Super Doctor - Chapter 40

By seven o’clock, Xu Ze opened his eyes, recalling the “fun thing” Xiao Dao had taught him the previous night. A hint of excitement flickered across his face.

“It definitely isn’t as simple as he made it out to be… It might even be something high-level medics learn later…” Xu Ze didn’t know how accurate his guess was, but he was certain that this mental communication skill was something extraordinary for him at this stage. If used well, even its most basic functions could be incredibly useful in certain situations.

“I wonder if Sun Lingfei is up yet?” Xu Ze got out of bed and walked out, only to find the door to the adjacent room still tightly shut. It seemed Sun Lingfei hadn’t woken up yet.

The dormitory was already open by now, so he could head back. Glancing at Sun Lingfei’s room and hearing no movement inside, Xu Ze opened the front door, ready to leave. But just as he stepped out, he frowned, thought for a moment, and then turned back. He went into the kitchen, found the electric pressure cooker, added rice and water, and plugged it in to cook some porridge for Sun Lingfei.

Then, he grabbed a pen and a sticky note from the coffee table and wrote a few lines: “I’ve left. I made some porridge for you in the kitchen. When you have a cold, it’s best to eat light. Eating more will help you recover faster. Call me in the afternoon or evening if you have time. You still need two more IV sessions.”

After writing, he left his phone number at the bottom, pressed the note down with the TV remote, and quietly left.

Today, he had agreed to meet Luo Zi at nine for the department basketball team’s training. The school basketball league was approaching, and with Xu Ze as their secret weapon this year, Luo Zi was aiming for a high ranking. If Xu Ze didn’t show up for training, he had no idea how Luo Zi would react…

Xingda University had nearly thirty departments, and the Clinical Medicine Department’s team was considered mid-to-upper tier, though they had never made it to the top four. But now, with Xu Ze’s unexpected talent, Luo Zi was thrilled.

Over the past twenty-some days, Xu Ze’s rapid improvement had caught everyone’s attention. Almost every day, he showed significant progress. From his clumsy dribbling on the first day, he had now become nearly unbeatable in one-on-one situations, with a shooting accuracy that even Luo Zi struggled to defend against.

Moreover, Xu Ze’s jumping ability was among the best on the team. The only area where he was slightly lacking was his coordination with his teammates, but no one doubted his skills anymore.

Everyone had witnessed the birth of a near-genius. Fortunately, they all assumed Xu Ze had been a basketball prodigy in high school and that these past twenty days were just him regaining his form. That’s why his skills had improved at such a terrifying pace.

But who would have guessed that Xu Ze was actually a complete novice? It was only thanks to Tao Jun’s basketball experience, his genetically enhanced physique, and the four to five hours of intense daily training with Bond, a future basketball star, that he had become such a formidable player.

When Xu Ze returned to school, he first bought two buns from the second cafeteria before heading back to the dorm. As expected, Luo Zi and Gang Zi were still sound asleep. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Xu Ze ate the buns and lay back down on his bed.

It was only 7:30, so he still had some time to rest and run a few energy cycles. After a month of hard work, Xu Ze could now manage to run eight cycles in one go. It seemed that with a bit more effort, he would soon reach his goal of nine cycles.

Today, Xu Ze focused even more intently on his energy cycle training. Pushing the energy cycles not only strengthened his mental energy but also laid the foundation for using mental communication. This made Xu Ze even more determined.

Lying in bed, Xu Ze closed his eyes and focused his mind on a spot three centimeters below his navel. The energy flow there had noticeably grown stronger over the past month, and it was now easier to push it through the cycles. This was likely due to the improvement in his mental energy.

The most obvious sign was that the cycles were now faster. Previously, running three cycles took over an hour, but now Xu Ze could complete four cycles in the same time. Running nine cycles, which was enough to meet the daily energy consumption for entering the virtual space, now took just over two hours.

Of course, Xiao Dao had already reminded Xu Ze that the system’s energy wasn’t fully saturated yet, and that he needed to practice running the energy cycles more to have a chance at advancing to higher levels. So Xu Ze didn’t limit himself to just nine cycles a day. Whenever he had time, he would run a few more cycles to build up his energy reserves.

Xu Ze had just completed five cycles when Luo Zi woke him up. It was almost nine, time to head to the court.

As Xu Ze got out of bed, Luo Zi looked at him with a sly grin. “Aze, where did you go last night? You came back and went straight to sleep. Did something happen last night…?”

“Cut it out. Nothing happened. I was just at the clinic with a patient who needed an IV until late, so I stayed up half the night,” Xu Ze replied with a smile. He wasn’t lying—he really had been looking after a patient.

Seeing Xu Ze’s calm expression, Luo Zi didn’t press further. Instead, he urged, “Come on, it’s almost nine. The others are waiting for us on the court. The basketball league starts in just over a week. We need to step up our game.”

“Alright,” Xu Ze responded, quickly getting out of bed, changing into his clothes and sneakers, and following Luo Zi to the court.

At the court where the Clinical Medicine team usually practiced, several people were already warming up. When they saw Luo Zi and Xu Ze approaching, they greeted them.

Luo Zi walked onto the court, checked who was present, and clapped his hands. “Alright, gather up!”

At his call, the team members quickly assembled to hear Luo Zi’s training plan for the day. Everyone knew the league was about to start, and with Xu Ze on the team, things would be different this year. Today was likely the start of their official preparations.

Xu Ze already knew the day’s training plan. Luo Zi had arranged for the team to split into two groups for practice matches, aiming to help Xu Ze get familiar with his teammates and improve their coordination over the next week.

Unsurprisingly, Xu Ze was assigned the small forward position. Over the past few days, his breakthrough ability, one-on-one skills, and shooting accuracy had become undeniable. With his talent, as long as he coordinated well with the team, he would be a secret weapon for the Clinical Medicine team. Even Zhang Ziyang, who had always been critical of him, couldn’t raise any objections now.

Xu Ze knew he needed to quickly get used to playing with his teammates. After all, in the virtual space, Bond had only taught him basketball techniques and helped him absorb Tao Jun’s basketball experience. There was no one in the virtual space to practice team coordination with.

When the team gathered, they were surprised to see that Xu Ze wasn’t wearing his glasses today. But they didn’t think much of it, assuming he had switched to contact lenses. After all, playing basketball with glasses was inconvenient.

The reason Xu Ze wasn’t wearing glasses today was that Luo Zi had advised him multiple times to switch to contacts for convenience. Over the past few days, Xu Ze had mostly absorbed and mastered Tao Jun’s basketball experience, and his feel for the game had improved significantly. He no longer needed the system glasses’ assistive functions.

After all, the glasses required reaction time, and unless he was shooting from a distance or taking free throws, they weren’t very useful. Most of the time, he relied on his own reflexes and abilities.

Now, Xu Ze’s nearsightedness had been cured during the genetic optimization process, and his vision was far better than average, at least 20/20.

Moreover, his hard training over the past period, combined with Tao Jun’s basketball experience, had significantly improved his shooting accuracy. With his overall skills enhanced, he no longer needed the system’s assistive functions during games.

Xu Ze had gone along with Luo Zi’s suggestion, claiming he had gotten contact lenses. After all, no one could tell whether he was wearing them or not. Without the glasses in the way, he could perform even better, without worrying about them falling off during collisions.

Without his glasses, Xu Ze looked even more handsome, which made Luo Zi extremely jealous. On the way to the court, Luo Zi muttered to himself, “Why didn’t I notice how good-looking this guy was before? It seems like after his breakup, he’s gotten even better-looking… Could breaking up have that effect?”

“Should I find a girl to date and then break up? Would that make me handsomer too?” Luo Zi pondered this question the entire way, considering its feasibility.

But in the end, he dismissed the idea with frustration. After all, the main problem was that he hadn’t managed to date a single girl in his three years of university. The prerequisite for a breakup simply didn’t exist, making the plan highly impractical…