Don't Lie to Your Therapist—She Already Knows Your Fate

Wen Ying saw the comment in the live chat. "Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If the viewer who wins the giveaway wants it, I’ll agree. If people don’t like that idea, then my apologies."

[The refrigerator we’re offering is worth 38,000! You can see it on the official website! If you guys like it, be sure to let Doctor Wen know!]

[You can tell this patient-turned-advertiser is serious! I agree with Doctor Wen swapping the prize for the 38,000 Dongmenzi Refrigerator!]

[I agree, too. It’s brand new. Even if you don’t want it, you can still sell it for cash, right?]

[I’d rather have a prize made by Doctor Wen herself. Sorry, I disagree.]

Wen Ying watched the live chat. Some people wanted the fridge, others didn’t. She made up her mind.

"Let’s bring a viewer on."

Hearing Doctor Wen’s words, everyone grew eager with anticipation.

As everyone knew, in Doctor Wen’s livestream, you could truly see a microcosm of the world.

The call connected to a man who looked to be under forty. The moment he realized he’d been chosen, he looked extremely anxious. "Doctor Wen, I’ve heard you’re incredible—like, so incredible you can bring the dead back to life. I’m about to be executed by firing squad! Please, Doctor Wen, you have to save me!"

[Holy crap! We get something this explosive right off the bat?]

[A firing squad? For real? Shouldn’t someone on death row be locked up? Why does it look like he’s at home?]

Viewers could make out the background behind the man: a concrete floor, a simple table and sofa, and other everyday items.

"Please, everyone, believe me! It’s real! Doctor Wen, can you save me? As the saying goes, ’Saving one life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda.’ Doctor Wen, I’m begging you!"

Wen Ying looked at him, her expression placid. "Pay up."

The man clearly knew the rules of Wen Ying’s livestream and immediately sent a gift worth one thousand yuan.

It stung to spend the money, but ’compared to facing a firing squad, he was willing to send even more!’

After sending the gift, the man said frantically, "Doctor Wen, let me be clear, I’m not sick!"

Wen Ying nodded. True. "You’re just about to be executed at home."

[Oh my god! It can’t be real, can it? Is this the level of service death row inmates get these days?]

With trembling hands, the man opened a text message. "Doctor Wen, should I read the verdict to you?"

"Due to credit fraud and failure to appear in court, your precise location has been identified via ’Skynet.’ Law enforcement and judicial officers (Wei Jun, Wang Lin, and Guo Wenzhen) have been dispatched with firearms to carry out a mandatory at-home execution. For details, search ’Execution Storm’ on Shark Search or follow the ’Court Network’ for updates. You may cancel the execution by settling your entire debt via the app before 14:00."

The man hadn’t even started reading the message aloud before he heard Doctor Wen recite it, word for word.

Or perhaps... she was reciting it.

[Doctor Wen, you really are a master among doctors! Since you could figure all that out, you have to help me!]

Perhaps because he knew Doctor Wen’s rule against being called a "master," the man had specifically called her a "master among doctors."

[Jeez, you get executed at home for being in debt now?]

[Is this a scam, an act, or is this a real thing? Has our country’s customer service gotten *this* thoughtful?]

[I think it has to be a scam, right? But if it’s a scam, why did Doctor Wen take his call? He’s clearly not here for a medical issue!]

"A scam? What are you talking about! This isn’t a scam, it’s real! A friend of mine... he was executed at home for the same thing!"

The terror on the man’s face was impossible to hide.

"And why don’t you think it’s a scam? Is it just because your friend went through the same thing?" Doctor Wen’s expression remained completely unfazed.

"Yes! I know none of you believe me, but this is really happening to me!"

[Something this absurd can’t be real, right? Doctor Wen, can you please debunk this for us?]

[Do we even need Doctor Wen for something this simple? I’ll help this patient out!] a user by the name of (Shaking Fun) commented.

[Is Shaking Fun about to flex on us?? Everyone in the front, take cover! Don’t get caught in the fallout!]

Shaking Fun: [Just reply TD to cancel the mandatory execution.]

Shaking Fun: [Why is everyone so scared of something this simple?]

[PFFFT HAHAHAHA! I’m sorry, I just couldn’t hold it in! Shaking Fun is a legend!]

[Shaking Fun is an absolute savage! The scammers never expected to run into an opponent like you! They’re probably crying their eyes out in a bathroom stall right now!]

[I’m giving Shaking Fun a ’like.’ How come other people’s heads are full of brains, but mine is just full of water?]

The man froze when he saw Shaking Fun’s comment, looking a little hesitant. "Would that really work? Should I... try it now?"

And right there, in front of the entire livestream audience, the man actually replied to the message with two letters: TD.

[Holy crap! One person had the guts to say it, and the other had the guts to believe it! I’m clearly getting left behind by the times! My poor, thirty-year-old bones!]

Even Wen Ying couldn’t help but laugh.

’This viewer is a true master of lateral thinking.’

"Doctor Wen, so... does this mean I’m really not going to be executed?" the man asked, still on edge.

"Of course you won’t. After all, your crime isn’t a capital offense."

[WHAT!!! The plot twist is only happening now?? Was all that just the appetizer?]

[’Not a capital offense’ means he did commit a crime, right?]

The man started to panic. "Doctor Wen, you’re just guessing, right?"

"The text you received was, indeed, a scam. If you’d replied, you would have gotten instructions for the next step, leading you to transfer money out bit by bit. What they probably didn’t expect was that the person who fell for it would be a broke gambler already deep in debt."

[Gambling is illegal! So that’s his crime? Gambling?]

"I don’t gamble! Since this is resolved, I’m going to go."

"Not so fast, my dear patient. You paid your fee, how can you just leave without a diagnosis? That would be an insult to you, the patient!"

"I told you, I don’t gamble!"

"Aren’t you afraid your dead friend will come back for you?"

Hearing Doctor Wen’s words, the man froze. "He’s dead. How could he come looking for me?"

"Does this mean I’m still going to be executed?" the man muttered. The mention of his dead friend seemed to send him spiraling back into a strange state of mind.

"It’s because he’s not dead."

"How is that possible! I saw his corpse with my own eyes on my phone!" the man shouted, growing agitated.

"And what if the scene was staged?"

"Impossible! I haven’t been able to reach him for days! When I call his family, they just keep screaming at me, saying I got him killed!"

"Did you ever think of going to his place to check?"

"We don’t even live in the same city. Why would I go? The travel costs would be a fortune!" the man retorted indignantly.

[A con within a con! It has to be! I figured it out the moment Doctor Wen said that!]

[Don’t tell me the friend is fake, too? All just to set him up? But he’s broke, isn’t he? There’d be no point in conning him, right?]