I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

That day, in the Westin Hotel’s second-floor buffet restaurant.

Shen Yu sat at a table by the window, with a glass of warm milk and half a sandwich in front of her.

She hadn’t slept all night.

Her eyes kept darting to her phone.

After Jiang He left in the early hours of the morning, only a few simple messages had come through:

"I’m at the hospital."

"The situation’s not good."

"Confirmed. It’s a highly contagious disease."

"Important! The patient’s name is Mark. He also stayed at our hotel—he was on the seventh floor. Shen Yu, you must be careful. Protect yourself. Stay away from the seventh floor! Let me know you got this!"

"...I’m in the lab getting ready to run some tests. This will probably take all night. Don’t wait up for me. Get some sleep, alright?"

After that, there were no more messages.

She just stared at her phone, worrying about her Dr. Jiang.

「Ten minutes later.」

The atmosphere inside the hotel suddenly shifted.

First, the two servers at the entrance were called away by their supervisor.

Then, several epidemic control vehicles pulled up outside the main entrance to the lobby.

Several people in hazmat suits, carrying silver spray canisters, quickly sealed off the revolving doors.

"All guests, please remain where you are. Do not move around."

Inside the restaurant, the manager suddenly announced apologetically:

"We have just been notified by the authorities. The hotel is required to cooperate with an unscheduled, routine epidemiological screening. We ask for your cooperation."

The previously quiet restaurant instantly erupted into a commotion.

A clamor of confused questions arose, many of them from foreign businessmen.

"What’s going on?"

"Is it serious?"

"I have booths to see at the Canton Fair this afternoon! When will this be over?"

The manager repeatedly tried to soothe the crowd. "It’s nothing serious. This should be over quickly. My apologies, we just ask for your cooperation..."

Just then, at the food station not far from Shen Yu, a boy about seven or eight years old dropped his juice cup.

The adults around him were all busy on their phones trying to figure out the situation, and no one seemed to have time for him.

The boy plopped down on the floor and began to wail.

Shen Yu stood up and hurried over.

She knelt in front of the boy, bringing her eyes to his level.

"Hey there, where are your parents?"

The boy sobbed, "Daddy... Daddy said he forgot his briefcase in the room. He went up to get it and told me to wait here and eat an egg."

Shen Yu’s expression softened.

’When dealing with a sudden emotional outburst, the first priority is to provide comfort. There are many ways to do this; distracting a child is an excellent one.’

"Your daddy will be back soon," Shen Yu said with a smile. "Look down here. How many colors do you see in the carpet?"

The boy paused, then answered instinctively, "Red... and yellow..."

"That’s right. Now, listen carefully. Besides people talking, what other sounds can you hear in the restaurant right now?"

The boy pricked up his ears. "There’s... there’s music."

"That’s great!"

Shen Yu patted his head.

The boy’s breathing had visibly started to even out.

She then asked, "What floor did your daddy go to?"

"The seventh floor. Room 7012."

Shen Yu blinked.

’The seventh floor... Jiang He mentioned that the high-risk, critically ill patient had stayed on this very floor.’

She immediately got to her feet and walked over to the police officer and the head of the CDC team, who were checking a list at the front desk.

"Officer," Shen Yu said, her voice clear and calm, "the father of that boy over there went up to the seventh floor five minutes before the lockdown was initiated. Room number 7012."

The CDC team leader glanced at Shen Yu and immediately keyed his walkie-talkie. "Team Seven, Team Seven, do you have eyes on a man in the seventh-floor hallway? Room 7012. Confirm his location immediately and quarantine him inside the room!"

The reply came back quickly over the radio: "Target acquired. He’s secured."

The man in charge breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Shen Yu. "Good thing you told us... Uh, are you studying medicine?"

"I’m a sophomore at Normal University, majoring in psychology. There are thirty-four guests in this restaurant, and they’re all growing anxious. Many of them are foreign businessmen. My English is fluent. If you need, I can help you with preliminary emotional counseling and basic epidemiological screening for those who weren’t in close contact."

The official looked at the young woman before him, surprised.

’The composure and clear-headedness she’s showing are better than that of many professionals.’

In fact, in the time since she had returned to her hometown to make the Jingtai Lan necklace and subsequently arrived in Yangcheng, Shen Yu had been studying on her own:

Medical psychology, medical sociology, and public health education.

Her reading on related subjects was what allowed her to be so composed.

"Alright," the official nodded. "Go calm down that table of foreign businessmen. Ask them if they saw any of the cleaning staff the day before yesterday. Xiaozhang, get her a mask."

Shen Yu put on the mask and turned toward the crowd.

Teacher Shen was never some delicate flower in a greenhouse, needing constant protection.

Here, at the center of the storm, she was on a different battlefield from Jiang He.

But she was still... fighting alongside him.

...

「Affiliated Hospital No. 1.」

After sending out all the information, Jiang He had a moment of downtime.

He went to the restroom to splash some water on his face.

Cold droplets of water dripped from his chin. Jiang He stared at his reflection in the mirror, his gaze deep and heavy.

’Events were already diverging completely from the path of his past life.’

’The H1N1 flu outbreak of ’09 in his past life had swept the globe, but it hadn’t caused such a violent, concentrated cluster of severe cases within the country.’

’The reason was simple: in his past life, the outbreak had originated with patient zero in Mexico, an ocean away.’

’As the virus spread internationally, it gave the country several months of advance warning and time to prepare.’

’But in this life, due to the butterfly effect, Zhou Guanglin had made Mark, the Mexican businessman who should have already left the country, stay behind.’

’And now, it was October, right in the middle of the densely packed Canton Fair.’