The entire ward could hear the thoughts of the beautiful intern nurse, Sonya Row.

When a patient kept vomiting nonstop, and I suggested increasing the pain medication, she stood nearby, sighing.

[What should I do? Should I tell the family this painkiller can be addictive and really bad for the body? If they just wait a few more minutes, he'll recover on his own. There's no need to spend money at all.]

The room fell silent in an instant. Everyone's gaze shifted toward me, and the family quietly refused my treatment plan.

After that, I became the joke of the entire department. Every patient specifically asked not to be assigned to me.

Later, while comforting a terminal stomach cancer patient, I followed her family's wishes and lied, saying it was just gastritis. Sonya complained about it in her thoughts.

[The patient's practically dying already, but she's still saying she can be cured. It's obviously just to trick this old woman into draining her life savings on treatment.]

That night, the old lady jumped off the building so she wouldn't burden her family.

Her family thought I had revealed the truth and driven her to her death. They reported me directly to the hospital director, and I was stripped of my position as department head.

Then, on a holiday weekend, the hospital admitted a pregnant woman with a suspected amniotic fluid embolism. To save her life, I had no choice but to remove her uterus.

At that moment, Sonya's thoughts rang out again.

[She doesn't have an amniotic fluid embolism at all. She was on her phone during surgery, which caused this. Now look what happened. This baby's a girl. This family wanted a son, and now they'll never get one.]

The family attacked me on the spot, recorded it, and posted the video online to harass me.

The desperate husband, obsessed with having a son, stabbed me to death to vent his rage.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Sonya first revealed her thoughts.

This time, I could hear her thoughts, too.

The hospital room reeked of disinfectant.

The patient, Ted Wolfe, was curled up on the bed, his face pale as he vomited nonstop.

His family crowded around him, rubbing their hands anxiously and staring at me, waiting for me to decide what to do.

Seeing the scene, my heart sank hard, my nails digging into my palm.

In my last life, this was where I took my first fall and became the department's laughingstock.

Sure enough, the next second, the thoughts of the beautiful intern nurse, Sonya Row, echoed in my ears.

[What should I do? Should I tell the family this painkiller can be addictive and really bad for the body? If they just wait a few more minutes, he'll recover on his own. There's no need to spend money at all.]

I immediately looked toward the corner.

Sonya was lowering her head and fiddling with the IV stand, looking obedient and harmless, but I caught the way her eyes subtly swept over Ted and his family.

Just as expected, the moment her thoughts ended, the expressions on Ted, his wife, Olivia Wolfe, and their daughter, Cheryl Wolfe, all changed.

The three of them turned toward Sonya at the same time, doubt and surprise flashing across their faces.

Meanwhile, the other patients and families in the room showed no reaction at all.

My heart jolted. I hadn't expected Sonya to be able to choose who could hear her thoughts.

"Dr. Strickland!" Olivia shot to her feet, her finger nearly poking my face. "What exactly are you doing? You know this painkiller is addictive, and you still want to use it? Aren't you just trying to rip us off?!"

Cheryl jumped, too, practically spraying spit in my face. "Exactly! My dad doesn't need that harmful junk. You're the worst doctor I've ever met!"

I forced myself to stay calm and explain it to them.

"The vomiting is caused by acute gastrointestinal spasms. Pain medication can relieve the symptoms immediately and prevent dehydration and shock. It's only for short-term use and won't cause addiction."

However, they didn't listen at all.

The sudden commotion left the other patients and families confused, and they all turned to look.

An older woman asked with concern, "What's going on? Why are you all shouting?"

Olivia immediately turned to her and said angrily, "That nurse said this painkiller is addictive, and if we wait a bit, he'll get better anyway. There's no need to spend the money!"

As soon as she said that, the looks from everyone else in the room changed instantly, shifting from confusion to suspicion and blame.

"Is that true? That sounds unethical…"

"I used pain meds yesterday, too. Don't tell me…"

"Doctors these days will do anything for money…"

The buzzing voices closed in, each word stabbing at my ears.

This was exactly how it had happened in my previous life. Sonya's thoughts turned everyone against me.

Thinking of that, I clenched my fist and deliberately raised my voice.

"Fine. If you insist, we won't use the medication. But if the patient's condition worsens, you'll take full responsibility."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Olivia snapped, waving her hand to shoo me away. "Get out. I don't want to…"

Her words suddenly caught in her throat.

On the bed, Ted began convulsing violently. Vomit burst from his mouth, and immediately after, the heart monitor let out a sharp, piercing alarm.

The anger on Olivia's face froze and turned into pure panic. "Wh-what's happening? Didn't you say he'd get better if we waited?"

In the end, Ted still received the medication. Because treatment was given in time, his condition stabilized.

The hospital director, Isaiah Clem, stepped in to calm the family down, then asked to speak with me privately.

"The situation is clear now, and the patient is out of danger. The family realizes they got emotional and said some things they shouldn't have. They would like to apologize to you."

I lowered my head and didn't respond.

In my previous life, I had also insisted on using the medication. Ted had survived then, too. But what I got in return was even worse insults and false accusations.

Thinking of that, I looked up. "Dr. Clem, there's no need for an apology. I only did what a doctor should do. But I'd like to request that Sonya no longer be involved in any of my cases."

Sonya's unpredictable inner thoughts were something I couldn't afford to take lightly.

Isaiah looked a little surprised, but he nodded anyway. "Alright. She's still an intern. Being cautious is probably for the best."

When I returned to the ER, the patients and families who had just accused me were now looking at me with clear embarrassment. Olivia and Cheryl hurried over to apologize.

"Dr. Strickland, we're sorry. We weren't thinking straight and believed the nurse's nonsense. Please forgive us."

I nodded in acknowledgment.

Just then, light footsteps sounded at the door.

Sonya appeared in the doorway. Her eyes were red, as if she had just been crying. When she saw me, the hatred in her gaze was impossible to hide.

"You've got some nerve showing up here!"

Olivia snapped the moment she saw Sonya and lunged forward, grabbing Sonya by the hair.

"You knew damn well the pain medication was life-saving! Why did you deliberately lie to us and say it was addictive? Were you trying to get my husband killed?"

Cheryl's eyes were brimming with tears as she screamed at Sonya. "You've got a poisonous mouth! What was your real motive? Do you hate Dr. Strickland that much that you'd use my dad's life to ruin her?"

With her hair being yanked, Sonya cried in pain, tears streaming down her face. "I don't know what you're talking about! Let go of me!"

"Stop pretending!" Cheryl shouted even louder.

"I heard you last week, hiding in the stairwell on the phone, complaining that Dr. Strickland was always holding you back and giving you all the heavy work. After what happened today, I'm sure you did it on purpose!"

The moment she said that, the entire ward exploded.

"No wonder! I knew something felt off about her. An intern who doesn't focus on learning medicine, always whispering around the ward and running her mouth about the attending. What was she even trying to do?"

"Exactly! I kept thinking, there's no way a respected doctor like Dr. Strickland would suddenly pull something like this. Turns out it was this intern with bad intentions, jealous of someone more capable and deliberately smearing her."

Hearing that only made Olivia angrier. She was about to rush forward again.

Sonya trembled all over, her face going pale, then flushed, then pale again. She looked at me, humiliation and resentment burning in her eyes.

I sneered inwardly.

She felt humiliated already? Compared to everything I went through in my previous life, this didn't even count as a warm-up.

After this incident, no one questioned my diagnoses anymore. Even the most difficult patients became noticeably more polite, and Sonya was transferred out of the ER.

A few days later, I had just finished a surgery and was heading back to my office when John Walker, a middle-aged man, stopped me.

John looked frantic as he blocked my path.

"Dr. Strickland, my mom still won't cooperate. Please go take a look at her. Just don't let anything slip. Please say it's only regular gastritis. I'm begging you."

In my previous life, I had agreed to hide the truth.

Sonya exposed it through her inner thoughts, and that very night, the patient, Roberta Walker, jumped off the hospital building so she wouldn't drag her family down.

Afterward, her family mistakenly believed I had deliberately revealed her condition. They reported me straight to Isaiah, and I was stripped of my position as department head.

Seeing the pleading look in John's eyes, I couldn't bring myself to refuse. I still went to the ward.

I never expected Sonya to appear at the doorway when I had barely said a few sentences.

The next second, Roberta heard her inner thoughts again.

[Heh! Here they go again, teaming up to lie to Roberta, who's about to die. She's clearly in late-stage stomach cancer with barely any time left, and they're still putting on a show, saying it's just gastritis. She's just after Roberta’s generous pension and wealthy kids, trying to squeeze out every last dollar. Disgusting!]

The faint color Roberta had been holding onto drained from her face in an instant. Her lips trembled, and her voice shook so badly that it barely sounded like her own.

"S-Stomach cancer? Am I really…about to die?"

Just then, John came back from paying the bill. When he saw her like this, he rushed over in a panic, his voice cracking. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Roberta grabbed his arm tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"The doctor said I'm in late-stage cancer… There's no hope left… Is that true?"

Hearing that, John froze as if struck by lightning. Then he suddenly whipped his head around and glared at me, his eyes bloodshot.

"What the hell did you say to my mom? Didn't I tell you not to tell her? Are you trying to scare her to death?"

Noticing the confused looks around us and realizing that Sonya's thoughts had only been heard by Roberta this time, I forced myself to calm down.

"Mr. Walker, I didn't say anything. You can ask anyone in this room. From the moment I walked in, I haven't said a single word about her condition."

A middle-aged man in the next bed hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. Dr. Strickland just came in and told your mom to relax and cooperate with treatment. She didn't say anything else."

Another family member nearby chimed in quietly, sounding puzzled, "That's right. We really didn't hear Dr. Strickland mention cancer at all. Could there be some kind of misunderstanding?"

At that moment, Sonya's inner voice rang out again, perfectly timed, carrying a tone that fanned the flames.

[Well, Dr. Strickland didn't say it out loud, but I saw her deliberately flip the medical chart to the diagnosis page and hold it right in front of Roberta. Wasn't that obviously meant to let her see it herself? And now she's pretending to be innocent? Give me a break!]

This time, when the inner voice stopped, everyone in the room looked at me differently.

The next second, murmurs of suspicion and accusation spread through the ward.

"She did that? I can't believe we almost got fooled by her. That's really messed up."

"She promised the family she would keep it quiet, then pulled something like this behind their backs. That's so unethical!"

"She looks so proper, but her heart is so cruel."

Hearing the nearly one-sided chatter, John became even more convinced that I had deliberately revealed the truth to Roberta. His emotions spiraled out of control, and the finger he pointed at me trembled violently.

"What do you have to say now?! I knew it. You doctors never have good intentions. You just scare patients so you can squeeze more money out of them. I'm gonna make you pay!"

As I stood there, drowned in accusations and unable to get a word in, Sonya stood behind the crowd. The corner of her mouth twitched upward for just a split second, a flash of smug satisfaction crossing her face.

Just as John, burning with rage, pulled his fist back and lunged toward me, a furious shout suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"What do you think you're doing?!"