Medical Center. Operating Room 3.
"Yep, that's the basic requirement."
Adam gave the short guy an appreciative glance.
"You're not photographic-memory-level too, are you?"
Carter eyed Melendez, who was giving off some serious Adam vibes, and practically oozed jealousy.
"Nope."
Short-statured Melendez shook his head. "Why would this need a photographic memory?"
"…"
Carter had no comeback for that.
A photographic memory was a skill, sure, but pulling off something like this? That was more about attitude.
Damn it!
Melendez's low-key flex was exactly the kind of thing Carter had been trying—and failing—to copy from Dr. Duncan all along.
And thinking back to how he got outdone in the scrub room earlier, plus how the sharpest little nurse now seemed to think Melendez had more "Adam flair" than him? Carter's heart was shattering.
"Violet, what's up?"
Adam caught the sharpest nurse glancing at the monitors out of the corner of his eye and casually asked.
"Nothing much."
She grinned. "I heard a crack just now and thought it was the patient's heart acting up, but everything's stable now."
"Heh."
That obvious jab instantly filled the OR with laughter.
Whose heart broke so loud no one could miss it? Just check whose face was the most awkward and red!
Carter was on the verge of tears.
I was here first!
I was supposed to be your best buddy, sharpest nurse! 😭
"Alright, enough."
Adam reined in his smile and turned to Melendez. "Those stories they told? I didn't buy them from the start."
The four hikers' tale was pretty standard.
They'd bonded over their love for extreme sports, forming a tight-knit crew that often teamed up for wild challenges. This time, it was cliff-climbing.
According to the three of them, they were halfway up when a storm hit. A ledge loomed a few hundred feet above, so they planned to pitch a tent and wait it out.
But then came Ronnie—the last hiker they found. He freaked out and insisted on heading down.
The other three weren't having it.
Their safety ropes were all tied together, so when Ronnie started descending, it threw everyone off balance.
That's when the guy above him swung his climbing axe, trying to wedge it into the rock to steady himself—only to accidentally drop it right onto Ronnie's forehead.
Hmmm.
What a "coincidence."
How likely was that, really?
Way more likely was that, in a life-or-death moment, survival instincts kicked in, and someone did something predictably shady—morals be damned.
Think about Sun Wukong in Journey to the West versus Hua Tiegan in Liancheng Jue. Both wielded weapons, but the vibes? Totally different. Why? Because Hua Tiegan's moral compass shattered when push came to shove.
Stuff like this happens way too often on a stranded boat drifting at sea—no surprise, no shock, just business as usual.
"But we're doctors, not cops. That's not our job to figure out."
Adam looked at Melendez. "We just treat 'em. If the patient wakes up, the truth comes out. If not, we pass what we find to the right people."
He glanced at the dainty climbing axe stuck in the patient's head and chuckled. "Melendez, Carter—either of you good at math? Wanna estimate how deep a falling axe could sink into a skull, then compare it to how deep we pulled this one out? Get it right, and you score extra points!"
"…"
This time, it wasn't just Carter who went speechless.
Even the usually cool-and-collected Melendez looked stunned for the first time.
Math's the backbone of all science—medicine included.
Med students obviously study it. Whether it's clinical work or research, anyone with ambition takes medical statistics seriously.
But like that old joke goes:
Med student: "Why do we need math to be doctors?"
Professor: "To save lives!"
Med student: "How does math save lives?"
Professor: "By keeping idiots like you from graduating and becoming doctors."
Math has real uses in medicine—it's not just for weeding out the clueless. But most doctors only skim the surface.
Even the ambitious ones study it hard but don't get to the level where they can casually nail a random mashup of medicine, math, and physics on the spot.
"Too bad."
Adam shook his head. "Free points up for grabs, and neither of you went for it."
Carter and Melendez: "…"
"Let's get started."
Adam called out a number, then gripped the axe handle, steadily pulling the blade from the patient's skull.
Hiss.
The sharpest nurse and the others gasped in unison.
None of them were extreme sports buffs, so they had no clue what a climbing axe really looked like.
They'd assumed it was just a mini axe. But once Adam yanked it out, they saw the front end was way longer than expected.
AKA, it had sunk deep into the guy's head.
"Either gravity went into overdrive right there, adding some wild mystery to nature…"
Adam set the axe on the tray with a grin. "Or someone in a life-or-death pinch really put some muscle into it."
"That's awful! It's murder!"
The sharpest nurse fumed.
"Hold off on jumping to conclusions."
Adam cautioned her. "Let's hear what they say later. They chose to do this extreme climb together, all roped up as a team.
If this guy really bailed halfway up, dangling on a cliff, and put everyone at risk, who's right or wrong isn't so clear-cut.
Violet, report the findings and notify the police."
"Yes, Dr. Duncan."
The sharpest nurse nodded quickly, grabbing the OR phone to pass it along.
The cops would take it from there, chatting with the three hikers.
Hmmm.
More likely, though, they'd face three tight-lipped climbers and a fancy lawyer rushing in to handle everything.
People with the cash and free time for extreme thrills like this? Probably not from average families.
Adam didn't care about that mess, though.
His job was to nail this surgery fast and save the guy.
What happened after—how the patient and his three "besties" hashed out the truth—that was their problem.
Adam still had that "magic zombie" case to check out next.
Yep!
A surgery this rare? No way was he passing up a chance to get in on it.
And when Cristina saw Adam stroll in with Melendez and Carter to spectate, her face went dark. 😬
(Chapter End)