Ancient Medical Rising System: Rise Of The Forsaken Doctor

Chapter 3B: The Healers’ Syndicate Rumor

The apartment felt colder that night. Evelyn moved quietly around the kitchen, shutting drawers with the soft finality of someone rehearsing silence.

Rick watched her from the doorway. “You’re not talking to me.”

She kept her eyes on the counter. “I don’t know what to say that won’t make it worse.”

“You could start with I believe you.”

“I want to.” She turned then, tired, beautiful, terrified. “But every screen in the city’s replaying that footage, Rick. They’re calling you an alchemist. A fraud. The hospital’s under audit. And Yuren Sun’s reputation’s bleeding because of you.”

“I didn’t leak anything.”

“I know. But truth doesn’t matter when the Syndicate decides what’s real.”

He rubbed his face. “You think I should confess to something I didn’t do?”

“I think you should disappear until this burns out.”

He stared. “Run?”

“Lay low. Take a transfer to the outer wards. Pretend to be ordinary for once.”

“That’s not who I am.”

Her laugh broke halfway. “That’s the problem.”

He reached for her, but she stepped back. The distance between them felt heavier than any punishment. “Evelyn.”

“Just stop, Rick. You can’t fight a system that owns the definition of life.”

He swallowed hard, searching for words, but all that came was a whisper. “Maybe the system forgot what life is.”

She closed her eyes. “Then I hope you remember before it kills you.”

When she left the room, he sank against the wall, feeling the pulse beneath his wrist throb like a second heartbeat that wasn’t his.

The next morning, black vehicles lined the hospital entrance. Syndicate agents in gray coats moved through the lobby, scanning badges, collecting files. Patients whispered; interns scattered like birds.

Rick walked through the metal detectors, every eye following him. The lead agent from the hearing, the one with the unblinking stare, waited near reception.

“Dr. Franklin,” he said smoothly. “We’re expanding our review. Your personal research logs, private correspondences, neural interface backups, all of it.”

Rick kept his voice level. “That violates privacy statutes.”

The agent smiled faintly. “Article Nine of the Emergency Protocol overrides them in cases of anomalous medical activity.”

“Anomalous,” Rick repeated. “That’s what you call saving a child now?”

The agent’s eyes gleamed. “When the dead glow gold, Doctor, we call it many things.”

Yuren appeared from behind the security gates. “You’ll search nothing without my authorization.”

The agent bowed slightly. “Then we’ll wait for your compliance, Master Sun. The Syndicate appreciates your cooperation.”

When they were gone, Yuren exhaled. “They’re baiting us.”

Rick’s voice was low. “Then maybe it’s time we stop playing prey.”

Yuren turned sharply. “No heroics. You disobey me again, I will end your apprenticeship myself.”

Rick met his eyes, anger flashing. “I didn’t ask for your protection.”

“Then at least respect my experience.”

The words cut deeper than any accusation. Rick walked away before his temper betrayed him.

That night, the Syndicate agent met Isaac Voss in the underground parking bay. Rainwater pooled around their shoes; neon from the city reflected in slick red lines across the cement.

“You delivered the footage?” the agent asked.

Isaac handed over a data-chip. “Every frame. He’s unstable. The glow’s spreading, through his skin, maybe deeper.”

The agent pocketed it. “Good. The council will want confirmation before they move on Master Sun.”

Isaac blinked. “You said you wanted Franklin, not Sun.”

“Sun trained him. He’ll share the blame.”

A flicker of unease crossed Isaac’s face. “That wasn’t our deal.”

The agent smiled thinly. “Deals change. You’ll be rewarded, Dr. Voss. Perhaps a position on the review board.”

Isaac hesitated, then nodded once. “Whatever it takes.”

When the agent left, Isaac stared at the elevator doors, his reflection fractured in the metal, one half lit, one half shadowed. He whispered to no one, “You should have stayed ordinary, Rick.”

Far above, Rick stood on the roof of Salt Lake General, rain drumming against his coat. The city spread out below, lights, water, silence.

He opened his hand. The golden rune shimmered faintly, each pulse syncing with the storm. He could feel something under the hospital, deep as bone, like a second heartbeat echoing his own.

“Is this what they fear?” he murmured. “The world remembering it can heal itself?”

Lightning flashed; for an instant the entire rooftop glowed gold. Down in the archives, monitors flickered alive one by one, Lila’s heart-rate logs spiking, every screen pulsing in the same rhythm as his.

Rick didn’t see it, but Yuren did, standing in the control room, eyes wide with recognition and dread. He whispered, “The system is awakening.”