A young man walked calmly—perhaps too calmly—through the bustling reception area of the emergency department. This was both the busiest and most underfunded hospital in the entire city, located in District 17. And thus, it shared a wall with the outer district.
The young man had short brown hair and a youthful face with clear blue eyes. He wore a white coat and observed the chaotic scene around him.
His name was Liam Quinn, and despite being only seventeen years old, he had already secured a solid place in the emergency medicine team at this hospital just a year after his assignment as a doctor.
Since then, every day had been filled with work.
A little girl with a bloody wound on her arm was wheeled through the reception area on a stretcher. Two nurses hurried alongside, pushing an IV stand with a bag of shimmering fluid attached.
The girl lay unconscious, but her parents' desperate cries were horribly loudly. Liam sighed. That wouldn't help the little one either.
One group of nurses rushed past another, who were struggling to assign patients to their places. No one seemed willing to wait, but they had no choice.
At the other end of the area, a waiting patient suddenly collapsed. Although this was an emergency department, there simply weren't enough resources to care for all the patients at once.
Only one nurse ran to him, her movements frantic and filled with concern. But as she got closer, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Then, a look of shame crossed her face, and she urgently turned back to the man.
The man's clothes were so dirty and tattered that it was clear he came from the outer district at first glance. Liam could practically read the thoughts on the nurse's face. It was probably too late for him anyway. Other patients took priority.
Liam watched the scene with a keen eye. His gaze followed the nurse's movements as she half-heartedly examined the man.
"Nurse Santina!" he called out clearly. "Take him to Station Seven, please."
The patients around him startled at his loud voice, as if they hadn't noticed him before. That was nothing new for Liam—even when he wore a white coat, people didn't immediately see him as a doctor.
Fortunately, Nurse Santina knew who he was. She looked at him and nodded silently, though her eyes told Liam something else—she wasn't thrilled about prioritizing a man from the outer district in this chaos.
Liam merely shrugged in response. As the nurse sought help to load the man onto a stretcher, Liam headed toward Station Seven. It was his own space, and there he could help whomever he wanted or needed to.
After all, he was a doctor now. Liam grimaced at the thought.
He entered Station Seven, his workspace that served as an operating, examination, and multipurpose room. The room was neatly arranged, with everything in its proper place.
Along one wall stood medical equipment in orderly rows, including a modern surgical robot and various scanners. A large sink with sterile towels next to it, a metal cabinet full of medications and tools, and a sophisticated microscope lined the other side of the room.
In the center of the room was a spacious examination table, which could also be used as an operating table due to its flexibility.
Nurse Santina and another orderly wheeled the man in on a stretcher. Liam stepped forward and helped carefully lift the patient onto the examination table.
"Dr. Quinn?" Nurse Santina asked hesitantly, noticing Liam's focused expression.
Liam understood her unspoken question and replied calmly, "He's a regular patient, Nurse Santina. I would treat you just like him. Or maybe you'd prefer to just wait and suffocate." His voice was gentle but firm.
Nurse Santina looked momentarily hurt and also a bit ashamed, then shook her head as if to clear away an inappropriate thought. Liam bent over the man and began a thorough examination.
The patient was in terrible shape: dirty, tattered clothing, a pale, gaunt face, and deep dark circles under his eyes. His hair was unkempt, and his body looked thin and emaciated.
And he smelled of filth and urine.
"He doesn't seem to have anything wrong," Nurse Santina observed after a while, as she examined the patient aswell. Indeed, there were no visible injuries, but Liam had already made this assessment back in the reception area.
Liam shook his head. "Wait outside. I'll call you if I need help."
The two attendants exchanged confused glances but then left the room reluctantly. As the door closed, Liam sighed deeply before turning back to the patient.
"No external injuries. As if that was everything that could kill a person..."
"You're way too thin, but I guess that's typical for people out there, huh? Sorry, you can't answer right now," Liam muttered to himself as he pulled off the man's torn T-shirt, exposing his emaciated body.
He conducted further examinations, checking pulse, temperature, and breathing. Finally, he smiled with satisfaction. "You're perfect! Don't worry, I'll help you... Just a small test first."
Liam took a small blood sample from the man and tucked it away in his coat. Then he called Nurse Santina back into the room.
"Lost?" she asked skeptically, as if she had expected just that.
"No, Nurse Santina," Liam replied, slightly irritated. "The only thing lost here are the demons. The man has Nexis Fever. Give him 20 milliliters of the antidote. He'll be fine."
The nurse opened her mouth to say something, but Liam cut her off. "Please, Nurse Santina, I know it's become almost a duty for you to question all my diagnoses, but I didn't become a doctor by chance. Here, look."
Liam lifted the patient's arm and let it drop. The arm fell unusually slowly, as if defying gravity, despite the man being unconscious.
"And here." He opened the man's mouth and lifted his tongue. Small green spots were visible underneath.
"No doubt about it, Nexis Fever. Go on, give him the dose."
Nurse Santina reluctantly nodded and turned to make the necessary preparations. Liam watched her briefly, then continued his work.
Nexis Fever was nothing new in Tarus. Fortunately, it affected only a few people. Master Nexis was usually very adept at containing the side effects of his magic. But with such a large area as he conjured, it was no surprise that an unsuspecting civilian might occasionally get caught.
Especially now, with the demons attacking nearly every week. A case of Nexis Fever was about the best one could hope for.
Liam grimaced at the thought of the little girl. That must have been a demon too. He clenched his teeth hard.
How many demon victims had he treated in his short month as a full doctor? A hundred? A thousand? He really wasn't sure, though he usually had a good memory for these kinds of things.
But as Liam found no further signs of danger with the man, he left the room.
And turned his attention to the next patient. Because that was his life now. He was a doctor, and this was nothing more than an ordinary Tuesday.