Chapter 2

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Intern-level doctors were the most humble existences in the hospital. Their statues were even worse than cleaners.

The work they did was the most tiring. They were scolded countless times a day. By the teacher, the department doctor, and the nurse. Sometimes, they were also scolded by the patients and their families. Most importantly, they did not even have any salary.

They endured the humiliation and carried on so that they could advance.

Their treatment in all aspects would become much better and they would not be so miserable once they became House Officers.

…

Zhou Can slept especially soundly that night. He had never felt so relaxed.

In his dream, he became successful and a big shot in surgery. He resolved all kinds of super difficult surgeries that famous doctors could not handle with a wave of his hand. Tu Ya Hospital was proud of him, and the medical world respected him as a modern God Hand.

He realized that it was just a dream when he woke up.

He was still a small intern.

Just wait. His dream would come true one day.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 7:10 in the morning.

He woke up more than an hour later than usual as he slept very late.

His roommates, who had woken up early, were already studying or practicing basic skills like using toothpicks to pick up beans and suturing in the dormitory.

The Internship was about to end. He could feel the tension and anxiety in the air.

Everyone was working hard to become stronger.

He heard that Tu Ya’s House Officer recruitment was for interns and social medicine students in the hospital. The competition was unimaginably intense.

There were more than 1,000 of them participating in the House Officer Test. Probably only less than 20 of them would stay.

The elimination rate of more than 98% was terrifying just thinking about it.

It was not an exaggeration to say that one general achieves renown over the dead bodies of 10,000 soldiers.

A person’s life has always been a competition.

In junior high school, a small portion amongst the most outstanding could enter a key middle school. In junior high school, another large portion would be eliminated. Another large portion would be eliminated in the university entrance examination. Yet another portion would be eliminated in the postgraduate examination.

The survivors would stand at the top of the pyramid.

After Zhou Can graduated from university, he failed his postgraduate entrance examination.

This time, he did not want to fail again. He had to kill his way up.

Morning was the golden time for studying. Their mind was clear and their memorizing ability was strong. After washing up, he saw that there was still some time and quickly took out his medical book to study.

The rise of every famous doctor relied on accumulation over time.

This was originally a 1,000-surgical pathology diagnosis written by Teacher Huang Houzhong and several famous surgeons. It recorded a large number of real-life cases.

“The patient is a 34-year-old woman who lives in a rural area. Seven years ago, her neck was discovered to have thickened without any treatment. In the past two years, her neck has clearly thickened and she has difficulty breathing. However, she has no hoarseness or difficult swallowing. If you touch her, you can feel multiple nodules at the front of her neck. The largest one is the size of a chicken egg, while the smallest is the size of a peach pit. She once took iodized sugar pills after going to a clinic for treatment. The swelling at the front of her neck has not decreased significantly…”

Zhou Can carefully read the cases in the book.

He began to infer the cause and pathology based on the patient’s symptoms, medical history, and examination results.

After some deduction, he felt that it was a typical thyroid tumor.

After deducing, he read the diagnosis of the great teacher at the end. As expected, it was really a thyroid tumor.

In the end, the extracted tumor was tested to be benign.

It was a blessing in disguise.

The probability of malignancy was very high because it was a thyroid tumor.

Zhou Can had just finished reading the case.

[Pathology Diagnosis EXP +0.1.]

He did not expect to increase his EXP by reading books. This was really a pleasant surprise.

It seemed that he did not have to worry about his pathology diagnosis falling behind in the future.

Its importance was not inferior to surgical skills.

The pathology diagnosis test tested a doctor’s use of medical knowledge, as well as the accumulation of experience, analysis, and judgment.

Having tasted the benefits, he was about to read another case when his roommate called out, “Zhou Can, let’s go. We’ll be scolded if we’re late.”

He closed the book and followed his roommates to the hospital to work.

He was currently interning in the General Surgery Department. Writing medical histories, doing all kinds of care for patients, changing medicine, measuring blood pressure, writing patient records, and surgery were his basic daily tasks.

Don’t think that you have a chance to train in surgery just because you are interning in the General Surgery Department.

He would stand on the operating table for hours with the teacher. Sometimes, he even stood for more than ten hours for a surgery. Yet all he could get was helping to pile gauze and cleaning the skin.

He could not even think about perforation or suturing the skin.

The teacher who led them was of a very high-level, a Deputy Director. He had more than ten interns under him.

The lineup was even more luxurious during surgery.

Even Attending Physicians were only worthy of being first assistants.

The resident doctors fought over the chance to suture the skin perforation like hungry wolves.

How could interns have any chance?

A day passed just like that.

Zhou Can wished he had wings on his ribs which could allow him to fly back to the dormitory to practice his medical skills immediately.

The House Officer recruitment was the day after tomorrow. Time was tight, and he had to make every second count.

Pig skin used for suturing was difficult to obtain in the market. There were requirements for its thickness and refrigerated treatment. He usually bought it in the hospital science and education building.

When he was choosing the pig skin, he suddenly wondered if he should buy a white rat to practice dissection and hemostasis.

Hemostasis had always been his weakness. He could not be dragged down by it.

After some selection, he bought a medium-sized pig skin for 40 yuan. White rats were more expensive. Even the weaker ones cost 60 yuan each. He bought the best for a total of 200 yuan.

Ordinary interns really could not afford such a high price.

Zhou Can’s family background was not bad. He was willing to spend money in order to improve his medical skills.

He brought the pig skin and the white rat back to the dormitory.

“Yo, Brother Can, you’ve both a pig and a white rat. Looks like you’re preparing to practice until 2 or 3 am today!”

“Isn’t the recruitment of House Officers soon? It’s good to sharpen your guns at the last minute. All of you are working hard. I can’t be a burden to Dorm 211!”

Zhou Can smiled in response.

“I heard that this year’s House Officer recruitment is for the entire country. More than 4,000 people have signed up even though there were only about 2,000 applicants in the past. The difficulty of staying this year has at least doubled. We have a tough life!”

“Gu Jie, where did you hear this news? Is it true?”

His roommates immediately became nervous.

“Absolutely. Moreover, the number of people is still increasing. I think it’s impossible this year!”

Gu Jie’s parents worked in the health system and were well-informed.

Zhou Can’s heart sank when he heard the news.

However, the fact that so many people were fighting to enter Tu Ya meant that every position here was very hot.

Everyone wanted good stuff.

It was up to their own abilities.

Zhou Can began to race against time to practice.

First, he cut a hole in the pig skin.

[Incision EXP +0.1.]

Awesome!

He was still 0.2 points away from leveling up.

He continued to dissect the pig skin.

Finally, a pleasant congratulations sounded.

[Congratulations on reaching Level Two incision! Current EXP 0/100. Inferior House Officer-level Dissection Ability.]

He had reached the level of a House Officer for his dissection ability. It felt so good.

His understanding and operation of dissection had advanced to a brand new level. His hands did not tremble whether it was a vertical or an oblique cut, easily achieving it. Even the free-hand that he did not dare to touch before had improved greatly.

He tried to experience a Level Two incision on the pig skin.

When he looked at the pig skin, he was surprised to see the patterns on it.

This was an ability that he did not have in the past.

He held the scalpel and started making the incision. The feeling was very different from before. Now, he could actually vaguely sense the subtle differences between cutting the epidermis, dermis, and muscle layers.

It was said that a powerful surgeon could cut through a few layers of paper with a knife. At that level, he had already practiced the incision to perfection.

They would immediately sense when their blades touched the blood vessel wall.

This would greatly avoid the tragedy of severing important blood vessels or nerves during surgery.

Zhou Can’s current anatomical skills were already better than most interns.

If he could advance to level three and reach the level of a resident doctor, he would probably have the strength to crush outstanding interns. His chances of fighting his way out of a huge army would be much higher.

After the incision was upgraded, he began to practice suturing and knotting diligently.

In less than an hour, he had completed 150 stitches.

This efficiency was not just a little faster than yesterday. It was several times higher.

Moreover, the effect of the suture was much higher than the Intern-level.

Zhou Can was filled with motivation as he looked at the rapidly increasing EXP.

He had to work hard and strive to upgrade his suture and ligation skills to Level three tonight.

Another hour passed and the entire pig skin was sewn up.

He sutured a total of more than 340 stitches.

If he had known earlier, he would have bought a bigger piece of pig skin.

He looked up at the clock on the wall. It was not even nine o’clock.

In the past, he would have to endure until at least one in the morning to get 300 stitches. He was so happy that he wanted to cry now that he had shortened it by four hours.

He stood up and moved around. He realized that his roommates were also “fighting”.

The most awesome person should be Gu Jie.

He was practicing the anastomosis of the blood vessels in the tail-end of the white rat.

This was a difficult and delicate job.

It must be done with the help of a microscope.

“Gu Jie’s suturing might have reached or approached the level of a resident doctor.”

Zhou Can guessed.

He looked at the white rat sitting back at his practice table.

“Buddy, I’m sorry!”

There were two common methods of anesthesia for white rats. One was cotton ball anesthesia. Lock it into a beaker and drop the cotton ball soaked in ether into it, turning it constantly. After a few rounds, the white rat would be anesthetized and at the mercy of others.

Zhou Can used an abdominal injection of anesthesia on it.

The advantage was that it took effect quickly and the anesthesia lasted long.

A moment later, the white rat did not move, as if it was dead.

He fixed it on its back on a wax plate used for surgery and began to dissect it.

After choosing the position, he held the scalpel and carefully cut open its stomach.

He was clearly a little nervous compared to cutting open the pig skin.

Practice on a living creature meant he would involuntarily worry about cutting its intestines and internal organs.

Blood immediately appeared with the incision.

All of this would increase the nervousness of the surgeon.

Fortunately, the incision had already been upgraded to Level Two.

It had given him a huge help.

A four-centimeter-long wound appeared. The intestines inside were not cut. The cut was still neat.

[Incision EXP +0.2.]

“Am I dreaming? Why did the EXP double?”

Zhou Can was extremely surprised.