You Study Medicine, I Study Medicine

My next novel is called Let's Blow Up the Hospital Together.

[Brave, resilient female surgeon Chen Xi x gentle, solitary male internist Yang Wang]

Once again, Chen Xi was still on shift at noon. She was taking a patient to have a biopsy. On the way, a doctor jumped from a building and died in front of her, bloodied.

Before she could even react, a crazed patient stabbed her, the blade going in white and coming out red.

When Chen Xi opened her eyes again, she was standing in the stairwell of the inpatient building... But there was no entrance or exit here.

"You have to die before you can come here, young doctor," an old attending physician in a crumpled white coat told her.

She also saw Yang Wang, the doctor she'd met once during a consultation.

"You died too?"

"I guess so."

The stairwell door opened at irregular intervals, leading to another world: a white tower...

-

She walked through the newly appeared door in the stairwell.

A blinding flash of light, as if from Heaven or Hell...

When her vision cleared,

she and he were standing in the office of the pulmonology department.

A senior colleague whispered to them:

"Here, a wrong medical order means death."

-

"We're done for. This order is wrong."

Before Yang Wang had finished speaking, blood gushed from his heart.

"Yang Wang!"

Chen Xi's hand trembled, and the test results fell from her grasp. A sharp pain seized her heart.

She died too.

-

"What do we do? We're back here again."

"It's okay. We're together. As long as we're together, it's fine."

-

Death haunted every corner of the white tower:

From the lifeless hospice ward to the maternity ward welcoming new life;

From the anatomy building that reeked of formalin to the quiet library, where pages rustled;

From the human resources department, where business was business, to the complaints office, where arguments never ceased...

...If you die, you'll return to that stairwell.

[Medical Records Room instance] Here, you'll die if an error is found in a medical record.

[Medical School instance] Here, you'll die if you fail an exam.

[Complaints Office instance] Here, you'll die if a patient complains about you.

-

"No. You'll die." Chen Xi took Yang Wang's hand and shook her head.

She met his gaze, then slowly added, "I'll die with you."

Yang Wang held her tightly and gently stroked her back.

"I won't die... Chen Xi, and you mustn't die either."

-

"It's time for a pop quiz..."

A mechanical female voice with no warmth sounded from somewhere.

"What quiz?" Chen Xi frowned at Yang Wang, who shook his head in confusion.

"Quiz question: Where is the director?"

"Find the director somewhere in the hospital within thirty minutes."

"What does that mean?"

The mechanical voice continued without a hint of emotion. "If you win, the instance difficulty stays the same. If you lose, the instance difficulty doubles."

"The System finally showed up for once, and instead of helping us, it wants to test us!"

"Players, the thirty-minute countdown starts now. Begin!"

-

In this blood-soaked white tower,

they ran hand in hand and embraced each other, tears in their eyes.

"I love you. Please, stay alive."

-

[An ensemble-focused infinite-flow story about doctors, medical students, and healthcare workers]

In every medical instance, every doctor, medical student, and healthcare worker strives to save more lives.

[Author's note]

1. The romance between the leads: They are each other's first love and have only ever been with each other. It's a 1v1 romance about growing together and choosing each other, and it's an important part of the story.

2. I've seen some readers say the story seems rather bleak and oppressive.

Choosing a medical setting was partly a coincidence.

I chose it because our medical community faces many shared hardships, and there are many things that need to be spoken about.

I am like a witness and participant, writing down what I have seen and what I want to express. That was my original intention.

The parts based on reality may seem bleak and oppressive because they are so true to life. But I truly hope that all of us caught in this maelstrom can live well and find happiness.

If it makes you unhappy, please leave. As long as you're alive, there's hope. I hope everyone can live happily.

If you happened to stumble across my story, it's like a friend stopping by for a chat. You don't have to follow every update. Just having you visit once is my good fortune, and I'm so glad we met here.

I also hope this novel will help more people see our medical community. Even as we struggle in real life, those of us working in healthcare still shine. I've seen that with my own eyes and witnessed it myself.

I'm glad we met here. Even one encounter is fate. If I have the good fortune to accompany you for a stretch of the road, it will be a blessing a hundred years in the making.

Thank you to everyone who sent gifts, left comments, pointed out mistakes, and read the story. I'm glad to have spent some time with you.

Thank you for meeting me. I hope we meet again!

[Even when life is like this, love and hope remain our constant themes.]

Theme: Hope, looking toward the dawn.