The Surgeon's Studio c1-799

by Black Ursa Prime

  Was this a dream?

  He summoned all his strength to try and regain control of his hands but surprisingly, they took no orders from him despite being a part of his body.

  Zheng Ren was experiencing the feeling of a high-level paraplegic patient who had lost control of all their limbs.

  Besides, his limbs were performing an advanced and precise surgery as if they were machines!

  Had the System assumed control of his body? Was this fantasy-novel possession where his body had actually been possessed by the System?

  Would his consciousness fade away slowly but surely and vanish into thin air after a while?

  A series of questions sent cold sweat dripping down his back as he was embroiled in a cruel mire of despair with no chance of escape.

  "Host, please be advised that bodily control is impossible during the thirty minutes of prime experience. Agitation detected. Hormone imbalance noted. Minimal sedation administered," The robotic voice emerged in his mind once more.

  Zheng Ren calmed down momentarily under the System's assistance.

  "Host, please value this opportunity for prime experience. Please take note that the free prime experience is given only once. Repeat, free chance given only once."

  Disregarding the fact that his physical self was performing the surgery, he realized his current view was the best and precisely what he had yearned for from the corner of the operating theater just now!

  Mere observers would have never gotten the chance to view the whole surgical process from the operating surgeon's point of view, which was undeniably the best possible view for learning.

  This opportunity had finally been presented to Zheng Ren in that moment. On the other hand, Cen Meng—the chief resident—widened his eyes in disbelief when he noticed that Zheng Ren was continuing the surgery despite being a surgical assistant.

  "Zheng Ren, what are you doing!" yelled Cen Meng in an attempt to stop Zheng Ren from carrying on.

  However, he received only silence in return.

  Zheng Ren continued the surgery with his hands as nimble as two dancing elves.

  Cen Meng noticed something peculiar as he was about to interrupt the procedure.

  Wait, surgical scissors could be used that way?

  Zheng Ren actually separated the adhesion on the pancreatic head via blunt force with his finger. Was he not worried about a pancreatic tear?

  Surprisingly, there was an abnormal blood vessel supplying the tumor. How had he noticed it?

  Cen Meng had a lot of questions on his mind.

  That was impossible! Cen Meng was well aware of Zheng Ren's standard. Both of them came to Sea City General Hospital two years apart and they knew each other's skill level very well despite the lack of intimacy between them.

  Cen Meng was better than Zheng Ren in terms of flattery and being a bootlicker. Moreover, he became Chief Surgeon Liu's confidant a long time ago thanks to his uncle's friendship with the chief surgeon.

  Otherwise, Chief Surgeon Liu would have brought his deputy chief to this heavyweight surgery instead of Cen Meng.

  The insiders knew the ropes, but outsiders just came along for the ride.

  Even so, Cen Meng started to get confused despite being an insider.

  Cen Meng had been amazed by Professor Moriyu's skill level but even his superb expertise failed to reach the altitude of the ability Zheng Ren currently possessed.

  No. Not only was Professor Ichiro Moriyu's skill level lower than Zheng Ren, the difference between their expertise was actually humongous!

  The situation changed again when Cen Meng's mind wandered for a brief moment.

  A few minutes later, the adhesive tissues had been separated from the tumor and only the abdominal aorta required adhesiolysis at the moment.

  This was the most crucial part of this surgery. The abdominal aorta was around three centimeters in diameter and less elastic than normal arteries. Thus, any injury to the abdominal aorta during adhesiolysis was potentially irreversible.

  This would result in a massive hemorrhage and the patient would inevitably pass away on the operating table.

  Surgeons would normally give up after encountering this intraoperative finding and inform the patient's family that, regrettably, they had done their very best.

  This was the reason why Professor Ichiro Moriyu chose to end the surgery after foreseeing this outcome.

  However, there was not a single mote of hesitation in Zheng Ren's hands as he started separating the outer layer of the abdominal aorta with the surgical scissors.

  Impossible! The separation of inferior vena cava's outer layer required special instruments. How could a blunt end of the surgical scissor do that?

  Cen Meng started to get confused once again.

  Professor Moriyu had given up on this surgery just now due to a lack of suitable instruments in the Sea City General Hospital and turned a pancreaticoduodenectomy into an "open and close surgery".

  Every procedure—separation, cut, anastomosis, lymphadenectomy—was brief and precise.

  The surgery was completed at the twenty-sixth minute. Warm, normal saline was used to irrigate the peritoneal cavity before suturing.

  That pair of hands did not even check if he missed any active bleeding spots, as if Zheng Ren had infinite confidence in himself that there were no mistakes at all.

  At the twenty-ninth minute, the peritoneal cavity and abdominal incision were sutured. The surgery was officially finished.

  Other than the initial failed attempt at stopping Zheng Ren, Cen Meng had merely stood there and watched the whole operative process for thirty minutes in a confused state.

  His sterile surgical cap and gloves were drenched in sweat at the moment.

  Merely half an hour of observation had exhausted him greatly.

  Zheng Ren, who knew only about appendectomy, had just performed a pancreaticoduodenectomy! Not just an ordinary surgery, but a surgery in which a world-class specialist failed to continue and gave up on in the end!

  Cen Meng could not believe it, but he had seen the perfect surgery with his own eyes.

  That was unbelievable!

  This thirty-minutes prime experience had definitely been an eye-opener for Zheng Ren.

  When the time was up, an overwhelming fatigue erupted from his soul and surged through his entire body, persuading his muscles to give in to gravity and float into dreamland.

  However, Zheng Ren knew that it was not a good time for sleep. He needed to go home as soon as possible and study this System in his head.

  Apart from Cen Meng, there had been a scrub nurse and an anesthesiologist inside the operating theater. Zheng Ren bid goodbye to all of them before heading out eagerly.

  He changed his clothes immediately instead of wasting time in a shower.

  Upon exiting the operating theater, he saw Chief Surgeon Liu talking to a group of people.

  The group was headed by an elderly man and a young, beautiful girl in her twenties.

  Chief Surgeon Liu was keeping a low profile by leaning slightly forward and smiling apologetically.

  Chapter 3 - Skill Tree

  Zheng Ren presumed Chief Surgeon Liu was explaining the 'open and close surgery' to the patient's family members.

  Chief Surgeon Liu's expression darkened immediately upon noticing Zheng Ren. He then excused himself from the group and yelled at Zheng Ren, "Why did you come out first? Why didn't you help them with the patient transfer?"

  "Chief Surgeon Liu, the surgery is finished," said Zheng Ren.

  Chief Surgeon Liu was exasperated at Zheng Ren adding fuel to the fire by reminding them all about the failed surgery. Did this brat not see that he was explaining the situation to the patient's family members?

  Before Chief Surgeon Liu could reprimand the junior doctor for his insubordination, Zheng Ren added, "The tumor was resected and I assumed that the outcome was good. I'll take the specimen if the family members are interested in looking at it."

  The elderly man and y
oung lady stared at each other in shock.

  Professor Moriyu had come out of the operating theater and delivered the bad news about the failed surgery to them just now. He also explained that the adhesions between the tumor and abdominal aorta were too severe for proper resection and thus, it had become an open and close surgery.

  The patient's postoperative life expectancy was approximately… three months.

  The family members could not argue with Professor Moriyu but, unfortunately, Chief Surgeon Liu would have to feel their wrath in the man's place.

  The patient and his family members had inquired repeatedly if this condition was treatable with surgery prior to the surgery, and they were given a promise after numerous investigations.

  Thus, Chief Surgeon Liu had to take the fall in the end.

  However… the surgery ended up in failure, right? Why did the junior doctor say that the surgery was completed?

  The exasperated Chief Surgeon Liu roared, "Who did it? You must be daydreaming!"

  "Me…" Zheng Ren hesitated for a while, but after recalling that there were witnesses in the operating theater, he answered firmly, "Chief Surgeon Liu, I did it. The tumor tissue is inside the operating theater. Shall I take it out for the family members?"

  The stunned chief surgeon—Liu Tianxing—stared at Zheng Ren in disbelief.

  After that, he gritted his teeth and rushed into the operating theater.

  "May I have your last name please?" asked the beautiful lady.

  "My surname is Zheng," replied Zheng Ren with a yawn. Performing a surgery under the prime experience consumed too much energy and he could not bear the exhaustion any longer.

  "Doctor Zheng, thank you for the trouble," the patient's family members expressed their gratitude to the young doctor in a less sincere way.

  Who would believe him anyway?

  Zheng Ren was too tired to explain himself, so he merely smiled in response.

  The elderly man stepped forward and smiled. "Doctor Zheng, I'm Mr. Bu's butler. His family members aren't in the right state of mind due to troublesome family issues today, so we'll pay you a visit next time. This is my name card. You can call me anywhere, anytime if and when you encounter any difficulty in Sea City."

  That sounded like a boast, but perhaps that family actually possessed that sort of power.

  Zheng Ren would normally stay for a chat but he was exhausted today, so he accepted the name card perfunctorily and put it into his pocket before taking a cab back to his home for a deep sleep.

  …

  Even though property prices in Sea City were not as high as in Imperial Capital or Sorcery Capital, Sea City was still a provincial capital with the houses completely beyond Zheng Ren's means. He would be unable to purchase a house with his current salary even if he saved up his entire life.

  He was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage since childhood. After passing his university's entrance examination, he managed to survive five years of university life by working part time and carefully securing annual first-class scholarsh.i.p.s. Five years of effort paid off as he finally obtained a bachelor's degree certificate and a graduation certificate.

  However, his life in an ivory tower ended immediately. Financial constraints compelled him to give up on postgraduate studies despite examination exemptions and start working in Sea City General Hospital.

  There was a limit to his salary bonus no matter how much effort he put in his work. Left with no choice, he rented a house together with random tenants at a nearby location.

  The last of Zheng Ren's energy was depleted when he finally returned to his room, which was just a few square meters wide.

  However, he had no d.e.s.i.r.e to fall asleep as curiosity gnawed constantly at him. His eyes closed in unflinching concentration as his mind started wandering into an unknown space.

  The scenery changed to a whole new world with green hills, turquoise water, and refreshing air.

  Zheng Ren started investigating his surroundings. He was standing in a valley with a thatched cottage before him and a crouching white fox statue in front of the main entrance.

  The fox statue was so realistic, especially with its fur carved in such fine detail, that he would not have been surprised if the statue came alive in the next second.

  There was a small pond—with water so crystal clear that he could appreciate how smooth the rocks beneath it were—between Zheng Ren and the thatched cottage.

  Was this a dream? Zheng Ren was dazed and confused.

  "Welcome to the System. Please receive the novice mission reward," said the female robotic voice in a flat tone.

  Zheng Ren tried to listen more attentively, but it was impossible to locate the source of the voice, which seemed to be coming from the surrounding.

  There was a quantum fluctuation in the space in front of Zheng Ren as soon as the sentence ended. Then, a quaint wooden box miraculously appeared before his eyes.

  This was the mission reward? Zheng Ren picked up the box and weighed it in his hands.

  The box was light and seemed to be made out of ordinary wood. Zheng Ren waited for some time but the robotic voice gave no further instruction.

  Perhaps the System wanted him to receive the mission reward first. Thus, Zheng Ren inhaled deeply and solemnly opened the wooden box.

  There was a flash in his eyes before the robotic sound was heard again.

  "Talent network unlocked. Five skill points and an energy elixir obtained from novice mission reward."

  A flash of bright light flew out of his hands like a meteor and landed on a nearby meadow.

  There, a translucent screen was hovering before him with words written on it.

  [General Surgery: 325 skill points.]

  Was this a skill tree? Zheng Ren took a closer look and noticed an explanation of ranking systems on the side.

  [Novice: 0-100 skill points.

  [Trainee: 101-300 skill points.

  [Graduate: 301-1000 skill points.

  [Expert: 1001-5000 skill points.]

  There were more ranks—Master, Grandmaster, Legend, and Prime—down the list but were highlighted in grey, presumably due to the lack of skill points to unlock those achievements.

  Zheng Ren started analyzing in his mind. Novice rank was equivalent to a resident doctor who had just started his work, and the Trainee rank was analogous to an attending doctor. His skill points in general surgery had surpassed the Trainee rank's prerequisite and placed him at the Graduate rank, which should be corresponding to the level of a deputy chief doctor.

  Zheng Ren was well aware that his skill was not up to the standard yet, but he figured that this may have something to do with the surgery he performed just now.

  The higher ranks such as Master, Grandmaster and Legend piqued Zheng Ren's curiosity. If the prime experience was representative of the Prime rank, perhaps Professor Ichiro Moriyu's skill was somewhere in between Grandmaster or Legend rank, or possibly the beginning of the Legend rank.

  Zheng Ren was thunderstruck by this realization.

  The world-class professor had not even reached the Prime rank yet, which meant that the System was rather strict in its ranking system requirement.

  If he could reach that level… A fire ignited within Zheng Ren's heart.

  However, even after five years of hellish studies, he had merely acc.u.mulated 325 skill points which were still far from the Expert rank, let alone the Grandmaster or even the Prime ranks.

  He had the highest rank—Graduate—in General Surgery among all the other subjects in the System, but only a Novice rank in Radiology, Internal Medicine, Physical Examination and so on, and worse, barely any skill points in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

  Zheng Ren figured it was better to focus all of his attention on General Surgery. Thus, using his mind, he sent all five skill points from the novice mission reward into the General Surgery skill.

  The sparkling numbers confirmed that there were currently 330 skill points in General Surgery.

&nbs
p; Zheng Ren investigated his surroundings once more and tried to move further into this mysterious world. Soon, he discovered that the range of activity permitted for a Graduate rank was merely a hundred square meters, with an invisible forcefield separating this area from the rest of the environment.

  Moreover, he had not heard the emotionless, robotic female voice again.

  "System, is there any mission for me?" asked Zheng Ren.

  No response followed. There was an eerie silence in this mysterious world and Zheng Ren seemed to hear his own words echo and bounce back at him.

  That was peculiar. This sort of System would normally distribute missions so that the host could become more powerful, right? Every web fiction of the same genre offered similar plot contrivances, but why did his System differ from them?

  Well, at least there was fresh air in this world. Zheng Ren started calming his own emotions and took a deep breath, which nearly gave him oxygen intoxication.

  Zheng Ren joked that perhaps he was so used to breathing polluted air and his respiratory system required time to acclimatize to fresh air with normal oxygen saturation.

  Exhaustion soon overwhelmed him as he realized there was no exciting plot waiting for him.

  The prime experience may be the cause of his energy and attention depletion. Should he test the effect of the energy elixir in that case?

  The thought vanished as soon as it emerged in Zheng Ren's mind.

  It would be too extravagant and a complete waste of resources. It was better to recover his energy and mind by hibernating.

  He willed his mind to summon his spiritual self back to reality, and with his brain constantly thinking about his peculiar situation, he fell into a deep sleep in no time.

  Chapter 4 - Superb System Features

  Zheng Ren was roused from his heavy slumber by the loud, piercing ringtone of his cell phone. He jumped out of the bed as if by reflex and accepted the call immediately.

  It was a young surgeon's essential skill to accept an emergency phone call anytime and anywhere.

  Zheng Ren had already maxed out the skill tree on this ability.