The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 115: One Tree Does Not Make A Forest

“Good day, Chief Zheng. This is Feng Xuhui speaking,” the voice buzzed from the phone.

Zheng Ren could hear his youth cracking through.

“What did Professor Pei say?”

“He is up for it. I have already booked the flight for tomorrow. He should reach Sea City at 1.30 pm,” Manager Feng said cheerfully.

“Good. Thank you for your help.” Zheng Ren was relieved.

All was going well. Zheng Ren had worried the Sorcery Capital professor’s schedule was full. A delay of one or two weeks could see changes in Miss Yun’s liver tumor.

Hepatocellular carcinoma was one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths.

Zheng Ren shared the good news in the WeChat group.

Once that was done, he took his book and went to the on-call room to rest.

He was up too early and his body bemoaned the injustice. The lack of surgeries had made his body lethargic, so he decided to rest in case of emergencies coming in at night.

Zheng Ren found Su Yun sound asleep in the on-call room.

He laid down and entered the System.

It was time to check on his skills and missions.

As the morning surgery had been done by Su Yun, Zheng Ren doubted the System would mark it as one of his own. When he scrolled through the details, he saw a new mission had appeared without any announcement.

[Continuous Side Mission: One Tree Does Not A Forest Make

Surgeries are not meant for a single surgeon. Even the best surgeons need to rest. Therefore, it is time to develop an assistant surgeon.

Mission Details: Assistant completes ten surgeries.

Mission Reward: Master ranked 3D Reconstruction of CT Scans skill book.

Mission Duration: One week.]

The mission completion bar had one point in it from this morning’s appendectomy.

One tree does not a forest make…if only Zheng Ren could pick another assistant. Although Su Yun was well-equipped to accomplish such a mission easily, Zheng Ren was still not fond of him.

He was somewhat curious about the mission reward, though. This was the first time the System had offered a book for a specific skill branch. Zheng Ren had not thought of a use for 3D CT scan reconstruction, but an additional skill was never a bad thing.

It was peaceful inside the System. The lake was crystal clear and the traces of blood on the lifelike fox statue had disappeared. Its eyes gleamed as if it was alive and Zheng Ren could feel its gaze.

Without distortion and stench of blood in the air, Zheng Ren felt at peace in the System.

He browsed through the System Shop. A look at his remaining experience points made him close the Shop menu.

It had been a few days without any missions, so this continuous side mission was better than nothing, although he was still more interested in getting his general surgery skills to Master rank.

With a slight taste of disappointment, Zheng Ren left the System.

He took an hour-long nap before being woken by a phone call. There was a case of acute appendicitis that needed his consultation.

Zheng Ren quickly rolled off the bed and put on his shoes. Su Yun was already awake, his eyes bright and aware.

‘He really does look like a protagonist,’ Zheng Ren thought.

The two went to the emergency department. After the consultation, they decided surgery was necessary. The patient was brought to Chang Yue and Yang Lei for registration and preoperative preparations.

With the ongoing side mission on hand, Zheng Ren decided to step aside and go in as the assistant, yielding the patient to Su Yun.

Su Yun took the opportunity given. Be it a laparotomy or laparoscopy, he displayed remarkable surgical skill and a profound knowledge of anatomy.

He was definitely more than a pretty face.

There were more patients today. They had two more cases of acute appendicitis and another of acute cholecystitis from noon to night.

For the laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Su Yun let Zheng Ren take the lead. He was required to observe the surgery once before he could replicate it.

Zheng Ren did not care who the lead surgeon was, as long as they were an adequate assistant. Su Yun handled all three acute appendicitis cases, one of which required a laparoscopic procedure. The side mission completion bar was now at six points. A few more appendectomies and he would accomplish the mission.

This was a great day, with emergency patients all throughout it. The last surgery ended at midnight and the emergency department was calm again.

Xie Yiren went home, adamant to not stay in the hospital. Zheng Ren worried for her safety but could never persuade her to stay, so he gave up trying.

The Chu sisters had arranged their work schedule to take turns with the night shift. As Zheng Ren could not tell them apart, he could only guess whose turn it was today.

After a silent night, the group were well-rested as they prepared to receive the fly-in surgeon from Sorcery Capital, Professor Pei.

Zheng Ren was on call in the emergency department, so he left it to Chang Yue to liaise with Feng Xuhui.

She kept them updated on the journey. Manager Feng was already at the airport an hour early. There were no delays to the flight and things were moving as planned.

At 1:45 pm, Manager Feng picked up Professor Pei and headed to the hospital.

They had asked Professor Pei if he would like to make any preparations, and the man requested to meet the patient before the surgery started.

Zheng Ren was glad. Many fly-in surgeons lived a fast-paced life and did not bother meeting the patient.

A short talk with the patient would make a surgeon more cautious during the surgery. Zheng Ren considered the gesture admirable.

Manager Feng’s messages kept coming in, keeping them updated of their journey from the airport to the city center.

Zheng Ren thought Manager Feng was too nervous; perhaps it was the first big project of his career.

Careful execution was important. Recklessness could cause everything to fall apart.

At 2:40 pm, Manager Feng sent them another message, stating that they were in sight of the hospital.

“The professor is arriving.” Zheng Ren patted down his clothes. He had not put on a shirt and tie for the occasion but did change into a new white coat.

“With your appearance, dressing up would just elicit the opposite response,” Su Yun said without batting an eye. Maybe he thought being truthful outweighed tact.

Zheng Ren was already immune to his insults.

Silently, they waited. Ten minutes passed and all was still quiet.

There was no update from Manager Feng.

Chang Yue was getting anxious but Zheng Ren considered that perhaps they were having trouble locating a parking spot around the hospital.

Another five minutes went by and there was still no sign of them.

Zheng Ren sat down and dialed Feng Xuhui’s number.

“Manager Feng? Is everything okay?”