Chapter 175: Profession, He’s Really Fortunate"":

Bian Changxi thought to herself: she really wasn’t a good person.

Bringing An Jibo along wasn’t because she wanted to take him as her disciple, nor did she hope he’d learn something from her and become stronger—she wasn’t that foolish.

Objectively, she felt it would’ve looked bad if she’d refused at the time. She’d already told Gu Xu about Sun Buqun’s situation; even though she hadn’t spelled everything out, as long as Gu Xu was wary of him, no matter what Sun’s intentions were, he wouldn’t be able to take advantage anymore. Sun Buqun was no longer a concern, and An Jibo was even less of a threat.

Subjectively, she was also curious to see how capable An Jibo was now. Most importantly—she still held a grudge.

That time he’d made a veiled insult, it had stuck with her, even making her doubt herself for a while.

Did being a bit stronger really give someone the right to look down on those who were weaker?

In her past life, she’d often fantasized about becoming incredibly powerful, then showing up in front of him to finally hold her head high.

But reality was, after years of hard work and diligent cultivation, she only reached the sixth tier, suffered damage to her powers, died young, and was forever stuck at that stage. Meanwhile, An Jibo, the great healer, soared all the way to the rare ninth tier—just one step away from bringing the dead back to life.

The difference between them couldn’t have been starker.

Bian Changxi felt stifled.

Now, finally, her luck had turned, their roles were reversed, and the opportunity had landed right at her door. If she didn’t return that feeling of frustration to him, she’d feel she was being too kind.

Assigning An Jibo to a supporting, clean-up role, Bian Changxi smiled faintly, ignoring his eager yet slightly frustrated expression. She turned, raised her left hand, and four slender, resilient vines sprouted from her palm, extending out and wrapping around the right wrists of four patients.

The idea of vines growing out of a human body was pretty creepy and disgusting, and in reality, many wood-ability users were disliked for this very reason—they seemed almost like tree demons. But when Bian Changxi did it, there was an unusual sense of beauty.

It looked elegant, efficient, and even carried a faint, fresh fragrance.

Everyone present watched, transfixed.

After advancing to the third tier, the energy within Bian Changxi had become even more abundant, but that was just a quantitative change. After practicing control the next day and waking from two days of unconsciousness, she felt as if there’d been a qualitative leap—her internal energy flow brimmed with vitality, the life force of the wood element fully on display.

She vaguely understood that, though difficult, mastering control brought immeasurable benefits—it might even take her to a whole new level.

So healing was now second nature to her.

The shadow’s rapid recovery was, in fact, further proof of this.

Energy flowed through the four vines into the four patients. Though the energy wasn’t overwhelming, it worked quietly and gently. The four patients immediately felt lighter, as if they’d just taken a ton of tonic, their spirits lifting.

They felt a warm sensation throughout their bodies, and could see with their own eyes that new flesh was growing over festering wounds. Even places that had healed but were left pitted and scarred began to regenerate…

Their vision improved, their sense of smell became keener, joints that had been stiff and immobile due to illness could move again…

It was like being reborn.

After Bian Changxi finished, each patient looked healthy, their faces rosy, skin and flesh fully restored.

Bian Changxi said, “You’ll soon start to feel tired, but that’s nothing to worry about. I’ve activated the positive factors in your bodies, so your own systems are participating in the healing and repair, which means you’ll use up some energy yourselves. Just make sure to replenish it in time. Director Jiang, aside from wood-ability support, make sure their nutrition keeps up. After a day of recuperation, they’ll be ready for discharge.”

“Yes, yes!” Jiang Fu was so excited that all he could do was repeat himself, looking at Bian Changxi with utter admiration.

She handed these four patients over to a wood-ability user, then moved on to the next ward, and then the next. By the time she finished the last room, even someone as capable as her was exhausted.

Normally, these patients would have needed another four or five days of treatment to recover, but she’d compressed the timeline and used her abilities at high intensity in a short period, so her mental stamina was stretched thin.

Five wards in total—the last two were left to An Jibo. He had eight weak patients to care for on his own and was soon overwhelmed. He tried to imitate Bian Changxi, sending out several vines at once, but quickly realized it was too mentally taxing. Not everyone could multitask like that, and as a second-tier, he didn’t have enough energy reserves to sustain it for long. He soon gave up and obediently treated the patients one by one.

He was indeed more skilled than the other three wood-ability users, more adept at using his powers, but in Bian Changxi’s eyes, he was only a bit better than Liang Ziyin. Liang Ziyin had died in Su City in the previous life, while An Jibo had become the top wood-ability user—proof that personal fate is a truly mysterious thing.

Bian Changxi’s dark eyes watched the figure sweating as he worked, and she murmured softly, “Chief Imperial Physician, huh? Not a bad helper.”

She replenished her energy with a crystal core, rested a bit, and went to treat the critically ill patients who’d been selected.

After that, she visited the three VIP patients with external connections.

Then she went to study the other four categories of patients.

She was as busy as a spinning top.

She’d used up so many green crystal cores she’d lost count, and soon realized she was about to become a green core pauper.

Honestly, she didn’t really enjoy this kind of repetitive, mentally draining healing work, but in her previous life, she’d found confidence and fulfillment in it. The feeling of saving lives was, truthfully, pretty great, so she didn’t mind returning to her old profession in this life.

Still, while treating patients, all she could think about was finishing up as soon as possible so she could finally be free…

But thinking of how many patients were still left, she felt a headache coming on. In the past, a single patient might need one to two weeks of treatment; at her best, she could handle a dozen or twenty patients at a time, and after more than twenty days, discharging ninety-some patients was already considered lucky and a result of rushing. Now, even though her abilities and efficiency had improved, there was still a long road ahead before she could finish.

She observed a patient whose whole body had calcified, like a plaster statue, experimented a bit, then, feeling a headache, finished updating the medical records and leaned back in her chair, unconsciously tapping her index and middle fingers together as she pondered.

Zhao An’an had already witnessed the energy of this super doctor—she’d lost count of how many lives Bian Changxi had saved that morning, and was left dizzy and numb.

What was most impressive was that, even though it was clear Bian Changxi didn’t particularly enjoy this work, when facing those patients and odd cases, she still gave it her absolute all.

She treated it like a true profession.

With her status and abilities, she didn’t have to work so hard. Even if she just stayed in the villa all day and only helped out when Gu Xu or a few core people needed her, no one would say a word. She was a top-tier wood-ability user—was she supposed to be treated like a cabbage, hauled around everywhere?

But not only did she do the work, she did it with extraordinary dedication and responsibility.

Before getting to know Bian Changxi, Zhao An’an had always thought she’d be a spoiled, willful, arrogant girl. But now, she was starting to admire her.

Later, after they got to know each other better, Zhao An’an brought this up again. Bian Changxi just laughed and joked, “I can be really willful, even unreasonable, and I might hurt people. So, for the things I can do, I try to give it my all. You could call it storing up good deeds in advance, to make up for my future mistakes.”

At this moment, Zhao An’an quietly reminded her, “Miss Bian, should we get going?”

Bian Changxi snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at the clock on the wall—it was almost eleven.

“That went fast.” She stood up and, rather ungracefully, patted her butt. “Let’s go, let’s head to the military camp.”

“What about An Jibo…?”

“Hmm, bring him along.” Honestly, she wanted to leave him here as a volunteer forever. But not taking him along would be hard to explain. Besides, the military camp would definitely need volunteers too.

Bian Changxi nodded, feeling no regrets. As they passed a ward, they heard muffled sobs from inside, and a familiar voice said, “Old Chief, you have to hang in there. We can’t lose you. Ah Han is still waiting for you to avenge him.”

She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but as she passed the door, she glanced inside. Through the half-open door, she saw a tall young man standing by the bed, who happened to look up and spot her. His face immediately lit up. “Gu Xu’s wood-ability girl, thank you so much this time!”

Bian Changxi’s face nearly froze.

She’d just seen this person not long ago—Zhu Yiming, the commander of the field regiment who’d driven his little team to rescue people at the Jiandai Tunnel.

But that way of addressing her…

Zhu Yiming strode out, his eyes still a bit red, and suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right, I forgot—some jokes shouldn’t be made. That was out of line, my apologies. Miss Bian, thank you so much today. Without you, Commander Ge might not have made it.”

Bian Changxi realized the patient inside was Ge Jianhua.

She’d just treated Ge Jianhua an hour ago, when he was still in a ward downstairs. The wards on this upper floor had better facilities and a more comfortable environment—not just anyone could stay here. You needed the director’s approval—in other words, you had to have Gu Xu’s connections.

If Ge Jianhua was Zhu Yiming’s superior, it all made sense. Gu Xu and Zhu Yiming had a good relationship, especially after they’d cleared out the strange creatures in the Jiandai Tunnel; they were close both professionally and personally.

Thinking this, she smiled. “How’s Commander Ge doing?”

A hoarse but still strong voice came from inside the ward: “Doctor Bian, Xiao Zhu, invite her in.”

Bian Changxi walked in. The man who’d been infested with bugs that morning was now sitting up in bed, looking much better. His eyes were still red, but his expression was composed. Bian Changxi noticed he looked a bit worse than right after her treatment—probably from being upset.

“Commander Ge, how are you feeling now?”

“Great, couldn’t be better.” Ge Jianhua laughed heartily, showing no trace of sadness. His composure was impressive. “I’ve met Xiao Gu before—he’s a young man with vision and drive. Now I see he’s also very fortunate, to have found such an incredible wood-ability user like you.”

PS:

Thanks to anna0626 for the safety charm!

Thanks to Luo Qin for the safety charm!

Love you all, muah ╭(╯3╰)╮l3l4"