49: "Ghost Doctor"

The liveliness of the book signing continued all the way into the evening.

When Lin Que returned to the studio from home, his entire body felt like it was falling apart.

He tore off the tie around his neck that he had dug out of his old man's wardrobe, and then collapsed flat on the bed in a sprawling "big" shape.

Accompanying his parents in the spotlight for a whole day and dealing with the praise from various uncles and aunts was more exhausting than writing tens of thousands of words for his updates.

Especially Lin Jianguo, who was holding that camera, and from start to finish, the sound of the shutter never stopped, recording his "glorious image" from every angle, saying he wanted to print them out and hang them in the most conspicuous spot in the living room.

The moment Lin Que thought of that scene, he couldn't help but shiver.

But seeing the heartfelt pride of the two elders, he felt that acting like a "Best Actor" was worth it.

After resting for a dozen minutes, he slowly crawled up and turned on his computer.

There was already a notification for a new email in the inbox of "Jian Shen".

The sender was Xu Lan.

[Teacher Jian Shen! A great victory! A great victory ahhhhh!!!]

A string of exclamation marks almost jumped out of the screen.

Lin Que clicked open the email, and Xu Lan's excited and somewhat incoherent text rushed toward him.

[Teacher, you definitely couldn't have imagined! The standalone edition of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, in less than twelve hours since the pre-sale started, the statistical sales through online channels have already exceeded one million copies!]

[President Zhang of Bailu Publishing House has had his phone ringing off the hook, and the production lines of the three printing plants have all started up, running continuously 24 hours a day. He said that in his thirty years in the industry, he had never seen such an exaggerated array!]

[Also, you must have seen the news about today's book signing!]

[That student representative named Lin Que was simply miraculous!]

[His analogy of the "doctor and nurse" left that reporter who was deliberately finding fault speechless, and now the entire internet is spreading it!]

[Editor-in-Chief Wang said that this child is simply a heavenly soldier sent by you, effortlessly dissolving the villain's conspiracy!]

[...]

At the end of the email, Xu Lan also attached a short video of everyone in the editorial department popping champagne to celebrate.

Lin Que leaned against the back of his chair, looking at the text on the screen with little expression on his face.

One million copies—expected.

As for that high school student who descended from the heavens...

He chuckled lightly, and his fingers began to tap on the keyboard.

[Editor Xu, hello.]

[Sales are just numbers. Being able to let one million exhausted hearts find a momentary place of rest is more meaningful than the numbers themselves.]

[As for the matter at the book signing, I have also heard about it.]

[That young man named Lin Que is very interesting.]

[His analogy leads sharpness and gentleness from opposition to symbiosis.]

[Tearing open a wound is for better suturing; many adults fail to see through this logic.]

[He is a spirited child, and I look forward to his future development.]

[You've worked hard.]

Click send.

Lin Que picked up the coffee on the table and took a gentle sip.

Using Jian Shen's identity to praise himself in all seriousness—

this feeling, indeed...

He closed his email and skillfully opened a local literature forum in Jiangcheng.

Sure enough, the titles of the hottest posts were all related to the daytime book signing.

[Heaven-defying reversal! At the book signing site of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, the student representative argued against a crowd of scholars, and the "medical CP" theory ignited the entire venue!]

[818 That little big brother high school student has worldviews as upright as his facial features! Loved it, loved it!]

[Stop fangirling upstairs, he's still a child!]

He clicked on the third post with great interest, and the replies inside had already reached several hundred floors.

[Purely rational analysis: Does that high school student's answer mean that the literary statuses of "Jian Shen" and "Hell Dream Weaver" have already been settled?]

[The OP is overthinking it; Lin Que was just saying polite words to give the organizer the steps down.]

[Bullshit! Why do I feel like he leans more toward the Dream Weaver? He said the Dream Weaver is a warrior and a person who tears open wounds. How high is that evaluation!]

[Stop self-deluding upstairs; the last sentence said Jian Shen is a saint. Don't you understand what a saint is? Several levels higher than a warrior!]

[I feel like you guys all missed the main point. Isn't the main point that doctors and nurses both work in the hospital?]

[Holy shit! Upstairs, you opened up a new line of thought for me! Then in the hospital, besides doctors and nurses, what else is there?]

[There are directors, security guards, cleaning aunties... and the morgue administrator.]

[...]

[Can you guys stop derailing the thread! I'll just ask one question: if the Dream Weaver is that doctor, what if he's a quack doctor whose craftsmanship is no good, and he stabs someone to death with a single slash?]

[...]

When Lin Que saw this comment, his fingers stopped on the mouse.

"A quack doctor... poor craftsmanship, stabbing someone to death with a single slash..."

He murmured this line of text softly, the curve of his lips slowly spreading.

At daytime's book signing,

those reporters, readers, and even including Shen Qingqiu,

the expressions of relief and finding answers on everyone's faces flashed back one by one in his mind.

"Doctor and nurse? Warrior and saint?"

Lin Que leaned against the back of his chair and let out a light chuckle.

"Too harmonious, and also too boring."

"Games are only fun when you constantly flip the table."

Since you compare me to a doctor, I will personally tell you—

A doctor can also be a butcher.

Redemption can also be another form of curse.

He switched to the author backend of the Hongguo Novel Website, and the cursor flickered quietly on the new chapter's title bar.

[Ghost Doctor]

[Midnight, twelve o'clock.

Wang Qiang dragged a broken leg and crawled with difficulty in a pitch-black abandoned city.

Behind him was the "crunch" sound of something gnawing on bones.

Just when he was about to despair, ahead,

a building emitting a pale white light appeared before his eyes.

On the sign at the entrance of the building, four words were written in blood—Rehabilitation Center.

Wang Qiang stumbled and crawled inside.

In the lobby, a doctor wearing a white lab coat and a mask was quietly sitting behind the triage desk.

When he saw Wang Qiang, he showed no surprise at all, only adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses with a gentle voice.

"Where is it uncomfortable?"

"Leg... my leg is broken! There's a ghost chasing me outside!"

Wang Qiang shouted in terror.

"Don't be afraid. Here, you are safe."

The doctor stood up and pushed over a wheelchair.

"Just a broken leg? A minor problem."

He pushed Wang Qiang into an operating room.

Inside the operating room, the light of the shadowless lamp was blindingly bright.

"Doctor, you... how are you going to treat it?"

Wang Qiang looked at those cold surgical instruments and felt an unprecedented fear.

"Very simple."

The doctor picked up a bone saw with a relaxed tone.

"This leg of yours has already been eroded by the ghost's aura. Keeping it will only make you slowly become one of them.

Therefore, we have to replace it."

"Re... replace it?!"

"Yes."

The doctor pointed to a row of huge glass jars by the wall, inside of which various human organs were soaked.

Arms, thighs, eyeballs, hearts...

"There are many spare parts here, all taken from disobedient patients.

Look, this eye is not bad at all. Its previous owner could see the location of all ghosts within ten meters."

Wang Qiang was scared out of his wits and struggled to escape, but he was firmly tied to the operating table by cold restraint straps.

"Don't move."

The doctor's voice remained gentle, but his eyes, above the mask, revealed a kind of fanatical light.

"If you want to survive in a world full of ghosts, you must be more terrifying than ghosts.

The human body is too fragile, filled with useless emotions and pain sensations.

I will help you purify these weaknesses and grant you a rebirth."

"You... you are a devil!"

"No."

The doctor shook his head, picked up the anesthetic syringe, and slowly pushed it into Wang Qiang's neck.

"I am just a doctor who wants all patients to be able to 'recover'."

At the very last moment when his consciousness plunged into darkness, Wang Qiang saw the doctor take off his mask.

That face was half-rotted, covered with dense stitching.

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Qiang woke up.

He found himself lying on a clean hospital bed, and his broken leg was already as good as new.

He tried to move it, and not only could he not feel any pain, but it was also filled with strength.

He stood up and walked over to the mirror.

In the mirror was a stranger of himself.

Pale complexion, hollow eyes, but his body was unprecedentedly perfect.

He had successfully recovered.

At this moment, the door of the operating room opened.

That doctor walked out, looked at Wang Qiang, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Congratulations on your recovery.

Now, it is your turn to fulfill the doctor's duties."

Wang Qiang looked at him in puzzlement.

The doctor didn't speak, just walked in front of Wang Qiang,

slowly took off the white lab coat on his body, and then draped it over Wang Qiang's body.

After finishing all this, the doctor smiled. At this moment, that face covered in stitching actually appeared incomparably relaxed.

"My term of office has ended."

As soon as his voice fell, his body, like sand,

shattered inch by inch, turning into a ground of black dust, blown away by the wind.

Wang Qiang stood dazedly in place, looking at the white lab coat on his body that still carried lingering warmth.

He suddenly understood.

There are no doctors here.

There are only recovered patients here, one after another, continuously taking over the identity of the doctor.

Right at this moment, outside the lobby, came the sound of another dragging, exhausted body walking with difficulty.

Wang Qiang adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his face that had appeared God knows when,

put on his mask, walked behind the triage desk, and sat down quietly.

He looked at Yang Jian who had just walked in, with a gentle voice.

"Where is it uncomfortable?"]