Chapter 16: 0016 Surgery Duration Determined by the Anesthesiologist

"So the aunt's mouth has two dentures of different materials; through oral secretions as conductors, they form a galvanic cell." Zheng Renyi said solemnly: "As long as there is movement and bodily secretions, this situation will occur. Therefore, feeling numb, electric shocks, and tinnitus are normal."

The onlooking crowd behind him wore a look of bewildered awe.

Most people didn't understand what a galvanic cell was, but that didn't prevent them from thinking Zheng Ren's diagnosis was correct.

"I'll contact the oral surgery department for you; go pull a tooth, you'll be fine soon. As for which tooth to pull, it's up to you." Zheng Ren said.

The middle-aged man looked doubtful; what Zheng Ren said seemed plausible, but… is it really true? No matter how I hear it, it sounds like Arabian Nights.

Now, the only thing we can be sure of is that Zheng Ren is not a swindler from those private medical companies.

Not far away, a young man held up his phone, unable to squeeze in, so he stood on a hard plastic chair, looking down and speaking into his phone: "Hey folks, the doctor said two dentures of different materials in the mouth form a galvanic cell—did you see that? Awesome! This is the medical standard of my Hai Cheng, high-end, absolutely high-end! Let's all shout 666 together! Planes and rockets, let's go!"

What nonsense is this, Zheng Ren felt helpless. The person recording the live stream doesn't look sick either—why come to the emergency department this late? Just to record a live stream?

After contacting the on-duty doctor of oral surgery for the middle-aged man, Zheng Ren continued waiting for the appendicitis patient to appear.

The worst-case scenario didn't happen; soon a patient resembling a high school student appeared before Zheng Ren.

Diagnosis confirmed, the patient was admitted; Zheng Ren brought the patient and family to General Surgery Department One. On the way he called Xie Yiren, saying there was a surgery.

Zheng Ren wanted to pick up Xie Yiren, but worried it might be late and unsafe; however, Xie Yiren directly refused, saying she would arrive soon herself.

Indeed, shortly after, Zheng Ren had just finished filling out the pre-operative instructions when Xie Yiren rushed to the doctor's office, arriving in less than ten minutes.

"How did you get here so fast?" Zheng Ren said while organizing the case file and submitting the surgery sheet.

"Because surgery could happen at any time, I didn't go back to my usual residence; I'm staying in the house nearest the hospital for a bit." Xie Yiren said.

Zheng Ren didn't notice that Xie Yiren was referring to a house, not a home.

"Don't rush, you must have run over." Zheng Ren said, concerned.

"No, it's a standalone house with a garage. I drove the car out of the house's garage, then to the hospital's underground parking lot; at this time there's no traffic, so isn't it fast?"

Poverty limited Zheng Ren's imagination; he never even thought of the place Xie Yiren mentioned. Are a house and a home not the same concept?

You know, this is the city center. A standalone building… that would be a villa, right?

In the afternoon, Xie Yiren told Zheng Ren that her family owned seven CBD buildings; Zheng Ren couldn't even imagine that.

The two of them are completely people from two different worlds.

However, during the surgery she cooperated very well, which was enough.

"The patient has fasted long enough; let's change clothes and proceed to surgery." Zheng Ren steered the conversation back to his familiar topic.

"Mm-hmm." Xie Yiren nodded with her fluffy head, "Chief Zheng, your surgery this afternoon is really handsome!"

"Not bad."

"I saw you cut open the right upper abdomen; it scared me silly." Xie Yiren laughed, looking very pretty.

"If the pre-operative diagnosis isn't clear, I won't just cut open casually."

"Anyway, it's awesome! What's the condition of the patient later?"

"Just a routine acute appendicitis; I'll finish it in five minutes." Zheng Ren made a determined gesture.

"Sure thing, I'm hungry—how about after the surgery we go eat crayfish?" Xie Yiren said cheerfully, then without waiting for Zheng Ren's reply, she hummed a song he'd never heard and went to the female changing room.

……

……

Zheng Ren had changed his clothes; the anesthesiologist had finished anesthetizing the patient, and they were ready to start at any moment.

Scrubbing hands, changing clothes, the circulating nurse tied Zheng Ren's garments; Xie Yiren had put on her clothes and stood by the instrument table.

Seeing Zheng Ren enter, Xie Yiren's eyes narrowed as if she were smiling at him.

Changing into sterile gloves, laying out the sterile drape, Zheng Ren remained calm and prepared to perform the second appendectomy.

Because the system exists, the greatest uncertainty in surgery has been eliminated; the diagnosis is clear, and now it's just a matter of his surgical skill.

After all, he had already reached expert-level proficiency, and Zheng Ren also gained confidence.

The key was the existence of that afternoon's patient; Zheng Ren knew his surgical skill had truly improved.

All that needs to be done now is a simple acute appendicitis.

What needs to be done is to figure out how to make this surgery perfect; Zheng Ren mentally replanned the surgical route.

As he raised his hand, a forceps holding iodine-soaked gauze landed in his palm.

After disinfecting, he returned the forceps and gauze and swapped in dry gauze.

Then a surgical knife handle slapped into Zheng Ren's hand with just the right force.

Working with an experienced nurse felt great; moreover, she was a beautiful woman… a young beautiful woman… young, wealthy, pretty, and adorably naive beautiful woman.

Zheng Ren felt refreshed and clear-headed; he made one cut, neither too much nor too little, exactly 3 cm, as measured by a ruler.

In the Xinglin Garden, Zheng Ren's surgery was also being live-streamed in real time.

Because the live broadcast of the afternoon's ectopic appendectomy was successful, the anonymous account attracted many followers.

As soon as the live stream started, hundreds of people flooded in.

【A god doing emergency work this late? Maybe I guessed wrong—could he be a newcomer in General Surgery?】

【The guy claiming to be a newcomer truly makes me doubt his qualifications and intelligence. This afternoon's surgery, whether pre‑diagnosis or intra‑op, was top‑notch; they are the epitome of medical sincerity, healing and saving lives—you lot of rats should tremble.】

【Wow, a 3 cm incision? You couldn't pull out a slightly larger appendix—how do you operate?】

A stream of barrage comments scrolled by, turning into countless specks of light that fell into the System Space.

As for appendicitis, Zheng Ren absolutely does not want to do laparoscopy, even a single‑port laparoscopy.

Taking the simple appendicitis before us as an example, a single‑port laparoscopic surgery could be done. But one port is also 2‑3 cm, not smaller than Zheng Ren's incision. Moreover, laparoscopic equipment is more expensive and cannot achieve a perfect‑grade surgery, so Zheng Ren rejected it outright.

The patient is still a minor with very little abdominal fat, so Zheng Ren dared to make only a 3 cm incision. If it were a fat person, a 3 cm opening would reveal nothing.

He cut open, then performed blunt dissection of the subcutaneous tissue, muscle, and peritoneum.

A curved forceps slapped into Zheng Ren's hand.

The curved forceps entered the abdomen, and the appendix, like an obedient earthworm, was pulled out.

Cut, suture, the whole process went smoothly.

Zheng Ren felt nothing, finished the last stitch, took off the sterile Gloves, took the sterile patch that Xie Yiren handed over and applied it to the patient.

The anesthesiologist was dumbfounded.

Just fucking anesthetized, and the surgery is already done? The whole surgery's length depends on my anesthesia time?

Tonight's anesthesiologist was a senior anesthetist. At City First Hospital, what kind of doctor haven't I seen? What kind of surgery haven't I seen? But today Zheng Ren's two appendectomies surprised him.

"This... this is already done?" The anesthesiologist was a bit dazed.

"Yeah, just a simple appendectomy, quick." Zheng Ren pulled off the sterile sheet, began preparing to move the patient.

"Wait, wait." The anesthesiologist began recording the surgery time, 4 minutes 32 seconds...

He must have miscalculated the time; the anesthesiologist fell into deep self-reproach. He took out his phone, opened the calculator.

Sure enough, he had miscalculated, but the time on the phone left the anesthesiologist in thought—4 minutes 23 seconds.