The next day.

  It was time for the final round of the International Physiology Competition. The final scores of the fifteen teams would determine the competition’s overall rankings.

  Gu Mang and the others arrived at the Academic Center at 8.40 PM sharp and they ran into Yang Tianming and the rest of the team at the entrance.

  When Yang Tianming saw Yu Mufeng standing next to Gu Mang, he asked in surprise, “Why are you here on Jijing Island? Is your father here too?”
“He’s not here.” Yu Mufeng slipped a hand into his pocket. “I came to deliver something to my grandmaster.”
Other than Gu Mang, Yang Tianming could not think of anyone else who could order Yu Mufeng around and make him address them as his grandmaster.

  Yang Tianming looked at Gu Mang’s injured hand worriedly. “Is your hand okay? I don’t want your injury to worsen because of the competition.”
Gu Mang, who had a cap on her head, gave a succinct reply. “It’s fine.”
Bai Sui took a look at Gu Mang’s hand too, his eyes darkening somewhat.

  The other teams had all arrived by now.

  They had heard rumors about Gu Mang suffering a serious hand injury due to a car accident and thus were staring curiously in Gu Mang’s direction as they whispered to one another. “We’re doing clinical simulations today. How on earth is she going to compete when her right hand is injured?”
“Even if Capital University didn’t say anything about Gu Mang’s injury, the organizer will definitely let her withdraw from the competition and exclude her results from the final round, right?”
“We’re allowed to withdraw from the competition in the event of an accident.”
“Maybe she’s just here to watch. She can’t possibly participate in the competition in that state.” The person who was speaking thought it was a shame that Gu Mang might not be taking part in the final round. Her impressive performance in the previous rounds had made many people look forward to her performance in the last round.

  One of the professors calmly said, “She didn’t withdraw from the competition. She rejected the organizer’s suggestion to withdraw.”
It was obvious who the professor was referring to and it made everyone freeze on the spot, for nobody had expected that Gu Mang would choose to carry on with the competition. After a few seconds of silence, someone asked in incredulity, “How is she going to compete with one hand?”
If this were a written test, she might be able to write with her left hand. But this is a clinical simulation. What can she do with one hand?

  …
On Gu Mang’s side.

  The group headed toward the Academic Center in silence.

  Gu Mang’s right hand, which was stitched, bandaged, and in a cast, looked especially eye-catching and it made many people think that she had overdone it with her bravado to continue with the competition.

  As there were only a few teams left, everyone gathered in a conference room for the pre-competition ceremony. The room was quite spacious to accommodate everyone, so the various teams sat down in random seats.

  Tension filled the air as the various teams crowded around to hear their professors whispering instructions to them.

  When Yang Tianming, who was very much worried about Gu Mang’s injury, saw how calm and composed she, Yu Mufeng, and the others were, he felt as if he had the worst mental state among the lot. He could not help but squeeze his fingers as he exchanged nervous looks with Professor Xue.

  At 8.55 PM, the judges entered the meeting room and were led to their respective seats at the front. Fei Luo’s gaze landed on Gu Mang, whose presence was particularly eye-catching despite her all-black outfit, as soon as he walked in.

  “We gave her a chance to withdraw from the competition, but she insisted on coming.” A fellow judge whispered to Fei Luo upon noticing who he was looking at. She’s just putting on a brave front. She had her time in the limelight with her nine formulas during the second round and has made a name for herself now that the world’s medical associations and institutes are discussing her formulas. Taking part in the final round with an injured hand will do her more harm than good and might even affect her reputation negatively.

  Fei Luo thought otherwise, though. “Let’s wait and see first. Who knows? She might surprise us.”
The other judge shook his head with a sigh and chose not to comment further on the matter.

  The pre-competition ceremony officially began at 9 AM sharp. To start things off, the MC congratulated everyone for making it into the finals to which they responded with thunderous applause.

  The fifteen teams would be competing at the same time, so there was no need for them to draw lots this time around. Thus, the MC said with a smile, “Now please follow our staff to the clinical lab.”
The students stood up to move.

  “Wait!” someone from the panel of judges shouted.

  Everyone paused and looked over in the direction of the voice, which belonged to the judge who had disapproved of Gu Mang taking part in the competition while injured.

  He looked toward Capital University’s team and tapped the mic in front of him before asking, “Gu Mang, I’ll ask you this for the last time. Are you sure you want to proceed with the competition?”
Gu Mang looked up and nodded politely. “Yes.”
The judge pursed his lips and said nothing more.

  …
The final round of the competition was conducted in a rather spacious and fully-equipped lab. Not only was the equipment cutting edge, but they all carried Jijing Island’s logo as well.

  The students entered the room in a single file as they looked around this foreign space. They were all blown away by how advanced this lab was, given that it was only used for the competition. They could only imagine what the Jijing Special Institute’s labs looked like.

  The lab had been divided into fifteen sections and each had been labeled with the respective university’s name. Every team had the same tasks and they were given a time limit of three hours, which would officially start at 9.30 AM.

  All the teams walked over to their respective sections, where their coats, gloves, and masks were hanging on the dividers. They then started with their preparatory work.

  As the lab was rather spacious, the judges all had mics with them. Fei Luo’s voice reverberated through the lab as he said, “We focus on your operational skills during this clinical simulation. As there may be slight differences in your understanding of it, we’ll only pay attention to the results and leave it to you on how you want to go about with it.”
Gu Mang was holding the white coat in her hand when she heard that. Her hand naturally fell to her side as she turned around to ask, “We can do it however we like?”
Fei Luo nodded at Gu Mang. “Yes, is there something you want to ask?”
“It’s not convenient for me to work with one hand. May I get help from special instruments?”
Frowning, Kang Qi sneered. “Since you know that it’s inconvenient for you to work with one hand, why did you come to the competition?”
Gu Mang ignored him and focused on Fei Luo.

  There was no rule stating that one could not bring their own instruments to the competition. In fact, the famous student from H University had brought his own surgical kit.

  “Yes, you may,” answered Fei Luo. “What instruments do you intend to use?”
“Thank you, Chief Editor.” Gu Mang hung the white coat over her right arm before taking her phone out to send a message.

  Confused, everyone stopped working to look at Gu Mang.

  Kang Qi’s eyes darkened slightly.

  After sending the message, Gu Mang moved to put on the white coat, her movements a little slow due to her injured hand.

  Just as she was done putting the lab coat on, the sound of wheels could be heard approaching from outside. The next second, Jiangsui and his subordinate appeared, pushing a machine in.

  The judges were all shocked to see the machine and it took a long time before they got over it. Fei Luo was the first one to return to his senses. He turned his gaze to Gu Mang and asked in disbelief, “You’re going to work with a robotic surgery system?”
“I can’t do that?” Gu Mang returned his question with another question.

  “You can. It’s just that—”
“That will do. Thank you,” Gu Mang said curtly. She then signaled Jiangsui to push the machine over to Capital University’s section.

  What Fei Luo had wanted to say was that working with a robotic surgery system was completely beyond the scope of the competition. In fact, it was far beyond it. Some of the students participating might not have ever seen a medical robot. Besides, the cost of making a robotic surgery system was astronomical with the cheapest needing at least tens of millions of dollars. There were strict requirements for the person operating the machine system as well.

  From what I recall, Gu Mang majors in Traditional Chinese Medicine, so how did she come into contact with the robotic surgery system? This system seems to be much more advanced than the latest model I know about, so I can’t imagine how much this one costs. How did she manage to bring one here just like that?!

  Even though Gu Mang’s fellow teammates knew that Gu Mang attended Medical Informatics classes instead of the Traditional Chinese Medicine classes, it had been less than three months since she started classes and they had even heard rumors that Professor Tang had only once taken her to observe a surgery before. Not even the senior students were capable of operating the robotic surgery system alone, so they could not believe that she was going to use it in such a high stakes competition.

  At the conference room.

  When the professors and spectators saw what was happening on screen, they could not help but stare in shock. This was even more shocking than when Gu Mang showed up at the competition with an injured hand.

  It was then that Yang Tianming and Professor Xue understood why Gu Mang refused to withdraw from the competition. She had planned to use the robotic surgery system all along.

  They knew very well how difficult Medical Informatics was, and on top of that, they had no idea how skilled Gu Mang was at operating the system even though she had it shipped over.

  Yang Tianming’s heart was in his mouth, practically about to shoot out from inside. His temples were tight and twitching. If I remember correctly, Professor Tang has only taken Gu Mang to view a robotic surgery at Capital University Hospital once…
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