NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - Eighteen Stabs, Skillfully Avoiding Vital Points!
Chapter 3: Eighteen Stabs, Skillfully Avoiding Vital Points!
Tang Xiaorou’s height was 162 centimeters, which could be considered an average height among women. However, her youthful appearance often made others perceive her as a cute and innocent young lady. Little did they know that she had not only practiced kickboxing for three years and karate for two years but also excelled in Tai Chi and Baguazhang, making her a versatile martial artist.
As the saying goes, “With literature comes Tai Chi, and with martial arts comes Baguazhang,” which wasn’t just empty talk. Tang Xiaorou had received proper lineage training. For the misguided stalker who had mistaken her for an easy target, it was like hitting the jackpot.
“I’ve nearly completed taking your statements,” the female police officer said.
“If we require your cooperation in the future, we’ll contact you. You’re free to go now,” the police officer added.
“Thank you,” Lu Ming responded politely. Then, he turned to Tang Xiaorou and said, “You’ve just finished your overnight shift. You should head home and get some rest. I’ll return to the hospital to check the assailant’s condition.”
At this moment, Lu Ming was hoping that the assailant wouldn’t die. If the assailant did die, it might lead to charges of excessive force against Tang Xiaorou.
“Alright,” Tang Xiaorou nodded in agreement.
With her innocent appearance, who would have suspected that she had stabbed the assailant eighteen times?
Subsequently, Lu Ming hurried back to the hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, Lu Ming went directly to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). After all, conventional wisdom dictated that someone who had been stabbed eighteen times must be in severe condition and require critical care, right? If that were the case, upon reaching the hospital, they would be immediately admitted for treatment and then transferred to the ICU.
“Hello, there was a patient who was stabbed earlier. Where is he now?” Lu Ming inquired.
However, after searching the ICU, Lu Ming couldn’t find the injured assailant.
“The patient who was stabbed?” The nurse on duty in the ICU shook her head in confusion. “We haven’t received anyone matching that description. Could they still be on their way?”
Could he be in surgery?
Lu Ming checked the surgery records but found no mention of a patient who had been stabbed.
Lu Ming was puzzled. Where could this person be? He had seen the hospital’s ambulance take the person away.
Could he have been transferred to another hospital? Was his condition so severe that they couldn’t be treated here? That seemed unlikely since Mingren Hospital was one of the country’s top-tier tertiary hospitals, often called a “super tertiary” hospital.
Unable to find any information in the ICU or surgery records, Lu Ming used his privileges to access the patient records from the past hour. He held the position of Director of the Emergency Department at Mingren Hospital and was also serving as the Acting Vice President.
For some people, it was hard to believe that a 26-year-old was department head. However, that was indeed Lu Ming’s role. In his previous life, he had been a doctor. After his rebirth, he was born into a family with a strong tradition of traditional Chinese medicine.
At the age of 13, he began university and pursued bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in quick succession. By the time he was 18, he had obtained his physician’s license and became a resident physician. At 20, he advanced to become an attending physician. Just half a year ago, he made a remarkable leap, skipping the position of associate chief physician and directly becoming a chief physician.
Typically, there were specific time requirements for a doctor’s professional advancement. For instance, if you graduated with a Ph.D., it would take two years to become an attending physician, three more years to become an associate chief physician, and an additional three years to reach the position of chief physician. Assuming you graduated with a Ph.D. around the age of 27, even without any obstacles, you’d be around 35 years old before becoming a chief physician.
However, when faced with overwhelming talent, rules were meant to be bent. Lu Ming had garnered significant national recognition, and there was no doubt that he had a promising future in the field of medicine.
Nonetheless, Lu Ming preferred working at the hospital from Monday to Friday and running his traditional Chinese medicine clinic on weekends. After accessing the patient records, Lu Ming successfully located the injured assailant among the recent cases.
“What?”
“In the General Surgery Inpatient Building?”
Lu Ming was bewildered. The injured assailant was actually in a regular hospital room?
Lu Ming hurried to the ward where the assailant was located and found him lying in a hospital bed. The assailant was now undressed, and multiple wounds on his body had been bandaged. Large square pieces of gauze covered the wounds, secured with medical tape, resembling a “giant adhesive bandage.”
Was this the extent of the treatment for someone who had been stabbed eighteen times? Shouldn’t he be in the ICU in critical condition?
“Xiao Wu, what’s happening here?” Lu Ming asked the doctor responsible for the assailant’s care, according to the information on the bed tag.
“Dr. Lu,” Xiao Wu replied. He was one of the interns Lu Ming had mentored. “Regarding that guy who was stabbed, let me explain…”
When it came to the injured assailant, Xiao Wu suddenly became enthusiastic and began explaining in great detail. As it turned out, even though Tang Xiaorou had stabbed the assailant eighteen times, every one of those eighteen stabs had expertly missed vital organs. A chest stab had precisely avoided the heart by just one centimeter and hadn’t harmed any blood vessels. The thigh stab had neatly bypassed the major artery. The calf stab had carefully steered clear of critical blood vessels. The waist wound had artfully evaded the kidneys, and the forearm stab had skillfully avoided bone and meridian channels.
All eighteen stabs had been executed with such precision that, despite the terrifying number, the actual damage inflicted was minimal. The injured assailant was nowhere near critical condition. He had merely lost a significant amount of blood.
“I don’t know whose brilliant technique this is, but the person who did the stabbing is a medical student. Genius! Truly a genius!” Xiao Wu praised Tang Xiaorou’s skills without restraint.
Lu Ming couldn’t help but smirk. If he were to tell Xiao Wu that it was his mentor-sister who had done the stabbing, he couldn’t predict how he would react.
At the same time, Lu Ming finally understood why Tang Xiaorou had claimed she didn’t use much force. Her attacks were incredibly precise. However, this realization sent a shiver down his spine. What if, by some unfortunate turn of events, he and Tang Xiaorou had a falling out? He dared not think about it, really dared not!