313-315

Chapter 313: 50 Knives—I'll Let You Pick 49 First  

"Look at what you've done!"  

Leonard was furious. "Now you're into street racing?! Who taught you that?! Do you have a death wish?"  

"Rachel taught me."  

Jill secretly breathed a sigh of relief.  

As expected, her dad still loved her. He didn’t even care that it was his brand-new car.  

Now that her worries were gone, the mischievous side of Daddy’s little girl came out.  

"Rachel loves street racing the most."  

Adam couldn't help but smirk.  

That was actually not wrong.  

Rachel was a textbook example of a reckless driver—poor skills but a love for speeding.  

After Monica's father felt guilty for how he had treated her, he gave her his Porsche. Everyone had taken a turn driving it—except Rachel.  

They all agreed to keep it a secret from her.  

Because Monica didn’t trust Rachel.  

When Rachel eventually found out, she snatched the keys, took the car onto the highway, and immediately got pulled over. In the end, she avoided punishment by batting her eyelashes at the cop.  

So yeah, Jill wasn’t exactly lying.  

She really had learned from her big sister Rachel—just like all those little tricks of acting cute, whining, and playing the innocent victim.  

After all, Rachel had always been Leonard’s favorite.  

And since Rachel’s tactics worked so well on Dad, Jill naturally picked up the habit of following in her big sister’s footsteps.  

"…"  

Leonard clearly had the same realization. His anger faltered for a moment before he scowled and said, "Those are all the bad habits your sister developed! Why can’t you learn from her good ones? She stopped taking my money ages ago and worked her way up to a management position at a big company! Why don’t you try that?"  

"I'm still young," Jill muttered.  

"You're not that young."  

Adam couldn't help but chime in, "When Rachel was your age, she was already working as a waitress."  

"That’s because she was stupid," Jill scoffed. "Wasted all that time, only to give up in the end. Even now, after working her butt off for a year, how much can she actually make? How many designer bags can she even buy?"  

Adam's mouth twitched. He had no rebuttal.  

Sure, Rachel had climbed up to a management position, but she was still low-level. Her salary wasn’t bad, but it was nowhere near enough for a luxury lifestyle.  

Jill’s words—though blunt—weren’t exactly wrong.  

She had a keen sense for these things. Just by looking at Rachel’s outfits over the years, she already had an idea of her financial situation.  

Making money wasn’t easy.  

And Jill? She had a great dad. Being born into privilege was her greatest talent—so why should she work herself to death, only to end up living a worse life?  

"Rachel can support herself."  

Leonard felt a sharp pain in his chest and snapped, "Even if I died, she’d be just fine. But you? Could you survive?"  

"Daddy will always be forty! You’ll never grow old or die~"  

Jill lifted one leg and pounced into Leonard’s arms, playfully snuggling up to him.  

"Enough nonsense!"  

Leonard gave her a light smack on the head. He sounded annoyed, but his expression softened, and a hint of a smile appeared. "Does it still hurt?"  

"Of course, it does."  

Jill kept whining, making Adam cringe with secondhand embarrassment.  

But Leonard? He was eating it up.  

She was his precious little girl, after all. A few sweet words, and nothing was unforgivable.  

Leonard was nearly sixty, had been divorced from Sandra for years, and was always busy with work. He had no resistance to his youngest daughter’s affection.  

"Learn from your big sister, Rachel."  

Leonard doted on Jill as he advised her, "Make some good friends. Stop hanging out with troublemakers. You’re already in your twenties."  

Louise, standing nearby, looked awkward but didn't dare say a word.  

When Leonard got angry, it wasn’t just Jill who was scared—her whole friend group was.  

Aside from Leonard’s natural authority as a veteran heart surgeon, there was another reason: they all owed him favors.  

In their social circle, Jill was basically a walking credit card. That yacht? Just one example.  

"I know, I know."  

Jill pouted, clearly just humoring him.  

"Rachel invited me to dinner tomorrow night."  

Leonard smiled and turned to Adam. "I haven’t seen her in a while. You should come too, Adam."  

"No, thanks."  

Adam’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly declined. "You know I don’t have time. Besides, you two haven’t seen each other in a while—spend some quality time together. If I’m there, Rachel might feel embarrassed to act spoiled around you."  

"Fair enough."  

Leonard nodded in agreement, looking forward to the dinner.  

Jill made a face like, Rachel’s in her thirties and still acts like a little girl? Seriously?  

Adam quietly sighed in relief.  

If his guess was right, Rachel inviting Leonard to dinner probably had something to do with her pregnancy.  

That was a mess he wanted no part of.  

Yep.  

Even though Adam had already told Rachel and Ross they should stop messing around—after all, they had a baby on the way and should just get remarried—Rachel did have that thought.  

Being a single mom wasn’t easy. And when the kid inevitably asked, Where’s Daddy?—instant tears.  

But Ross? He wasn’t the same Ross anymore.  

In short: He had embraced his wild side.  

When Rachel tried to test the waters, he hit her with a casual, "Neither of us actually want to get married again, right?"  

And just like that, conversation over.  

The truth was, he had already hooked up with a woman from Monica’s wedding and was having the time of his life. No way he’d give that up for Rachel.  

Out with the old, in with the new.  

Adam didn’t believe for a second that Ross was oblivious to Rachel’s intentions.  

He just didn’t care anymore.  

Rachel, the once-untouchable goddess, was now just a familiar old friend to him.  

And if Ross didn’t care, Leonard definitely would.  

His precious daughter got pregnant, and Ross didn’t even want to marry her?  

Letting her suffer alone while he lived it up with other women?  

That’s a 50-knives situation—Ross could pick where 49 landed, but the last one? That was Leonard’s choice.  

And Adam had no interest in watching that massacre unfold.  

Because in these kinds of bloodbaths, even bystanders could get caught in the fire.  

"Jill, we’re going home."  

Leonard supported Jill as they walked out.  

"We’re best friends," Louise suddenly said, pulling a card from her purse and slipping it into Adam’s hand. "The best kind."  

Then, with a seductive look, she added, "So… call me~"  

With a toss of her hair, she quickly followed Jill.  

Adam twitched.  

He wasn’t an amateur.  

He knew exactly what she meant.  

But he wasn’t interested.  

Nope. Not one bit.  

"Bianca, we're off work!"  

Chapter 314: Death Babies  

The next day.  

Early morning.  

Adam drove Bianca to work.  

By now, the entire hospital had heard about their relationship.  

After today, the rumors would be even more solidified, leaving many female doctors and nurses heartbroken.  

But Adam saw this as good news, so he didn’t bother clarifying that they were more than friends but not quite lovers yet.  

Bianca, who appeared quiet on the outside but was wild at heart, didn’t care either.  

Not everyone had Adam’s energy—to work 14-hour days, seven days a week, and still have time for anything else.  

Many interns were single, relying on bars to release their hormones in fleeting encounters.  

Dating and relationships were just too time-consuming and exhausting.  

For Bianca, having Adam as a steady companion—going to and from work together—and being such an exceptional person was something everyone dreamed of.  

“Shit!”  

Adam suddenly slammed on the brakes.  

“What’s wrong?”  

Bianca, in the passenger seat, was startled.  

“Some reckless cyclists.”  

Adam responded quickly, and that was all he needed to say.  

Bianca immediately understood.  

A swarm of cyclists flooded the road, charging forward recklessly.  

Each rider pedaled furiously, shouting wildly, exuding an untamed, free-spirited energy.  

“Damn it! It’s the Death Babies race!”  

Adam cursed.  

The chaotic wave of cyclists passed, leaving a mess behind—several riders groaning on the ground, having been kicked down by competitors.  

“We should hurry to the hospital; it’s going to be a busy day.”  

“Aren’t we going to help them?”  

Bianca pointed at the injured riders writhing in pain.  

“No need.”  

Adam glanced at them indifferently, then stepped on the gas, heading toward the hospital.  

“Someone will come for them. Since they chose to ignore others’ safety and act recklessly, a little suffering is the least they deserve.”  

“I just hope no bystanders were hurt.”  

Bianca didn’t press further.  

She wasn’t a saint.  

“How could there not be?”  

Adam sighed.  

“I just hope there are fewer innocent victims.”  

The Death Babies race was an illegal underground cycling competition that had been held in New York for years.  

The only rule was that there were no rules.  

It was an unrestricted, no-holds-barred race—whoever reached the finish line first won.  

Racers would kick each other mid-ride, recklessly weaving through traffic, completely disregarding their own lives.  

And for what?  

Just the glory of winning and a free bottle of tequila at the victory party.  

At the Medical Center 

By the time Adam and Bianca arrived, the entire hospital was on high alert.  

“Thank God you two made it safely.”  

Shani let out a deep sigh of relief upon seeing them.  

“Today is Death Babies race day—it's dangerous out there. We’ve already had reports of injured medical staff. The ER is about to be flooded with patients.”  

“Adam, Bianca, both of you head to the ER. Suture quickly, discharge quickly. If it’s serious, send them to the OR. No fighting over patients, understood?”  

“Understood.”  

Adam and Bianca nodded in unison.  

In the ER 

“You’re all here.”  

“Of course.”  

“No stealing my patients.”  

“First come, first served.”  

Nearly all 20 surgical interns had arrived, already dressed in disposable surgical gowns, standing in the ER, ready for action.  

Adam glanced at Meredith—she looked radiant.  

He smirked.  

He had never lost a bet before.  

If he were as sleazy as Alex or as much of a playboy as Barney, he could probably land a different date every night just from winning bets.  

Meredith avoided his gaze, pretending not to see him.  

It wasn’t her fault—she just couldn’t control the surge of emotions inside her.  

Dr. Shepherd was like a celestial being to her.  

So handsome, so untouchable, in every possible way…  

“Here they come!”  

The ER doors burst open, and paramedics rushed in with stretcher after stretcher.  

“They’re like blood-soaked candies—amazing.”  

Cristina’s eyes gleamed as she fixated on the incoming patients.  

“OMG, this one’s mine.”  

When a critically injured, unconscious patient was wheeled in, Cristina called dibs and rushed over.  

“No, I saw him first!”  

Even the ever-compassionate Liz momentarily abandoned her saintly persona and lunged forward.  

For an ambitious surgical intern, today was a golden opportunity.  

With so many patients, not only would they get to perform countless sutures, but many severe cases would require surgery, giving them a chance to get into the OR.  

And getting into the OR depended on claiming a critical patient. Once they took responsibility for a case, they could follow it into surgery as per the attending’s protocol.  

That’s precisely why their resident supervisors had warned them in advance—no fighting over patients.  

But as Lu Xun once said:  

"The most profitable trades are all listed in the criminal code."  

Their bosses' warnings were, in a way, a reminder—those who hadn’t caught on before quickly realized and joined in.  

“That one’s mine!”  

Meredith snapped out of her dreamy haze about last night’s encounter with Mr. Fantasy and zeroed in on a patient with metal rods impaling his waist.  

“You’ll have to go through me first.”  

Alex lunged forward.  

Meredith followed suit.  

A tug-of-war over patients ensued.  

No fighting over patients?  

Are you seriously telling me how to do my job?  

“Give me something for the pain—this hurts like hell!”  

A middle-aged office worker, clearly an innocent bystander caught in the chaos, groaned as he was wheeled in.  

Adam immediately stepped up.  

“What’s his condition?”  

The two cops who had brought him in were too busy chatting to bother answering.  

Adam wasn’t surprised.  

He got straight to work, reassuring the patient.  

“We’ll give you something for the pain. Hang in there.”  

“Nurse!”  

As soon as Adam called, several nurses rushed over, making the other interns envious.  

They were all swamped, desperately needing nurses to assist them.  

Yet, unlike their usual grumbling and complaints, the nurses responded to Adam without hesitation, eager to help.  

Comparisons are cruel.  

“Notify ortho—we’ve got an open fracture.”  

“Got it, Dr. Duncan.”  

A nurse immediately ran off.  

“Administer a tetanus shot and five milligrams of morphine.”  

Another nurse sprang into action.  

After quickly stabilizing the patient, Adam scanned the room.  

Unlike Cristina and the others, who were fighting over severe cases, Adam specifically chose patients who were clearly innocent victims.  

He wanted to help them first.  

Of course, he didn’t say this out loud—otherwise, he might get into trouble.  

After all, a doctor was supposed to treat all patients equally.  

“Adam!”  

Suddenly, a loud, familiar voice rang out, causing Adam’s eye to twitch.  

Chapter 315: A Human Tragedy  

Medical Center. 

Emergency Room.  

“Barney!”  

Hearing that familiar, exaggerated voice, Adam looked over. Sure enough, it was Barney.  

“What happened to you?”  

Walking over, Adam sighed and said, “Don’t tell me you also participated in the Death Baby Bike Race?”  

“Why not?”  

Lying on a stretcher, Barney gazed dramatically upward at a 45-degree angle and mused, “What a fun race—free and uninhibited…”  

“In what world does ‘free and uninhibited’ mean wearing an expensive suit while riding a bicycle in a race?”  

Adam interrupted, “Speak like a normal person!”  

“There was a really pretty girl there. I made a bet with her—if I could make it to the final party, she’d agree to go on a date with me.”  

Barney nodded with a smug smile. “It was a challenge, and Barney Stinson never backs down from a challenge… Ahhh!”  

Before he could finish, he let out a pained scream.  

“Does it hurt?”  

Adam withdrew his hand from Barney’s wound.  

“Of course, it hurts!”  

Barney shouted.  

“Good.”  

Adam nodded seriously. “Anywhere else?”  

“…”  

Barney felt Adam’s malicious intent. He had no doubt that if he mentioned another injury, Adam would press on that spot too.  

“Fracture in the lower left leg.”  

After checking, Adam said, “Nurse, call the orthopedic surgeon.”  

“Okay, Dr. Duncan.”  

A nurse responded and walked away.  

“Wow, Dr. Duncan~”  

Barney looked at Adam as if discovering a whole new world.  

Adam ignored him and moved on to the next patient.  

By midday, a flood of patients had overwhelmed the hospital, which was running at full capacity.  

Adam treated several critical cases—all innocent victims of the Death Baby Bike Race. One of them had already been declared dead after unsuccessful resuscitation.  

Everyone missed their lunch break because there was no time to eat.  

The work continued into the night.  

“Adam, is Barney okay?”  

Ted and the others had rushed over after hearing the news.  

“He’s fine.”  

Adam said casually, “Lower leg fracture. He’ll recover in two or three months.”  

“That’s serious! How is that ‘fine’?”  

Ted was shocked.  

“He brought it on himself.”  

Adam’s tone was indifferent. “Who told him to participate in that stupid race?”  

Ted frowned.  

Lily stopped him, then looked at Adam with concern. “Are you okay, Adam?”  

“I’m fine.”  

Adam shook his head, but his mood was low.  

Seeing Lily and Marshall still looking at him with concern, Adam hesitated, then sighed.  

“Do you guys know that because of this race, two innocent bystanders have died? They had wives, children… they were the pillars of their families.”  

“What?!”  

Lily gasped.  

Ted’s expression changed. Now, he understood why Adam was acting this way.  

“Barney deserves it!”  

Lily’s eyes turned red. “Two happy families—completely shattered just because of idiots like them having ‘fun’!”  

In the U.S., people rely heavily on credit and live paycheck to paycheck, so they have little to no savings. During economic crises, large numbers of people lose everything overnight—it’s a classic case of living one step from paradise and one step from hell.  

For the two innocent victims who died, if they had life insurance, at least their families would have some support.  

If they didn’t… their widows and orphaned children would be in real trouble.  

Throughout the day, the hospital staff kept saying the same thing:  

"Tomorrow, I’m definitely getting insurance."  

That showed just how deeply this tragedy affected them.  

“You think that’s bad?”  

Adam’s face remained emotionless. “One of the two didn’t die on the spot. Instead, he was hit by a motorcycle trying to avoid the swarm of cyclists. He fell into a deep coma and was declared brain-dead.”  

“The doctors called his wife and daughter, explained the situation, and asked if they would donate his organs.”  

“They started with the major organs—heart, lungs, liver, kidneys.”  

“Then came the corneas, because corneal transplants could restore sight to blind patients.”  

Lily’s grip on Marshall’s hand tightened.  

“And then?”  

She asked, her voice trembling.  

“Then… they asked for his skin.”  

Adam’s tone was flat. “Because his skin could help burn victims.”  

“What?!”  

Lily, Marshall, and Ted exclaimed in unison.  

“That’s so cruel!”  

“How would they even hold a funeral?”  

“How could they ask a grieving widow and her child something like that?!”  

Adam sighed.  

“The female doctor who was originally handling it couldn’t face their tearful questioning and stepped back. She asked me to talk to them.”  

That female doctor was Cristina.  

She was so proactive about it because the brain-dead man’s heart was a perfect match for a VIP patient of the surgical director.  

If the wife and daughter agreed to donate, Cristina would get to participate in the transplant surgery—an opportunity to impress the surgical director and advance her career.  

To make it happen, she and ‘Saint’ Liz even went against the orders of Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Burke.  

They didn’t wait the required six hours before declaring him dead. Instead, while his condition was critical, they forcefully gave him a blood transfusion and, with the surgical director’s help, preserved his body for the heart transplant.  

Yet, even someone as cold and career-driven as Cristina couldn’t bring herself to face the grieving family in the end. That said everything about the tragedy.  

“You… you actually went?”  

Lily’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t tell me you went.”  

“I did.”  

Adam sighed. “As cruel as it was, the truth is… his body could save many others. It was the right thing to do. As a doctor, the least I could do was try to comfort them.”  

After taking on this tragedy, Adam had already decided—once he found out more about the family’s situation, if they had no insurance, he would secretly provide financial help.  

This wasn’t like those who brought disaster upon themselves. When he encountered cases like this, and if he had the means, he couldn’t just stand by. Helping in secret was the least he could do.  

Even if such good deeds barely earned him any extra lifespan points, he would do it—if only to clear his conscience.  

“They agreed in the end?”  

Lily sobbed.  

“They did.”  

Adam’s face remained blank. “The worst part? They were crying… while the ones responsible for this were laughing.”  

“A bunch of cyclists were yelling for doctors to stitch them up quickly so they could get back to this ‘epic event.’”  

“Some of them were even flirting with female doctors, forcing kisses on them like some kind of ‘charming rogues.’”  

“And our dear Barney? Even though he’s lying in bed with a broken leg, I bet you anything—he’s still trying to hit on the nurses and doctors.”  

“Damn Barney! Damn that Death Baby Bike Race!”  

Lily cursed through her tears.  

Marshall and Ted were silent.  

Yeah, Barney would absolutely do something like that.  

Before, they had envied his carefree, adventurous lifestyle.  

But after hearing Adam’s account of this human tragedy…  

That feeling was completely gone.  

Now, it just felt disgusting.  

(End of chapter)