Derek's face paled slightly. He opened his mouth to explain, "Director"
Dr. Dawson held up a hand, cutting him off. "Derek, there's nothing more to say. Miss Serena is now in full charge of Miss Blackwood's surgery. This is a directive from the highest authority."
"Director, she... she's my sister. Don't you think I'd know whether she has any medical training? She's just a wild girl who grew up in the countryside. What if something goes wrong..." Derek couldn't accept Dr. Dawson's completely different attitudes toward him and Serena.
He refused to believe that the useless girl he remembered could now walk all over him!
"Miss Serena is your sister?" Dr. Dawson shot him a meaningful look.
The expression was strange, making Derek feel as if... Dr. Dawson was mocking him.
He frowned deeply. "Yes, Director. I think your decision is highly inappropriate. You can't just let some country girl run wild because of a single incorrect order I gave from off-site! In all of Vaelion City, I'm the only one who can perform this surgery!"
"If you knew you couldn't be on-site to assess the patient's condition yourself, then you should have been even more cautious before prescribing medication!" Dr. Dawson's expression hardened. "Derek, that is not an excuse to shirk your responsibility."
He paused, his gaze shifting back to the operating room. "Besides, you can't perform this surgery."
Dr. Dawson's tone was one of unquestionable authority. "Derek, you and your entire team will remain on standby. No one is to interfere with Miss Serena for any reason."
Derek's face fell.
Dr. Dawson's words had just shattered the pride of the top surgical chief who had been hailed as a prodigy since his youth, and he'd done it in public.
He was resentful and furious. "Director..."
"Enough," Dr. Dawson cut him off. "I will personally take full responsibility for any and all consequences."
Derek's throat tightened, all his words getting stuck behind Dr. Dawson's sharp glare.
He stared at the director in disbelief, finding the whole situation utterly absurd.
He couldn't do this surgery, but some wild girl from the countryside could?
Agitated, Derek snatched the latest medical records and imaging files for Brianna Blackwood from another department head and began lipping through them.
As his eyes scanned the shocking data, his face grew paler by the second.
Every single number on the chart hovered on the brink of death.
Just as Serena had said, this was an incredibly difficult operation.
Even if he were to perform the
surgery himself, using every top-tier
resource available, the success rate wouldn't exceed twenty percent!
And even if, by some miracle, he succeeded, the patient would be left with a lifelong immunodeficiency.
The more he read, the stiffer his fingers became.
In his mind, he replayed the string of data Serena had rattled off before entering the operating room. It was identical to what he was now concluding from the medica records.
How could her assessment have been so precise?
"This surgery... you can't do it. I'm the only one who can."
Serena's words replayed in his head like a haunting refrain, each repetition a fresh
stab at his shattered pride.