Chapter 1 — Calling Off the Engagement with the Master Surgeon

I was born with a unique, unsettling ability: I can manifest the pain that others pretend to have. To put it simply, if someone feigns an injury, they will truly experience that agony. When a manipulative social climber faked a fall and accused me of pushing her, she shrieked in genuine, bone-shattering torment a second later. When a greedy old woman staged a scam in front of my car, claiming her lower back was broken, her vertebrae instantly slipped and locked into a paralyzed, agonizing cramp. Over time, people began to treat me with a mix of awe and terror. Wherever I went, no one dared to feign illness for pity or profit. That was until a marriage alliance forced me into an engagement with a cold, ascetic surgeon named Gu Jingshen. At the engagement party, his precious junior colleague clutched her stomach and wept until cold sweat drenched her skin. Standing before the city’s medical elite, she clung to my fiance’s sleeve and whimpered, "Senior Brother, my terminal stomach cancer has relapsed. It hurts so much, please, save me."

The refined banquet hall fell into a suffocating silence. My fiance calmly removed his gloves. "Qianqian, her condition is critical. We will have to postpone today's engagement," he said. "A doctor’s heart is like a mother’s; I cannot stand by and watch a patient suffer." The hand holding my champagne glass froze. I looked at the girl with a detached smile. "I just scanned your entire body," I said, my voice cutting through the silence. "It turns out you really are sick. In that case, you should hurry up and die. Your cancer cells have just spread throughout your entire body; the pain is now magnified tenfold. Enjoy dying while fully conscious."

Because of a family alliance, I had become engaged to the cold, disciplined surgeon, Gu Jingshen. As the youngest lead surgeon in the country with a brilliant career ahead of him, our families decided to merge their influence, turning our engagement into a lavish, high-profile event. The city’s elite had all arrived. Clad in a custom-made couture gown, I stood in the center of the hall on Jingshen’s arm, everyone fawning over what a perfect match we made. Just as we were about to exchange rings, the grand doors swung open. A girl in a white dress, thin and frail, stumbled inside. It was his junior, Lin Wanwan. Pale and clutching her abdomen, she rushed toward us, grabbing Jingshen’s sleeve before hundreds of guests as tears flowed and cold sweat poured down her face.

"Senior Brother, the terminal stomach cancer has returned! It hurts, please, help me!" The hall went dead quiet. I looked at her pathetic display and sneered inwardly. Terminal cancer? I had seen her posting photos of herself eating spicy hotpot on her social media feed just yesterday. Jingshen’s usually stoic expression shattered. Without a second thought, he shoved me aside to catch her. "Wanwan, how did this happen? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She collapsed into his arms, gasping weakly. "I knew today was your big day, Senior... I didn't want to bother you. But it hurts so much, I feel like I'm dying. I just wanted to see you one last time." It was a masterpiece of melodrama. Guests who didn't know the truth began to tear up. Jingshen’s eyes grew red. He ripped the engagement ring from his finger and tossed it onto a table. "Qianqian, she is in critical condition. We will postpone this. A doctor cannot ignore a suffering patient." He didn't even offer an apology, turning to carry her away. My hand tightened on the champagne glass. I watched the way Lin Wanwan’s lips curled into a triumphant, mocking smirk at me. Very well, you want a show? I swirled my glass and spoke calmly: "I just scanned you. It’s actually real now. So, go ahead and die. The cancer has spread, and the pain is ten times worse. You’ll feel every bit of it until you expire."

Jingshen froze, spinning around to glare at me. "Su Qianqian, what nonsense are you spouting! She is dying, and you are cursing her? You are a vicious woman!" No sooner had he finished speaking than a harrowing, blood-curdling scream erupted from Lin Wanwan. She tore herself from his arms, hitting the floor with a thud. She curled into a ball like a boiled shrimp, her nails digging into her own stomach, tearing strips of skin until blood welled up. "It hurts! It hurts! My organs are burning!" Jingshen paled, frantically trying to restrain her. "Wanwan! What's wrong?" She was completely delirious, sinking her teeth into his wrist. He didn't let go, though, his eyes burning with hatred as he looked at me. "What did you do to her?" I looked down at them from my pedestal. "What could I have done? Isn't this exactly what stage-four terminal cancer feels like? You’re a famous doctor, shouldn't you recognize the signs?" The guests began to whisper. Jingshen, no longer caring about the party, frantically carried her out. "If she dies, I will never forgive you!" I took a slow sip of my drink. "Jingshen, let’s be clear. You abandoned me for her today. The engagement is off. You’ve been dumped." He snarled, "Fine! I never wanted a cold-blooded woman like you anyway!" and sprinted away. I walked to the stage, picked up the microphone, and told the guests the party was over. I knew the truth—Lin Wanwan was doomed. My power never lied. She had faked the cancer, so I gave it to her for real, magnified by ten.

Jingshen rushed her to the hospital, using his status to bypass protocols for a full-body CT scan. When the images appeared, the head physician gasped. "This... this is impossible!" Jingshen shoved him aside. The scan showed a massive, jagged tumor in her stomach, with metastases riddled throughout her liver, lungs, and bones. It was a terminal diagnosis—three months to live at most. Within the emergency room, no amount of morphine could stop her screams as she tore the sheets apart. Jingshen, desperate, forced an emergency surgery, but when he opened her, he found nothing but a putrid mess of liquefied tissue. His pride, his skill, his life’s work—it all collapsed in that moment. He fell against the operating table, sobbing.

Back at my home, my father threw a teacup at my feet, his face purple with rage. "You ungrateful girl! How could you humiliate the Gu family like that?" I stared at him coldly. "He left me for another woman. Do you want me to beg for his return?" My father stood up, his hand over his chest, swaying. "He is a doctor! He was saving a life! You will go to the hospital and apologize, or I will not consider you my daughter!" As he feigned a heart attack, collapsing onto the sofa and gasping for air, my mother screamed at me. I looked down at his amateur performance—the man who passed every medical check-up with the vigor of an ox. "A heart attack, Father?" I whispered. "That sounds incredibly painful. Are you absolutely sure you want to experience that?"