Henry Reed was publicly cursed out by a student, and he simply couldn’t save face. Gritting his teeth, he spat, “You little bastard, are you looking for trouble?” He pulled the iron rod from his belt and charged at Ryan Bolton. Since he was only dealing with a student, his cronies didn’t all rush in at once. After so many years in the underworld, Henry Reed thought handling a young punk would be a piece of cake.

But things often turn out unexpectedly. Before the iron rod in Henry Reed’s hand could land on Ryan Bolton, Ryan Bolton had already grabbed his wrist. With what seemed like a casual tug, Henry Reed’s elbow was instantly dislocated. He screamed in pain, lost his grip on the iron rod, and it fell—only to be caught by Ryan Bolton, who then jabbed it into Henry Reed’s gaping mouth and roared, “How can you scoundrels run amok under the bright sky?”

Over a dozen thugs saw Henry Reed taken down by an intern doctor and all rushed forward, waving their clubs.

Ryan Bolton twisted Henry Reed’s left arm, forcing him to turn around, then kicked the back of his knee. Henry Reed’s legs buckled and he dropped to his knees. Ryan Bolton drew the iron rod and aimed it at Henry Reed’s head. “Do you believe I’ll smash your head in with one blow?”

Henry Reed shouted, “Stop! Everyone stop!” The guy had dislocated his right arm in a single move—clearly a master. Henry Reed wasn’t stupid; he knew it was wise not to suffer a loss right in front of him.

The thugs, seeing Henry Reed subdued, all stopped helplessly.

In the distance, two patrol officers were walking over. When the thugs saw the police coming, they scattered in a panic.

Only then did Ryan Bolton let go of Henry Reed. The two patrol officers had already arrived and, seeing the situation, immediately understood what was going on. The county’s public security wasn’t great, and fights broke out every night. They just hadn’t expected one side to be a student.

The taller officer, named Kevin Evans, had dealt with John Green a few times before. After listening to John Green’s account, he walked over to Henry Reed, pointed at his nose, and said, “Henry Reed, causing trouble again? If you keep this up, do you believe I won’t throw you in the station for a few days?”

Henry Reed hung his right arm, groaning in pain. “Are you kidding me? I’m the one who got beaten up… My right arm might be broken… This kid committed assault… I want to press charges…”

Only then did Kevin Evans notice Ryan Bolton standing to the side. By now, Ryan Bolton had already tossed the iron rod aside, crossed his arms, and put on a look of indifference.

Henry Reed pointed at Ryan Bolton with his still-usable left hand. “He’s the one who hit me!”

Of course, Kevin Evans didn’t believe him. Ryan Bolton walked over and lightly patted Henry Reed’s right arm. “If you want to frame someone, you’ll always find an excuse. Be careful, or karma will catch up with you!”

Henry Reed yelped in pain from the pat, but to his surprise, his right arm was suddenly back to normal and could move freely again. He realized he’d really run into a master tonight. Not daring to linger, he muttered something and slunk away.

The two patrol officers gave John Green a few words of advice, telling them to head home early. After this incident, John Green was already full of regret and even forgot about inviting Sophie Harris to the movies the day after tomorrow. He and the other students parted ways on the spot.

This time, not only did Sophie Harris notice that Ryan Bolton had some real skills, but the other students also began to reassess this medical school intern. David Brooks, who had lived with him for half a year, had no idea Ryan Bolton was this capable, and his tone lost its usual condescension. “Ryan Bolton, have you trained in martial arts?”

Ryan Bolton chuckled. “A little.”

Megan Clark curiously leaned in. “What kind of martial arts?”

“Yi Jin Jing, Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, stuff like that…”

Everyone looked at each other, speechless… Ryan Bolton suddenly realized that in this era, when you tell the truth, hardly anyone believes you.

Ryan Bolton wasn’t criticized for skipping work to fight, and Director Zhou’s talk about contacting the school was just empty words. He was only an intern, far from being someone the hospital leadership would pay attention to.

Ryan Bolton was highly adaptable. He threw himself into reading books, newspapers, and watching TV. As a certain famous person once said, “I throw myself at books like a starving man throws himself at bread”—a perfect description of Ryan Bolton at this moment.

Right after lunch, Ryan Bolton dove into the county hospital’s reading room and started reading the newspapers there. His tastes were extremely broad, and with a “the more, the better” mentality, he read every Chinese-language newspaper he could find—party papers, business papers, medical journals—everything except the English ones. But wanting to fully digest everything he read wasn’t something that could be accomplished in a short time.

Feeling a bit tired, Ryan Bolton rubbed his brow and only then noticed Sophie Harris sitting across from him. Her long black hair was braided into two cute pigtails, making her look even more playful and charming. Sophie Harris had actually been there for half an hour already and had long since noticed Ryan Bolton, but this odd guy kept his head buried in the papers, paying no attention to anything around him.

Sophie Harris gave Ryan Bolton a sweet smile, two dimples appearing on her cheeks, making her look very lovely.

Ryan Bolton smiled back. There was no one else in the reading room, so he lowered his voice and asked, “Not at work today?”