GDLR - Great Doctor Ling Ran

Chapter 2 - The Ones at the Top are Lonely

After dinner, Ling Ran headed for the old bomb shelter behind the school mortuary.

The bomb shelter had been long since been neglected. Once upon a time, it had served as a makeshift hospital. In another tale, it was a temporary mortuary. After the new medical block was constructed, it once again fell back to its old days of being a lonely, dilapidated corner. Not even dogs in heat would pound each other doggedly through the unbearable stench.

In contrast, Ling Ran did not mind the smell.

Medical students often had their gag reflexes tested since their first witnessing of a public dissection. Give them a couple of years and they would start yawning throughout the process.

Of course, it was not like they would go out their way to pay the mortuary a visit on boring evenings.

Ling Ran stood quietly in the middle of the bomb shelter, thinking, ‘A leader-level Transformer should be around twenty to twenty-five feet tall, maybe thirty at most. This should be enough standing room… If the Transformer ends up surpassing even that, what do I do?’

As Ling Ran was thinking, he brought a finger up and tapped on the Newbie Gift Package in the top right-hand corner of his eye.

[Reward: Appositional Suturing Technique (Master Level)]

A calm, professional voice echoed in Ling Ran’s mind.

From that moment on, whenever Ling Ran thought about the appositional suturing technique, the intricacies of the skill would fly into his mind: the distance between two needles, the force for applying the sutures, the choice of thread, the varieties of knots…

“Hmm, isn’t the system a little too stingy if all it gives is a mere suturing skill? An appositional suturing technique, what’s more!” Ling Ran muttered softly to himself.

“The appositional suturing technique includes simple interrupted suturing, simple continuous suturing, subcuticular closure, gambee suture, cross mattress suture, and interlocking suture, totaling up to six types,” the system explained in a voice that sounded suspiciously pre-recorded and rehearsed.

Ling Ran grumbled, “You can give me a dozen suturing methods, but it’s still suturing. I could learn the tension suture and inverting suture from elsewhere, so why not just give me a Transformer?”

This time, the system’s reaction was slightly delayed before it finally answered.

“No.”

“Why?”

“The Medical System only passes down medical knowledge, not Transformers.”

Ling Ran pursed his lips, thinking, ‘Doesn’t look like the system is being controlled by some intelligent being.’

An intelligent entity would have asked, “Why the heck would you want a Transformer?”

“What exactly is this Master Level you speak of?” Ling Ran pressed on.

The voice of the system continued in the same artificial politeness, “The techniques are categorized from lowest to highest starting from Novice, Specialist, Master, and Perfect. Master is the third rank on this list.”

“Soooo… Your Newbie Gift Package is only limited to this crappy, suturing technique?”

“Yes.”

“Only suturing techniques?”

“Yes.”

“No Transformers?”

“Yes.”

Ling Ran frowned. Unless this system had convinced him into thinking that it is dumb, it would most probably fail the Turing Test (a test to determine whether the subject is a man or a robot).