There's ringing in the young man's ear. Muffled conversation came from every direction. The muffled sound becomes clearer each second pass.
"...room 341. Thank you.."
"Mr, do you need any help?"
"Doctor.. How was my wife.."
"Oii, Yuze! Wake up!"
The young man's body was shaken by a hand on his shoulder. Muddled memories rearrange themselves as soon as the disoriented period ends. "Am I still on the battlefield?", the young man thought before his thought got cut off by an even greater shake. He opened his eyes immediately. The first thing he saw was a concerned young man that was assumed to be a doctor based on his attire.
"Goodness. How late were you sleeping last night?", the doctor asked.
The young man in question just blinked his eyes in bewilderment. "Me?", while pointing toward himself. Of course the doctor was skeptical, no scratch that, it was more of bemused than simply skeptical.
"Who else? The patient?", the doctor responded while raising an eyebrow.
"Seriously, how many hours did you manage to sleep last night? Come on. Dr Li asked for you to be the lead surgeon in the surgery. It is just a simple surgery but we are understaffed at the moment."
The young man still sat while trying to convince himself that this is just a nightmare. No way in hell was he going to lead a surgery procedure. His hands were only made for killing anyway.
"Uhh.. Why me?", he's still disoriented because he swore he undoubtedly already died on the battlefield.
"Excuse me? Are you trying to get a lecture from Dr Li?! Oii, Ye Fuze! Are you okay or not?!"
The young man raised an eyebrow while saying, "Ye Fuze? Who's Ye Fuze? I'm Zhan Xian Xing."
The young doctor had a deadpan expression and he immediately took on the young man's hand and dragged him to the surgery theater. "If you're trying to make a joke, this isn't the time."
"But I—"
"No. We don't have much time", the doctor cut off the sentence uttered by the young man.
"I swear I—"
"Stop with your excuses..!"
"I don't k—"
Despite his protest, the young doctor still dragged him to the scrub room. The young man knew he couldn't really do anything and just gave up trying to explain.
"Seriously, can't he see that I am no doctor"
Once there, he only followed what the young doctor did. Removing clothing and all the jewelry, putting on the hospital gown and so on. Wait what? The clothes weren't his. He glanced at all the walls, and there it was, mirrors with faucets under it. He stepped closer and.. "Shit… this is not my face. No wonder, the doctor kept calling me, Ye Fuze. Okay. For the last time"
"I'm not Ye Fuze. This is a mistake.", he said while still staring at the stranger's face in the mirror.
"What are you talking about? We don't have much time.", the doctor responded while signing his name on the board. Then the doctor walked in the operating theater leaving him behind. And because of awkwardness, he ends up signing 'Ye Fuze' and goes in too with a grimace.
🍀
"The vital sign is dropping!"
"I'll take over."
"The patient has too much bleeding! She will go into hypovolemic shock at this rate!"
"Prepare the blood transfusion!"
"...."
The patient ended up receiving the blood late and the patient lies there, dead. The team tried as much as they could to revive the patient within 10 minutes, but the effort was futile.
The young man and the doctor walked back to the scrub room.
"What's wrong with you?! It was only a simple surgery. Where is your level headed when we need it."
The young man leaned on the wall and slid down while facing the floor. He mumbled incoherently while combing his hair to show his stress.
"Dr Ye. Dr Ye Fuze. Fuze! Focus on your surroundings!"
'Ye Fuze' was having a panic attack. Memories of what happened just now kept circulating in-loop in his head. Breath is getting faster. Brain muddled.
"Shit… Step out of it. Follow my breath. In. Out. In. Out.."
After a few attempts, 'Ye Fuze' managed to calm himself.
"I told you I'm not Ye Fuze…", he said with a wavering and weak voice. Both his hands shook, because this death was different from the usual death that he inflicted on. Unlike before, this was a patient who's life relied on him. Not like an enemy, died with a reason. To protect the nation. This time, there's no reason or excuse. He indirectly killed her. Innocent person.
He. Killed. Her.
Tears flow out without warning and sobs can be heard.
The doctor turned around as fast as he could and walked to the young man.
"Fuze.. Hey. Look at me. This wasn't on you alone."
'Ye Fuze' kept saying, "I'm no doctor. I'm not Ye Fuze…"
The doctor frowned and decided to ask properly. "What do you mean, 'Not Fuze'?"
The young man turned his gaze to the doctor with a blank face full of tear streaks.
"I'm supposed to die already. And I don't know who you are."
The doctor baffled for a second before deciding to put it away for later. He still has some scepticism but extends his hand nonetheless, "Feng Jian Dan. This is my first year as a general surgeon. I'm 33."
"Zhan Xian Xing, 34. Second Lieutenant in the army."
Dr Feng gaped then frowned. "A lieutenant. How did you end up…", he tried to search for the appropriate wording while moving his hand in all sorts of directions.
"in this body?", chuckle. "Not that I knew for sure what happened, but I'm certain I died on the battlefield."
Silence ensued. Then Xian Xing asked for the date. "Uhh.. What date is today?"
"18th December. Why?"
Upon hearing the response, Xian Xing winced and said, "I fell on the battlefield a week ago. That means my body might have already been cremated. No. It certainly have been cremated"
They continued the conversation while scrubbing clean their body and went out for the impending hell that is work. Jian Dan makes it his obligation to help divert others from noticing how klutzy Xian Xing is going to be.