Hill looked up, puzzled. He glanced back, confirming no one else was in the hallway.
"Excuse me, are you talking to me?"
His voice was gentle and his words were clear, giving off a refined and gentlemanly air.
This matched the descriptions of him Chen Yu had seen in the media.
He was hailed as Jordan's successor and was a "nice guy" in the media's eyes. His arrival had even changed the fans' gloomy, grim stereotype of Detroit.
He had transformed a team full of fists, iron elbows, trash talk, Rodman, and Lambier, to one whose jerseys were now the color of the sky.
And all of this was because of his gentle and modest demeanor.
"That's right."
Chen Yu nodded. He was 187 centimeters tall, but he still had to look up to speak to Hill. He pointed to the man's left ankle. "If you want to finish this season without incident, I suggest you get some proper rest. Otherwise, your left ankle will only get worse and worse."
"By the way, my name is Chen Yu, and I'm an orthopedic surgeon."
Chen Yu added.
Hill was slightly taken aback. Noticing Chen Yu's Heat work pass, he asked doubtfully, "Are you a team doctor for Miami?"
An orthopedic surgeon wearing a work pass—his first thought was that Chen Yu was a team doctor for the Heat.
"I'm not, though I did come to interview for the team doctor position today. Unfortunately, I wasn't successful." Chen Yu shook his head. He wished he were the team doctor.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Hill apologized, then asked, "You just said my left ankle will get worse. I did feel some discomfort and soreness in it today, but it felt okay otherwise. Is it really as serious as you say? And… how could you tell?"
'He hadn't used any equipment for an examination, not even a physical check-up. Could he really tell there was a problem with my left ankle just by looking at it?'
"Your posture."
Chen Yu pointed to Hill's right foot and said with a smile, "There are subtle differences between the posture of a healthy, normal person and someone with a physical injury."
"Here, try this. Do this movement with me."
Chen Yu placed his right hand on the wall and lifted his left foot.
Hill hesitated for a moment before lifting his left foot as well.
"Curl your toes inward, point them straight forward, and then slowly point your foot downward, like this."
"Feel that? A sort of pinprick-like pain, right?"
Just now, using the Eye of All-Seeing, Chen Yu had identified a few problems.
The peroneus longus muscle had a minor strain, possibly caused by overexertion or an impact. Muscles have strong regenerative capabilities, so it wasn't a big issue.
The more troublesome part was his tibionavicular ligament. Compared to muscles, ligament injuries are harder to detect and take longer to heal.
Hill's heart skipped a beat. He really did feel it.
"What's wrong with me?" Hill exclaimed.
Previously, Hill had always considered his body to be very strong.
After all, in his entire four-year career so far, he had only missed five games.
But after suffering an ankle fracture at the end of last season, Hill's mindset had changed. He understood he didn't have a body of steel and began to take protecting it more seriously.
Chen Yu said with a smile, "My guess is that you have a very minor ligament strain in your tibionavicular ligament, likely from high-intensity movements."
"A ligament strain?"
Hill's breathing grew hurried.
For any professional athlete, the ligaments are an Achilles' heel. Who would dare be careless?
"Don't panic. Do one more movement with me."
Chen Yu continued, "Place your left foot flat on the ground. Shift your weight onto it, press your body down, and then slowly roll your ankle inward. Feel that? Is there a very faint tearing or pulling sensation in your ankle joint?"
Hill's talus bone also had some extremely fine cracks.
Chen Yu speculated that this might be related to the position of the surgically implanted steel plate, as well as Hill's playing style.
The surgeon who performed the operation must have considered the placement of the plate.
After all, the physical intensity for a professional athlete is on a completely different level than for an ordinary person.
For an ordinary person, being able to walk and run is enough.
But for a professional athlete, especially one like Hill—known throughout the league for his flashy style and explosive first step—that kind of rapid acceleration requires his ankle to constantly be pushed to its absolute limit.
It also has to withstand immense pressure!
The surgeon had clearly considered this, but not thoroughly enough. As a result, the plate's placement wasn't optimal. Over time, this would not only affect the final healing of the fracture but also cause new injuries.
Hill's eyes widened in disbelief. Everything was exactly as Chen Yu had described.
"What's happening to me?"
The calm expression on Hill's face vanished.
The first major injury of his career at the end of last season had taken a significant psychological toll. Now that his left ankle was showing problems again, he couldn't help but worry he was headed down the same path.
Chen Yu sensed Hill's panic and quickly said, "Don't get too stressed out. The issues I mentioned aren't that serious yet. To put it simply, you just have a few risk factors. If you rest for a while and are careful to protect your ankle, the problem should ease up."
Ultimately, the problem was that the athlete's training intensity was too high, and he had returned to high-intensity competition without being fully recovered.
That was why Chen Yu had initially told Hill to stop moving and get proper rest.
"Is that so?"
Hill looked at Chen Yu with suspicion.
He was in a state of half-belief, half-doubt about Chen Yu's words.
It wasn't that he was being overly sensitive or suspicious.
First, Chen Yu was a stranger. It was like someone randomly approaching you on the street and telling you something was wrong with you; you'd naturally be skeptical.
Second, after his last major injury, he had developed an instinctive distrust of doctors.
Last season, late in the season, Hill had felt soreness in his ankle. But after the team doctor examined him, he was told there was nothing wrong.
He played a few more games, but it didn't get better.
At the time, the Pistons were battling the Bucks and the Magic for the final playoff spot. The team doctor examined him again and told him it was just a sprain and that he just needed to rest for a few games.
But when the playoffs actually started, he sprained his ankle in the very first game.
The team doctor told him it was just a bone bruise, nothing serious, and that he could still play in the second game.
So Hill believed him and played in the second game. But he only made it to the third quarter before he couldn't go on any longer.
An examination at the hospital after the game revealed that his left ankle had been fractured all along.
In other words, the team doctor had been deceiving him from the very beginning.
If it had been treated properly from the start, his left ankle never would have gotten to the point of being fractured.
A large part of the reason he left the Pistons in the summer was because they had deceived him.
After some serious thought, Hill said, "Dr. Chen, I appreciate your advice and diagnosis. By the way, do you have a business card? Could I get one? I might have more questions for you later on."
"Of course."
Chen Yu nodded, took out a business card, and handed it over.
It was clear that Hill believed him, but not completely.
That was normal. After all, Chen Yu had only offered words.
For a professional athlete of his caliber, a star player, he would certainly need to get opinions from multiple sources before making a final decision.
'Actually…'
Looking at Hill's left ankle, Chen Yu felt an impulse.
The problems Hill was currently experiencing weren't actually that severe.
One or two weeks of rest, followed by a Gold Level massage, should be enough to resolve the issue completely.
Chen Yu silently opened his system.
[Sports Medicine Master System]
Below it were numerous options.
Sports First Aid: 44%, 11/100 (Bronze Level effect x1)
Sports Medicine: 72%, 25/100 (Silver Level effect x2, Bronze Level effect x1)
Sports Medicine: 87%, 14/100 (Bronze Level effect x1)
Sports Rehabilitation: 69%, 41/100 (Gold Level effect x1, Bronze Level effect x3)
Sports Psychology: 38%, 17/100.
Sports Nutrition: 41%, 7/100.
Sports Training: 47%, 0/100.
This was Chen Yu's system.
The percentage represented his progress in mastering the knowledge for each category.
As a specialized doctor, Chen Yu already had a solid foundation, so his progress percentages weren't low.
The numbers that followed were the category's experience points.
Every time he performed an action related to a category, he would accumulate experience. Once the bar was full, there was a chance he would obtain a therapeutic effect of a certain level.
At his current stage, the highest level Chen Yu had obtained was Gold Level.
It increased the effect of a single treatment by 60 percent.
This boost was more than a simple numerical addition. Chen Yu had tried it before; even the Bronze Level effect was astonishingly good.
If he used it on Hill, his recovery would not only be faster, but it would also far exceed expectations.