A Replacement Bride

Chapter 226

Livid, the doctor pointed at the man and fumed, "Whom are you waiting for?! We have to pronounce their death now. You're wasting time and the hospital's resources! Their breathing and heartbeats have already stopped, yet you want to continue using the ventilators on them and take up the already limited ICU. You're abusing power here!"

The man frowned as a hint of displeasure flashed across his eyes. "I'm sure you don't need me to remind you who they are. Hastily announcing their death will only cause unnecessary distress to the public. Also, doctors are supposed to save lives. You can't just give up on them when they aren't completely dead yet!"

"Nonsense!" The senior doctor was so infuriated that his body shook. However, the man didn't want to continue the conversation anymore.

Just then, a security officer strode toward the man from the elevator and muttered, "She's on her way now, Mr. Gray. The plane will land at the hospital apron in ten minutes at the earliest."

"Get ready to pick her up," instructed Corey Gray gravely.

With that, the officer went to make the arrangements.

"Blasphemy! I'd like to see just who that person is. What is he? A god? Can he revive the dead?!" Flushed was the senior doctor's face as he flung his arm dismissively in anger, leading the junior doctors to approach and cool him down.

"No need to get upset, Dr. Digby. We'll know if he's the real deal once he shows up," said a middle- aged man while pushing his black-framed glasses after taking a frosty gander at Corey Gray.

To that, Malcolm Digby snorted but said nothing in response.

Soon after, the elevator door opened. Orderly footsteps resounded as a group of people marched out of the car, and the person walking right in front was none other than Katherine, who wore no expression on her face. Behind her was the security officer Corey had arranged to escort Katherine, and he was relating the details of the patients' current conditions.

"Understood." Katherine raised her hand and stopped the officer from continuing, for she had already gotten a good picture of the other patients' conditions after treating Zak. "Take me to them."

The officer nodded and led the way. This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Meanwhile, a disdainful snort escaped Malcolm as he looked at Katherine. In fact, his gaze at Corey now was even laced with contempt, and the junior doctors by Malcolm's side jeered even more so, saying, "She's the one you were waiting for, Mr. Gray?! Has she even graduated high school? You're telling me she has medical knowledge?! Sure, even if she does, do you believe she can save the senior officials when not even Dr. Digby can?!"

Katherine paused her footsteps upon hearing the middle-aged man's words and took a plain gander at him with a contemptuous smirk. "It makes me so ashamed for your mother to hear something like that from you. She must wish she had given birth to a dog instead of a b*stard who disrespects women."

Usually, the young woman couldn't be bothered enough to argue about something like this, but since she had heard such sexist words when she was in a terrible mood, she couldn't help herself.

"You—"

"Why bother arguing with her? Show us what you've got or scram and admit your incompetence. Go home and nurse your baby now; don't make a fool of yourself here!" another doctor defended the middle-aged man before the latter could say anything.

None of the doctors who were present believed Katherine had the chops except for one, who gazed at the young woman with apprehension.

She had spent some time in Hovington and once had the pleasure of observing Katherine's operation herself. She was certain no one within the country would dare say they were better than Katherine with how skilled she was.

And now, she couldn't help defending the young woman when her fellow doctors kept disparaging the latter. "Stop acting like snobs. Miss Cornell is a very competent medical practitioner. She—"

"Whose side are you on?! How can you side with someone else?! Dr. Digby, I believe we shouldn't let someone like her stay in our hospital. Who knows if she'll steal our hospital's confidential information?!" A few doctors who usually despised the woman now seized the chance to bully her after hearing her words.

Annoyed by the commotion, Katherine glanced at Corey. Believing he had the authority here, she requested, "They're making a ruckus. Please see to it."

With that, she went into the ward and dismissed the group of noisy doctors, who all shut up at once upon meeting Corey's frosty gaze.

They could belittle Katherine all they wanted, but none dared disrespect the Corey Gray, and the man withdrew his gaze after everyone quieted down.

Katherine entered the ICU to find a flatlined elder in his 70s to 80s lying motionlessly on the bed.

With that, she grabbed his hand and felt for his pulse but found none. From a medical point of view, he was indeed dead, but Katherine didn't get down to work at once and instead gave him a full body checkup.

The elder was in pretty good shape despite getting on in years; all of his mechanisms were still operating at a positive 50 percent physicality, which was a decent figure given his age.

After the checkup, Katherine unbuttoned his shirt and found a hideously grimacing face at his abdomen, much like Zak's but uglier.

"Blasphemy," Katherine cussed as she put the black carrying case that she had brought with her aside. Then, she opened it and pulled out a black ceramic jar. After pouring a pill out of it, she shoved it into the elder's mouth, then inserted three acupuncture needles into his chest.

The elder's body jolted reflexively, and the face on his abdomen faded gradually.

On the other hand, Katherine watched impassively until about ten seconds later. She then inserted another three needles into the three acupoints below the elder's rib cage.

Suddenly, the ear-piercing wail of a baby rang out, causing Katherine to turn grimmer by the second as she inserted another three needles into the acupoints of the elder's other rib cage.

The next second, the abdomen of the motionless elder bulged, and a face struggled with all its might inside the belly as it screeched and wailed in agony, sounding exceptionally eerie.

At that, Katherine snorted as she grabbed a black patch and slapped it onto the face, which screeched and wailed much more agonizingly as a result.