Chapter 631: Chapter 630: A Terrible Situation

The information processing center in Baining Hospital’s administrative complex had been temporarily converted into a viewing room.

An entire wall was a mosaic of high-definition screens, pieced together so seamlessly the joints were nearly invisible.

Thirty or forty chairs had been placed before the screen, and all of them were full.

Another twenty or thirty people were squeezed into the back and along the sides, forced to stand to see the screen.

It was 2:23 PM on a Saturday.

The screen showed a live feed from a general surgery operating room, where Yan Feifan was performing a procedure on a patient with a robotic surgical arm.

On screen, the anesthetized patient lay on their right side, secured to the operating table.

Yan Feifan, the lead surgeon, walked up to the robotic arm’s control console and began the operation.

He appeared to tap the control screen a few times casually.

At the same time, the robotic surgical arm, which had been hanging limp, seemed to awaken in an instant, stretching as if waking from a nap.

The arm undulated and unfurled like a wave, reminiscent of a breakdancer casually showing off with a shoulder roll and an arm whip.

Seeing this, Yu Youlian couldn’t help but click her tongue in admiration. "When an expert makes a move, you know it’s the real deal."

She turned to the man sitting beside her and whispered, "Brother, look at Mr. Yan. His control of the surgical arm is so smooth and natural. You could describe it as being as fluid as flowing water."

The man was at most forty years old, bore a slight resemblance to Yu Youlian, and sported a neatly trimmed pencil mustache on his upper lip.

He nodded in agreement, only for Yu Youlian to continue teasing him. "You’re known as Baining Hospital’s number one surgeon for minimally invasive abdominal procedures, and you’ve been the one in charge of testing this surgical arm."

"I’ve never seen you operate it so smoothly. Every time I watch you, it looks like it has arthritis."

The man with the pencil mustache defended himself glumly, "Sis, I was only responsible for testing the arm’s functions. Naturally, I didn’t spend much time getting familiar with it."

"Give me a little more time, and I could do it just like him."

Yu Youlian scoffed lightly and asked, "How long has Mr. Yan had this surgical arm?"

"And how long have you been testing it?"

"..."

Stumped, the man with the pencil mustache muttered, "The kid’s known as a medical genius. Of course he’s going to have extraordinary practical skills."

Seeing his sister about to speak again, he quickly interjected, "Sis, the surgery is really starting now."

On the large screen, Yan Feifan finished his final test of the robotic surgical arm. Seeing no issues, he gave the "start" command to the temporary surgical assistant from Baining Hospital.

The surgical assistant picked up a scalpel and made a three-centimeter-long incision below the patient’s left ribs, at a spot Yan Feifan had marked with a pen.

The scalpel descended through the incision until it cut through the peritoneum and entered the abdominal cavity.

Then, the assistant used a retractor to hold the patient’s incision open.

He expanded and secured the incision, clearing a path for the surgical arm to enter the patient’s abdomen without obstruction.

Only then did Yan Feifan, on the large screen, guide the surgical arm—now fitted with a specialized scalpel—into the incision with flawless precision...

As the robotic surgical arm entered the patient’s abdominal cavity, the image on the large screen split into three.

The left panel showed Yan Feifan tapping away at the control screen. The center panel displayed the real-time laparoscopic view from the camera at the tip of the surgical arm inside the patient’s abdomen.

The right panel showed a dynamic simulation.

It was a transparent view of a human body, rendering the abdominal organs in different translucent colors and marking the bullet’s location.

A prominent blue line traced the planned route for the surgical arm’s advance.

A prominent red line marked the surgical arm’s actual path.

In Yu Youlian’s eyes, the surgical arm was like a long snake slithering into a cave. It weaved left and right, circling the behemoth-like liver, then nimbly dodged the obstacle of the kidney and pushed forward...

Then, the view suddenly opened up, like finding an unexpected clearing.

In a world of red mixed with bits of white, the "snake’s head" lunged forward without the slightest hesitation...

Yu Youlian saw a small protrusion in the bloody world zoom into extreme close-up, then quickly pull back.

Immediately after, the small protrusion was dissected open, and the faint sound of metal on metal could be heard.

Yu Youlian knew this meant Yan Feifan had found the bullet and was now cutting away the connective tissue encasing it.

Foreign objects that enter the body and are not removed are gradually encased in connective tissue secreted by the body. This isolates them from the rest of the body, preventing further harm.

This is also why in the past, some people shot with highly toxic lead bullets did not suffer severe lead poisoning, even when the bullet remained in their bodies for decades.

Within a few breaths, as the connective tissue was cut away, Yu Youlian saw an ugly, blood-stained, discolored object that looked nothing like a bullet.

She glanced at the time: 2:36 PM.

"That was incredibly fast. Did that even take three or four minutes?"

The man with the pencil mustache, suppressing his own awe and emotion, adopted an expert tone. "Sis, once you’re familiar with the controls, it’s as easy as visiting a neighbor. Of course it’s going to be fast."

As he spoke, he saw the surgical arm retracting along its original path.

But its speed was slick; in a flash, the surgical arm was out of the patient’s abdomen.

He asked, "Sis, did you guys install an operation memory feature?"

Yu Youlian shook her head. "No. Mr. Yan said the more complex the functions, the greater the chance of error."

"He only had us set up the basic functions to ensure precise responsiveness and minimize positional errors."

The man with the pencil mustache said with some disbelief, "Without a memory function, that retraction speed is way too fast."

"This isn’t like a straightforward minimally invasive surgical tool. Retracting this arm requires you to reverse the entire sequence of movements."

Still doubtful, the man with the pencil mustache watched as the retracted arm swapped the scalpel for a pair of specialized forceps.

Then, Yan Feifan controlled the surgical arm and re-entered the patient’s abdomen.

The man with the pencil mustache stared at the large screen without blinking.

He saw Yan Feifan’s hands tapping rapidly on the control screen, and the surgical arm, smooth and pliant, once again reached the bullet’s location—this time two or three times faster than before.

A look of realization dawned on his face. "Sis, it’s not the arm that has a memory function. It’s this guy’s brain."

"Damn it. On top of a photographic memory, he’s got a ’speed-up-on-the-second-pass’ function too? How is anyone else supposed to compete?"

Just then, Yu Youlian shot him a glare and snapped, "Be quiet. We’re at the most critical moment..."

The forceps on the surgical arm had already clamped onto the bullet.

Yan Feifan did not immediately proceed to the next step.

The bullet had been lodged against the vertebra for several years, and Yan Feifan couldn’t be sure how firmly it was stuck.

The connective tissue around the bullet was connected to numerous blood vessels and nerves. The extraction needed to be slow and steady, not too fast or forceful.

Also, to avoid unnecessary damage to the spine, he couldn’t wiggle it out. It had to be a straight pull.

’I hope my luck holds out, just like always!’

Yan Feifan thought to himself as his fingers lightly tapped the control screen twice at a steady interval.

The commands were transmitted to the surgical arm. Its articulating tip began to pivot, pulling the forceps away from the vertebra.

Just then, Wang Zenglin, who had been unconscious on the operating table, moved his body slightly.

"Hold the patient down. Don’t let him move."

At Yan Feifan’s command, the surgical assistant and the scrub nurse immediately moved in. One held down the patient’s hip, the other his left shoulder.

Keeping his eyes on the laparoscopic view, Yan Feifan’s fingers tapped the control screen a few more times in quick succession.

Wang Zenglin’s body began to move again, and the assistant and nurse holding him down quickly applied more force.

Yan Feifan could feel a considerable force pulling on the tip of the surgical arm, causing the articulated segments behind it to deform slightly.

He continued, tapping the control interface twice more...

Suddenly, Yan Feifan felt a slight tremor run through the entire surgical arm.

The bullet was out.

However, before Yan Feifan could feel a moment of joy, the laparoscopic view was sprayed with blood.

An instant later, the entire view turned red.

Yan Feifan’s heart sank.

’Damn it. An accident happened at the last second after all.’

’I’ve hit a major blood vessel near the vertebra...’

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