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

"Hey boss, what's up?"

Ever since he received the $800, Cassie has liked to call Lynn that in private.

Casillas wore a relatively clean sweatshirt today.

The gray hoodie she usually wears in the car has pilling at the collar.

When she saw Lynn, her freckles turned slightly red.

Lynn got into the car and casually closed the door behind him.

"I need you to get me something."

"Didn't you used to sell things on eBay all the time? You should be very familiar with the hospital system, right?"

"That...that was just making use of waste!"

Lynn ignored Cassie's excuses and recounted Wilson's story.

The surgical record was changed; Julian was listed as the lead surgeon, and he was now described as the "assistant."

Cassie stirred the noodles in the cup with her chopsticks but couldn't pick them up.

"Fuck."

Her little face instantly filled with anger. She put down the cup of noodles, clenched her little fist, and then snapped open the notebook.

"What do you want?"

"Complete surveillance video of the operating room, pre-operative sign-in sheet, and surgical briefing handwritten by Victoria after the operation."

"These are in the core storage area, with at least level three access permissions."

"Can you handle it?"

"Let me take a look first."

Her fingers landed on the keyboard with the same deft movements as when she was an assistant.

"The attachment layer and the core database of the scheduling system are not in the same database... The sign-in sheet should be able to be retrieved."

Cassie typed commands while talking to himself.

After a few commands, the check-in records popped up.

Black and white on white paper.

Surgeon: Lynn.

First Assistant: Victoria Vanderbilt.

Second Assistant: Julian Harold.

"Okay. Next."

She switched to the security archive interface.

The hand stopped.

"...That's all."

"What's gone?"

"Surveillance footage. Trauma recovery room, early morning of the day before yesterday, the entire folder was empty."

She turned the screen toward Lynn.

Deletion time: This afternoon, 17:12.

The time in Dean Lin Enjin's office is 17:50.

They deliberately destroyed the evidence first, and then tried to negotiate terms.

"Where is the operator's account?"

"It's a general administrator account, shared by several people in the IT department, so we can't find out who logged in."

"Can it be restored?"

Cassie bit her nails, her brows furrowed for a long time.

"I can't handle it."

She hesitated for a moment, then, as if remembering something, continued:

"But... there is one person who can."

She pulled out an unmarked spare phone from under her seat.

"I have a partner. He's the one who set up the core area-related stuff, and those anonymous payment channels on eBay before."

This was the first time Lynn had heard Cassie mention other partners.

They've kept it well hidden.

"He has his own rules and doesn't reveal his identity. I rarely bother him."

She glanced at Lynn.

Then I dialed the number.

The other party answered very quickly.

Cassie lowered his voice and explained the situation.

The surveillance footage was deleted, and the archive server cleared it completely. It needs to be retrieved from the front-end cache or the underlying logs.

A few words were spoken on the other end of the phone.

Lynn couldn't hear clearly, but Cassie's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

"I know it's risky... but please help me this once, I promise, just this once..."

She became anxious and raised her voice slightly.

"Let me finish!"

Cassie glanced at Lynn again.

This time it's a little longer than before.

"He was also of Chinese descent. An intern. He saved a very important person in the operating room."

"Now the hospital is trying to pin the credit on a white attending physician. He didn't even get promoted to second assistant."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

One last thing:

Give me ten minutes.

In America, some anger needs no explanation.

The same knife cuts through a neck of the same color; the rest is self-evident.

Cassie moved her laptop to the passenger seat to make room, and with her left hand she browsed the security system's underlying directory while with her right hand she synchronized the progress with her partner on her phone.

Only six minutes had passed.

The encrypted file package popped up in my inbox.

Unzip.

A complete video recording of the operating room.

From the first incision to the last stitch. Nineteen minutes, not a second less.

The footage was so clear that you could see Julie standing there the whole time, her hands frozen on the retractor.

Cassie then pulled up the surgical briefing she had just downloaded.

Three backups.

Cassie moved with lightning speed.

One copy was put into a skull-shaped USB drive, another was left on the computer and encrypted, and a third was stuffed into a hidden compartment under the watch face, where she usually hid cash.

For Cassie, this was the highest level of security.

After doing all this, she handed the USB drive to Lynn.

Then he leaned back in his seat and let out a long sigh.

It's like they've been holding it in for a long time.

The carriage was quiet for a few seconds.

"Lynn".

She called out her full name.

"When you had your chest opened in the trauma room the day before yesterday."

"I'm right outside the door."

Lynn didn't say anything.

"I did the math."

Cassie's voice was flat, as if he were reciting a math problem.

"The surgery failed, and everyone present had their licenses revoked. Without a license, I can't use the PSL (Pledged Supplementary Lending) for student loans. According to the standard repayment plan, I have to pay 3,200 yuan per month."

"I can't even afford the gas for this car."

……

She lowered her head.

The shoelace on my left shoe broke once, and the two pieces were tied together in a knot.

"Victoria can get in because her family has a trust fund; they can afford to lose money. Julian can get in because his father is the former president of the Surgical Society; if something goes wrong, someone will bail him out."

"I have nothing."

"I've been holding this in for a long time. I've been thinking about it while I was working, and I'll say it after I'm done."

"If I can't figure it out, I'll be too ashamed to say anything."

She rubbed her nose.

"If you feel that..."

"Cassie."

Lynn interrupted her.

"You live in a wrecked ambulance. You eat expired cup noodles. You mend your shoelaces and keep wearing them."

"Some people in America are not qualified to gamble with their lives."

"You've done a great job."

Cassie blinked.

"You've done a great job."

Lynn gave her a gentle hug.

Cassie blinked hard again.

Lynn loosened her grip and then shook the USB drive in her hand.

"Thanks, you've been a great help."

Cassie sniffed.

I took another drag.

Then he grabbed the bowl of completely cold instant noodles and gulped down the last mouthful of soup.

I tapped the rim of the bowl with my chopsticks.

"Next time you need something, call me first."

"OK."

"You keep your word."

"understood."

Lynn carefully put away the USB drive.

Just as Cassie was about to push open the door, her phone vibrated again.

Her partner sent her an encrypted message.

It is a screenshot of the system access log.

Today, someone used their senior privileges as a council member to access a batch of documents.

It's Lynn's personnel file.

This includes: job application, medical school transcript, internship evaluation, and immigration documents.

Access time: 6:47 AM.

It happened 25 minutes earlier than the surveillance footage was deleted.

They don't just want to erase a surgery.

They wanted to find out who this suddenly appearing Chinese intern came from.

How could a poor young man who had just graduated know a battlefield technique that even senior doctors had never seen before?

Lynn stared at the timestamp.

The dean's smiling face was only the first layer.

There was more than one knife wrapped in cotton.

"Cassie."

"exist."

"Keep an eye on what's going on in the dean's office for me these next few days."

"Is the surveillance fee separate?"

"I'll treat you to pizza."

"make a deal."