Medical Center. Emergency Ward.
Major Hunt, the urban soldier king and military doctor, was feeling pretty smug at first. Christina raised her hand to slap him but hesitated, unable to follow through.
But in the blink of an eye, that hand swapped out for a metal basin, which she swung at him without missing a beat. It smashed into his face with a heavy thwack.
This scene? It was straight out of Flirting Scholar—like when Tang Bohu went looking for Qiu Xiang while the four perverted thieves from the East, West, South, and North attacked. The only difference was Christina didn't have a big stick handy—just a metal basin.
Hunt clutched his face, staring in disbelief at Christina, who was glaring at him with pure fury. Was this part of God's plan too?
"Pervert!"
Christina's anger eased a bit after landing the hit. She grabbed a tissue and wiped her mouth furiously, her disgust so obvious it made Hunt's face flush with embarrassment.
This wasn't some playful act or flirty game.
She was genuinely repulsed.
"Dr. Yang…"
"Get out of my sight!" Christina jabbed a finger toward the door.
"I'm sorry," Hunt said, standing and heading for the exit. After a few steps, he couldn't just leave like that. He stopped and turned back to her. "But I thought there was something between us, so I—"
"Oh, there's something alright," Christina cut in, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "How could there not be? In your world, any woman who smiles at you is basically handing you a free pass, right?
You're so used to running wild overseas, aren't you? Everything looks like a wink and an invitation from someone charmed by you 'heroes fighting for your country.' Fighting for your country, my ass!
You're just fighting for your buddies, aren't you?"
"No!" Hunt snapped, humiliated and annoyed. "I messed up this time, okay? I misread you, thought you were into me. But don't you dare lump my mistake in with every hero out there fighting for this nation."
"Oh, please. You're telling me you 'heroes' don't mess around overseas?" Christina scoffed. "If you weren't so used to it, where'd you get the nerve to try kissing a woman you just met—who's been mocking you nonstop, by the way?
Oh, wait, I get it. It's because of how I look, right?
I'm Asian.
In those action flicks you guys love, people like me are just there to be disrespected however you want. We're supposed to play coy, half-resisting, half-giving in, right?
You're all addicted to that fantasy, aren't you?"
"I didn't—" Hunt's face turned red again.
"What? You didn't pick up that habit overseas, or you didn't watch those movies and let them plant that subconscious urge to disrespect us?" Christina mocked. "Nobody admits they're a monster.
But we don't judge someone's humanity by how pretty their words are—we judge by what they do.
So tell me, Major Hunt, is this what a human being does?"
"I'm sorry," Hunt muttered. He glanced at Christina, her eyes cold and unyielding. He wanted to explain himself but didn't even know where to start. With another quiet apology, he slunk away, ashamed.
At least he still had some sense of shame.
Was Christina right?
At first, he'd fought the idea tooth and nail.
But thinking it over, he had to admit—he wasn't that bad. His buddies, though? They were always cracking crude jokes about women from the "Land of the Cosmic Sun." Some who'd been stationed there even bragged about stuff that was shocking yet weirdly thrilling.
Those "Sun Action Films" had swept the globe, cementing that image in their heads.
Christina's words hit like a dagger—sharp and dead-on.
He didn't want to admit it, but rationally, he knew he'd been influenced, at least a little. Otherwise, he wouldn't have pulled something so out of line today.
Back in the day, he'd prided himself on his integrity—everyone had. No one would've ever linked him to words like "addict" or "pervert."
If he'd just given up and stopped pretending to be a gentleman, it might've been easier. But because he still had some shame, the guilt was eating him alive.
Meanwhile, leaving Christina's takedown of Major Hunt aside, Adam was in the OR with Shorty, working on a surgery.
At first, he'd thought this returning soldier king with his cocky military doctor vibe was kind of a clown—too dumb to use an air bag, just blowing air with his mouth like some poser who'd overplayed his hand.
Who'd have guessed there'd be such a wild story to follow?
Adam had already forgotten about him.
After all, soldier kings came back every year by the dozen. He'd seen too many—heck, he'd personally taken down two "war gods" himself. Why would he care about some military doc who tried to flex and flopped?
Beep beep.
The OR intercom buzzed.
A nurse picked it up, then turned to Adam. "Dr. Duncan, the chief's looking for you."
"Put it on speaker," Adam said, not pausing his work.
"Yes, sir."
The nurse hit the speaker button.
"Adam, how's the surgery going?" The surgical chief's voice came through, sounding urgent.
"Barring any surprises, I've got 32 minutes left," Adam replied with precision.
"No time for that," the chief said, flustered. "Do you know anything about spinal cryotherapy?"
"Of course," Adam said, surprised. "Did a patient like that come in?"
"Yeah."
In another room, the surgical chief glanced at Callie, the panicked chief resident in orthopedics, and sighed. "Dr. Torres is working on it, but she didn't do her homework, and now it's an emergency…"
"Give me the patient's status!" Adam cut in.
"…Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, post-disconnection, tachycardia…" the chief rattled off quickly.
"When the body temp drops below the threshold, it can trigger arrhythmias," Adam said, still operating while mentally mapping out the situation. "His threshold's between 91.5 and 92 degrees. He's at 90 now—warm him up.
Use ECMO to bring the temp back, but go slow, or you'll cause other problems."
"Do exactly what Dr. Duncan says, and don't rush it," the chief ordered Callie.
"Don't panic, Dr. Torres," Adam added, hearing Callie's heavy breathing over the line. "Take a deep breath. Pushing the boundaries of medicine is what we do.
Next time, prep a little better and keep your cool—it's no big deal."
"You heard Adam," the chief said, his tense expression softening. "Let's do our jobs. With this experience under your belt, I'm sure you'll be an even better doctor moving forward."
"I'll do my best," Callie said, taking a deep breath. She started following Adam's instructions.
Her skills were solid—she'd just gotten rattled diving into uncharted territory and leading the charge alone. With Adam's calm guidance, her usual competence kicked back in.
"He's stabilizing!" Callie exclaimed after a flurry of work, her voice brimming with relief.
"Nice work," Adam said with a smile. "Hit me up if you need anything."
"Thanks, Adam," Callie said sincerely.
The surgical chief watched the scene with a gratified smile, then drifted into thought.
(End of Chapter)