Chapter 67

Unsure what chemical reaction was triggered by sleeping in Yan Shuo's world of consciousness, Xie Xubai had a strange dream that night.

This dream was strange because he could clearly perceive that he was dreaming.

In his dream, he found himself in an unfamiliar jungle. Above him was a star-studded night sky, and ahead lay lush greenery. Fireflies danced and fluttered among the flowers, blending into the tranquil night and emitting warm, twinkling yellow glows.

What should have been a pleasant and comfortable scene, Xie Xubai inexplicably felt a little bittersweet.

He smelled the cold, damp air, mixed with a faint bitterness and saltiness.

He tried to get up, but could only sit helplessly under the tree, his body soaked in cold sweat, the sticky fabric of his clothes clinging to his skin.

A buzzing sound filled my ears, and all that remained in the world was the sound of my own heavy, intermittent breathing.

A strong, metallic taste suddenly welled up in his throat, which he swallowed back forcefully; it was hot and had a metallic sweetness.

...Was he injured?

Where is this?

Perhaps due to his hazy memory, Xie Xubai did not know what the scenery outside the jungle was like, so a thick, impenetrable white fog enveloped all around.

The swirling white mist, lingering and persistent, made the jungle where he was located look like a small, isolated island.

Realizing that sitting there wouldn't work, he gritted his teeth, held his breath, and stood up, leaning against a large tree, exploring along the edge of the white mist.

Push aside the waist-high shrubs, and you'll find a cobblestone path directly ahead.

The path wound its way forward, but there was no end to it, only surging, billowing white mist.

Just as Xie Xubai was at his wit's end, the noise around him suddenly subsided, and several faint shouts came from the direction of the path.

"——"

The sound rose and fell, like the ebb and flow of the tide, deep and hoarse, surging and powerful. But through a thin veil of mist, it was difficult to hear clearly.

Xie Xubai felt for no apparent reason that the voice was calling to him.

His nose stung, and he felt a tightness in his chest, making it hard to breathe.

Xie Xubai wanted to ask: Where is this place? And who are you? Do you want me to come to you? There is fog blocking the way ahead, and I can't get through.

But as he opened his mouth, it began to move uncontrollably, opening and closing naturally, uttering teasing words with a hint of a smile: "Alright, alright, you're making my ears go deaf. What's the rush? I'll be there soon."

After he finished speaking, he leaned on the tree trunk and stubbornly continued walking forward.

My steps were unsteady, and my vision was blurry.

Suddenly, the dream began to waver and sway.

The scene before me was like a lake surface rippled violently after a stone was thrown into it. The ground beneath my feet was also shaken into several jagged ravines, with mud and rocks flying everywhere.

With a loud crash, the ground collapsed! Everything happened in the blink of an eye, leaving no time to react.

His eyes widened, and he fell uncontrollably downwards, plunging into the dark, cold abyss.

...

Xie Xubai suddenly woke up!

He was still in shock, his chest felt incredibly heavy, as if a huge rock was pressing down on it, and he could hardly breathe, just like in his nightmare.

When I reached out and touched it, I grabbed a handful of soft, fluffy fur.

Upon touching it again, I found several little heads.

Xie Xubai peeked over and said, "..."

No wonder I felt suffocated; with several cats pressing down on my chest, it was impossible to breathe.

The little ones were fast asleep. He smiled helplessly, not bothering to kick the cat off the bed, and turned to look out the window.

It was still early, just as dawn was breaking. Soon, a few rays of orange-red sunlight pierced through the gaps in the curtains, warm and bright, falling into his eyes and gradually dispelling the fear in his dream.

He regained a sense of being alive.

Just then, the little ones seemed to be overwhelmed by the sunlight and opened their eyes one after another, yawned widely, and rested their heads against the young man's chest, lazily rubbing against him.

Xie Xubai lowered his eyelashes and looked at them with a smile in his eyes, then hugged them tightly in his arms.

Before the cats could even react to what was happening, the young man buried his face in their bellies and began to suckle them wildly.

The little faces instantly turned terrified, and they instinctively struggled, crying out, "Meow?"

Xie Xubai raised an eyebrow, his smile like that of a devil: "You slept on me like a mattress all night, and now you want to run away? Too late!"

"Meow—"

Xie Xubai only took pity on the cats and let them go after he had bullied them until they were in tears, then sat up.

Within seconds, he regained his composure and quickly went through everything that had happened last night in his mind.

Since his mother's existence was not a fabrication, Fu Zong's attitude became rather intriguing.

Xie Xubai was certain that his guess was correct; Fu Zong must know them. The key question was when.

Last night, I wasn't thinking straight, and I was caught off guard by Yan Shuo's sudden actions, so I didn't have time to ask Fu Zong what his relationship with him was.

As for asking now...

Recalling Yan Shuo's undisguised predatory desire, Xie Xubai's temples throbbed.

He could tell right away that Yan Shuo was completely clueless when it came to emotions. No, saying "clueless" wouldn't be quite right; he only possessed the physiological logic of a wild beast.

—If you see something you like, then do it.

It doesn't even qualify as "like"; at best, it can only be considered a primal impulse driven by desire.

Given the disparity in strength and physical size, once entangled with her, not only would she lose her chastity, but she might not even be able to save her life.

This is something I can't think about rationally at all; the more I think about it, the more confused I get.

He rubbed his throbbing temples and decided to take it one step at a time.

Just as Xie Xubai was making these plans, he glanced at the gold-rimmed glasses on the bedside table.

He obtained these glasses in the world of consciousness, yet was able to bring them into the real world without any hindrance, indirectly demonstrating that Yan Shuo's strength was unfathomable and that he could maintain the materialization of his spiritual power indefinitely.

Xie Xubai took the glasses, rubbed the frame with his thumb for a moment, and then suddenly said, "Are you also one of Yan Shuo's consciousness clones?"

"Yan Shuo seems to feel extra sensation when I touch you. If I break you in half, will he feel pain?"

Gold-rimmed glasses: "..."

There was no movement.

Xie Xubai examined it from all angles, then suddenly his gaze stopped.

He suppressed the urge to smirk, remaining outwardly calm, then glanced at his glasses for a moment before sighing.

"Why are you being so paranoid again? You'd better get up and go to work."

After saying that, Xie Xubai naturally put his glasses on.

Today was a sunny day, and there were more patients at the hospital than usual. Most of them had come after hearing about yesterday's incident and had booked an appointment with Xie Xubai.

The internal professional title assessment at the First Hospital consists of two parts: performance assessment and professional skills assessment.

Performance appraisal, literally understood, is about results, and is linked to the number of patients treated and the severity of their symptoms.

Xie Xubai's usual assessment score was already full, and the remaining points included in his performance evaluation were also considerable, allowing him to jump directly into the top fifty in the statistics ranking.

The top three winners will be awarded the "Medical Expert" award, which not only enhances the internal reputation but also allows them to freely assign interns from various departments.

Xie Xubai didn't really understand the concept of "arbitrary reassignment" until Director Zhou came over to congratulate him and casually asked, "Did the dean make things difficult for you when he called you over yesterday?"

It was lunch break time, and only medical staff and cleaning ladies were passing by outside the door.

Upon hearing Director Zhou's words, the figures suddenly stopped and silently pricked up their ears.

Xie Xubai looked away and feigned surprise, saying, "No, why would the dean make things difficult for me? It's just that it's my first day working here, and he was worried I wouldn't adapt, so he asked me a few more questions."

This is clearly not the answer the other party wants to hear.

"You still need to be careful." Director Zhou looked at him earnestly. "When the dean first came to the First Hospital, he applied for the position of director of the special department. He treated patients with the same bold and decisive approach as you, and he made a name for himself on the first day... Later, he became the dean."

Xie Xubai couldn't help but exclaim, "So amazing? No wonder you're the dean!"

Seeing the admiration in his eyes, Director Zhou felt like he was talking to a brick wall. He said with exasperation, "Haven't you realized that you're more popular than the dean was back then? Your achievements are overshadowing your superiors!"

"At your rate of admissions, it won't be long before you reach the top performance ranking. As a superior, which person can stand by and watch a highly capable subordinate build up their own power base without any resentment?"

Does employing interns equate to cultivating influence?

After a moment's thought, Xie Xubai realized that "recruitment" might be a literary term, but its actual translation is "outright robbery," meaning that anyone with outstanding abilities could be snatched away and recruited for one's own use.

Those are trusted confidants cultivated by teachers in other departments. With their influence, they may have heard a lot of gossip and secrets. Each department can recruit one or two people, so there is no shortage of intelligence sources.

No wonder it was awarded as one of the top three prizes.

Director Zhou continued earnestly, "The hospital strictly prohibits attending physicians from holding multiple positions. You actually went so far as to contact that damn charity organization. It's like pulling the tiger's whiskers right in front of the mouth. If the hospital director wants to punish you, he won't even need to bother finding an excuse!"

Suddenly, both of their phones rang simultaneously; it was a notification from the hospital.

Director Zhou picked it up and stared intently at the words on it. He involuntarily read them aloud: "In order to better protect the rights and interests of patients and solve the problem of people having difficulty accessing medical care, effective immediately, our hospital hereby agrees to cooperate with the Xu's Charity Organization... What? Cooperation?!"

The First Hospital occupies a prime location in the city center, and everyone wants to get a piece of the pie, but due to its strict review process, it has never had a precedent of cooperating with any other institution.

Director Zhou suddenly opened his eyes wide and stared at Xie Xubai: "Could it be that you did this?"

Xie Xubai shrugged: "At the time, I was only thinking about saving the patients, and only later did I realize that it was inappropriate. I just didn't expect the dean to value it so much, and he made the suggestion this morning... Ah! I'm sorry, should I have said that?"

He suddenly shut his mouth, feigning regret for accidentally saying the wrong thing, which terrified Director Zhou.

Internal reviews usually take half a month, but this one was approved in less than half a day. The dean must have given it the green light behind the scenes!

I originally thought Xie Xubai and the dean were at odds, but now it seems they have a close relationship. What was he doing just now, exposing himself face to face?

Director Zhou became increasingly flustered and hurriedly said, "No, well, how could I be so inconsiderate? Since it's lunch break, I won't disturb Director Xie's rest any longer. Please go ahead—"

"Director Zhou," Xie Xubai called out to him at the right moment, "My patient was switched yesterday, and the hospital director said you're the prime suspect. Do you have any leads?"

"What? How is that possible!" Director Zhou nearly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Looking back, I saw the door was still open, and I hurriedly closed it.

He lowered his voice and pleaded urgently, "Director Xie, you must believe me. What good would it do me to harm you?"

Xie Xubai remained unconvinced, but his expression still showed doubt: "Who could it be? Only the head of the department has the authority to change a patient's medical records. It can't be another head of the department trying to harm me."

“How could they not be? You don’t know, it was them who made me…” Director Zhou almost let slip, but stopped abruptly before he could finish speaking.

Xie Xubai looked him up and down with a smile, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

"You mean someone in the department is framing you? Hmm..." Xie Xubai drawled out the last syllable, as if pondering, then suddenly switched to a nonchalant smile, "Anyway, we've been colleagues after all. Knowing that you don't have any complaints about me makes me feel much more at ease. I hope we can get along well in the future."

Director Zhou nodded vigorously: "If we get along well, of course we can, definitely."

Xie Xubai: "So I would like to ask you for a favor. I have a lot of patients here and can't leave easily. Could you please take this proposal to the dean before my lunch break? It lists the details of the cooperation with the Xu Group."

When Director Zhou saw that there were only ten minutes left in his lunch break, and saw Xie Xubai looking at him with an unquestionable smile, he gritted his teeth and replied, "Okay, I'll go now."

He rushed to the dean's office and knocked three times before the door opened.

Fu Zong, sporting two enormous dark circles under his eyes, clearly had just been catching up on sleep, and gave him a death stare: "What is it?"

Before Director Zhou could speak, Fu Zong had already seen the proposal in his hand, frowned, and took it directly.

After glancing through it once, his expression changed slightly, and he gave Director Zhou a strange look.

When Director Zhou noticed that Fu Zong seemed to be seeing the proposal for the first time, he instinctively felt that something was wrong.

But after a few seconds, the middle-aged man laughed out loud and accepted the proposal: "Okay, thank you for bringing it over."

"I clearly told the administration to wait a few more days, but who would have thought they'd send out a notice now. Never mind, you didn't delete the notice, did you? Let me see it."

Fu Zong spoke naturally, and Director Zhou didn't think much of it. He carefully locked his private communication records before opening the notification message and handing it to the other party.

Fu Zong glanced at it a couple of times, lightly swiped his finger across it, seemingly examining it closely, then turned off the phone and handed it back to Director Zhou: "It's lunch break now, and I guess many people haven't had time to read the notice. In a little while, call the other directors in my name and ask them what they think."

Hearing his self-righteous orders, Director Zhou was a little annoyed. Why was everyone bossing him around?

But he had no choice. Xie Xubai had said that he was the prime suspect, and if he didn't behave well, he might really be made a scapegoat.

Helpless, Director Zhou had no choice but to say goodbye to the dean and go to a secluded corner to make a phone call to inform them.

Strangely, when he notified them one by one, each person responded with silence and did not offer any thoughts.

Until the information reached the outspoken Director Zhang.

The latter was laughing heartily just a second ago, saying, "Old Zhou, what are you up to now?"

The next second, his voice suddenly turned cold, filled with a venomous chill, like the calm before a storm: "When did you become the dean's pawn, and even help him probe our thoughts?"

Director Zhou was startled: "What? Lao Zhang, explain yourself clearly. What do you mean I've become the dean's henchman?"

Before he could finish speaking, Director Zhang said, "There's nothing to say," and hung up the phone.

When Director Zhou heard the busy tone, he was stunned. He suddenly realized that they might not have seen the notification, so he hurriedly searched for the message, trying to prove that he had just given a simple message.

But to everyone's surprise, the message page was completely blank.

What happened? ...Could it be that Fu Zong deleted his notifications when he took his phone out just now?!

With trembling hands, Director Zhou logged into the hospital's platform. If the decision was approved by the hospital administration, there would be an official announcement on the platform's website.

There was nothing.

Director Zhou felt as if struck by lightning, a chill rising from the soles of his feet.

Fu Zong, on the other end, didn't wait long before receiving an impeachment call from Director Li. The caller sharply pointed out that Director Zhou had repeatedly acted out of personal favoritism, made incorrect diagnoses, and misjudged cases in his work, and that there was ample evidence to support this claim.

Fu Zong listened quietly, then smiled cryptically, "We were once your colleagues, how can you be so heartless?"

"..."

Fu Zong sighed regretfully: "I only asked Director Zhou to pass on a message for me. Was it necessary to be so careful? You know, he hasn't even told me anything yet."

"...The Xu's Charity Organization, Director Xie called in the auditor from that organization yesterday. You knew him before?"

Fu Zong smiled faintly: "You just found out? He lost his mother at the age of seven and was adopted by me. He ran away from home at the age of fifteen and disappeared without a trace. Yesterday, my son and I reunited. The scene was incredibly moving, but unfortunately, none of you saw it."

On the other end of the phone, Director Li's face almost turned liver-colored with anger. He sneered, "Who doesn't know that you are dedicated to your job and strive for excellence? You have been living in the hospital dormitory since you started working, rain or shine for more than ten years, and you have never missed a day of seeing patients. How could you have time to raise any children?"

He mentioned that Fu Zong had inadvertently let slip something in his excitement last night.

"Who is Lü Xiangcai? What does he have with you? Are you the Director Xie who's using this to threaten him?"

Fu Zong, his tone flat and unchanging, countered, "I respect your high moral character, but don't make things up without evidence. If you really can't believe it, then bring your evidence and report me."

Director Li choked up, feeling frustrated. The hospital director was the highest authority in the hospital, so where could he possibly report him?

“Fu Zong, don’t be so smug—I will never forget why the former dean got into trouble.”

Fu Zong's smile suddenly froze.

Director Li spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice filled with utter disgust: "One day, I will expose your hypocritical and filthy face in front of everyone!"

The old man slammed down the phone.

Fu Zong stared at his phone, now that the screen was off. The last trace of a smile vanished from his face, leaving it dark and unreadable. His lips tightened into a sharp, straight line.

But not long after, the phone screen lit up again, displaying an unfamiliar message.

I'm so sorry, Dean. I asked Director Zhou to take my diagnosis report upstairs, but he took the wrong one! Is this a convenient place for you? I'll come find you now.

As Fu Zong looked at the text, his eyes changed several times before he suddenly laughed out loud, the gloom on his face dissipating like smoke.

Meanwhile, Xie Xubai received a call from Director Li, who said with concern, "Director Xie, are you free tonight? There's a patient whose condition is serious, and after thinking it over, I think only you can save him."

Tonight? You mean after work?

Xie Xubai asked in confusion, "Are they patients from other hospitals?"

"No, no, no, it's a patient in our hospital, but this patient is a bit special. He's an S-class patient and only appears at midnight."

Xie Xubai reacted quickly, his expression shifting slightly: "You mean the S-level patient that the dean treated?"

“Yes.” Director Li paused, then said seriously, “I suspect he is the former dean who was imprisoned by Fu Zong.”

Author's Note: