Chapter Ninety-Six: The Next One

After changing into the outfit provided by the organizers, affixing the Health Hall emblem to his chest, and putting on a mask and cap, Hong Chen stepped out of the changing room and followed Qi Gang to the competition venue.

The contest was held in Hall One, which could hold up to fifteen hundred people at a grand assembly. Today, just over three hundred seats had been set aside in the stands. In attendance to watch were not only industry insiders and a few families from Azure City, but also fifty top students from Azure City Medical University.

In front of the stands, a huge oval platform had been erected, divided into a series of small, separate compartments so that they would not disturb one another. From the arrangement inside, they were nothing more than simple medical bays. Above each doorway hung a monitor, displaying the contestants’ public information at a glance.

When the two arrived, the stands were only about thirty or forty percent full, though crowds had already gathered all around the hall. Hong Chen glanced around and spotted quite a few familiar faces—Jiang Tao, Lu Huarong, and even Qiao Chu. These young heirs from the various families had not come alone; elders stood beside them as well. Hong Chen did not want to reveal his identity, so he simply pretended not to know them.

“Qi Gang, why is the Health Hall being so low-key this time? I had thought that, as your chief, you would always enter the competition yourself. I never expected you to send out only a young man of twenty-five to sharpen his spear. Him? Your disciple?”

Qi Gang had been looking around for the others, and at last spotted Elder Qi and his group on the left side of the stage. He was about to go over and greet them when he was intercepted halfway by a group of people. The one leading them was a man of thirty-six or thirty-seven, fair-skinned and refined in appearance, though a savage air lurked in his brow and eyes. With no courtesy at all, he pointed at Hong Chen beside Qi Gang and fixed Qi Gang with a questioning stare.

Qi Gang’s gaze darkened. “Di Xiu, show some respect. This is Doctor Hong, and his medical skill surpasses mine.”

Di Xiu sized Hong Chen up a few times, then looked back at Qi Gang with a teasing smile. “Aren’t you the kind who boasts to anyone who’ll listen that your medical skill is on par with mine? If he’s even better than you, doesn’t that mean he’s above me as well?”

“Master, people like him are frogs at the bottom of a well. In his eyes, the sky is only as wide as the mouth of that well. Dealing with him on his level would only lower your standing.”

The middle-aged man behind Di Xiu chimed in at once with an ingratiating tone. He was older than Di Xiu, yet addressed him as master without the slightest embarrassment, and there was even a hint of pride in his voice.

Di Xiu glanced back at him and reprimanded him, “Doctor Qi is the chief of the Health Hall. To say that is far too lacking in respect.”

The middle-aged man hurriedly agreed, his attitude impeccable, though his expression remained unconvinced.

Di Xiu turned back, his gaze falling once more on Hong Chen. In a light voice, he said, “Doctor Hong, was it? I know Qi Gang a little. He’s quite a narcissist. Since he thinks so highly of you, I suppose you must be a genius in medicine. I wonder if I might have the honor of seeing your face?”

Qi Gang answered for Hong Chen, “No.”

As soon as the words fell, the middle-aged man behind Di Xiu suddenly stepped forward two paces, reaching out to grab Hong Chen’s face as he snorted, “Are all the people of the Health Hall such cowards that they dare not show their faces?”

He moved too abruptly. By the time Qi Gang tried to stop him, it was already too late. Just as the man was about to snatch off Hong Chen’s mask, Hong Chen tilted his head aside, and the man’s hand closed on empty air. Apparently irritated, the man turned and was about to reach out again.

Qi Gang caught up this time. His temper was anything but mild. He charged forward and slammed his shoulder into the middle-aged man’s chest. The man gave a muffled grunt and staggered back several steps.

Qi Gang frowned and barked, “People from the Central Health Hall, don’t go looking for trouble for no reason!”

That shout drew the attention of the surrounding crowd. Elder Qi also noticed the disturbance. Seeing that it was Qi Gang, he strode over at once, with six or seven white-coated physicians following close behind.

Di Xiu’s expression darkened, but he quickly recovered and said indifferently, “Qi Gang, it was only a joke. Was it really necessary to take it so seriously?”

Qi Gang met his eyes. “Di Xiu, put away those filthy tricks of yours. Aren’t you ashamed to bring disgrace to the Central Health Hall?”

Feeling more and more eyes turn this way, Di Xiu said nothing further. He merely shook his head without a sound and walked off on his own, with the group behind him following like shadows.

“What happened?” Elder Qi soon arrived, glanced at Hong Chen in a way that concealed his recognition, and asked Qi Gang with a steady look.

“Grandpa, you know perfectly well what the Central Health Hall is like. Not long ago, the Health Hall was the same. Last week, the Chinese Medicine Pavilion and the Foundation Hall were no different.” Qi Gang answered unhappily. Then he turned to Hong Chen and said in a low voice, “That man just now is Di Xiu, chief of the Central Health Hall in Azure City. He was deliberately trying to put you off your stride, to wreck your mindset and affect your performance later. The Central Health Hall has a very loud reputation, but within the industry it’s always been an ugly one.”

Hong Chen nodded silently, taking it in without concern.

Qi Gang spoke a few more words with Elder Qi, then formally introduced Hong Chen to him. They shook hands, and after that each went back to his own affairs.

Another ten minutes passed. A man in a suit walked onto the stage, holding a white microphone, and announced that there were fifteen minutes left before the competition began. Guests were asked to sit according to their invitations, while the contestants were to prepare in the small rooms on the stage.

Hong Chen waved goodbye to Qi Gang and strolled unhurriedly up onto the stage. He went to the far-left room assigned to him, took a brief look at the standard medical supplies laid out on the cabinet, and then sat in a chair and began fiddling with his phone.

As time passed, the venue gradually quieted. The atmosphere grew steadily more solemn, and before long the fifteen minutes were up. The suited man took the stage again. After a few brief opening remarks, he explained the rules of the competition. There were twenty-six medical institutions participating, with a total of fifty-seven contestants. Each contestant would examine ten patients. The first task was to determine the patients’ ailments. Anyone with an accuracy rate below eighty percent would be eliminated immediately. After that, from among the ten patients, three would be selected for treatment. The ten fastest contestants would advance to the next round. The time limit was two hours. If fewer than ten remained, the ranking would be based on the speed of treatment among the rest.

After finishing, the suited man introduced the three judges seated in the front row of the stands. Once he stepped down from the stage, the hall fell utterly silent, filled with an unnamed tension like the stillness before a great battle.

The side doors on the left and right opened, and the patients began to enter one by one. Most of them suffered from stubborn chronic illnesses, while some were terminally ill. In short, several major hospitals in Azure City had already examined them and found no effective treatment, so after signing agreements with the patients, they had sent them here to the site of the Sage of Medicine Competition.

Hong Chen’s first patient was an old woman. As soon as she sat down opposite him, he merely glanced at her once, typed the diagnosis into the special computer provided by the organizers beside him, and called, “Next!”

The old woman’s face was full of confusion. She stared at Hong Chen for a while, then rose very unhappily and went to the waiting area beside her. As she sat down, she muttered angrily to herself. Clearly, in her mind, Hong Chen had failed to see through her illness and she had come here for nothing. If it were not for the contract she had signed with the hospital, with all its clauses and the thousand-dollar deposit she had paid, she would have turned on her heel and left at once.

“Next!”

The old woman was still grumbling when Hong Chen’s voice rang out again. Barely more than a minute had passed between the two calls. A middle-aged woman followed in the old woman’s footsteps and went to the waiting area as well. Perhaps because she was unwell, or perhaps due to menopause, she had a very bad temper. Before she had even sat down, she spat and cursed, “What kind of nonsense is this Sage of Medicine Competition? They say the contestants are all the elite of the medical world, but it’s nothing more than a quack show!”

Only a few seconds after her abuse, Hong Chen called again, “Next!”

This patient was a young man in his thirties. He seemed to have been plagued by illness for too long, like a barrel of gunpowder. Hong Chen’s “Next” was like a spark that ignited it instantly.

Bang! The young man slapped the table and sprang to his feet, glaring at Hong Chen with savage eyes as he roared, “What do you mean by that? You didn’t even look at me and you’re already moving me along? Are you making a fool of me?”

As he spoke, he reached out to grab Hong Chen’s face. Hong Chen had just entered the patient’s symptoms into the computer when the young man launched his attack. He leaned back to dodge, and he did evade it, but the young man lunged forward too far and could not stop himself. The whole body pitched forward, and by some absurd coincidence, his legs struck the edge of the table right between them.

A howl like that of a wolf burst from his throat. In an instant, his face turned the color of liver. He clutched his groin with both hands, spun in place, and kept hopping on the spot, while the muscles of his upper body convulsed uncontrollably.