Chapter 3: Midnight Practice

Practicing incisions on pigskin only nets 0.1 experience each time. But when he switches to live white mice, he earns double the experience!

Could it be because practicing on living tissue is the key?

With this groundbreaking discovery, he was both shocked and delighted.

It seems this experience system has a lot more potential waiting to be tapped!

If incisions on white mice earn double experience, what about practicing other medical techniques?

After splitting open a wound, the intestines, kidneys, bladder, and other organs were fully exposed.

He didn’t rush to tamper with the organs.

Instead, he chose to perform cavity suturing.

【Suturing Experience +0.2, Ligature Experience +0.2.】

Everything was doubled in experience—absolutely exhilarating.

It felt like going from a slow walk to driving a sports car, experiencing unprecedented speed and excitement.

……

Before he knew it, Zhou Can had made exactly fourteen incisions on this white mouse.

Every cut carefully avoided vital areas, followed by precise cavity suturing.

It wasn’t that he held a grudge against the mouse in a past life; he kept it alive to continuously earn double experience.

At that moment, the clock had already struck midnight.

In total, he must have placed over two hundred sutures.

Suturing on a living creature is slower than on pigskin, but the double experience made it very worthwhile.

He checked the experience levels for his various medical techniques.

【Pathology Diagnosis Level 2 – Current Experience: 89.6/100. Excellent training standard.】

It was originally 89.5, but after reading a medical case this morning, it increased by 0.1.

If time permits, reading 104 more cases will bump it up to Level 3.

Level 3 is equivalent to a resident doctor’s standard.

Few interns reach this level—if any, only one or two extraordinarily talented ones might.

If Zhou Can upgrades Pathology Diagnosis to Level 3 before trainee recruitment, his chances of staying will increase by at least fifty percent.

Pathology Diagnosis accounts for a high percentage of the scoring.

It is both the first and obligatory exam during interviews.

That alone speaks to its importance.

He sighed, lamenting the tight schedule.

During the day, he works; in the evenings, he practices medical techniques—there’s no time for studying.

Moreover, reading 104 cases isn’t simple reading; it requires deep thinking and independent deduction.

Simple cases might take merely 10 to 20 minutes, but the tougher ones require examining various references and repeated analysis, sometimes taking one or two hours or more.

【Suturing Level 2 – Current Experience: 87.8/100. Excellent training standard.】

【Ligature Level 2 – Current Experience: 89/100. Excellent training standard.】

These two medical skills are like twins, progressing nearly hand in hand.

After one night, Zhou Can was extremely satisfied with their growth.

Had he discovered earlier that practicing on living tissue earned double experience, both skills might already be at Level 3.

Tomorrow he’ll buy another white mouse and surely upgrade them to resident standards before trainee recruitment.

【Incision Level 2 – Current Experience: 3.6/100. Below standard for trainee training.】

The progress in this technique is comparatively slow.

However, possessing trainee-level skills should suffice for the recruitment.

【Hemostasis Level 1 – Current Experience: 4.8/10. Failing trainee standard for hemostatic ability.】

This technique has become a major weakness for Zhou Can.

If he can’t upgrade it to Level 2, the trainee recruitment the day after tomorrow will seriously hold him back.

His gaze shifted to the white mouse.

It was time to practice his hemostasis technique.

One hand holding a scalpel, the other an electrocautery knife.

He continuously sliced the white mouse, then followed each cut with the electrocautery knife, aiming carefully at the bleeding points along severed blood vessels.

The electrocautery knife works by coagulating small blood vessels with high-frequency current, using heat to solidify, carbonize, and thus stop the bleeding.

Due to his lack of skill, various mistakes occurred.

Either he missed the severed vessel or inadvertently injured the surrounding tissue.

But with continuous practice, his performance was gradually improving.

Every successful hemostasis added 0.2 to his hemostasis experience—and that felt great.

Practicing hemostasis was much faster than incisions or suturing.

Even a casual cut could reveal two or three bleeding points.

With each press of the electrocautery knife, he essentially pocketed 0.2 experience.

【Congratulations! Your Hemostasis has advanced to Level 2! Current Experience: 0/100. Trainee-level hemostatic ability.】

After successfully achieving hemostasis on the white mouse 26 times, Zhou Can’s hemostasis skill advanced to Level 2.

This thrilled him to no end.

At last, he had filled this glaring gap in his skills.

Not one to stop at a win, he set his sights on Level 3 in hemostasis.

He continued to inflict incisions on the white mouse.

Then he applied electrocautery to stop the bleeding.

After reaching Level 2, his hemostasis efficiency improved several times over. Now he could usually hit the mark with just one attempt, and the risk of injuring the surrounding tissue had significantly decreased.

Just as he was getting into the groove,

【Hemostasis Experience +0.1.】

Trying again still only yielded an increase of 0.1.

The white mouse’s heartbeat had already ceased.

It was dead.

What a pity.

Zhou Can sighed. His current hemostasis experience was 46.4/100.

It seemed that to reach Level 3, he’d have to wait until tomorrow.

Even in death, the mouse retained a shred of value.

He picked up his scalpel and began to dissect its innards.

By the time the white mouse was utterly unrecognizable, his incision experience had risen to Level 2 at 9.7/100.

That was an excellent improvement.

The night’s gains were beyond his expectations.

Checking his clock, it was already 2 AM. He quickly cleared the practice station, disposed of the waste, washed up, and went to bed.

It was a dreamless night.

Simply because he was utterly exhausted.

The next morning, it was his roommates who roused him.

“Zhou Can, Zhou Can, if you don’t get up now you’ll be late!”

Blinking his eyes open, he saw it was 7:32.

Startled, he leaped out of bed, quickly freshened up, and sprinted toward the hospital like his life depended on it.

Interns are required to be at the hospital at least twenty minutes early.

He wasn’t keen on hearing the resident in charge’s endless nagging.

Upon arriving at the hospital, he downed his breakfast at the canteen as quickly as possible before returning to his department to handle a series of daily tasks.

Every intern’s workload was heavy.

Senior doctors seemed eager to dump all mundane tasks on the interns, all in the name of ‘training you.’

“Xiao Zhou, hurry and notify the patient in Bed 27 to prepare for a 10 AM surgery. You’re in charge of following up.”

The resident’s voice was always booming.

Although only a few years older than Zhou Can, he cheerfully called him ‘Xiao Zhou.’

After all, respect for one’s seniors was expected.

“Okay!”

Noting the time, Zhou Can quickly headed to the ward to notify the patient and their family.

Pre-surgery preparations were meticulous and had to be executed flawlessly.

He couldn’t afford any carelessness.

Once in the ward, he carefully inquired about the patient’s condition, confirmed everything was fine, and then instructed them to change clothes, and fast for bowel and bladder procedures—no food or water allowed.

During this time, after the senior doctor spoke with the family and had them sign the informed consent,

once the surgery was confirmed, the anesthesiologist arrived.

It was all just procedural talk—another round of forms and signatures for the family.

These essential steps were unavoidable.

In case of any disputes, they would protect both the doctors and the hospital.

Once everything was in place, the nurse stepped in.

“Dr. Zhou, have you prepared the patient’s skin for disinfection?”

“Not yet!”

Zhou Can grumbled. These tasks were clearly the nurse’s duty—how had they become his responsibility?

“Don’t just stand there. I’ve already pushed in the tools. Handling the skin prep and IV catheter will be on you.” The nurse, though attractive, had a stern tone.

What could he say?

He got right to work.

Once he finished, the nurse’s face finally broke into a smile as she nodded approvingly, “Hmm, Dr. Zhou’s pre-operation routine is getting sharper. Now, quickly send the patient over; otherwise, Director Liu will start yelling!”

Zhou Can’s forehead burned with frustration as he retorted internally.

“How could we not be proficient? All the tedious work is dumped on us interns.”

“Oh dear, already talking back to the nurse? Do you still want to get married? Be good, let me set you up with a girlfriend!”

Though the nurses might seem strict, they actually got along quite well with him.

Knowing he wasn’t a match for these married ladies, Zhou Can quickly took the patient away, leaving the nurses laughing behind him.