Chapter 00006: Seeking Employment
# Seeking Employment
Chapter 6
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 6: Seeking Employment
The wooden box felt somewhat cool to the touch, heavy as if it contained many items. Its shape resembled… a pavilion from ancient times. Just as Lan Xiaobu was about to say something, the middle-aged man across from him suddenly stood up. He covered his mouth with his hand and coughed a few times. From the way he left his seat, it seemed he wanted to go to the restroom.
“Wait, take out your ID and ticket for inspection.” Just as the middle-aged man had walked two or three seats away, a sudden voice called out to him. Lan Xiaobu clearly saw the middle-aged man’s body stiffen slightly. Before he could speak, a gun was already pressed against the middle-aged man’s waist.
There were two police officers. After one officer pressed the gun against the middle-aged man, the other officer quickly took out handcuffs and cuffed him, then led him away. Lan Xiaobu calmly stowed the heavy wooden box into his bag and put away his notebook as well.
At this moment, he understood why the middle-aged man had inquired about his background. That guy had placed the wooden box with him not as a gift, but merely for temporary storage. It was likely that once the middle-aged man came out, he would immediately seek out Lan Xiaobu. Storing it was not a problem, but Lan Xiaobu suspected that once he returned the item to the middle-aged man, he might not be able to keep his life; this person was shrouded in a sense of malice.
As for whether the middle-aged man could come out, Lan Xiaobu had no doubts. If the other party couldn’t come out, he wouldn’t have entrusted the item to a stranger like him. Moreover, with the middle-aged man’s capabilities, even if the two police officers had guns, they likely wouldn’t be able to keep him detained.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard this guy thought, he would never suspect that a chance acquaintance would lie, and even he, an old hand in the game, couldn’t sense that Lan Xiaobu was deceiving him.
The train entered Xitan, a major station. Although it was still quite far from Tingjiang Station, Lan Xiaobu decisively chose to get off and transfer to a bus directly to Huzhou, as he had no plans to go to Tingjiang for the time being.
After a day of travel, Lan Xiaobu finally arrived in Huzhou. Huzhou was nearly two thousand kilometers away from the Bin'an he mentioned, and Lan Xiaobu believed that the middle-aged man wouldn’t find him so quickly.
The housing prices in Huzhou only soared after the appearance of UFOs and the rise of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, but even now, those prices were beyond what Lan Xiaobu could afford. He rented a room in the suburbs at a very cheap price, with a small yard, costing only five hundred yuan a month. The landlord had moved to live in Huzhou City, leaving the house vacant.
After dropping off his simple luggage, Lan Xiaobu didn’t immediately go online to search for martial arts techniques; instead, he took out the ancient wooden box. The box was not large, only the size of an adult's fist, shaped like a loft. However, Lan Xiaobu felt that this wooden box weighed at least ten pounds. It was icy to the touch, and its surface was covered with various carvings.
Lan Xiaobu searched around the wooden box for a long time but surprisingly couldn’t find the button to open it. This box was even more sealed than a Luban box; at least a Luban box had gaps to find, while this wooden box was a complete whole. This made Lan Xiaobu suspect that this wooden box might just be a decorative piece.
Not wanting to feel any attachment to something that wasn’t his, Lan Xiaobu placed the box on the cement floor and struck it hard with a stone. A dull sound echoed, but the wooden box showed no signs of damage. The stone couldn’t budge it, and using a knife was equally futile.
Lan Xiaobu spent an hour or two in the room trying to figure out the wooden box but to no avail. Helpless, he could only put the box away again.
The next morning, Lan Xiaobu tidied up a bit and prepared to visit the job market. He intended to cultivate martial arts, but it wasn’t the right time yet; according to his memory, it wouldn’t be until a year later that news would spread about the possibility of cultivating Inner Qi. Moreover, he needed to eat while cultivating martial arts, so he had to find a job, preferably one that allowed him to live without much effort.
Huzhou was an emerging city, extremely eager for all kinds of talent. There were many like Lan Xiaobu who had come from other cities specifically to seek employment in Huzhou.
In the eyes of many graduates, Huzhou now resembled the former Shanghai; most of those who had gone to Shanghai early on had become successful individuals. Thus, the talent market in Huzhou was almost always packed. Additionally, as various enterprises set up branches in Huzhou, finding a job there was relatively easy. Since Lan Xiaobu lived in the suburbs, by the time he arrived at the talent market, the Spring Plaza in Huzhou was already filled with people.
Lan Xiaobu studied medicine, and his medical knowledge was undoubtedly among the best in this world. However, for him, it was sufficient to find any job; whether it was related to medicine didn’t matter much to him.
Of course, finding a job related to being a doctor would be even better. At that moment, Lan Xiaobu stood in front of a recruitment booth for Kunhu Hospital, which was looking to hire three resident physicians, requiring a medical master’s degree, no more than 35 years old, with clinical experience preferred, and salary negotiable…
There were also positions for department heads or teams in neurology, neurovascular intervention, nuclear medicine, and so on.
Lan Xiaobu glanced at the handwritten resume in his hand, then sat down and handed it to the bespectacled interviewer in front of him. He decided to give it a try; if it didn’t work out, he wouldn’t pursue a medical job.
“Haiyang Medical University? A good place. The discovery of Lancomycin has helped so many people.” Upon seeing the university Lan Xiaobu attended, the interviewer couldn’t help but praise it. Although he immediately realized that Lan Xiaobu didn’t meet their criteria, his gaze towards Lan Xiaobu softened considerably, clearly having a very good impression of Haiyang Medical University.
Haiyang Medical University ranks among the top three medical universities in Huaxia. Moreover, it is renowned worldwide. In 2039, Haiyang Medical University discovered Lancomycin, an antibiotic that could inhibit or even kill more than twenty types of cancer cells. Since then, cancer treatment was no longer a matter of luck.
However, Lan Xiaobu knew that the Lancomycin discovered by Haiyang Medical University had a fatal flaw: after killing cancer cells, it would produce a latent harmful cell that severely damages the patient’s liver and spleen. This new cell was peculiar; it would lie dormant for five to seven years before suddenly erupting and spreading.
Now it was 2043, which meant there was still a year before the Lancomycin incident would explode, ultimately becoming a powder keg that would completely destroy Haiyang Medical University and ruin a group of renowned doctors. After the issues with Lancomycin arose, Lan Xiaobu also participated in its continued research and development. Before the nuclear war broke out, Lancomycin had already been perfected, eliminating the hidden dangers.
Lan Xiaobu was all too familiar with the past of Lancomycin.
Because Lan Xiaobu hailed from Haiyang Medical University, even though he appeared quite young, the interviewer still showed some interest in his handwritten resume. However, soon his expression turned slightly unfavorable as he put down the resume and sighed, “You haven’t graduated yet?”
Lan Xiaobu understood that this was his Achilles' heel. Now that the other party had asked, he could only say, “Yes, I indeed haven’t graduated.”
There was no need for him to provide a reason, nor did the other party need to hear it. He was merely here to take a chance and see if there were any assistant positions or roles that didn’t require formal qualifications.
The interviewer tapped his fingers on the table absentmindedly for a while before saying, “You can’t enter Kunhu Hospital without graduating. Although I have a good impression of you, there’s nothing I can do.”
Not to mention that Lan Xiaobu hadn’t graduated; even if he had, a fresh graduate without work experience, even from Haiyang Medical University, wouldn’t qualify to enter Kunhu Hospital. As for the interviewer’s good impression of Lan Xiaobu, that was merely polite talk.
Lan Xiaobu knew that the interviewer had a very good impression of him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have said so much. With this in mind, Lan Xiaobu stood up and said, “Actually, Lancomycin isn’t perfect. It’s best not to let patients rely entirely on Lancomycin for treatment right now.”
This was entirely a kind-hearted remark from Lan Xiaobu. After the side effects of Lancomycin erupted, many doctors became scapegoats. In fact, some who didn’t receive Lancomycin couldn’t last a year or two. After living a few more years, they still chased after Lancomycin seeking high compensation. If it weren’t for state support, Haiyang Medical University would have undoubtedly collapsed during this incident.
“What?” Ji Zheng stood up suddenly, his hands trembling slightly upon hearing Lan Xiaobu’s words.
Ji Zheng was representing Kunhu Hospital for recruitment this time, and he was also looking for some capable doctors for the hospital. He had a great liking for Lan Xiaobu at first glance, not only because Lan Xiaobu came from Haiyang Medical University but also due to a pure intuition about him as a doctor. Lan Xiaobu had practiced medicine for twenty years, performing countless surgeries; if another doctor were to take his place, it would take them seventy to eighty years to accomplish the same. He was indeed a top-tier doctor.
At this moment, Lan Xiaobu’s words before leaving struck him like a thunderclap. Through some clinical trials, he had long sensed that there were issues with Lancomycin, but these problems weren’t obvious and had never truly manifested. He had raised concerns about Lancomycin more than once, but everyone thought he was being alarmist. Now that Lan Xiaobu expressed the same view, how could he remain calm?
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(End of this chapter)