Chapter 1805

As the surgery approached, Karina worked overtime, meticulously double-checking for any possible oversights.

Before stepping into the operating room, she took a deep breath.

"Karina, you've got this!" a nurse beside her encouraged.

This surgery was particularly significant, and the assistants and nurses weren't from her hospital. They were brought in by the project, specifically by Harley's team.

Without a single familiar face around, Karina felt a twinge of anxiety. Opportunities to lead surgeries were already rare for her, let alone under circumstances like this, with no one she could truly rely on. But there was no turning back now.

Gritting her teeth, Karina donned her gloves. As she was about to enter the operating room, her peripheral vision caught sight of a figure standing silently in the distance. It was Wilfred.

His steady gaze met hers, his eyes carrying something profound she couldn't quite decipher. When their eyes locked, a faint smile curved his lips.

In that instant, all her doubts and worries dissolved.

It felt like a stabilizing force coursed through her veins. She wasn't alone and that gave her the courage to push forward.

The surgery was arduous and lengthy. Intricate internal procedures, especially those involving the heart or bone marrow, demanded unwavering focus and precision. Karina remained laser-focused, hardly daring to blink for fear of a mistake. Time crept by in the operating room, which was so silent it felt suspended in a vacuum. Finally, there was the faint clink of the surgical scalpel being placed on the tray.

Karina removed her mask and gloves, a bright smile lighting up her face. "It's a success!"

Outside the operating room, the "In Surgery" light remained on. Wilfred stood silently in the hallway, as still as a statue. He didn't appear worried-just patiently waiting. Waiting for the moment she would step out, a triumphant smile on her face, and tell him she had done it.

Nearby, Harley sauntered over. "It's been ages, and she's still not out. Looks like I'm winning this bet, wouldn't you agree?"

Wilfred's expression turned icy as he cast Harley a frosty glance. "Celebrating midway through a game is the quickest way to lose. The same applies to surgeries."

With that, Wilfred moved to a spot farther down the corridor, still in view of the operating room but away from Haley. He had no interest in sharing space with someone he openly disliked-a rarity for someone who usually masked his emotions Sowell.

Harley typically didn't try to prolong interactions, but today was an exception.

"Wilfred, what's the point of clinging to your ideals? Being a doctor isn't just about saving lives. Take last week, for instance. That paper you tried to publish it didn't make it, did it?" Wilfred turned back, his eyes glinting coldly. "So, it was you."

Last week, he had submitted a paper detailing the ease of a rare condition he had been treating. After months of effort, his patient had shown significant improvement. The condition, notoriously difficult to treat, had stumped countless experts in the field. Wilfred's success had drawn widespread attention and acclaim.

Not long after, someone approached him with a lucrative offer-eight figures-for exclusive rights to his treatment protocol. Wilfred refused. Instead, he chose to include the details in his paper, aiming to share the breakthrough with the medical community free of charge.

But before the paper could be published, it was maliciously blocked. The excuse? A baseless claim that his paper contained unauthorized content.

Wilfred, someone usually so composed, actually let out a laugh of disbelief out of sheer frustration when he first received the rejection notice.