Catherine smiled, a smile of genuine, secret delight.
Their team's purpose in entering China this time was to completely dismantle China's medical system and plunge Chinese students into blind worship.
If war could not destroy the nation, then they would dismantle it piece by piece through medicine, culture, and science!
From the results so far, their gains were considerable.
Students from Jinling Medical University stood up one after another to protest, demanding that Qiao Ling, Lu Ming, and others apologize on the spot.
"These useless quacks of Traditional Chinese Medicine, not only are they incompetent, but they have the audacity to steal the treatment results of Western medicine? They are worse than animals!"
"Today, Traditional Chinese Medicine must apologize to everyone present, or they will not leave here intact!"
"I'm so angry, I've never seen such shameless people."
The crowd was agitated.
The students' hatred for Traditional Chinese Medicine had reached its peak.
Qiao Ling could no longer listen. She rebuked loudly, "You are all Chinese, why do you always speak for foreigners? Have you forgotten your identity? Lu Ming cured the illness, and just because foreigners say a few words, you all believe it? Are you truly still Chinese?"
Faced with such an accusation, the students' faces did not blush and their hearts did not waver; they refuted with all their might.
"Heh heh, as expected, a charlatan, resorting to personal attacks now, are you?"
"Losing to others in medicine, your lies exposed, instead of correcting your attitude and making amends, you only resort to using nationalistic sentiment to whitewash yourselves. These TCM charlatans are truly scum of society!"
"We are Chinese, but we are rational Chinese! We believe in science and will never be emotionally manipulated by you."
These students' worship of Western medicine had reached its zenith.
No matter what Qiao Ling said or did, they would not believe it, only sticking to what they believed.
They were determined to have Qiao Ling and Lu Ming apologize publicly!
Seeing that the situation was about to spiral out of control, the principal stepped forward and said, "Alright, alright, everyone, let's stop arguing. The purpose of this Sino-Western Medical Exchange Conference is to promote medical development, not to elevate one party and denigrate the other. That's enough, everyone calm down and stop blaming each other."
Catherine, with great 'discretion,' said, "Since the principal has spoken, then we Western physicians will not press the matter further."
This statement almost made the students of Jinling Medical University weep with emotion.
Tears welled up in their eyes.
"Look, this is what you call magnanimity!"
"Having their labor stolen, yet able to overlook it, what a noble spirit!"
"Come, let us all applaud the great Ms. Catherine!"
A sustained round of applause erupted at the scene.
The students marveled, how could there be a person in the world with such perfect medical skills and ethics?
Catherine was the only goddess in their hearts!
Catherine smiled even more happily. Seeing these students successfully 'brainwashed' by her, her first step in infiltrating China and destroying its medical system had been perfectly accomplished.
She glanced at Professor Liu and said gently, "Professor Liu, please rest assured, our Western Medical Association will continue to provide you with follow-up treatment until we ensure your complete recovery."
As she spoke, Catherine noticed the three silver needles still lodged in Professor Liu's head.
She sneered, "These feudal relics should have been removed long ago!"
Just as Catherine reached out to pull out the three silver needles, Lu Ming suddenly spoke, "I advise you to think carefully."
Huh?
Catherine glared at Lu Ming, "What did you say?"
Lu Ming said coldly, "Who cured Professor Liu's illness, you and I know very well. These three silver needles are crucial to ensuring Professor Liu's recovery. They cannot be removed now!"
Catherine chuckled, mocking, "Of course, Professor Liu's illness was cured by us Western physicians, I know that very well! Lu Ming, stop playing the big shot in front of me. Now, I will expose your lies in front of everyone."
As she spoke, she acted swiftly and pulled out the three silver needles in quick succession.
She expected no incident.
But the scene that followed stunned everyone present.
The moment the third silver needle was pulled out, Professor Liu, like a disconnected mobile phone, instantly 'powered off.'
Professor Liu's eyes were tightly shut, his head slumped.
He had fainted.
This...
The teachers and students of Jinling were all dumbfounded, not understanding why this had happened.
Even Catherine was flustered.
This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.
She examined the three silver needles in her hand again, inwardly panicking, asking herself: Could it be that these three silver needles were indeed keeping Professor Liu alive? Impossible, how could three small silver needles possess such immense power?
The entire venue fell silent.
No one understood what had happened.
Only Lu Ming looked coldly at Catherine, waiting to see how she would explain the current situation.
After a moment of silence.
Qiao Ling also realized the problem.
This was the best time to counterattack, an opportunity not to be missed!
Qiao Ling said loudly, "After Lu Ming finished acupuncture, Professor Liu was cured; after the needles were removed, Professor Liu fell ill again. Is it not clear who cured Professor Liu's illness?"
She paused.
She continued, "Dr. Catherine, if you still insist that Professor Liu was cured by your Western medicine, then fine, now you cure Professor Liu for us to see again! Or, does your Western medicine still require a certain amount of time? Then you must state in advance this time, how long will you need to wait?"
Each question was like a knife, stabbing deeply into Catherine's heart.
The lies she had told before were now all exposed.
She could not answer!
Catherine stammered, unable to utter a single word. She could neither cure Professor Liu nor give a timeframe for his recovery.
Seeing Catherine's panicked, sweating face, even the dullest person should have realized.
The teachers and students of Jinling Medical University realized for the first time that perhaps, maybe, Catherine had been lying before?
Although difficult to believe, it was indeed the only plausible explanation.
Wang Daomin, who enjoyed watching the drama and fanning the flames, slammed the table and stood up, roaring, "Aren't you Western physicians very capable? Show us how capable you are! Cure Professor Liu now. If you can cure him, all the credit will be yours, and Traditional Chinese Medicine will apologize to Western medicine! Come on, try to cure him!"
The students were also extremely excited.
"Dr. Catherine, please quickly treat Professor Liu and show them that Western medicine is true science!"
"Hurry, Dr. Catherine, please make your move."
The students urged her frantically.
But Catherine stood there like a wooden post, unable to think of any solution.
In the end.
She coughed bitterly and awkwardly, saying, "Well... our Western medicine has already done its utmost, barely managing to bring Professor Liu back from the brink. Now that Professor Liu is exhausted, he is completely incurable."
Faced with this pale explanation, the students found it difficult to accept for a moment.
More critically...
Lu Ming chuckled and said, "Is that so? Professor Liu is completely incurable? I beg to differ. I can cure Professor Liu again within a minute!"