2025-10-14 16:05:15The message arrived before dawn. “URGENT: Hospital Board Inquiry. Attendance Mandatory.”
Rick read it twice, the words blurring on the screen. His stomach tightened. The rain outside hammered the window in steady rhythm, too much like a pulse he didn’t want to hear.
Evelyn stirred under the covers. “Another emergency?”
He shut off the screen. “Board meeting. They want to review the Lila case.”
Her voice thickened with sleep and dread. “Already?”
“Someone leaked footage,” he said quietly. “Probably internal.”
Evelyn sat up. “Rick… don’t go in there alone.”
“I have to.”
He dressed in silence, the glow of the golden rune briefly lighting his wrist before fading beneath his sleeve.
The boardroom smelled of disinfectant and tension. Seven members sat in a semicircle, holo-screens casting their faces in pale blue light. Yuren Sun stood at the far end, hands clasped behind his back, calm, unreadable.
The chairman, Dr. Mei Zhao, adjusted her glasses. “Dr. Franklin. We’ve received an external complaint from the Healers’ Syndicate regarding your conduct during the Lila Morrison resuscitation.”
Rick kept his voice steady. “What complaint?”
“That you performed an unauthorized procedure involving non-standard acupuncture meridians, without peer supervision or institutional approval.”
Rick’s heart thudded. “I saved her life.”
Mei Zhao’s tone remained cool. “That isn’t the question. The Syndicate is concerned that your method constitutes the use of esoteric biotechnic intervention, an act prohibited under Article 47 of the Medical Ethics Accord.”
Across the room, a man in a black coat sat silently, Syndicate insignia glinting on his lapel. His eyes never blinked.
Rick forced himself to breathe. “With respect, Article 47 forbids untested gene-altering tech. I used needles and pressure points, nothing supernatural.”
The man finally spoke, voice soft but edged. “And yet the child’s body emitted anomalous luminescence. Explain that.”
Rick looked to Yuren, who gave a slight nod, permission to answer but not to confess too much. “I can’t explain it,” Rick said. “All I know is that her pulse synchronized when I aligned the channels.”
The Syndicate man leaned forward. “Aligned them how?”
Rick hesitated. “By instinct.”
A murmur swept the board. Mei Zhao tapped the table. “Enough. Master Sun, as his mentor, what is your evaluation?”
Yuren stepped forward, voice measured. “Dr. Franklin acted under extreme duress. His decision was reckless but not malicious. I take full responsibility for his training.”
The Syndicate agent’s gaze sharpened. “You defend him.”
“I defend life,” Yuren replied. “Something your regulations occasionally forget.”
The room froze at the challenge. Mei Zhao sighed. “The board will deliberate. Until further notice, Dr. Franklin is suspended from independent procedures.”
Rick opened his mouth, but Yuren’s look stopped him. When they stepped into the corridor, Rick whispered, “You said you’d help me.”
“I am,” Yuren murmured. “By keeping you alive.”
By midday the hospital corridors buzzed like a hive. Everywhere Rick turned, whispers followed. “Did you hear? He’s under investigation.”
“The Syndicate thinks he used forbidden meridians.”
“Maybe he sold data to the underground clinics.”
Each rumor twisted sharper than the last. Rick pushed into the staff lounge, jaw clenched. Evelyn stood by the coffee dispenser, eyes wide. “Rick, what happened?”
He poured himself black coffee, hand shaking. “They’ve suspended me. Pending investigation.”
Her face paled. “God. The media’s already running with it. They’re calling it the Golden Fraud.”
He set the cup down too hard; coffee splashed over his fingers. “Isaac’s behind this.”
She hesitated. “You can’t prove that.”
“I don’t need proof. I can smell his fingerprints.”
Evelyn lowered her voice. “Yuren told me to keep you calm. If you fight the Syndicate, they’ll erase your license.”
Rick’s laugh was hollow. “Maybe that’s what they want.”
From the doorway came another voice, cool, amused. “Or maybe you brought it on yourself.”
Isaac leaned casually against the frame, tablet in hand. “I just watched the footage. Impressive light show. Want to tell me how you did it?”
Rick’s eyes narrowed. “You leaked it.”
Isaac’s smile didn’t waver. “Hard to leak what was already under review. Maybe the world deserves to see what kind of miracle worker they’re employing.”
“Careful,” Rick said softly. “You’re playing with lives.”
“Only yours.”
Evelyn stepped between them. “Stop this. You’re both doctors.”
Isaac’s tone turned sharp. “He’s not a doctor. He’s a gambler with a god complex.”
Rick took a step forward, but Yuren’s sudden voice froze them all. “Enough.”
The master entered, gaze cutting through the tension. “My office. Now, both of you.”
Yuren’s office felt smaller with both apprentices inside. Rain streaked the windows, thunder rumbling above.
Yuren sat behind his desk, fingers steepled. “You’ve turned my ward into a battlefield.”
Rick started, “Master, I.”
“Silence.”
He turned to Isaac. “You’ve been feeding rumors to external auditors. Do not insult me by denying it.”
Isaac met his gaze without flinching. “I shared data. Not rumors. Transparency protects the institution.”
“Transparency?” Yuren’s tone iced over. “Or ambition?”
Isaac’s jaw tightened. “Someone had to stop him before he drags your name down with his superstition.”
Rick’s fists clenched. “You think I wanted this?”
“You crave it,” Isaac shot back. “Every glance, every whisper, you feed on it.”
“Enough!” Yuren slammed his palm on the desk. The lights flickered.
For a moment the air itself seemed to hum, the faint golden resonance that always followed Rick now bleeding into the room. Isaac took a step back. “You see? It’s happening again.”
Rick looked down. His wrist glowed faintly through the fabric, light leaking like blood. Yuren rose slowly. “Rick. Control it.”
“I’m trying,” he whispered, but the pulse answered faster, syncing with the thunder outside.
Yuren caught his wrist, pressing a thumb to the rune. “Breathe.”
The light dimmed, though not before Isaac’s tablet recorded every flicker. When it was over, Yuren released him, voice low. “Both of you will report to the Clinical Review Division at dawn. You’ll assist in the trauma ward under supervision until the board decides otherwise.”
Isaac exhaled, victorious. “Understood.”
Rick stood rigid. “You’re grounding me.”
“I’m protecting you,” Yuren said. “From them, and from yourself.”
Rick wanted to shout, but Yuren’s weary eyes silenced him. Isaac left first, smirking. The door clicked shut.
Yuren turned to the window. “The Syndicate has begun to move. And you’ve given them reason.”
Rick’s voice broke. “I saved a child.”
“I know,” Yuren whispered. “And they fear what that means.”
Outside, lightning forked across the Salt Lake horizon, white veins glowing in the dark water. Rick stared at his reflection in the glass: pale, haunted, with a faint trace of gold pulsing beneath his skin.
He murmured, “If healing is a crime, then what am I?”
Yuren didn’t answer. The thunder did.
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Chapter 172. The Echo Surgery
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