Seeing that House was calling Elion, Foreman made a strange expression and asked Chase, who was standing beside him, "What's so special about the intern? Why does House value him so much?"
Chase, amused by Foreman's attitude, said, "It's not necessarily because he thinks he's good. Maybe House wants someone like Elion to step into the mud and build experience in the field. Or maybe he plans to use him to do the work for him."
"That's definitely something House would do." Cameron agreed with Chase's analysis and walked away to supervise the patient.
House might be trying to feed Elion knowledge, or he might also be planning to use him to handle outpatient consultations during his working hours.
But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Elion, since eccentric patients in the outpatient clinic were clearly the best option for learning.
Although Elion had solid theoretical knowledge from university, experience was far more important than theory when dealing with patients.
Foreman, who now understood House's decision, nodded in deep agreement. "That makes sense. If you ask me, outpatient patients are the hardest to deal with."
"Yes, many of them lie, saying they have a serious illness even when they're perfectly healthy. It's no wonder House has been avoiding seeing patients; dealing with ordinary patients really is a headache sometimes."
Reading patients' minds is also part of the job, and some of them are truly a big problem. With his great abilities, House should only be reserved for special cases, but there aren't always rare cases, and the hospital would lose money if it kept a doctor like House inactive most of the time.
"It looks like Elion will be coming to us for advice soon."
Chase chuckled. "Hey, do you think he'll last long? I bet ten dollars he won't last more than two shifts."
"The patients who manage to get an appointment with House are notoriously difficult to deal with.
I bet the first patient will make him seek advice."
"Then let's wait and see."
…
Elion, who had replaced House as the physician, soon saw his third patient.
It was a middle-aged man with orange-colored skin all over his body.
Judging by his suit and his expensive watch, it was clear that he was a successful person.
After sitting down, the man kept touching the diamond ring on his finger, looking extremely insecure about his marriage.
Elion, who was familiar with the plot, naturally knew this man's past.
This man had married a young model ten years younger than him. He was approaching middle age and his strength was declining, but his wife was at an age where she was as vigorous as a wolf.
So it was normal for him to have concerns.
After all, people who are never satisfied will always look for fresher and more delicious food.
Just as Elion was lost in his thoughts,
the middle-aged man had already finished telling his story about how he tripped and accidentally fell while playing golf yesterday.
He believed that his current body aches were caused by that fall, not to mention the discoloration of his skin.
"Dr. House, is my illness very serious?" Elion shook his head and pointed at the name tag on his white coat. "I'm not Dr. House. I'm Dr. Whitmore."
Before Elion could finish speaking, the middle-aged man in front of him stood up angrily, pointed at Elion's name tag, and shouted, "I knew something was wrong! How could Dr. House be as young as you!"
"I went through all that trouble to get an appointment with House, not to give you, a rookie intern, more clinical experience. I'm going to file a complaint!"
As the middle-aged man became extremely upset, the orange color on his face became even more pronounced.
It looked like a ripe orange.
Despite not having received professional training, Elion still showed a faint smile.
The middle-aged man, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped, turned around, and looked at Elion, warning him, "I don't know what's so funny, but you're about to lose your job, you know that?"
Elion smiled and handed him a mirror. "It turns out this rookie intern knows your symptoms. Are you sure you don't want to hear him out?"
The middle-aged man took the mirror with some doubt and looked at his face. When he saw the intense orange color on his face, he immediately opened his mouth in shock.
His face was filled with panic; he was terrified by the orange color, stronger than ever before.
The middle-aged man immediately forgot about the complaint and quickly turned back to ask, "What… what's wrong with me? Do I have a very serious illness?"
Just as Elion was about to speak, a sudden sharp pain pierced through his head.
His face immediately twisted into a fierce expression, and cold sweat instantly soaked the back of his white coat. It took him a moment to recover.
Seeing this, the man panicked even more, imagining something even worse and life-threatening. "What's happening to me? Dr. Whitmore, forgive me if I was disrespectful earlier."
"Tell me honestly, am I… am I… am I about to die?"
Elion wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, suppressing the waves of nausea rising inside him, and replied with a pale face, "It's nothing, it's my fault. I didn't have breakfast this morning, so my blood sugar is a bit low right now."
"In fact, your problem is much more complex than simply turning orange. Realistically speaking, you're here because you know it's not normal for your skin to turn yellow, yet your wife, who shares your bed, hasn't noticed."
"This proves that your wife doesn't care about you at all. So go back and check whether your wife is cheating on you… That's something House, my boss, would say."
"What?!" The man looked as if he had seen a ghost, and anger almost reflected in his eyes.
Because Elion's words had touched a sensitive nerve.
"Oh, by the way, have you been eating a lot of carrots and vitamin capsules lately?"
The man froze, then nodded subconsciously.
"Carotene will turn you yellow, niacin from vitamins will turn you red, and the combination of both will turn you orange. Reduce the doses you take, replace them with others, and your skin color will return to normal."
"Well, I have to go now. If you're worried, you can ask Dr. House for a follow-up appointment."
After saying that, Elion stood up, ignored the orange man's expression, and opened the door to leave.
As Elion was heading toward the bathroom, he ran into House, who was coming back from who knows where.
House was surprised when he saw Elion's weak appearance and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"It's nothing, I probably ate something bad this morning. I need to go to the bathroom." After giving a perfunctory answer, Elion quickly walked toward the intensive care unit.
House watched Elion walk away, a thoughtful look on his face.
Elion could no longer worry about whether he was attracting attention or not.
A tremendous sense of unease instantly seized his heart.
He understood that all these symptoms were clinical manifestations of a brain tumor.
His previous normality had almost made him forget that he was a patient with an advanced-stage brain tumor.
Then he remembered that his predecessor had frantically used illegal substances to confuse his senses in order to suppress the pain caused by the brain tumor.
Those things had already passed their effective period.
The pain caused by the brain tumor was surging back like a tidal wave.
At this moment, the only way to relieve the pain was to prolong his life!
Judging by the timeline, Rebecca's condition, which had slightly improved after using prednisone, would soon experience the side effects of steroid use!
That would push her to the brink of death once again!
But this was another opportunity for Elion to continue living!
…
Cameron, who was asking Rebecca about her experience after taking prednisone, saw Elion enter and asked in confusion, "Huh? Elion, what are you doing here? Are you already done with consultations?"
Chase, who was also taking notes nearby, smiled when he saw Elion and looked at Foreman.
Foreman shook his head and handed Chase a ten-dollar bill. At the same time, he said to Elion, "Kid, you've really disappointed me…"
"Even though I know the patients House sees are hard to deal with, you should be able to handle two or three, right? How is it that you can't even endure one shift?"
With the veins in his temples throbbing, Elion didn't have time to argue with them about the outpatient clinic.
He ignored Foreman's question and looked directly at Rebecca, who was sitting on the bed.
At that moment, Rebecca raised her head, staring blankly at the ceiling, and said with a somewhat nervous expression, "I can't see."