I Once Again Had a Nightmare, So I Once Again Became Stronger

"I refuse~"

Tony Stark said firmly.

Richard was not surprised at all, nodding and saying.

"I will carefully study your surgery, and perform it for you only when I have a 100% certainty."

He said this casually, but his face was filled with confidence.

Tony laughed then, holding Richard's hand and saying warmly.

"Then my health will be entrusted to you from now on, kid Richard."

"I don't offer discounts on medical fees," Richard said righteously, "even though we're friends~"

"No problem~" Tony teased with a wink, "I'm so poor I only have money left~"

Richard's face darkened instantly, and he cursed defensively, "Damn it, you filthy rich bastard! Get the hell away from me!"

"Hhahahaha~" Tony laughed so hard he rocked back and forth.

In the evening, the New York branch of Stark Industries sent a car to drop Richard off at Greenpoint Apartments.

Just as he stepped out of the car, a voice came from the dark.

"Doctor Richard."

Richard turned around to see a bespectacled young Black man walking out of the shadows.

Richard looked at him warily: "Who are you?"

Simmons stopped a meter away: "Simmons, Simmons of the Black Snake Gang."

Richard frowned: "I don't seem to know you?"

Simmons nodded: "I've come to tell you that the Black Snake Gang has sent people to prepare an ambush against you."

"What?" Richard asked in astonishment, "Why?"

"Because you cut off the balls of the former boss of the Black Snake Gang."

"What nonsense are you talking?!" Richard looked at him with an absurd expression.

Wait!

It seemed he really did cut off someone's balls.

"I remember now! You were the one who took the guy who had the orchiectomy!"

"So that guy is the boss of the Black Snake Gang?"

"Former boss, sir," Simmons corrected.

"Never mind former or current, why attack me?" Richard was utterly puzzled.

"The former boss used a secret vault to lure the current boss into avenging him."

"And the target is you."

"Fine!" Richard raised his hands, giving up on trying to understand the bizarre thought process of Black people.

Then his tone shifted as he asked: "And you? Why come here? And leak this news to me?"

Simmons answered with a serious expression: "To protect myself, and my family, sir."

Richard immediately figured out his motive, saying: "You're afraid Presbyterian Hospital will come looking to settle accounts with you later?"

Simmons smiled bitterly and nodded: "Unlike them, I can imagine what kind of response Presbyterian Hospital, one of the top hospitals in the United States, will make after a top doctor like you is attacked."

Richard praised: "You're quite smart."

"Thanks for the heads-up. If you need any help in the future, you can contact me."

With that, Richard took out a personal business card and handed it over.

Simmons was overjoyed, taking it with a bow and immediately putting it into his inner jacket pocket.

Back at the apartment.

"Hi, Clea, I'm back."

Richard called out while changing his shoes.

"Darling, you're finally back!"

Christine Palmer, who was bored watching TV, jumped down from the sofa.

She ran over skipping and jumping, flying into her boyfriend's arms.

Taking a deep sniff of the familiar scent on her boyfriend, her joyful expression vanished instantly.

She nimbly jumped down from her boyfriend's body and demanded with a menacing look.

"Why is there another woman's perfume on you? Tell me, have you been out whoring around?!"

Richard was slightly stunned, unable to help thinking of those big-assed, wasp-waisted blondes on Tony's private jet.

"Uh, I came back on Tony Stark's private jet, the smell on me should be from when the flight attendant poured water and accidentally got some on me."

Christine looked at him suspiciously: "Really?"

"Don't believe me?" Richard raised an eyebrow, smiling mischievously, "Then I'll prove it to you right now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped forward, hoisted his girlfriend over his shoulder, and rushed enthusiastically toward the bedroom.

"Hey, Richard, what are you doing! Ouch, you're annoying, you're covered in perfume, go take a shower!"

"Let's wash together~" Richard didn't stop his stride, turning directly toward the bathroom.

"No!"

"Objection overruled, heehawhahaha~"

Afterward.

Christine lay lazily in Richard's arms, her porcelain-white fingers tracing endless circles on his chest.

"Richard..." she murmured softly.

"Hmm?" Responding offhandedly, Richard's left hand stroked his girlfriend's smooth back.

"Thank you~" Christine raised her head, looking affectionately at the man before her.

"You're welcome!" Richard said brazenly.

It made Christine punch him in the chest: "You aren't even going to ask why I'm saying thank you?"

"So why is it?" Richard lowered his head and asked.

The girl buried her face back in his chest, her fair face pressing tightly against his warm torso: "When I first entered the hospital, I set a rule for myself."

"A rule?" Richard was genuinely curious now.

"Never date coworkers." Christine finished speaking and laughed.

She raised her head again, mischievously reaching out to pinch his nose: "It's all your fault, you annoying guy..."

"Whoa!" Richard smugly blinked, reaching out to grab her misbehaving little hand, pulling it to his lips and kissing it, "Then I must be really lucky!"

"Annoying pest~" Christine pulled her hand back, casually slapping his arm before changing her posture, hugging that arm tightly to her chest, and saying somewhat blankly, "I thought I'd become the most amazing one..."

Richard gently stroked Christine's hair and smiled: "Then you shouldn't be staying in the Emergency Department, Strange is your role model."

"Yeah~" Christine murmured dazedly: "Focusing on developing new technologies, countless high-end banquets, endless medals and certificates..."

"Good summary, that's the standard Strange route." Richard curled the corner of his mouth in a sneer.

"Dreams and reality always have some discrepancies." Christine's gaze cleared up, and she raised her head to kiss the corner of her boyfriend's lips, looking at him with an adoring gaze. "Now I just want to become a doctor like you!"

"Even if the patients we take in are street bums or drunkards with guns?" Richard asked.

"Yes!" Christine answered firmly.

"Then welcome to the slaughterhouse, Ms. Christine Palmer." Richard hugged the girl in his arms tightly and said passionately.

Late at night, Richard had a nightmare once again.

The clashing of weapons...

Screams echoing everywhere...

Unfamiliar cries for mercy...

The neighing of horses...

Intertwined into an extremely tragic and chaotic nightmare battlefield.

"Let me out!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Trapped in the cycle of the nightmare, Richard muttered incessantly in his sleep, his expression turning flustered at times and ferocious at others.

Christine was jolted awake. Seeing Richard's state, she hurriedly pushed his body and called out to him repeatedly.

"Richard, wake up, wake up now!"

"Richard, Richard..."