Sports Medicine Master System-Chapter 56: What a Nice Guy

Inside the examination room, Chen Yu finished his hands-on examination.

"Money." Seeing Chen Yu stand still, Raul came to a sudden realization and hurriedly handed over a wad of cash.

It was a thick stack, all in hundred-dollar bills, which were a rare sight. It was exactly ten thousand.

But Chen Yu didn’t take it. Instead, he asked, "Do you want him to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, or do you want him to stand up and walk on his own again?"

Raul was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Chen Yu sat down and pointed at the young man groaning nonstop. "If you want him to stand and walk on his own again, this isn’t enough money. Of course, if you can accept him being in a wheelchair, then this amount should cover it."

’Patella fixation, ligament, meniscus, and tendon repair... for ten thousand US dollars? That wouldn’t even cover the cost of the materials.’

Before Raul could answer, the young man on the bed grabbed him and said something urgently in Spanish.

’He probably doesn’t want to be in a wheelchair,’ Chen Yu figured.

Raul snapped out of it and asked how much money was needed.

Chen Yu did a quick mental calculation and held up one hand. "Sixty thousand."

Raul was shocked.

’Besides, isn’t that five fingers?’

"Are you robbing us?" a burly, scruffy-bearded man at his side yelled.

Chen Yu stood up, pulling off his rubber Gloves. "Too expensive for you? Then go to a hospital. If you have insurance, twenty thousand US dollars will be enough. But here, with me, it’s sixty thousand US dollars."

’In his condition, the surgery alone at a hospital would cost one hundred thousand US dollars, not to mention the subsequent physical therapy.’

’Without insurance, who could possibly afford treatment for an injury this severe?’

’Even at sixty thousand US dollars, after deducting costs for materials and taxes, he’d only end up with about twenty thousand in his own pocket.’

Raul hurriedly stopped the burly man, who looked ready to explode. "Chen, sixty thousand it is," he said. "But you know what that means."

He stared intently at Chen Yu.

Chen Yu chuckled. "What do you mean? You were all fixing a house and he got hurt. Is there a problem?"

Raul quickly shook his head.

"Go get the money ready," Chen Yu said, then started making a call.

’Steel plates, screws, high-strength tension wires... he needed to buy all of it. There were suppliers in the United States who could deliver with just one phone call.’

’However, the ones he knew were all in Miami.’

’But that wasn’t too far. For a sale worth over ten thousand US dollars, they would surely make an overnight delivery.’

’Then there was the matter of an operating room.’

’His own clinic was out of the question, but he could just rent a proper one. He had partnerships with larger clinics for services like MRIs and blood tests, and they had professional operating rooms available.’

Raul motioned for one of his men to go get the money, then asked when the surgery could be performed.

"Do you think this is a simple matter of a few stitches? Let’s say tomorrow morning. I’ll try to finish early, since I have to get back to Miami for Christmas in the afternoon."

Chen Yu brought over an instrument tray, disinfected his tools, and began to address the patient’s bleeding.

"Then what about him?" Raul asked, pointing at the patient. "It’s still over a dozen hours until tomorrow morning."

Chen Yu cut open the man’s pant leg and disinfected a large area of skin. "What do you mean? He waits. If you’re in a hurry, you can always go to the ER."

Raul instantly fell silent.

Chen Yu’s hands were a blur of motion as he performed a basic suture and dressing.

Once finished, he glanced at his system panel.

[Sports Medicine]: 73%, 97/100 (Silver Level Effect: 2 uses, Bronze Level Effect: 1 use).

’Suturing a simple wound like this actually counts toward experience.’

’Of course, he had once tested this, wondering if cutting his own leg and then stitching it up would also grant experience points.’

’It did.’

’But when weighed against the pain he had to endure, Chen Yu had abandoned that method of grinding experience without a second thought.’

’Besides, the experience gained from such simple procedures was essentially junk experience.’

’After grinding experience like crazy over the past few days, Chen Yu had gradually started to figure out some of the underlying patterns.’

’Whether he could trigger a treatment effect wasn’t just about luck; it was also about the quality of the experience gained.’

’For example, suturing a hundred wounds could max out his experience bar, and so could performing a hundred major surgeries.’

’However, the probability of triggering a treatment effect from the first method was likely far, far lower than the second.’

’In other words, the difficulty of the procedure also influenced the probability of triggering a treatment effect, especially a High Level one.’

’Chen Yu recalled that the Gold Level effect he’d triggered before had come from grinding experience multiple times on a single joint-replacement patient.’

’He was just a few experience points away.’

’If I can get to 99 now, the surgery tomorrow will max out the bar. It’s the perfect chance to go for a treatment effect.’

Chen Yu turned to look at Raul.

"Sit down."

’The guy had a cut on his brow ridge.’

"You must have scraped this on a wall during that renovation," Chen Yu said, reaching over to disinfect the wound.

Raul nodded blankly, then said after a moment of silence, "You don’t have to keep up the act. We know how to keep our mouths shut."

"What are you talking about?" Chen Yu asked, a blank look on his face.

Raul rolled his eyes and dropped the subject.

Chen Yu quickly sutured the wound on Raul’s brow, earning another point of experience.

"You!"

Chen Yu then pointed to a bald-headed man, motioning for him to roll up his sleeve. He had a scrape on his arm, likely from raising it to block a sharp weapon.

"I’m fine. It’s barely bleeding anymore," the bald man protested.

Chen Yu shook his head. "No, you should still get a couple of stitches."

Raul found a mirror and examined his brow. After a moment of thought, he said, "You know, Chen, you’re actually a good guy."

’Chen Yu was taking a risk by treating them.’

’And even though he had a sharp tongue, he had still turned around and stitched them all up.’

’He was a decent person, in his own strange way.’

Chen Yu quickly finished the stitches, bringing his experience to 99. "That’ll be one thousand US dollars each," he announced. "Come over and register your information in a minute."

"How much?" The bald man’s eyes went wide. He had seen it clearly—it was only three stitches in total. ’Doesn’t that work out to over three hundred US dollars a stitch? This is highway robbery!’

’And I even said I didn’t need them!’

The bald man was even tempted to tell Chen Yu to take the stitches back out.

Raul waved a hand to silence his companion. He touched the stitches on his own brow and suddenly felt that Chen Yu wasn’t so great after all.

After registering everyone’s information.

As for the main patient, he was registered using the information of someone with a similar build and appearance.

’This whole affair carried some risk, so it was best to be meticulous and leave no loose ends.’

’Of course, the so-called risk wasn’t actually that significant.’

’The law required doctors to treat patients in critical condition. As for not reporting it to the police... well, it wasn’t a gunshot wound. It was an injury from a renovation accident. How was I supposed to know he used a fake ID?’

After prescribing some painkillers for the patient, Chen Yu sent the group away.

Back home, Chen Yu meticulously prepared a pre-operative plan.

’This patient’s injuries were perfect. Ligaments, meniscus... these were exactly the types of surgeries he needed to practice.’

’It would be best if he could trigger a treatment effect. If he could grind out a new technique on top of that, it would be even better.’

The next day, Chen Yu arrived early at the partner clinic.

The surgical supplies had been delivered, and the operating room was prepped.

While they were looking at the X-rays, the clinic’s surgeon, Roy, shuddered. "Chen, you can actually perform this surgery?"

’He certainly didn’t have the skills to pull this off.’

Seeing Chen Yu nod, Roy thought for a moment before blurting out, "Chen, let’s go into business together."

’Skilled doctors were in high demand everywhere.’

’And his clinic was in desperate need of a talented orthopedic surgeon just like him.’

"Forget it." Chen Yu shook his head. ’I don’t even know how long I’ll be staying in Orlando.’

Roy then said, "In that case, let me be your assistant. I want to learn from you."

That was acceptable. Chen Yu happened to need an assistant anyway.

At nine in the morning, the patient arrived and was wheeled into the operating room.

"10-blade."

Chen Yu took a deep breath, accepted the scalpel, and, his gaze seemingly piercing through the skin, made the incision.

Roy nodded slightly. ’An expert reveals his skill with a single move.’ The incision was fast, precise, and decisive, with only a small amount of blood seeping out. It was clear Chen Yu had plenty of experience with a blade.

He performed a sharp dissection of the deep fascia, exposing the patella, which had been shattered into three pieces.

Taking the forceps, Chen Yu quickly navigated through the pooled blood and tissue fluid to clamp onto a loose bone fragment.

Roy, standing nearby, was taken aback. ’He’s not even going to use suction?’

Chen Yu said nothing. With his Eye of All-Seeing, every detail of the damage was perfectly clear.

’Besides, he had performed dozens of patellar internal fixation surgeries like this one.’

Drilling pilot holes, inserting screws—Chen Yu’s movements were swift and precise.

The entire process took only forty minutes.

He rolled his shoulders. ’It’s been a while since I’ve hammered bone. I’m a little rusty.’

Next were the ligaments and the meniscus.

Chen Yu took another deep breath and focused completely.