Reward in Hand

The Tinkerer's words made all of Old Bai's men hesitate.

What If...? no one else were present, they might have actually done it. But now there are a lot of people around, and if anyone dares to step forward, it would be giving someone else an opportunity to avenge the boss and then take over the position.

So at that moment, no one dared to move.

Even in his rage, the chubby Old Bai realized his predicament. He glared at the other medical staff and yelled, "Fuck! Damn it! Gods! Is there anyone here who can continue this surgery?"

Fearing they might be implicated, the assistant doctors and nurses quickly stepped back. If the surgery were truly simple, like a routine appendectomy, they would have stepped in.

However, the hilar bile duct resection surgery is a very difficult type of surgery, and none of the people present had ever seen one before.

The Tinkerer's methods were also unlike those of a typical surgeon, which only added to their confusion.

At a time like this, how could you possibly step forward and declare your abilities? That's tantamount to courting death.

Seeing everyone's reaction, the Tinkerer became even more emboldened and smug. He said, "How about it? Is a million a reasonable price? You know, the doctor is someone you can't afford to offend." As he spoke, he blew a puff of smoke in the other person's face.

"Don't you have any medical ethics at all? Have you forgotten the Hippocrates Oath?"

"Oh, you know Hippocrates? Impressive!" The Tinkerer flicked some more ash into the man's stomach, making the Old Bai, fat man yell loudly, before he said:

"You can't expect someone who hasn't gone to medical school and doesn't have a medical license to take that kind of nonsensical oath."

Besides, what good is making an oath? Are there fewer people who don't keep their word these days?

"You!" The Old Bai, fat man barely managed to raise his head, glaring angrily at the damned quack doctor. He gritted his teeth and said, "Give it to me! I'll give it to you! It's just a million, I can afford it. Now, finish the surgery for me."

"Ha, I've seen plenty of people who don't keep their word. They only do things for money. If you don't have money, you'd better figure it out yourself. Maybe you can find a nice cemetery, a comfortable coffin to lie in, and a group of beautiful dancers to do a striptease on your grave."

"Damn it. Go ahead and leave me here to die if you dare, otherwise, once I regain my mobility, I'll do it myself..."

The Tinkerer pressed the cigar directly into Old Bai's body. The fat made a very noticeable "sizzle" when it touched the cigar butt.

He simply asked, "How about doing it yourself?"

"Get the cigarette out! Get that damn cigar out of my belly! One of you, go and get me a million right now! Smash this worthless bastard to death!" the Old Bai man roared at his men.

"Qin, wouldn't it have been better if you had just handed over the money earlier? It would have saved us from putting on this whole farce, all this trouble." The Tinkerer smiled smugly, then puffed on his cigar.

He'd gone a bit too far with his cigarette, and the butt was covered in bodily fluids, so it was almost extinguished. While waiting for the money, he went out of the operating room to get a lighter and lit the cigar.

Then, ignoring the sterile room's disinfection rules, they went into the inflatable operating room. This series of bizarre actions left the unemployed nursing staff, who were there for a little money, terrified.

In a regular hospital, it would be strange if the defendant didn't die.

However, don't assume that unlicensed doctors are beyond the reach of the law. Surgeries always come to an end. And when they've lost their leverage over the other person, everyone's already imagining how they'll end up.

Some of the younger girls, who were too emotionally fragile, had already started to sob.

Is it difficult for gangsters to raise money? Not at all, because they don't deposit their money in banks, so they can just go to where they keep their money. Unless they really have no money.

So it didn't take long before someone came over carrying two rather heavy handbags.

They carried it straight into the operating room, placed it in front of the Tinkerer, and unzipped his jacket. The leader said, "It's all small change."

"One, five, ten, twenty—we have them all, but the total is one million. Do you want to order them here?"

The Tinkerer casually weighed the large handbag in his hand, then zipped it up and said, "Take it out and put it next to my handbag. I'll start once I see you've put it down."

As he spoke, the Tinkerer put his cigar back in his mouth and placed his hands in front of a nurse, gesturing for her to help him put on surgical gloves.

At times like this, no one dares to defy the surgeon. Even if the person lying on the operating table is seething with hatred, he won't allow his opened abdomen to become unhappy.

The Old Bai, fat man's men naturally followed instructions, taking out the large briefcases filled with money and placing them next to the small bag the Tinkerer had brought.

With everything prepared, the Tinkerer finally picked up his scalpel again and began the excision. He first removed the cancerous bile duct, cut off the abnormally colored proliferative tissue, and threw it into a special iron basin for collecting the excised tissue.

Then, the liver tissue from which the cancer cells had spread was removed and disposed of in the same location.

During the process, the Tinkerer didn't forget to advise, "Your blood pressure is very high right now. Don't get so angry; it's bad for your health and not very friendly to the person having surgery."

"Do you know that your blood vessels look like they're about to burst? If they did, it would be a huge hassle for me to clean them up. Regular blood pressure medication probably won't be very effective for your condition; maintaining a good mood is more important."

"What good mood could I possibly have? Tell me! What kind of good mood should I be in?" The Old Bai, fat man became more and more agitated as he spoke, and he even started panting.

In general surgical procedures, in such cases, medication is usually added to the patient's IV drip to adjust their physical condition.

But the Tinkerer acted as if he didn't know anything, just kept using his knife and ignored everything else.

The doctors and nurses assisting them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the lesion finally removed, but they were also filled with apprehension.

With this surgeon performing such a disastrous procedure, will they even be able to leave alive after the surgery?

Just before the surgical site was sutured and ligated, the Tinkerer stopped again. He turned to the two henchmen who hadn't left the operating room and asked, "Do you have a phone here? I just remembered I have a very important call to make."

The Old Bai, chubby man had just calmed down when his emotions flared up again. He yelled, "Couldn't you have finished the surgery before making that stupid phone call?!"

"That would be too late. This call is very important; if I don't make it, I won't be able to sleep tonight," the Tinkerer, cigar in mouth, said with a smile.

"You damn bastard, give him the phone!" The Old Bai man swallowed his words before finishing his curse and instead ordered his subordinate.