The eccentric doctor never makes a misdiagnosis!

"Dr. Fran, your provocation is quite skillful. But why did you choose this moment of all times? You could have waited until you were fully recovered before bringing it up... Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Tames' hand remained on Fran's face, her glossy nails digging slightly into his skin, causing Fran a slight sting.

She may not have done it on purpose; it might just have been an instinctive action in a fit of rage.

"You can't refute me logically, so you turn to showing me your greatest advantage—'violence.' And the essence of a trial is the restrained use of violence against others."

"But I do admire you. To remain composed after hearing all this and not just strangle me... your manners are truly admirable. Is it because 'I' hold special significance for you? I'm truly flattered..."

Fran maintained his businesslike smile.

Tames frowned and pondered for a moment before speaking again: "You're more cutting than I thought, but perhaps this is the real you..."

"As you said, I'm obsessed with judging others; I've gone mad."

“But I have decided to end my life. I swore that if anyone could pass the test, I would repay the offense with my own life. I chose you as my target more in the hope that someone qualified enough would witness my death.”

Fran did not accept this answer, but pressed on, asking, "What if I fail the puzzle? I will just die quietly, and will you give up? You will just deceive yourself and comfortably go looking for the next 'sinner' who needs to be judged."

"Your mind has become diseased. Malice has sprouted and proliferated like cancer cells out of control. I am your third target, and you can still maintain your restraint... What if it were the tenth? Perhaps by then, you would already be enjoying the screams of others."

Tames was taken aback; her eyes glowed like embers, a hint of determination lingering in them.

"I originally wanted to wait until you were fully recovered, but since we've already brought it up... it's not unreasonable to directly demonstrate my determination."

"Then, please witness my end now!"

As she spoke, Tames took a scalpel from the tray beside her, aimed it at her carotid artery, and plunged it in.

...The anticipated blood splattering did not occur.

A cold, powerful hand gripped Tames' wrist tightly, as if made of iron, making it impossible for her to break free. The scalpel she had been holding fell to the ground.

In her panic, Tames looked at Fran with a puzzled expression.

She was thin and had just undergone surgery, so she was in a very weak state and there was no way she could stop herself.

It wasn't Fran who stopped her.

Fran is still lying obediently on the operating table, even innocently showing his hands to prove that he did nothing.

So, who owns this hand? Who could be the third person in this absolutely secret room?

Tames turned around abruptly and, in a moment of panic, saw a familiar face.

His face was ashen, his pupils cloudy, yet one could still vaguely discern his handsome features from his lifetime, and a faint, lingering smell of preservatives remained...

It was her deceased fiancé, John Howard.

Fran's voice slowly rose. Qiaoqian's voice, ethereal yet full of laughter, was like reciting a poem.

"Death is the ultimate solace. It can cure foolishness and madness. It may not be the best choice, but it is the final destination. Eternal peace is death's promise to all life."

Before anyone knew it, she had sat up from the operating table and put her doctor's coat back on.

"But death is also a stubborn disease. Like a persistent carbuncle, it lingers on the living, never truly leaving. Your well-deserved fiancé has unfortunately contracted a disease called death..."

"And I healed him!"

Fran's face was hidden in light gray shadows, making even his smile indistinct. Only his deep amber-gold eyes shone brightly.

She was clearly smiling; even though she couldn't see it, Tames could see the intense, wild laughter in her eyes.

"What, what did you do?! John was clearly dead... I saw him lose his pulse, he was practically rotting... But why... could he still stand up?"

Tames became somewhat incoherent, having long lost her previous composure. Even with her death wish, fear was still uncontrollably displayed on her face.

The tower of common sense is built upon our understanding of the world. But the tower in Maye's heart is now on the verge of collapse because she has witnessed the impossible "resurrection."

John Howard then grabbed Tames' other wrist, completely restraining her.

He was clearly a limp, decaying, dried corpse; his muscles should have mostly dissolved by now. Why was he so resilient? It was almost like some kind of metal…

Fran stepped down from the operating table and walked slowly to Tames' side. She looked perfectly normal and moved with a light touch, not at all like someone who had just undergone surgery.

"Fran, whatever you want to do, you need to rest now. The newly joined organs are still very fragile..."

Tames pursed her lips, her body trembling slightly, and warned Fran with a hint of worry.

"How kind you are, thank you for your trouble."

Fran extended his slender index finger and thumb, precisely pinched the end of the stitches at the wound's suture site, and then, as if unzipping a zipper... he opened his wound.

But the whole process was not bloody at all; it was smooth and seamless, as if the wound itself was a zipper.

The torn sutures, the writhing internal organs, the splattered blood... none of these appeared.

Beneath the skin of her wound lay a vast and boundless universe.

The vast nebula surged and billowed erratically in the darkness, like a warm breath tinged with iridescent light. Profound, boundless, it inspired both fear and awe.

“亲爱的塔梅丝女士，不管搜∝索qUＮ：9）∵4＄￠8<24△33°05你看到了什么，你只要明白一点……不用担心我。”

As he spoke, Fran pinched the wound again and pulled it to the other side, closing the wound completely. It was like a magician demonstrating his signature trick.

Her lower abdomen was fair and delicate, with a faint sheen... and there were no visible signs of stitches.

"Today you are not the doctor, but the patient. Relax, I will heal your mental illness..."

Tames stared at Fran, her pupils dilated, her gaze unfocused, unable to recover from the shock for a long time.

A great deal of fear enveloped her.

In her eyes, the beautiful young doctor in front of her had already transcended the realm of humanity.

What lies beneath that delicate skin? A demon? An evil spirit? Or something unspeakable and terrifying...?

"What exactly are you?" The question almost came out of his mouth.

Fran smiled but did not answer.

"You... intend to turn me into someone like him?"

Tames gritted her teeth slightly and glanced back at her cold and unfamiliar fiancé's withered and decaying face.

"Of course not." Fran shook his index finger.

“A person who abuses death is not even a quack doctor, but a butcher. Your so-called ‘disease’ is a manifestation of the desire to judge. As long as we can find other ways to dispel this desire… the symptoms will also be cured.”

She rested her cheek on her hand, carefully examining the immobile Tames.

"...What do you mean?" She couldn't understand what Fran was trying to do.

“What I mean is, you don’t have to kill yourself or give up this fun little hobby completely. But you have to put more pressure on yourself… You can be more ruthless than the laws of the world, but more just than the execution by a jigsaw.”

"How could anyone create laws that only have two outcomes: life or death? You're not a Trisolaran."

Fran sat back on the operating table, his fingertips rhythmically tapping the edge of the bed, his excitement visibly palpable.

"Of course, you can choose to return to a normal life. I can erase your bad memories and eliminate the huge impact you have already caused."

She leaned slightly closer to Tames, then changed the subject.

"But I wonder if you have the will to become a true 'Themis'? To become a human court walking in the shadows, using your own set of laws to reclaim the justice that the real victims deserve..."

"The redemption brought by bloody torture is just an illusion of sensory stimulation. Abandon it and try to get closer to the truth! I will teach you how to do it and give you the 'violence' needed to carry it out."

Fran maintained her sweet smile and extended her hand to the other person, as if it were an invitation at a ball.

Unbeknownst to them, John had already loosened his grip on Tames.

In a daze, almost as if possessed... Tames placed her hand on that pale palm covered with stitches.

Chapter Seven: Abyss Applications

"Oh, dear Ms. Tames... thank you for your cooperation with the treatment. I believe we can get along very well."

Fran took Tames's hand and helped her up, as if facing a clumsy dance partner, his eyes full of intriguing smiles.

Tames' body trembled instinctively, just like a mortal who had just made a pact with the devil and only then began to feel genuine fear.

But it's too late to turn back now.

She glanced at John's corpse, which had retreated back into the shadows and stood there, her mind a jumble of thoughts.

The doctor in front of me can even take away the lives of others... I probably have no room for regret.

“What should I do? This locked room is the culmination of my life’s work, but it will be found by the outside world sooner or later… Detectives and police are looking for me all the time. I’m already doing my best just to maintain the status quo.”

Tames removed her surgical hood and mask, revealing her beautiful face with a few strands of wet hair.

Her brows were furrowed, and she looked tired and lost.

If someone who was willing to die were to be brought back to life, they would be at a loss for what to do in the short term. This is also a very interesting phenomenon.

Fran was clearly very experienced in this; she put her hands on Tames' shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

"You can discard everything externally, don't regret it... I will teach you some trivial knowledge, and after you understand it, you will have the ability to solve all problems. The social impact that has already been caused will be eliminated, and you will also be able to maintain your new hobby."

Why exactly are you helping me?

Tames tried to calm her breathing, and her gaze gradually returned to calm.

The instinctive fear had faded with time, and since there was no turning back... she would go all the way. Having made up her mind, composure gradually returned to her.

Fran touched his lips with his index finger, seemingly deep in thought about the question.

“I’ve been thinking about law and divinity lately, and your circumstances happen to be a good fit… so I decided to do a little experiment on a whim.”

She raised an eyebrow and said, "You probably have more questions than just these, don't you? If you don't ask now, I might not be interested in answering them later."

"Now, you can ask me three questions."

Tames glanced at John Howard in the shadows of the corner and tentatively asked him a question.

How exactly did John manage to rise from the dead?

Fran seemed to have anticipated Tames' question, and answered with unusual decisiveness: "Actually, it's not difficult; you just need to use some Bloodling techniques. But a quicker and easier method is to let the corpse come into contact with the blood of the 'Fallen Child' and transform it into a Corpse Man. The difficulty lies in how to make him obedient after the transformation."

"Don't rush, you'll learn all of these things later."

Although she didn't understand what the concepts of "Bloodthirsty People" and "Fallen Stars" were, Tames could sense that Fran was indeed answering her questions seriously.

So she asked the question that had been nagging at her heart.

"Then, what exactly is that starry sky in your stomach?... It's like something out of a horror novel. Are you an 'outer god'?"

"Heh..." Fran chuckled slyly.

"Silly child, of course not."

"It's much easier to deceive people's eyes than to actually put a star inside your belly; it's just camouflage. If you had been bolder and reached in, you could have touched the soft internal organs."

"So...that's how it is?"

"It's that simple. Once the magician reveals the secrets behind those incredible miracles, the audience will be surprised to find that it was all so superficial and uninteresting."

Tames clearly hadn't expected Fran to give such an answer, but her smile was sincere and genuine, not at all like she was joking.

Tames took a moment to process the information before saying, "I don't think I have any more questions for now... Can I leave one last question?"

"can."

Fran nodded, appearing quite tolerant.

"Okay, the Q&A session is over. Let's begin the lesson now."

"You are an excellent doctor, and I'm sure you'll learn very quickly."

-

A week later, the surgeon named Tames had completely disappeared from the world.

Meanwhile, the missing medical pioneer "Fran" has reappeared in the public eye. It turns out that she was not missing at all, but had to hide her whereabouts because she was involved in a secret experiment.

Presumably due to a confidentiality agreement, she remained silent about everything that happened during her disappearance.

Police and detectives found the abandoned secret room, the bodies of John Howard and Julie Jane, and a large amount of paper documents.

But they lost all traces of Tames from then on, as if she had never existed.

Meanwhile, a new legend begins to circulate in the shadows of the city's alleyways...

If you are wronged, oppressed, and unable to obtain justice through normal legal channels... then please go to a deserted neighborhood at midnight, carrying your own feelings and hatred.

There, a lady who calls herself "Themis" will listen to your experiences and seek justice for you.

No one can lie to her, and no one can escape her judgment. She is the judge who wields the gavel and the executioner who brings down the guillotine.