Chapter 494: The Twelfth Live Broadcast

"This guy's temper really stinks." I organized the medical records in my hand. "When it counts, I can only rely on myself."

"Teacher, hold on! Teacher! Wait!" Before Doctor Yan could even react, the tall, lanky man had already stepped out the door. He hurried after him, looking more embarrassed than his own teacher.

After exhausting every plea and spending the strength of nine bulls and two tigers, he finally hauled the lanky man back inside. To prevent him from storming off again over the slightest disagreement, Doctor Yan simply locked the ward door. "Teacher, please just help me. This patient is a bit special, but it shouldn't stump you. Weren't you just looking to test your academic research?"

"Do you take me for a god? Her brain function is completely gone, and it's up for debate whether her consciousness even still exists. How do you expect me to save her?" The lanky man fired off a barrage of specialized medical jargon, cowing everyone in the room into silence before he finally paused.

"Teacher, please just help me out. It's possible our instruments are malfunctioning," Doctor Yan pleaded. He shot a covert glance at Teacher Chen. Seemingly coming to a secret decision, he leaned in and whispered into the lanky man's ear, "Teacher, if you can successfully wake her up this time, I'll definitely help you petition the higher-ups to let death row inmates serve as volunteers for your next phase of research."

Their voices were so low that if my hearing hadn't been enhanced, I never would have made them out.

'Criminals as volunteers? This Doctor Chu Men is quite interesting,' I thought, taking a closer look at him. He was tall and lanky, built like a bamboo pole. His eye sockets were sunken with pronounced dark circles, as if he hadn't slept well in a very long time.

'This is the country's top psychology and neurology expert? He looks like an overgrown, internet-addicted teenager,' I thought. I shook my head and went back to the medical records in my hand.

The lanky man and Doctor Yan argued for a long time but still couldn't reach a consensus. The lanky man was dead set on leaving; he believed Ye Bing was completely beyond saving and that staying here was a waste of time.

Having already made a promise to Teacher Chen earlier, Doctor Yan was caught in the middle and looked incredibly awkward. No amount of desperate pleading could change his teacher's mind.

"Stop talking nonsense. You know the kind of person I am—I mean what I say. I can't save this woman, and I can't be bothered to waste my time. Get out of my way."

The lanky man's expression soured. Doctor Yan hurriedly apologized, stripped of his usual arrogance. "Teacher, a life is on the line. This girl is an orphan with a pitiful background. She's endured countless cold stares and neglect since childhood. She has barely ever known happiness..."

To hear Doctor Yan tell it, Ye Bing's life was even more tragic than the Little Match Girl's. Yet this blatant sob story actually halted the lanky man in his tracks, seemingly striking a chord deep within him.

The lanky man sighed. "Little Yan, if the clinical records are accurate, then this girl's consciousness has already dissipated. Do you understand what dissipated means? It means she is no longer in our world. To find her, you would have to travel to another world."

"The world of the dead? Heaven? But this woman's bodily functions are still operating normally; we can't directly classify her as dead. Teacher, please just step in and save her." For the forty-something Doctor Yan to be called 'Little Yan' by the thirty-year-old Chu Men surprisingly didn't feel out of place at all.

"She isn't dead, but she might as well be." The lanky man shoved his hands into his pockets. "Whether the world I'm talking about actually exists is still debated in academia and can't be definitively proven. Based on my research, let's temporarily call it the Deep Dream World."

Smack! My heart skipped a beat, and the medical records slipped from my hands to the floor. However, I quickly covered my reaction, bending down to pick them up.

"Deep Dream World?"

Doctor Yan and Elder Chen both looked at the lanky man with curiosity. But this doctor with a terrible temper had no intention of elaborating. Wearing an expression that screamed 'you are all mere mortals, unworthy of conversing with me,' he said, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. According to my hypothesis, that place is the final resting ground for lost consciousness. It is a world built entirely by splicing together memories. It hides somewhere in the brain, but exactly where, no one can find."

"Teacher, please reconsider!" Doctor Yan pleaded, but the lanky man's answer was just one word: impossible.

After bickering for a solid half hour, the lanky man finally made a slight concession. "Fine, fine. Give me the medical records. I'll find some time to look into it for you over the next few days."

"A few days?" Doctor Yan's face twisted with bitterness. "Teacher, a life is truly at stake here. The patient's vital signs are constantly fading. What if..."

"If you're so capable, why don't you save her? When I'm talking, shut your mouth. I'm only agreeing to study this for you because of the volunteers. Stop using my name to hand out favors in the future." The lanky man's temper was like a stone in a latrine—foul and stubborn. There was simply no reasoning with him.

Doctor Yan completely gave up hope. His teacher was indeed a genius in certain fields, which gave him the right to ignore anyone he pleased. Even when the higher-ups came down for inspections, this guy wouldn't give them a shred of respect either.

Someone had once warned him that acting this way would offend the leaders and lead to retaliation. In response, this guy directly kicked his lab's trash can over in front of them, revealing layers upon layers of discarded invitation letters from famous overseas laboratories.

Doctor Yan offered Elder Chen a helpless smile. "I'm sorry, Elder Chen. I didn't expect this either."

"It's alright, it's just that Ye Bing's fate is poor." Elder Chen waved his hand dismissively and sat back in his chair, not saying another word to Doctor Yan.

"Are you done yet? Hurry up and give me the medical records. Also, you'd better go talk to the higher-ups about the volunteers as soon as possible."

The lanky man really didn't give Doctor Yan any face at all. With the farce in the room drawing to a close, I was just happy for the peace and quiet. I picked up the medical records and handed them to the lanky man, hoping he would hurry up and leave so he couldn't cause any more trouble.

"Wouldn't it have been over if you just gave them to me earlier? This is exactly how time gets wasted..." The lanky man casually reached out to take the medical records, but halfway there, he caught sight of my face and suddenly let out a loud shout, as if he had just seen a ghost!

Caught off guard, I jumped as well. I frowned at him. "Are you trying to scare the patient awake?"

"It's you?!" The lanky man stared intently at my face, bafflingly spitting out those words.

"Do you know me?" I casually grabbed the vase on the bedside table. I couldn't help it; I just had too many enemies.

"I wouldn't exactly say I know you." The lanky man's eyes darted between Ye Bing and me a few times before he suddenly asked, "What is your relationship with the patient?"

"Is that important?" My tone was somewhat cold. "She's my ex-girlfriend, I guess."

The lanky man nodded. "You want to save her too?"

"Isn't that obvious?" I held the vase, estimating that with his frail frame, I could probably knock him down in a single strike.

"What a coincidence. Interesting." The lanky man's gaze grew very strange. "If it were you, how would you plan to save this comatose woman?"

"Are you the doctor, or am I? If I could save her, would I need you here?" I was increasingly beginning to feel that there was something wrong with this lanky man.

"Not going to say, huh?" The lanky man raised an eyebrow, a rare smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Well, I've changed my mind. I'll treat this patient!"

The lanky man's abrupt change in tone left the rest of us in the room somewhat disoriented.

"Teacher, I knew you wouldn't leave me hanging." Doctor Yan ran over to the lanky man's side, but the lanky man completely ignored him. Instead, he extended his left hand toward me. "Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Chu Men. I hope our upcoming cooperation will be a pleasant one."

"Left hand? Are you left-handed?" I had no choice but to extend my left hand to shake his. To be honest, I was still confused. I shouldn't have ever met him before, so why was he acting like he knew me?

"Have we met somewhere before?" I felt even more perplexed. Looking at the bizarre, excited smile on the lanky man's face, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen.

"Perhaps." The lanky man stared at my face. He waved his hand and pulled out a list, telling Doctor Yan to go fetch various tools for the treatment. He then started asking me all sorts of questions, seemingly extremely interested in my profession.

All the treatment equipment arrived at seven-thirty in the evening. Doctor Yan invited Elder Chen and the lanky man out for dinner. I, however, took the Underworld Live Show Phone and hid alone in the last stall of the restroom.

The clock hands crossed, and the bells signaling the start of the game echoed across the city sky.

"It's eight o'clock!"