Chapter 739: Chapter 738: Watch My Performance

After 8:30 PM, Zhu Jian, Li Tianlin, and Berry made their way to a specimen lab in the basement of the Affiliated Hospital’s comprehensive teaching building.

Inside was a cadaver, one whose viscera and other organs had already been completely removed.

This was a practice session that Professor Shi Min had arranged for Zhu Jian, Li Tianlin, and Berry.

The three of them first bowed respectfully to the cadaver, then went about their individual preparations.

While Zhu Jian and Li Tianlin were laying out their dissection instruments, Berry went straight to the cadaver and began to feel its face.

Zhu Jian glanced at her and remarked, "Berry, you know perfectly well that after death, the skin becomes slack and the muscles lose their tone. It feels very different from a living person."

"Of course I know that!"

Berry said with a serious expression, "No matter how different it feels, there are still similarities."

"If you do it enough, you’re bound to learn something."

"I’ll improve bit by bit, building up experience. One day, I’ll reach the Professor’s level, where he can understand everything perfectly just by touch."

Her words made Zhu Jian dismiss the hint of mockery in his eyes. He decided that after Berry was finished, he would have a feel as well.

Li Tianlin, standing to the right of the cadaver, lifted its right hand. As he examined it, he threw cold water on their ambitions. "You two should stop aiming so high."

"We’ll never reach the Professor’s level. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be called a once-in-a-century medical genius."

"Just work hard and be the best you can be. That’s enough."

Zhu Jian replied coolly, "On a scale of ten, if I aim for the Professor’s level, I can reach a five or a six."

"But if I only aim to be the best I can be, I might just reach a four or a five."

Li Tianlin rolled his eyes, his tone laced with contempt. "Zhu Jian, playing these kinds of philosophical word games is completely pointless."

"Just give everything your all. That’s enough!"

With that, Li Tianlin ignored Zhu Jian, reached for a scalpel, and began the dissection...

At that very moment, in Operating Room Two of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Yan Feifan was officially beginning the first real human heart transplant of his life.

The patient was a fourteen-year-old girl suffering from a severe congenital heart malformation.

Her heart could no longer support her rapidly growing body and was at risk of stopping at any moment.

Fortunately for her, after an agonizing wait of over a year, the opportunity for surgery had finally arrived tonight.

The donor heart for the girl came from the neighboring Su Province.

The donor was reportedly a beautiful female motorcyclist who had suffered a tragic accident while riding. Despite a full day and night of emergency medical efforts, she could not be saved.

Her family had donated her healthy organs...

Nearly an hour later, the prepared donor heart was placed inside the girl’s thoracic cavity, and the surgery entered its most critical phase.

As Ni Leixing operated, he split his focus to observe all of Yan Feifan’s actions.

During the earlier stages of the operation—opening the chest and removing the diseased heart—Yan Feifan had been remarkably composed.

Most newcomers tackling a major surgery like this for the first time are either overly excited and eager to show off, or they become too nervous and flustered.

However, Yan Feifan exhibited neither of these traits. His composure was almost unbelievable.

This made Dr. Ni Leixing marvel internally.

He had heard that this kid, Yan Feifan, not only possessed the steady air of a seasoned general but was also a clutch performer—the greater the pressure, the better he performed.

Seeing is believing, as they say. Ni Leixing could now confirm that Yan’s reputation was not the least bit exaggerated.

After observing for a few more minutes and seeing that Yan Feifan remained free of any flashy or nervous movements even as they entered the critical stage of the transplant, he finally set his worries aside.

Ni Leixing withdrew his divided attention and fully immersed himself in his portion of the surgery.

’He really liked this dual-lead-surgeon method that Yan Feifan had devised.’

’He knew his own body best.’

A high-intensity, six-and-a-half-hour surgery was, for Dr. Ni Leixing, a true battle of willpower by the end.

And then there was his... plumbing...

It was an unspeakable problem, so from the very beginning, Ni Leixing had been full of anticipation for this new technique.

Later, after repeated practice and familiarization, he realized that this new surgical method was genuinely viable.

Dr. Ni Leixing felt that this new surgical method was practically tailor-made for him.

’In this four-and-a-half-hour window, I can go all out without holding back, maintaining a high standard from start to finish.’

He had also discovered that with this new method, while the two lead surgeons had to endure some awkwardness in their positioning, field of view, and movements—compromising to complete their respective tasks—there was also an element of collaboration.

The collaboration during several key steps, in particular, directly lowered the surgical difficulty by a notch.

’This new surgical method might be a way for senior surgeons to train junior ones, a new path for them to cultivate successors.’

Ni Leixing knew there were rumors circulating in the department.

They said that the "five bosses" had monopolized too many resources while suppressing new talent, leading to the current situation where the cardiothoracic department was facing a succession gap and lacked fresh blood.

Zhou Xian’s recent resignation, in particular, had caused this rumor to resurface.

Dr. Ni Leixing disdained to even address it.

’A doctor of Yan’s caliber is a prodigy; he’s not the kind of talent any hospital can cultivate, no matter how much they invest.’

’And doctors at their level, the five bosses, weren’t a dime a dozen; they didn’t just appear every single year.’

Over the past decade or so, the five of them had put their hearts into training people, but their protégés either went abroad and never returned, were poached by other hospitals, or simply left the profession entirely.

’All in all, they had their own share of unspoken grievances... ’

Ni Leixing reined in his stray thoughts, focusing on the task at hand, and soon became completely absorbed...

What Dr. Ni Leixing didn’t know was that, contrary to his calm exterior, Yan Feifan was feeling a surgeon’s high.

No amount of practice, no number of simulations in his world of consciousness, could compare to the feeling of a real, live surgery.

To put it bluntly, heart transplant surgery was the procedure Yan Feifan had practiced more than any other, using every method at his disposal.

That was why, once the idea struck him, he had been able to create the improved dual-lead-surgeon heart transplant method with relative ease.

So, faced with this unexpected opportunity, the moment Yan Feifan began, an irrepressible excitement began to flow through him.

As the surgery progressed, this excitement grew even more intense, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

However, if there was one thing Yan Feifan did not lack, it was self-control.

Without it, he would have been driven mad long ago during those untold years imprisoned in endless, silent darkness.

Yan Feifan channeled this surging energy from his body and mind, pouring all of it into the surgery before him.

This manifested in his work: his suturing grew ever more refined and precise, yet his speed, rather than slowing, actually increased.

His incisions were clean and decisive, made in a single, fluid pass.

If this hadn’t been a dual-lead-surgeon operation where he had to accommodate Dr. Ni Leixing’s pace, Yan Feifan felt he could have practically flown through it...

At the very least, Pan Jichuan, who was serving as the surgical assistant, could feel that something was different about Yan Feifan’s performance this time.

The speed of Yan Feifan’s hands was dazzling, and Pan Jichuan found himself struggling to keep up with his assistive tasks...

At 12:40 AM, with just a single shock from the defibrillator, the girl’s new heart began to beat.

This made Ni Leixing ecstatic.

"A good omen! Of all the heart transplants I’ve led, this makes the sixth time the heart started on the very first shock."

"The other five patients are all still alive."

"The longest-surviving one has been for nine years and seven months."

Yan Feifan smiled. "Mr. Ni, that number will keep on growing, and the patient survival records will keep getting longer..."

Just then, Pan Jichuan interrupted, "Professor, Dr. Ni, the time! The time!"

The time?

Yan Feifan glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw the surgery timer: three hours and fifty-one minutes!

Seeing the time, Ni Leixing shouted in excitement, "Four and a half hours! We have a real shot!"

Yan Feifan practically rubbed his hands together. "Mr. Ni, you don’t need to scrub back in. Go take a rest."

"Just watch me handle the rest..."

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