Chapter 35

"The situation is this: we need to make a small incision on her abdomen to return the intestines to their proper position. But don't worry—she won't feel a thing during the process; my family's secret medicine will put her to sleep for a full day, maybe longer."

Kraft drew a rough sketch of the intestinal pathway inside the abdomen on paper and circled the area needing repositioning for Gris to see.

The father twisted his hands together; this was something he had never heard of, and he could not judge it by his own experience or common sense.

"Actually, the procedure has only three simple steps: make a small incision—about this long." Kraft gestured with his hand, "Then we can access that short segment of intestine, reposition it, and quickly suture the incision shut."

"We'll finish this quickly. Afterward, symptoms like fever or wound suppuration may appear, but at least she won't die soon from intestinal complications."

"Yes, yes, thank you." Gris was moved by this explanation—perhaps because it sounded simple, or because the balanced description of risks and benefits felt more honest than the priests or clinic doctors who promised salvation with holy water or herbal potions. "She's my only family. Even if I have to sell the tavern..."

"I'll do my best." Kraft gripped his hand. "Don't worry about the fee—we can discuss payment after Lise recovers."

He turned and walked into the observation classroom—the same place where he had first performed a shoulder joint reduction. Lu Xiusi and Li Si were already waiting inside. Lise lay on her side on a stone table meticulously cleaned, her body curled into a tight ball.

It wasn't that he refused to find another location; rather, this classroom, designed to demonstrate treatments and anatomy, was naturally suited for surgery.

With all windows open, the room was well-lit. The area around the stone table was spacious, and its height was ideal for operation. Li Si had already scrubbed it thoroughly with lime and rinsed it clean with boiling water.

"Ready." Kraft nodded to Lu Xiusi, who lifted Lise's upper body to help Kraft feed her the diluted black liquid.

This was Kraft's first time witnessing the effect of the diluted solution.

Within five seconds of swallowing, Lise's face—twisted in pain—went blank, like a computer shutting down. As if some invisible force had descended, smoothing her tensed facial muscles, draining emotion and sensation from her body, leaving only a tranquil shell.

Her limbs relaxed instantly. The hand clutching her abdomen dropped. Her spine softened and arched backward, settling flat against the table under Lu Xiusi's support, utterly passive.

Kraft had never seen any orally administered, gastrointestinal-absorbed medicine take effect so quickly or so dramatically.

Opposite him, Li Si reached out in surprise to feel Lise's breath, then checked her pulse—steady, rhythmic, though slightly slowed.

"Family-secret medicine?"

"Yes, family secret medicine. The last vial. Don't ask about it—wash your hands."

The classic surgical handwashing method, but conditions here were limited: Lu Xiusi had to act as a human faucet, slowly pouring water from a jug from above—first lime water, then cooled boiling water to rinse clean.

"Like this: palms, backs of hands, between fingers, then curve your hands and rub, finally fingertips and thumbs. Wash your wrists and entire forearms."

Kraft tossed his black robe and sword aside, rolled up his sleeves, and showed Li Si a less-than-standard procedure. Ideally, he'd scrub and soak, but such tools simply didn't exist here.

"Lu Xiusi, wipe her entire abdomen—every part, not just where we'll cut. Include both sides, from inside out."

"And don't touch the instrument table—I mean the one where I placed the knife and thread—or I'll have to boil them again and fish them out."

"Final confirmation: everyone knows their role? Lu Xiusi, you handle everything outside this table—hold the mirror to direct light here. But don't touch anything."

"Li Si, we're the ones touching the wound. Don't let your hands touch anything except the abdomen and instruments. Don't let them drop below your waist, or rise above your shoulders. We must be as 'clean' as possible. I can't explain now—we'll have time later."

After listing every precaution he could think of, Kraft held his hands suspended in front of his chest, waiting for Lu Xiusi and Li Si to confirm. But his sudden seriousness had frightened them—they were visibly tense, their faces saying: "You didn't say it was this complicated outside the door."

This look stirred Kraft's memory of his first time on the operating table. He had repeated the procedure dozens of times in the simulation room, reciting fluently the entire process from surgical handwashing to donning the gown and laying sterile drapes.

But when he actually placed his hands under the faucet, he trembled. He pressed the soap dispenser multiple times, his mind blank, terrified he'd missed a spot.

Empathizing, Lu Xiusi and Li Si had never experienced anything like this. His abrupt seriousness had unnerved them. He felt he should tell a joke to ease the tension.

"Do you know how to fit a brown bear into a jewelry box?" Since there were no elephants or refrigerators here, he adjusted the joke for local context.

"Huh?"

"Open the jewelry box, shove the brown bear inside, then close the box."

"..." The joke wasn't very successful; Lu Xiusi and Li Si stared at each other, stunned for a few seconds before realizing Kraft was telling a joke.

The joke didn't land. Lu Xiusi and Li Si exchanged glances, stunned for several seconds before realizing Kraft was joking. Lu Xiusi offered an awkward, polite smile. Li Si grew even tenser—the joke reminded him of how Kraft had described the surgery: "Make a cut, reposition the intestine, then stitch it up." It couldn't possibly be that simple. They were performing an operation with no precedent in this world.

"Breathe deeply, my friends—it'll help. Now hand me the knife. This is a rare opportunity—treat it as a special lesson, alright? We might even get to explain everything in detail." Realizing his humor had failed, Kraft tried to salvage it, hoping Li Si would see this as a long-overdue practical lesson.

"We'll use a right-sided transverse rectus abdominis incision. For a small infant, we could use a transverse upper abdominal incision..."

The blade sliced through skin; blood seeped from the incision. The knife was the one Li Si had lent him—thin and long, but the material was excellent, as expected from a professor specializing in anatomy.

Though not as sharp as a true scalpel, the feel was acceptable—far better than the crude, heavy blades he'd imagined.

"Clean linen cloth, Li Si. Lu Xiusi, move to the other side—angle the light from across."

With no proper gauze available, they used the era's common linen. The one in his hand was already a fine product, yet Kraft dared not wipe with it—relying solely on its absorbency to soak up blood and keep his vision clear.

Lu Xiusi moved to the opposite side of the table, raised his metal mirror, and directed a light spot onto the incision. The mirror barely reflected faces, but it was enough to provide illumination.

A retractor was handed to Kraft. Thanks to the needs of anatomy, such tools still existed in the academy—no makeshift substitutes required.

"I hope this one's never been used."

"Of course. Like the knife, it's a brand-new set—never had a chance to use it." Li Si handed him another. They needed these two curved metal rods to spread the incision wide enough to see inside.

"I can't see anything clearly, Lu Xiusi, try adjusting it again." The field of view formed by the light spot hitting the abdominal cavity was quite narrow; writhing shadows and pink intestines blurred into a single mass within the limited vision.

The light spot cast a narrow view into the abdominal cavity: writhing shadows, pink intestines, blurred together in the limited field. Kraft was certain of his incision's location—now he had to find the intussusception as quickly as possible. This wasn't a sterile operating room; the longer the wound was exposed, the higher the infection risk.

As the light shifted, a yellowish fatty protrusion appeared in view. "Stop—right there."

Kraft recognized the marker: the epiploic appendages, distributed along the taenia coli. Following the taenia coli downward, he could locate the appendix where the three taeniae converged. Above it lay the cecum; the ileocecal intussusception he sought lay beside it.

He inserted his fingers into the abdominal cavity, touched the point of obstruction, and gently tugged the intestinal segment. "Light—this side."

Lu Xiusi, now mastering the technique, tilted the mirror. The light spot moved toward Kraft's fingertip, illuminating the segment. Best-case scenario: the intestine showed no signs of necrosis. Otherwise, Kraft would have to consider resecting the dead portion and anastomosing the ends.

What followed were operations that felt horrifying.

"Watch closely—this is the intussuscepted portion. Now I'm pushing it backward." Kraft relaxed slightly, explaining to Li Si, who held the retractors. "Don't lean too close."

After repositioning to a certain point, he pulled the intestinal segment outward and gently pressed inward with his thumb and forefinger. Lu Xiusi, several feet away with the mirror, could see the red mass in Kraft's hands.

Even Li Si, experienced in dissection, felt uneasy. Operating calmly on a living person felt entirely different from working on corpses. He glanced at Lise's face—the child still slept peacefully, utterly unaware that someone had just manually unraveled a section of her intestine.

Precision and brutality coexisted. Years of sword training had given his hands stability; his mind from another world guided them, slowly squeezing the intussuscepted ileum out of the colon.

"Don't shake. Hold on a little longer."

The light spot trembled—Lu Xiusi's arms were shaking, whether from fatigue or fear of the slippery pink object in the surgeon's hands, something no amount of corpse practice could overcome, only real practice could adapt to.

He tightened his grip on the mirror, realigned the light. The surgery was nearing its end.

The steps of "fitting the brown bear into the box" were nearly complete. Kraft had successfully reduced the intussusception. The extruded bowel looked normal—no rupture, no swelling or congestion of the appendix.

Truly, divine favor had intervened. Gris had found her in time. The priest hadn't delayed with more holy water. Had they come in the afternoon or evening, the outcome might not have been so ideal.

"Needle, thread."

Li Si handed him the bent needle and silk thread.

The needle was made by bending a sewing needle; the thread was the toughest thin thread he could find, kindly provided by a student whose family sold textiles—rumored to be made of spider silk, claimed to replace iron rings used to connect armor parts, and normally sold by the strand. He gave Kraft a bundle outright.

After this is done, it would be best to take time to visit and thank them, and pay them extra, lest the student's mother discover the theft and struggle to explain it.

Continuous full-layer suturing, the only option without absorbable thread— a scar on the girl's abdomen was unavoidable. But children grow fast; hopefully it will fade over time.

Fortunately, the climate in northern Nos Kingdom doesn't favor crop tops; the child won't one day complain about the doctor's poor skill when choosing clothes.

The suturing was smooth—this was Kraft's favorite part. The evenly spaced needle entries and exits pulled the wound edges back into place, satisfying his minor OCD in subtle ways.

He completed the final stitch, deftly tied three consecutive surgical knots, wiped away residual blood, and covered the wound with four layers of fine linen cloth.

"Tape." Kraft reached out instinctively, but didn't get what he wanted. He looked up to see Li Si's bewildered expression. "Uh, I mean—roll of long strips of linen. We need to wrap two turns around the waist to secure the dressing."

"Lu Xiusi, you can put down the mirror now. Go rest a bit."

Li Si and Lu Xiusi watched Kraft wrap the linen strip around Lise's waist, tie a neat bow, smooth and align it, then re-cover her with her clothes.

With the aid of the "family secret remedy," the surgery—valid only in "Human Anatomy"—proceeded without a hitch. The man who made history reached up to wipe his sweat, unaware of his own lack of dignity, collapsing onto the floor and gasping for breath.

"So we really put a brown bear into a jewelry box?"