“Let me introduce you two. This is the newest member of our infectious diseases specialty treatment team, just introduced through Mr. Qian’s recommendation.” The hospital director waved enthusiastically toward the newcomer behind him. “He arrived a few weeks after you, so you could even call him your junior. Come on, say hello to your senior.”

“Alright,” Ji Jue replied, looking directly at Lian Cheng. With a friendly smile, he extended his hand and waited for Lian Cheng to take it.

A suffocating pressure and sudden panic surged within Lian Cheng’s chest. His heart jolted, and for an instant, his vision seemed to blur. The gentle smile vanished. In its place remained only a skeletal face, eternally wreathed in flames and surrounded by countless red remnants of spirits. 

Then, just as quickly, the hallucination faded away. All that remained was Ji Jue’s outstretched hand, quietly waiting for Lian Cheng without the slightest waver, as though he could wait until the end of time, when the seas ran dry and the rocks crumbled.

Lian Cheng snapped back to his senses, his hand twitching slightly as he lifted it. But before he could fully extend it, Ji Jue’s hand had already reached forward enthusiastically and gripped his fingers. Ji Jue’s...