Chapter 740
The five contestants were led into a huge, icy-cold lab. The chill in the air mixed with the sharp smell of disinfectant, almost stinging their noses. Cameras and surveillance equipment were everywhere, watching their every move.
From the second they stepped inside, all eyes would be on them. Everything they said, everything they did, would be broadcast live to the audience at the venue and viewers all over the world.
“The surgical practical is the final event of this year’s International Medical Competition,” the host announced. As soon as the words left his mouth, staff wheeled out five cages, each holding a rabbit.
“Today’s challenge is a simulated appendectomy. You’ll be operating on rabbits as stand-ins for human patients.”
The moment the host finished, everyone-contestants and audience-collectively sucked in their breath. An appendectomy might be a minor surgery for most doctors, but for many surgeons, it was the first real operation they ever performed. It was also the kind of “simple” surgery that could go wrong in a heartbeat.
Doing an appendectomy on a rabbit was a serious test. Even seasoned surgeons could make mistakes, mixing up organs or missing the right spot if they weren’t careful. For these contestants, most of whom were still medical students with barely any hands-on experience, it was an almost impossible challenge.
Nobody noticed that, as the host announced the topic, Letty lowered her head a little, a quiet, satisfied smile curling at her lips. She already knew what the practical would be-Lydia had spilled the secret ages ago. Letty had practiced the procedure over and over before coming here, and she felt totally ready.
She glanced around at the other contestants, her eyes lingering on Charlotte, and her smile grew.
“The competition starts now.”
A buzzer sounded, echoing through the lab.
The five contestants moved to their assigned stations, pulling on sterile gowns and gloves, scrubbing up, laying out their instruments. Every single step before the surgery mattered. Still, since the main focus was on the surgery itself, everyone rushed to finish their prep as quickly as possible.
Charlotte fumbled, her movements painfully slow because of her injured hands. By the time she managed to get her gloves on, the others had already started their incisions.
People watching—both in the lab and on the live streams—couldn’t help but frown, except for the Kingswood University crowd.
“At this rate, even if her hands were fine, she couldn’t keep up.”
“How is she supposed to do surgery with hurt hands? It hasn’t even started and I
can already tell this is going to be a mess. That poor rabbit.”
“I heard Charlotte actually beat Letty at the last Cabinda University exchange and won first place. If her
haride wer
hands weren’t hurt maybe she have a shot.
“That was just luck last time…”
A Cabinda University student holding up a Letty cheering board cut in coldly. “This
time, Letty is definitely taking first place.”
No one argued with that.
On the big screen, Letty moved with easy confidence. She disinfected her rabbit, made a clean cut in the abdomen, and slid her fingers inside to search for the appendix. The other contestants hurried to catch up but finding a rabbit’s appendix was no joke. Everyone worked with a mix of caution and desperation, terrified of making a mistake.
Except for Charlotte.
She slipped on her gloves, but instead of starting the procedure, she picked up her rabbit. She turned it this way and that studying it from every angle for almost two whole minutes.
People started muttering, not sure what she was up to.
If you can’t even do the surgery, just quit already. Don’t distract us from watching
Letty.
On the judges’ panel, the experts leaned in to discuss what they were seeing.
“That contestant, Letty, looks pretty impressive.”