At that moment, Yu Zhiming’s face was covered in bruises. With more than half of it swollen, he didn’t just look ugly—he looked a little scary.
With his good looks completely marred, he really didn’t feel like seeing any visitors.
However, the visitors had already come in, and one of them was a senior leader from the hospital, so Yu Zhiming had no choice but to get up and greet them politely.
As for Yu Xiangwan, that character lay motionless on the hospital bed. He had even pulled the thin blanket over half his face, closing his eyes and playing dead.
"Xiaoyu, sit down!"
"You’re still injured and unwell. You shouldn’t be getting up and moving around!"
Dean Wu, whose hairline was receding to the crown of his head and who was a bit chubby, spoke first. He then hurried forward and pressed Yu Zhiming back down onto the small companion cot.
"Xiaoyu, how are you feeling now?"
Overwhelmed by his leader’s unexpected warmth and concern, Yu Zhiming decided to be honest.
"They’re just superficial wounds. Aside from some lingering pain, there are no other issues."
Then, he remembered to add, "Thank you for your concern, Dean. And for coming to visit so late instead of resting."
Dean Wu chuckled. "It’s the least I could do!"
"You’re the hospital’s star and our poster boy now, Xiaoyu. And today, you’ve suffered such a terrible ordeal."
He paused, then said with a grave expression, "Don’t worry, Xiaoyu. The hospital will absolutely get justice for you and ensure that the thugs who beat you are severely punished."
Having made his position clear, Dean Wu noticed Yu Zhiming’s gaze shift to the two people beside him and proceeded to make the introductions.
"Xiaoyu, let me introduce you."
"These are my friends..."
The man accompanying Dean Wu was handsome and in his fifties or sixties. He had a meticulously slicked-back hairstyle, was impeccably dressed, and had a slender build, giving him a refined, scholarly air.
The man met Yu Zhiming’s appraising gaze and took over the introduction from Dean Wu.
"Dr. Yu, hello!"
"I am Qi Yue. It’s a rather uncommon surname."
Qi Yue then gestured toward the poised and graceful woman of about thirty standing beside him, a woman who looked refreshingly pure, and continued the introduction.
"This is my niece, Yin Wenzhu!"
Qi Yue then frankly stated their purpose. "Dr. Yu, we’ve come all the way from out of town, drawn by your reputation."
"We’ve heard you’re exceptionally skilled at auscultation and percussion, that you’re known as the ’Human CT Scanner,’ and that you can accurately diagnose illnesses without relying on modern medical instruments."
"We would like to ask you to give my niece a physical examination."
"Is now a convenient time for you, Dr. Yu?"
Hearing this, Yu Zhiming was left a little speechless.
’So they really did come here for something!’
’I shouldn’t have expected too much from Dean Wu. Here I am, beaten to a pulp, and he still shows zero consideration.’
Yu Zhiming suppressed the urge to make a snarky comment and stood up again, his gaze falling upon Yin Wenzhu.
She had a slender figure, and her long hair was gathered neatly and elegantly at the nape of her neck. Her unadorned face was slightly pale.
Yu Zhiming also noticed a five-centimeter-long suture scar on her left forehead. It hadn’t faded completely and extended up into her hairline.
He asked directly, "Ms. Yin, are you experiencing any discomfort?"
Qi Yue cut in, "Dr. Yu, if you would, please start by giving my niece a comprehensive physical examination. Allow us to witness your famous auscultation and percussion techniques."
Yu Zhiming detected the undertone of a challenge in the man’s words—a test of his medical skills—and he felt a flicker of annoyance.
’You may have connections with the dean, but that doesn’t mean you can just reverse the roles of doctor and patient!’
’And besides, what gives you the right to judge my skills?’
Yu Zhiming’s expression darkened. Just as he was about to refuse, he caught a glimpse of Dean Wu secretly winking at him out of the corner of his eye.
’Is there more to this story?’
Suppressing his thoughts, Yu Zhiming said coolly, "In that case, Ms. Yin, please lie down on this companion cot. We’ll use it as a temporary examination table. I’m going to get a pair of examination gloves..."
When he returned from the nurse’s station with a pair of surgical rubber gloves, he was surprised to see Yin Wenzhu spreading a shimmering golden emergency blanket over the companion cot.
’This...’
Qi Yue explained with a hint of embarrassment, "Ah, she’s a bit of a germaphobe. Please understand."
Yu Zhiming simply let out a soft "oh," not reacting much otherwise.
Having worked at the County People’s Hospital for four years, Yu Zhiming had encountered all kinds of patients, including his fair share of eccentrics. He’d seen a lot.
Relatively speaking, being a germaphobe was one of his favorite quirks in a patient.
Who wouldn’t prefer a patient to be fresh and clean?
After Yin Wenzhu finished spreading the blanket and lay down on the cot, Yu Zhiming put on the surgical gloves. Without even using a stethoscope, he gently placed the fingers of his right hand on the upper center of her chest.
Then, Yu Zhiming instructed, "Take a deep breath."
"Inhale..."
"Exhale..."
As Yin Wenzhu took forceful breaths, Yu Zhiming’s hand, pressed to her chest, naturally rose and fell with its expansion and contraction, all under the watchful gaze of Qi Yue and Dean Wu.
At the same time, Yu Zhiming would occasionally use his left hand to tap lightly on her chest and rib cage.
Qi Yue’s eyes glinted as he stared intently at the movement of Yu Zhiming’s hands, as well as his facial expression.
Unfortunately, with his face swollen like a balloon, his skin was stretched too taut and his eyes were squeezed into slits. Not a single subtle expression could be seen.
What Qi Yue didn’t know was that as Yin Wenzhu inhaled, the air rushed through her trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles into her lungs. The myriad of tiny sounds generated by this rush, along with the echoes from his tapping, traveled with perfect clarity up Yu Zhiming’s hand and arm, into his eardrums, and finally to his brain.
This complex but orderly symphony of sounds converged in Yu Zhiming’s brain.
As if by magic, they coalesced into a real-time, three-dimensional, and transparent dynamic model of her lungs, constantly expanding and contracting.
Not only that, but as more and more auditory feedback poured in, the details of the three-dimensional dynamic lung model in Yu Zhiming’s mind grew increasingly distinct...
This ability of Yu Zhiming’s wasn’t some miraculous, god-given superpower that had appeared out of thin air.
It was, in fact, a physical abnormality.
To be more precise, it was a medical condition that he had learned to apply in a clever way through passive environmental adaptation, along with long-term trial-and-error and training.
Yu Zhiming suffered from hyperacusis.
It was a rather rare disorder that allowed him to hear incredibly faint sounds, making his perception and differentiation of sound hundreds, even thousands, of times greater than an ordinary person’s.
At close range, it even allowed him to hear the sound of blood flowing through another person’s body.
Yu Zhiming didn’t know if he was born with this hyperacusis or if it was the result of a serious accident in his childhood.
For as long as he could remember, he had possessed this hypersensitive hearing. And for just as long, his world had been one of complete darkness.
His family told him that he had suffered a serious accident when he was just over two years old.
The accident had nearly killed him and left a blood clot in his brain, which affected his visual cortex and caused him to go blind.
Yu Zhiming sometimes thought of it as God closing a door but opening a window.
Although he had lost his sight, he had gained hypersensitive hearing.
During the long years of his blindness, he used this hypersensitive hearing to develop bat-like echolocation, the ability to identify the shape of objects by their sound reflections.
Thanks to this echolocation ability derived from his hypersensitive hearing, and with the care of his family, he lived a relatively normal life for the ten-plus years he was blind.
It reached the point where, in his daily life and studies, people who met him were often surprised, saying that if they hadn’t been told or weren’t watching closely, they would have never known he was blind.
Even more fortunately, when he was thirteen, the blood clot in his brain finally began to loosen and dissolve, and his vision gradually returned.
His hyperacusis, however, did not disappear.
After graduating from medical school and becoming a doctor, Yu Zhiming put his hypersensitive hearing to good use treating patients and saving lives, becoming a "Human CT Scanner" with precision and clarity that far surpassed any medical device.
After finishing his examination of Yin Wenzhu’s lungs, Yu Zhiming moved his right hand down slightly and began to explore her heart...