9
A week later, a staff member called me. Dylan wanted to see me. I initially wanted to refuse, but he mentioned my mentor’s name.
“Actually, I was always jealous of you,” Dylan said, looking at me through the glass
partition with a bitter smile. “Both of us were Professor Hayes’ apprentices, but I claimed to be unwell and withdrew midway, transferring to another mentor.”
“Professor Hayes gave you everything, and you could immediately understand and learn
it all.”
Hearing him say that, I was shocked for a moment, but then calmly asked, “Is that why you agreed to collaborate with Chloe?”
He nodded, then shook his head. “I was just unwilling… but I never really meant to kill
you…”
Years ago, the core concept of the microscopic dissection technique was my mentor Professor Hayes’ unfinished work, the culmination of his life’s efforts.
At that time, Dylan and I were both Professor Hayes’ apprentices from the same cohort, but Dylan claimed to be unwell and eventually withdrew, transferring to another supervisor.
But later, we still ended up together. Until the poisoning incident, I believed he truly loved this profession.
“After Professor Hayes suddenly passed away from a heart attack, you inherited all his research manuscripts and initial data. I kept thinking, why you? If I had persevered, would I
have also become ‘The Hand of God”?”
“No, you wouldn’t.” I cut him off. “A doctor’s calling is to save lives, not to seek fame. Your heart and your hands are too dirty. You are not worthy of inheriting Professor Hayes’ life’s
work.”
Dylan’s eyes reddened. I stood up to leave, and he called out after me. “Audrey! Did you
ever truly love me?”
I didn’t stop. I kept walking. Such questions were utterly pointless.
I left the city I had called home for a decade. Without telling anyone. I sold all the shares
my parents had transferred to me.
A portion I used to establish a medical foundation named after my mentor, to fund impoverished medical students.
The other portion, I anonymously donated to the small town where I grew up, to improve its medical facilities and education.
The day I left, the weather was beautiful. Sunlight pierced through the clouds, warming me. I didn’t head for any brightly lit, top-tier hospital.
I bought a ticket for a remote, underserved region in the Southwest. There, the medical conditions were the most rudimentary, the patients needed help the most, and the desire for life was the purest.
The plane took off, soaring through the clouds. I looked at the changing sea of clouds outside the window, my heart filled with a profound sense of peace.
Chloe, Dylan, the family I had desperately tried to fit into – they all, along with that city, were left far behind me. Their lives, from now on, would be nothing but shadows.
And my life, after experiencing the most absolute destruction, had finally found its true
rebirth.
On my phone, I had my mentor’s last recording. “Audrey Stevens, remember, technology has no emotion, but a doctor’s hand must. Never let your hand become colder than a
scalpel.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun. Professor, I remembered.
From now on, there would be no more Audrey Stevens, the Stevens heiress, and no more
“The Hand of God.”
7
Only a doctor, carrying her mentor’s hope, heading towards the land that needed her the most. I no longer needed to prove my worth to anyone.
I am just me, Audrey Stevens.
My life, I will operate on it myself.
