Mastering the Sword Manual, sweeping across the globe

Old Wu was stunned for a moment.

"tonight?"

“Yes.” Zhou Min had already walked to the wheelchair and naturally took over pushing it. “The cancer hospital is now a 24-hour outpatient clinic. Experts from all over the country take turns seeing patients, including at night. Basic examinations are done in the outpatient clinic, and after the results come out, you are directly assigned to the corresponding expert’s clinic. You are lucky, the respiratory department is on duty tonight by Director Zhao—Director Zhao of the South China Cancer Center, who just came to Y City for an exchange last month.”

She spoke quickly, but her hands pushing the wheelchair were very steady.

"Of course, you can wait for the specialists tomorrow during the day. There are more specialists available during the day, so you have a wider selection, but the waiting time will be longer. When Dr. Zhao was in South China, he specialized in the comprehensive treatment of advanced lung cancer, and the old man's case is exactly in his area of ​​expertise."

The old man shifted in his wheelchair, turned his head, and looked at Zhou Min.

“Young lady,” his voice was a little hoarse, “are you… a volunteer?”

“Yes.” Zhou Min lowered her head and smiled at the old man. “I’m an intern from Tongji University. During the day, I do ward rounds with my supervisor, and at night I volunteer in the outpatient department.”

"Aren't you tired?"

"I'm tired," Zhou Min said, "but it's worth it."

She pushed her wheelchair into a corridor with blood-drawing windows on both sides.

There was a queue in front of the window, but the queue moved very quickly.

Next to each window stood a young man in a white coat, helping people in line check their medical records and answering their questions.

“The blood test is on the left, and the CT scan is on the right,” Zhou Min said, parking the wheelchair at the entrance of the CT room. “Uncle, you can take Grandpa to the CT scan first. I’ll wait in line for the blood test for you. By the time you’re done with the CT scan, the blood will be drawn too.”

Old Wu opened his mouth.

He wanted to say, "I can't accept this," "It's too much trouble for you," and "We can do it ourselves."

But Zhou Min had already taken the test results and walked towards the blood drawing window, her ponytail swaying back and forth.

There was also a queue outside the CT room, and the queue moved quickly as well.

About ten minutes later, the line reached the end.

Old Wu pushed the wheelchair to the entrance of the CT room.

The technician glanced down at the old man, then at the examination report, and called out to the inside, "Come on, someone help me."

Another technician ran out from inside, and the two of them, one on each side, helped the old man up from his wheelchair and into the examination room.

Old Wu tried to go in, but was stopped: "Family members are waiting outside."

The door closed.

Standing in the corridor, Old Wu stared blankly as the red "Under Inspection" light above the door lit up.

People came and went in the corridor, some pushing carts, some carrying medical records, and some helping their family members. The sound of their footsteps overlapped on the ground.

Old Wu leaned against the wall, took his backpack off his shoulder, and placed it at his feet.

He took out his phone, intending to call his wife. He scrolled through his contacts, hovered his finger over the dial button for a few seconds, then turned off the screen.

I don't know what to say.

The red light is off.

The old man was helped out and put back into his wheelchair. The technician followed behind and handed Mr. Wu a printed examination receipt.

"The results will be available in half an hour. Please go to have your blood drawn first, and then wait in the waiting area. Dr. Zhao's consultation room is on the second floor, in section C, room 217. The results will be sent directly to his computer after they come out, so you don't need to pick them up yourself."

Old Wu took the receipt and glanced at it.

It has the old man's name, age, examination items, and the expected time for the results printed on it.

At the very bottom, there is a line of small print: If you have any questions, please consult the volunteers in the lobby.

He looked up and saw Zhou Min already standing at the entrance of the corridor, holding a blood test receipt in her hand.

"Uncle, it's our turn to get your blood drawn. Let's take the old man over there."

The blood draw was quick.

The nurse at the window worked swiftly, applying a tourniquet, disinfecting, inserting the needle, drawing blood, removing the needle, and applying a cotton ball—all in one smooth motion.

Before the old man could react, the needle had already been removed.

"Press for five minutes," the nurse said, pressing the cotton ball against the inside of the old man's elbow. "The results will be out in half an hour. No need to remove them; just send them directly to the doctor."

Zhou Min pushed the wheelchair to the waiting area.

The waiting area is on the second floor of the lobby and is an open space.

The rows of chairs were full of people, but there were still empty seats.

Zhou Min found two seats next to each other, parked the wheelchair beside him, stood in front of the old man, bent down, and spoke to him.

“Sir, the results should be out in about half an hour… Dr. Zhao’s consultation room is over there,” she pointed to a door with a light on at the end of the corridor. “There are three numbers ahead of you now. I’ll come and call you when it’s your turn.”

"Thank you for your trouble." The old man was full of gratitude.

“This is my job,” Zhou Min answered skillfully. She straightened up and smiled at Old Wu: “Uncle, you stay here with Grandpa. Call me anytime if you need anything.”

She turned to leave.

"Young lady," Old Wu called out to her.

Zhou Min turned around.

"You...do all the volunteers here...do they all do this?"

Zhou Min smiled.

"Uncle, are you asking if we treat everyone this way?"

Old Wu nodded.

“Yes,” Zhou Min said, “that applies to everyone.”

“I’ve been in Y City for a week now. When I first arrived, I also felt that this place was too… too abnormal. 24-hour outpatient clinics, national experts taking turns to see patients, interns serving as volunteers, and each team having someone specifically for triage and consultation—no hospital can do or afford to do these things. The human resource costs, management costs, and coordination costs—any one of them could drive the hospital director crazy.”

"But it's different here."

Her gaze swept around the hall.

Old Wu followed her gaze and saw young people in white coats scattered among the crowd. Some were squatting next to wheelchairs talking to the elderly, some were holding tablets to give directions to family members, and some were carrying thick stacks of examination forms and running between windows.

"Experts from all over the country came, as did interns from all provinces. During the day, they followed their mentors on ward rounds, wrote medical records, and performed surgeries. At night, they volunteered at the outpatient clinic, helping patients with triage, answering questions, and running errands. It was tiring, but nobody wanted to leave."

"why?"

Zhou Min lowered her head and looked at the name tag on her chest.

"Because we all know that this kind of opportunity may only come once in a lifetime."

She put the tablet down from her arms.

"The nation's top experts, the newest and best equipment, the most abundant medicines and consumables, and the smoothest referral channels—all these resources are scattered, scarce, and in high demand elsewhere. But here, they are brought together, twisted into a single force, and directed in the same direction."

"Uncle, do you know what this means?"

Old Wu looked at her.

"This means that here, doctors only need to think about one thing—how to cure the disease."

135 Pig Butchering Scam

Dr. Zhao's consultation room is not large.

A desk, two computers, a video player lightbox, and a potted green ivy on the windowsill, its leaves drooping and swaying slightly in the air conditioning breeze.

A human anatomy diagram hangs on the wall, with the structure of the lungs clearly marked in color.

When Lao Wu pushed his father inside, Dean Zhao was looking at the computer screen.

On the screen was the old man's CT scan image—a small, blurry shadow at the edge of his lung lobe, shining against the black background like a frozen wisp of smoke.

"sit."

Old Wu sat down on a chair against the wall in the consultation room. His wheelchair was parked next to the desk. The old man sat in the wheelchair with his eyes open, looking at Dean Zhao.

Dean Zhao zoomed in on the CT image.

The consultation room was silent for a few seconds.

"Brother, I'm telling you the truth."

The old man nodded.

"Your condition is indeed quite advanced. The tumor is in a bad location, next to a major blood vessel. The county hospital is right not to perform surgery. Here... we're not very confident either."

Old Wu clenched his hands tightly on his knees.

“However,” Dean Zhao pushed the keyboard aside to make room on the table, and placed his hands on the table with his arms crossed.

"Being afraid to have surgery doesn't mean there's no way out. If your type of lung cancer meets the genetic testing criteria, you can start targeted therapy. It's a third-generation drug, which was just included in the medical insurance last year. No surgery or chemotherapy is needed; just take one tablet a day and have regular check-ups."

"Of course, targeted drugs are not effective for everyone. If the genetic testing results do not meet the criteria, there is a second option—immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. Immunotherapy was also included in the medical insurance last year, and when combined with low-dose chemotherapy, the efficacy rate is much higher than that of chemotherapy alone."

"Whichever approach you choose, both options require a full set of genetic testing, immunohistochemistry, and multidisciplinary consultation. Once the test results are available, the expert team will develop a personalized treatment plan for you. This plan can also be implemented at your county hospital—the medications are the same, and the medical insurance reimbursement rate is the same. You can choose to be treated here or back in your hometown; it's up to you."

"Do it!" Old Wu nodded immediately.

“I’ll arrange it as soon as possible,” this answer was clearly within Dean Zhao’s expectations. Dean Zhao gestured for his assistant to open the consultation room door. “The volunteers will explain the other matters to you two in detail.”

Back in the corridor, Zhou Min was already waiting: "You two should have heard about the situation in the hospice ward... Admission is by lottery."

Old Wu already knew this. When his father was still working at the county hospital outpatient clinic, he had already been admitted to the first-level pool of X Province Cancer Hospital with the help of doctors.

However, I've been unlucky these past few days and haven't won a draw yet.

This is perfectly normal. Entering the hospice ward is like being cured of all diseases, like having your life saved. All the unlucky people across the country suffering from serious illnesses, who would dare to drink even toad skin and boy urine, could resist registering for it?

Although Da Yang has never released the number of terminally ill patients in China due to statistical difficulties, humanitarian reasons, medical ethics, or social impact, based on data from other categories and the statistics of those who rushed into the first-level pool in Y City this time, the number has now exceeded 500 million!

500 million draws for 26!

The odds of winning are a hundred times higher than with the Double Color Ball lottery!

What? You're saying some bored people with mild symptoms might have registered too?

The world is so big, there are bound to be plenty of idiots...

Given the limited time available, Y City could not possibly conduct a rigorous review of each case individually—in fact, there simply wasn't enough time to do so. They could only rely entirely on the cases uploaded by medical institutions from various regions.

However, City Y is not too worried about this possibility.

If someone actually wins such a prize, the final result will definitely be something everyone will be happy to see... You're fucking despicable!

After introducing the situation of the primary pool, Zhou Min began to introduce the secondary pool to Lao Wu, which is the bed situation of the Provincial Cancer Hospital.

Similarly, due to the influx of patients from all over the country, the general beds at X Province Cancer Hospital, including those in all departments such as respiratory medicine, medical oncology, thoracic surgery, and radiotherapy, are also in short supply. They can only allocate a portion of the beds each day to a lottery system, and only those selected can be admitted.

This pool is only open to patients who have already arrived in Y City.

"In other words, you have to see a doctor first," Old Wu asked.

“Yes,” Zhou Min nodded, “Dean Zhao’s diagnosis results are in. Your father’s condition meets the admission criteria, and I just registered him for the lottery in the system.”

As she spoke, Zhou Min tapped something on the tablet.

A pop-up window appears, showing a lottery interface.

Zhou Min reached out to Lao Wu, who clicked "Draw Lots Now," and the numbers on the screen began to scroll.

The numbers were jumping around so fast that it was impossible to make out what they were; all you could see was a blurry blur of light and shadow rapidly flipping through the box.

It rolled for about seven or eight seconds, then stopped.

The pop-up window displayed a line of gray text: "Unfortunately, you did not win the lottery this time."

Please try again tomorrow.

Old Wu sighed and looked away from the screen.

"It's okay, you can continue to have it done tomorrow," Zhou Min comforted her. "It's the same whether you go to other hospitals in Y City."

"The test results are now valid throughout the province. Your father's blood routine, CT scan, and tumor markers are already in the system. Doctors at any hospital can access them and review them. Every morning, the cancer hospital organizes multidisciplinary consultations where experts from various hospitals discuss treatment plans. If you are concerned, you can consult Director Zhao and his team directly online, or ask them in person during their rounds."

Old Wu looked at her.

"Do other hospitals... also need to participate in the lottery?"

“No need.” Zhou Min shook her head. “Other hospitals don’t require a lottery for beds, but they do require an in-person consultation to confirm that the patient’s condition meets the admission criteria. The cancer hospital no longer admits patients with mild symptoms at all… We can see patients, but if the condition isn’t severe enough, they can’t be included in the secondary pool. That’s why an in-person consultation is necessary; the doctor has to see the patient in person to confirm that hospitalization is indeed required.”

As she spoke, she swiped across the tablet.