> "Why are you in such a rush? Death's already been waiting—what's a few more minutes to me?"
— Gu Ye
---
[1]The Poorly Rated Intern
2:30 a.m., in the dimly lit on-call room of the Emergency Department at H City First People's Hospital.
A creaky fan in the corner turned with a rhythmic squeak.
Gu Ye sat back in the chair, mask covering his face, calmly flipping through a yellowed copy of Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases. The pages, worn by age, carried a faint herbal fragrance.
From outside came the hushed giggles of nurses:
"Gu Ye got scolded by the attending again today. His sutures looked like a dog chewed them."
"He even held the ultrasound probe backwards—the patient was baffled."
"I seriously don't know how he got in here…"
Gu Ye didn't look up, as if he hadn't heard.
On the duty log sheet before him, his name was followed almost entirely by red comments—
Slow to react, Unqualified, Not suited for clinical work.
What no one in the hospital knew was—his hands weren't incapable of saving lives.
He had saved people even Death himself wouldn't dare to touch.
---
[2]The Midnight Patient
The wind chime on the ER's front door suddenly jingled.
A young woman, drenched from the rain, rushed in with a deathly pale man in her arms.
"Doctor! Please save him!"
A nurse hurriedly rolled over a gurney. Gu Ye casually reached for his stethoscope and said in a low voice, "Put him here."
The man's breathing was faint, the ECG showing a flatline—by protocol, he could already be covered with a sheet.
The nurse grew anxious. "Gu Ye, what are you doing just standing there? Call the attending doctor!"
Instead of moving, Gu Ye pulled out a nail clipper. With a soft click, he trimmed the nail on his left hand.
The nurse froze, the medical chart in her hand suspended in mid-air. Her mouth opened for two whole seconds, and she actually forgot to call for help.
---
[3]The Patient Only He Could See
The air suddenly turned cold, mist forming on the glass.
Gu Ye's gaze passed over the patient, settling in mid-air—
Floating there was a gray-white, translucent silhouette of a man, looking down at his own body on the bed with a horrified expression.
"Doctor… am I dead?"
Gu Ye lifted his eyes, as though speaking to the air. "Don't panic, I haven't even started yet."
The ghost was stunned. "You can see me?"
At that moment, the shadows in the corner of the ward stirred—like a black snake silently crawling, carrying an oppressive presence as it crept toward the foot of the bed. A chill seeped in from behind.
Gu Ye lowered his head and gently flicked the nail clipping into the ghost's forehead—
The instant it touched, a faint bluish glow shimmered at his fingertip before vanishing.
"Close your eyes. Wait for me to call you."
---
[4]Death's Debt
Gu Ye bent over, his left hand pressing precisely over the heart, his right hand placing two fingers on the exact junction between the Shanzhong and Juque acupuncture points.
His movements were slow, yet accurate to the millimeter—switching seamlessly between two entirely different diagrams: a modern emergency anatomy chart and an ancient medical meridian map.
At his touch, the temperature dropped to icy water; the skin beneath his fingers seemed to glow faintly blue, as though sealing an unseen fracture.
BEEP—
The ECG let out a sharp burst, the flat line jolting into faint, quivering waves.
The attending doctor rushed in, face dark. "His heart has stopped! You're doing unapproved traditional intervention—what is this, some stunt to steal credit?"
Gu Ye didn't look up. He continued with the second press, chanting ancient incantations under his breath.
At the third press—
The patient's chest jerked, breath surging back.
The shadow in the air recoiled as if stabbed by light, retreating rapidly before dissolving into mist.
The gray-white ghost was yanked by an invisible force back into his body, eyes flying open as he coughed and spat a mouthful of clotted blood.
In that moment, Death lost his prey.
---
[5]How Others Saw Him
The nurse stared blankly. "…He's alive?"
The attending doctor sneered. "Just luck. Don't think guessing right once means you can do whatever you want. This is going in your assessment record."
Gu Ye replied with a simple, indifferent "Mm," peeled off his gloves, and went back to the on-call room to flip through his old book.
Only he knew—
Tonight, Death owed him a favor.
Outside, the rain kept falling.
In the distance, the operating room lights flickered, as if warning—
The real patient was still on the way.