Pat hurried to the underground restricted area, where he met the returned Ling Yi.

“I’m sorry for knocking you out, losing your uniform, and causing you to lose this month’s salary.”

Ling Yi took the initiative to apologize to him, but it wasn’t much of an apology.

“These are all trivial matters.” Pat nervously scanned the injuries on his face. “How did you get hurt? Is it serious?”

He caught sight of Oser’s face as well: “Why are you injured too?”

That was His Highness Oser, the top freak of nature whose pheromones could knock down a group of Alphas within seconds. Who possessed the ability to hurt him?

Upon closer inspection, the two men each had a wound on the corner of their mouths, one on the right and one on the left. It would be a stretch to call it a coincidence.

Pat swallowed down his reflexive request for their medical records: “Have Nan Ting help treat your wounds. Ling Yi may need to do some more physical exams to rule out any internal injuries.”

Lan Ze, who had been present this whole time, suddenly spoke: “From my observations, he has only suffered minor injuries. There are no major issues.”

Only then did Pat realize that he had overlooked an important person.

“Junior Lan Ze? …..Why is he here?” The second half of the question was directed toward Oser.

Oser replied leisurely: “I arrested him at my grandfather’s private execution grounds. Why don’t you ask him why he was there?”

Lan Ze’s tone was just as tranquil as before: “The Prime Minister told me to go, so I went.”

Pat was puzzled: “Why would you obey the Prime Minister’s orders?”

Lan Ze looked at him and asked a question rather than answering: “Doctor Pat, who is your sponsor?”

Although the Royal Medical College was the highest-level medical research institute in the empire, enjoying the best experimental environment and research equipment, public research funds were still limited, and experimental costs were high.

Almost every famous doctor in the medical college had his or her own sponsor. Some sponsors’ identities were public, while others were strictly confidential.

Pat’s was the sort that was already made public. From the dean to the cleaning crew, everyone knew that he dedicated all of his efforts to His Highness Oser’s great life event, and he didn’t know why Lan Ze had asked when he already knew the answer.

“Naturally, it’s His Highness Oser. Why do you ask?”

“You have your sponsor, and I certainly have mine.”

Pat’s eyes gradually widened: “Your sponsor is the Prime Minister?”

“He covers all of my experimental expenses and transfers the money in a timely manner each month. He pays, and I provide. It’s that simple.”

“But his money isn’t clean. If you help him, you’re just aiding and abetting evil!”

When Pat was in school, he had admired and envied this talented medical school junior, and was also a little jealous of him.

Once they became colleagues at the Royal Medical College, he considered getting closer to him, but Lan Ze was not one to allow anyone close, so over time, Pat gave up on the idea.

No one could have imagined that such a talented, solitary doctor had been working for the Prime Minister. It was truly revolting.

Lan Ze took exception to his words: “The Prime Minister ordered me to slice his gland as many times as possible while ensuring he survived the longest, so that he would die slowly and in extreme pain.”

He glanced at Ling Yi: “Doesn’t His Highness Oser also want to cut open this person’s gland?”

“How can that be the same?” Pat vehemently denied it. “My surgery is for the purpose of saving his life!”

“With your surgery’s success rate of less than thirty percent? In my eyes, this is no different from murder.”

Pat: “……”

His facial muscles twitched uncontrollably: “I admit that my medical achievements don’t match up to yours, but at least save me some face in front of my sponsor.”

“Don’t judge me from a moral high ground. We’re all working on behalf of our own financial backers, exploiting the lives of others to achieve our medical goals. You’re not more noble than me, and I’m not more despicable than you. The only difference between us is whether we use anesthesia.”

Pat opened and closed his mouth several times, and sadly discovered that not only were his medical skills inferior to Lan Ze’s, but he was also no match for him in terms of eloquence.

Lan Ze seemed completely unaware of the damage he’d done to Pat. He turned to Oser and said: “It’s just that I happened to touch His Highness’s person this time. Do what you want with me.”

Oser folded his arms: “Your merits and demerits offset each other. I agree to spare your life.”

“Since everything is fine, I’ll go back first.”

“Did I allow you to leave?”

“Does Your Highness have further instructions?”

“Have you read over the information I gave you yesterday?”

“Doctor Pat’s feasibility report on secondary sex characteristics reassignment?”

Before Pat could recover from the previous blow, he received a second one.

“Your Highness, you gave my research report to Junior Lan Ze?”

Lan Ze: “I read it.”

Oser: “Tell me what you think.”

“I recorded my thoughts directly in the report. If we improve it in this way, we can increase the success rate of the surgery to at least fifty percent.”

One of the guards next to him took out the report he had been carrying with him and handed it to Pat.

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve been researching this for years. How could you possibly, in one night…..one night…..”

Pat stared at the report: “It turns out this is possible. Why didn’t I think of it?”

He flipped through the pages rapidly, muttering constantly, “Unbelieveable.”

Oser didn’t even glance at it. “It’s too low.”

“One of the difficulties of this surgery is postoperative fusion. If we use the repair chamber newly developed by Jinghuan Technologies, the success rate can be estimated conservatively at sixty to seventy percent.”

Pat’s head shot up: “You mean the one that costs as much as seven airplanes and charges per millimeter for the repair fluid?”

Oser still wasn’t satisfied: “It’s not enough.”

Lan Ze was silent for a moment: “If I were to perform the operation myself, the success rate would be ninety percent.”

“No!” Ling Yi and Pat said in unison.

Pat: “I don’t deny that my junior is a genius, but this is a very complicated operation. I myself had to simulate it several times before I dared to begin.”

Ling Yi: “He’s Lu Hulun’s lackey. How do we know he won’t attack me on the operating table?”

Lan Ze shrugged indifferently: “Then I can’t help you.”

Oser walked over to him.

“You’ll work for whoever pays you.”

“This is the simplest rule of trade, Your Highness. I’m not fond of complex worldly affairs.”

“From now on, whatever my grandfather pays you, I’ll double it.”

“I’m a spendthrift.”

“I have plenty of money.”

This was the first time Lan Ze looked at Oser seriously. He then glanced at Ling Yi.

“To be honest, although I do want to make this money, if the patient doesn’t trust the doctor, there is nothing I can do.”

“This isn’t something you need to take into consideration.” Oser commanded the guards: “Send Doctor Lan Ze to have a good rest and recuperate for tomorrow’s surgery.”

Pat: “T-tomorrow?”

“Go get the surgery consent form.”

Pat stammered: “There’s no need to rush. There are still many preoperative exams to be done…..”

“It won’t be too late to do them after the form is signed.” Oser joked, “This volunteer is very capable. There’s no way to tell which might come first – signing the form or running away.”

Ling Yi looked up at the ceiling, his eyes darting around.

Pat had no choice but to take out the consent form he had prepared long ago.

“Informed consent is important, because this surgery is voluntary.” He particularly emphasized the word ‘voluntary.’ “There are many risks involved. Allow me to explain them to you.”

Oser: “Get out. Leave the consent form here.”

Pat rubbed his hands: “Your Highness, this is against the rules…..the Medical Management Association requires volunteers to sign a consent form, and the attending physician must be present. There is a lot of medical terminology involved…..”

“I can explain it if he doesn’t understand.”

“But…..” Pat was in a dilemma.

Ling Yi couldn’t bear to watch any longer: “Thank you, Doctor Pat. I’ll take a closer look at it. I would like to be alone with His Highness for a while.”

“T-then I’ll come and retrieve it later…..make sure you read it carefully!”

Pat left the ward, looking back every few steps.

Oser fiddled with his lighter, rapidly lighting and extinguishing it.

Ling Yi carelessly flipped through the consent form, only glancing over the contents. As for how much of it actually entered his mind, only he knew.

Oser waited until he reached the last page before saying unhurriedly: “Tell me, are there any problems?”

“I don’t see a clause detailing how much security my family will receive if I die unexpectedly?”

Oser put away the lighter and sat next to him at an overly intimate distance.

“It seems you’re not very nervous if you’re in the mood to make jokes.”

“I’m just curious.”

“Curious about what?”

“Why didn’t Your Highness bring this to me outside the emergency room? You know I would have signed anything at that point.”

“I’m good at making threats, but I don’t use blackmail.”

“No wonder Your Highness is no match for your grandfather.”

Oser pushed the consent form in front of Ling Yi.

“Sign it, undergo the surgery, complete the marking, and I will hold a wedding with the highest royal etiquette and marry you as my consort. Lu Hulun won’t dare touch you easily again. I will ensure the safety of your family, your classmates will graduate successfully, and no one will be implicated.”

“And if I don’t sign it?”

Oser reached his hand out, sliding the knuckle of his index finger slowly along the curve of Ling Yi’s neck.

His Alpha instincts surged at the impending danger, and numbness once again took over his body. Ling Yi clenched his teeth and did his utmost to fight the urge to retaliate.

“If you don’t sign it, I will force you to put your fingerprint on it, force you to undergo the surgery, force you to be marked, and lock you inside my bedroom, where you will live the rest of your life pleasing me. From the moment you provoked me in prison, your fate was sealed.”

Under the excessive tension, Ling Yi was just barely able to squeeze out a sarcastic laugh: “Your Highness was right. You really are good at making threats, ah.”

“You should have known from the first time you met me that I’m not a good person.”

The intimidating mental energy receded like the tide, and a pen was thrust into Ling Yi’s hand.

“Write.”

His blurred vision gradually cleared, and the tip of the pen rested perfectly on the signature spot. Everything was arranged to facilitate the fastest path to its destination.

Ling Yi chuckled self-deprecatingly and put pen to paper. A black dot appeared on the white sheet.

The door was kicked open forcefully from outside, and a panting figure appeared in the doorway. Ling Yi was so startled that he forgot to write a single character.

“Don’t sign it!”

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Chapter 11 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 13