The City Gates Burn

Chapter 10 - When the City Gates Catch Fire

Psychiatric specialists from major hospitals across the three provinces and one city in East China, with their professional expertise, could always find something that caught their eye.

Many carried pens, notebooks, or even voice recorders, taking notes while talking to patients and nurses, gleaning useful information from the process.

Exchange among peers wasn't just about identifying each other's shortcomings; it also allowed them to learn from each other's strengths.

Since ancient times, the Medical School had never been narrow-minded, and there was rarely any holding back. Exchanges within the Apricot Forest were unreserved. Thus, even through dynastic changes and wars, when talent withered and skills were lost, the Medical School was always the first to recover.

While the visiting doctors interacted with patients in the inpatient ward, Dean Zhou received a phone call. His brow quickly furrowed, and his expression turned strange.

Putting down his phone, Dean Zhou looked at Li Bai and waved him over.

"Dean, something up?"

Li Bai walked over.

"Xiao Li, you don't need to come to work for the next few days."

Seeing that Li Bai's hair had returned to normal, True Man Zhou's gaze softened considerably.

"Dean, did I do something wrong?"

Li Bai's heart clenched. His first thought was that Dean Zhou was about to fire him. Could the old man have had this in mind all along, finally finding an excuse after yesterday?

What rotten luck!

Going on an accidental trip to another world and losing his job over it would be too unfair.

"Uh! You didn't do anything wrong. Don't overthink it." Dean Zhou shook his head and continued, "It's someone else's fault, and you might have to take the fall. But don't worry—if the sky falls, the hospital and I will hold it up. You won't be wronged."

Li Bai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and probed, "Dean, what exactly happened?"

Dean Zhou glanced around and said quietly, "The diagnostic assessment you did yesterday afternoon was deliberately spread online by someone with ulterior motives. Some people who don't know the truth might do something irrational. I'm giving you a month of paid leave. Take a good rest."

He sensed a hint of an unusual conspiracy in this, suspecting the situation was more complicated than what the caller had told him.

"What? Something like that?"

Li Bai guessed it was more than just people being misled; otherwise, Dean Zhou wouldn't be so troubled as to use leave to protect him.

From the moment he issued that assessment report, no matter who re-examined that rich second generation, Yao Bing, the result would be the same. The Yao Family had gotten what they asked for—they brought it on themselves.

"Someone just called me. The Public Security Bureau Network Supervision Section found people deliberately stirring up topics online, pointing the finger at you. The techs are trying to lock down the Position and block those links. Until the storm passes, it's best you don't come to the hospital."

Dean Zhou only revealed part of the situation, keeping quiet about the report that Li Bai had taken bribes from the Yao Family to help Yao Bing evade legal responsibility.

In the recording of the assessment process, Li Bai's rejection of Yao Bing's monetary bribe was clearly documented. A straight foot is not afraid of a crooked shoe—there was no need to worry about any investigation.

As for the suspect Yao Bing's bribery attempt during the assessment, since he was already deemed a psychiatric patient with no or limited civil capacity, and the bribe wasn't successful, there was nothing to pursue afterward. At most, a few Yao Family Bodyguards would be detained to take the fall, which wouldn't even sting the Yao Family.

"Alright! Thanks, Dean!"

Li Bai had no choice but to accept Dean Zhou's goodwill.

Not being kicked out to fend for himself, and getting paid leave on top of that, was already a pretty protective move.

But Li Bai wasn't worried at all about the misled masses or the petty troublemakers fanning the flames. Not only had he gotten a heads-up and was already on guard, but he also had a way to restore his cultivation, making him unafraid of any dirty tricks.

"Go on."

Zhou Tong admired the young man's calm in the face of trouble. It wasn't just because of his master's degree—those who achieve great things must have composure; those who lose their footing will end up mediocre.

Just as Li Bai returned to the fourth floor of the outpatient building to pack up, he saw chaos in the hallway. A dozen security guards were surrounding five burly men.

Doctor Chen Sheng was sitting on the floor, his face covered in blood, screaming like a stuck pig: "It wasn't me! It wasn't me!"

"Beat this damn doctor to death! The Yao Family's lapdog!"

"An accomplice deserves to die!"

"Heartless bastard, unfit to be a doctor."

The five men surrounded by the guards kept cursing. Even the security guards, some of whom were former Special Forces Soldiers, found it hard to subdue them without hurting anyone. Some patients and their families kept their distance, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

Due to the nature of its specialty, Seventh People's Hospital rarely had medical disputes. What was happening on the fourth floor didn't seem like an ordinary one.

When Chen Sheng saw Li Bai standing there dumbfounded, he immediately pointed at him and shrieked.

"It's him! He's the one! He's Li Bai!"

Heaven knows, before he could even react, he'd taken a beating meant for someone else. Now that the real target was back, he should get beaten just as badly, his face blooming like a flower, to even the score.

Li Bai finally realized—these five men were here for him. Dean Zhou had just warned him, and trouble was already at his doorstep.

They couldn't tell his consultation room from Chen Sheng's, so clearly this colleague had taken the hit for him. But he didn't know if these people were righteous avengers or ill-intentioned thugs.

Two of the men suddenly burst forward, breaking through the security guards' blockade. Their bulging, chiseled muscles showed they'd been trained. They rammed a path open and charged at Li Bai.

"Doctor Li, watch out!"

The little nurse Su Mei, standing at the other end of the hallway, covered her mouth and screamed in terror.

But Li Bai calmly raised his hand, drawing two strands of Spiritual Power from his mind and shooting them through his eyes at the two men charging at him with fists raised.

Smack!

Thud! Thud! Two heavy, muffled sounds, as if the very floor of the hallway had violently trembled.

Two burly men stumbled almost simultaneously, their footing lost, and they flailed wildly before crashing to the ground in a pathetic heap, unmoving.

Hypnosis, amplified by pure and refined Spiritual Power, turned Li Bai into a master hypnotist in an instant, felling the two brutes with a mere gesture.

Yet his face showed a flicker of surprise.

Each of the two men had an Anesthetic Needle stuck in their rear, looking quite familiar.

From behind the crowd, an old woman with white hair and a youthful face smiled kindly and nodded at him, casually concealing the special Tranquilizer Gun beneath her white coat.

It was Granny Wang!

With a single move, she had resolved this farce.

The Anesthetic Needle could take down even an elephant, let alone two burly men.

The intangible hypnosis was masked by the tangible needles, and Li Bai didn't call attention to it. Better to avoid trouble when possible; having Granny Wang's aura shielding him was more than good enough.

He quickly guessed why Vice Dean Wang had suddenly appeared at the outpatient building—most likely, the visiting doctors from the inpatient department had annoyed her to no end, so she'd slipped out front, just in time to run into this incident.

The Anesthetic Needles sticking out of the two fallen men's rears were strikingly obvious. The other three brutes still pinned down by security guards felt a sympathetic chill run down their spines—who would have thought this hospital had an expert on standby?

As the others, just coming to their senses, erupted in commotion, Granny Wang shot Li Bai a puzzled glance. Her needles' effect had kicked in far too quickly.

Heaven's justice was swift and sure.

Yesterday, Chen Sheng had made Li Bai take the fall for him; today, he took a massive blow for Li Bai instead. His face covered in blood, he cried like a child—trouble came knocking at his door while he sat in his room, and what rotten luck it was.

Chen Sheng didn't dare make a fuss, either. Who knew if this disaster was his own doing? If others found out he'd brought it on himself, he'd probably have no face left to stay at Seventh People's Hospital.

"Ah, you scared me to death! Are you hurt?"

The still-shaken little nurse Su Mei rushed over in quick steps, stopping in front of Li Bai and looking him over with concern.

"I'm fine. See, they didn't even touch me?"

Li Bai gestured with his arm. The two men lying unconscious on the ground were still at least four or five arm-lengths away from him.

"I told you not to take that appraisal. These people came to get back at you."

Su Mei pulled out her phone and brought up some online comments. Many of them pointed straight at Li Bai, accusing him of being greedy for money, siding with the powerful, and shielding a murderer, threatening to dox and deal with him.

She ventured cautiously, "You didn't really take the money, did you?"