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🕑 Added 2025-07-11 16:40:10 +0000 UTCChapter 426: Adam’s Showcase
Medical Center.
Dr. Gray’s Office.
“Christina?”
Adam shot her a glance, paused to think, and then realized, “That’s right.”
“It’s not just that,” Christina quickly added, clearly uneasy with his look. “Recording the director’s commentary version would actually be a big plus for you.”
Liz and the others stared at her in disbelief, while only Meredith wore an expression that said she’d expected nothing less from her overly competitive best friend. Originally, their idea was simply born out of not being able to keep up—but Christina insisted on spinning it as something that benefits everyone.
Sigh… isn’t living like this exhausting?
“You mean…?”
Unlike the others, Adam immediately caught on to what Christina was implying.
“Exactly.”
Christina nodded.
“What are you guys talking about?”
Liz snapped, “Just say it already—no riddles!”
Adam ignored her remark and smiled. “I’ll handle buying the cameras and all that gear. I know the fastest and best options.”
“That works,” Christina shrugged. “After all, you’re loaded.”
It wasn’t late, but after a while the conversation died down and everyone went their separate ways.
Apartment
“So, what extra benefit do you get out of this?” Bianca asked as she turned around.
“You sure know how to pick a time,” Adam chuckled.
“Come on, spill it!”
Under Bianca’s relentless prodding, Adam let out a long sigh. “Christina’s meaning is pretty obvious. Look around—the number of doctors eager to join is only growing. This off-the-cuff idea is already gaining traction.”
“Mmm.”
Bianca nodded. “I’ve already had a bunch of people reach out to me to make connections so they can join.”
“Exactly.” Adam continued, “We all know this kind of opportunity doesn’t come around often. But we still underestimated how valuable it is. For me, it’s not just a chance to quickly learn from a legendary doctor—it’s a stage to boost my own reputation.”
“A stage?”
Bianca was taken aback.
“Exactly,” Adam said with a grin. “It’s basically the same as riding the wave of a hot trend. Dr. Gray is a huge name in medicine, right? Imagine—someone like her gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. That’s explosive news! Even when it gets so bad she can’t recognize her own children or partner, she still clings passionately to the complexities of medicine. It’s both heart-wrenching and inspiring. And now, by continuing to shine a light on the field in this way, doesn’t it make her story even more moving?
“Think about it: her influential colleagues, formidable rivals, adoring fans, and generations of doctors who’ve studied her techniques—wouldn’t they all be intrigued by a tape of the director’s commentary? The answer is a resounding yes. Soon enough, a whole bunch of our peers in the field will scramble to get their hands on these tapes. Isn’t that the hottest topic in medicine? It might even cause a sensation beyond our circles.”
It’s just like how celebrity offspring have a much easier shot at stardom than ordinary people. Celebrities come with built-in attention—everyone’s watching. As long as you’ve got decent credentials, your starting point is already high. And if you add a couple of extra talents, you’re a guaranteed rising star. After a few high-profile events with all the big names, if you don’t mess up, you could catapult straight into first-tier stardom.
Alice Gray is the supernova of the medical world, and Adam—the trend-hopping “star kid”—not only holds his own but shines brilliantly. Once these tapes get out, they’ll work like an unstoppable promotional machine.
“I get it.”
Bianca practically shouted, “With the way you interact with Dr. Gray, once these tapes start circulating, everyone in the medical community will see your talent—and you’ll be recognized by all.”
He chuckled happily. “Once this goes through, the benefits will be endless. In the US, reputation is everything.”
After years of residency training, doctors have to take the board exam to become attending physicians. Once you clear all the hurdles, you end up flying around the country, trying to get hospitals to hire the new you. A rookie attending without a name can only keep traveling, always scrambling for interviews. Big hospitals rarely take on newcomers, and the small ones aren’t even appealing—small hospitals just don’t have the facilities for the surgeries you’re eager to perform. They all get referred to the big hospitals. Imagine how brutal that reality is for an ambitious doctor. It’s exhausting and painful, and in the end, you’re likely to get a harsh reality check. Maybe you’ll end up wasting your whole career in a small hospital.
When the economy tanks, small hospitals struggle to stay afloat—and there’s always the risk of layoffs. Even if you finally manage to jump to a big hospital, you have to start over: learning new protocols, getting used to the latest equipment and techniques. And when times are tough, big hospitals start cutting staff, and you’re often one of the first to go. By then, most doctors are middle-aged, and to avoid unemployment they have to force a smile and beg the hospital for a lucky break—just to keep hustling. It’s a miserable state.
But for someone like Adam, it’s a completely different story. As the residency at the Medical Center winds down—even if he hasn’t secured his attending license yet—major hospitals across the country will start reaching out months, even a year or two in advance. Expect holiday gifts you never miss, random bouquets sent your way, and even flights booked just to treat you to a fancy dinner. Hospital chiefs or dedicated recruiters will eagerly persuade you, heap praise on you, and promise you salary and benefits that would make other attendings green with envy. Often, there will even be overt power plays—honey traps, sowing discord, and every classic tactic in the book—all aimed at snagging you for their hospital. After all, landing a star like you boosts their rankings, and hospital rankings mean patient resources. The strong get stronger, and the weak get left behind. It’s a brutal, endless cycle.
For Adam and his peers, being treated like royalty is such a thrill that even the calmest person can’t help but secretly enjoy it. Not to mention, he actually gets to choose the hospital and position he really wants. Remember, every position in a hospital is like a reserved slot—if there isn’t an opening, even if you get in, you might not immediately become a department head. Take Dr. Leonard and Dr. Burke, for instance. Both are attending physicians in cardiothoracic surgery, but Dr. Burke is the head of the cardiothoracic section—a small division under the main surgical department at the Medical Center—so he calls the shots there. Theoretically, unless Dr. Leonard’s own patients specifically seek him out, Dr. Burke runs the show in that department. That’s the kind of resource that comes with the title.
Big hospitals in major cities have a siphon effect. Their resources far outweigh the slow process of building up your own patient base through word-of-mouth. Adam knows this all too well. Back when he was an online writer—a nobody, really—he cared about editors a hundred times more than his girlfriend, simply because they controlled the power of recommendation. A heavyweight recommendation could launch your career in an instant. In that scenario, how could you not love your editors, even if they drive you crazy? In his past life, Adam had no choice. But in this life, he’s determined not to go through that again.
So building his reputation and flipping the power dynamics is his only choice. After all, who wants to struggle and spout clichés like “the tides turn—don’t look down on the young” when you can simply pave your own way from the start? Because those thirty years could either be a miserable slog or the most rewarding ride of your life…
Chapter 427: The Lecture Starts
Two days later, on a Saturday evening, in the ward.
"Mr. Jiastun, we initially thought we could remove the tumor with a simple procedure, but it’s turned out to be more complicated than we expected. The tumor has infiltrated the pericardium, causing tears in the heart’s external muscles," Dr. Burke explained to Mr. Jiastun, who had just woken up from surgery.
"That’s a lot of complicated medical jargon," Mr. Jiastun said with a wry smile.
"It means your heart was damaged, but we managed to save you. You’re going to be fine," Christina chimed in quickly.
"Dr. Burke, is that true?" Mr. Jiastun asked, looking at Dr. Burke with a mix of surprise and hope.
Dr. Burke, hands on his hips, glanced at Christina before nodding at the patient with a smile. "Yes, it is. Rest up, and you’ll be out of here soon."
Outside the ward.
"Dr. Yang, are you in a rush?" Dr. Burke asked, turning to Christina.
"Not at all," she replied without hesitation.
"Got plans tonight?" His tone carried a hint of curiosity, his eyes narrowing slightly. "A date, maybe?"
"A date?" Christina blinked, then burst out laughing. "You really don’t know anything, do you, Preston Burke?"
"So, not a date," Dr. Burke said, his expression brightening.
Lately, Christina had been noticeably distant. Outside of work, their personal interactions had dwindled to almost nothing. The memory of stolen romantic moments in a locked on-call room felt like it belonged to another lifetime. As both a man and her superior, he had his pride and hadn’t pressed her about it. But tonight was Saturday, and he’d checked her schedule—she was off tomorrow. Seeing her eagerness to leave, he couldn’t help but wonder, and finally, he’d asked.
Her answer relieved him. Of course, he thought. Christina, with her relentless ambition, wouldn’t waste time on something as frivolous as a date. He’d overthought it.
"So, what’s on your agenda tonight?" he pressed.
"You really don’t know?" Christina said, genuinely surprised. "Tonight, Adam is hosting a lecture at the medical center’s teaching room on Dr. Alice Grey’s classic heart transplant surgery. It’s open to anyone, and they’re recording it live. I snagged a front-row seat."
She’d attended four of these sessions already and found them incredibly valuable. Beyond the technical insights, the idea to use them for a reputation boost had been hers. The format was straightforward: Alice Grey would narrate as they watched the video, with Adam chiming in with questions. The spotlight would stay on the two of them, but this time, Adam was opening the floor to audience questions—an opportunity to stand out.
Christina secretly hoped she could use her sharp mind to ask something brilliant, maybe even stump Adam, the so-called "teaching assistant," and steal the show. She didn’t have high expectations—it was more of a private fantasy—but a girl could dream, right?
"Alice Grey?" Dr. Burke’s face stiffened. "That’s ridiculous! She’s an Alzheimer’s patient. How can she give a lecture? Who approved this nonsense at the medical center’s teaching room?"
The medical center doubled as a teaching hospital, complete with a university-style lecture hall for large-scale educational events.
"Who else?" Christina shrugged. "Only the director has that kind of authority."
"Richard?" Dr. Burke’s brow furrowed. "He’s going along with this?"
He knew Richard, the surgical director, was an old colleague and close friend of Alice Grey. Still, he couldn’t believe Richard would let personal ties override professional standards.
"You’d have to see it for yourself before calling it nonsense," Christina said, quickening her pace toward the teaching room. "I think Dr. Grey’s explanations are spot-on—clear, logical, and deep."
Dr. Burke hesitated for a moment, then followed her. He had to see this for himself. What kind of miracle could a legendary cardiothoracic pioneer pull off with Alzheimer’s?
In the teaching room.
Doctors trickled in, arriving in pairs and buzzing with excitement about the evening’s lecture. By the time Dr. Burke and Christina got there, the place was packed.
"Damn it! Find your own seat," Christina snapped at Dr. Burke before darting to the front. Her reserved spot—the best in the front row—was under siege, with Meredith struggling to fend off seat-stealers.
Dr. Burke watched Christina’s retreating figure and shook his head. Then his gaze shifted to the stage. Alice Grey sat there, her expression cold and composed, while Adam stood beside her, occasionally leaning in to exchange a few words.
In one corner, a high-end camera rig was being fine-tuned by a team of professionals. It looked like a Hollywood set—over-the-top and clearly backed by serious money. Quite a spectacle.
"Dr. Burke," a voice said quietly beside him.
"Dr. Shepherd," he replied, nodding as the neurosurgeon joined him at the back of the room, both taking in the scene.
"Have I missed anything?" Dr. Shepherd asked.
"You know about this too?" Dr. Burke said, surprised. "And you’re fine with it?"
"You didn’t hear about this big news?" Dr. Shepherd smiled. "I’ve always believed in miracles. Alice Grey is a legend in her own right. Even with Alzheimer’s, I’m willing to bet her passion for medicine could break through the disease’s grip and create a new medical miracle."
"If Alice Grey really does pull off a miracle and recovers, what do you think she’d say to you after hearing that?" Dr. Burke asked, glancing at him.
"Oh, I know," Dr. Shepherd chuckled. "She’d say, ‘You’re definitely not a cardiothoracic surgeon—probably a neurosurgeon. Top cardiothoracic surgeons are like God, while top neurosurgeons spend most of their time praying to Him and convincing patients to believe in miracles. That’s why the best doctors pick cardiothoracic surgery.’"
Dr. Burke cracked a smile. He couldn’t agree more. In the medical pecking order, cardiothoracic surgery reigned supreme over neurosurgery in their era. Dr. Shepherd had nailed it.
On stage.
Adam checked the time. The room was nearly full. After a quick nod to the camera crew, he announced the start of the lecture. They’d brought out a projector, and the plan was simple: play the surgery footage while Alice Grey explained, with Adam tossing in questions here and there.
At first, Dr. Burke stood with his arms crossed, a skeptical smirk on his face, convinced this was all a farce. But as Adam’s questions grew sharper and more probing, the smirk vanished, replaced by a serious focus. Half an hour in, his expression shifted to one of sheer disbelief.
Chapter 428: Wowing the Crowd
At the Medical Center, in the Lecture Hall
Adam and Alice Grey were up on stage, going back and forth with questions and answers, totally calm and smooth, like they’d done it a million times.
The less experienced folks in the crowd got lost pretty fast, but they were still blown away—like, “I don’t get it, but it’s awesome!” Some people who love imagining themselves in the spotlight even started feeling pretty good about it, thinking, “Man, I’m amazing…”
The experts in the room could keep up, and they were seriously impressed by how easily Adam was chatting with Dr. Grey. It wasn’t just Adam asking questions and Dr. Grey answering—it was a real two-way conversation. After Adam threw out a question, Dr. Grey would dig into the details, basically flipping it back and quizzing him.
A lot of those details? If the audience had to answer, they’d need a minute to think it over. But Adam? He was firing off answers without even blinking. People started wondering, “Did he rehearse this or what?”
“Unbelievable,” Dr. Shepert blurted out from the back row. “For an intern to pull this off? That’s insane.”
“It’s not that simple,” Dr. Burke said, his eyes locked on the stage.
“Huh?” Dr. Shepert looked confused. “Of course it’s not simple. The way they’re talking now, it’s way beyond just one classic surgery. Like, why do this step this way? Is there a better option? What if something weird happens—how do you handle it? And then, how does that change the rest of the surgery? It’s this web of possibilities that covers almost every scenario for that type of operation. You’ve got to know how to deal with most cases to run a surgery solo and be a legit attending. That’s what we spend years training interns and residents for. So, Duncan—an intern with less than three months under his belt—doing this five or seven years ahead of schedule? No way that’s simple.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Dr. Burke cut in, finally peeling his eyes off the stage to glance at Dr. Shepert. “The stuff he’s bringing up—those expansions beyond this surgery, and the detailed answers he’s giving? That’s real data.”
“Duncan’s got a photographic memory,” Dr. Shepert said with a casual smile. “If he puts in the work to prep ahead of time, of course the data’s real. We all know he’s not just gifted—he busts his ass.”
“You’re not a cardiothoracic surgeon, so you wouldn’t catch it,” Dr. Burke said, shaking his head. “One of the scenarios he mentioned? It’s only happened once in medicine, and I’m the one who did that heart surgery.”
“So what?” Dr. Shepert didn’t follow. “That just means Duncan’s research is rock-solid.”
“Sure,” Dr. Burke nodded. “But this kind of ‘solid’ is beyond normal thinking. That heart surgery was on a little girl. The one we’re talking about now is a middle-aged man. Can you just take the details from a little girl’s surgery and slap them onto a middle-aged guy?”
“No way,” Dr. Shepert shook his head. “Gender, age, development, health—everything’s different. The surgical details wouldn’t match up. Take an easy example: why are top anesthesiologists so badass? Because they tweak the dose for every single patient, keeping them in the right state for the surgeon and avoiding disasters. Same deal for other docs—meds, surgeries, whatever—you’ve got to adjust for each person’s body. A little girl and a middle-aged man? Totally different.”
“Exactly,” Dr. Burke sighed. “The data Duncan pulled from that little girl’s heart surgery, when he applied it to this middle-aged guy? It’s completely changed. And here’s the wild part: when I think it over, those changes he made? They’re probably dead-on. You get it?”
“Whoa,” Dr. Shepert sucked in a breath. “No way. You sure?”
“Not 100%,” Dr. Burke admitted, shaking his head. “If this guy doesn’t get that surgery, who knows what’d happen? But with all my years of experience, my gut says Duncan’s numbers are right.”
“How’s that even possible?” Dr. Shepert was floored. “You don’t even know for sure, and there’s no way Duncan could dig up that data just by studying. You positive there’s only been that one case? Maybe he saw some new surgery record somewhere, with another middle-aged guy?”
“You questioning my skills?” Dr. Burke’s face went cold. “If something big changed in neurosurgery, would you miss it?”
“No, no,” Dr. Shepert backtracked, pausing. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just crazy. What if Duncan’s just guessing?”
“Maybe,” Dr. Burke said, his expression softening a bit. He muttered, “Guess or not, we’ll find out if we ask him.”
With that, he raised his hand and called out, “Hold on a sec.”
Up on stage, Alice Grey shot an annoyed glance his way, but when she saw it was Dr. Burke, she eased up and cracked a small smile.
Down in the audience, George whispered something to Meredith, and she instantly thought, Oh crap. According to George, Dr. Grey had once mixed up Dr. Burke with Richard, the chief of surgery. And Meredith? She knew exactly what was up between Richard and her mom—she’d read those medical notes.
“Dr. Burke?” Adam looked over, cool as ever.
There were cameras rolling, by the way. If Adam wasn’t so against it, he might’ve slapped on some blush like a TV star to look good on screen. He didn’t go that far, but before stepping up, he’d had the camera crew’s makeup artist fix him up a bit and drop some tips on how to look sharp for the lens.
Tonight was his shot to make waves in the medical world, and he had to nail his image. Most handsome, coolest, most professional—no question! He even daydreamed about adding some background music, turning it into a straight-up movie scene. Yup, he was dead serious about that. Not to release it or anything, but to show Peggy tomorrow with some tunes slapped on—proof he’s no ordinary guy. Then he’d mail a copy to Juno and the crew, partly so they could learn, partly so they’d have ammo to tease him. No way he’d hide something this big from his best friends. It’d come up on their next call for sure—roasting each other’s just how good friends roll.
“Dr. Duncan…” Dr. Burke finally asked his question.
The whole room jolted. Holy crap! There’s more to this? Big shots really see things differently. Then every single person turned to Adam, waiting for his answer.
(End of Chapter)
