The time quickly turned to Monday.

Shortly before nine in the morning, Lin Jie and An Kexin arrived at the Affiliated Hospital, on the surgical floor of the inpatient building.

In front of the surgery preparation room, Lin Jie saw Jiang Hao, Qi Xingfen, saw Cheng Xingguang, saw the orphanage director with Ling Mengjiao, and even saw Lin Miao's blind classmates, Liu Wenyan.

Today, Lin Jie was performing a simple craniotomy exploratory surgery.

This exploratory surgery would decide the fate of this pair of conjoined twins, and also the subsequent work arrangements for the orphanage, University Affiliated Hospital, and Anlin Charity Fund.

Lin Jie scanned everyone's varied expressions and said, "The surgery will be done in at least half an hour, at most an hour, so please be patient and wait."

After saying this, he entered the surgery preparation room with Jiang Hao and Qi Xingfen.

After changing clothes, they entered the disinfection room, scrubbed and disinfected their hands, and entered the operating room.

Tian Xiangyu and Huo Guangheng, who had arrived earlier, had already prepared the conjoined twins for surgery.

Without further ado, Lin Jie began.

Seeing that the body data of the twins was normal, Tian Xiangyu reported that the surgery could proceed at any time. Lin Jie reached out, took a marker from a nurse, and drew a three-centimeter-wide ellipse at the cranial junction of the conjoined twins.

After drawing, Lin Jie stepped back from the surgical position, allowing Tian Xiangyu to be responsible for cutting the twins' scalp and slicing the skull.

Soon, the zizz of the electric saw echoed in the operating room...

Jiang Hao leaned closer to Lin Jie and whispered, "Expert Lin, from the angiography, there are five cranial blood vessels with diameters over one millimeter that are shared, and two vessels with diameters of 2.5 and 3 millimeters that are common."

"Separating through surgery, just disconnecting and reconstructing these cranial blood vessels is a tedious and dangerous task."

Lin Jie nodded slightly and said, "Although the disconnection and reconstruction of blood vessels are tedious and dangerous, there is a way to solve it. Let's hope for a good result from this exploration."

Hearing Lin Jie say so, Jiang Hao said no more.

His original intention was to persuade Lin Jie to save one.

Most conjoined twins in the world connect at the hip or spine, and the possibility of both surviving through surgical separation is quite small.

Because such connections often involve sharing one or more organs.

However, for cranially connected conjoined twins, due to the complexity of the brain, the possibility of successful separation is even smaller, and managing to save one is considered a major victory.

For this pair of cranially connected twins, as their three cerebral cortex functional regions are closely joined, Jiang Hao saw their separation as almost impossible.

From the current examination information, sacrificing one to save one is likely possible.

However, Jiang Hao could see that Lin Jie has a big appetite and wants to save both.

He hoped Lin Jie would choose a safer plan, but deep down, he was also secretly hoping Lin Jie could create another miracle and achieve what others couldn't...

At this moment, the buzzing noise of the electric motor in the operating room suddenly ceased.

Tian Xiangyu took out the cut elliptical skull, cleaned the surgical window, adjusted the long-arm surgical microscope, and made room for the surgical position.

Lin Jie resumed his position at the surgical site, reaching out for the scalpel and surgery forceps...

The exposed surgical window was directly facing the visceral cortical zone of the brain's functional area.

This area's successful separation would determine the fate of the two infants, acting as a control point for the separation surgery.

Jiang Hao and Qi Xingfen shifted their gaze to the large wall monitor, where Lin Jie's view through the surgical microscope was being live-streamed onto the screen.

They watched as the scalpel gently and flexibly sliced into the light-gray cerebral cortex, revealing the slightly whiter brain gray matter inside...

Human brain gray matter is actually softer than tofu.

When a fresh human brain is taken out intact and placed on a table, it quickly deforms and sags due to its own weight.

Brains shown in TV and movies as fixed, firm, and even sliceable have actually been soaked in solutions for at least twelve hours and specially processed.

At this time, Lin Jie changed to a specially-made slim, soft pick, cautiously teasing the brain gray matter...

"Hmm..."

Qi Xingfen suddenly voiced her surprise.

She saw that the soft pick gently lifted a layer of brain gray matter, and it seemed like there was no connection with the next layer.

It was like slicing a block of tofu in the middle—a seemingly intact block of tofu was actually two separate entities.

Detecting this, Lin Jie was stirred and immediately requested, "Wake the two infants; I need to perform a test."

The anesthetist, closely monitoring the infants' body values, immediately injected a small dose of awakening agent into both on command.

This agent would allow the infants' consciousness to regain clarity while keeping their muscles in an uncontrolled anesthetized state.

"Microcurrent needle!"

Lin Jie reached out, and the nurse handed over a thin metal needle connected to a wire.

With it, he gently touched the upper layer of the brain gray matter.

"The left infant shows significant visceral activity fluctuations, while no significant changes are detected in the right infant."

In this moment, the slightly muffled voice of the anesthetist sounded heavenly to Lin Jie.

He touched the lower layer of the brain gray matter with the metal needle once more and heard again, "The right infant shows significant visceral activity fluctuations, while no significant changes are detected in the left infant."

Lin Jie withdrew the micro-current needle and said to Tian Xiangyu standing beside him, "The craniotomy examination is over, handle the wound."

After giving instructions, he approached Jiang Hao and Qi Xingfen, asking, "What do you think?"

Qi Xingfen said in a deep voice, "The cortical functional areas of the two infants' brains are not entwined but are rather clearly and closely superimposed, which indeed aids in separation."

"However, Expert Lin, this isn't like scooping tofu pudding where it doesn't matter how much you scoop. If it breaks and gets damaged, it's irreparable."

"The difficulty of this..."

Qi Xingfen admitted she couldn't do it and looked toward Jiang Hao.

Jiang Hao slowly said, "Expert Lin, to be honest, I would rather this craniotomy investigation resulted in a terrible outcome."

"Now this result is quite troubling."

He exhaled deeply and said, "I personally believe this investigation result seems to give us hope for success, but in terms of practical operational difficulty, the possibility of completing it is very low."

"Expert Lin, I solemnly suggest saving one."

"Expert Lin, my suggestion is also to save one!" Qi Xingfen also expressed her opinion.

Lin Jie turned, looking at the two small, serene figures lying side by side on the operating table...

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke, "Regarding the situation of these conjoined twins, to be honest, I am not confident."

"Even if just choosing to save one, whether it will ultimately succeed, I am uncertain."

"But seeing this investigation result, I know there is hope for letting both little ones survive."

"We can determine, through factors like success rate and physical exam values, which one to save and which one to abandon!"

Lin Jie looked again at Jiang Hao and Qi Xingfen, asking, "But, is this kind of choice reasonable?"

"They came into this world together and suffered misfortune together, yet one is destined to die because of our choice?"

Lin Jie slowly shook his head and decided, "Since there's a possibility for both to succeed, Dr. Jiang, Dr. Qi, I want to try!"

"This time, I really have no assurance, but I really want to try!"

Jiang Hao and Qi Xingfen exchanged a glance, both sensing Lin Jie's determination.

"Expert Lin, whatever you say, I'll follow and do my best to cooperate," Qi Xingfen stated.

Jiang Hao also said in a deep voice, "Expert Lin, you once criticized me for being too conservative in choice."

"This time, I will follow you to challenge the impossible..."

The three walked out of the operating room together.

Seeing Cheng Xingguang, An Kexin, the orphanage director, Liu Wenyan, and others approaching, Lin Jie said, "The result of the craniotomy inspection is relatively better than we anticipated."

"The next step, the two little ones will undergo further examinations."

"Meanwhile, I will form a surgical team gathering experts from neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, plastic surgery, and nursing, to jointly discuss the surgical plan."

"The goal of our surgical team,"

Lin Jie raised his voice, announcing, "is to do everything possible to let both little ones survive."

Before his words had even settled, both Cheng Xingguang and the orphanage director's eyes burst with excitement.

Each having their own thoughts, they knew how much social attraction and influence this surgery could generate.

This is an excellent publicity opportunity...

Lin Jie himself didn't mind such utilization.

Through extensive promotion, his prestige would further increase, the Anlin Charity Fund would gain more exposure, the orphanage's disabled children would receive more social attention, and the University Affiliated Hospital would gain a surge of publicity.

This counts as a win-win situation benefiting all sides...

After seeing An Kexin off, Lin Jie returned to the office floor, only to see a young man pacing outside his office.

Lin Jie noticed that the young man held two books in his hands.

One of them looked very familiar, likely being one of the series of medical books he had written.

"To think he found his way here, wanting my autograph!"

Thinking this, Lin Jie felt a bit flattered as he prepared to accept the book from the young man who approached in large strides.

Unexpectedly, the young man raised the book in his hand, smugly saying, "Mr. Lin, I once wanted to point out a mistake in class, but you ignored me."

"As I expected, you brought this error into the book..."

Hearing him say this, Lin Jie felt a sense of familiarity at the sight of this young yet slightly arrogant face.

Lin Jie smiled and said, "So you came this time specifically to point out the error to me?"

The young man raised his chin, huffed, and said, "I know your series has sold extremely well. To avoid misleading others, I decided to tell you the error."

"You had better publish a correction statement."

Lin Jie nodded, "If the error you found is indeed there, I will issue a correction statement."

"At the same time, I will also state that you pointed out this error..."

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