American Medicine: I survived the death knell thanks to the devil.

She raised her hand and gently touched Lynn's cheekbone with her fingertips.

"The bones are fine, it's just soft tissue contusion."

"Just apply an ice pack when you get back."

Her tone was that of a standard doctor's diagnosis: calm, objective, and unemotional.

But when he withdrew his hand, his fingertips lingered on Lynn's cheek for half a second longer.

Lynn noticed, but said nothing, maintaining her workaholic persona.

"Shall we shoot some more? This amount of footage is barely enough for one film."

"That's enough filming, let's go home."

Victoria turned and walked away.

The two walked silently towards the parking lot.

The Hellcat was still there, its engine occasionally making a soft click or two as it cooled down.

Victoria opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, and stared blankly at the SRT logo on the steering wheel for a while.

The scene from earlier kept replaying in her mind.

It was not a scene of conflict.

It was Lynn who stepped out from behind her.

She tried to stop him, but he brushed her hand away.

Then I stood in front.

He weighed less than 160 pounds, standing in front of two burly men who weighed 240 pounds each.

Having practiced medicine for many years, she has seen far too many muscular men.

On the operating table, their bodies are opened up, and layer upon layer of muscle fibers are exposed under the operating lights—just a bunch of proteins.

Since my grandfather passed away.

This was the first time she had ever felt this way from a man...

sense of security?

Forget it.

Victoria quickly stopped herself in her mind.

Stop joking, Victoria.

He's just your cash cow, your partner.

We'll help you shoot videos, help you gain followers, and help you double your income.

If those two idiots hurt him, who will help you run the account?

Correct.

That's it.

She stood in front of Lynn simply to protect her investment.

That's it.

She started the engine.

The roar of the Hellcat engine filled the carriage again.

"Get in the car."

It was still that commanding tone.

But I felt that his tone was a little softer than before.

Just a little bit.

As the car drove onto Fifth Avenue, the lights from the shop windows on both sides streaked across the car windows.

Victoria held the steering wheel with one hand, while her thumb unconsciously rubbed the stitching of the steering wheel.

The car was very quiet.

The low growl of the engine filled the silence.

"Those two moves you made just now..."

In the end, it was Victoria who broke the silence first.

"Have you studied martial arts before?"

"no."

"Then how do you know where to hit?"

I learned it in anatomy class.

Victoria scoffed.

"Anatomy class teaches you how to fight?"

"Anatomy class teaches you where you are vulnerable."

Lynn leaned back in her seat, turning her head to look at the street scene flashing past the car window.

"I was forced to fight."

Victoria didn't respond.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the bruise on Lynn's cheekbone, which flickered in the intermittent light and shadow of the streetlights.

I was forced to fight.

Then stand in front of me?

Were they forced into it?

She opened her mouth, the question hovered around her lips, then she swallowed it back.

Too hypocritical.

The descendants of the Vanderbilt family would not ask such a question.

red light.

The Hellcat stopped, and the vibrations from idling gently traveled to the seats of the two people.

"Victoria".

Lynn suddenly spoke up.

"Um?"

"I have a question for you."

His tone was casual, as if he had just mentioned it offhand.

"If the hospital finds out about what happened today, the emergency department will definitely give me a hard time."

Lynn's transition was a bit abrupt, and Victoria didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue.

"Do you have any way to get me transferred out of the emergency room?"

The green light is on.

Victoria stepped on the gas, and the car glided smoothly forward.

Her gaze was fixed straight ahead, without looking at Lynn.

"What the United States needs most is emergency room doctors."

Her voice regained its businesslike indifference.

"With my authority, at most I can temporarily borrow you when there are VIP patients, just like last time."

"If you want a permanent transfer, you'll need to have more impressive performances to show."

"For example?"

"For example, by handling a few difficult cases, or by dealing with some important figures, so that the department head will specifically request your services."

"Otherwise, if an intern wants to leave the emergency room, the line of people ahead of you could stretch from Manhattan to New Jersey."

Victoria hesitated for a moment, then added:

"If I have the chance, I will help you as soon as possible."

Lynn nodded.

"Understood, I'll figure something out."

The conversation ended there.

Clean and concise, with not a single superfluous word.

Like an outpatient consultation.

The patient stated their needs, the doctor provided a solution, and the patient indicated that they understood.

Then they all went home.

Victoria suddenly didn't want to talk anymore.

She turned on the car stereo.

The radio was playing an old song, Fleetwood's "Dreams".

Her hoarse voice filled the carriage, just enough to fill the small gap she didn't want Lynn to notice.

Lynn leaned back in the passenger seat with her eyes closed.

He noticed that Victoria had suddenly become quiet.

Today she actually initiated the conversation, and she was noticeably more talkative than usual.

For someone who usually wouldn't even bother answering Julian's questions about her weekend plans, this was already considered talkative.

And now, she's listening to music.

Lynn wasn't quite sure what the silence meant.

He just felt that his earlier remarks, if intended to transfer him, were premature.

Was the timing wrong?

But he didn't think too much about it.

It's better to talk about things sooner rather than later.

He needs to be transferred away from the emergency room as soon as possible.

The intensity of his work in the emergency department prevented him from quickly expanding into side businesses and from escaping this life on the edge of financial ruin.

He didn't want to end up like the original owner of this body, like those lower-class Americans.

Taking painkillers, enduring life, slowly climbing upwards, only to fall down again if you're not careful.

Like a frog climbing up from the bottom of a well.

The car stopped downstairs at Lynn's apartment building.

The streets of Brooklyn are much darker than those of Manhattan, and two of the streetlights are broken.

Thanks.

Lynn unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door.

"Lynn".

Victoria called out to him.

Lynn turned around.

Victoria stared at the windshield ahead, without turning to look at him.

"Don't forget to apply ice to the wound on your face."

"understood."

The car door closed.

The Hellcat's taillights lit up for two seconds in the Brooklyn night before it floored the gas and disappeared around the corner.

The roar of the engine gradually faded into the distance.

Lynn stood by the roadside, watching the two red dots merge into the traffic, and touched her cheekbone, which was still throbbing slightly.

……

The next few days.

The emergency department is still the same emergency department.

Working twelve-hour shifts every day, patients of all kinds line up in long queues in front of the triage desk.

Those suffering from chest pain, falls, intoxication, excessive drug use, domestic violence, or internal conflicts.

Here, Lynn conducts consultations, physical examinations, orders tests, writes medical records, and calls her superiors.

Back and forth.

The only change is after get off work.

Victoria would wait for him in the hospital parking lot almost every other day, only the car had changed from a Hellcat to an old Tesla.

They sometimes go to the gym to shoot new series.

Sometimes we would film additional indoor yoga scenes at her home.

The two worked together more and more smoothly, but ever since that conversation in the car that night, the distance between them seemed to have grown again.

It's like going back to the very beginning, to a distance based purely on self-interest.

Lynn didn't pay any attention.

His attention is all on himself right now.