(Thanks to gxc4587, Little Demon God's Tentacle, Serapis, Pharaoh's Dancer, Speak to me Gently, Pirate Flag Xinuo, Iron Xuluo, jasontsui80, and Night Breeze for encouraging with moon votes)

"It looks like you're pretty free today. I heard from President Qi that there are quite a few orthopedic patients today," Liu Banxia said.

"There are more patients seeing Teacher Wang today. Most of mine are follow-ups. You'll really need to take a good look at this child later. From my experience, it doesn't seem like there's a tumor pressing," Wu Mingyu said.

"Hearing you say that, I feel like even getting me involved is pointless. If it's not an organic lesion, then it's a neurological problem, which has nothing to do with me," Liu Banxia said helplessly.

"How is it not related? Anyway, your knowledge in internal medicine is much richer than mine. Help me make a judgment," Wu Mingyu said.

"And patients who wake up paralyzed like this, I've never encountered before. But listening to his parents, it seems like the child is pretending,"

Liu Banxia rolled his eyes, "So you're just asking me to handle this, huh? But if he really wants to pretend, coming to me won't help."

"It will help. I believe in you. You can do it," Wu Mingyu said.

Liu Banxia really didn't know what to say. It's quite normal for a child to pretend to be sick. Even adults pretend, let alone children.

And it's just that there's nothing much to do right now. Otherwise, there's no way he would be hanging around with Wu Mingyu, wasting time.

After idly chatting for over ten minutes, a middle-aged couple came in from outside, pushing a wheelchair. The person sitting in the wheelchair should be the young patient.

"Doctor, the MRI doctors said they didn't find any issues," the young patient's father said.

"Okay, let me take a look at the scan first," Wu Mingyu said.

He took the scans and placed them on the viewing light. After looking carefully for a while, Wu Mingyu turned to Liu Banxia.

"Indeed, there's nothing wrong on the scans. Let's put the child on the exam bed and carefully check the spine," Liu Banxia said.

The patient's father lifted the child onto the bed. Liu Banxia started examining from the cervical vertebra all the way down to the lumbar spine. Based on his sense of touch, there wasn't any indication of problems.

This examination was also to check if the young patient had any external injuries. Even an inadvertent bump might cause the current situation.

But nothing showed up on the MRI, and the child's skin was normal, without signs of pressure or impact.

Using his left hand to support the child's thigh, Liu Banxia formed a fist with his right hand and performed a knee-jerk reflex test. Upon tapping, the child's lower leg kicked up to a certain extent.

This made Liu Banxia somewhat surprised. If there was a nerve blockage, resulting in paralysis, the child's leg shouldn't have reacted at all.

Then he grasped the child's leg muscles, which were firm, indicating the child's usual exercise routine was quite substantial.

"Doctor, how is it then? Is he pretending to be sick?" asked the child's father.

Upon hearing what he said, the child looked up at him then lowered his head.

"We can't come to a conclusion yet. Just now, when I lifted his leg, I didn't feel any muscle activity," Liu Banxia said.

"Did you find his leg couldn't move as soon as he got up this morning? Or did he move around a bit in the morning, and then suddenly couldn't?"

"It happened right after he got up. I just heard him crying. When I went over, his leg was on the bed, and his hands were on the floor. His right wrist was even a bit swollen," said the patient's mother.

"Did he get up this morning instinctively trying to get out of bed, but found that his leg couldn't move and couldn't control his body's center of gravity?" Liu Banxia asked the young patient.

The young patient nodded but didn't speak.

"From the knee-jerk reflex, the nerve conduction seems okay," Liu Banxia stated.

"What about sensation? Can both legs feel my tapping and pinching? Do they feel anything?"

"Yes, I pinched myself too; I can feel the pain, but I just can't walk," the patient replied.

"I'll pinch your waist. Let's try standing up," Liu Banxia said.

The young patient nodded.

Throughout the attempt to stand, the child's leg exhibited signs similar to paralysis. Wu Mingyu even gently shook him a bit but didn't feel any muscular feedback.

Having checked thus far, Liu Banxia himself felt the child might be pretending. But upon seeing the child's frightened expression, he set aside that thought.

"Doctor Wu, let's do another head MRI and EEG, mainly to check the primary motor cortex area," Liu Banxia said.

"If both the head MRI and EEG have no issues, we'll have to do a muscle biopsy to check for other conditions. I can't think of any other tests,"

"Doctor, do you think it's possible that the nerves aren't the problem?" the patient's father asked again.

"At present, we can't make an absolutely accurate judgment. The process of nerve conduction is quite complex, requiring involvement from our brain," Liu Banxia explained patiently.

"Based on sensory and reflex nerves, there's no apparent issue, but whether his legs can receive the action signals from the brain is still indeterminable," he added.

"An MRI of the spine gives us a preliminary evaluation; no organic lesions within the spinal range have been found so far. Further examination is still necessary."

"Due to the ambiguity of the child's condition, I called Dr. Liu in," Wu Mingyu stated as well.

"Though the symptoms present in the legs, the cause might originate in the brain; a thorough examination will offer reassurance."

"Go ahead, write the order. I suspect he's just pretending. He doesn't feel right unless he squanders some of the family money," the patient's father commented.

"Is that how you think of your son? What's he pretending for? Without you, we can still live." the patient's mother retaliated.

"Alright, alright, let's not get agitated here. From my experience, I truly don't believe the child is faking," Banxia interposed.

"Regardless of how one tries to pretend, when we examine the legs, the muscles would tense up. Yet, his muscles just stayed relaxed, which is quite telling."

In fact, he shouldn't have said that, but he was concerned about a quarrel erupting between the couple. Although there might be some suspicion that the child was faking illness, he considered it unlikely.

His tactile sense is quite sharp, and during the examination, the child's leg muscles showed no reaction at all.

If it were an adult with strong willpower, enduring just to feign illness, it might be understandable. But this is just a child, can one be so resilient?

"What do you think is the situation?" After the parents wheeled the child away, proceeding with the queue for the MRI, Wu Mingyu inquired.

"No idea, really, I've never encountered a case like this. If it was paralysis, there'd be no reactions anywhere; yet knee jerk reflex is intact, peripheral nerves seem fine, but the muscle control is absent," Liu Banxia replied.

"I've never heard of severe muscle weakness isolated to the legs either. Typically, if muscle weakness is severe for any reason, it would be systemic."

"Moreover, his level of muscle weakness is absolutely on a crisis level. I still feel it might be related to the brain, possibly some disorder triggering a brain functional impairment that prevents it from signaling the legs."

"Ding! Task release: Is it a feigned illness?"

Open-ended task: Examination doesn't reveal symptom correlation, the host can't determine if the patient is faking illness, further diagnosis needed. Task reward depends on the diagnostic result.

"Do you have any assurance?" Wu Mingyu asked.

Liu Banxia candidly shook his head, "Not a bit of assurance; I've never encountered such symptoms. Regardless if the child is faking, I think admission is necessary."

"The family doesn't seem harmonious, and the child is somewhat introverted. Even though his dad accuses him of faking, he hasn't uttered a word of defense," he explained.

"But won't be admitted to orthopedics, right? Could you contact neurology?" Wu Mingyu asked.

"Let's see the results first. If cranial MRI is still negative, neurology can't admit either, we might have to go to general surgery," Liu Banxia said with a wry smile.

"Are you setting me up for more work? I finally pulled myself together, planning a day off to start working fully tomorrow, and now it's wrecked by you," he lamented.

"What's the use of complaining to me? With work on your hands, you won't have time for random thoughts." Wu Mingyu laughed.

"From the current examinations, it's not related to orthopedics. I'm not shirking responsibility, mind you, our orthopedic ward beds are quite limited, and resources are tight."

"Congratulations, it seems yesterday's talk went well. That's good; it's better to stay happy every day without putting undue pressure on yourself."

"Seems like my little situation is known to all," Liu Banxia said helplessly.

"It's quite normal; nobody wants to see you struggle. We've worked together for so long; if your mindset shifts, everyone can feel it," Wu Mingyu comforted.

"Most people presume you're tense because the associate director's announcement is near. However, now it seems that's not the sole reason; that's just my personal analysis."

"I just put too much pressure on myself. So, while orthopedic surgery is necessary to learn, it needs to be postponed," Liu Banxia stated.

"First, I need to excel as associate director, teaching staff, and in general surgery; only then can consider other things. Priorities must be clear, before I used to grasp at everything, cornering myself."

"It's alright, anyway, you're energetic enough; you'll handle everything," Wu Mingyu assured.

"The MRI queue might take a while; call me when they come back. I'll head to the hall to assist," Liu Banxia said.

Wu Mingyu nodded; this consultation session had concluded.