey jar.

"Speaking from a metaphysical perspective, I actually do have a suggestion. To be honest, I've suggested it before, but no one listened."

"Let's hear it."

"For example, there's a saying online—hospital clocks should be three minutes slow. That's an agreement with the King of Hell: give me three minutes; if I win, the person belongs to me; if I lose, the person belongs to you."

"I've never heard of it," Luo Hao shook his head. "Though that line has a great vibe to it, it's worth a try."

"No, no, no. I mean I came up with that phrase casually a few years ago while meditating at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, and posted it in an online forum. Over time, it turned into a meme."

"他还真敢说？" (Wait, "Aha!?" or similar)

"Pretty impressive, right?" Chen Yong looked rather pleased, took off his mask, bit the cigarette between his lips, and took a deep drag.

"It's alright. What I'm asking you about is serious business," Luo Hao said solemnly. "Even if metaphysics is metaphysics, and you might not know much, increasing the odds by even 1% is still 1%, which is always good."

Chen Yong took a ballpoint pen from the upper pocket of his white coat, pulled out a discarded lab report, and drew a few lines on the back.

It looked like Gomoku or Go.

Then he drew twenty-some pieces. Chen Yong's movements were practiced, the placement of each piece ingrained in his muscle memory.

"The teacher at Qingcheng Mountain Taoist College said that if I ever became a doctor one day, this would be the most mystical thing."

"Oh? What is this?"

"A standard opening pattern in Go," Chen Yong said while coloring in a portion of the circles. "Impermanence holds black, medical staff hold white. Black plays thirteen moves to seize souls and spirits, white places twelve to guard the yang origin. When raging pestilence exhausts all tricks, white's remaining single move works wonders to bring back spring."

"Look, where should the next move go?" Chen Yong handed the paper to Luo Hao.

Luo Hao took the ballpoint pen and pondered for a long time.

"Black plays 13 pieces, white plays 12 pieces, and the next move belongs to white. Once white moves, the game is won. In the hospital context, it implies that the disease has played all its tricks, and next, as soon as the hospital makes a move, it can work wonders and bring the patient back to health."

"I don't play Go," Luo Hao shrugged, casually tucking the ballpoint pen into his own pocket.

"Play here." Chen Yong wanted to continue the game, but he didn't have a pen in hand. He reached out for it, but Luo Hao acted as if he didn't see.

"Doesn't matter, leaving blank spaces gives it poetic charm," Chen Yong smiled. "My teacher said this is metaphysics."

Luo Hao folded the discarded lab report neatly and put it away.

Seeing Luo Hao's serious attitude, Chen Yong felt deeply gratified.

"Luo Hao, I've never dared to say I like these things. Only my master knew, and he didn't despise me for it."

"It's normal. Even if it's just to catch a lucky omen, one should do it."

Luo Hao thought of the countdown to death issued by the system.

If he could gain three extra minutes of time, he wouldn't have had to press old Director Guohua so relentlessly.

With that thought, he took out his phone and adjusted the time forward by three minutes.

"You're not actually taking this seriously, are you?" Chen Yong was surprised by Luo Hao's execution speed.

"If I told you that if you guys had delayed by another five minutes, that patient would have died, would you believe it?"

"I believe it. Although my clinical foundation isn't solid, I could see he was at death's door at any moment. Why did we delay earlier? Because Director Guohua wanted the nurse to fetch emergency medications—things like adrenaline, dopamine, metaraminol, he had to bring all of them, plus endotracheal intubation equipment."

Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Luo Hao stopped thinking about the damn countdown to death and let out a long sigh of relief.

"By the way, how did you perform that surgery? There was zero surgical field." Chen Yong asked.

"Done normally. There was still a surgical field, but... let me give you an example. There's an e-sports player who kept complaining about dropped frames; you know about that, right?"

Chen Yong nodded.

That incident was very famous in the gaming circle.

"Others couldn't see it, or felt it made no difference, but to that player, not only could he see it, it affected his gameplay. Later, when the frame drop issue was resolved, he left everyone else in the dust."

"Talent is talent. You simply cannot comprehend the cognitive level of someone with high skill."

Damn!!

Chen Yong got sprayed in the face by Luo Hao again, silently cursing in his heart that Luo Hao would die if he didn't flex for a single day.

Yet it seemed Luo Hao wasn't even flexing; he was just stating the facts.

"Let's go," Luo Hao extinguished his cigarette, reached out for Chen Yong's cigarette butt, and after stepping out of the fire exit, doused the already extinguished butt with water before throwing it into the trash can.

"You really have OCD. Tell me, do you have to perform a set of the *Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms* at your doorway every day before you dare to leave?"

"It's not that exaggerated. I just stand at the doorway for three minutes, double-check twice to make sure I haven't left anything behind, and then I can go."

The patient was stable post-surgery.

This kind of emergency patient arrived with overwhelming severity, but as long as hemostasis was successful, the rest was just blood transfusion and fluid therapy to avoid rare complications like DIC. The difficulty wasn't high.

The hardest step—pulling the person back from the gates of hell—had already been accomplished by Luo Hao within those few minutes.

The night passed quietly, and Luo Hao grabbed some makeshift rest in the medical affairs office.

Early the next morning, Luo Hao washed up and felt refreshed.

Youth was wonderful. Although he had been busy all night, enduring a high-octane emergency resuscitation with adrenaline pumping, Luo Hao was back to normal after a few hours of sleep.

He checked the time and made a call.

"Director Xu, hello, this is Luo Hao," Luo Hao said politely.

"Little Luo, long time no see. How have you been recently?"

Luo Hao concisely described his recent work status, like an upper-level resident reporting a medical history to a superior.

Without beating around the bush, Luo Hao asked directly, "Director Xu, I have two liver cancer interventional embolization surgeries today, but I checked the iodized oil package insert and it doesn't list an indication for it."

"In 1901, a Frenchman invented iodized oil, which was used for disinfection at the time. Later in 1963, a Japanese doctor started performing liver cancer interventional surgeries, but didn't use iodized oil. In 1982, iodized oil was used in liver cancer interventional therapy."

Director Xu began tracing the history of iodized oil.

Luo Hao listened quietly.

"For so many years, interventional doctors worldwide have been pushing to have cancer interventional embolization added to the iodized oil package insert. Because of this, quite a big storm was kicked up."

"To make a long story short, in recent years, outside of domestic iodized oil, the package inserts finally included the indication for cancer interventional therapy."

"What about domestically?" Luo Hao asked.

"It's still going through NMPA approval. I'm going to make a trip there recently to push this matter forward."

With that, Director Xu's laughter came over the line.

"Little Luo, your mind is attentive enough," Director Xu said. "You even read the package insert for iodized oil. No wonder, no wonder."

Director Xu said "no wonder" twice, but left the reason unstated.

"Director Xu, then I'll have to trouble you. Since the package insert lacks the indication, it counts as off-label use, and I feel uneasy using it."

"I'll do my best. When do you have time to come visit me?"

After a few casual remarks, the two hung up the phone.

Luo Hao looked at the spinning roulette wheel still in the system space, gathered his focus, took out the Wish-Granting Stone (Small), solidified his intent, and tried to use it.

This time the small stone was usable. After a burst of light, it faded into nothingness.

Luo Hao had a thought and clicked the roulette wheel.

A dozen seconds later, the roulette wheel stopped, the pointer finally pointing to a narrow spot. Luo Hao stared intently, a mix of bewilderment and joy washing over him.