Chapter 3

Layla was shocked by my words, but the elevator doors before me remained stubbornly closed.

It was taking too long.

I frowned and looked at Layla. "Do you have Dr. Chase's number?"

After a few seconds of hesitation, she recited the number to me.

I immediately dialed the number, but all of my calls were rejected.

A minute later, my phone suddenly started vibrating wildly. It wasn't due to Sylvia calling me back but message notifications from Wessen Hospital's staff group chat.

Sylvia had posted a screenshot of my incoming phone call to the chat. Underneath the image, she typed, "Stop harassing me, you perverted stalker! I'm working! If you call me again, I'll call the police immediately!"

The group members were instantly sent into a frenzy.

"Isn't that the new intern?"

"He's really got guts to hit on Dr. Chase on his very first day here."

Layla looked worriedly at me.

I sneered and tagged Sylvia directly in the group chat. "You diagnosed the patient incorrectly. There's a pulsation artifact on the CT scan's third slice. It's not an ordinary meningioma. The patient will definitely die if you operate on him according to your plan!"

The flood of messages in the chat immediately died down.

Three seconds later, Sylvia called me on my phone.

"You damn freak!" she shouted. "Just because you couldn't get my attention, you're now spreading malicious rumors about me! You're even cursing my patient! Do you even know how high the success rate of my surgeries is?"

"It'll only take three minutes for you to verify the truth of my claims, no?" I asked calmly.

Sylvia sneered. "Three minutes? Do you understand what it means to delay a surgery by three minutes?"

I heard Zoe's voice through the phone. "That intern is truly nasty! He's actually trying to ruin your reputation! Dr. Chase, just ignore him. The anesthesia has taken effect, so let's go on with the operation."

"Keep dreaming, loser!" Sylvia said coldly.

Startled, I was just about to continue trying to stop them when she hung up on me.

"Shit, we're out of time," Layla muttered. She immediately opened the nearby fire exit door before looking firmly at me. "Let's take the stairs!"

However, before we could reach the operating room, someone stopped me at the entrance.

Layla stammered, "D-Dr. Farrow…"

The man was Michael Farrow, head of the neurology department and our superior.

"Layla, what are you doing? I told you to bring the intern to my office to report in, but you brought him to disrupt Dr. Chase's surgery instead!" Michael snapped.

I frowned. "You can't let Dr. Chase perform the surgery!"

Michael's expression changed from anger to mockery. "Dr. Chase is among the top 50 surgeons in the country, while you're just a fresh intern who knows nothing. How dare you challenge her diagnosis?"

I ignored him, rushed to the operating room's observation area, and pushed aside the doctor who was currently watching the real-time footage.

On the screen, Sylvia was already standing before the operating table. She drew a line across the patient's skull, directly above the aneurysm.

I grabbed the microphone connected to the intercom and yelled, "Sylvia Chase, stop!"

Everyone in the operating room stopped moving for a moment.

Sylvia snapped her head up and glared at me through the observation window. "You again? Why won't you leave me alone?"

Beside her, Zoe screamed, "Where's security? Drag him away!"

The door to the observation room slammed open, and Michael rushed in, his face flushed.

"Xavier Russell! What do you think you're doing? Do you realize the consequences you'll face for causing trouble on your very first day of internship?"

Consequences?

I'd once taken responsibility for the lives of 300 people. What was disciplinary action from one department head in comparison?

"Sylvia, I order you to stop the surgery immediately!" I bellowed through the microphone.

Everyone was stunned. The entire observation room was silent.

Then, Sylvia's voice rang through the intercom. "The celebrity specialist here orders you to shut your damn mouth, idiot!"

She sneered at me through the camera before raising her scalpel.

It took a single stroke from her for the patient's blood to start gushing out, instantly soaking through the gauze.

A piercing alarm suddenly started blaring.

Zoe screamed, "Oh no! Dr. Chase! A hemorrhage! The patient is hemorrhaging!"

Sylvia's eyes widened in terror, and she stared dumbly at the patient, who was bleeding continuously.