Chapter 234

"I shall now explain the rules for this Medical Duel Competition!" The host's voice cut through the clamor of the crowd. On the exhibition stage, thirty pale volunteers stood in two rows; they were patients with difficult-to-treat conditions recruited from major hospitals. Driven to the brink by exorbitant medical fees, these patients now clutched their life-or-death waivers, waiting for the two physicians to perform the traditional four diagnostic methods: looking, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking. At the judges' table sat the Grandmasters of traditional medicine, their encrypted files containing detailed, standardized treatment protocols for every case.