Greg grinned and nodded. "You got that right—Hank has been hoping to have some symptoms detected, and it's almost as though it worries him more if there's nothing.""Goddamn…" Pat adjusted his glasses as he asked, "I mean, that's fine… But he's not going to like his CA199 levels freaking out, is he?"Greg's smile stiffened on his face, and it took him a while to come to his senses. "His CA199 levels are freaking out? Are you kidding?"Being Hank's personal doctor, Greg knew everything about Hank's health.But the CA199 protein was used as a tumor marker, primarily for monitoring pancreatic cancer along with other GI tract cancers.While there were a variety of tumor markers for different parts of the body, it was a consistent rule that all tumor markers would always stay under normal levels—unless cancer cells were growing.If it rose beyond the normal ranges, that meant that there was a good chance of cancer. While there were always the isolated cases of false positives, the tum

On the other hand, if Hank's health failed, Greg would basically be fired, as he was more or less a health consultant to Hank.And should Hank be admitted to a specialist hospital, there wasn't much he could do either.Hence, even as Hank remained in a good mood a moment ago, he was suddenly dying inside as he fumbled for his phone, stammering, "Houston… We have a problem."Andrew was the first to laugh. "Oh, congratulations, Hank! We've been waiting the whole night for this one… So, what's the anomaly here?Hank really wasn't in the mood for jokes and snapped at Andrew right then, "Shut up! Are you trying to jinx me?!"Andrew was left aggrieved. "But you're the one who said that there was something wrong! Why would you snap at me like that?"Hank bellowed furiously, nonetheless, "I'd rather be normal with just minor anomalies and definitely not pancreatic cancer! As it turns out, my CA199 count is several dozen times above normal, and the doctor said that pancreatic cancer is th

Pat shook his head. "Things don't look good, Sir. It's growing very rapidly—the CA199 count is positively skyrocketing, considering that it's just been three months."Hank wiped the sweat off his brow as he asked, "Well, what's the plan for treatment?""That's why I'm here," Pat replied. "To tell you that the sooner we operate to remove your pancreas, the better.""Remove it?!" Hank blurted. "How long am I expected to survive after that? Five years?" "There's no telling," Pat sighed, shaking his head. "In this day and age, pancreatic cancer is the most unpredictable—the cells grow rapidly with lethal precision, and even if removed, there's a good chance they have already metastasized elsewhere." "The only sure thing is that regardless of early detection, only ten percent of pancreatic cancer patients survive the next five years… And as of yet, none have survived up to ten years."Pausing, Pat then finished, "If I had to put it this way… They are like Germany in World War Two."

Matt had been sleeping as soundly as it was humanly possible.He had been having a nice breakfast and was planning to relax after trying out the hotel's gym and swimming pool to keep himself in shape. There weren't any issues in security, and once he had gotten used to the hotel, he could even go on a stroll down Aurous Hill.That was when his phone rang with a call from an unknown number, and Hank could be heard talking as soon as he answered, "Matt! Could you please call Mr. Rothschild? I'd like to invite Mr. Wade along for dinner."Matt did a double-take.He used to be a glorified pimp keeping Hank supplied with his 'delights', and it was clear that Hank treated him like a lapdog and not a fellow friend.But now, he was Julien's lapdog instead, so who did Hank think he was, telling him what to do?"Come on," he chuckled nonchalantly. "Do you really think Mr. Wade is someone you can just ask to meet? And Julien is the heir apparent of the Rothschilds—you think you can treat him

"Wonderful!"Hank was thrilled beside himself, and he shook Albert's hand excitedly. "Thank you so much, Mr. Rhodes!"Albert nodded and led Hank into the Golden Room, asking him to wait alone as he turned to leave.After that, Hank quickly called Matt to tell him that he had arrived at Heaven Springs, and Matt relayed the message to Julien.Charlie had yet to arrive when Julien and Matt both arrived at Heaven Springs by car, and Matt opened the door to the Gold Room but didn't enter.Instead, he stepped to the side, letting Julien enter first.Seeing Hank, he smiled and asked, "What's wrong, Hank? So, you really got something in your pancreas?"Hank could naturally see that Julien was dissing him, but he didn't hide his scowl either. "Please don't tease me, Mr. Rothschild—it really was pancreatic cancer, and the worst type there is. The doctor even said I only have a ten percent chance of survival.""I see no problem," Julien chuckled. "It's plenty for someone like you."Hank