A cold draft crept in through the crack, making both of them shiver.
Shi Yuxing stood up, the chair behind him sliding back a distance. This was a rule everyone tacitly agreed upon during Imperial Hospital orientation—once that piano melody played, it meant someone was causing trouble in the hospital.
Medical disputes—Shi Yuxing had only ever seen them online. This was the first time he’d been this close to one. He looked at Lin Anran, feeling at a loss. Lin Anran quickly pulled out his phone, pressing his lips together and frowning. The normally quiet group chat with barely any messages was now exploding with 99+ notifications.
· First-floor nurse on duty: Something’s happened!!!
· An anesthesiologist: Trouble on the first floor?
· An ophthalmologist: Oh my god, it’s been so long since that music played. This is terrifying.
· A gastroenterologist: It’s at the pharmacy. Someone has a knife.
· Lin Anran: Holy crap! Is anyone hurt? What’s going on?
Shi Yuxing looked up, glancing at Lin Anran, and saw him biting his finger as he typed, then lowering his head to scroll through messages.
“Yuxing, there’s a video. I think that person is Yao Jiaqi. Oh god.” Lin Anran suddenly shoved his phone over.
The chaotic pharmacy area was crowded with doctors and patients. Three people stood in the center—two doctors and a man in black. One of the doctors was being held hostage—it was Yao Jiaqi. A flicker of surprise crossed Shi Yuxing’s eyes. The man looked familiar. Squinting and zooming in on the screen, he took a closer look—this was the same person who had been lurking outside his office door before, just without the mask.
The man was cursing viciously, his words hard to make out.
The video suddenly zoomed in on the man’s hand—a silver glint was hidden in his sleeve.
Shi Yuxing recognized it all too well—it was a knife!
The video cut off there. The doctor who’d sent it typed with trembling hands.
· A gastroenterologist: Call the police! Get help! Someone’s going to die!
Shi Yuxing and Lin Anran exchanged a glance. “Should we go down?” Lin Anran asked uncertainly.
…
Even before reaching the first-floor pharmacy, they could hear the shouting.
“Put the knife down!” The security guard held his baton but dared not make a move.
Looking over, Shi Yuxing could clearly see Yao Jiaqi—who’d been missing for nearly a week—being stabbed in the arm by the knife-wielding man.
“AHHH!!!” Screams filled the entire floor. Many people covered their eyes and dodged, unable to watch the bloodshed.
The blade went in white and came out red. The man’s eyes were bloodshot as he pointed the knife at the security guard. “Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll kill you all too!”
Lin Anran grabbed Shi Yuxing’s sleeve, his knuckles protruding. “Holy shit—it really is Yao Jiaqi. He got stabbed.” Shi Yuxing took a deep breath. The man had Yao Jiaqi pinned against the wall with his back to it—no opportunity to attack from behind. This was going to be difficult to resolve.
“I’m sorry about the gland issue. Calm down, patient—let Dr. Yao go.” The hospital director spoke up. “We can discuss follow-up repair work.”
The man was delirious, refusing to listen to anyone. He shook the knife maniacally, spit flying. “You doctors are all liars! Full of crap! My gland—I can’t release pheromones because of the surgery! It’s all his fault! All his!”
Shi Yuxing suddenly remembered—this was the patient whose gland surgery Yao Jiaqi had botched.
Originally, the surgery should have been his, but he’d had to attend a training session for a few days, so it had fallen to Yao Jiaqi. To be honest, while Yao Jiaqi’s skills weren’t as good as his, they weren’t bad enough to ruin a gland surgery. If anyone was really to blame, it was the alpha himself—he’d recklessly released pheromones to seduce other omega patients before his gland had healed, and hadn’t followed dietary or medication instructions, causing a complete post-operative relapse that rendered his gland completely useless.
“Why—why wasn’t it Dr. Shi who did my surgery!” Shi Yuxing heard his own name and snapped back to attention.
“You doctors treat lives like grass! Trying to brush me off with five hundred thousand—no way!” The man growled viciously, and Shi Yuxing immediately understood—this guy was trying to extort money.
At the same time, Lin Anran muttered a curse under his breath. “Fuck—this guy’s a gambler too. Look at the group chat—he owes the casinos a ton of money. The interest alone… ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands, millions… holy shit—almost ten million!” He hadn’t kept his voice down, and the man’s eyes shot over at him.
Lin Anran flinched and hid behind Shi Yuxing. The man’s gaze met Shi Yuxing’s, and he grinned. “You! You’re the one! Why didn’t you do my surgery!”
Being blamed for no reason, Shi Yuxing swallowed hard. What kind of twisted logic was that? Was it his fault? Lin Anran immediately stepped out from behind him and planted himself in front of him, face to face. He was about the same height as Shi Yuxing—enough to block some of the view.
Lin Anran wrinkled his nose and pushed his glasses up. “Yuxing, don’t be scared. His target isn’t me anyway—I’ll block you.” Shi Yuxing might have praised his courage if he hadn’t noticed Dr. Lin’s trembling legs.
Shi Yuxing let out a laugh. “What if he charges over here next?”
“Shit—quick, check if he’s coming. I can’t look.”
Like a cat, Dr. Shi tiptoed to peek over—he saw that the man had already shifted his gaze. The red on the white tiles was being evenly spread around by the half-kneeling Yao Jiaqi. His tea-colored eyes shifted, catching sight of a fire extinguisher in a nearby corner. An idea formed in his mind.
The director, still negotiating with the man, clenched his fists, silently vowing that nothing must go wrong.
Just then, someone came up behind him and whispered something in his ear. The director’s peripheral vision quickly caught Shi Yuxing’s determined gaze. His eyes darkened, and he took a deep breath, turning his head toward the man. “I can give you another three million in compensation. Please put down the knife.”
“Ten million! If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill him!” The sharp blade slid dangerously close to Yao Jiaqi’s face as he knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he closed his eyes in despair.
“Fine!” The director’s sudden capitulation shocked the onlookers who didn’t know what was happening. Ten million—what did that even mean? Even on the Imperial Planet, ten million was enough for an average family of ordinary citizens to live comfortably for a lifetime. How could they just give it away, especially to a scumbag like this?
While everyone was still in shock—”PSSSSHHHH—!” A massive cloud of white mist blasted directly into the medical dispute man’s face. He instinctively covered his face, the blade leaving the hostage. Yao Jiaqi wasn’t stupid either—before the security guards could even pull him away, he was already scrambling out on his own, clutching his wounded hand.
The man was quickly taken away by the police. Yao Jiaqi was sent for bandaging. Shi Yuxing and Lin Anran disposed of the two empty fire extinguishers and exchanged a glance.
“Dr. Shi, you’re so clever—who would have thought of long-range shooting?”
Shi Yuxing glanced at him, a laugh escaping through his nose. “You weren’t bad yourself—you still remembered how to use a fire extinguisher.”
“Of course—medical training is solid. I even got top marks.” Lin Anran puffed out his chest. “Let’s go. The director’s calling us back.”
·
Less than an hour after the medical dispute incident, news had already leaked and was being widely reported by journalists. Before he could even get home, his phone was flooded with calls and messages—all asking if he was hurt.
He called his parents back, then glanced at Gu Lingzhou, who had rushed over. “I already told you I’m fine. You’ve seen me with your own eyes. Don’t you have military duties? Are you that free?”
Gu Lingzhou, still uneasy, made Shi Yuxing stand up and checked him over again. Just as Gu Lingzhou touched his neck and lifted the fine hairs at the nape, the door was suddenly pushed open—and the director, leading a group of people, unexpectedly walked in on this intimate scene.
“Ah—this, General Gu.” The director recovered quickly and greeted him.
Gu Lingzhou lowered Shi Yuxing’s hair and nodded. “What is it?”
“Nothing much—just came to check on Dr. Shi’s condition. Also, the hospital will be closed for the rest of the day for reorganization. You can take the half-day off if you have nothing else.”
At that, Gu Lingzhou said: “I’ve checked him over. He’s not hurt.”
A nurse behind the director snickered, then remembered where she was and quickly ducked her head, pressing her lips together to suppress her smile.
“How’s Dr. Yao doing?” Shi Yuxing asked.
“He injured his hand. He’ll need to recover and probably won’t be coming back.” A voice from beside the director spoke up. Shi Yuxing looked over—it was the director of some department, surnamed Jiang. He couldn’t remember the name.
Director Jiang said: “He said that if possible, he’d like to see you.”
Confusion flickered in Shi Yuxing’s pupils. Me? “Dr. Yao wants to see me?”
Everyone present, except Gu Lingzhou, knew that Yao Jiaqi had been spreading rumors behind Shi Yuxing’s back. Word had it they were rivals, mortal enemies at the hospital. But in Shi Yuxing’s mind, the guy was just someone who liked to bother him and wasn’t as skilled as him—a real rival would at least need to be evenly matched.
“He said he wants to see you before he leaves—to say sorry,” someone offered.
A hand landed on his shoulder. Gu Lingzhou’s voice was steady and cold: “Tell him no need. Waste of time.”
Shi Yuxing cut in: “No. I’ll go.” He had to see this spectacle for himself.
…
Yao Jiaqi’s hand was wrapped in several layers of bandages, his lips pale. Hearing footsteps, he looked up.
Shi Yuxing stood beside him with that terrifying alpha at his side.
“I heard you wanted to apologize to me?” Shi Yuxing got straight to the point, raising an eyebrow. The person sitting on the bed stood up. Yao Jiaqi stepped forward slowly, the five or six meters between them feeling as vast as an entire galaxy.
Lin Anran popped out from somewhere, whispering to the nurse beside him about what was happening. When he learned that Yao Jiaqi wanted to apologize to Shi Yuxing, the guy unexpectedly said: “Quit dragging your feet—what kind of man are you!”
Shi Yuxing pressed down his brows, urging: “If you don’t want to say it, forget it. I also—” Before he could finish, Yao Jiaqi cut him off: “Thank you.”
His breath caught. Shi Yuxing’s bright eyes went wide. Yao Jiaqi’s cheeks flushed—was he holding his breath?
“The director told me. If it weren’t for you, I might have died there. The hospital doesn’t have ten million to ransom me.” He lowered his head, lost in thought.
Shi Yuxing nodded in agreement. “I couldn’t stand to watch a former colleague get stabbed to death in front of me… Of course,” he crossed his arms, “it’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. What I said before—I didn’t mean it.”
Yao Jiaqi looked up, meeting his gaze, and suddenly laughed in relief. But a second later, his smile faded.
The air fell silent. Just as Shi Yuxing thought he wouldn’t speak again and was about to turn and leave—
“I’m sorry.”
Before leaving, Shi Yuxing happened to walk the former colleague out—not intentionally, just on the way. Gu Lingzhou had his arm around his shoulder, stepping out the hospital entrance first.
“Dr. Shi.” Behind him, Yao Jiaqi—who seemed to be waiting for something—spoke up. This might have been the first time in all this time that he’d addressed him in a normal tone. Shi Yuxing didn’t turn around, but he heard his voice clearly: “Shi Yuxing… I can finally understand why so many people like you.”
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