"Look!"

"There are bubbles!"

A series of gasps erupted from the crowd.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the furiously bubbling bottle, finding the sight incredible.

"Cough... COUGH COUGH!"

The young man suddenly coughed violently a couple of times and took a huge gulp of fresh air.

He’s alive!

Chen Hao was both overjoyed and helpless. He wanted to help but had no idea what he should be doing.

Jiang He, however, remained in his half-kneeling position. His left hand steadily secured the needle to prevent it from slipping out, while his right hand gently patted the patient’s shoulder to soothe him.

His expression was calm.

’I saw scenes like this countless times during my emergency department rotations in my past life.’

’What I just did was nothing more than basic skills.’

Jiang He glanced at Chen Hao and said, "Tape."

"Huh? Oh! Coming!"

Chen Hao fumbled to tear off a piece of medical tape.

Jiang He took it and skillfully used an advanced cross-fixation method to secure the thick needle to the patient’s chest wall.

Just as he finished, the sound of hurried, chaotic footsteps finally came from the stairwell.

"Make way! Make way!"

Two paramedics in green uniforms, carrying a first-aid kit and drenched in sweat, pushed through the crowd and rushed in.

"Where’s the patient?!" the lead paramedic yelled.

His steps faltered when he saw the makeshift device on the floor.

A mineral water bottle, an IV tube, a needle...

Though crude and simple, as a professional, he understood the principle behind it in a single glance—

a standard one-way flutter valve water-seal drainage system.

"Tension Pneumothorax?"

The paramedic quickly knelt, placed his stethoscope on the patient’s chest to listen, and his tightly furrowed brow instantly relaxed.

He looked up at Jiang He and pointed to the mineral water bottle on the floor. "You put this thing together?"

Jiang He, who was cleaning up the discarded packaging on the floor, nodded calmly. "Yes. Puncture at the second intercostal space on the midclavicular line. A large amount of high-pressure gas was expelled. The patient’s cyanosis has faded, dyspnea is significantly relieved, and vital signs are currently stable."

The paramedic froze for a moment.

’That was a textbook report.’

’Concise, precise, no nonsense. He sounds like a seasoned veteran who spends all his time in the emergency room.’

"Buddy, which unit are you from? I don’t recognize you," the paramedic asked casually while directing a nurse to prepare oxygen and a stretcher.

"Nanshan Medical University, third-year clinical medicine."

"Third-year?" The paramedic’s movements halted. He gave Jiang He a surprised look. "You’re a student?"

Jiang He said, "It was an emergency."

"...You’ve got some serious nerve," the paramedic said, giving him another look before raising a thumb. "This kid was lucky to run into you. That was damn impressive."

After that brief word of praise,

the team worked together to lift the patient onto the stretcher.

The group had arrived in a flurry and left in one too.

As the paramedics departed,

the internet cafe owner, wiping away cold sweat, emerged from behind the counter and bowed repeatedly to Jiang He.

"Young man, thank you! I really mean it! Uh... for the rest of this month, all your internet time is on the house! Play as much as you want!"

Jiang He just smiled politely. ’It’s already the end of the month. The owner’s a slick one.’

He turned his head to Chen Hao. "Let’s go wash our hands."

Chen Hao was leaning on the back of a chair, his face pale as a sheet, looking as if he were about to collapse...

...

「The restroom.」

Jiang He twisted the rusty knob faucet and washed his hands meticulously.

Behind him, he could hear heavy breathing.

Chen Hao was leaning against the tiled wall, which was covered in small advertisement stickers, fumbling in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes.

He fumbled three times, dropping the pack twice.

After finally managing to pull one out and stick it in his mouth, he flicked his lighter several times without success.

"Old Jiang..." he asked, "Just now... if I had pressed down... what would have happened?"

Jiang He turned off the faucet, shook the water from his hands, and turned around. "You want the truth?"

Chen Hao nodded.

Jiang He said, "With a Tension Pneumothorax, the pressure in the thoracic cavity is immense. If you had pushed down with your palm, you most likely would have fractured his ribs. The broken ends would have plunged directly into his lung or heart."

"During the forensic autopsy, the cause of death would have been listed as: cardiopulmonary rupture and massive hemorrhage due to external force."

"In other words, he wouldn’t have died from his condition. You would have killed him."

"Getting expelled would be the least of your worries. You’d probably go to prison."

Jiang He wasn’t being an alarmist.

In ’08, the medical environment was like walking on thin ice.

In this era, the aftershocks of the Jinling Peng Yu case and the melamine scandal were still reverberating, and social trust had fallen to a freezing point.

More importantly, Article 184 of the Civil Code had not yet been enacted. (A rescuer who voluntarily provides emergency assistance shall not bear civil liability for any harm caused to the recipient.)

A third-year university student without a medical license, in a non-medical setting, causing a death through misdiagnosis and improper procedure.

That’s called practicing medicine illegally resulting in death.

What would have awaited Chen Hao was massive civil compensation, expulsion from the Medical University, and possibly even a prison sentence.

At this thought, Jiang He’s gaze flickered.

’Strange...’

’This never happened in my past life.’

He carefully recalled.

In his past life, he and Chen Hao often came to this internet cafe.

But they would usually play until five or six in the afternoon, at which point Chen Hao would complain he was hungry and drag him to the back street for some malatang.

So, in his past life, that young man probably still had his attack. Maybe he died, or maybe someone else got him to a hospital.

But it had nothing to do with them, as they would have already been sitting at the malatang stall.

But in this life, because of his rebirth, the gears of time had shifted just slightly.

This was probably the so-called butterfly effect.

Chen Hao had remained here, stumbling into this disaster.

Yet it was precisely because he was there that this tragedy, which would have destroyed both that young man and Chen Hao himself, was forcefully averted.

「A long time passed.」

Chen Hao finally looked up, his eyes bloodshot and his voice hoarse. "What about you?"

"What?"

"You knew the consequences were so severe, so why did you intervene?" Chen Hao stared at Jiang He. "What if your needle had missed? What if you’d hit a blood vessel? What if he hadn’t made it... Wouldn’t you also be guilty of practicing medicine illegally? Wouldn’t you also have to go to prison?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Chen Hao pressed, "What were you trying to get out of it?"

Jiang He didn’t answer, just shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking out.

Sometimes, silence speaks louder than words...

Of course, he knew how dangerous that single needle insertion had been.

He also knew what kind of universal condemnation he would have faced if he had failed.

But first, with twenty years of medical practice under his belt, he was completely confident in his ability to handle such a symptom.

Second, it was just as every medical student swears when they first enter the halls of their university:

I volunteer to devote myself to medicine, resolved to do my utmost to eliminate human suffering, promote perfect health, and uphold the sanctity and honor of the medical arts.

—Health is my purpose, life my trust. To rescue the dying and heal the injured, I will not flinch from hardship.

Snatching time from the slivers of an instant before Death swings his scythe, grabbing the falling hand at the edge of despair’s abyss, saving countless families on the verge of being shattered.

Perhaps this is the very meaning of a doctor’s existence.

The mortal heart has two doors; good and evil are separated by a single thought.

Across the vast mortal realm, the white-robed ferry souls to safety.

The evening wind of ’08 blew through the streets. Jiang He wore no white coat, yet he seemed to be cloaked in a brilliant light.