Where's my golden core? Did you think I removed a kidney stone?

The morning clinic went much more smoothly than Su Ye had imagined.

Or rather, it went by absurdly smoothly.

Zhang Yuanping sat in the main seat to see patients, while Su Ye stood beside him to assist. It was no different from before, but Su Ye knew that everything was different now.

Every time a patient walks into the consultation room, the moment Su Ye hears the description of their symptoms, a relevant knowledge framework automatically pops into his mind: cause, differential diagnosis, examination plan, treatment path. It's like a search engine running rapidly in the background, organizing all the relevant information and categorizing it in front of him.

The book "Surgery" that I finished reading in twenty minutes last night is now putting a lot of strain on me.

Not just surgery, but all the knowledge Su Ye had accumulated during his eight years of medical career, that once chaotic "library," is now neatly organized with the spiritual power of the nascent water-based golden core, allowing him to adjust whatever he wants and be available whenever needed.

This morning, I saw more than 30 patients, most of whom had common urinary system diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary tract infection, and bladder stones. Su Ye silently made his own judgment in his mind and compared it with Zhang Yuanping's diagnosis. Almost every one of them matched. Zhang Yuanping is the director and a well-known expert in the hospital. His professional level is top-notch.

Su Ye also gave a small demonstration of his abilities.

The middle-aged man in front of me was about forty years old, with a sallow complexion and a very thin build. His chief complaint was recurring lower back pain accompanied by hematuria. He had a CT scan at another hospital, which showed kidney stones. He had been taking medication to dissolve the stones for a month without any effect, so he came to see Zhang Yuanping.

Zhang Yuanping took the CT scan and looked at it for a while, his brows furrowing slightly.

"The location of this kidney stone is a bit strange..."

He muttered something to himself and then flipped through the lab reports the patient had brought.

Su Ye stood to the side, his gaze also fixed on the CT scan.

He casually asked Zhang Yuanping while he was flipping through the lab results, "Professor Zhang, this enhancement seems a bit strong. Could it be more than just a simple kidney stone?"

"Oh?"

Zhang Yuanping paused for a moment.

He turned his gaze back to the CT scan, this time examining it more closely, his finger slowly tracing the edge of the high-density shadow.

Then his expression changed.

"You're right." Zhang Yuanping took the film off the viewing light and looked at it again under the light. "This is not a stone. The edges are lobulated, and it shows enhancement on contrast. We need to consider a space-occupying lesion in the kidney. We cannot rule out the possibility of renal cell carcinoma."

He turned to the patient, his tone calm but much more serious: "In your case, I suggest you get another contrast-enhanced CT scan of your kidneys, a thin-section scan, and check for tumor markers. The other hospital may have missed something; this might not necessarily be a kidney stone."

The middle-aged man's face turned pale instantly: "Not gallstones? Then what are they?"

"Don't panic. Let's finish the tests first. It might not be bad, but we need to investigate thoroughly."

The patient was taken by the nurse to get a test order.

Zhang Yuanping leaned back in his chair, stared at Su Ye for two seconds, then nodded with a slight smile on his lips.

"Neither of the two attending physicians from the foreign language department noticed it, but you, a resident, did. You have potential." He paused, then added, "It seems the school's assessment of you is accurate. You're quick-witted and have a promising future. Not bad, not bad."

Su Ye smiled but didn't say anything more.

……

Su Ye carried his cafeteria tray, found a corner to sit down, shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth, and exhaled a breath of stale air.

Cool.

The food in the cafeteria was as bad as ever.

However, the feeling in the morning was really great.

In clinical practice, the moment a patient sits down and utters their first words, the diagnostic process is already running through the patient's mind. By the time the patient finishes speaking, the doctor basically has a clear understanding of the situation.

Quick-witted and able to apply what they've learned.

This is the greatest benefit that the Water-based Golden Elixir brought him.

It's not some kind of superpower like flying or teleporting, but rather that his brain has been transformed into a supercomputer, accelerating the input, processing, and output of information in every aspect.

For a doctor, this is more useful than any superpower.

However, Su Ye did not show much.

After all, he's just a resident trainee; it's not good for him to be too sharp.

Su Ye was eating with his head down when a plate was suddenly pushed against the person opposite him, and then someone sat down.

"Um?"

A pretty face came into view, with a ponytail, a white coat, and a name tag that read "Resident Physician Jiang Xiaoyue". There was a neat and efficient look in her eyes.

Jiang Xiaoyue placed the plate on the table and, without exchanging pleasantries, began to speak:

"The written exam for the medical practitioner's license is tomorrow. Have you registered?"

Su Ye's chopsticks, which were about to pick up food, stopped in mid-air.

Medical license?

tomorrow?

He quickly searched his memory, and sure enough, tomorrow was the written exam for the medical practitioner's license...

Jiang Xiaoyue looked at Su Ye's brief moment of surprise and took a deep breath.

"You haven't registered yet, have you?"

Su Ye remained silent.

"Su Ye!" Jiang Xiaoyue's voice rose a half-octave. "What have you been busy with lately? I've rarely seen you. Don't you know how important a medical license is? You can't stay at the hospital after your residency training without one!"

Su Ye certainly knew.

The standardized residency training certificate and the medical practitioner's license are the two most crucial certificates for every clinical medical student. The standardized residency training certificate proves that you have completed standardized residency training, and the medical practitioner's license proves that you are qualified to practice medicine independently. Without either certificate, you can forget about staying in a regular hospital.

"Besides, the medical license exam covers a lot of material: basic medicine, clinical medicine, and medical humanities—four units with 600 questions. You haven't even started reviewing yet, have you?"

Su Ye gave a wry smile.

I've only been here a few days, and I'm still in a daze. First, I'm getting used to my new identity, then I'm working on the nascent Golden Core, and then I'm going through the piercing and fusion process. I have no time to care about any exams.

"Okay, I'll sign up in a bit."

He paused, then added, "By the way, send me a copy of the review materials."

Jiang Xiaoyue stared at him, her expression as if she were looking at an incomprehensible creature.

"Su Ye, you have an exam tomorrow. You told me today that you were going to study materials?"

"Um."

"..."

Jiang Xiaoyue was so angry that she put down her chopsticks, crossed her arms, and looked Su Ye up and down, her eyes saying, "Are you crazy?"

She and Su Ye were classmates in college, spending five years in undergraduate studies and three years in master's studies. They were like brothers and sisters, and had gone through it all together. In her memory, Su Ye was always the type to study quietly and diligently, but his grades were always at the top. He was a well-known genius in the school, ranking first in clinical skills assessments every year, and was the professor's most proud student.

Why do I feel so strange lately?

Have you even forgotten the medical licensing exam?

"What's wrong with you lately?" Jiang Xiaoyue's tone softened, tinged with worry. "Has something happened?"

Su Ye shook his head: "It's nothing, I just wasn't feeling well a few days ago, my head was a little foggy, but I'm fine now."

Jiang Xiaoyue stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly trying to find some flaw in his face.

"You look much better today than usual?"

Su Ye remained expressionless: "I slept for more than twenty hours, so I've made up for it."

Jiang Xiaoyue snorted, took out her phone and frantically typed on it for a while, then shoved the screen in front of Su Ye.

"I've sent you the materials: four sets of mock exams plus a compilation of past exam questions. You need to finish reviewing them tonight. The exam starts at 8:30 tomorrow morning at the Municipal Health Commission test center. Latecomers won't be waited for."

"receive."

Jiang Xiaoyue glared at Su Ye and left, her ponytail swinging in a neat arc.

Su Ye watched her retreating figure and smiled helplessly.

Medical practitioner license exam.

tomorrow.

He glanced down at his phone; the files Jiang Xiaoyue had sent had arrived—four compressed files, totaling nearly two gigabytes.

Four sets of mock exams, each with 600 questions, for a total of 2,400 questions.

A compilation of past exam questions, ten years' worth.

One night?

enough.