Chapter 146: Conjuring a

"Teacher." Ji Xiang greeted the System NPC respectfully.

Although the days passed like flowing water, Ji Xiang's respect for the System NPC did not fade with familiarity; instead, it grew increasingly profound.

At the very least, Ji Xiang's bow grew deeper and deeper.

"You're here. Why are you here so early today? Did you encounter some patient?" the System NPC asked.

Ji Xiang recounted the patient's situation.

"The patient is suffering too much. It's been two months and it still hasn't healed. I see the stoma with the Urinary Catheter still in place, and I don't know when it will ever fully recover," Ji Xiang said in a low voice, feeling a bit of pity.

Not only was it castrated, but it also wouldn't heal; this was a dual torture of both spirit and body.

"Oh?" The System NPC became interested all of a sudden upon hearing Ji Xiang's description.

Seeing the System NPC's expression slightly startled, Ji Xiang vaguely felt that something was wrong.

He had originally just wanted to vent, but looking at the System NPC, Ji Xiang felt that this matter might take a turn for the better.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Ji Xiang asked.

"I encountered a similar patient back when I was working in the countryside," the System NPC said, walking toward the operating room with hands behind their back and a hunched posture. "A similar patient might have been a misdiagnosis."

"!!!" Ji Xiang was completely stunned, even stopping his footsteps, staring blankly at the System NPC.

"What's wrong with you?" the System NPC asked, looking back.

"Teacher, surely such a thing wouldn't be misdiagnosed. I checked; the surgical area is indeed missing," Ji Xiang said, puzzled.

That thing is either there or it isn't; how could one fail to distinguish even such a simple fact?

Besides, the severed wound was still there, after all.

"Let's look at the patient first. It might be different from what you think," the System NPC said. "Textbooks don't cover this situation. If you haven't seen it, you won't have the relevant experience. Now, Doctor Xiao Ji, hurry up."

Ji Xiang had a feeling that when the System NPC encountered a rare patient, they were like a gluttonous person encountering a grand feast—famished and impatient.

And sure enough, they had already started urging him.

The Nurse brought the Simulated Human in, and Ji Xiang and the Nurse lifted the Simulated Human onto the operating table together.

The wound was just as he had seen it earlier: bare and smooth, with nothing there. There was only the stoma and oozing pus. Ji Xiang checked it repeatedly, confirming he hadn't seen it wrong.

Ji Xiang looked up, staring at the System NPC.

"Teacher, it really is missing," Ji Xiang said softly, looking at the bare surgical area.

The System NPC held a lofty position in Ji Xiang's heart, similar to a deity. But a teacher is a teacher, and truth is truth.

The entire surgical area had been sliced off by a flying sharp object during a car accident; no matter how capable the System NPC was, they couldn't create something out of thin air, right?

But if it were Mechanical Ascension, then he had thought wrong.

"Scrub in, prepare to start," the System NPC said without further explanation, turning to scrub in.

"Boss, Local Anesthesia?"

The Circulating Nurse, who had been silent all along, spoke for the first time.

*Boss? So that's what everyone calls the System NPC, * Ji Xiang thought to himself.

"Local Anesthesia isn't enough. Let's go with a continuous epidural."

Scrubbing in, disinfecting, and draping the sterile sheets.

Ji Xiang stood in the assistant's position opposite the System NPC, ready to witness a miracle.

After getting on the table, the System NPC asked for Iodophor and Gauze, wiping the area with the Sinus Tract and oozing pus vigorously.

Ji Xiang saw purulent exudate seeping out from the left side of the incision. At the same time, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Instrument Nurse skillfully attaching a blade to a handle with Hemostatic Forceps.

The System NPC reached out a hand.

"Scalpel."

The blade having just been attached, the Instrument Nurse immediately slapped the handle into the System NPC's palm.

Although it was only a minor surgery, the entire process was crisp, and their coordination was perfected to the extreme.

Holding the Scalpel, the System NPC separated and extended the incision of the pus-draining Sinus Tract toward the left.

The incision was very long, "flying" toward the left groin area.

How should he put it? If one were to look only at this incision, the person making the cut would definitely be scolded by a superior doctor until they doubted their own life.

To clean a Sinus Tract and pus, why on earth would you make such a huge incision!

Even 1cm would be considered large, yet they had cut at least 7cm!

Ji Xiang focused his mind; he knew that every surgical step of the System NPC had a specific meaning. If he didn't understand it, that was his own problem.

After the incision, they performed Blunt Dissection.

Soon, the moment to witness a miracle arrived, and Ji Xiang stared in astonishment.

He subconsciously raised his hand; if not for the fact that sterile protocol was already carved into his DNA, Ji Xiang would have restrained his movement at the last second, fearing he would be kicked off the table.

The head, which was said to have been cut off and lost in the car accident, appeared clearly under the skin of the left groin.

The System NPC performed a simple dissection and found a large amount of smegma inside the head.

"Teacher... this is..." Ji Xiang was stunned.

He had never dreamed that the lost, important object was actually hidden under the skin of the groin.

The key was!

Whether in reality or in the System Space, Ji Xiang had performed a visual inspection of the affected area and hadn't discovered that there was a treasure hidden under the patient's left groin.

The System NPC did not explain, but focused on the surgery.

They slowly performed Blunt Dissection until reaching the base of the surgical area.

He saw that the skin of the surgical area had split in a full-thickness ring from the base, the skin had retracted toward the distal end of the surgical area, and the urethra had ruptured at the base of the surgical area, with the urethral stump being scar tissue.

"There," the System NPC pointed at the circularly split position with the Hemostatic Forceps. "A rupture caused by clever force, then it retracted under the skin. When they were performing emergency trauma care, they thought it had been knocked off, but it was actually hidden under the skin."

If Ji Xiang hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he would never have been able to believe this was true.

Even witnessing it with his own eyes, he still could not believe it.

This was not creating something out of thin air, but a low-probability emergency, Ji Xiang kept comforting himself in his heart.

The System NPC only explained one sentence; the movements in his hands did not stop, and he continued the surgery.

He performed a reduction of the surgical area and excised the urethral scar tissue, used 4-0 catgut for Urethral Anastomosis, placed a balloon Urinary Catheter and a bladder Fistula Tube, and made a "Z"-shaped incision on the skin of the surgical area to repair the skin defect.

The System NPC performed the surgery extremely smoothly, which did not match at all with him saying his specialty was Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Even if one were immersed in this for a lifetime, this would be the level, Ji Xiang thought to himself.

"The diagnosis was wrong; it should be Dislocation of the surgical area, Urethral rupture." The System NPC finished the last stitch, flicked his wrist lightly to pass the thread end into Ji Xiang's hand, and used the Needle Holder to clamp the needle and return it to the contaminated area.

"Teacher, Dislocation of the surgical area... what kind of diagnosis is this?" Ji Xiang had no impression of this.

"It is not in the textbooks; it is a new diagnosis submitted in 1997 and released after being examined and approved by the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies," the System NPC said. "In Clinical practice, one will sometimes encounter similar situations, for example, back when I..."

Ji Xiang listened with great interest to a long segment of the System NPC's past experiences of making correct diagnoses and curing illnesses with a touch in situations where medical resources were scarce.

This was not humble-bragging, but simply a series of unadorned experiences.

Ji Xiang's perception of the System NPC telling "stories" had already undergone a fundamental change.

(End of this chapter)