The Surgeon's Studio

by Stayrr

“Primum non nocere.” First, do no harm. – Hippocrates Zheng Ren—an ordinary general surgeon in a cruel medical world whose efforts went unnoticed. His struggles are real…until he is blessed with a system and gifted with skills that exceeded even the best surgeons in the world. Alone in the world with no one to depend on, Zheng Ren uses his exceptional gift to challenge the skeptici

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The Surgeon's Studio #Chapter 65: I Was Wrong - Read The Surgeon's Studio Chapter 65: I Was Wrong Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 65: I Was Wrong

Anxiety plagued Cen Meng as he repeatedly looked at the time on his phone.

He had been imagining the perioperative procedures ever since his uncle was pushed into the operating theater.

As far as he knew about Zheng Ren... Of course, given recent events, the incision and drainage of acute obstructive suppurative cholangitis should have been finished within an hour.

There was nothing difficult about it, after all.

The minutes ticked by and when it reached the fiftieth minute, he started texting his second aunt on WeChat.

Cen Meng instantly felt uneasy upon hearing that his uncle was still in the operating theater.

Had something gone wrong with the surgery? Did Zheng Ren catch wind that the patient was actually his uncle and deliberately delayed it?

Cen Meng's heart sank immediately.

Chief Surgeon Liu was a pessimist who had told Cen Meng many drunken stories.

Perhaps Chief Surgeon Liu was an alarmist or had committed countless wrongdoings, but the man always had a guilty conscience and saw things fanatically. This issue had actually become a thorn in Cen Meng's flesh as he was constantly worried that one day, he would make the same mistakes.

'My attitude toward Zheng Ren previously... wasn't so bad, right?' The further Cen Meng went down memory lane, the greater his fear, and his fingers trembled uncontrollably.

The very thought made Cen Meng's blood boil.

However, he became dispirited almost immediately upon recalling the obstacles he had put in Zheng Ren's path, sending a chill down his spine. The false earthquake... Letting Zheng Ren stay for abdominal surgical wound closure... Postoperative punishment and the attempt to fire him... Was there any difference between these and murdering his father or abducting his wife?

Had karma found him at last?

He started regretting his initial decision. He should have just requested Chief Surgeon Sun from the second general surgery department to perform the operation instead.

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Five minutes later, Cen Meng called his classmate immediately after confirming that the surgery was still ongoing. There was nothing wrong with asking an anesthesiologist to check on the progress of the surgery, right?

Cen Meng was rational enough to prevent himself from making a decision that would make him regret living.

At the sixty-eighth minute, Cen Meng's classmate entered the emergency operating theater.

Soon, he received a shocking photograph.

There were countless white silk-like parasites wiggling in the kidney dish. They were so fresh that adding chopped green onions and stir-frying them would make a delectable dish.

It had been... a rare obstructive jaundice secondary to parasitic infection?!

How did Zheng Ren take all these parasites out alive?

Cen Meng's medical standard was similar to the ordinary doctors of Xinglin Garden, perhaps even inferior to them.

More than a thousand viewers had approximated the truth after half an hour of discussion. How could Cen Meng even come close?

"Cen Meng, asking Chief Zheng to perform this surgery was indeed a wise decision," Cen Meng's classmate replied via text message.

The compliment would have given Cen Meng hypertension and exasperation had he not seen the white silk-like parasites in the kidney dish.

However, the parasites quietly reminded Cen Meng that his classmate was absolutely right. He did not even understand how Zheng Ren had performed the surgery.

Cen Meng's phone suddenly rang and as soon as he answered the call, there was an anxious, crying voice. "Meng'zi, how is your uncle? You ungrateful child, how could you be so cruel? Your uncle treats you so well, but you didn't even check on the progress of his surgery."

"Aunt, he has a special condition and it's going to take a while before the surgery can be finished." Cen Meng buried his dejection deep within his heart and tried to comfort his second aunt, who was on the verge of a breakdown.

"What special condition?!" Cen Meng flinched at the acidity in his second aunt's voice.

"Uncle has eaten way too much Japanese food and there are parasites residing in his gallbladder now. Doctor Zheng is removing them one by one, so it's going to take a long time. Aunt, don't worry." Cen Meng then hung up and sent the photograph, a nightmare for trypophobic people, to his second aunt via WeChat.

There were too many parasites and he presumed that complete removal would take at least three hours.

Cen Meng felt slightly dazed and absent-mindedly went to the rooftop to get some cold air.

The wind was strong and cool, but failed to extinguish the fire that burned within his heart.

'I must become stronger! I mustn't return home and become a farmer!' The obsession remained embedded in Cen Meng's mind.

His perturbation and anger was a wake-up call for Cen Meng. It was better not to seek quick success by any means, otherwise... The gusty wind on the rooftop sent an unexpected shudder through him.

His phone suddenly rang again. The surgery had been going on for one hour and forty-one minutes. His second aunt must be distressed by now.

Cen Meng sighed and answered it.

"Meng'zi, the surgery is complete. Come and help me transfer your uncle back to the ward." His second aunt's tone was filled with boundless joy. It seemed like his uncle's postoperative general anesthesia recovery was very good and he could already engage in conversation.

Cen Meng was dumbfounded.

The surgery was finished within one hour and forty-one minutes? That was fast!

How did Zheng Ren perform it so quickly?

If it had just been "simple" obstructive cholangitis, Cen Meng believed that the man could finish it within ninety minutes.

However, that was excluding the time for anesthesia to take effect and postoperative anesthesia recovery.

The surgery would take more than two and a half hours if every factor was taken into account.

Even so... Complete parasite removal from the common bile duct and common hepatic duct in just one hour and forty-one minutes... Was this a brand new surgical technique?

It was definitely a new procedure that could hasten the surgical process. Who exactly was Zheng Ren? Subconsciously, he realized Zheng Ren had become far more skillful than he could ever be.

Dispirited, shocked and puzzled, Cen Meng did not hang up and allowed his second aunt to continue the conversation.

...

...

The surgery livestream had ended in Xinglin Garden.

A few attentive viewers calculated that 296 parasites had been removed within one hour and five minutes.

Most doctors were meticulous and had various kinds of obsessive-compulsive disorders. A tedious task such as counting worms... someone would still do it quietly.

After parasite removal had been completed, the surgery once again traveled back to earth, a place all surgeons were familiar with.

The equipment was then removed, rinsed and reintroduced to the duodenum for thorough exploration. After that, a #22 T Tube was placed in the common bile duct before peritoneal cavity irrigation and abdominal surgical wound closure.

Everything was performed accordingly and looked "simple".

Numerous accounts continued to log in and enter the live broadcast room until the end of the operation. Once the surgery had officially ended, comments finally started to unscrupulously flood the live broadcast room.

It caused another wave of traffic overload, which shocked all the staff of Xinglin Garden.

Fortunately, the surgery ended early. From the peak viewer count of 10020 viewers in the live broadcast room, the staff were glad that nothing serious had happened.

No one discussed the new surgical technique during the madness near the end as it was simply incomprehensible. Viewers merely bombarded the room to express their deepest respect and admiration for the host surgeon.

...

...

Peng Jia began paying more attention to the anonymous account after another near-overload of Xinglin Garden. He had initially planned on investigating the account but had decided against it after a few moments of hesitation.

If any mogul was trying to achieve something through this, it would be disastrous if he knew too much about it.

However, staring at the data handed over by a technician, he ruminated for a while and then said, "Check its location."

Two hours and fourteen minutes later, the technician sent him an email stating that the signal had gone through various channels but the source had been located after a painstaking investigation—Montreal Medical Center, one of the top five medical centers in Canada.

Strangely enough, after the signal had been traced, the target seemed disgusted and had retaliated with a powerful virus, which caused the website to enter a half-paralyzed state that it was still in.

There was one sentence left at the end—Don't reply, don't reply, don't reply.

Er... Peng Jia was stunned.

Medical practitioners knew how to play around with computer viruses too?

How ridiculous!

Chapter 66: Heartfelt Admiration

Ding-dong...

The mission completion sound was indeed heart-warming.

[Sudden Mission: The Opponent's Submission completed. Completion rate: 100 percent.]

The System's robotic female voice was like music to Zheng Ren's ears.

[200 skill points and 10000 experience points obtained. Time used: 2 hours and 15 minutes. Additional 14100 experience points awarded.

[Hidden Side Quest: Heartfelt Admiration completed. The host has acquired the opponent's admiration. Every reward in this mission will be doubled.]

Zheng Ren was momentarily stunned. According to the System, Cen Meng must have admitted defeat, but because he had achieved a 100-percent completion rate in this surgery, Cen Meng knelt down completely and sincerely without the slightest grievance?

This was actually a thing?

Zheng Ren stopped bothering about Cen Meng and started counting his profit like a hamster trying to survive the winter.

'48200 experience points and 400 skill points. That's very good! How good it would be to encounter more opponents like Cen Meng,' Zheng Ren thought happily.

Zheng Ren currently had 1370 skill points in total—970 points in his inventory plus 400 points acquired from the mission. If he used up all his skill points, he would have a little over 3200 points in his general surgery skill tree, one step closer to the Master rank at 5000 points.

There were 48400 experience points in the inventory, which meant Zheng Ren could once again purchase a few hours of surgery intensive training time. However, he decided to hold onto them as he had no need for training at the time being. Besides, the points would not devalue while in the System, right?

The mission tab gave Zheng Ren a sense of satisfaction.

Every doctor would feel content whether they were saving lives or improving their skills.

Zheng Ren was taken aback when he noticed the main mission's progression.

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An incision and drainage for acute obstructive suppurative cholangitis was considered a tier-three surgery, and thus according to the terms in the main mission, it was equivalent to four tier-one surgeries.

However, the completion rate...

Zheng Ren had completed the main mission—The Best Surgeon—twice after performing several cholecystectomies and appendectomies these past few days.

There was still some progression left after receiving the rewards twice, but Zheng Ren noticed a notification upon seeing the main mission. "The mission has been completed. Please receive the reward."

The completion rate should be 41=5, right? Why was there a reward?

Well, a reward was always good. Zheng Ren immediately clicked the "Receive" button without hesitation.

After obtaining 10 skill points and 1000 experience points, Zheng Ren then observed that the main mission completion rate was at seven.

In other words, the surgery he had performed just now was actually much more advanced than a tier-four surgery.

Was parasite removal considered a tier-five surgery? Even though Zheng Ren was aware that barely anyone in the world could properly perform a parasite removal surgery, parasitic diseases were still uncommon in China.

Every time a patient with parasitic disease was treated, the doctor in charge would brag about it and enjoyed public admiration by posting it on Xinglin Garden or Zhihu[1].

Zheng Ren was exhilarated to find out that he had completed what had turned out to be a highly advanced surgical procedure.

Even though there was no comprehensive improvement, his total savings of three skill books, nearly 50000 experience points and 1380 skill points put a warm smile on his face.

He had 1975 points in his general surgery skill tree as well.

This surgery had given Zheng Ren lots of benefits.

...

After the patient was transferred back to the ward, Zheng Ren put on a white coat without changing out of surgical attire and went for a ward round.

Since there were not many patients in the emergency ward, almost every patient had the privilege of their own sick room.

Zheng Ren saw Cen Meng taking care of a patient when he walked into the ward.

He knew that his former superior had completely admitted defeat, so he gave Cen Meng a forgiving smile and read the data on the monitor.

The patient's vital signs were stable. He had fully regained consciousness from general anesthesia and was able to speak fluently.

The initial yellowish discoloration of the skin, just like a Minion, had begun to recover at a rate almost visible to the naked eye.

"Zheng Ren, thank you," said Cen Meng in embarrassment.

"No worries." Zheng Ren waved his hand and smiled. "I'll feel relaxed tonight knowing that you'll be here taking care of the patient."

"Postoperative recovery is uneventful. Good job on the surgery."

They engaged in an awkward conversation afterward. Cen Meng had previously only created trouble for Zheng Ren and yet had been repaid with kindness, filling him with guilt and shame.

Not only was Zheng Ren unbothered by Cen Meng's attitude, the man was not even spiteful, and that greatly mortified him. He did not realize that the System had already informed Zheng Ren of his sincerity.

Zheng Ren saw Chang Yue chatting with a patient when he visited the other ward. Both the patient and his family members were particularly enthusiastic toward Chang Yue, as if she was one of their own, to the point that Zheng Ren, the surgeon who treated the patient, was basically non-existent in their eyes.

'That's skillful.' Zheng Ren sighed emotionally.

Chang Yue stopped chatting immediately upon noticing Zheng Ren's entry to the ward.

In her opinion, chatting was just a means to improve the relationship between patients and family members. It was similar to psychotherapy in that it could hasten patients' recovery.

She stood aside and half a step behind Zheng Ren, explaining the patient's condition.

Chang Yue was able to clearly explain every trivial matter and one could understand the patient's recovery process from her explanation alone without needing to personally check on the patient.

Most importantly, almost everything Chang Yue mentioned was the same as what was shown in the upper right corner of Zheng Ren's vision.

Even if there were slight differences, that was not Chang Yue's fault too as they were insignificant and unusual.

'This clinician is very good.' Zheng Ren nodded.

He did not know how to praise anyone. There was no one else he could compliment when he was still a junior doctor years ago, and now that he had been promoted to a chief resident, he still needed time to adapt to such a situation.

Chang Yue, who accompanied Zheng Ren for the rest of his ward round, was amazed at how quickly the patients had recovered.

However, Chang Yue was more aloof toward Zheng Ren compared to the patients. She seemed to have spent all her energy on them and simply had no interest in flattering her "immediate superior".

Chang Yue's trouble had been the talk of the town before, and even Zheng Ren was aware of it.

He actually found it interesting that her temper was much worse than his.

He admired her for her honesty and bluntness. As a doctor, it was considered the pinnacle of skill to cure patients' illnesses and save lives. Anyone who thought they could get their way through flattery alone would have betrayed the white coat and their conscience.

Zheng Ren returned to his office after the ward round. He planned to utilize his free time for revision so that he could acquire skill points and reach the Master rank as soon as possible.

His phone beeped just when he opened his books.

It was the group chat created by Xie Yiren which included herself, the Chu sisters, Chang Yue and him.

The group was used for work-related issues only.

Therefore, Zheng Ren did not turn off notifications for it out of worry that he may not receive any emergency messages in time.

"Chief Zheng, the surgery today disgusted me," said Chu Yanzhi.

"The feeling is mutual. I'm looking for consolation," replied Xie Yiren.

"You won't be able to get through this trouble if you don't treat us to a meal.:face with hand over mouth," said Chu Yanran.

"What should we eat?"

"There is a newly opened restaurant in Jianshe Road, and it has good reviews too."

"..."

"..."

There was no need for Zheng Ren to speak at all as the women had already decided to eat Sichuan boiled fish and that he would be the one paying for the bill.

Zheng Ren felt helpless. He had an average of over four hundred APM during surgery, but that was not the case during a conversation, especially with women. Soon, he was defeated.

[1] Zhihu is a Chinese question-and-answer website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by the community of its users.

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Chapter 67: Word Misidentification

Zheng Ren was left alone after the ladies happily went for their meal. Finally, some peace and quiet for more revision.

He was fully aware that Rome was not built in a day.

Reading books attentively offered many advantages. For example, during his intensive training in the System, how could he have come up with various creative ideas if he lacked even the basic knowledge of surgery?

Wasting the System's intensive training time was a crime!

In addition, Zheng Ren had a feeling that the growth in his skill trees would make intensive training more beneficial in the future. If an expert in hepatobiliary surgery went for training in gastrointestinal surgery with a strong foundation, their learning process would be ten times faster compared to junior doctors who had just graduated. It was a logical assumption.

Zheng Ren was perturbed during his revision. He thought for a while and decided that it was likely because he had not gone for a ward round in the emergency department after visiting the wards.

'Better just go and have a look, so that I don't have to keep worrying about it.'

After ensuring that the patients in the wards were alright, Zheng Ren went downstairs to the emergency department. If all the patients' conditions were stable, he could then return to his office and concentrate on his revision.

He was greeted with a flurry of activity upon reaching the emergency department corridor.

Unconscious drunkards who had been binge-drinking in the middle of the day were currently receiving gastric lavage. There were parents bringing their children, who were playing truant and pretending sickness, for consultations. People involved in minor traffic accidents were unwilling to relent and came to the emergency department to pursue their grievances.

Zheng Ren had gotten used to it after constantly experiencing these situations throughout his career.

There was a suppressed, despairing weep at one corner of the corridor, unlike the kind of theatrical wailing with a complete absence of tears.

Huh? What had happened? In general, patients visiting the emergency department were critically ill. Since their conditions were usually unexpected, the family members would express their emotions in a relatively straightforward way instead of letting out such a sob.

Zheng Ren walked toward the source and felt even more puzzled.

Everything looked fine. A family of three was hugging each other and crying sorrowfully as if one of them was going to depart this life.

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"Girl, you've to take care of your mother when I'm gone," said a dark-skinned man, who appeared mature and hardworking, with dust and mud smeared across his body.

Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be in his fifties, but Zheng Ren read through the details on the upper right corner of his vision and realized that he was only forty-two years old.

They were most likely farmers from a remote village.

A swarthy lady knelt on the floor and sniveled alongside a middle-aged woman opposite her. Pearl-shaped tears rolled down their cheeks one after another with no sign of stopping.

"Dad, you're going to be fine. Nothing bad will happen to you."

"It's okay. I don't recognize many words but I can still understand them. I initially thought it was just a minor illness but I didn't expect it to be cancer. Girl, as older generations once said, life and death are fated. I'm not going to blame fate, but I just regret leaving this world without seeing your marriage and my grandchildren in my lifetime."

The more he spoke, the sadder he became. In the end, he choked up and words failed to leave his mouth.

Different characters would have distinct behaviours in a life-and-death situation.

However, this time... It was definitely the most absurd situation Zheng Ren had ever encountered in his life.

He quickly walked toward the family and tried to make his voice as gentle as possible so that he would not accidentally irritate the "terminally ill" patient.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Zheng Ren.

"Huh?" The middle-aged man raised his head and saw Zheng Ren wearing green hospital attire underneath a white coat, unlike the other doctors he had seen previously. Thus, he presumed that Zheng Ren had a much higher rank than them.

"Doctor, please save my father." The girl noticed Zheng Ren and immediately stood up.

Wow... The teenage girl aged around eighteen years old actually stood at 180 centimeters, which made Zheng Ren look extremely short...'What do the ladies eat nowadays? They're so tall!' Zheng Ren complained in silence.

The girl bowed deeply, trying her very best to convey her hope.

"Stand up and talk," Zheng Ren replied with a smile, "Your father is fine."

"He has cancer." The girl's complexion was ashen-grey with despair.

Zheng Ren shook his head and took the outpatient medical record from her hands. The details had been written very clearly and the diagnosis was exactly the same as the System provided—right inguinal hernia.

"This is a hernia, not cancer." Zheng Ren's mind went offline instantly.

"It was written here," The girl pointed at the word "hernia" in the final diagnosis and said, "This is cancer[1]. Doctor, can you save my father?"

Her eyes were lucid and crystal clear like limpid spring water in a mountain valley.

"..." Zheng Ren suddenly realized that the reason for this family's sorrow was because... because... because they misidentified the word.

Zheng Ren had been working in the medical field for almost seven years, and this was the first time he encountered this issue.

It was said that doctors' handwriting was atrocious, and that was the truth. There was a good reason for that—previously, all prescriptions had been handwritten and half of the text was in Latin. Doctors, especially those working in the emergency department, would be beaten to death if they took their time writing medical records.

However, everything had been computerized, and ugly handwriting was basically non-existent in the current world.

Zheng Ren had no idea how to react to this situation.

"Lady, this word is called hernia, not cancer," Zheng Ren tried his best to be gentle in his explanation. How he wished Chang Yue could assist him at this moment.

Judging by Chang Yue's communication skills, she could probably convince this family in deep grievance within a minute.

On the other hand, Zheng Ren had to explain further before he could successfully persuade them.

"Huh?" The girl froze for a moment, rubbing the corner of her shirt with her fingers repeatedly as if she was going to tear it to shreds in confusion and shame.

"This disease can be easily treated." Zheng Ren smiled.

"Doctor, you can't lie to us. We really don't have enough money," said the middle-aged man honestly.

"Don't worry. If you undergo the surgery on time and there is no bowel necrosis, you can be discharged in three days and go to work in one week," replied Zheng Ren.

The family was still in a trance after escaping death. They were dazed and confused as they had not completely come out from their deep mire of sadness.

This was an elective surgical case and belonged to the general surgery department.

"Let's go. I'll ask other doctors to handle your hospital admission process. In the ward, you'll undergo examination and testing. If there are no contraindications for surgery, we'll then perform the operation. It's just a simple procedure, so don't worry."

"Am I really fine?"

"Yes, really." Zheng Ren could only use simple, mundane words to convince this family.

"Chief Zheng, where are you? We've returned with your meal. Well, they're basically leftovers." Zheng Ren received a call from Xie Yiren amidst the trouble.

"Ask Chang Yue to come to the emergency department," instructed Zheng Ren who seemed to have found his lifesaver.

Soon, Chang Yue, dressed in snow-white with a red stethoscope hanging on her shoulder, entered the emergency department with her ponytail dancing with every footstep.

Where did such a young, beautiful lady get her communication skills from? Zheng Ren was puzzled.

After listening to Zheng Ren's explanation, Chang Yue smiled and said, "Leave it to me."

Then, Chang Yue, who seemed to radiate a calming and peaceful aura, brought the family to a quiet corner. Zheng Ren sighed in relief and went for a ward round in the emergency department observation units.

The patients' conditions were relatively simple. In the surgery division, a patient with head trauma had been admitted for observation to prevent possible delayed traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage. In the internal medicine division, the cases were mainly acute gastroenteritis secondary to binge eating and drinking.

The diagnosis and treatment of these cases were simple.

After looking around the unit and ensuring that there had been no misdiagnoses, Zheng Ren finally felt at ease.

Zheng Ren vaguely heard laughter from the corner of the corridor upon exiting the last observation unit.

He walked over and saw the middle-aged woman holding Chang Yue's hand in delight.

Had Chang Yue become one of their own just like that?

Zheng Ren was truly amazed and felt that he could never achieve such a skill even if he had his whole life to do so.

Chang Yue chatted with the family, who had smiled away the sadness, for a while and then went to Zheng Ren. "Chief Zheng, the patient has agreed to receive surgical treatment. Should I admit him to the ward now?"

"Hey, this is an elective surgical case. We can't accept him," Zheng Ren quickly said.

There were rules in the hospital and it was better not to break them without support from powerful superiors. Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous.

"The patient's condition is simple, but the problem is that they're poor," said Chang Yue as she stood in front of Zheng Ren. Whenever she was fulfilling her duty, the smile she wore while chatting with the patients and family members would vanish without a trace.

[1] Hernia (疝) and cancer (癌) look almost similar and hence, the confusion.

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Chapter 68: Uncle, Are Your Legs Numb?

"Are you suggesting crowdfunding?" asked Zheng Ren.

"Old Chief Physician Pan made a policy during the establishment of the emergency center. In some cases, the medical charges of patients can be reduced or exempted." Chang Yue bore a flat expression with no attempt to flatter her direct superior—Zheng Ren—and added, "In the general surgery department, the surgeons will use a synthetic mesh for hernia repair, but it costs between 1000 to 2000 yuan; basically his family's annual income."

Zheng Ren was aware of this situation.

"If the patient has to go to the general surgery department, I think the young lady will marry someone immediately in exchange for a bridewealth of around 3000 to 5000 yuan to pay her father's medical fees. Whether the man she married to is a dumb-dumb or—"

"Stop!" Zheng Ren quickly interrupted Chang Yue.

He knew she was hoping that he would proceed with routine surgical intervention. Since he first started to work in this hospital, he had been using synthetic meshes for hernia repair, a surgical technique completely different from decades ago.

A synthetic mesh could minimize postoperative complications and its price... was not really very expensive.

Nowadays, it was speculated that all junior doctors working in the general surgery department did not know how to perform a herniorrhaphy. Naturally, Zheng Ren...or at least, the former Zheng Ren was included as well.

The "know" here meant that the surgery completion rate would have to reach at least 80 percent.

"I'm going to ask Old Chief Physician Pan for instructions." Zheng Ren went straight to Old Chief Physician Pan's office.

A few minutes later, Zheng Ren came out and said with a smile, "Done, admit him to the ward."

"How much do you think the treatment will cost them?" asked Chang Yue with a blank expression.

"If we order necessary tests, excluding other optional tests, and reduce surgical treatment fees... I guess around 300 to 500 yuan," answered Zheng Ren.

Chang Yue nodded without continuing the conversation and returned to the family. Her temperaments would change immediately when facing patients—positive, sunny, cheerful and with an intimacy that could easily gain people's trust.

Zheng Ren shook his head. This lady and her attitude... No wonder she had to take the blame after solving the huge issue in the obstetrics department.

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However, Zheng Ren really liked this sort of person.

[General Mission: Doctors with Parental Heart.

[Task: According to the patient's actual condition, use an appropriate method to repair the inguinal hernia.

[Reward: 50 skill points and 1000 experience points.

[Time: 2 days.]

Doctors with Parental Heart? Zheng Ren savored the mission's name for a while.

Fortunately, he had an unprecedented two days to complete the mission. Excluding preoperative fasting, the surgery itself was very simple as well. If he went to the System's operating theater for intensive training with around a hundred herniorrhaphies, he could certainly achieve a surgery completion rate of more than 90 percent.

Doctors with Parental Heart, really? That was interesting. Zheng Ren had failed to anticipate that the System cared about this sort of issue too.

...

...

Zheng Ren returned to his office after assigning tedious, trivial matters to Chang Yue.

He smelled the food as soon as he entered the office.

Zheng Ren had almost forgotten to eat. Had it not been for the fact that the women had brought food for him, he may possibly have skipped his meals again.

He took a few quick bites and threw the leftovers into a black plastic bag in a trash can beside the toilet before going back to his office for more revision.

Chang Yue was busy dealing with the patient's preoperative preparations, medical record documentation and preoperative counseling. Since she seemed to be enjoying the working process, Zheng Ren decided not to lend a hand.

"The patient has been fasting since this morning. He'll be ready for surgery in ten minutes," she informed him.

"Alright. Inform them in the group to prepare for surgery." Zheng Ren was unwilling to waste time communicating with Chang Yue, who was talking to him with a straight face, so he closed the book and headed straight to the operating theater.

He went to the smoking area in the male locker room, lit a Ziyun, took a deep drag and dived into the System, as usual.

Zheng Ren still had 49400 experience points in his inventory. Keeping 25000 experience points, he exchanged the rest for surgery training time and started the intensive training for herniorrhaphy.

Based on Zheng Ren's current skill level, he could easily complete this surgery without any need for training, but he preferred not to take any risks. After all, he had never performed or even seen anyone doing a herniorrhaphy since he had started working in this hospital.

Just to be on the safe side, Zheng Ren exchanged some of his points for 407 minutes of surgery intensive training.

The System's operating theater rose from the ground, the mannequin emerged before his eyes, and the intensive training began.

Zheng Ren managed 121 herniorrhaphies as each surgery took only three to five minutes. When the operating theater faded away, he had a feeling that he had made some progress in his understanding of gastrointestinal surgery.

Even though it was just a hernia repair surgery, it could still increase his skill points.

After glancing at the general surgery skill tree, currently at 2044 points, Zheng Ren returned to reality and changed into surgical attire to prepare for surgery.

He heard one of the Chu sisters asking the patient upon entering the operating theater, "Uncle, are your legs numb?"

"..." The patient remained silent.

That was strange. Did an accident happen during anesthesia? The patient should be answering questions at this time, right?

That very thought instantly made Zheng Ren's hair stand on end.

He could only guarantee the success of the surgery, but there was nothing he could do about an anesthesia accident. Even if it was just an epidural anesthesia... If the patient had diplegia... It would be a major event, a medicolegal issue!

Zheng Ren quickly walked in and saw one of the Chu sisters standing at the foot of the operating table and using a blunt instrument to gently touch the patient's thigh. "Uncle, are your legs numb?"

"..." There was still no response from the patient.

Zheng Ren scanned through the System panel and relaxed only after reading that the continuous epidural anesthesia had been successful without any sign of failure.

Since anesthesia had been successful, why did the patient not answer the question?

Instead of getting impatient at the patient's silence, another twin stood closer to his ears and asked softly, "Uncle, I'm asking you, are your legs numb?"

Something peculiar flashed past the middle-aged man's expression... Was it a shame?

Why was he ashamed? Zheng Ren was puzzled.

"Mother[1]."

"..." Everyone in the room was dumbfounded.

There was pin-drop silence in the operating theater.

"Bang!" Xie Yiren accidentally knocked over an opened bottle of normal saline and spilled it all over the floor.

Zheng Ren walked to the other side of the middle-aged man's head and said with a grin, "Relax. They're asking you if your legs are numb and can't feel any pain. They aren't instructing you to address them as your mother."

Initially, the Chu sisters had no idea why the patient would address them as his mother, but after listening to Zheng Ren's explanation, they finally understood everything.

The atmosphere in the operating theater instantly became lively.

The great motherland was indeed mighty. How many dialects were there in total?

"Quiet. Anyone who makes homophonic jokes will have their salary deducted." Zheng Ren, who also felt helpless, forcibly interrupted the laughter in the operating theater and urged everyone to prepare for surgery.

The anesthesia had been administered perfectly. The Chu sisters' standard was at least higher than Trainee rank, which explained why the anesthesiologist responsible for training junior doctors was absent from this surgery and chose to read novels in his room. He was waiting for his contract to expire so that he could go to work in the South.

Zheng Ren performed a surgical scrub and began applying the surgical drapes.

The surgery had officially begun. This would be the simplest surgery Zheng Ren had done ever since he found the System.

[1] Are your legs numb (脚麻吗, pronounced as jiao ma ma) sounds almost similar to Mother (妈妈, pronounced as ma ma), hence the confusion.

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Chapter 69: A Surgery Without Highlights

The live broadcast in Xinglin Garden started at the same time.

Every doctor who received the notification immediately entered the live broadcast room to watch the surgery if they did not have any important duties to attend to.

[The god has started performing surgery again. I'm still watching the replay of his last surgery.]

[I watched it twice, but I still don't understand how the host surgeon removed the worms.]

[My intuition tells me that the host surgeon may be an e-sports expert. Look at that hand speed, he must've achieved an average APM of 500, superior to all e-sports gods! Apart from that, precision is the key, too. He manipulated a tiny pair of forceps outside the body, but every time he grasped a parasite, he didn't cause any damage to the mucosal layer. That was actually very impressive.]

[I just bought the freshest and most tender tofu ever and prepared thin cotton threads. I believe I can reach the host surgeon's standard after practicing for one week.]

[Dream on. You'll never achieve the skill level possessed by the great god in your lifetime.]

Everyone was chatting and exchanging their experience and thoughts in surgery, but this relaxing atmosphere would be short-lived and existed only when the host surgeon was still disinfecting the operative site and preparing for surgery.

Once the surgery had begun, no viewers wanted a crucial surgical step to get blocked by comments.

Xie Yiren gently placed the scalpel on Zheng Ren's palm, which he used to make an incision.

[Why do I have a feeling that this is an inguinal hernia case? It sure looks like it, judging by the location, but why would the god perform such a low-class surgery?]

[Didn't you read the case? This is an uncomplicated case of inguinal hernia. Young man, your speculation is correct.]

[What's there for us to see? Why didn't the god perform a laparoscopic hernia repair instead? Has he reverted back to simplicity?]

A hernia repair was actually uninteresting. Besides, the patient's condition was uncomplicated and Zheng Ren's surgery was plain and simple.

The anatomical structures were clearly visible, and every step was textbook. There was absolutely no deviation at all.

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That was strange. The host surgeon had recently performed biliary parasite removal that no one had seen before, and this was the simplest hernia repair surgery possible. Did they possess a wide range of surgical knowledge and experience? Would he perform surgery from other departments in the future?

A few doctors' imagination began to run wild after recalling the first surgery in this live broadcast room—a simple wound debridement and closure.

[There's really nothing interesting to watch. It's just a simple case of herniorrhaphy and has been eliminated in our hospital fifteen years ago.]

[That's true. The host surgeon still has his usual standard. He used a continuous suture technique to reinforce the weak abdominal wall so that the risk of recurrence can be minimized. These are impeccable, but I really can't see anything special about this surgery.]

[Can anyone tell me what you've learned from this surgery?]

Three minutes later, the surgery ended.

Only a few comments flew weakly past the screen in the live broadcast room.

The viewers had become picky after watching numerous advanced surgeries performed by the host surgeon. A simple and flawless hernia repair surgery was unable to satiate the hunger that tormented their hearts.

Every surgeon knew how to repair hernias, especially through laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair using a synthetic mesh. Therefore, this surgery had no highlights, disappointing every doctor watching the livestream.

The surgery ended, and so did the stream.

[I heard that the professors in Imperial Capital and Sorcery Capital rarely take the patients' financial status into account. Those who can afford to consult them don't really care about the costs anyway.]

[Nowadays, this simple hernia repair surgery has become extinct. I really miss them.]

:weary face: I've just learned laparoscopic hernia repair, but now I've a sudden, strong urge to learn herniorrhaphy. I think I should spend some time mastering it, just in case there are any poor patients that require me to perform this surgery.]

All of them were doctors and fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of these two surgical methods.

What was the purpose of the host surgeon's ordinary and boring operation? It was self-evident.

...

...

The patient was transferred back to the ward after the surgery was complete.

There was no patient-controlled analgesia pump as the patient would receive only the simplest and most basic treatment.

After knowing that the surgery was successful and the risk of recurrence was almost zero, the mother and daughter were finally relieved.

Heartfelt joy was written all over their faces.

Ding-dong!

[The first phase of the continuous mission Doctors with Parental Heart is complete.]

The System's robotic female voice rang in Zheng Ren's ears.

Huh? Was that not a general mission? Since when did it become a continuous mission?

Would it become a main mission in the future? Zheng Ren quietly griped about the System's unreliability.

[50 skill points and 1000 experience points obtained. Time used: 2 hours and 28 minutes. Task completed in advance, additional 163920 experience points awarded.]

Zheng Ren had expected a massive gift since the System had given him two days to complete the mission.

However, the number 163920 still gave him quite a big surprise.

If he were honest with himself, had the System informed him of a reward based on the remaining time of just below forty-eight hours for this particular mission, he would be unsurprised. However, showing him directly that he had received one hundred and sixty thousand points was simply jaw-dropping.

The System was a little too generous.

In Zheng Ren's view, that amount was just too huge. Exhilarated, he stared unblinkingly at the reward for three minutes.

That was equivalent to more than forty hours of intensive training time!

Ever since the mission Hostility From Peers, the System no longer calculated rewards in days or hours, but started distributing experience points based on seconds. Apart from that, he had even unlocked the Shop in the System. It was a trap. These were definitely traps.

Zheng Ren had a feeling that the System was constantly evolving. It was so fickle-minded.

Forty-hours of intensive training time. That was very nice.

The intensive training time was especially suitable for Zheng Ren, a single-minded, determined, opportunistic and insensitive man. It was difficult for someone with a flexible mind to attentively and continuously perform the same surgery a thousand times for a dozen hours.

There could be surgeons who could perform the same surgery a thousand times, but hardly anyone could learn from their mistakes in each surgery and continuously improve their standard like Zheng Ren did.

Perseverant and brilliant. Apart from his lack of romanticism... he was plain-looking too. Appearance ruled the world; this saying was especially true in modern society. Thus, he had no choice but to hone his skills for survival.

Therefore, Zheng Ren saw these experience points as an essential tool and desperately needed them to survive in the medical world. How could he not feel happy?

After savoring his jubilation, Zheng Ren gave it some thought and figured that the System had a sunny disposition that could radiate positive energy to him.

Doctors with parental heart, a phrase rarely mentioned these days. Most of the time, patients and their family members would simply say, "Doctor Zheng, your services and attitudes are very good."

This statement always induced a slight discomfort in him.

Doctors had parental hearts.

The mission name met Zheng Ren's views of the world.

...

...

In the Sea City General Hospital emergency building, a shy and grubby girl with dark hair stood in a spacious corridor in the emergency ward located on the second floor. Her dirty and messy appearance failed to conceal the gleam in her eyes.

After scanning the area like a thief and ensuring that she was alone, she quickly opened a big, black plastic bag in the trash can and took out a few lunch boxes.

The girl and another middle-aged woman squatted in the hospital fire escape staircase and opened the lunch boxes; other than vegetable soup, there was nothing else in them.

The young lady was tall and had very long legs, which made her posture appear particularly strange when squatting. Holding a crumbly, dry bun, she carefully tore off a small piece of it and dipped it into the soup in the lunch box.

Their expressions were full of unpretentious joy as if leftover soup was more than enough to make their life better and fulfilling.

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Chapter 70: I Don't Remember

It was an uneventful afternoon and the patients' conditions were stable. Zheng Ren was reading a book while Chang Yue walked around the wards, chatting with patients and family members after she finished documenting cases.

The Chu sisters and Xie Yiren were in the operating theater, missing the crazy night of forty-nine appendectomies. Chu Yanzhi wanted to burn calories, but there was no point in doing it right now. She could not possibly give Zheng Ren a whack and throw him onto the operating table, right?

Zheng Ren had already forgotten about his massive stash of experience points and was quietly reading his book in his office, waiting for the emergency department to call him to confirm the diagnosis of random patients.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, footsteps were heard in the emergency ward corridor.

Zheng Ren was unconcerned as they could belong to visiting family members or friends.

The emergency wards could not possibly implement closed-off management as it took at least 1.4 nurses to take care of a patient.

Not only that, Old Chief Physician Pan had only managed to allocate the bare minimum of nurses required of the emergency wards after plundering the entire hospital.

Thus, any visitor could come to and leave the wards at will. After all, upper management usually provided ideas or suggestions and subordinates would be those handling tiresome issues. Whoever took these seriously would just attract trouble to themselves.

"Hello, Doctor Zheng."

There was a knock on the office door. Several men stood at the doorstep headed by a woman who resembled a celebrity, especially in a black sweater and big sunglasses.

Who was she? Zheng Ren was stunned.

From her appearance... Zheng Ren's mind remained blank as he had no memory of her at all.

"I'm Zhou Jinxi. Doctor Zheng, do you still remember me?" The lady took off her sunglasses and wore a sweet smile on her face.

'Zhou Jinxi... Was she the patient who underwent an endoscopic transrectal appendectomy last time?' Zheng Ren was able to recall the patient's name and case details, but he failed to relate them to the lady smiling warmly before him.

Zheng Ren shook his head in response.

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There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Hello, Doctor Zheng." A person standing behind Zhou Jinxi walked forward, gave Zheng Ren a professional, calm and elegant smile, and added, "I gave you a business card last time. Do you remember?"

"Not really." Zheng Ren scratched his head, completely forgetting the agent who had given him a business card in the corridor outside the endoscopic unit. She had also said that she would entertain Zheng Ren whenever he visited Sorcery Capital in the future.

"Great wits have short memories, Doctor Zheng." The smile on the agent's face froze a little, but she continued without losing her composure. "Miss Zhou won the championship in the modelling competition. Before we return to Sorcery Capital by flight tonight, we would like to thank Doctor Zheng for making this possible."

"Oh, please have a seat," Zheng Ren said, finally managing something sensible.

The pair of jeans Zhou Jinxi wore accentuated her slim thighs and curvy body, and clearly showed her amazing elasticity with every move.

Zheng Ren's heart remained calm as a millpond as Zhou Jinxi, a beautiful angel, walked into the room. Then, he asked casually, "How goes your recovery?"

"Very good," answered Zhou Jinxi with a grin. "Ambulation on the first day, liquid diet consumption on the second and straight to the competition on the third. Sister Wu was worried about the risk of surgical wound breakdown, but everything seemed fine. Doctor Zheng, your surgery skills are incredible!"

Zhou Jinxi gave Zheng Ren a thumbs up and clicked the "like" button.

There was a warm luster on her hand as if she was carved out of a pure, white jade.

Zheng Ren confirmed that Zhou Jinxi had indeed recovered completely without any risk of complications after reading her details in the System panel.

"Chief Zheng, the little girl wants to know when can her father get discharged from the hospital," asked Chang Yue, interrupting the conversation after squeezing through the crowd.

The girl in question was shy and dared not to follow Chang Yue after seeing the crowd in the office.

"Eh?" Zhou Jinxi's agent, who seemed to have noticed something interesting, stood up abruptly, walked toward the young girl and eyed her up in a domineering manner.

The agent was shorter than the girl, but her presence alone more than made up for it.

The young girl lacked self-confidence and asked weakly, "Why are you looking at me?"

"How old are you?" the agent ignored her question and asked.

"Seventeen."

"Studying or working?"

"I initially planned on working, but my father was sick and I had to take care of him. I'll start finding a job once we return home," answered the girl, gradually lowering her head, embarrassed and self-abased.

Chang Yue, who noticed the agent's overbearing attitude, turned around and stood between the girl and the agent. Then, she grabbed the girl's hand and took her into the office.

"Chief Zheng, the little girl wants to know: when can her father get discharged from the hospital?"

"In three days. If you're not in a hurry, I suggest you wait for a week and return home only after removing the suture. Otherwise, you can simply go to any rural health center for suture removal," answered Zheng Ren confidently.

If Zheng Ren had used an absorbable catgut suture to close the surgical wound, there was a possibility that a wound dehiscence could occur post-activity. However, a reverse cutting needle with a size seven suture thread had been used instead. It was strong enough to hold the wound edges together and Zheng Ren was certain about it.

"Little girl, did you hear him clearly?" Chang Yue said, "Don't worry too much. Even though Chief Zheng looks a little ugly, he is an expert in surgery. If he says everything is fine, your father will be alright."

There was nothing Zheng Ren could do about Chang Yue's description.

"Okay!" The young girl bowed deeply to Zheng Ren and quickly ran away.

There was a slight gleam in the agent's eyes. After the girl left the office, she asked, "Doctor Zheng, is she a family member of your patient?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do?" Chang Yue's high emotional quotient was limited only to the patients and family members. Every other time, it was about on par with Zheng Ren's.

However, she was slightly wary of the agent's attitude and was thus ruthless with her question.

"The company is going to assemble a group consisting entirely of women. That girl's body and appearance meet our requirements, and that was the reason for my questioning," The agent understood everything after noticing the vigilance in Chang Yue's expression and mocked, "Are you seriously thinking that I'll be trafficking her?"

"Yes," Chang Yue admitted. Damn, she was indeed a frank lady.

"Many people begged for my attention, but I couldn't be bothered with them," the agent said proudly, "There aren't many opportunities that can completely change one's life. Doctor, are you sure you can speak for her?"

Chang Yue hesitated immediately.

She was fully aware of that young girl's family condition, so...

Zheng Ren's phone suddenly rang and interrupted their confrontation.

"Chief Physician Pan, understood.

"Why?

"Alright, I'm on my way."

Zheng Ren hung up after a few words, and with a regretful tone despite his relaxed appearance, he said, "ICU, urgent consultation. Please excuse me."

"Don't worry about it, Doctor Zheng." The agent took out a business card from her handbag and handed it to Zheng Ren once more. "Please give me a call if you visit Sorcery Capital in the future. Doctor Zheng has given Zhou Jinxi and me great help this time, so don't bother with formalities when the time comes."

Smiling politely, Zheng Ren accepted the card and casually tucked it into his pocket.

"Chang Yue, help me see the visitors out. I'm going to the ICU now."

"Multidisciplinary consultation shouldn't include the emergency department, right?" asked Chang Yue doubtfully.

"Chief Physician Pan said that the emergency department is involved as long as it's an emergency case. I'll come back soon, so wait for my return before you get off work," Zheng Ren instructed Chang Yue and left the office without bidding farewell, even with a 180-centimeter tall supermodel in the room.

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Chapter 71: Hysterectomy or No?

Zheng Ren rushed to the first floor of the emergency department building and found Old Chief Physician Pan waiting for him.

The two men ran toward the ICU. At the changing room before the ICU entrance, they put on surgical caps and masks, changing into dark green sterile scrubs and even swapping their shoes for slippers before entering.

The ICU was like treasure vaults in movies, where one had to change their clothes and go through two rounds of scrubbing before being allowed in.

This was to prevent the risk of contamination as most ICU patients had tracheostomy tubes connecting them to ventilators. They had very poor immunity and microorganisms that were usually commensals could become lethal pathogens.

Inside the ICU, many department chiefs were already there on the case.

The System display at the upper right corner of his vision told him that it was a placental abruption of the hemorrhagic sort.

The patient was a young female, 20 months into pregnancy. Due to pregnancy-induced hypertension, the placenta had detached from the uterine wall. The distance between the placenta and the uterus was half the length of the placenta.

The patient was bleeding excessively, resulting in a pallid complexion. She was sweating profusely and her heart rate was rising while her blood pressure was plummeting. She was exhibiting symptoms of hemorrhagic shock.

Fetal asphyxia had set in and the fetal heartbeat was undetectable. The baby was already dead.

This was a tricky case...

As this was the patient's first pregnancy, a hysterectomy would close the door on any future pregnancies. It was a cruel thing to do to an expecting mother.

However, if an emergency hysterectomy was not performed, the bleeding would not stop. The obstetric and gynecology department had tried to manage the bleed but antihemorrhagic drugs had helped little.

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A few of the department chiefs that came to consult had the same opinion. The case was a tricky one. They frowned at the worrying numbers on the vitals monitor, deep in thought.

The diagnosis was simple, but the biggest problem was the decision to remove the uterus.

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Su Yun stood by the patient's bed with a blue clipboard in his hand. His coat was white as snow and a stethoscope hung over his neck. He stared at the department chiefs with an impassive look.

"I suggest that we discuss this in the office. Time... There should be only ten minutes left. Xiao Su, start prepping for surgery," the ICU chief spoke.

The various department chiefs filed out of the ICU. Su Yun saw an unobtrusive Zheng Ren at the end of the crowd. Anyone would have missed his presence had they not been paying attention.

Su Yun gave the usual orders and the nurses got to work.

He left the observation room and went into the second room in the corridor. The room had clear windows and a large, makeshift table made up of a few office desks. There were a dozen or so chairs around it.

The ICU chief glanced at the clock and said, "We have nine more minutes."

"I don't think there's much more to debate," the obstetric and gynecology department chief, Su Yun, spoke firmly as he adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses, "We have tried many ways to stop the bleed but none were effective. Any more delays and the patient could go into hemorrhagic shock. By then, surgery won't be a viable option."

"Haih." The anesthesiology department chief sighed audibly. He started to speak but paused at the last second.

"Old Wang, what do you have to say? Don't sigh and just say it." The ICU chief was in an agitated mood and did not welcome dithering.

"If we only had an interventional surgery expert," Anesthesiology Department Chief Wang said. It was what everyone was thinking.

"Ask if the endovascular team can help us out."

The ICU chief's expression was dismissive. "The endovascular team has 18 myocardial infarction patients today among the three wards, all lined up for surgery."

If a myocardial infarction acted up without surgical intervention, death was guaranteed for the patient.

It was unlike the pregnant patient in the ICU who had the alternative of a hysterectomy to save her life.

These razor-sharp contradictions were a daily occurence in the hospital. Which lives were more virtuous? None. In the face of death, every person was equal and the only inequality lied in society.

Even if the endovascular surgeon was free to assist in the surgery, if something were to happen, who would be blamed? According to the law, surgeons were only licensed to practice within their expertise. Among all the specialties, only trauma surgeons were allowed some leeway.

The crowd was silent.

Zheng Ren stood at a corner. He had no authority to speak in this sort of large-scale emergency rescue meeting that involved the whole hospital.

If it were not for Old Chief Physician Pan's insistence, Zheng Ren would not have even been allowed to attend this meeting. The other department chiefs respected his seniority.

Zheng Ren understood the point they were making. If they wanted to preserve the uterus and stop the bleed, it had to be through interventional methods.

Surgeons involved in interventional radiology were exposed to large amounts of radiation. After one of the specialized surgeons had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, such surgeries became less popular. Doctors preferred placements in the endovascular team for coronary angioplasty and as time passed, there had been no one in the interventional radiology-assisted surgery department.

For this, Anesthesiology Department Chief Wang lamented.

The mention of interventional radiology reminded Zheng Ren of the System. It had once tempted him to choose interventional surgery.

Maybe he could try it out? Zheng Ren considered.

There was only a few minutes left. He had to decide.

Zheng Ren entered the System and opened up the Shop. He stared at the interventional surgery training option and hesitated.

He was not debating whether he wanted to purchase the training. Experience points were nothing if he could save one life or let the patient retain her reproductive ability.

His hesitation was self-doubt. He was unsure if he was eligible for the training.

Ever since attaining the System, Zheng Ren's memory had improved significantly. His knowledge of anatomical positions had gotten better alongside his general surgery skill.

Based on his memory, interventional surgery for a placenta abruption called for the embolization of the uterine artery. It was the easiest interventional surgical procedure.

Then... that was it.

Once the decision was made, Zheng Ren confidently selected the training.

In a flash, the operating theater rose from the ground. Zheng Ren felt a tug as a lead apron was affixed to his body. With a simulation mannequin before him, Zheng Ren gripped the catheterization kit in his hand.

How should he do this?

Zheng Ren was in a stupor.

[Please add skill points into interventional surgery to proceed with training.]

The robotic female voice of the System reminded Zheng Ren of his own thoughts. You idiot, you should have prepared your skill tree before trying a new surgery. Did you think you could just waltz in with zero preparation and pick up interventional surgery?

Sweat rolled down Zheng Ren's back. He used a skill book to raise his interventional surgery skills to Graduate rank, at 1000 skill points. Then he added 1 more point to achieve Expert rank.

The jump in skill level felt like a thunderbolt striking him from the sky. His whole body was paralyzed.

In an instant, his mind was clear as unfamiliar memories started to file in.

During his climb up the general surgery skill tree, Zheng Ren did not feel any noteworthy changes. That was because he was a general surgeon and was routinely exposed to pertinent cases. Even when he got 2000 skill points in general surgery, he only felt pride for his achievement.

This was a different case. Zheng Ren went from zero to Expert and it made him regard the System with wonder.

He had a total of 189920 experience points, worth around 52 hours. Equipped with the Expert rank, Zheng Ren bought 50 hours of surgical training time. The remaining points would be kept as a backup.

Interventional surgery training had begun!

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Chapter 72: Alone Without Assistance (Part I)

In the meeting room, Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Chief Su let out a sigh. He stood up and said, "Then that's settled. I'll speak to the family about the operation."

"It's the only way." Many of the department chiefs knew it would come to this, but had held out hope for an alternative plan.

"If I could have a second." Zheng Ren took a step to block the doorway.

"Eh? Xiao Zheng from general surgery?" Chief Su's familiarity with Zheng Ren started and ended with the first general surgery department.

"He's the chief resident of the emergency department now." Old Chief Physician Pan immediately corrected Chief Su, his tone protective.

"What is it?" Chief Su asked with a frown.

"I can perform interventional surgery. And emergency embolization surgery falls under emergency rescue protocols, making it legal," Zheng Ren stated.

"You?" A dozen pairs of eyes stared at Zheng Ren.

"I had done it during my housemanship." Zheng Ren knew it was a paper-thin reason. There was no way Chief Su would believe him.

Nevertheless, Zheng Ren could not think of a better lie to convince Chief Su.

"Step aside. I need to prepare for surgery." As predicted, Chief Su had no interest in Zheng Ren's nonsense.

Old Chief Physician Pan watched Zheng Ren. "Are you sure?"

"The emergency operating room has the hybrid operating table and we can borrow some consumables from the endovascular team. Compatibility is not perfect but it shouldn't be a problem. The only thing we lack for the uterine artery embolization is absorbable gelatin sponge."

The main procedure done by the endovascular team was angioplasty, so why would they have absorbable gelatin sponges?

"Old Chief Physician Pan..." Chief Su's frustration was palpable but he still respected the old chief's stature in the hospital.

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"Give Zheng Ren ten minutes on the hybrid operating table..."

"I only need five!" Zheng Ren said cheerily.

"Alright, five minutes. If it fails, the hysterectomy can proceed immediately. The emergency operating theater has the necessary machines, nurses, and anesthesiologist. The attempt will not compromise the hysterectomy in any way," Old Chief Physician Pan spoke.

Chief Su did some mental calculations. This attempt could reassure the family that the hospital had tried their very best and the hysterectomy was the last resort. They would be more accepting of the news.

"Will there be any complications?" Chief Wang from the anesthesiology department asked.

"It's possible but the chances are low and there's no time to explain," Zheng Ren replied.

"Then get to the emergency operating room now!" Chief Su slammed his hand on the wall and strode out of the room. He was going to inform the family about the procedures.

They would exhaust their arsenal to save the patient with hysterectomy being the last resort. The family would feel better hearing that.

As Chief Su agreed to operate in the emergency department's hybrid operating theater, Zheng Ren heard a System mission arrive.

[Emergency Room Mission: Save A Mother-To-Be

[Mission Details: Perform a uterine artery embolization surgery.

[Mission Reward: 100 skill points, 1000 experience points, one silver chest.

[Mission Duration: 3 hours.]

Zheng Ren had no time to go through the specifics. A life was on the line.

Su Yun wore a surprised expression when he looked at Zheng Ren... or dumbfounded was more accurate. A few seconds later, a sliver of a smile appeared on Su Yun's face.

A few surgeries during his housemanship and the guy thought he could complete an emergency uterine artery embolization within five minutes!

This was utter nonsense. He was just a general surgeon punching above his weight.

However, Su Yun's smile was not one of mockery but of genuine curiosity.

During a life-threatening emergency, speed was essential.

Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan hurried to the vascular imaging room for the necessary consumables.

The consumables used in angioplasty were of different make from those used in embolization, but in light of the emergency, practicality was all that mattered.

As they walked, Old Chief Physician Pan asked Zheng Ren about the type of absorbable gelatin sponge he needed, then proceeded to make a call.

A brief conversation on the phone later, he told Zheng Ren the absorbable gelatin sponges would be arriving soon. The old chief was a well-connected man indeed.

With Old Chief Physician Pan's guarantee, Zheng Ren felt his confidence rise.

Upon arrival at the vascular imaging room, Zheng Ren started to look for suitable consumables.

The materials used by the endovascular team were mostly soft and fine, characteristics that were not required in embolization surgery. After all, the uterine artery lumen was much wider than even a coronary artery with 90% blockage.

Zheng Ren's Expert rank allowed him to skillfully sieve through the many available materials and gather what he needed. A few minutes later, he was bounding toward the emergency operating theater, a bunch of guide wires and guide catheters in hand.

He was a bit winded when he reached the operating room. He let out a breath and started preparations.

Suddenly, the System spoke into Zheng Ren's ear and a new mission flashed at the top right corner of his vision.

Two missions? Zheng Ren was shocked.

[Special Mission: Alone Without Assistance

[Mission Details: No one can assist you. You can only rely on yourself. Surgery is not a one-man show but under special circumstances, it necessitates a solo operation.

[Please complete one surgery alone.

[Mission Reward: Unknown.

[Mission Duration: 3 hours.]

Alone without assistance... This phrase was like a bullet to Zheng Ren's heart.

Although Zheng Ren had the well-maintained hybrid operating theater, the lack of an assistant, a technician, and compatible equipment was paramount.

If this was a standard surgery, forgoing any one of the above would have led to failure.

Unfortunately, he had no time.

No time to practise.

No time to wait.

No time to waste.

His success or failure would determine a woman's future of becoming a mother.

Zheng Ren ignored the mission. The reward was inconsequential compared to the patient's life.

He switched on the slumbering machine. The noise reduction feature meant only a low humming could be heard.

The Siemens Artis zee Biplane Interventional Angiography System was released two years ago. The state-of-the-art facility had been untouched for more than a year.

Without an operator, the sleek machine was just a heap of metal.

Initiation, optimization. There was no technician, so Zheng Ren assigned the system access and control from within the operating theater. Similar to surgical lighting controls, a sterile film would be fixed over the Siemens' controls which would allow him to manipulate the system from within the sterile environment.

Earlier on, Xie Yiren and the Chu sisters had been called in.

The current procedure only required local anesthesia. Therefore, the Chu sisters were on standby. If Zheng Ren's attempt failed, the hysterectomy would call for the sisters' expertise in total anesthesia. However, the appearance of Anesthesiology Department Chief Wang diminished their chances of getting involved with the surgery.

Xie Yiren was facing a similar situation. Once the surgical instruments were prepared, she was left with nothing to do.

The patient was transported in. Her blood pressure was at 70/50 mmHg, her breathing rate was 25 breaths per minute and her blood oxygen saturation was at 92%. Her face was pale and she was sweating profusely, the classic symptoms of hemorrhagic shock.

Her intravenous tube was connected to a fresh bag of blood. The dark red flow was symbolic of the patient's lifeline.

Those present knew that the blood transfusion was short-term treatment. Excessive bleeding would lead to severe complications such as disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Stopping the bleed was imperative and Zheng Ren would decide whether it would be by a drastic hysterectomy or a minimally-invasive interventional surgery.

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Chapter 73: Alone Without Assistance (Part II)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Preoperative preparations were completed with commendable efficiency. The general hospital doctors and nurses did quality work, as expected.

No one wanted the young lady to lose her reproductive ability, especially when she had no children yet.

Obstetric and Gynecology Department Chief Su was informing the family about the surgery. He had little faith in Zheng Ren's abilities but respected Old Chief Physician Pan's judgment. The preparation and the blood transfusion for the patient took some time but the most time-consuming process was informing the family.

It took skill to deliver bad news to family members calmly and persuade them to make the right decision.

Chief Su decided to have a go at it.

It would not impact preparation for his surgery, so why not?

Shielded by lead glass windows, the other department chiefs stood in the control room and watched Zheng Ren's lonely operation.

Anesthesiology Department Chief Wang raised a question, "I heard the guy did 49 appendectomies a few days ago."

"Yes. The young man has great qualities. He has high quality work, good work ethic and is reliable." Old Chief Physician Pan gave a positive review of Zheng Ren.

Quality work, strong work ethic and the willingness to work. It was the ultimate praise for a doctor.

Su Yun stood at the back of the room with his back against the wall. His jet-black hair was tousled and the way they fell across his face was indescribably pretty. He silently observed Zheng Ren's movements in the operating theater. The way Zheng Ren opened the catheterization kit indicated proficiency, and even local anesthesia was accomplished swiftly.

The Seldinger technique was used to access the femoral artery and a vascular sheath was inserted. Each step was done expertly. This surgery was getting interesting.

Su Yun's eyes gleamed.

He turned heads whenever he walked around the hospital. The bold would come up to him and take their chances. However, inside the control room, no one paid him any attention. All eyes were fixed on Zheng Ren even if they could not decipher his actions.

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On Xinglin Garden, a livestream started.

Hundreds of doctors flocked to the stream within a minute of going live. The livestream was akin to an observation class. Many who joined did not even read the case study but typed away regardless. Doctors who did not know what was going on flirted with the pretty robot nurse. The livestream was brimming with excitement and activity.

[Salute to the surgeon! He's starting another surgery.]

[I rewatched the worm removal surgery at least ten times, my balls are on fire!]

[High temperature can reduce sperm motility. Are you trying to save on condoms? Even condoms are not a guarantee, though.]

[Agreed. A few days back, our hospital delivered a newborn who had a condom clutched in his hand.]

[That's one fortunate baby. Bless me with some of his luck.]

Most of the doctors in the livestream were general surgeons of various ranks. Their typing speed could match that of an esports gamer and the screen was filled with comments. One could say that there was a camaraderie among the viewers.

A moment later, the bullet comments vanished.

The viewers noticed the surgeon was performing local infiltration anesthesia over a large surface area.

The injector was used to administer the anesthetic. It did not remain in the subcutaneous layer and was pulled out after injection.

[Can't tell what the god is doing.]

[Judging from the position, could it be a femoral artery ablation?]

[What are you going to do with a femoral artery ablation? A bypass surgery wouldn't require you to touch that artery. Perhaps a thrombectomy? Congrats to the endovascular comrades, you guys will have something new to learn today.]

A few messages shot across the screen. They were surprised to see the livestream change to the view of the catheter needle and vascular sheath.

Then they saw the guide wire snake out.

Once a predefined length of the guide wire was inserted, another view appeared below the initial livestream. The second screen showed the guide wire travelling along the artery.

[It's an interventional radiology-assisted surgery? Is this a different surgeon?]

[Maybe this anon is a marketer from some private hospital who selected some surgeries as advertisement?]

[I feel the same way but logically speaking, a private hospital wouldn't advertise something simple like an inguinal hernia repair. It costs a few hundred yuan per surgery, there's no profit for them.]

[Also, a private hospital wouldn't do 49 appendectomies overnight.]

As the viewers debated the surgeon's origin, the guide wire had moved along the femoral artery and entered the bilateral internal iliac artery.

The contrast agent was administered. A pall of black smoke appeared on the image of the uterus.

Although the general surgeons had little experience in interventional surgery, they knew that the black smoke was due to the radiation from the contrast agent.

The agent covered a large area of the screen with the dark, intense smoke, indicating major bleeding in the patient's uterus.

[I'm an endovascular surgeon. The surgeon's guide wire doesn't look like a standard Cobra guide wire. It seems to be extremely soft and flexible.]

[And yet the surgeon has managed to guide the wire from the femoral artery into the internal iliac artery in a single attempt. Even with the Cobra wire, I couldn't guarantee a success on the first try.]

In the operating control room, there were two 40-inch LCD screens displaying the ongoing surgery.

Those in the room were all chiefs of their respective departments. None of them practised intervention surgery, but that did not stop them from lobbing criticism and unnecessary commentaries.

Not everyone could perform surgery but anyone could make disparaging remarks.

The ICU chief did not even give Zheng Ren the benefit of the doubt. He was waiting expectantly for the whole drama to end so that Chief Su could start the hysterectomy after obtaining the family's consent.

However... This surgery was progressing without a hitch...

The femoral artery puncture saw blood at the first attempt.

Not everyone had such skill, and it was doubly difficult when the patient had low blood volume due to hemorrhaging. 'This could be attributed to the nitrite poisoning cases a few days back', the ICU chief reminded himself.

When the guide wire was inserted, Zheng Ren switched on the imaging system. The image was broadcasted to the control room screens and the ICU chief saw the guide wire was at the branching of the internal iliac artery.

Now, the level of expertise required to achieve this was astounding.

The contrast medium showed that there was a massive bleed in the uterus, more severe than previously estimated.

The ICU chief was slightly panicked. If too much blood was lost, by the time the family members agreed to a hysterectomy, the patient might not survive.

Through the Xinglin Garden livestream, the doctors could see the severity of the bleed. A nervousness ran through the viewers.

Even though they did not know the identity or location of the patient, the doctors online went into emergency rescue mode.

[My god, that's a lot of blood! Looks like an aortic rupture.]

[Must be a placental abruption that tore open the uterine artery. What else can it be?]

[The blood pressure is dropping. The patient might go into cardiac arrest due to hypovolemia.]

[The god is in the middle of an emergency rescue, not some... Damn, he's livestreaming this. He can't be that confident?]

The numbers on the vital signs monitor were evident to all who witnessed. The patient had lost too much blood and was on death's door.

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Chapter 74: Alone Without Assistance (Part III)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Bang!" The emergency operating theater door flung open and one of the Chu sisters rushed in with a sterile package in her hands.

"Chief Physician Pan, the absorbable gelatin sponge!"

Sure enough, the medical supply Old Chief Physician Pan demanded had been delivered within ten minutes. It was also fortunate that Sea City General Hospital was located in the city center, surrounded by the headquarters of many medical device companies. If the hospital was in a suburb, the delivery would not have been as quick even if a helicopter was involved.

Two units of fresh frozen red blood cells were quickly consumed. Xie Yiren, who had been attentively watching the infusion, put a lead apron without hesitation.

The lead apron was heavy, but she was determined despite the strenuous effort.

"Put it away," a voice said lazily, "This is a man's job."

Stunned, Xie Yiren saw Su Yun, who had been standing beside her all along, picking up a lead apron and putting it on. After that, he walked toward the console and pressed the intercom button.

"Zheng Ren, stop the procedure temporarily, we ran out of blood."

Then, he brushed the black hair falling on his forehead aside.

"Do you know how to do it?" asked Xie Yiren.

"I'm the smartest man in the world. I know everything," answered Su Yun.

Even in the presence of so many senior consultants, he could still casually utter all manner of childish statements with no hint of shame.

Su Yun was definitely a weirdo.

After Zheng Ren made a gesture, Su Yun opened the thick lead door and entered the room.

The surgery continued as soon as the lead door was closed.

In Xinglin Garden, after a short pause of the livestream, the host surgeon started performing superselective catheterization using a micro-guidewire.

The so-called superselective catheterization referred to the usage of a micro-guidewire for the superselection of small arteries branching at an acute angle from a large parent artery.

The concept was similar to a mainstream forking off to several branches. Any expert helmsman would know that it was extremely difficult to maneuver the boat into a particular branch smoothly when facing turbulent flow and inertia from the trunk. It required lots of experience.

The same rules applied to this surgery as well.

The guidewire in the left internal iliac artery was directly superselected into the left uterine artery without any trouble.

[What a smooth entrance. Sure looks like it isn't difficult at all.]

[This surgery is awesome!]

[Uh... This vascular surgeon is in shock. The manipulation is simply fascinating.]

Even if they were professional doctors, the differences in subspecialties made them feel worlds apart.

After the smooth entry of guidewire into the left uterine artery from the left internal iliac artery, the comments in Xinglin Garden were immediately divided into two groups—the ignorant merely assuming that it was an easy task, and those who understood the procedure sending their reverence without a second thought.

After the guidewire entered the desired artery, microcatheterization began.

The microcatheter waltzed through all the tough spots and acute corners without brute force, and the whole process was smooth-sailing.

Following the injection of the absorbable gelatin sponge, embolization of the left uterine artery was complete.

Since the first embolization had been successful, what were the odds of failure for the next one?

Two minutes later, the right uterine artery was embolized as well.

Zheng Ren waited one minute before performing the angiography again. Fortunately, the deadly "smoke" sign in the uterine arteries did not appear again.

He withdrew the guidewire and microcatheter before applying pressure on the wound. The surgery was officially complete.

Su Yun had nothing else to do after changing one pack of fresh frozen red blood cells. He initially thought that the procedure would take at least fifteen minutes, but he did not expect Zheng Ren to complete it in just a few minutes.

After staring at Zheng Ren for a few seconds, he brushed the black hair on his forehead to the side and smiled.

Pretty as a picture.

"Chief Zheng, is there a shortage of staff in the emergency department?"

That was unexpected. Confused, Zheng Ren asked subconsciously while maintaining pressure on the wound, "What?"

"I heard that you've been performing surgeries independently these past few days. Poor bachelor, you even have to perform operations alone." The pretty Su Yun was indeed a sharp-tongued man. It was clearly a compliment, but somehow it became foul as soon as it left his mouth. "Do you need a competent assistant who is ten thousand times more beautiful than you?"

"..." Were it not for the fact that Zheng Ren was compressing the wound to achieve hemostasis, he would have surely slapped the bastard to death.

In the operator console room, many senior consultants were flabbergasted.

The bewildered Chief Wang of the anesthesiology department looked at the clock hanging on the wall. The surgery time... was more than six minutes, which seemed to be longer than what Zheng Ren initially promised, but was that a problem?

Not at all.

Old Chief Physician Pan looked proud with a smile hanging on his face and arms crossed over his chest. The fact that Zheng Ren finished the surgery successfully gave him more satisfaction than if he had completed the operation himself.

The ICU chief's mind was in chaos after receiving a critical hit as he had been the one insisting on a hysterectomy from the beginning. After all, the patient's life was far more important than her reproductive ability. In his opinion, anyone who hesitated on this simple multiple-choice question was undoubtedly idiotic.

Thus, he had great prejudice against both Old Chief Physician Pan and Zheng Ren.

However... he had not foreseen that Zheng Ren had completed the uterine arteries' embolization in just a few minutes.

What the f*ck!

He was dazed and confused despite his happiness.

All of these went against his knowledge of medicine. Since when were general surgeons so skillful, even knowing how to perform a catheter embolization?

"Bang!" The operator console room door was flung open again.

Poor door. It was always the target of critical damage during an emergency.

"The patient's family agreed to a hysterectomy. The anesthesiologist will begin administering anesthesia and the nurses will prepare the instruments. Let's get ready for surgery!" Chief Su of the obstetrics department quickly instructed with a dark expression. Obviously, her attempt to communicate with the family members had not gone well and led to a choice between life and death for the patient.

However, no one in the operator console room moved a muscle, as if they had not heard her commands at all. Her suppressed emotions burst forth instantly.

"What the f*ck are you guys waiting for?!"

Every senior consultant possessed an awe-inspiring aura and that aura intensified especially in an emergency.

There was no superior-subordinate relationship or deception at that point. Everyone had to go all out in the rescue operation and try their very best to pull the patient back from the brink of death.

Blurting out swear words did not mean that the doctor was without manners.

"Chief Su, the surgery is complete and the uterine arteries have been embolized. The hemorrhage... The huge hemorrhage has stopped." Old Chief Physician Pan, who had a cruel sense of humor, paused for a brief moment and savored the anxious look on Chief Su's face before continuing, "Use vaginal packing for hemostasis and labor induction can be commenced in one to two days."

"..." Chief Su's eyes widened and her pupils dilated immediately as if there was a complete absence of pupillary light reflex.

"What?!" Her voice was sharp like a shattered glass piercing everyone's eardrums. She simply refused to believe such an outrageous claim.

"The surgery is complete, and the patient's uterus and life have been saved." Old Chief Physician Pan slowly added, "Whether the patient will have DIC or unsuccessful labor induction in the future is none of my concern."

His current expression was full of pride. "How can you not let the emergency department handle emergency cases?"

"Uh..." Chief Su finally noticed the imaging video that was running in a loop in the console.

From the initial pall of black smoke in the angiogram, to smooth embolizations, until the smoke sign completely disappeared in the second imaging. What did that mean? Naturally, Chief Su understood it perfectly.

Was it a success?

Her previous perturbation instantly vanished into thin air. The moment she left her distressed state, energy drained from her body and she slumped down on a chair. "That's good. That's very good."

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Chapter 75: Reward—Master Rank In Interventional Radiology

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

[His general surgery skill should be one of the best in this country. I don't know anything about interventional radiology, but I've consulted my colleagues in the cardiovascular department. Any surgeon who can embolize a uterine artery within five to six minutes is unrivaled in the province. However, it was impossible for the same surgeon to achieve such a high standard in different surgery subspecialties. Therefore, I suspect that this is actually an official account. Evaluation complete.]

[The feeling is mutual, but that surgery was done beautifully.]

[What the hell is interventional radiology? Can I have a show of hands of those who didn't understand the whole operative process?]

Countless comments flew across the screen. Even as doctors, they were bewildered by the cross-disciplinary surgery broadcast.

However, none of them could criticize this surgery after witnessing the effect of treatment.

Preoperative diagnosis was definitive: placental abruption and hemorrhagic shock; two terms that were more than enough to induce hypertension in any experienced doctor.

Those terms were equivalent to aggressive resuscitation and a life on the brink of death.

[Will the embolization of uterine arteries cause the uterus to necrose? I would appreciate it if anyone can enlighten me.]

[I've the same question in mind too.]

[...]

[Thank you for the A2A. Instead of using embolization coils or other embolic agents, the host surgeon chose to use an absorbable gelatin sponge due to its expandable properties after absorbing blood to form an embolism for hemostasis. Since the gelatin sponge dissolves in one week, the bleeding points in the uterine arteries have already clotted and restoring blood supply to the uterus won't cause a hemorrhage again.]

Xinglin Garden was indeed a professional website. Someone would definitely show off their knowledge and respond to questions almost instantaneously.

[One week? The uterus will necrose by then, right?]

[Go back and read the anatomy atlas. Here is a hint, pay attention to the source of uterine arteries and the branches that supply the uterus.]

[The uterine functions won't be affected. Rest assured, questioner.]

The uterine arteries embolization was complete within a few minutes.

The smoke dissipation signified that the surgery was successful.

The next few steps would be blood transfusion, vaginal packing and induction of labor.

However, subsequent procedures were simple and there was ample time to study and change the treatment plan if the need arose.

The most difficult part actually lay in those few minutes of uterine artery embolization.

When the surgery objectives—saving the patient's life and reproductive ability—had been fully achieved, the atmosphere in Xinglin Garden live broadcast room became lively again.

[I've an urge to further my studies, but I'm scared after hearing that it's a private hospital that had registered an official account for advertisement.]

[It looks like the hospital isn't led by Putian Medical Group1, so don't worry and feel free to further your studies there.]

[Yes. If the host surgeon works in Putian Hospital and chose not to use a synthetic mesh for hernia repair, they would have been forced to resign after the surgery was complete.]

The live broadcast room soon became quiet following the exit of thousands of viewers who failed to understand the surgery.

Even though viewers were leaving one after another, a few people kept entering the room to watch the replay of the surgery.

Most of these doctors were interventional radiologists who just registered new accounts in Xinglin Garden.

This group of doctors was a minority in the nationwide medical field but were indispensable. It was why Sea City General Hospital had no choice but to perform a hysterectomy; it did not attach enough importance to interventional radiology.

There were only a few doctors working in interventional radiology and their skills varied tremendously. Therefore, they had reached a consensus that highly skilled interventional radiologists were scarce in the medical world.

For example, a tertiary hospital in Sorcery Capital specializing in hepatobiliary surgery could finish an interventional radiological treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma within ten minutes. That was absolutely shocking.

...

...

Zheng Ren ignored Su Yun, who seemed to be provoking him with ill-intended criticism. Transferring to the emergency department just to assist him in surgery? What a ridiculous joke.

Ten to fifteen minutes of wound compression was needed to achieve hemostasis.

Xie Yiren was busy discarding all disposables and cleaning various surgical instruments post-surgery in the operating theater.

Moreover, at least two nurses' signatures were required to confirm the usage of blood bags.

Xie Yiren carried out these tedious tasks in an organized manner. The bored Chu sisters also assisted her and performed any tasks that were within their powers.

These young staffers had slowly developed a harmonious relationship after getting along well with each other in the past few days.

The patient's blood pressure, based on the readings on the monitor, had begun to stabilize and gradually increased a minute later. Staring at the 100-percent surgery completion rate in the System panel, Zheng Ren knew that her uterus had been saved.

Ding-dong!

The System's mission completion notification sound was music to his ears especially after a successful emergency rescue operation. The feeling was comparable to that of a senior consultant approaching him with a thick red packet after completing a surgery while saying, "This is a bonus from the hospital management."

It was a beautiful dream, but a distant one as nobody actually gave a bonus for such a reason.

Except for the System, of course.

[Emergency Room Mission: Save A Mother-To-Be accomplished. The surgery completion rate is 100 percent. 100 skill points, 1000 experience points and a silver chest obtained. Time spent: 23 minutes and 15 seconds. The remaining time is converted to 9405 experience points.]

Ding-dong!

[Special Mission: Alone Without Assistance accomplished. The surgery completion rate is 100 percent. Mission Reward: A set of lead apron with radioactive energy conversion properties awarded and the host's interventional radiology skill is upgraded to the Master rank. The remaining time is converted to 9405 experience points.]

Zheng Ren was again surprised by the System's unconstrained creativity.

He knew that the System had been prompting him into learning interventional radiology ever since it started giving him various tempting offers.

However, he was born in the general surgery department and simply could not comprehend the purpose of interventional radiology, which was why he had given up every time.

This time, upon encountering this emergency case, the System had seized this opportunity and gave Zheng Ren a special mission with an irresistible reward—an interventional radiology skill upgrade to the Master rank.

Was the System trying to lead him down a path of no return in interventional radiology?

What could Zheng Ren possibly do about it? However, he would not mind at all since it could improve his overall skill as well. As the older generations said, knowledge was no burden, and he firmly believed in that wisdom.

'If I had put more effort into interventional radiology in the beginning, perhaps I could have saved fifty hours of surgery intensive training time. Damn, what a pity.'

The fact that Zheng Ren had poured a massive amount of experience points into the Shop shattered his heart to pieces.

There were still a few minutes left until complete clot formation, so without wasting any time, Zheng Ren started calculating the skill points and experience points in his inventory.

Despite completing two missions, his general surgery skill tree remained the same at 2044 points, but there were 1529 skill points, 2 skill books and a silver chest in his inventory. Adding the experience points from the mission rewards to the remaining 9920 points, he currently had 28730 experience points in his savings.

These experience points were more than enough to purchase a set of surgical equipment, but they would be insufficient if he wanted to master a surgical technique.

'I need to work harder," Zheng Ren thought.

Regarding the random lead apron with some magical transformation power, Zheng Ren failed to locate it and presumed that it was stored somewhere in the System.

Zheng Ren decided to leave the silver chest, which could contain special rewards, aside for the time being. He was afraid that opening the chest would release mystical rays that could attract the attention of the nancy boy—Su Yun, who was currently standing beside him.

Yes, for ordinary people like Zheng Ren, the handsome Su Yun was a typical nancy boy.

In this era where appearance ruled the world, Su Yun would attract an incredible amount of attention no matter where he was. Plain-looking bachelors had no choice but to weep alone in a corner.

At least, that was what he had convinced himself of in order to comfort his fragile heart.

Ten minutes later, Zheng Ren stopped compressing and dressed the femoral artery puncture point. Then, he transferred the patient to the stretcher trolley and let Chief Su of the obstetrics department to send her back to the ward.

Zheng Ren believed that Chief Su would not encounter any issues explaining the patient's condition to her family members.

They would likely be exhilarated after knowing that both the patient's life and uterus had been saved.

Regarding the fetus... Its death was fated and there was nothing they could do about it. Gestational hypertension was extremely difficult to treat and its pathophysiology remained poorly understood even until now.

Zheng Ren gazed after the slowly vanishing stretcher trolley before taking his lead apron off.

His surgical gown was completely drenched in sweat.

A stressful event such as an emergency rescue operation would cause the body to secrete a large amount of catecholamines, hence the diaphoresis. In addition, an airtight lead apron weighing more than ten kilograms had to be worn throughout the interventional radiological treatment process. That alone was more than enough to induce perspiration in its wearer.

'An interventional radiologist's life is really difficult,' Zheng Ren thought.

Why did the System insist on guiding him to interventional radiology? It was a good question, but Zheng Ren had no answer for it.

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Chapter 76: New Guy Reporting In

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After the surgery, Zheng Ren jotted down the emergency meeting minutes and the details of the surgery. Then, he went for his usual ward rounds.

Chang Yue was in one room, chatting with the family members. Zheng Ren did not consider it slacking off as communication was part of a doctor's responsibility.

If Zheng Ren and Chang Yue were to fuse into one person, they would be the perfect doctor.

Hmm, the thought was slightly disturbing. Zheng Ren shook his head and crushed the idea.

The patients in the ward were doing well, and some were even being discharged.

Most of the patients were locals who opted to leave once they regained mobility. Even a single room in the hospital could not compare to the comfort of one's own home.

Those who stayed in triple-bedroom wards had to deal with overcrowding as visitors flitted in and out. Sometimes, it felt hard to breathe in such rooms, and patients were thus often eager to be discharged from the hospital.

The hospital did not have many foreign patients as Sea City was neither the blessed city nor the vice city of the nation1. Regardless of medical insurers' pleas to remain in the hospital, patients were still discharged accordingly.

The last room had Cen Meng's uncle.

Cen Meng was in the room reading as his uncle rested with closed eyes.

It was an open surgery, so recovery was much slower.

There had been patients who left the hospital just one day after laparoscopic surgeries.

Zheng Ren had even heard of escaped patients gorging themselves and developing pancreatitis as a result.

Zheng Ren entered the room and gave Cen Meng a faint smile. There was nothing to say between the two of them. Now, it was strictly a relationship between doctor and patient's family.

He meant Cen Meng no harm but was not about to forgive the man. Even though Cen Meng had knelt before him in sincere apology, Zheng Ren held onto his grudges.

The awkwardness between the two was palpable to Chang Yue.

She ignored the two chief residents and headed straight to the patient's bed to start chatting with the patient.

The conversation captured Zheng Ren's attention and he found out Cen Meng's uncle was a fan of Japanese cuisine. Generally speaking, Japanese cuisine was mostly based on ocean fish which had relatively fewer parasitic worms.

There were unscrupulous businesses in the country that intentionally served freshwater fish as ocean fish. Freshwater fish had a higher incidence of parasitic worms. Ingestion of these infected fish could lead to a case like that of Cen Meng's uncle.

Of course, luck and consumption volume were at play here.

Zheng Ren had once met a septuagenarian who loved essential oil massages. He had the habit of getting said massages twice a day. Three months later, he developed acute kidney failure due to overexposure to some unknown substances in the essential oil.

At the end of his ward round, Zheng Ren was very impressed with Chang Yue.

She was impassive toward him but incredibly sincere when dealing with patients. She knew about Cen Meng's uncle's love for fresh seafood and proposed a recovery plan with that in mind. The hospital was lucky to get a resident like her.

Zheng Ren had no doubts that Chang Yue would never treat him with such warmth. Without much fanfare, he went back to his office to do some reading.

He was a single dog for a reason.

Zheng Ren was a homebody, his home being the office and the operating theater.

As the days passed, the weather got colder, and yet the emergency department was heating up.

In two days, Zheng Ren treated eight acute appendicitis patients and four with acute cholecystitis.

The long-term main mission was to become the best general surgeon. He still had six unused skill points from surgery completions. Among the eight appendectomies, two had perforation at the appendix while one was gangrenous. Based on their classification, the three procedures were second-grade surgeries which warranted double points. From the appendectomies alone, Zheng Ren was awarded 11 completion points.

The four cholecystectomies were done through laparoscopy and thus considered a third-grade surgery. He gained 16 points for them.

A total of 27 points were added to his store. He also completed three main missions related to the vascular system, giving him another three points.

From all this, Zheng Ren was rewarded with 30 skill points and 3000 experience points, reaching a total of 1549 experience points1. After all those surgeries, his general surgery skill tree was up to 2065 points.

He was one step closer to the Master rank. His heart was filled with glee.

Zheng Ren just needed to focus on completing surgeries. He never thought this day would come. When he was with the first general surgery department, the surgeries were all done by the chief resident and he had no chance to learn.

This was hands-on experience. As older doctors would say, even the dumbest person would be able to perform an appendectomy after practicing a hundred times.

It was all about practice.

Going home was unnecessary to Zheng Ren. He figured that he should simply take a day off and move his belongings to the hospital.

At the house, he ran into Xiao Zhao and they talked for a while.

The livestream had initially been a huge success but reports of it being a breach of privacy soon emerged.

Hence, Xiao Zhao's livestream was suspended.

Xiao Zhao was not saddened by the fact. Instead, he believed this was a blessing in disguise. He was in the midst of testing a few public websites, as he planned to edit the surgery videos and upload them to an open access site.

Zheng Ren was amused by Xiao Zhao's eagerness.

Zheng Ren had no brains for business and marketing. He knew nothing about Weibo or other public websites and thus left such matters to Xiao Zhao. He only urged Xiao Zhao to keep it on the down-low.

Packing a suitcase with some clean clothes, Zheng Ren went back to the emergency room.

As he stepped into the corridor, he saw a detestable figure.

Su Yun had an unmistakable profile. Zheng Ren had a severe, irrevocable case of face blindness but Su Yun's face still stood out.

There was only one figure standing in the hallway and Zheng Ren recognized Su Yun immediately.

"Chief Zheng, I'm reporting in." Su Yun noted the suitcase behind Zheng Ren but made no moves to help. He leaned against the wall, striking a pose that seemed juvenile to Zheng Ren.

For a moment, Zheng Ren felt that Chu Yanzhi and Su Yun would make a good couple. Chu Yanzhi also had that childish habit of cheering for herself before an anesthesia procedure.

However, Chu Yanzhi was much more tolerable since she was a young and pretty lady.

Su Yun, on the other hand, was inexcusable.

Zheng Ren tamped down his disgust and forced a smile. "Why are you here?"

"I'm reporting in, didn't you hear? Did the radiation exposure damage your auditory nerve? Or maybe the nephrotoxicity caused a loss of hearing? That's a bit over-the-top from just one procedure," Su Yun answered.

This man deserved a beating.

Zheng Ren cursed internally. He lost out in looks and wit when it came to Su Yun. He walked away with his suitcase, ignoring the man.

"What's wrong? Am I not welcome?" Su Yun doggedly followed Zheng Ren all the way to the on-call room. He leaned against the doorframe like a boneless person with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Not really," Zheng Ren said, "You should report to Old Chief Physician Pan. I doubt he would want someone like you."

"He already agreed." Su Yun showed a charming smile.

"Oh? How did you convince him? Are there insufficient personnel in the emergency department?" Zheng Ren asked as he sorted his things. He avoided looking at Su Yun, fearing that his self-control would fail to prevent him from kicking the man.

"I'm here to partner with you. That's not the main reason of course. After all, you can perform solo surgeries," Su Yun continued, "I'm here to solve the shortage of nurses in the department."

Su Yun? Nurses? Shortage?

Zheng Ren identified the three keywords in Su Yun's explanation.

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Chapter 77: Sharp-Tongued Nancy Boy

Zheng Ren thought for a moment. The situation was understandable.

While he was stationed in the emergency room, there were no signs of women swarming to the department. That would not be the case for Su Yun. His arrival would bring a much-welcomed boost in manpower, especially when it came to nurses.

This was the stark difference between the beauty and the beast[1].

"Aren't you related to Director Fu? How did you end up here in the emergency room?" Zheng Ren asked.

Su Yun's crinkled eyes assessed Zheng Ren. He spoke contemptuously, "Perhaps I should reconsider the necessity of my transfer to the emergency department."

Zheng Ren tidied his belongings and refused to respond to Su Yun's theatrics.

"Director Fu being my relative and my transfer to the emergency department are mutually exclusive. Is the logic confounding for your addled brain? I didn't notice your slowness during the surgery." Su Yun's tone was filled with sarcasm.

Zheng Ren let out a sigh.

A pumped-up Su Yun was like Chu Yanzhi but his sarcasm resembled Chang Yue. He was good-looking...like a combination of the few ladies Zheng Ren knew. The f*cker was a sharp-tongued nancy boy[2].

"I look forward to your guidance," Su Yu chuckled, totally unruffled by Zheng Ren's demeanor.

Guidance... Haha...

Su Yun stopped the awkward conversation and pulled out his phone. There was a small smile on his face. Zheng Ren figured he was either playing a game or flirting with one of the ladies.

Around ten minutes later, a young nurse came into the room. "Su... Chief Zheng, here are some of the fruits I bought today. Both of you should have some," she said to Zheng Ren while her eyes were seduced by Su Yun.

The basket of fruits for 'them' was then placed in front of Su Yun.

Red-faced, the young nurse turned to leave.

Before she did, Su Yun looked up and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Thank you."

The hand appeared to have stroked the lady's heart as well. Zheng Ren thought she would start squealing in delight.

Really... Since becoming the emergency department chief resident, he was in the hospital almost 24/7. None of the nurses had ever given him anything, let alone a basket of pre-washed fruits.

Each fruit gleamed as water droplets on them reflected the light. The fruit basket had been prepared with love.

Zheng Ren could imagine the excitement and joy of the nurse or nurses washing the fruits.

Was he not deserving of such treatment?

The single dog was incredibly frustrated. He stood and left the on-call room.

"Where are you going?" Su Yun's voice followed Zheng Ren like a spirit.

"Wards. Checking up on the patients under observation," Zheng Ren replied moodily.

"Is that how you spend your free time?" Su Yun laughed as he fell in step with Zheng Ren, unaware that his presence was stoking Zheng Ren's anger.

"As a chief resident, making rounds is a duty, not a pastime," Zheng Ren answered coolly.

There was an oncoming nurse who was preoccupied with her phone. A presence made her look up and a surprised expression came over her face.

"Ah!" The enthusiasm manifested in the slight skip in her step. "Dr. Su, why are you in the emergency department? Are you visiting a patient? I can take you there. Who are you looking for?"

Su Yun gave her a smile and said, "I've been placed in the emergency department. Making the rounds with Chief Zheng here."

Hearing those words, the nurse almost lost her grip on her phone—a full-blown blush colored her face crimson.

Zheng Ren picked up his footsteps. An ugly, single dog like him could not bear any more injury to his ego.

However, the perpetrator was still on his heels, strolling in a lackadaisical manner. Su Yun had a friendly disposition and smiled at everyone who greeted him.

One of the patients in the emergency room even walked over, a hand over her abdomen, to ask for Su Yun's WeChat details. He turned her down politely.

The fact that even sick patients were approaching Su Yun made Zheng Ren's blood boil.

As they walked past Old Chief Physician Pan's office, Zheng Ren heard voices in disagreement.

He made a move to enter but Su Yun spoke up suddenly, "ICU Chief Qian and Chief Pan are arguing. You sure you want to interrupt them?"

"Yes? Why are they fighting?" Zheng Ren asked and instantly regretted it.

This bastard was going to belittle him again.

"If your IQ was at least half your surgery skills, you wouldn't need to ask such a question." Su Yun shot him a mocking smile.

Zheng Ren was speechless.

Su Yun's departure from the ICU must have made some nurses request for a transfer.

The ICU was tough and hard work. Many of the ICU nurses suffered lumbar disc prolapse by the age of 30.

Su Yun was a blessing to the ICU. Never before had the department seen transfer requests favouring the ins instead of the outs, the hectic environment and heavy workload notwithstanding .

Hence, Su Yun's departure was a whirlwind to the ICU.

No wonder ICU Chief Qian came all the way to the emergency department. While Old Chief Physician Pan was revered, Chief Qian was not about to roll over and take it.

Tsk, what a scene.

Zheng Ren gave up.

He continued making his rounds and was welcomed with newfound fondness.

Fondness that was directed to the man behind him, Zheng Ren had no doubt.

The patients were all in stable condition. Many of them gave reasons to remain in the emergency observation ward. Once their insurance claims were maxed out, their illness would be cured immediately.

Zheng Ren left the observation ward. Su Yun was like an annoying fly that would not leave him alone no matter how hard he swatted.

Something made him stop when he walked past the emergency room.

There was a female patient in her mid-twenties talking to the on-call doctor.

Zheng Ren read the details on the System's interface and thought for a moment.

"What's up?" Su Yun asked curiously. He peeked into the room and saw a pleasing silhouette. His lips curled into a smile.

"You can't be that thirsty," Su Yun teased.

Zheng Ren eyed Su Yun, a gleam in his eyes.

"What are you thinking?" Su Yun warned.

"Do you know what she has?" Zheng Ren asked.

Su Yun answered in a condescending tone, "Why don't you go and ask yourself?"

"Look at her fingers. There's abnormal swelling, isn't there?" Zheng Ren said.

Su Yun peered into the room again. The young lady's hands were set in front of her. On the middle finger of her right hand, there was a red bump. It did not look like an abrasion or burn. He also ruled out the common folliculitis.

"Yeah. What's your diagnosis?" Su Yun was curious.

"Endometriosis," Zheng Ren concluded.

The answer left Su Yun speechless.

Endometriosis occured when live cells of the endometrium attached themselves to surfaces outside the uterus. It was a common women's condition.

Endometrial cells were localized in the uterus but could develop ectopically due to various reasons, one of them being backward menstrual flow through the Fallopian tube.

The young female patient... Middle finger... Endometriosis...

Su Yun was in a daze for a good ten seconds. Then, he shook his head and his mop of black hair followed suit. He was very attractive.

"Logically, it could happen but the chances are slim to none. I've never heard of an endometriosis case like this," Su Yun said honestly.

"If you don't believe me, go ahead and ask. The treatment is simple; just get the hand surgeon to remove the excess flesh. As to how she got it, it's none of our business." Zheng Ren threw the responsibility to Su Yun.

After all, this case required some tricky personal questions.

Zheng Ren was a simple-minded man who valued honesty in conversations. If he went to speak to the patient about endometriosis and how it could possibly have ended up on her finger, he could get sued for sexual harassment.

On the other hand, Su Yun should not have any obstacles.

This was a man who could turn other men gay. This lady would be a walk in the park.

[1] 帅逼和丑逼: can also be translated as the handsome and the ugly.

[2] 娘炮: derogatory term for an effeminate or homosexual man.

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Chapter 78: Finger Endometriosis

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zheng Ren gestured to the doctor on duty in the emergency department to come out and let Su Yun handle the consultation session.

He noticed the gleam in the female patient's eyes as soon as her gaze rested on Su Yun as if the small universe in her heart just exploded.

'Appearance does rule the world.' Zheng Ren sighed heavily and called the doctor on duty to the corridor for the discussion of recent emergency admissions.

"Bang!" Old Chief Physician Pan's office door flung open and ICU Chief Qian stormed out of the room.

It was necessary to maintain a certain degree of grace since there were many patients outside the office, so the door had to be the one receiving collateral damage in the end.

Following ICU Chief Qian's departure, Old Chief Physician Pan slowly walked out of his office with a smile on his face. Judging by their expressions, it was obvious who had had the upper hand in the argument just now.

Old Chief Physician Pan, whose mood had lightened up after witnessing ICU Chief Qian's exasperation, noticed Zheng Ren and summoned him to the office.

"Little Zheng, sit." Old Chief Physician Pan picked up a teacup with steam rising from it.

"What kind of support do you still need in your work?" he asked.

"I've listed out the medical supplies required for interventional radiology. I hope we can get it as soon as possible." Instead of sitting down, Zheng Ren stood like a recruit reporting to his squad leader and said seriously, "Interventional radiology is useful for diagnosing and treating emergency cases, just like—"

Old Chief Physician Pan waved his hand, interrupting Zheng Ren.

"Don't worry about it. I've submitted a temporary purchase order and the supplies should be delivered in two days. Since it's just a temporary list, we still need to make more orders in the future. It'll be fine as long as you communicate with the matron." Old Chief Physician Pan was indeed a soldier who carried out his tasks swiftly. He had already solved the most problematic issue in the hospital—the purchase of new medical supplies—in just two days.

"As for the rest... What is Su Yun doing here?" asked Zheng Ren.

"He requested the transfer himself. I heard that he had a quarrel with Director Fu too," Old Chief Physician Pan added with a smile, "He is a man with extraordinary ability."

"..."

Well, it was true, especially with the nurses.

"I checked his files and called my comrades in Union Medical College Hospital. Everyone was sorry to see him leave at that time."

"Alright then." Zheng Ren would not push the point if there was nothing wrong with the working principles involved.

After all, many hands make light work, even though Su Yun's words were mean and harsh.

Even if he was good for nothing, the emergency department could still enshrine him as a mascot since he could help to skyrocket its development into overdrive.

Coincidentally, Su Yun and the young female patient were leaving the consultation room together when Zheng Ren left Old Chief Physician Pan's office.

Blush seared through the female patient's cheeks and her big, sparkling eyes were full of joy.

On the other hand, Su Yun, who seemed to have given necessary advice to the patient, wore a stony expression and quietly stood beside Zheng Ren like a ghost.

'It looks like he has solved this patient's problem perfectly,' Zheng Ren thought with a smile.

"Doctor Su, do I consult you on my next appointment?" asked the young female patient whose gaze drifted past Zheng Ren as if he was invisible and rested on Su Yun.

"My job is in the emergency wards upstairs, not consultations," answered Su Yun impatiently.

Ignoring the hostility in Su Yun's tone, the seemingly smart and playful girl made a cute face and said happily, "I'll visit you in the emergency ward on my next appointment."

After that, she turned around and trotted away without waiting for Su Yun's response.

She was akin to a shy girl of the past with a crush on someone.

Whether it was due to anxiety or the pair of five-centimeter high heels she had on, the girl sprained her ankle around the corner.

'She is panicking...' Zheng Ren stared at the back of the girl leaving the hallway and sighed.

"Looks like the consultation went on smoothly," Zheng Ren said to Su Yun on their way toward the emergency ward.

"It's alright," Su Yun habitually brushed the black hair on his forehead to the side and added, "She has become straight, thanks to me."

"Huh?" Zheng Ren was confused. 'Become straight? What the hell does that mean?'

It was impossible for Zheng Ren, who had been immersed in learning, performing surgeries and taking care of the patients, to know much about this issue.

"Your diagnosis is correct. I told her to get a minor hand surgery in the outpatient department and she'll know the result once the resected tissue is sent for pathology." Su Yun then added with a zombie-like face, "She asked me out for a meal and wanted me to change her wound dressing. Please don't look for me when you encounter female patients during your consultations next time. They're annoying."

"Oh," Zheng Ren replied perfunctorily, but deep down, he was exhilarated. It was satisfying to see Su Yun, who had a nasty attitude, admitting defeat once in a while.

"There won't be so many troublesome issues if you're the doctor in charge. No female patients will ask you out for a meal, unless they're blind."

Su Yun's critical hit followed soon after.

Zheng Ren's inexperience in arguments put him at a serious disadvantage, so he chose to endure ten thousand critical damage and return to the emergency ward in silence.

Chang Yue was wandering around the ward, as usual. Zheng Ren then returned to his office and started reading his anatomy book so that he could accumulate some skill points.

Su Yun sat on a chair behind Zheng Ren and quietly played on his phone.

Occasionally, some nurses would pretentiously walk past without looking into the office, but Zheng Ren was aware of the truth. Had they ever passed by his office this frequently in the past?

After reading the book for a while, one of the Chu sisters, with surgical attire underneath her white coat, came looking for him.

"Chief Zheng, my father's old friend is sick. I heard that he has severe signs of peritonitis," the twin said, "Should I ask him to visit the emergency department straight away?"

"Have you asked for his medical history?" asked Zheng Ren without raising his head, utilizing this time to read the last few sentences.

"Yes, I've taken a simple history. My provisional diagnosis is peritonitis, but I am unsure as to what is the cause," answered the twin.

"Send the patient here first. How old is he?"

"Seventy-six years old male with a history of cerebral infarction three years ago. A caregiver has been taking care of him due to difficulty in ambulation. The old man has a bad temper and every time when he is sick, he refuses to go to the hospital and will self-medicate for a few days instead. He took the same measures this time but was complicated with fever, so he had no choice but to agree to a hospital visit."

"When will he arrive?" asked Zheng Ren, closing the thick book after finishing the last few lines.

"In ten minutes, give or take."

Soon, he heard the sound of stretcher trolley wheels rolling across the marble floor in the corridor.

A well-mannered and dignified man in a casual outfit, aged around fifty years old, quickly walked in along with the stretcher trolley.

"Uncle Lin, you're finally here. This is Chief Zheng. Let's take a look at grandpa first." The Chu sisters pushed the stretcher trolley into the resuscitation room. Zheng Ren, who was following closely behind them, failed to notice the man's extended hand.

Zheng Ren had his mind fixed only on the patients, and as for their family members... Who were they?

The middle-aged man looked slightly awkward.

"That's how he is, a medical expert with poor interpersonal skills," Su Yun explained to the man before entering the room, which made it sound like he was very sociable himself.

The patient's condition and final diagnosis were shown in the upper right corner of his vision.

Acute on chronic suppurative cholecystitis.

"Order a bedside B-scan ultrasonography and check for vital signs. Chang Yue, take his history and ask if he has any contraindications for surgery," Zheng Ren examined the patient and made the necessary arrangements. "If the family agrees to surgery and the patient has fasted long enough, you two will prepare general anesthesia and inform Xie Yiren to arrange instruments for laparotomy."

Chang Yue, who was standing half a step behind Zheng Ren, documented his instructions with a pen and notebook in her hands.

Regarding a few minor details that Zheng Ren had missed, Chang Yue merely confirmed them and closed her book.

"He needs surgery?" asked the middle-aged gentleman, somewhat puzzled.

"The patient has chronic cholecystitis and this is an acute manifestation, which means his gallbladder should be edematous and has severe adhesions. If he is treated conservatively, it'll take a long time for antibiotic infusion to take effect, and dysbiosis will most likely happen. That's why I suggest surgical removal of the gallbladder."

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Chapter 79: Let The Senior Consultant Do It

The middle-aged man remained silent. An emergency doctor in charge of ultrasonography dashed over with a portable ultrasound machine cart and examined the elderly man. The diagnosis of cholecystitis was confirmed.

When Chang Yue keyed in the patient's personal information into the inpatient admission form, only then did Zheng Ren realize that the middle-aged man was Lin Yuanshan, who worked in the province.

The admission process was soon complete, but before Chang Yue could explain the patient's condition and everything about the surgical treatment to Lin Yuanshan, the directors of Sea City General Hospital, Chief Surgeon Sun of the second general surgery department and a few clerks rushed into the emergency department.

"Mr. Lin, why didn't you inform me about your arrival in Sea City General Hospital?" Xiao Keming greeted enthusiastically from afar, even extending his right hand from more than ten steps away from Lin Yuanshan.

"The girls from the Chu family said that Doctor Zheng of the emergency department is very professional, so here we are," answered Lin Yuanshan indifferently, appearing unapproachable and arrogant.

However, Director Xiao and the rest acted as if this was perfectly normal.

"This is Old Chief Physician Pan of the emergency department, and he is Chief Surgeon Sun of the second general surgery department. They're here to ensure everything is up to par," Director Xiao introduced them one by one.

Lin Yuanshan nodded, annoyance clearly visible in his slightly furrowed brows.

After chatting casually for a while, Chief Surgeon Sun hurried to the resuscitation room and performed a detailed examination on the patient.

Zheng Ren was also experienced in examining patients, but since he had the System, the clinical examinations were merely for show and mostly performed out of habit. In all honesty, skipping the examination was completely acceptable as the System always provided him with comprehensive information and definitive diagnoses of the patients.

Chief Surgeon Sun's professionalism and thorough examination eased the irritation in Lin Yuanshan's eyebrows to a certain degree.

"He has acute cholecystitis. According to the B-scan ultrasonography report, there is a lot of gas near the gallbladder, presumably due to the inflammatory stimulation on the bowel. Surgery is the better option in this case." Chief Surgeon Sun gave his judgment.

"The patient is old, so we've to check if there are any comorbidities," Director Xiao instructed.

"Sinus bradycardia noted on the patient's electrocardiogram. Bilateral lung fields are clear without any signs of hypostatic pneumonia. Preoperative blood investigations have been ordered and the laboratory will send the results within thirty minutes," Chang Yue reported all relevant information.

The nurses had already started preoperative preparations such as urinary catheterization, nasogastric tube insertion, and surgical skin prep.

"How big is the surgical wound?" asked Lin Yuanshan out of worry.

After all, the elderly man was in his seventies and had a previous history of cerebral infarction. His physical condition had deteriorated and slow recovery was inevitable.

Lin Yuanshan's concerns were not without basis.

"Quick recovery can be expected if we perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy on the patient." Chief Surgeon Sun comforted him.

"Laparoscopy? Doctor Zheng strongly suggested an open surgery." Lin Yuanshan expressed his disagreement.

A senior surgeon in his fifties and a young brat in his thirties, who would the family member believe? The answer was pretty obvious.

When Director Xiao heard that Zheng Ren had diagnosed the patient, he asked nervously, "Zheng Ren, you're highly skilled in laparoscopic surgery, so why did you suggest an open cholecystectomy?"

"This is a case of acute on chronic cholecystitis. I'm worried about the severe adhesions in the peritoneal cavity," answered Zheng Ren frankly while ignoring the pressure Lin Yuanshan exerted on him.

A medical nerd like him could not possibly perceive that sort of aura.

Lin Yuanshan frowned.

Sorcerers who predicted upcoming misfortunes would be tied to a stake and immolated. Everyone—from westerners in the Medieval period or the modern world, or even easterners—had the same thought on their minds.

It was unconvincing, especially when it was a young man stating that the patient's condition could be complicated.

Thus, Lin Yuanshan elected to ignore Zheng Ren and asked Chief Surgeon Sun of the second general surgery department directly, "Chief Surgeon Sun, do you think he can undergo minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery?"

The Chu sisters had already left to prepare for general anesthesia, but their presence would likely not have changed his mind anyway.

"It'll be difficult," replied Chief Surgeon Sun truthfully. After answering the question, he quickly turned around and blinked innocently as a form of apology to Old Chief Physician Pan.

"If surgery is necessary, I would like Chief Surgeon Sun to perform the laparoscopic surgery. Open surgery can be attempted when laparoscopy fails," said Lin Yuanshan decisively.

"Is the emergency operating theater fully equipped?" asked Director Xiao.

If he were honest, Director Xiao would have preferred to let Chief Surgeon Sun handle the operation as well. After all, he was a senior consultant with impeccable skill at surgery, so the chances of success would be much higher.

As for Zheng Ren... It was better for him to stay out of a case that involved a very important patient.

"Yes, I've done some laparoscopic cholecystectomies recently," Zheng Ren remained unconcerned and added, "Chief Surgeon Sun, please check the equipment later and make sure everything is well prepared. You can get a replacement from the general surgery department if there are any missing or incompatible instruments."

"It should be fine." Chief Surgeon Sun had a feeling that he had fallen into a trap. He preferred not to provoke these two troublesome emergency doctors, which was why he always backed out of any conflict with them.

However, his involvement in this special case was something he could not have foreseen.

"Once the blood test results come back and there aren't any contraindications for surgery, let's proceed to save the patient." Director Xiao tried to create a relaxing atmosphere and said with a smile, "Sea City General Hospital usually performs around a thousand laparoscopic cholecystectomies each year. We even surgically treated a 108-year-old man last year and he could already ambulate on post-op day one. Don't worry, Mr. Lin."

"Hum!" Lin Yuanshan mumbled through his nose and coupled with his worried expression, the atmosphere remained slightly gloomy.

During the wait for preoperative examinations, Chang Yue began documenting pre-admission and preoperative counseling and broke the dead silence in the office with the continuous tapping of her keyboard.

On the other hand, Zheng Ren went to the resuscitation room as he disliked the current office environment.

"You're an insidious man," said Su Yun, who followed Zheng Ren everywhere like a shadow.

"What do you mean?" asked the puzzled Zheng Ren.

"You suspected that the patient has severe abdominal adhesions. If whatever you said is true, there is no way he can be treated with laparoscopy," Su Yun said, "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Will they listen to my opinion?" Zheng Ren was an honest man, but he was no fool.

He had learned to judge situations more effectively after working in the medical field for so many years. Most importantly, if he insisted on his point after the family members made their own decisions, an argument would be unavoidable.

"Good, you don't have the heart of Saint Mary. I feel more at ease after knowing this." Su Yun's smile stunned a junior nurse, who was preparing the patient for surgery in the resuscitation room.

Zheng Ren felt that this brat was simply causing too much interference in the resuscitation room.

"Let Old Sun perform the surgery first. By the way, I'm curious. How can you tell that the patient has severe abdominal adhesions?"

"In the B-scan ultrasonography image, a band of free air can be seen in the gallbladder area. You can consider that sign as a simple gas disruption in normal patients, but if you look carefully, there isn't any obvious motility noted in the gas band. That's why I suspect that some inflammatory organic matter has enveloped the transverse colon and displaced it superiorly to the liver edge."

Zheng Ren immediately turned on his invincible mode when explaining medical issues.

It was one thing to make conjectures, but it was a different and much easier thing altogether to explain the condition through deduction after acknowledging the final diagnosis of the System.

Su Yun had a pair of delicate eyebrows. The delicacy remained even when he frowned without any trace of solemnity, which made him look calm and steady. His glamor intensified and blinded everyone who peeked in on him.

He desperately tried to recall the B-scan ultrasonography image during the bedside examination.

Was it possible that whatever Zheng Ren mentioned was true? How did he even acquire such an in-depth knowledge of ultrasonography?

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Chapter 80: Let Him Take Over The Surgery

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The investigation results came back promptly, and the patient had no contraindications for surgery.

Just as Chang Yue was about to perform preoperative counseling, Su Yun appeared at the doorstep and signaled her to come out with a wave.

"Yes?" asked Chang Yue impatiently. Strangely enough, Su Yun's charm was impotent here as she was greatly annoyed at him for interrupting her work.

Su Yun was briefly stunned before a sincere smile formed on his face.

Flowers bloomed as if spring had fallen at that moment.

"Since the general surgery department is handling the operation, best if you don't explain the procedures yourself," said Su Yun.

"Huh? Why?"

"What is the main point of your counseling?"

"Laparoscopy, of course," replied Chang Yue whose patience was wearing thin.

"What if laparoscopic surgery fails? They'll then proceed with laparotomy, which means there is a problem in preoperative counseling. Be careful, you might end up becoming a scapegoat again," explained Su Yun, who knew that she had taken the blame in the obstetrics department before.

Chang Yue froze for a moment and immediately realized the point Su Yun was trying to make.

"Then..." She shifted her gaze into the room.

"Chief Zheng, let the general surgery department counsel the patient and family members themselves," Su Yun's words always sounded cynical when he spoke to Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren was also aware of the trouble, which he failed to consider in the beginning, lurking in the shadows and understood Su Yun's motives instantly.

Instead of being meddlesome, he actually found it necessary to take precautions in this case. Thus, he informed Chief Surgeon Sun about this issue.

Chief Surgeon Sun smiled bitterly and thought, 'Why are these emergency doctors a pain in the *ss?'

"Chief Zheng, I didn't hide anything from you when I brought you to the operating theater in the past," he whispered.

Zheng Ren stared at him with a bewildered expression.

Why did Chief Surgeon Sun even bring up the past? It was true that he had assisted Chief Surgeon Sun in past surgeries despite not being in the same department, but those were rare occasions and definitely involved less than five cases in total.

"If I can't complete the surgery, you must help me." Chief Surgeon Sun had a bad feeling about this case for some inexplicable reason, and his gaze radiated helplessness as if he was trying to say, "Please give a brother a hand."

From Chief Surgeon Sun's skills alone, there was no way he would have said this to Zheng Ren.

However, the fact that Zheng Ren had performed many difficult surgeries, including the parasitic biliary obstruction case, constantly refreshed Chief Surgeon Sun's evaluation of him.

The rise of the younger generation was unstoppable.

Chief Surgeon Sun was mild-tempered and gentle compared to Chief Surgeon Liu of the first general surgery department, which was why he could throw aside his dignity and ask a youngster for help at a critical juncture.

"Oh, that's too polite of you," Zheng Ren quickly wore a polite smile and bowed slightly, a typical gesture noted in a junior, and said, "If you can't do it, neither can I. However, if the need arises, please do let me know."

Chief Surgeon Sun finally smiled in relief.

It was much easier to deal with Zheng Ren than Old Chief Physician Pan, likely due to the fact that Zheng Ren had only been promoted recently and still had the mentality of a junior doctor.

They could not continue the conversation any further as the patient's family and the directors of the hospital were still on the scene.

Soon, Chief Surgeon Sun's subordinate acquired signatures on the preoperative informed consent documents. After that, the group went to the operating theater.

Zheng Ren had no intention of observing the surgery and chose to read his book in the office. Su Yun decided to stay as well, seemingly uninterested in anything, young and beautiful nurses included, apart from his phone.

...

...

After the anesthesia was administered, Chief Surgeon Sun stood before the operating table and began creating a pneumoperitoneum.

The Veress needle pierced into the peritoneal cavity and 15mmHg of carbon dioxide was insufflated afterward.

Instead of performing a conventional three-incision laparoscopic surgery, Chief Surgeon Sun chose to insert two trocars lateral to the left and right rectus abdominis muscles.

There was a high probability that laparoscopy would fail, which was why he chose these unusual entry points.

Using a dissector, he separated a small part of the tissue and was welcomed by severe intraperitoneal adhesions without any gaps at all, especially in the upper peritoneal cavity.

Profound clinical experience saved him from making a grave mistake.

Chief Surgeon Sun immediately gave up on laparoscopic surgery and decided to perform a laparotomy instead.

He waited for his emotions to stabilize before snapping a picture of the laparoscopic image and left the operating theater to explain the situation to Lin Yuanshan.

Holding the cell phone in his hand, he showed the picture to Lin Yuanshan and pointed out the reason why he could not proceed with laparoscopic surgery.

After being explained to professionally and regrettably as if possessed by a drama queen, Lin Yuanshan finally gave his consent, which made Chief Surgeon Sun sigh in relief. Then, he returned to the operating theater, scrubbed up, changed into a new surgical gown, prepared the necessary instruments and reinitiated the surgery.

Chief Surgeon Sun was average at laparoscopy, at best.

After all, he only started learning laparoscopic surgery at forty-five years old when he was already highly competent at open surgery.

Since he had good knowledge of anatomy, It was actually easier to treat uncomplicated cases with laparoscopy.

However, if an extremely difficult surgical case was encountered, he preferred to proceed with laparotomy due to his proficiency in this domain.

A twenty-centimeter incision was made below the right costal margin and each layer was carefully incised to explore the peritoneal cavity.

Chief Surgeon Sun was dumbfounded the moment the peritoneum was opened.

The situation was worse than expected!

It was a big mess! He could vaguely outline the greater omentum and transverse colon, but as for the gallbladder... it was nowhere to be seen.

He had no choice but to attempt blunt dissection.

However, staring at the clumped up abdominal viscera, he had no idea where to begin the procedure.

It looked like an intertwined flaxen thread ball with its head hidden somewhere inside. If he was merely dealing with inorganic matter, he would cut it straight away without hesitation, but unfortunately, these were abdominal organs in a human body. Once the severely edematous intestines ruptured, it would be immensely troublesome to suture it back.

Blunt separation had to be done slowly and cautiously. Chief Surgeon Liu's attentiveness was not entirely due to the patient's identity; even if this patient was an ordinary elderly man, his attitude toward this surgery would still be the same.

Five minutes had passed and yet he remained clueless.

He still did not have the foggiest notion of how to continue even at the tenth minute. The circulating nurse had wiped the sweat off his forehead twice and the disposable surgical cap had completely drenched in a cold sweat.

At the twentieth minute, a dark green patch appeared on the back of Chief Surgeon Sun's surgical gown, the result of perspiration soaking his green gown.

An unexpected event occurred as he accidentally ruptured an arteriole while lysing the adhesions, which caused fresh blood to spurt from the wound. The ruptured arteriole ligation process was risky and took him five minutes to complete the procedure.

The surgical lighthead was blinding and Chief Surgeon Sun's vision was getting blurry.

Sighing heavily, he spoke to a circulating nurse who had just arrived at the operating theater for assistance, "Call Chief Zheng and ask him to take over the surgery."

Even though Chief Surgeon Sun had spoken to Zheng Ren preoperatively, he would have never let Zheng Ren take over the operation unless absolutely necessary.

Doing so meant that he admitted defeat and that his surgery standard was inferior to Zheng Ren's.

However, he did not have the faintest idea even after bluntly dissecting the adhesions for twenty minutes, so he had no choice but to give up.

Medical safety and dignity, which one was more important? The answer was obvious.

Most importantly, if he tried to preserve his image now, he might lose his life in the end.

About Zheng Ren... Since the man was skillful at blunt dissection during appendectomies, he could be able to solve this problem, but of course, the flawless completion of the previous pancreaticoduodenectomy was still the main reason to request his assistance.

...

...

In the emergency ward office, Zheng Ren was concentrating on the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery book.

An expressionless Su Yun played with his phone, his fingers flying all across the screen; it was impossible to tell if he was chatting up women or playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

The department's phone rang, and several nurses swarmed into the room soon after.

"Chief Zheng, the operating theater is requesting your presence."

They fixed their gleaming eyes on Su Yun even though the statement was meant for Zheng Ren.

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Chapter 81: The Save

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Yo, here they come." Su Yun seemed to be expecting them.

He immediately turned off his phone and stood ramrod straight in his smoothly-ironed white coat.

Strangely enough, not a trace of femininity was visible on him.

"I guess the surgery is really troublesome. I'm going to check it out," said Zheng Ren.

"Count me in." Su Yun excitedly followed Zheng Ren to the operating theater on the third floor.

Then, the System's flat, robotic female voice rang out in Zheng Ren's ears.

[General Mission: A Colleague Seeking Assistance.

[Task: Help a colleague complete the surgery.

[Reward: 100 skill points and 5000 experience points. Based on the surgery completion rate, which reflects the colleague's admiration, an additional reward will be given.

[Time: 5 hours.]

Huh? A mission?

Saving the surgeon by resolving serious intraoperative difficulties could also trigger a mission assignment? Zheng Ren felt a sense of satisfaction; the surgery would definitely have gone more smoothly had he been the surgeon in charge.

The only pain in his neck was Su Yun, an annoying fly constantly buzzing around him. Many ladies envied him, but he simply disregarded Su Yun as a nuisance.

Zheng Ren had no attraction to men.

He pushed the brat to the back of his mind and digested the mission along the way.

An admiration from a colleague mentioned in the mission: what the hell was that?

No matter what it was, he would find out once the surgery was complete.

After changing into surgical attire, Zheng Ren entered the operating theater and stood behind Chief Surgeon Sun to observe the operating field.

"Little Zheng, scrub up and take over the surgery." An anxious Chief Surgeon Sun skipped all formalities, cutting straight to the point with cold sweat on his brow.

Staring at the bloody mess in the peritoneal cavity, Zheng Ren instantly understood Chief Surgeon Su's issue.

Su Yun glanced at the operative field and shifted his gaze to Zheng Ren, who had a calm demeanor. Surprised, he followed Zheng Ren and performed a surgical scrub as well.

Zheng Ren had no clue about Su Yun's motives, nor was he willing to ask about them. Su Yun's sharp tongue had given him almost the same depth of impression as his unrivaled beauty.

Since he could never win an argument, he may as well shut the hell up.

Zheng Ren finished scrubbing and put on a surgical gown. Just as he was about to stand at the first assistant's position, Chief Surgeon Sun said, "Little Zheng, come here."

Then, he shoved the second assistant next to him aside and occupied that space.

Zheng Ren hesitated for a brief moment and accepted the offer.

Why would they performatively argue over where to stand for ten minutes when the patient had an exposed peritoneal cavity?

Su Yun, who had put on a surgical gown and a pair of sterile gloves, walked toward the first assistant and said coldly, "Are you not going to move out of the way?"

"..."

The first assistant, a chief resident in the second general surgery department, was grumbling internally when Chief Surgeon Sun gave his spot to Zheng Ren, but he had not expected a repeat of such a slight so soon.

Before he could retaliate, though, he met Chief Surgeon Sun's gaze.

He instantly admitted defeat and stepped away from the operating table. After that, he indignantly removed his gloves and occupied the most strategic location to observe the surgery—lateral to the head end of the operating table.

Not everyone knew how to perform surgery, but they sure knew how to find fault with it.

His heart throbbing with resentment, he waited for a slip-up with his eyes wide open.

Xinglin Garden began broadcasting the surgery live as soon as Zheng Ren occupied the surgeon's position.

An increasing number of viewers had taken notice of this anonymous account. Ten thousand viewers in a single broadcast room was massive for Xinglin Garden, but was still small compared to the number of hospitals in China.

Ten seconds later, hundreds of doctors from all over the country entered the broadcast room.

[The god's recent surgeries weren't difficult. I wonder what today's surgery is about.]

[Well, you can ask him in advance. It's just like requesting chapter updates before reading a novel. It's an international practice.]

[My surgery skill has skyrocketed after watching the surgery replays from a few days ago a hundred times.]

As the doctors saw the image on the livestream, the mood instantly stopped being jovial. Most of those with profound experience instantly knew what was going on.

[Finally, the god is going to perform a complicated surgery. I've burst into tears.]

[Is this an intraoperative call-for-help? My sympathy to the initial surgeon-in-charge.]

[Sympathy? At least he has someone else to assist him in surgery. If you encountered such an issue, your best bet would be to close the abdomen straight away and explain your failure to the patient's family. If they are reasonable, everything will be fine, otherwise... I don't even dare think about it.]

[That's true, our hospital had a similar case last year. The family made a banner later declaring that our doctors were unethical and had total disregard for human lives.]

The latter doctor had gone from discussing the disease to complaining about similar cases, as if trying to expel all the bitterness in his heart.

The call-for-help was a common term used in the operating theater.

When an unfamiliar intraoperative difficulty was encountered, the surgeon would call someone with greater expertise, from within or outside the hospital, to handle the operation.

Of course, he could also seek a second opinion from colleagues at a similar skill level.

Outrageous cases of intraoperative calls-for-help had happened before. For example, there had been a complicated case of a congenital heart defect in West China Hospital, and the surgeon had been dumbfounded as soon as the thoracic cavity was exposed. After that, he had sought assistance from a senior cardiothoracic surgeon from a random hospital in Imperial Capital, who then flew to West China Hospital and participated in the surgery.

The senior cardiothoracic surgeon from West China Hospital was one of the best in the country and had almost identical proficiency as that of the professor from Imperial Capital. They exchanged opinions intraoperatively and finally managed to complete the surgery after fourteen hours.

There were many similar tales in every hospital.

Everyone became excited after witnessing this call-for-help in the latest livestream.

[Are those the greater omentum and transverse colon? Why is that mess so huge?]

[You've superb eyesight, my friend. How do you know it is the transverse colon?]

[Damn, look at that sticky mess. F*ck the surgery and just close the abdomen. The way I see it, even the god won't be able to finish this.]

[I'm worried. Those are severe adhesions, and any torsion will cause leakage of intestinal contents into the peritoneal cavity, leading to an infection... The more I think about it, the more afraid I am. If I'm performing this surgery, I'll just close the abdomen straight away.]

As medical personnel, they all understood only too well how complex this operation was.

Distinguishing anatomical structure alone was already difficult.

However, judging by the incision and its distance from the head, they could roughly conclude that this was an upper abdominal surgery involving the gallbladder, pancreas or liver.

If they had encountered such severe adhesions intraoperatively, almost everyone would have come to the same conclusion—abort the mission!

In the operating theater, Zheng Ren observed the situation for a few seconds and extended his right hand.

He wanted a pair of blunt scissors, but his palm was still empty after a few seconds.

Tsk... Xie Yiren was still the best.

"Blunt scissors," instructed Zheng Ren.

"Oh." The scrub nurse was preparing a suture needle and thread for abdominal wound closure. From experience, it was impossible to proceed with the surgery any further.

Surprisingly, Zheng Ren actually requested a pair of blunt scissors. Was he going to give it a try despite Chief Surgeon Sun's failure? How ignorant!

Since it had been asked for, though, she immediately searched for the blunt scissors and placed it onto Zheng Ren's palm.

'That's too much force. She isn't as gentle as Xie Yiren,' Zheng Ren thought.

He cast the idea aside and started bluntly dissecting the adhesions with the scissors.

Apart from the blunt scissors and his hands, he needed nothing else, not even the first and second assistant. Holding the scissors backward, he used the blunt end to make an opening and started bluntly separating adhesive tissue using his fingers.

"Little Zheng, slow down and be gentle." Zheng Ren's movements frightened Chief Surgeon Sun.

This young man was too reckless.

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Chapter 82: My Scrub Nurse

"It's alright, I know what I'm doing," replied Zheng Ren.

Chief Surgeon Sun nearly cursed out loud. 'Such reckless moves and you said you know what you're doing? Are you sure you really know what you're capable of?'

However, there was nothing he could do about it. Giving instructions after requesting Zheng Ren's help? There was no way he would do such a shameless act.

Left with no choice, he pulled the retractor as hard as he could so that Zheng Ren could have a larger operative field. At the same time, he thought, 'Please be alright, please be alright...'

That was the most he could do as a second assistant.

Using the blunt end of the scissors, Zheng Ren poked a hole in the severely adhered greater omentum and widened it. It was done so professionally that even Chief Surgeon Sun failed to understand how.

This process was repeated multiple times before he inserted his finger and bluntly tore the adhesive tissue along the plane.

'Is he not afraid of tearing random arterioles and causing blood loss?' Chief Surgeon Sun was just as confused as he was earlier.

Even though such arteriole ruptures and hemorrhaging was not life-threatening, the whole operative field would still be covered in blood... Nothing would be visible if that happened.

The blunt scissors was placed on the surgical drape beside the patient's thigh, which interrupted his train of thoughts.

Zheng Ren extended his hand again, but the familiar sensation of instrument tapping on his palm did not arrive despite waiting for a few moments.

Zheng Ren, who had become regal the moment he took over the surgery, looked askew at the scrub nurse and silently complained about her complete lack of understanding of his next surgical step.

In terms of surgical coordination alone, this nurse and Xie Yiren were worlds apart.

More importantly, the scrub nurse finally realized that he was requesting an instrument and began searching for something in panic.

'What the hell was she doing just now?' Then, Zheng Ren understood something and shifted his gaze to Su Yun.

'Well, his beauty really could bring calamity to the country and its people.' He somewhat believed Su Yun's words now.

In order to speed up the surgery, he decided to let Xie Yiren replace this scrub nurse.

"Thank you for your hard work. My scrub nurse will take over from here," Zheng Ren said flatly. "Yiren, change your clothes."

Xie Yiren, who was acting as a circulating nurse in the operating theater, responded briskly and went to perform a surgical scrub.

The scrub nurse on duty was startled. Did the surgeon just ask for her to be replaced?

Everyone working in the operating theater, especially during a tricky case with with no end in sight, preferred to leave this hell as soon as they could. They had to stand almost stationary for at least four hours, after all. It was exhausting.

However, it seemed like only senior professors in Imperial Capital or Sorcery Capital, who had their own scrub nurses, would make such a demand.

This young surgeon was becoming arrogant after getting promoted to a chief resident in the emergency department. Was he getting full of himself already?

The scrub nurse threw the retractor she just picked up onto the instrument table with a clang.

After venting her anger, she left the table silently, removed her sterile surgical gown and stood in a corner of the operating theater with a cold expression. Despite her rage and strong urge to leave this place... Observing the surgeon at work could still be beneficial in the long run.

Su Yun was slightly puzzled as well. Zheng Ren was a good-natured man, but why did his temperament change the moment he was performing a surgery?

Even though Zheng Ren did not act like certain professors who threw tantrums during surgeries, the way he demanded for scrub nurse substitution was completely intolerable...

Was he experiencing a mid-surgery equivalent of road rage?

After swiftly washing her hands via the standard technique, disinfecting and donning a surgical gown, Xie Yiren approached the instrument table.

A pair of hemostatic forceps was then gently placed in Zheng Ren's palm. After that, she picked up the blunt scissors Zheng Ren put on the surgical drape just now, wiped the blood and fluid that had accumulated on it from adhesiolysis, and situated it on the most easy-to-reach location on the instrument table.

Su Yun was idling at a strategic location to observe the surgery.

Xie Yiren's proficiency answered his initial doubts about Zheng Ren's insistence in substituting the scrub nurse.

Every instrument Zheng Ren wanted—hemostatic forceps and suture size #1 for ligation, scissors for dissection—was promptly given to him in a small hand, sterile surgical glove unable to contain its beauty.

It significantly sped up the surgery, as well.

The efficiency surprised Su Yun. A scrub nurse who could perfectly coordinate with the surgeon was as scarce as hen's teeth, which explained Zheng Ren's initial demand.

In Xinglin Garden, the live broadcast room seemed deserted with only a few comments flying past the screen.

However, the viewer count on the upper right corner of the room had reached 8721.

This room was the only one of its ilk that could achieve such a high viewer count.

[Is the host surgeon really that confident in bluntly dissecting the adhesive tissue? There isn't the slightest sign of hesitation at all!]

[I'm guessing the adhesions around the intestines are the real trouble. This cholecystectomy is already tricky due to the transverse colon alone.]

[I've the exact same feeling, too. The host surgeon's understanding of normal and abnormal anatomical structures is far superior to mine. My patellas have shattered to pieces.]

Around five minutes after Xie Yiren substituted the scrub nurse, most of the sticky mess around the transverse colon on the liver edge had been separated.

The experts in Xinglin Garden admired the host surgeon for his profound anatomical knowledge and bold manipulation. At the same time, they were amazed at how he could cauterize or ligate the arterioles in advance during the procedure.

[What can I say after witnessing such a magnificent operation?]

[Just keep quiet, young man. You can go home and revise these few minutes of blunt dissection twenty times.]

[Twenty times? You must be joking. You won't be able to understand it without watching the replay fifty times and going through ten complicated cases of intestinal adhesions.]

Following the adhesiolysis around the transverse colon, the doctors watching the livestream were greatly dissatisfied.

They were extremely annoyed at the host surgeon's assistants: the first assistant merely looked at the surgery leisurely without any intention to help or even hold the retractor, while the second assistant tried to help twice by offering instruments, but the host surgeon rejected the offers with a tap of their forceps.

The doctors, especially the juniors, were extremely familiar with this scene.

They had wanted to help but failed to understand their surgeon's motives and offered inappropriate instruments. If their surgeon was good-tempered, he would just tap it with the instrument in their hand to indicate that it was wrong.

If the surgeon was irritable, a tongue-lashing would be sure to follow.

The junior doctors lacked the courage to speak up as they empathized with the second assistant in the livestream.

[Poor second assistant, I think they are a young, inexperienced doctor. That's precisely why complicated surgical cases will do more harm than good for young people.]

[True. How can they help the surgeon when they can't even understand what's going on?]

[Let me calculate the psychological damage this second assistant has received thus far.]

Chief Surgeon Sun had no clue that, according to Xinglin Garden, he was an inexperienced surgeon who had just started work in the department.

Even if he did, he had no time to worry about it.

The fact that he had tried to lend a hand but repeatedly picked up the wrong instruments greatly embarrassed him. He was inferior to Xie Yiren in terms of skillful surgical coordination.

After the transverse colon and the greater omentum overlying the gallbladder were freed from adhesions, the anatomical structures instantly became recognizable. The dark, swollen gallbladder, inflated like a balloon, was clearly visible.

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Chapter 83: Generous Rewards

With the gallbladder exposed, the surgery was now half-complete.

Once the anatomical structures were distinguishable, subsequent procedures were plain and simple. To the experts watching, even though some difficulty still remained, everything could at least proceed as planned.

The chief resident of the second general surgery department, who was standing lateral to the patient's head for observation, had an indescribable feeling upon noticing that the surgery had reached this point without any medical errors.

He could not deny feeling envy and hatred as he stared at Zheng Ren, who had been a junior surgeon in the opposite department merely a month ago and honed such amazing skill, presumably due to talent or hard work.

Various thoughts swirled in his mind, but he waved all of them aside.

He had caught wind of the surgery Cen Meng's uncle had undergone the day after the fact.

The news had sent panic coursing through him. Fortunately, the first general surgery department had taken the brunt of the blame and the second general surgery department did not offend... greatly offend anyone during the accusation against the emergency department before.

Otherwise, how would they have faced each other in the future?

He had not expected the day of their confrontation to arrive so soon.

Zheng Ren was at least skillful at his work, but what about Su Yun? The man had forcibly occupied the first assistant's position just for a better view of the operative field without contributing anything.

Thus, he directed his resentment from Zheng Ren to Su Yun.

In Xinglin Garden, the barrages in the live broadcast room started coming to life again following the full exposure of the surgical site.

[666! It's a pity that I can't send rewards to the host surgeon. I strongly suggest Xinglin Garden to implement a reward system.]

[The little beast in my heart is itching for action!]

[The surgery isn't finished yet, so what are you guys anxious about?]

[Is there anything interesting to watch after complete exposure of the surgical field?]

A syringe was placed on the host surgeon's blood-stained sterile glove while comments continued to bombard the broadcast room.

After its surrounding area was confirmed to be well-protected, the gallbladder was pierced by the needle and its contents—a mixture of white pus and dark green bile juice—were aspirated.

This syringe of bile juice would be sent for bacterial culture later.

In suppurative cholecystitis, especially late-onset cases, complications such as postoperative bacterial invasion into the bloodstream leading to bacteremia may arise.

Even though Zheng Ren's manipulation minimized the risk of complications, complete prevention was impossible. Therefore, a bacterial culture with an antimicrobial susceptibility test was necessary to help choose an antibiotic that would be most effective against the specific types of bacteria infecting the patient and reduce postoperative complications.

Xie Yiren placed the syringe of purulent bile into a specimen container before passing a pair of atraumatic forceps to Zheng Ren.

Grasping the dome of the gallbladder with the forceps, the serosa overlying the gallbladder was retrogradely incised to expose the hepatoduodenal ligament and foramen of Winslow. After that, blunt dissection resumed.

Despite the severely edematous gallbladder, the force Zheng Ren used was just enough. He was not causing more damage to the gallbladder and its surrounding tissues, nor was he hesitating and delaying the surgery.

Soon, the cystic duct was located and the cystic artery posterior to the duct was identified. Then, the cystic artery near the gallbladder wall and the cystic duct half a centimeter away from the common bile duct were dissected and ligated. As a result, no hemorrhage was noted in the gallbladder fossa following its removal.

Everything had been smooth-sailing thus far.

Innumerable compliments bombarded Xinglin Garden like free ammunition... Well, it was.

The experts knew the ropes, and they understood that the initial adhesiolysis was the most difficult procedure in this surgery.

When the surgery ended, many viewers replayed the video and focused on the first ten minutes of the operation.

Not only was the thin and brittle bowel unharmed, the host surgeon had performed blunt dissection at light speed.

Countless doctors savored this scene in particular.

In the operating theater, after removing the gallbladder and ensuring that there were no bleeding spots in the gallbladder fossa, Zheng Ren irrigated the peritoneal cavity before suturing the abdominal surgical wound.

Chief Surgeon Sun sighed in relief at the completion of the surgery.

He raised his head and saw Su Yun, arms crossed, absent-mindedly staring at the operative field,and making no attempt to give Zheng Ren a hand.

"Little Su, why don't you leave the operating table and let Zheng Ren and I close the abdomen?"

Su Yun looked up and met Chief Surgeon Sun's gaze.

"Okay." He turned and left immediately.

"..."

Chief Surgeon Sun, the chief resident of the second general surgery department and the scrub nurse who had been forced to step down were dumbfounded.

What a shameless b*stard!

"The surgery was done decently and almost reached half my standard," said Su Yun lightly as he left.

Everyone else was flabbergasted as they once again underestimated this brat's barefaced attitude.

Based on Zheng Ren's understanding of Su Yun, the surgery's perfection should have been contested with the man's beauty.

If that had been the case, Su Yun would have been correct.

Although he was not the most handsome man in the world, Su Yun was at least Grandmaster rank in terms of physical attractiveness.

The world put value on outward appearance. There was nothing Zheng Ren could do about it.

Chief Surgeon Sun felt helpless as well, but the words had left his mouth and he could not renege on his promise. Left with no choice, he left Zheng Ren's side and stood at the first assistant's position to assist with abdominal surgical wound closure.

Leaving the operating theater was not an option as he had asked Zheng Ren to take over the surgery, just like a guest secretary.

Since the surgery had ended perfectly, it would be inexcusable if he abandoned this simple task.

Chief Surgeon Sun was reasonable enough to provide assistance to Zheng Ren personally instead of delegating it to his junior doctors.

There was nothing he could possibly do during adhesiolysis, but he could at least help cut the thread while Zheng Ren sutured the abdominal wound.

Following the successful closure of the abdominal cavity, a pleasant bell rang out in Zheng Ren's ears. "Ding-dong!"

[General Mission: A Colleague Seeking Assistance accomplished. 100 skill points and 5000 experience points obtained.

[Surgical completion rate: 100 percent. Reward... Calculating.]

Zheng Ren hoped that the System would not award him with yet another silver chest that contained only a skill book. The most it could do was upgrade some random skill tree to a higher level. If that was the case, would there any difference between him and an ordinary attending surgeon?

The leaky bucket principle had become invalid in today's hospitals.

Nowadays, large-scale hospitals placed emphasis on branches of specialties and knowledge to the point where various specialty hospitals had emerged worldwide like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

In the last decade of the twentieth century, the healthcare system in Imperial Capital had implemented the concept of specialized treatment services. Thus, all disciplines had been divided and every hospital had claimed a domain since then.

Tongren Hospital, for example, specialized in ophthalmology, and Jishuitan Hospital focused mainly on orthopedics.

On the other hand, general hospitals had met their downfall. Even the general hospital in Imperial Capital on the first ring road[1] had gradually lost its reputation as many people forgot it existed.

Many reputable doctors had gathered there since the establishment of a central healthcare organization following the founding of the modern republic.

The more specific the type of treatment was, the more profitable it became. That was the current trend of the medical world.

The idea of improving all skill trees simultaneously did not exist in Zheng Ren's mind.

[Calculation complete. The surgery completion rate is 100 percent and the host has acquired their colleague's admiration. Three hundred liver surgery experiences obtained.]

Eh? That seemed pretty good.

Zheng Ren had been preparing himself to learn liver surgery, a surgery far more complicated than appendectomy and cholecystectomy. There was no way he could master it without at least a hundred days of intensive training.

Naturally, his goal was something most surgeons could not possibly achieve in their entire lifetimes.

A storm crashed into his mind, just like the day the System had fallen upon him.

Zheng Ren quickly snapped out of it and instantly became aware of the foreign memories that had embedded themselves into his mind.

That was a mega sale! Liver surgery was more advanced than appendectomy and cholecystectomy, so three hundred liver surgeries actually saved Zheng Ren at least two hundred hours of surgery intensive training time.

[1] A ring road (also known as beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The first ring road is situated around a major city.

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Chapter 84: What A Boring Girl

The patient's surgery had been successfully completed. After he recovered from general anesthesia, the Chu sisters and a doctor from the second general surgery department pushed him back to the emergency ward.

The Chu sisters, who initially had their lips pursed in annoyance, happily escorted the patient this time.

Uncle Lin had ignored the Chu sisters' initial recommendation to consult Zheng Ren for surgical treatment, but the fact that Zheng Ren ultimately performed the surgery made them feel extremely proud.

Zheng Ren and Chief Surgeon Sun went to the locker room afterward.

In a sense, a locker room was like a bathhouse in that people could bare their souls and engage in heart-to-heart conversations.

"Little Zheng, your skills really are amazing," Chief Surgeon Sun complimented while changing out his attire, "Sea City General Hospital seldom invites surgeons from Imperial Capital and Sorcery Capital to perform surgery, but I'm still aware of the highest surgery standards ever achieved in this country. The way you lysed the adhesive tissue around the bowel was very similar to that of Professor Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. If I didn't know you've never furthered your studies anywhere else, I would have definitely believed that he mentored you personally."

"Chief Surgeon Sun, you flatter me," replied Zheng Ren with a smile.

"By the way, you don't have a girlfriend yet, right?" Chief Surgeon Sun was much more open-minded than Chief Surgeon Liu. He knew the younger generation held the power to change the world and everyone would get old eventually.

Senior consultants had been reluctant to perform endoscopy more than a decade ago. When they finally retired, only then did Sea City General Hospital experience a tremendous growth in minimally invasive surgery.

Previous senior consultants had ruled the departments with an iron fist but no longer visited Sea City General Hospital for consultation, which prompted Chief Surgeon Sun to learn from his past mistakes and treat his subordinates, especially talented youngsters, with kindness.

However, he had not expected to encounter such an outstanding young doctor.

Chief Surgeon Sun admired Zheng Ren's proficiency in surgery and wanted to improve their relationship. What did Zheng Ren need the most? He did not have the faintest idea.

However, the easiest and most common method was to introduce potential life partners to a young bachelor.

When Zheng Ren became successful in the future, Chief Surgeon Sun could also boast of his kindness and care toward the young surgeon over drinks after retirement.

Zheng Ren was stunned upon hearing the question and responded with a bitter smile.

"What's wrong?" asked Chief Surgeon Sun.

"I'm still single, but I don't plan on finding a girlfriend or getting married anytime soon," answered Zheng Ren.

"Why?" Chief Surgeon Sun grinned and added, "A flower may blossom again, but a person can't reverse the onset of age. Youngsters nowadays... are like my frivolous son who has countless girlfriends, but you seem to be acting a little too extreme."

"Chief Surgeon Sun, you also know that I've been promoted to chief resident recently." Zheng Ren smiled humorlessly.

Chief Surgeon Sun immediately understood what Zheng Ren was trying to imply.

Being a chief resident meant that he had to stay in the hospital for at least a year.

One could call the hospital a home when he had to work twenty-two hours almost every day. Getting involved in a relationship? Who would want to spend a romantic evening in an environment that smelled like disinfectant?

The doctors often joked that death had occurred in every bed and chair in the hospital.

Romance aside, even if true love was to be found in this place, the relationship would probably deteriorate after going cold for a year.

How many chief residents were cheated during their stay in the hospital? It was an undeniable fact.

That was precisely why Chief Surgeon Sun felt helpless to do anything about it.

Sighing heavily, he said, "The emergency department will hire more staff in the future."

"Well, we'll have to wait and see for the time being. I still don't have a surgical assistant right now," replied Zheng Ren.

"Huh? Wasn't Su Yun transferred to the emergency department? Are you two not getting along well? That can't be. He insisted on the transfer despite Director Fu's firm disagreement," said Chief Surgeon Sun, surprised.

"Su Yun is an ICU doctor. Does he know how to perform surgery?" asked Zheng Ren.

"Oh, he is good. His surgery skills are slightly inferior to mine, but the differences aren't much," Chief Surgeon Sun stared deep into Zheng Ren's eyes and continued, "You know, he was just a medical student who hadn't even started clinical practice when he first came to Sea City General Hospital. Even if there had been many surgeries in Union Medical College Hospital at the time, it would be impossible for him to operate on the patients frequently and personally. He is the kind of talented man who can pick any skill up after one look at it."

'The ability to learn something by eye immediately? That's an aura a protagonist possesses, right?' The thought of that skill falling upon a Nancy boy made Zheng Ren feel slightly depressed.

"How do you know he is good at performing surgery?"

"His ex-girlfriend had appendicitis and he had single-handedly performed her surgery all the way from anesthesia to recovery," Chief Surgeon Sun said, "That brat didn't even let anyone into the operating theater at the time. Everyone initially waited for a good laugh but failed to anticipate her ambulating post-op on day one and being discharged three days later."

Zheng Ren had heard about this incident on the grapevine, but remained doubtful of its credibility. Besides, it was only appendicitis.

"Anyway, it's better for you to get a girlfriend soon. I can see that Old Chief Physician Pan treats you very well, and a chief resident has to work tirelessly in the hospital for one year at most. Find a suitable target first, and then you can spend some quality time with her afterward."

Chief Surgeon Sun changed his attire and went downstairs together with Zheng Ren.

Old Chief Physician Pan, who personally attended garrison duty in the emergency ward, stood up and joined them to check on the postoperative patient.

After regaining consciousness from general anesthesia, the patient mumbled something and fell asleep.

His vital signs were stable, and naturally, Lin Yuanshan was thankful for it.

He also felt slightly embarrassed after finding out that Zheng Ren had completed the surgery in the end.

After leaving the ward, Lin Yuanshan kindly invited everyone that had been involved in the surgery over for dinner.

This was a common practice where family members would treat the surgical team to a meal after a successful operation; it was primarily to express their heartfelt gratitude and strengthen the relationship with the team, easing future consultations.

There was absolutely no need for Lin Yuanshan to establish a social connection with anyone, however, and so his sole intention was to thank the surgical team for their efforts.

Zheng Ren had no choice but to accept the invitation. Old Chief Physician Pan and Chief Surgeon Sun decided to let a deputy senior consultant of the second general surgery department temporarily watch over the emergency department while the group went to the hotel.

The presence of hospital directors and senior consultants from the relevant departments made the atmosphere stressful for Zheng Ren. The dishes appeared exquisite, but to him, they did not emit any rich smells that promised a delightful taste.

In his opinion, the food skewer stall in front of his house had the most delicious food in the world.

The Chu sisters were able to behave naturally and gracefully in this manner of social gathering, enriching the lively atmosphere even further with their words.

A few hours later, all the moguls took their leave after their appetites were sated.

Zheng Ren sat in Xie Yiren's car and as usual, Su Yun tagged alongside him like a shadow. After dropping off Old Chief Physician Pan at his home, he suddenly received a phone call from one of the Chu sisters.

It turned out that they were still hungry and had invited Chang Yue to have supper together.

Young people were usually outgoing and being on-call in the emergency department, which demanded zero alcohol consumption, could not stop them from enjoying a hectic lifestyle.

Since someone was on duty in the emergency department, Zheng Ren made use of this opportunity to enjoy himself like a prisoner being rewarded with free time.

Xie Yiren drove straight to the designated location.

The weather was getting cold. It looked like snow would fall within the next few days.

Food stalls could not operate, but the chilly wind failed to extinguish the insatiable fire that gnawed at their stomachs. If they could not enjoy supper at the roadside, they would move their battlefield indoors.

The Chu sisters had chosen a location—the crayfish restaurant near the hospital.

According to them, the crayfish would soon be gone and they would have to wait until next year for the next batch to arrive.

Soon, all of them gathered in front of the restaurant.

The Chu sisters excitedly took a group photograph of this medical "family".

This was the first group photograph involving Zheng Ren, Su Yun, the Chu sisters, Chang Yue and Xie Yiren.

"You guys are so boring." Su Yun habitually brushed back his wispy bangs while waiting for the crayfish and added, "Those old guys aren't here, so why don't we have some beer? Haven't you guys heard of the phrase 'enjoy life to the fullest'?"

"There might be emergency cases at night." Xie Yiren politely refused the offer.

She failed to detect the provocation in Su Yun's tone. Perhaps, to her naive self, everyone was a good person, and negativity such as contempt or mockery did not exist at all.

The Chu sisters made eye contact before one of them said that she could have a sip.

Zheng Ren ignored Su Yun's taunt and rejected him immediately.

Su Yun then glanced at Chang Yue, who had been silent all along, and asked, "How about you?"

"No," replied Chang Yue coldly.

Some people were unaffected by appearances but would still treat others with courtesy, unlike Chang Yue, who was frank and direct in her approach. This sort of intense boredom made Su Yun feel very uncomfortable.

"Now I know why they had chosen you to be the scapegoat," Su Yun said with a wicked smile, "What a boring girl."

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Chapter 85: Drinking With A Foot On The Box

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Su Yun's words were vicious. Zheng Ren, who noticed the sorrow in Chang Yue's eyes, suddenly had the urge to stand up for her and rebuke the idiot before him for his arrogance.

However, before he could open fire, Chang Yue put on a warm smile as if her initial sadness had been simply an illusion.

The Chu sisters quickly stood by her side and reprimanded Su Yun.

Su Yun seemed to be accustomed to such situations. His gaze was empty as it flew past the Chu sisters and landed on two other girls sitting a short distance away.

The two had finished eating and were simply chatting while tapping away at their phones. This was common these days and not out of the ordinary.

Otherwise, why would the phrase, "the greatest distance in the world is not between life and death, but the gap between you and I with a phone in your hands," exist?

The girls, who sensed that they were being watched, quickly looked up from their phones and vigilantly scanned the area.

The moment they noticed Su Yun, one of them immediately lowered her head, pretended to see nothing and continued stealing glances at him through her bangs. Meanwhile, the other girl's cheeks flushed red as she summoned up her courage to meet his gaze.

Two seconds later, she admitted defeat.

"Su Yun, right?

"You want to drink, yes?"

The stony-faced Chang Yue sat up straight and stared into Su Yun's eyes.

It was the first time she was radiating this aura, which surprised Zheng Ren, both Chu sisters and Xie Yiren.

"What?" Su Yun withdrew his gaze and smiled disdainfully.

This slightly sassy expression accentuated his attractiveness.

"Waiter!" Without making any response, Chang Yue waved her hand and called the waiter.

A waiter trotted up to the table and greeted her enthusiastically, "What can I do for you?"

"What beers do you have?" asked Chang Yue.

The waiter rattled off a list of names, but she frowned, obviously dissatisfied.

"Do you have old-fashioned Snow?" questioned Chang Yue.

"Snow" was a general term for beers made more than a decade ago. After a large company had entered the mainland's market and purchased most of its stakes, these cheap beers had almost disappeared and only a few places still stocked them.

Unlike ordinary cartons of a dozen, Snow beers were packed in large plastic boxes of two dozen bottles.

The legendary drinking pose with one foot on a box referred specifically to Snow beers as ordinary cardboard boxes were not practical to put one's weight on, especially while drinking..

"Yes, we do," answered the waiter professionally, despite the wind visibly leaving his sails. Although Snow was cheap, he could not possibly chase his customers out.

"I'll have four boxes for now," said Chang Yue lightly.

Su Yun's expression remained unchanged. It was just four boxes, and he assumed Chang Yue was showing off.

The Chu sisters quickly tried to stop her, but she smiled. "Do you know why I don't drink?"

"Huh?" Chu Yanzhi was puzzled.

"Because my habits scare even myself." The smile on Chang Yue's face was relaxed and pleasant. "Romeo wants to get drunk today; that's nice."

Zheng Ren did not understand why she would say that.

It was completely out of context.

Further attempts to persuade her against it ended up in vain as they were met with a silent smile. The Chu sisters were helpless and Xie Yiren, who was looking forward to her crayfish, seemed to be the only one who had no idea what was going on.

Soon, the crayfish was served alongside the four entire boxes of Snow, stacked like a small hill.

This table was occupied by incredibly good-looking people—with Zheng Ren as the exception—attracting the attention of other diners having their supper in the restaurant, but what caught their eyes the most were the four boxes of beers beside Su Yun and Chang Yue.

The slightly courageous girl who had met Su Yun's gaze just now proceeded to pick up the tab at the counter. Then, she came over and whispered with embarrassment, "I've paid for your bill."

She put a piece of paper, damp with nervous sweat, in front of Su Yun and fled the scene.

With his rich clinical experience, Zheng Ren guessed that she had a heart rate of over 130 beats per minute.

"You're really a ladies' man." With a bright smile, Chang Yue cracked open a bottle with her teeth and said, "I feel happy in the emergency department. Cheers."

She then proceeded to drink directly from the bottle.

The rate at which the beer disappeared sent a chill down Zheng Ren's spine.

Despite his love for booze, he hardly ever consumed it due to alcohol intolerance, so he particularly admired those who were able to binge-drink but had enough self-control not to.

Such people were legends in the making anywhere.

Chang Yue's manner, assuming she did not get into a fight with Su Yun after getting wasted by the first three bottles, suggested that she was actually a heavy drinker.

Su Yun's smile radiated an evil charm.

After pocketing the note he had just been given, he magically opened the beer bottle with a flick of a finger and gulped it down like Chang Yue.

His moves were ten thousand times more elegant than hers.

Zheng Ren and the Chu sisters were too dumbstruck to speak as empty bottles began piling up one after another, the crayfish no longer of any importance.

The exception was Xie Yiren, who paid them no mind and started gorging on her favourite food.

Occasionally, she would glance at the ongoing drinking contest when pausing to take a sip of water, but lost interest almost immediately and focused on devouring her crayfish instead.

She was a pure-hearted foodie.

An hour later, all four boxes of Snow had been consumed, but neither of them showed the slightest hint of drunkenness or the need to go to the bathroom. They ordered four boxes of beer and the competition continued.

Curious, Zheng Ren thought, 'How did they drink all these beers? It doesn't comply with the law of conservation of mass.'

Historically, a grand secretariat1 of the Ming dynasty was said to have a massive capacity for liquor. Out of curiosity, the emperor invited him for a drink and even prepared an urn of booze for the man to refill his bowl directly.

In the end, the urn had been completely emptied, but the grand secretariat was still as sober as a judge with no signs of abdominal distention.

Zheng Ren had always known that there were many types of strange people in the world, but the fact that he was face-to-face with one right now still unnerved him.

Su Yun, who seemed to eliminate alcohol from his system through perspiration, began to sweat after the third box of Snow. Meanwhile, Chang Yue looked perfectly fine apart from a few hiccups.

The manager of the restaurant approached them alongside the fourth box and politely presented them a large portion of crayfish—on the house—that he had personally prepared.

Su Yun and Chang Yue were uninterested, though, and Xie Yiren was the only one who appreciated it.

Suddenly, Zheng Ren's phone rang.

"Chief Zheng, a patient with an unclear diagnosis is currently causing trouble in the emergency department. Can you come and have a look?" said the emergency doctor on duty.

A doctor's life was that of misery, and a chief resident had the most f*cked-up life of all.

Zheng Ren tried to explain the reason for his departure, but Chang Yue and Su Yun were unperturbed and merely waved their hands as if chasing away an annoying fly.

Thus, Chu Yanzhi stayed behind to watch over the two drunkards in case they were unable to even return home. Chu Yanran, Xie Yiren and Zheng Ren could drive back to the hospital as the three of them were more than enough to handle any surgical emergency.

Zheng Ren took one final glance at the drinking competition before leaving. Empty boxes stacked up to a man's full height beside them, but the two rivals were still gulping down the remaining beers one after another with one foot on a box each.

'They're really drinking with a foot on the box.' The sight was truly enriching in a way.

...

...

Xie Yiren and Chu Yanran rushed to the operating theater upon their return to the emergency department.

If surgery was required, they could start preoperative preparations as soon as they were informed of such.

Zheng Ren arrived at the department as well and saw two girls standing in the hall. One of them was crying and the other had a pair of smoldering eyes.

This was a common phenomenon in the emergency department and Zheng Ren had gotten used to it.

From the looks of it, the problem was rabble-rousing rather than an uncertain diagnosis. Zheng Ren understood that the emergency department received hundreds of patients daily, and there was only one doctor on duty in each division—internal medicine, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. If they wasted any time handling disputes, actual treatment would be delayed and the backlog of patients would just lead to even more arguments in the end.

Therefore, they would generally pass on these annoying issues to their superiors.

Zheng Ren glanced at the girls, but strangely enough, the System did not provide any details on them, which suggested that they were perfectly healthy. Was this a deliberate medical dispute? It seemed unlikely.

He quickly changed his attire, approached the girls and asked politely, "I'm the chief resident in the emergency department. What can I do for you?"

"You're a superior doctor? I want to lodge a complaint!" the girl howled furiously.

"Please keep your voice down. This is a hospital," Zheng Ren said calmly, "What happened?"

"The doctor in the ECG room harassed my sister!"

A bomb instantly went off in Zheng Ren's ears.

What the f*ck, which pervert did this?!

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Chapter 86: A Misunderstanding

Zheng Ren calmed down and pondered the situation.

Something did not sound right. Female doctors were generally assigned to night shifts in the ECG room to prevent this sort of bullsh*t from happening.

A woman harassing another woman? It sounded unlikely.

There must be something wrong.

"Please come to my office." Zheng Ren tried to get the situation under control after noticing the gathering crowd of onlookers.

"You want to make things worse?" Frustrated, the girl raised her eyebrows and said coldly, "What kind of attitude is this?! I'm telling you, this ain't over yet!"

"..." Zheng Ren felt helpless.

Scumbags existed everywhere, be they doctors, teachers or... it had nothing to do with professions, and was related only to personal character.

Perhaps he should throw this issue to the medical administration division.

However, he had to understand what had actually happened before doing so.

"Please calm down." Zheng Ren tried to pacify the grumpy girl with a polite smile, but he had inadequate skill points in this category. It would probably be better if Su Yun was the one handling this.

The growing crowd fuelled the girl's courage. Wrapping her arm around the sobbing girl and frantically waving another hand in the air, she said, "We came to the emergency department because my sister has chest tightness. I asked for the result after she had undergone an ECG, but the doctor told me that my sister has a flat chest! Is the consultation and breast size related in any way?! People with small breasts can't visit the doctor? I'm warning you, if you don't give me a proper explanation, I'll definitely unleash hell on you!"

"..." Zheng Ren was left speechless.

"Haha, the doctors in Sea City General Hospital are interesting men. Are they treating the diseases or judging breast sizes?"

"Well, that lady is indeed flat-chested."

"F*ck, why did you even comment on that? She came here to consult a doctor, they can't deny her just because of her small breasts."

This was indeed ridiculous, but there was nothing Zheng Ren could do about onlookers' comments.

Honestly, it sounded unreasonable no matter how he looked at it. Would the female doctor in the ECG room comment on the patient's breast size? The probability was shockingly low, so what the hell actually happened?

A lightbulb suddenly went off in Zheng Ren's head as he realized the potential reason for all this trouble. He quickly asked, "Can I look at your ECG report?"

"What do you want with it?" The girl stared vigilantly at Zheng Ren and held the ECG report firmly in her hands, as if it was concrete evidence that he sought to destroy.

"..." Zheng Ren was inexperienced at putting his thoughts into words. He really missed Chang Yue, who was still having a drinking contest with Su Yun right now.

Even though Chang Yue was not friendly toward him, she was at least able to waltz through this sort of situation with her strong communication skills.

What a pity... That brat Su Yun was so annoying!

Grudge 100.

"I think this is just a misunderstanding, but I can't confirm my speculations if you don't show me your ECG report," Zheng Ren tried to persuade the girls.

With Zheng Ren's earnest expression, the girl hesitated for a minute before doubtfully giving him the report.

The ECG report findings included a flat T wave in V4 1, with sinus rhythm noted.

Sighing heavily, Zheng Ren dispelled the grievances in his heart and forced his emotions to stabilize before speaking more gently, "Lady, look, it says flat T wave in V4. Normally, patients with hypokalemia or myocardial infarctions will be presented with this ECG finding. The doctor in the ECG room probably meant this instead of... a flat chest."

Everyone on the scene burst into laughter.

This careless girl had only heard the terms "flat" and "chest" and automatically perceived it as having a flat chest.

However, it was not surprising as laypeople generally did not understand medical terminology.

This was just a simple misunderstanding and not a malicious medical dispute.

The tetchy girl froze for a moment and recalled that the doctor in the ECG room seemed to have spoken at length about something that sounded similar to the explanation provided by the chief resident before her.

However, who could understand the details of the matter? That was precisely why she mistakenly assumed that the doctor had been commenting about her breast size.

The girls' faces turned red instantly.

That was stupid. They had been the only ones who were aware of their flat chests, but now everyone on the scene knew about it as well.

Fortunately, they were reasonable. Medical disputes were not exactly common, and most arguments directed against doctors and the hospitals arose due to a lack of free time for detailed explanations and the patients' lack of medical knowledge.

Since a clear explanation had been provided, the girls began to calm down.

The initially crabby girl apologized with a red face.

Zheng Ren quickly waved his hands and said, "It's okay, but I suspect that your sister's condition is caused by fatigue instead of hypokalemia or myocardial infarction."

"Fatigue?"

"For example, staying up late or a stressful working environment will lead to this condition," Zheng Ren patiently explained without expressing any resentment, "Make sure you get adequate rest and don't stay up late in the future. Also, don't use your phone in bed for too long. If there isn't any improvement, you can come to the hospital for a lung CT and a 256-slice CT coronary angiography, but I don't think they're necessary for now. After all, you're still young and are less at risk of any health issues."

The girls politely thanked him and fled the scene in a hurry.

The bigger the mess, the greater the perpetrators' embarrassment once the truth was revealed.

Zheng Ren smiled and watched them slowly vanish into the distance.

"So that's what happened. My sense of justice is in vain."

"F*ck your sense of justice. I think you were just enjoying yourself."

"That doctor is good. He is patient and explains things very thoroughly."

The crowd gradually dissipated. Zheng Ren then explained the dispute management to the doctor on duty in the internal medicine division and did a simple ward round in the observation units before returning to the emergency ward.

It was already past nine o'clock when he expressed his gratitude to the deputy senior consultant of the second general surgery department before seeing him out.

He took out his phone and asked Chu Yanzhi about the drinking contest via WeChat.

She quickly replied with a short video.

In the video, Su Yun was sweating profusely, sticking his black bangs to his forehead. On the other hand, Chang Yue appeared normal, but Zheng Ren could notice a gleam in her eyes; he was unsure if it was simply his imagination. Both of them shared one thing in common, however—they were still sober.

"Watch them. If either of them drinks excessively, call 120 and send them to the hospital immediately," Zheng Ren advised.

Those who did not require gastric lavage after consuming seven to eight boxes of beers were considered heroes.

"Got it, old man," replied Chu Yanzhi.

Old... Old man...

Shaking his head in response, Zheng Ren prepared to wash up and go to sleep.

Before that, he quickly went for a round in the emergency wards. Lin Yuanshan's father was having slight abdominal pain, but his condition remained stable thus far, so he gave some medical advice and prescribed analgesia for the patient.

Upon returning to the on-call room, Zheng Ren stared at the darkness outside the window. Instead of dramatically going down memory lane, he drew the curtain and lay down on his bed.

Heaven only knew when an emergency case would arrive. If he did not seize what free time he had to get some rest, he would deeply regret it when unforeseen circumstances came.

Sure enough, Zheng Ren was woken by a phone call at a quarter past five in the morning.

A dreamless sleep was truly satisfying. Then, he glanced at the phone and saw the caller ID—Chang Yue.

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Chapter 87: Unidentified Patient

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Chief Zheng, I've called an ambulance, but I don't have enough money to pay for it. You have money, right?" Chang Yue's tone sounded cold as usual.

Zheng Ren yawned irritably as he woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

If his sleep was interrupted by an emergency, bad mood notwithstanding, sometimes he would not even have enough time to put on his shoes. However, an early-morning call from Chang Yue, who constantly wore a stony expression on her beautiful face, was indeed very annoying.

Even so, Zheng Ren had always been good-tempered and overcame his irritation.

'Did these guys drink beer the whole night?' The very thought immediately alerted him.

What the f*ck! Did they have a death wish?! They even called an ambulance? Was it possible that they had had acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to excessive alcohol consumption?

"Yes," Zheng Ren asked anxiously, "How are you doing? What happened to Su Yun?"

"I'm fine. In fact, I'm quite energetic and I think I can go back to work straight away. Su Yun had too much drink and fell down, but I think he should be alright," answered Chang Yue.

Zheng Ren was slightly at ease and grumbled internally, 'How could these two annoying idiots drink the entire night?'

"Chief Zheng, I picked up a patient on the way as well. He is a middle-aged man with a rigid abdomen. What do you think?" Chang Yue proceeded to the main reason for her call.

"Send him to the emergency department, I'm heading there now." Zheng Ren immediately put on his shoes and white coat before rushing to the emergency department.

Just as he stepped out of the room, he quickly turned around, took 200 yuan out of his wallet and stuffed it into his pocket.

Mobilization of ambulances came with a cost that was calculated based on distance, and there was no discount even if it belonged to Sea City General Hospital. Besides, asking Old Chief Physician Pan for a favor just to save a few hundred yuan would be extremely humiliating.

The crayfish restaurant was not far away from the hospital, so Zheng Ren and the ambulance reached the emergency department at the same time.

Two stretcher trolleys were wheeled in afterward. Su Yun, who was relatively composed despite being plastered, was curled up into a ball and mumbling incoherently on one of them.

Chu Yanzhi followed the trolley with a helpless look on her face.

"I tried to stop them, but they refused to listen," she explained as if it was her fault alone.

"Don't worry about it," Zheng Ren comforted her.

Zheng Ren glanced at Su Yun and checked the diagnosis on the System panel—acute alcohol intoxication... How much did this brat drink?

"Send him to the emergency ward. Start an IV infusion of naloxone, 500mL of glucose solution and two units of vitamin C." Zheng Ren gave simple instructions to Chang Yue.

Chang Yue looked stupefied as she led the paramedic and stretcher trolley upstairs via the elevator with Chu Yanzhi following obediently behind them. Even though the two were almost the same age, Chu Yanzhi looked like a child in every aspect compared to Chang Yue.

When they were further away, only then did Zheng Ren realise that Chang Yue was barefoot with her footprints clearly visible on the floor, presumably due to wetness.

'One has acute alcohol intoxication and the other lost her shoes... What the f*ck!' Zheng Ren thought, annoyed.

However, all of these were inconsequential compared to the patient with a board-like, rigid abdomen.

On another stretcher trolley lay a big-boned but emaciated man.

Zheng Ren read the details on the upper right corner of his vision, printed in bloody red just like the victims of acute nitrite poisoning last time.

Acute gangrenous appendicitis complicated with septic shock.

A life-threatening condition!

He quickly pushed the stretcher trolley into the emergency resuscitation room and shouted at the top of his lungs along the way, "Perform a bedside B-scan ultrasonography, monitor his vitals signs and administer oxygen, stat!"

Upon reaching the resuscitation room, two nurses on duty removed the patient's shirt and started placing ECG leads on him.

In the meantime, Zheng Ren examined him and felt warmth radiating from his body.

Oh, thank God...

Pyrexia was a normal finding in septic shock, but once the extremities were cold, a condition clinically described as cold shock, it could be irreversible and death could be inevitable.

Hyperthermia meant that the patient's immune system was still functional and that the patient was not in as much danger.

Heart rate at 130 beats per minute with oxygen saturation at 93 percent only; the patient's abdomen exhibited spastic rigidity like a hardboard.

This was a typical sign of peritonitis, caused by an involuntary tightening of the abdominal muscles due to peritoneal inflammation, hence the board-like hardness.

Common etiologies included hollow organ perforation leading to leakage of its contents into the peritoneal cavity, or hemorrhage secondary to solid organ rupture, all of which would inflame the peritoneum.

A doctor in charge of ultrasonography hurried over with a portable ultrasound machine cart. He swiftly applied the ultrasonic couplant on the patient's belly and asked, "What is his name?"

It was compulsory to acquire the patient's name as a report had to be issued later. This was a standard procedure to prevent patient misidentification that could jeopardize their safety, a medicolegal issue.

"A thirty-five-year-old unidentified man," Zheng Ren estimated the patient's age group through his facial features and reported it tersely.

"Lower abdominal mass noted, suspected causations include appendicular abscess or perforated appendix. Other organs cannot be seen clearly due to huge gaseous disruption. Minimal free intraperitoneal fluid detected in the pelvic cavity. Otherwise, no other abnormalities are visible," the doctor quickly reported the main ultrasonographic findings to Zheng Ren.

This patient had a severe condition and required immediate surgical intervention.

Zheng Ren picked up his phone while instructing staff to escort the patient to the emergency ward. After a brief moment of hesitation, he pressed the "Call" button.

It was inhumane to disturb Old Chief Physician Pan so early in the morning, but he had to treat this incident seriously and report it to his superior.

It would be fine if the patient was all alone, but if the surgery went haywire or the condition was simply too severe to be treated, family members and friends would often immediately emerge out of nowhere and start tearfully howling injustice.

However, that was not important and Zheng Ren had no time for that. His main issue was the absence of informed consent for surgery.

Old Chief Physician Pan promptly answered the phone, his voice serious.

"Little Zheng, what happened?"

Ever since Zheng Ren first arrived at the emergency department, he had rarely disturbed Old Chief Physician Pan's slumber. Thus, such an unexpected phone call distressed the old man; it was a basic instinct every doctor possessed.

"An unidentified man around thirty-five years old is suspected to have acute gangrenous appendicitis complicated with septic shock. There aren't any contact details of his family members," Zheng Ren reported.

"Start preoperative preparations. I'll contact the medical administration division," replied Old Chief Physician Pan without hesitation.

Zheng Ren hung up and trotted upstairs via the fire escape without wasting time waiting for the elevator.

"Start preoperative preparations," Zheng Ren instructed the nurses and called Chu Yanran and Xie Yiren to prepare for surgery.

After the blood test, electrocardiogram, and various investigative results returned, Zheng Ren took a quick glance at them before pushing the patient, with the nasogastric tube and urinary catheter already inserted, to the operating theater on the third floor.

He handed the patient over to the Chu sisters and rushed back to the emergency ward.

Old Chief Physician Pan was already on his way, and the sleepy medical administrative staff on duty was constantly yawning while bringing video recording equipment to the office in the emergency ward.

The medical administrative staff began recording details for legal purposes once Old Chief Physician Pan reached the office.

Zheng Ren explained everything from the patient's history, status and treatment plans to the reason for his inability to acquire informed consent without family members' contact information.

Subsequently, the medical administrative staff gave authorization to Old Chief Physician Pan and the emergency surgery was greenlighted.

This procedure was mandatory for the self-protection of medical personnel.

After the video was complete, the heavy-eyed medical administrative staff took the equipment and returned to his office.

Zheng Ren was slightly embarrassed and said, "Old Chief Physician Pan, I'm sorry for waking you up so early in the morning."

"Seniors are usually sleep-deprived. I was already awake anyway." Old Chief Physician Pan waved his hand and asked, "Proceed with the surgery. Are you confident about it?"

No one had absolute confidence when treating a patient in septic shock.

Unlike circulatory shock caused by nitrite poisoning, there was no corresponding antidote for septic shock secondary to diffuse peritonitis. The only treatment option was surgical removal of the source of infection and aggressive postoperative antibiotic administration to solve the problem.

Full recovery depended on the patient's physical state as well.

That man... Zheng Ren's expression dimmed after recalling his emaciation and shook his head in response.

"Just do your best." Old Chief Physician Pan gently tapped his shoulder and said, "I'll ask hospital management about treatment expenses during office hours."

Zheng Ren nodded and hurried to the operating theater.

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Chapter 88: It's a Pity I Can't Send A Wave of Positive Energy

"Burn my calories!" Zheng Ren, who had changed his attire, heard a childish yell before he walked into the operating theater.

That must be Chu Yanzhi. She only had calories to burn right now, having not slept all night.

When he entered the operating theater, Xie Yiren had already changed and was counting the instruments in front of the instrument table.

Zheng Ren went to perform a surgical scrub and asked during disinfection, "How much did they drink?"

"Eleven boxes each, and that was all the restaurant had." Chu Yanzhi exaggeratedly extended her arms in an attempt to describe the height of the piled-up boxes, which failed.

"They really had a death wish," Zheng Ren cursed as he disinfected.

"It's thanks to Su Yun." Chu Yanzhi was one of the few people who remained insensitive to Su Yun's charm and immediately put the blame on him. "I tried to persuade them many times, but he insisted on continuing."

Zheng Ren sighed heavily.

He really hoped that Su Yun would learn his lesson this time and stop assuming that all women were lightweight. If he continued, he could end up having incontinence in the future.

The surgical site was disinfected, the surgical drapes applied, surgical gowns worn, and the last layer of surgical drapes reapplied... Zheng Ren stood under the surgical lighthead, fully prepared for the operation.

The scalpel in his hand gleamed.

Instead of the standard incision for ordinary appendectomy or a small incision similar to those made during the crazy night of appendectomies, Zheng Ren made a roughly ten-centimeter incision lateral to the right rectus abdominis muscle.

Since the patient was emaciated, he reached the peritoneum shortly after a simple dissection of subcutaneous and fascial layers.

He frowned: the patient's peritoneum had obviously turned black, which meant that the infection had been going on for at least three days.

Damn, this patient was really tough if he could endure the pain building up from simple appendicitis to acute peritonitis. Barely anyone could withstand the agony of a perforated appendix, to begin with.

Zheng Ren extended his hand and an aspirator with a suction tube attached was gently placed on his palm.

The livestream in Xinglin Garden started at the same time.

It was late at night, so there were only a few hundred viewers watching the livestream.

It was only relatively a small viewer count; normally, at least a few thousand viewers would swarm into the live broadcast room as soon as the anonymous account began livestreaming.

[The peritoneum is black. Is treatment even possible for this sort of severe infection?]

[The god will also handle feces? I thought he was a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon.]

[Young man, are you new to this livestream? Have you begun worshipping the god for his miraculous overnight performance of forty-nine appendectomies?]

There was no doubt that the aspirator had to be plunged in immediately after opening the peritoneum. The pus, digestive fluid, and food debris residing in the peritoneal cavity had to be removed to prevent leakage that could lead to secondary infection.

[That's strange. Why isn't there any food residue?]

[Oh, yeah... I treated a gastric perforation case a few days ago and even aspirated a few pieces of meat.]

[The host surgeon is really lucky. He made it clear that he wanted to dig out some feces, but the insides looked so clean when the peritoneum was opened.]

Lots of pus and exudate were aspirated, but food residue and excrement were nowhere to be seen.

This sight made Zheng Ren feel uneasy. Even though this made the surgery somewhat easier, it also meant that this patient had fasted for three to five days.

No wonder he was big-boned but appeared physically wasted.

After ensuring that all pus and exudate had been fully aspirated, Zheng Ren put protective measures on the peritoneal membranes and carefully exposed the peritoneal cavity.

A large, black appendix emerged in the operative field.

The base of the appendix had perforated and its surrounding areas had become gangrenous.

Zheng Ren cautiously dissected the tissue around the appendix twice as slowly compared to his previous operations.

The gangrenous tissue was particularly brittle and had adhered to the surrounding organs for a few days. Therefore, any accident during dissection could cause irreversible damage to the surrounding tissue.

Although the tissue looked light-colored and unhealthy, gangrene had at least not taken hold, which meant that there was still hope for recovery.

[This is nerve-racking... That must be the appendicular artery. Arterial blood won't gush out, right?]

[Are you a doctor or not? In a gangrenous setting, the appendicular artery will contract and partially close up. Bleeding won't occur as long as the ligation is secure. However, this is the difficult part as there is severe edema on the non-gangrenous base. If it isn't tightly sutured, the thread will automatically fall off once edema subsides.]

[You can put in two sutures, but it's no easy task and any slight overuse of strength will definitely rupture the artery.]

Soon, the doctors in the live broadcast room started discussing the condition animatedly. Exchanging views could widen their horizons, and they had already discussed the challenges of this surgery before Zheng Ren even had even begun ligating the appendicular artery.

Even though it was basic knowledge, this manner of gangrenous appendicitis was rare to actually see in the medical field.

As development expanded, the medical and health sectors had grown by leaps and bounds each year. There were hospitals all over the country, and even in the absence of Class Three Grade A Hospitals and community hospitals, there were still "barefoot doctors".

Even in the most remote of villages, "barefoot doctors" still knew how to perform simple appendectomies.

Enduring the intense pain of appendicitis, followed by tearing and further complications from septic shock...

Zheng Ren and the doctors in the live broadcast room had never encountered such a case in all of their careers.

What kind of man was this?!

Zheng Ren used a tiny pair of forceps to gradually lyse the adhesions between the gangrenous and normal tissue with extreme caution.

"Wipe my sweat," he instructed.

Chu Yanzhi obediently took a piece of gauze and approached him.

Zheng Ren turned his head aside and allowed her to wipe the sweat that had drenched his sterile surgical cap.

"Do you need an assistant? I've assisted in surgeries in West China Hospital," said Chu Yanran out of the blue.

"No," Zheng Ren refused bluntly.

Pooh! A bachelor who could not get a girlfriend.

How could he possibly start a relationship when he was so direct in his approach?

Zheng Ren did not even take her suggestion into consideration. He was incredibly nervous, not because of inexperience, but due to the need for extremely gentle manipulation that was necessary to prevent large-scale torsion that would greatly impact the patient's postoperative recovery.

Under present circumstances, there was nothing Chu Yanran could do to assist him.

The problem lay in his frank and direct attitude. Sigh... Poor bachelor.

[Ligation! He is ligating the artery now!]

[Shut the f*ck up! Your comment blocked my view.]

[A taper-point needle? My guess was correct. A taper-point needle can easily penetrate the tissue and cause minimal trauma, hence reducing the risk of torsion.]

[Don't bullsh*t me. If you'd been the surgeon in charge, the operative field would be a bloody mess of torn tissue. You'd be in the process of resuscitation.]

[That's right. You might as well cut the diaphragm and perform direct compression on the failing heart.]

Zheng Ren held the needle holder firmly and with a dexterous flick, plunged the suture needle deeply into the tissue under the appendicular artery.

He inched the needle forward while being aware of the texture of the tissue until it reached the edematous area. Then, he applied gentle pressure on his wrist and the needle came out of the other side of the appendicular artery.

After passing the needle holder back to Xie Yiren, he made a complicated surgical knot using both hands.

[My heart is about to pop out of my chest.]

[God, please be careful. It'll tear if you're not careful.]

[I'm not worried at all. He is a god; how can he make such a simple mistake?]

[666! The pressure he applied was just perfect! How did he even acquire such experience?]

[Damn, Xinglin Garden doesn't have a reward system. Otherwise, I definitely would've sent a wave of positive energy to the god.]

After complete ligation of the appendicular artery, Zheng Ren let it rest for a few seconds before reinitiating adhesiolysis between the gangrenous appendix and the peritoneum, the greater omentum, and the surrounding intestines.

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Chapter 89: The First Snow of 2*

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The whole operative process was intense. Chu Yanzhi had wiped the sweat off Zheng Ren thrice, and the comments in the live broadcast room were petering out.

Most doctors in the live broadcast room had disabled the livechat and were watching the livestream quietly. Only the younger, livelier doctors preferred a relaxed atmosphere and chatted while watching the video.

The more nervous the surgeon was, the greater the need simmer down by talking. Otherwise, the surgery could go out of control.

The atmosphere eased slightly after Zheng Ren completely resected the appendix.

The gangrenous appendix was so brittle, like a thin slab of charcoal, that it could shatter into pieces with the slightest touch.

When the resected appendix was completely removed from the peritoneal cavity in one piece, many doubting doctors finally expressed their reverence.

[It really could be used as a specimen.]

[This surgeon is indeed a legend who never makes mistakes.]

[This manipulation is breathtaking! I've done a few cases of gangrenous appendicitis, but no matter how careful I was, I had to remove it piece by piece. God, please continue to accept my worship.]

The doctors overwhelmed the live broadcast room with comments to express their heartfelt admiration and deepest respect for the surgeon.

Everyone in the operating theater could clearly see the removal of the entire appendix as well as the bloodstain due to adhesiolysis, which was tiny.

The Chu sisters looked at each other with great surprise.

"Intraperitoneal irrigation with gentamicin.

"Continue the irrigation with normal saline.

"Is the antibiotic susceptibility test done? Negative, okay. Give him three vials of ceftriaxone."

Every step was performed quickly and efficiently.

Zheng Ren had broken another record by completing an appendectomy in one hour and thirty-two minutes.

During the crazy night of appendectomies, he had finished ten appendectomies in the same amount of time, anesthesia included.

He could feel a qualitative improvement in his surgery skill the moment the peritoneal cavity was closed.

More difficult surgeries could better enhance a surgeon's standard.

Apart from that, Zheng Ren had performed the surgery alone without any assistance or second opinions.

He had to make choices all by himself.

A wrong decision could have led to severe postoperative complications and even death.

It was stressful, no doubt, but it was good fuel for motivation as well.

Zheng Ren had overcome various difficulties under pressure and thus received an advancement of mastery in surgery once the stress faded.

After closing the peritoneal cavity, he sutured the subcutaneous and skin layers using a reverse cutting needle with size seven suture thread.

The surgery was officially complete. The patient's vital signs were stable and no postoperative complications had occurred thus far.

This patient's physical fitness greatly surprised Zheng Ren. He had undergone two hours of general anesthesia under septic shock and there was not a single hint of complication or cardiac arrest.

He did not look like a vagabond at all. Generally, a homeless person would be more at risk of general anesthetic complications due to prolonged nutritional imbalance and insufficient calorie intake that led to poor physical fitness.

This patient looked emaciated but was actually as strong as a bull.

'I hope his postoperative recovery is drastic as well,' Zheng Ren thought.

The patient was transferred back to the ward afterward. Since he had no companions, Old Chief Physician Pan arranged a nurse to take care of him in the ward for the time being.

It was a human life at stake, after all.

A rich and powerful man was a living soul.

So was an impoverished vagrant.

Every life weighed the same and the doctors would do everything within their power to save them.

After leaving the operating theater, Zheng Ren was astonished to find Chang Yue documenting the unidentified patient's case in the office.

She was exactly the same as before, and no one would have been able to guess that she had actually been drinking the entire night yesterday.

If there was anything different about her... It seemed like her hair was a little damp, as if she had just taken a bath.

Eleven boxes of Snow in one night... 264 bottles in total, equivalent to 171600mL...

Even so, she appeared completely fine without any sign of dizziness.

The handsome guy who had been drinking with her was still receiving an infusion in the on-call room at this very moment.

That was amazing! Zheng Ren gave Chang Yue a thumbs-up.

"Get some rest after writing up this case," said Zheng Ren gently; his emotional quotient increased, which was a rare occasion.

"Not tired," replied Chang Yue with her usual stony expression.

From her rate and tone of speech, this girl was perfectly fine and not the slightest bit tipsy after drinking all those beers.

Zheng Ren bowed down in admiration.

Old Chief Physician Pan rushed into the office after knowing that the surgery had been completed.

"I've explained the treatment expenses to the medical administration division, but it didn't work out. Try to economize so that I can better persuade them next time," said Old Chief Physician Pan helplessly.

"Okay." Zheng Ren nodded.

All hospital expenses were cost-accounted and the social welfare department did not give a damn about this kind of anonymous patient. Therefore, the doctors and nurses of the hospital had to bear all treatment costs for such patients.

Since patients had to be treated, it was necessary to cut expenditure as much as possible. Medical personnel could not possibly stand idly and watch as the patient suffered to death, right?

"Let's go for a ward round," Old Chief Physician Pan then said with a smile. He obviously did not want these trivial matters to depress Zheng Ren.

Upon reaching the postoperative patient's ward, it was found that he had recovered from general anesthesia and had stable vital signs thus far. His rapid drug metabolism made the case for this man's strong vitality.

His body temperature had normalized following the aspiration of purulent exudate.

Based on this, Zheng Ren was very optimistic about his recovery.

They left the ward and went to check on Lin Yuanshan's father again. Lin Yuanshan was absent and a middle-aged woman was currently taking care of the patient.

The elderly man, who had already woken up, remained insensitive to the abdominal pain, possibly due to prolonged exposure to chronic cholecystitis. He had been given analgesia once and had not experienced any pain since.

Since he had to fast for a period of time postoperatively, he began making a fuss when his agonizing thirst was not quenched immediately.

There was nothing they could do to persuade an old man in his childlike temper tantrum. Thus, Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan decided to secure his limbs to the bed via medical restraints to prevent him from pulling out his own nasogastric tube.

Zheng Ren summoned a nurse, but before he could give further instructions, Chang Yue, with her usual flat expression, appeared at the doorstep.

"Hold that thought. Let me have a chat with the patient first." Chang Yue's expression was stone cold even when speaking to Old Chief Physician Pan.

COMMENT

Old Chief Physician Pan was slightly puzzled, but he was used to maintaining his subordinates' dignity in the presence of patients and their family members.

It was a good habit, but unfortunately, Chang Yue had not picked it up.

Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan left the ward and returned to the office for a chat.

Old Chief Physician Pan was particularly interested at the drinking contest during supper last night. He had to have been a heavy drinker during his youth as well, but with hypertension and hyperlipidemia making his old age miserable, he had reduced his alcohol intake since.

However, he was clearly interested in youngsters competing to out-drink one another.

When he heard that Chang Yue and Su Yun had consumed eleven boxes of Snow respectively, Old Chief Physician Pan burst out laughing. "Just like my soldiers!"

Zheng Ren was completely dumbstruck.

Those who could drink were considered good soldiers? This was another ten thousand critical damage to Zheng Ren, who was alcohol intolerant.

During the conversation, Chang Yue entered the office and said flatly, "The patient has stabilized."

"Huh?"

Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan stared at Chang Yue, stupefied.

"What did you say to him?" Old Chief Physician Pan was truly amazed. No wonder she could befriend a murderer on a killing spree through her words alone. That was simply amazing!

"I just spoke to him and calmed his emotions," Chang Yue said calmly. "Old men are like children, which makes coaxing very simple."

"How is Su Yun, is he alright?" asked Old Chief Physician Pan out of concern.

"Don't worry about him. There isn't any need to visit him at all." Zheng Ren shook his head and added, "I just saw the nurses working in shifts to take care of him; they probably squabbled over it before coming to an agreement, too."

Looking after the young master, Su Yun? He would rather read or go for a ward round than waste time on that b*stard.

That idiot was a stark reminder of his bachelorhood. Sighing heavily, he stood up and gazed out of the window.

It had been snowing for some time as the ground was covered in a thick blanket of white. Glittering snowflakes drifted down soundlessly from the pure white sky above, taking their time before resting on the window sill, melting almost instantaneously.

"Eh? It's snowing. I guess it's going to be another busy day." Instead of savoring this magnificent view, Old Chief Physician Pan's first thought was how hectic the emergency department was about to be.

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Chapter 90: A Snowy Rescue Operation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As it was still early winter, the temperature had not yet dropped drastically. Thus, the falling white confetti caked every surface it touched and instantly melted, forming a huge blanket of black ice when a cold breeze blew across it.

This was a very dangerous situation as drivers would not realize that the road surface had changed dramatically.

Snowfall in the middle of the night could reduce the risk of road traffic collisions to a certain degree.

However, it was the morning rush hour right now. Thirty to forty kilometers per hour was considered slow, but it was an entirely different story on an icy road.

Just as Old Chief Physician Pan finished his sentence, Zheng Ren watched a rear-end pile-up on the opposite main road through the office window.

Despite both emergency and regular brakes locking, the cars still slowly skidded across the black ice. It was a rare sort of despair to experience firsthand.

This would be one of those times, however.

As traffic was slow on the main road opposite the hospital, the collision merely resulted in small scratches on the cars, which was not a big deal.

Even so, a few meddlesome car owners would insist on a hospital checkup and admission for observation. It was unnecessary but a reasonable request.

Therefore, the emergency department could expect to be swarmed by patients today.

"Ding-ling-ling!" A classical ringtone came from Old Chief Physician Pan's phone.

"Hello. Yes, I am.

"Okay. Rest assured, preparations have been made.

"Yes, and about the blood bank, I'll send someone to collect all types of blood from the bank in the city center."

Zheng Ren knew that something was definitely wrong from those words alone. His epinephrine level skyrocketed, endorphin pumped into his system, and the high-energy phosphate bonds within his cells hydrolyzed and released energy reserves for his body's consumption.

"Witnesses claim that there were several injured in a large-scale traffic collision on Benteng Bridge. Ambulances are currently on their way to the scene, so it's time for us to get ready as well," said Old Chief Physician Pan.

When melted snow refroze, it formed a thin ice layer on the road surface, which made it extremely slippery. Although uncommon, it would still happen in Sea City once every few years.

Vehicles traveling on flat ground in urban areas were not hugely affected due to limited speeds, but the same did not apply to vehicles on the overpass.

The vehicles' inertia combined with reduced friction between the tires and ice, one after another...

The picture in Zheng Ren's mind was tragic, but he knew reality was usually more catastrophic.

He picked up the phone and gave Xie Yiren two tasks. The first was to inform the matron to count the surgical instruments and restock them in case they did not have enough. Secondly, he wanted the Chu sisters to check on anesthesia and other medication to minimize chaos during the upcoming rescue operation.

"Can you work?" Zheng Ren asked Chang Yue.

"No problem at all." She stood and made herself a cup of Nescafe instant coffee.

Truly, Zheng Ren thought, Chang Yue behaved more like a man in drinking and at work...

"Come, let us wait in the emergency department," Old Chief Physician Pan said, "We've to mobilize every department in this rescue operation too."

These were, without a doubt, standard procedures.

The slippery road surface forced all vehicles to slow down. Even though it only took ten minutes to get to Sea City General Hospital from Benteng Bridge, the situation was completely different now and the ambulances would require at least half an hour to complete the journey.

...

...

Medical emergency protocol required the nearest hospital to mobilize ambulances to the crash site within three minutes of a distress call.

A few minutes ago, as soon as a siren blared, the doctor in charge of emergency rescue stood up abruptly, retrieved a first aid kit and, with a nurse, rushed to the ambulance outside the triage center.

The ambulance driver slammed on the accelerator and the anti-lock braking system instantly activated, causing the ambulance to drift ten meters across the pavement before he slowly regained control of the steering wheel.

"The road today is so slippery," said the driver, terrified.

Normally, the siren on the ambulance was off when delivering patients with minor traumatic injuries or non-urgent illnesses, but in this sort of situation, the siren wailed like a baby in distress, emitting a sickening shriek.

Other vehicles carefully gave way to the ambulance when they heard the caterwauling.

However, even though most people knew the importance of giving way to an ambulance, it had to be done slowly due to the icy road surface.

It was normally five minutes away, but at such a snail's pace, the ambulance finally reached the crash site more than ten minutes late.

Scanning the scene... They saw a long metal dragon of approximately thirty to forty cars crushed together with different degrees of damage; most of the vehicles made of thin sheet metal had been deformed.

The inertia of the vehicles sliding off the bridge had caused this huge accident.

The doctor quickly jumped off the ambulance, but he accidentally slipped and fell to the ground. The first aid kit in his hand flew out, gliding along the icy pavement before coming to a halt nearly twenty meters away.

"Little Song, are you alright?" asked a nurse out of concern as she carefully stepped out of the ambulance.

"Yes, I'm fine," replied Doctor Song with a grin, enduring the pain that burned his hands and cheek.

It was obvious that the large abrasion on his face was equivalent to disfiguration, but fortunately, he was a man. If a female doctor had suffered from such an injury, she might have committed suicide after sending patients from the crash site back to the hospital.

Slowly and cautiously, he moved to the first aid kit, picked it up and started making his way toward the crash site.

"Doctor, here! I'm here!" someone shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I'm dying, please save me!" Doctor Song ignored the man after stealing a peek at him.

He followed his judgment and walked straight towards a heavily deformed car.

Eighty to ninety percent of those who could scream for help were fine due to their ability for articulation, but of course, "fine" only meant they were not on the brink of death. Doctor Song had even encountered a tough guy who had driven hundreds of kilometers on his motorcycle with a fractured tibia.

He noticed bloodstains on the door of the contorted car as he neared. Silence reigned inside the car and not a single wounded person could be seen around it. Moreover, he could vaguely outline a man lying in the passenger seat even from afar.

Something must be wrong!

"Doctor, help!" Lots of people cried for help along the way.

A choice had to be made at this moment. Doctor Song could always randomly send a victim back to the hospital as it was the most convenient and acceptable way to do so. In addition, he would not even need to risk fall-related injuries by climbing on the icy pavement.

Even so, he insisted on doing the right thing as a critically wounded victim would not survive until the next ambulance's arrival. In that case, he had to send the victim with the most severe condition back to the hospital first.

After tumbling a few times, Doctor Song, whose face had become swollen and bruised, finally reached the deformed car.

The car door had fallen to one side. The driver, who had blood all over his face, was lying with his thoracoabdominal area resting on the steering wheel; it was impossible to tell if he was alive or dead.

Without hesitating any further, Doctor Song quickly grabbed the car door to stabilize himself so that he could pull the patient out of the car.

To his surprise, the door was so heavily deformed that a sharp metal edge sliced open his hand.

Crimson fluid oozed out instantly.

There was no time to deal with such a "minor injury". Doctor Song firmly planted his feet on the pavement, grabbed the patient, unfastened his seatbelt, and yanked him out of the car with all his might.

Going down the slippery pavement was much more difficult than climbing up.

Doctor Song glanced at the ashen-faced patient and felt his thready pulse, which suggested internal hemorrhage. Staring desperately at the medical personnel—the nurse and paramedics carrying an empty stretcher trolley—still struggling to climb up the bridge, he instructed them to return and wait for him. Then, he lay down and stabilized himself with his feet before pulling the patient with him.

Just like that, Doctor Song slid down the black ice along with the patient.

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Chapter 91: An Unconventional Rescue Operation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Doctor Song hugged the patient tightly while his feet continuously searched for support in an attempt to increase friction.

However, he was at the mercy of the icy pavement.

This sort of rescue was definitely illegal, but special circumstances required special solutions. Were he to follow the standard procedure, the patient would be long gone by then.

Two paramedics used their bodies as a barrier and finally stopped the downward momentum of the duo, but it came at a price. The impact at that speed was almost the same as a full-force kick on the body.

Doctor Song was covered in red, a mixture of both his and his patient's blood. Ignoring the pain, he carried the victim, who had not suffered any secondary injury, onto the stretcher trolley and slowly pushed him into the ambulance.

Blood pressure readings came back at 80/40mmHg, which meant that the patient was in hemorrhagic shock. He was given supplemental oxygen and medications to induce hypertension after establishment of venous access. The siren sounded even more dreary as the ambulance rushed back to the hospital.

Every vehicle tried to give way to the ambulance as it was the only green channel between life and death.

In the ambulance, aggressive fluid resuscitation and drug administration were performed to maintain the patient's vital signs. Doctor Song ignored the wounds on his body and thoroughly examined the patient for signs of trauma while constantly reporting his condition to the emergency department so that early preparations could be made.

Twelve minutes later, the ambulance finally arrived at Sea City General Hospital emergency department.

Zheng Ren had been waiting for a long time at the main entrance.

The nurse in the ambulance handed over a few vacutainer tubes of freshly drawn blood for laboratory tests, mainly blood group and screening tests for HIV and syphilis. This was a necessary procedure as severely wounded patients desperately required blood transfusions.

The stretcher trolley was speedily pushed into the resuscitation room. Zheng Ren then inserted a central venous catheter into the subclavian vein while another doctor performed a B-scan ultrasonography on the patient.

At the same time, a nurse performed nasogastric tube insertion, urinary catheterization and preoperative skin preparation.

The senior consultants, highly experienced doctors from various departments—general surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery and urology surgery—had been waiting for the patient on high alert, so they knew what to expect after seeing the patient's condition.

The provisional diagnosis was traumatic hepatosplenic rupture complicated with hemorrhagic shock.

Fortunately, the tall patient had owned a small car, so there was no impact on the chest.

Chief Surgeon Sun said seriously, "Little Zheng, you're young and fast, so go ahead."

Zheng Ren nodded in response as this was not a good time for modesty. The emergency operating theater had long been prepared and they could save at least five to ten minutes of precious time by performing the emergency surgery here.

Whether the patient lived or died could depend on these few minutes.

"Get him to the emergency operating theater and prepare for surgery," instructed Zheng Ren.

"Old Chief Physician Pan, I'm going to perform the emergency surgery. Please take it from here," he said to Old Chief Physician Pan before he departed.

"I'm guessing there'll be lots of casualties." Old Chief Physician Pan frowned and added, "Off you go. I'll call the operating theater if something happens."

The conversation was short and simple. There was nothing else to say at this moment.

Chief Zhou of the medical administration division had also arrived a long time ago. Without demanding Zheng Ren's presence, he began recording the current situation and authorized the emergency department to handle the emergency surgery on behalf of the hospital.

The System's robotic female voice rang out in Zheng Ren's ears as he quickly walked upstairs to the emergency operating theater.

[Emergency Mission: Pileup Crash.

[Task: Rescue the injured patients in the multiple-vehicle collision.

[Reward: Unknown.

[Time: One day.]

The System could not provide any details about the mission reward, presumably due to the fact that this was an unexpected occurrence with an unspecified number of casualties.

Zheng Ren had gradually figured out the System's behavior. The fickle-minded System could either predict the future, although only to a certain extent, or simply felt reluctant to give further information about it.

The liver surgery experience the System had awarded him should be enough to deal with the emergency case at hand, but he lacked knowledge in splenectomy since he had performed it only once.

If he exchanged 14920 experience points for surgery intensive training time, he would have little over four hours to practice.

Splenectomy was relatively simple compared to liver repair surgery.

More than four hours of surgery intensive training time should be just enough for Zheng Ren, who had achieved the Expert rank in general surgery.

It could be inadequate for being proficient in the surgical repair of a ruptured spleen, but he could definitely master splenectomy in that short a time.

Zheng Ren trotted all the way to the emergency operating theater. Xie Yiren was preparing the surgical instruments and the Chu sisters were preparing general anesthesia. Even the frequently absent and quiet anesthesiologist responsible for training junior doctors had also appeared in the operating theater and was silently assisting the ladies with preparations.

Since the surgery preparation was still ongoing, he figured it was time to change his attire and mentally prepare himself for the surgery.

After reaching the locker room, Zheng Ren exchanged his points for surgery intensive training time and began practicing splenectomy.

In a sense, a splenectomy was even simpler than an appendectomy.

In a complicated case of appendicitis, the inflamed appendix could be in an ectopic position, a huge headache for all surgeons, but the spleen was rarely ectopic.

It was basically location, dissection, clamping and removal. There was nothing difficult about it as long as the arteries, veins and ligaments were clearly visible.

Zheng Ren practiced forty-three splenectomies in 4.14 hours, averaging less than six minutes per surgery.

He would never complete the surgery so rapidly in reality, but in the System, all he had to do was cut through the abdomen, face various types of splenic ruptures and excise it without worrying about irrigation or abdominal wound closure.

The most difficult part of the surgery was the careful maneuvering around the abnormally developed short gastric arteries when handling the gastrosplenic ligaments to prevent damage to the gastric wall. Secondary to that was the location of the splenic artery and vein; if the anatomical structures could be clearly visualized, the chance of surgical failure was close to zero.

Zheng Ren even resolved several complicated cases of splenic tuberculosis, and the overall process was performed smoothly.

When his time was finally up, Zheng Ren glanced at his skill trees.

Based on his calculations, his general surgery skill tree should have increased from 2044 to around 2200 skill points after his revision, completing actual surgeries and the splenectomy intensive training.

However, he was flabbergasted upon seeing the skill tree.

The skill tree had grown directly from 2044 to 3154 points!

What the hell had happened?

After recalling recent events, Zheng Ren assumed that the tremendous growth in his skill tree was related to the three hundred liver surgery experiences the System had awarded him.

Whatever the case, it was good news.

Zheng Ren also decided to keep a closer eye on his skill trees from now on.

With 1529 skill points still in his inventory, he still needed a little more than 300 skill points for a skill upgrade from the Expert to Master rank.

He felt a tinge of regret. If a rank upgrade was possible, he would definitely have obtained it to ensure the success of the rescue operation. Besides, even if he used up every skill point now, he could still regain them from missions in the future, right?

The System also notified him that the main quest had been completed. Zheng Ren gave this some thought and figured that the gangrenous appendicitis case had been equivalent to tier-three or four surgery, which had completed it sooner.

After accepting the reward—1000 experience points and 10 skill points, he noticed that there was only one bar left in the mission completion rate.

Zheng Ren ignored the rewards as they were not useful right now.

He summoned his mind back to reality and changed into surgical attire before proceeding to perform a surgical scrub.

When he walked into the operating theater after decontamination, Xie Yiren handed him a pair of large forceps and a kidney dish containing iodophor-soaked cottons.

During disinfection of the surgical site, Xie Yiren informed Zheng Ren that the blood bank had prepared 16U of fresh frozen red blood cells and 1000mL of fresh frozen plasma for the patient, and the circulating nurse was currently on her way to retrieve them.

'I don't think those are enough,' Zheng Ren thought while disinfecting and draping the surgical site.

He put on a surgical gown and stood under the surgical lighthead. Then, a sharp scalpel was handed to him.

Zheng Ren accepted it and the surgery officially began!

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Chapter 92: He's Faster, That's All

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The light reflected off the cold scalpel, radiating a bloodthirsty aura. Without hesitating further, Zheng Ren cut through the abdomen.

Instead of a standard incision, he chose to make a twenty-five-centimeter incision superior and lateral to the left rectus abdominis muscle.

This was completely different from his usual manner of surgery. Xie Yiren was momentarily stunned and grabbed a self-retaining retractor while staring attentively at his movements.

Chu Yanran, who was sitting beside the ventilator, fixed her gaze closely on the readings on the ventilator and various monitors while constantly spinning a pen in her right hand.

Standing opposite Zheng Ren, Chu Yanzhi asked, "Chief Zheng, do I scrub up and assist you?"

"No, the surgery will be over by the time you finish scrubbing up," answered Zheng Ren coldly without looking at her. After asking for a pair of medium-sized curved forceps and an aspirator with a suction tube, he plunged the aspirator into the peritoneal cavity as soon as the peritoneum was opened.

The dark red blood was quickly aspirated. A few seconds later, Zheng Ren instructed, "Chu Yanzhi, tell the circulating nurse to hurry up."

Chu Yanzhi nodded and ran out of the room like a scalded cat.

In Xinglin Garden, there were not many viewers in the live broadcast room.

It was morning now, the busiest time of day where every doctor was occupied with ward rounds, disease reports, surgery and so on.

Thus, "only" more than a thousand viewers were online at the moment.

[That's a severe hemorrhage. I can at least diagnose a splenic rupture in this case.]

[Blood pressure has dropped to only 60...]

[I hate emergency surgery the most, especially this type of rescue. Every time I'm done, my body will feel so sore that I need to rest for at least two days.]

Watching the turbulent flow of dark red blood in the suction tube naturally made every doctor in the live broadcast room feel the same way the commenter did.

The tension and suffocation of a rescue operation had subconsciously seeped into the viewers' hearts.

Only a few comments floated past the screen and most of them were from the same talkative viewer.

This sort of doctor preferred to calm his nerves through conversation.

After aspirating for approximately ten seconds, the amount of dark red blood was considerably diminised. Without waiting for complete aspiration of blood, Zheng Ren directly opened the peritoneum and inserted his left hand into the peritoneal cavity.

Xie Yiren immediately put a kidney dish beside Zheng Ren.

He extracted several large blood clots and threw them into the kidney dish.

"Rubber drainage tube," said Zheng Ren to Xie Yiren; it was a rare request.

Xie Yiren acknowledged the instruction and handed the pre-prepared rubber drainage tube to Zheng Ren, taking the kidney dish away at the same time.

That near-perfect coordination was simply amazing.

Zheng Ren started searching for something in the peritoneal cavity.

[Wow, is he going to occlude the porta hepatis? Is the liver ruptured as well?]

[Sure looks like it. The host surgeon must be anxious to stop the bleeding as soon as possible, but I think it's better to expose the surgical field first. His manipulation is simply too risky.]

[Based on what I've seen these past few days, I'm waiting for the above commenter to get humiliated.]

In the live broadcast room, they watched as Zheng Ren inserted the latex drainage tube after a brief moment of discussion.

If the surgical site was adequately exposed, he should have been able to see the passage of latex tube through the hepatoduodenal ligament that was extended between the omentum and porta hepatis, but he was currently manipulating the instrument without any direct view of the surgical field at all.

Subsequently, Zheng Ren quickly performed a peritoneal protection and used a retractor to open the peritoneal cavity.

There was a clear four-centimeter wound with irregular, jagged edges on the spleen, and blood oozed out of it like a river overflowing a dam.

The patient's hypotension was the reason behind his slow flow rate.

However, everyone in the operating theater and live broadcast room knew that death was imminent if the hemorrhage continued for another ten minutes.

Zheng Ren instructed in a deep voice, "Appendix retractor."

He used the retractor to pull the incision edge to Xie Yiren's side and adjusted its position before passing the tool to her. That way, she could help him expand the operative view to its maximum.

Then, he extended his hand again and a pair of dissecting forceps was gently placed on his palm.

The gastrosplenic ligament was clamped with the dissecting forceps before being ligated and incised. After that, he quickly ligated the short gastric arteries to avoid damage to the gastric wall.

[His movements are so f*cking fast...]

[The host surgeon's understanding of the anatomical structures has reached a very high level. Why do I have a feeling that they know where the short gastric arteries are without even searching for them?]

[You'll know after repeated executions. Young man, more surgeries and thinking are the keys to success.]

As the comments passed, the splenic artery was separated and exposed in the operative field. After ligating it using a 3# suture thread, Zheng Ren noticed a significant reduction in spleen size.

Subsequently, the spleen was removed from the splenic fossa. The splenophrenic ligament and splenocolic ligament were transected, and the vascular pedicle was treated using double ligation and transfixation with nonabsorbable suture ligatures.

These were accomplished in less than five minutes.

[That's very fast. I think I know why the host surgeon occluded the porta hepatis in the first place.]

[He is confident that occluding the hepatic hilum can minimize hemorrhaging as much as possible. If I'm not mistaken, the occlusion can go up to ten minutes, max.]

[Fifteen minutes, but we usually release it every ten minutes to prevent ischemic liver injury.]

The doctors in the live broadcast room understood the host surgeon's methods. Despite their astonishment at the removal of spleen in only five minutes, the surgery itself was not difficult. It only showed that the host surgeon had a deep understanding of local anatomy, no more.

Yes, that was basically it.

Apart from blind manipulation to occlude the porta hepatis, everything else was plain and simple, but how many surgeons in this world could finish it so quickly?

Everyone understood the principle behind it, which was why there were relatively few comments thus far. They were eagerly waiting to see what the host surgeon was going to do with the ruptured liver.

Liver surgery was ten times more difficult than a splenectomy.

After simple ligation of the vascular pedicle on the diaphragmatic surface using a 2# suture thread, Zheng Ren began extending the surgical incision to the right.

There was no bleeding from the subcutaneous tissue: a typical manifestation of hemorrhagic shock. This was due to peripheral vasoconstriction, which was a compensatory mechanism to maintain vital organ perfusion.

Despite the absence of bleeding, Zheng Ren remained vigilant and quickly performed blunt dissection, trying his best not to cause any further damage to the surrounding tissue.

A large sterile gauze was used to protect the peritoneum before he repositioned the appendix retractor and let Xie Yiren pull on it.

At this moment, Chu Yanzhi and the circulating nurse finally returned.

"Transfuse the blood!" Zheng Ren ordered while exploring the peritoneal cavity.

Resuscitation was of utmost importance and courtesy was absolutely unnecessary in this instant.

The circulating nurse and Chu Yanzhi each took a bag of fresh frozen red blood cells and hung them on the infusion stand.

Warm blood had to be used, so they had been trying to use their body temperature to thaw the bags on their way back to the operating theater.

After an identity check between the patient and his blood components, the circulating nurse placed a bag of fresh frozen red blood cells into the pressurized infusion device before putting another bag into her embrace.

"Give me a bag," said Chu Yanran, who was attentively watching the data on the ventilator and various monitors.

Without wasting any time, they divided up the blood bags and constantly changed positions to warm the frozen blood as much as they could.

The blood bag in the pressurized infusion device soon depleted and was quickly replaced with another.

Seeing the dark red fluid entering the patient's vein via the central venous line relieved everyone's anxiety to a certain extent.

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Chapter 93: Hectic

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The operative view opened up, revealing a 5cm wound on the left side of the liver. Despite the rubber drainage tube controlling the bleed at the hepatic hilum, there was still a significant amount of blood flowing out.

Zheng Ren immediately started to clean the wound. There were no signs of necrosis yet as the wound was still fresh.

An in-depth investigation revealed the tear to be on the inside of the liver, around 4cm deep. A few blood vessels were leaking dark red blood.

Zheng Ren extended his arm and a mosquito clamp was placed in his hand.

The ruptured blood vessels were clamped and ligated, followed by the damaged bile duct.

Once the bleed was controlled, Zheng Ren let out a breath of relief. The drainage tube indicated that the bleeding had stopped.

"Blood pressure?" Zheng Ren asked.

"80/60," Chu Yanran answered.

The ruptured spleen was removed and the bleed at the liver was controlled. In response, the patient's vital signs took a turn for the better.

The patient would be better after a transfusion of 16U of blood and 1000ml of plasma.

Zheng Ren assessed the area around the wound of the liver and said, "Call Su Yun. Ask if he is confident with handling a hemorrhagic shock patient post-surgery. If he is, get him to the ICU."

Chu Yanzhi hesitated slightly before dashing out of the operating room to wake the drunken man.

Zheng Ren cut out a part of the greater omentum and used it to plug the leak. Then, he used an interrupted mattress suture to close the wound. The distance between each stitch was precisely 1 centimeter.

[His stitchwork is perfect! You could use a caliper to measure the 1cm!]

[Amazing! The surgeon is very attentive. He left a piece of the greater omentum at the wound to prevent capillary bleeding after blood pressure is restored.]

[To reach his level of skill, one cannot be anything but attentive. Young ones, let me tell you, you need to develop yourself with each surgery.]

[How many minutes have passed? Fifteen?]

[From my calculations, the whole operation took around 13.5 minutes from spleen removal to stitching up of the liver. It's not a big operation but their speed is impressive.]

[In a life or death situation, speed is key. Notice the surgeon did not make a small incision and just went for a 25cm cut. This surgeon is efficient.]

Xie Yiren had warm saline water ready when the suture was complete.

The abdominal cavity was irrigated, and after that, the mixture of bodily fluids and saline water was aspirated.

Zheng Ren double-checked the abdominal cavity and area of the splenic hilum. He placed drainage tubes at both the splenic hilum and the liver wound and began closing the abdomen.

"Su Yun is awake. He'll be there soon," Chu Yanzhi reported when she got back.

"Is he completely awake?"

"Sounded like it." Chu Yanzhi's hands were icy from the frozen blood bags. She rubbed her hands to warm them and as she thought of last night's amazing feat, a smile graced her face.

"Good. The ICU is better-equipped and better-staffed." Zheng Ren had to agree.

He predicted that the patient would not have many post-surgery complications, but to be safe, he wanted the patient to stay in the ICU for one or two days of observation.

The number of patients who would require the same treatment was not on his mind.

He only focused on the emergency at hand.

"Inform the ICU to prepare a ventilator. Patient arriving in 20 minutes," Zheng Ren ordered.

Suture, closure. The patient was intubated and sent to the ICU.

Chu Yanran sat atop the trolley bed with her legs tucked to minimize occupied space.

Her position was awkward as she clutched the ventilation bag to sustain respiration. She had to keep an eye on the patient's vitals during transport.

After transporting the patient, Zheng Ren rushed back to the emergency department.

Although the surgery was quick on his part, from end-to-end, it had taken nearly an hour.

In that time, other injured patients had been brought in.

At the emergency room, Old Chief Physician Pan was managing the crisis. The old chief was calm and collected as he assessed each patient's condition and triaged them to particular departments.

Zheng Ren's eyes swept across the room. There were many patients, but most of them had fractures or external head injuries that were minor. His shoulders sagged in relief.

He asked around and found two more patients that had come in with internal hemorrhaging. The more severe case was sent to the second general surgery department with Chief Sun heading that rescue. The other case was sent to the first general surgery department for the deputy chief to work on.

Old Chief Physician Pan was seated calmly amidst the chaos, his presence a source of comfort for many.

As the families of these patients had yet to arrive, medical administrative personnel were extremely busy. They were taking down patients' details, conditions, justifications for surgery—all information required by-law.

As medical lawsuits were on the rise, the hospital made sure to be extra cautious with legal procedures. The paperwork had to be perfect even in emergencies like this.

This was after receiving hundreds of lawsuit threats in a year.

Zheng Ren once heard an old physician say that back in the eighties and nineties, even though public safety was lacking, doctors were very much respected by society. People with injuries could come in and be treated as an anonymous patient. The lack of procedure meant quicker emergency response.

Now, if a doctor dared to do as such... Zheng Ren was sure one encounter with an unscrupulous family member would end their whole medical career.

Old Chief Physician Pan saw Zheng Ren and asked, "How did the surgery go?"

"Laceration at the liver, ruptured spleen. Surgery went well. The patient's in the ICU now," Zheng Ren summarized.

"Good." Old Chief Physician Pan nodded and said, "There's a lot of patients today but only a few had internal lacerations and all were from the Pentium Overpass incident. Fractures and external head injuries were the main conditions observed in the other patients. We'll have to monitor them."

Zheng Ren uttered a grunt of acknowledgment.

"We need to keep an eye out for delayed traumatic intracranial hemorrhage. Stay on guard," Old Chief Physician Pan instructed.

Zheng Ren nodded in assent.

As time passed, more patients with minor injuries were admitted. All 120 ambulances were overloaded but even so, a few victims could not catch one and had to walk to the hospital in the cold weather.

These patients mostly exhibited minor external injuries. It was likely that the sudden snow and frozen road made them lose control of their cars, resulting in a frontal collision.

Some of the patients were elderly people who had been on walks. The frozen pavement had caused them to slip and fall, leading to multiple cases of Colles' and intertrochanteric fractures.

Zheng Ren guessed that the orthopedic department would be bustling. Sea City General Hospital had four orthopedic departments and each received around ten patients.

This was excluding patients with Colles' fracture being treated in the emergency department.

Colles' fractures were largely caused by indirect trauma. It was a condition commonly observed when people tried to break their fall with their hands. The frozen ground played a role in today's incidents.

With the forearm extended and the hand outstretched, the force of a fall would cause the distal end of the radius to fracture.

The treatment was simple—resetting, immobilization with a splint and medication that improved blood flow.

Under normal circumstances, if the patient wanted to stay for further observation, they would allow it. However, with the emergency today, the doctors advised them to recuperate at home.

The whole emergency department was filled with patients. There were no available beds for observation.

Zheng Ren was not from orthopedics. He had only performed resetting once or twice during his housemanship and therefore was of not much use.

For the whole afternoon, he stuck to observing, diagnosing, and distributing the patients.

At 2:25 in the afternoon, a call came from the ICU. The hemorrhagic patient's condition required input from all departments.

The ground outside was frozen over like a layer of glass. People avoided the outdoors and the number of new patients gradually decreased. Old Chief Physician Pan noted the situation in the emergency room had stabilized and told the doctors on duty to call him if there were any problems. Then, he brought Zheng Ren with him to the ICU.

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Chapter 94: Retroperitoneal Hematoma

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zheng Ren entered the ICU and felt hateful gazes directed at him.

'What did I do?' Zheng Ren thought.

He had never had any misunderstandings with ICU staff. The nurses...

"Chief Physician Pan, you're here." An ICU doctor walked toward them and started to explain the patient's condition.

"The patient was involved in a traffic accident and sent to the fifth orthopedic department at 9:18 am. He was diagnosed with a pelvic fracture. Blood pressure was at 100/60 mmHg but an hour later, it was at 85/45 mmHg. We suspected severe hemorrhage from the fracture and did a CT scan. The scan revealed a retroperitoneal hematoma."

The patient's records detailed the condition with a simple, clear-cut diagnosis. The hematoma was to be expected due to pelvic fracture.

Minor pelvic fractures rarely required surgery and were manageable with just rest.

The design of the pelvis naturally made it so. Fractures typically led to bleeding that would cause a small to medium internal accumulation. Usually, treatment with hemostatics and antibiotics was sufficient.

However, if the pelvic fracture ruptured any blood vessels, it would be the internal and external iliac veins, along with the common iliac vein.

These blood vessels were located at the retroperitoneal space and the bleed would be enveloped by the peritoneum. In most cases, the ruptured vessel was either a small artery or vein and the bleeding would stop due to higher retroperitoneal pressure.

However...

This patient seemed to be a special case. The odds of a case like this was less than one in a hundred.

It was likely that there had been severe laceration to one of the bigger arteries in the retroperitoneal space and the pressure could not staunch the bleed. The patient's blood pressure was at a level that indicated hemorrhagic shock.

The higher retroperitoneal pressure was tricky as it did not allow for standard general surgery methods to stop the bleed.

If they cut open the retroperitoneum, the trapped blood would burst out due to pressure.

Zheng Ren looked to the side and saw Su Yun move a chair to the patient's bedside. He sat by the patient and scrawled something on a piece of paper as if making calculations.

Su Yun could be hungover but did not look drunk, just mildly dispirited.

The gloomy expression on a handsome face like his gave off a completely different vibe.

"Let's have a look at the patient first," Old Chief Physician Pan said steadily. He approached the patient and read his vital signs, then proceeded to view the CT scan.

"Pelvic fracture with ruptured arteries. Hematoma in the retroperitoneum." Su Yun heard Old Chief Physician Pan's voice and looked up. He did not rise from his seat or look at Chief Physician Pan, but only stared at Zheng Ren.

Zheng Ren knew what he meant.

The patient's condition was not suitable for open surgery, leaving only interventional surgery the only option for stopping the bleed. That was their priority now.

Su Yun's diagnosis and rescue plan were accurate. He was sharp.

"Little Zheng, are you confident?" Old Chief Physician Pan was not familiar with this manner of interventional surgery, but after the placenta abruption case, he had bought a book to study it further.

He was not capable of performing the surgery but wanted to make sure Zheng Ren was confident before rushing into it.

Sometimes, hot-headed youngsters need the steady hand of an older fellow to guide them.

A pelvic fracture with retroperitoneal hematoma and developing hemorrhagic shock was the perfect case for an interventional radiology-assisted surgery.

Nevertheless, Old Chief Physician Pan had never performed such surgeries before and wanted Zheng Ren's opinion.

"No problem," Zheng Ren replied confidently. "Get the paperwork. Prepare the blood and transfer the patient to the interventional radiology operating room."

Su Yun's black hair swayed as he bobbed excitedly. The tiredness in his eyes slowly disappeared.

The change in Su Yun made Zheng Ren cautious. 'What is this nancy boy up to?'

"I'll go in with you," Su Yun said, "These are calculations for contrast agent administration. Don't mess it up."

He handed the piece of paper to the nurse.

"Another calculation of contrast agent administration based on urine specific gravity?" the nurse said after glancing at the paper. She had a look of regret on her face. "Brother Yun, it's a shame you left for the emergency department."

"Haha." Su Yun gave a neutral response: a chuckle that accentuated his tousled hair.

Zheng Ren had no patience for Su Yun and his antics but the concept was correct. Using urine specific gravity for calculation, the contrast medium would provide a better chances for a hemorrhagic shock patient.

This was a high-level technique, something akin to a secret move from a Wuxia novel.

With the boom of the internet, this method of calculation was available online for reference. The problem was the complicated mathematics required, something beyond most medical students' grasps.

They would have to constantly monitor the patient's urine specific gravity and adjust the contrast medium. The whole process was exhausting.

Hence, anyone who suggested it was already heads and shoulders above others.

This man would do it. Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan excused themselves from the ICU and went to prepare the interventional angiography system.

After the placenta abruption case, Old Chief Physician Pan had managed to source some of the materials suitable for interventional surgery.

This time, Zheng Ren would be better-equipped. He would have the right instruments and another doctor with him.

...

...

Zheng Ren prepared himself in the operating room.

Xie Yiren was here. She had taken the time to study interventional surgery as much as possible and was ready to assist Zheng Ren.

However, he would not allow her to. This was not coronary bypass surgery that would have the patient's heart stopped. There was no need for her to be exposed to radiation.

As for Su Yun, Zheng Ren simply did not care if he wanted to help or not.

Between an annoying, sharp-tongued pretty boy or an accommodating, delightful lady, Zheng Ren did not need to think twice about his pick. He was very straight, after all.

They required minimal machinery as it was simply an embolization surgery. In the world of interventional surgery, embolization was the easiest procedure to perform.

Fifteen minutes later, Zheng Ren heard the sound of the stretcher trolley approaching.

The preparations in the operating room were complete.

The patient was gently lifted onto the operating table. Care was taken as not to aggravate the patient's condition. Zheng Ren activated the system and gave control access to the operating room, then began to scrub in.

Interventional surgery had the risk of radiation exposure, but personnel entering the area had to wear heavy lead aprons as they worked. Operating with pounds of added weight was much more difficult than a normal surgery.

However, in certain cases, interventional surgery was the only viable option. If they did not proceed, it would mean standing aside and watching the patient bleed to death.

Zheng Ren went to the storage room and took out a lead apron. Suddenly, he remembered something.

When he had accomplished the solo mission, the System had rewarded him a silver chest and a special lead apron that could turn radiation into energy.

The silver chest did not entice him after three consecutive unboxings had given him nothing but skill books.

The special lead apron seemed prestigious. According to its description, it could absorb and transform radiation into energy for its wearer.

That would be very interesting.

Zheng Ren returned the lead apron in his hand and snuck a peek at Su Yun. The man was occupied with positioning the patient and other presurgical preparations. Zheng Ren hurried into the changing room and accessed the System, intending to put the special lead apron to good use.

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Chapter 95: 0095 介入医生的苦，你们不知道

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

.0095 You Don't Know The Pain of An Interventional Surgeon

The special lead apron from the System was similar to the one in the hospital. The color and make allowed it to blend in with the other lead aprons on the clothes rack.

However, the System did not provide any explanation as to how the lead apron could transform radiation into energy. The getup only consisted of a vest with no apron skirt, headwear or goggles. Zheng Ren was mystified.

Whatever.

Zheng Ren had no time to investigate it further, so he put on the special lead apron alongside other normal gear. At the same time, the Chu sisters were starting general anesthesia.

General anesthesia was not necessary for interventional embolization surgery, but as the patient was in a state of hemorrhagic shock, seizures were a concern. If the guide wire broke in the patient's blood vessel... Now, that would make for an interesting day.

He washed his hands thoroughly and put on the sterile scrubs. The general anesthesia was complete and thus the surgery began.

"Do you have experience in interventional surgery?" Zheng Ren asked Su Yun.

Su Yun was already geared up and standing beside Zheng Ren like a shadow. Zheng Ren could only hope for such a handsome silhouette for himself but alas, life was unfair.

"Nope," Su Yun answered with a smirk. His eyes crinkled attractively.

Zheng Ren was speechless.

"I've seen you do it once, so I more or less know what to do," Su Yun said in earnest.

'Huh, do you think you're Saint Seiya? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?' Zheng Ren thought.

Zheng Ren had nothing to say, but at least he had an assistant now. It would be much better than operating alone.

He would take Su Yun as an accompanying houseman.

The patient's blood pressure was at 60/40mmHg. Without saying another word, Zheng Ren opened the catheterization kit and took out his materials.

After disinfection, the first puncture attempt yielded blood.

It was a skill that Zheng Ren picked up after hours of intensive training in the System. He had also performed hundreds of catheterizations during the nitrite poisoning incident.

Su Yun's eyes brightened at this show of skill.

The first time he had witnessed Zheng Ren's skill at catheterization was during the placenta abruption case. He had dismissed it as a one-off stroke of luck. Now, this was the second time Zheng Ren managed to find the vessel at the first puncture. It could not be a coincidence.

Zheng Ren must have incredible skill to be successful on the first attempt, especially since the patient's blood pressure was so low.

Su Yun was quick to criticize but could recognize skill and talent.

"Guide wire." Zheng Ren held on to the vascular sheath and motioned with his other hand.

The wire was placed in his hand before he had even finished his sentence.

Zheng Ren was mildly impressed by the man. He had no experience in interventional surgery but knew what the next step was.

Su Yun was as quick as Xie Yiren when assisting in general surgery. This combination might work out.

Huh, he was quite the genius.

Thoughts were running through Zheng Ren's mind as he slowly inserted the guide wire into the vascular sheath within the femoral artery.

On the Xinglin Garden livestream, the bullet comments were flying.

[The surgeon just completed a spleen removal and liver trauma surgery. Now he's onto a pelvic fracture interventional embolization surgery? Which hospital does this stream belong to?]

[My mentor called up Xinglin Garden. They said the transmission originates from a teaching hospital in Montreal, Canada.]

[Oh? That's the hometown of Norman Bethune. Could it be that Old Mr. Bethune1 is starting a livestream to teach surgery?]

The origin of these mysterious livestreams was twisted into an unrecognizable mess.

Regardless of their identity, be they a foreigner or a Chinese citizen in a public or private hospital, the skills of the host surgeon or surgeons were indubitable.

For now, most people believed that it was a group of surgeons performing different types of surgeries. Hence, that it was a livestream from Canada was believable.

[Anyone who specializes in interventional surgery care to shed some light?]

[Yeah, I totally can't tell what's going on. I've seen a case like this in my hospital before. We didn't have an interventional suite. After getting informed consent from the family, they opened up the retroperitoneum and it was bad. Blood was everywhere. There was nothing we could do...]

[Thanks for the request! Pelvic fracture interventional embolization surgery mainly focuses on the internal and external iliac blood vessels. If the veins are damaged, the high pressure in the retroperitoneal space will stop the bleeding. It will be more complicated if the arteries are damaged, but simply put, the internal iliac artery can be embolized without much consequences...]

An interventional surgeon from a third-tier city explained away in the chat.

He specialized in interventional radiology-assisted surgery, but found the field was only known for coronary bypass and stent surgeries.

He had watched the livestream of the placenta abruption surgery multiple times and concluded that his skill was on par with the widely popular surgeon on screen.

Maybe not the same level, but close enough.

His conclusion gave him a confidence boost and since then, he had looked forward to the next livestream.

The life of an interventional surgeon was lonely.

Even when he was in the hospital, 95% of the staff had little knowledge of interventional radiology-assisted surgery, let alone an average Joe.

Hence, he visited Xinglin Garden every day hoping to catch the opportunity to talk about his field. Now, he got to showcase his knowledge in front of a few thousand doctors.

[Why? Wouldn't embolization of the artery cause ischemia?]

[If you refer to an anatomy diagram, the internal iliac artery has multiple branches. The external iliac artery is another case, though, as total embolization will cut off the femoral artery. It can lead to the loss of function in the whole leg. Hence, the difficult part of this surgery is the treatment of the external iliac artery.]

[Okay, I think I understood that. How hard will this surgery be?]

[I've done around 20 surgeries; the average duration of one was four hours. You guys don't know the pain of an interventional surgeon.]

As the third-tier city doctor explained the basics on Xinglin Garden, the livestream had already changed to the inside view. The guide wire and guide catheter had been inserted with the utmost precision and the embolization coil followed suit to seal off the ruptured internal iliac artery.

[The surgery was faster than your explanation.]

[What a quick surgery. God damn.]

[I am envious but as I've said, the surgery's difficulty is not in the embolization of the internal iliac artery but the superselection of the external iliac artery.]

Onscreen, behind the flurry of comments, a guide wire began the process of superselection of the external iliac artery.

The wire was very soft and thin, hence leading it into a blood vessel that was not much thicker was very difficult.

It was akin to playing table tennis with a whip: incredibly complicated. The superselection of the blood vessel was ten times more difficult, however.

[Look, this is where the real surgery begins.]

The interventional surgeon started to explain himself. Interventional surgery was rare in the country. In third-tier cities, there would only be one hospital that had an interventional radiology department and possibly three to five specialists shared among them.

In second-tier cities, there could be two departments in total but no more.

Every year, there was a significant number of liver cancer patients rushed into the Vice City hepatology department for fifteen-minute interventional radiology treatment.

However, actual super selective chemoembolization for liver cancer would require more time. Fifteen minutes was likely just enough to take an image.

However, there was a high volume of patients and very few doctors, so some corners were cut.

The interventional surgeon who rarely got to speak finally had the opportunity to share his insights on Xinglin Garden. His eager words began to flow across the screen.

[The superselection has to go beyond the 2nd-grade artery, possibly even the 4th-grade artery to avoid issues. Hence, every pelvic fracture embolization surgery takes a long time to complete successfully.]

This interventional surgeon stared at his phone and typed out each character diligently. He was thrilled at this chance to educate other doctors.

They would finally learn about the advantages of interventional surgery. He was cheery even though he was not at the operating table.

However, he had the fortune of explaining the details of a pelvic fracture embolization surgery to a few thousand doctors, live. He was ecstatic.

His eyes were fixated intensely on the phone screen to the point of watering.

Behind the stream of comments... It seemed like the superselection of the deep circumflex iliac artery was already complete. The contrast agent was being administered.

No, it must be a trick. His eyes were probably deceived. The doctor shook his head and blinked a few times. He looked back at the livestream and saw, right behind his wall of text, the deep circumflex iliac artery had been selected and the leak located. The embolization step was happening right now.

God! That was ridiculously fast! Had it even taken three seconds?

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Chapter 96: Bullseye

[Doesn't seem very difficult. I checked the time, five minutes per arterial branch.]

[That's because the surgeon is a superstar. The difficulty is set.]

[Could you perform an appendectomy in three minutes? I'm sure you can't even complete one in thirteen minutes.]

The trash-talking on Xinglin Garden was similar to that of any online forum.

In the interventional suite, the man next to Zheng Ren was blown away. Su Yun stared with his mouth agape at Zheng Ren as if he had just witnessed a miracle.

Su Yun had not been bragging when he said he could learn from observation alone.

After observing the placenta abruption case, Su Yun watched a few video clips of interventional surgery to obtain some level of understanding. He believed that he should improve his skills and become better than Zheng Ren.

Su Yun was anticipating a failed attempt at artery superselection, which would allow him to step in and save the day.

Who would have thought Zheng Ren could perform artery superselection at such speed and accuracy on the first try?

The diameter of the guide wire was 0.014 inches and one millimeter was equivalent to 0.03937 inch. It was around 0.3556 millimeters thick.

A 4th-grade blood vessel had an approximate diameter of 0.5 millimeters, which was very similar in thickness to the guide wire.

The manipulation of the thin and nimble guide wire into the blood vessel on the very first attempt... Su Yun belatedly realized he was absolutely outclassed.

Another person who shared the same thoughts with Su Yun was the interventional surgeon from the third-tier city hospital.

There was a minor difference between the doctor and Su Yun. Su Yun had talent and could pick up skills from just observing. On the other hand, the doctor had to sharpen his skills from assisting in countless surgeries. He had gone through dozens of pelvic fracture arterial embolizations.

No words could describe the hardship and struggle he faced.

Hence, if disappointment was all Su Yun felt, the doctor who witnessed Zheng Ren's surgery was totally baffled.

Superselective arterial embolization was an incredibly difficult procedure. To reach a 0.5 millimeter, 4th-grade blood vessel with a guide wire on the first try was a miracle!

He calmed down and for the first time, he wondered if he should go to this surgeon's hospital to learn more.

At this moment, he was just like the many doctors on Xinglin Garden who wanted to become the surgeon's pupil.

[I think that's the fourth 4th-grade blood vessel. I believe the bleeding has stopped.]

[Almost. Today I learned that complicated pelvic fractures could be treated like this. Our hospital has an interventional radiology department. I should ask them about this.]

Seeing how clueless these doctors were about interventional surgery, the specialized surgeon from the third-tier city started to type out a message.

[For orthopedics, before the removal of spinal neoplasm, one can use interventional methods to embolize the lumbar arteries. That way, the amount of blood loss can be reduced from 5000ml to approximately 1500ml.]

The god-like surgeon probably had no time to explain his methods. Well, he would be the one to answer these doctors' questions.

A flame of motivation flickered in him as he continued introducing the various applications of interventional radiology to the doctors online.

[The surgery is almost ending. That's the last artery.]

[The selection was perfect, all that's left is the embolization. Once the image shows no leak, the catheter can be removed.]

[This perfect surgery took...]

The surgeon looked at the time and unconsciously sighed.

23 minutes and 15 seconds...

If it had been him, that procedure would have taken 4 hours. That was the difference between him and the surgeon in the livestream.

He could not even bring himself to challenge that time.

The anonymous surgeon in the Xinglin Garden livestream was like an indomitable mountain that one could only appreciate from afar.

In the operating theater, Zheng Ren switched off the angiography system. He gave a signal and Chu Yanran opened the sensor-activated lead door. With her were drugs needed for the patient.

The guide catheter and vascular sheath were retracted from the patient's body. Zheng Ren turned around to leave. "Maintain pressure, stop the bleed."

Su Yun was stunned. Was he being treated like an assistant now?

He tamped down his dissatisfaction. After all, Zheng Ren had just performed a perfect surgery. Su Yun was no match for him, so what else could he say?

He nodded and used the sterile gauze to press on the puncture site, still a bit dazed.

From Su Yun's observations, Zheng Ren's performance had improved by leaps and bounds since the last interventional surgery. Could it be that the instruments and materials were incompatible then?

Su Yun's mind settled on that as the reason.

Chu Yanzhi came into the room and saw Su Yun's faraway gaze. "Hey, have you woken from your drunken stupor now?"

The line cut his heart like a knife.

Yesterday... He drank too much. How embarrassing.

He always regarded himself as a person who could hold his liquor, yet he lost to a goddamn girl. He did not take that loss lightly.

This was not a good day. He had been defeated by Chang Yue in a drinking game and outclassed by Zheng Ren in the operating room.

"Not fully there yet, I see," Chu Yanzhi said as she put the anesthesia machine aside. "If you can't tolerate alcohol, you should drink less. Look at you. If you keep drinking like that, it'll ruin your body. You're still young so you won't notice it..."

"Can you stop nagging?" Su Yun said, annoyed.

"Oh?" Chu Yanzhi smirked. "You drank yourself into a stupor."

Su Yun could not refute the statement. "Well, no one wants to marry a person who nags."

"Lightweight."

"Pack up your stuff, it's almost fifteen minutes."

"Lightweight."

"If you dare, come challenge me next time!"

"Lightweight."

This word alone was enough to shut Su Yun up.

Zheng Ren was happy to witness this whole exchange.

The patient's blood pressure was steadily rising as they transfused bags and bags of blood.

Fifteen minutes later, the pressure on the puncture site was removed and it was bandaged tightly. A few people lifted the patient onto the trolley stretcher.

The patient had not woken from general anesthesia and was equipped with a breathing tube. Chu Yanran operated the ventilation bag as they transported the patient back to the ICU ward.

As Su Yun was there, Zheng Ren did not follow.

The surgery was a success and that was all that mattered. Zheng Ren went to the changing room and removed the special lead apron that could turn radiation into energy. He wanted to see if it worked.

If he were honest with himself, he could feel the difference.

Although the surgery had taken just over twenty minutes, a heavy lead apron would have made anyone sweat through their clothes at that time.

Right now, his body was still dry and he felt refreshed. The pounds of weight did not seem to affect him. He was energized and if he had been in a video game, his energy bar would be full.

Hm... Maybe the next time he was tired, he could wear the special lead vest and stand under the X-ray machine to regain energy.

Or maybe he should not do that, as it could all just be the placebo effect. The System had given it to him without any clear guidelines.

Zheng Ren tucked away his mind-blowing idea. Holding the lead apron, he entered the System.

At that moment, a loud ring blared out.

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