The Surgeon’s Studio

The light in the operating theatre was incredibly bright, the scalpel was ridiculously thin, and Zheng Ren was in a fright.

His worked hard to land on this opportunity to be able attend today’s surgery.
Little did he know, Director Fu’s volunteered himself as surgical assistant to honor the professor’s involvement in this operation.

He stood in one corner of the operating theater—a location with no clear view of the operating field—in a sterile surgical gown.

With surgeries, come risks.
Zheng Ren just did not expect one to happen before the operation had even begun.

This operation, which was starting very soon, was of utmost importance.

The patient on the operating table was the richest man in Sea City and had unfortunately been diagnosed with malignant pancreatic head cancer.

He could have gone to Imperial Capital or Sorcery Capital to consult the best surgeon in the world to conduct the most difficult and highest-grade surgery in the country.

Coincidentally, Professor Ichiro Moriyu from Japan had come to China for lectures during this period.

Professor Moriyu was a world-class specialist in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery.
There were also rumors claiming he was the surgeon who operated on the Emperor of Japan a few years ago.

A surgery demonstration required a live broadcast that incorporated direct visualization of the operating table from all angles throughout the procedure.

This patient had refused to participate in the surgery for demonstration even if it was free.
Instead, for a king’s ransom, he had sent someone to request Professor Moriyu to perform the surgery personally in Sea City before returning to Japan.

Zheng Ren was aware of the difficulty in inviting such a world-class specialist to perform the surgery, but the patient was reluctant to receive surgical treatment under observation in Imperial Capital1.

Besides…

More importantly…

The patient had actually managed to invite Professor Moriyu to Sea City!

The professor had strict rules in his surgery, one of them being, observers were not allowed during the operation.
Thus, Zheng Ren’s persistent efforts ended up in vain as he was forced to stay away from the operating table during the surgery.

As instructed by Director Fu and Chief Surgeon Liu, Zheng Ren was expected to wear a surgical gown, stand in one corner during the ongoing operation, and assist in the surgery by suturing the incision post-operation.

This was the best Zheng Ren could get out of this surgery.

…

The operation officially began at a quarter past nine.

Professor Ichiro Moriyu, who was stern in his work without the expected arrogance of a reputable doctor, started making an incision himself.

Each layer—skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascial layers, peritoneum—was cut skillfully like a butcher dismembering an ox.
The total amount of blood loss was very minimal with a visual estimation of five to ten milliliters.
There were mild blood spots visible on the surgical gauze like blooming crimson flowers in a thick blanket of white snow.

However, accident happened at this instant.

Director Fu and Chief Surgeon Liu were shocked as the peritoneal cavity was exposed.

The pancreatic cancer had developed rapidly and its tumor cells had already metastasized to the surrounding tissue, forming strong adhesions with nearby organs as if they were a single entity.

Numerous experts had gone through this patient’s imaging films before they were delivered to Professor Moriyu, who agreed that surgery was a viable treatment option in this case.

Every expert and professor concluded that this patient suffered from stage three pancreatic head cancer.
This was a serious condition but there had been no notable adhesion between the tumor and surrounding tissue in all films, which would have been suitable for surgical treatment.

Unfortunately, everyone had misjudged the condition.

Beads of sweat started trickling down Director Fu’s head and dampened his sterile surgical cap after observing the situation.

What the hell was going on?

A nuclear magnetic resonance imaging had been ordered two days before surgery to prevent any mistakes and there was no obvious change noted when compared to previous films.

Was it possible that the tumor had grown so rapidly in a mere two days?

Director Fu held the aspirator with a trembling hand.

The annoyed Professor Ichiro Moriyu tapped the aspirator with the curved forceps in his hand and mumbled something softly in Japanese.

Even though Director Fu did not understand Japanese, he could hear the irritation in the tapping of the aspirator.
Professor Moriyu was dissatisfied with him.
Dread crept over him like a glacial chill and numbed his entire body.

The expression of a young translator behind them darkened immediately as he gave Director Fu an angry stare.
“Fu-san1, Professor Moriyu isn’t satisfied with your performance.
Even though your skills are as inferior as the equipment here, please pay attention to the surgery.”

Director Fu was embarrassed.
It had been a long time since anyone dared to speak to him in such a derogatory tone.