Chapter 23: with translation of chapter title

Cen Meng's face turned pale, standing behind Director Liu.

He is the Inpatient Chief of General Surgery Department One, he has never considered Zheng Ren his competitor. In his view, Zheng Ren cannot speak, cannot flatter, who would like him.

Therefore he has never independently performed any surgery, unworthy to compete with me.

But today, the three various appendectomies performed so far silently and clearly tell him that Zheng Ren's skill has surpassed him by an unknown number of magnitudes, possibly even surpassing Director Liu, who is famed as Hai Cheng's best surgeon.

"Has the laparoscope equipment been repaired?" Director Liu asked provocatively, without lowering his voice, deliberately saying it for Director Pan to hear.

"Director, you forgot, the laparoscope equipment broke three days ago and was sent for repair. They said it would take a week to get it back, plus a few more days." Cen Meng replied.

For obese patients, the best current method for appendectomy is laparoscopically. After completing the appendectomy on the pregnant patient, Director Liu was delighted, then the laparoscope equipment broke, leaving him to see what he would do.

Director Pan furrowed his brow slightly, the speed at which his fingers tapped the Guan Zhui Pian seemed to increase.

After the patient's condition became clear, the Xinglin Yuan forum's live-streaming room descended into chaos.

Dozens of IDs almost simultaneously began to complain.

【It's actually a fatty, too terrifying.】

【Three years ago I performed an appendectomy on a patient with a 10‑cm‑thick fat layer; postoperative fat liquefaction occurred, I changed dressings for a month, and I still have nightmares.】

【Same feeling.】

【Same feeling +1】

……

【Same feeling +10086.】

Fat liquefaction is a vexing problem; to some extent, it is even more headache‑inducing than a pregnant patient.

If an attending physician admits a pregnant patient with acute appendicitis, he can apply for the director to perform the surgery, and no one will blame him.

But if one has to call the director up because the patient is too obese… then one must pray that the director wins the lottery, is in a particularly good mood, or that the director is one's biological or adoptive father; otherwise, just wait to be berated by the director.

When watching the live broadcast of the pregnant patient's appendectomy, everyone kept shouting "666"; this is a difficult surgical technique that very few have performed.

But the appendectomy for obese patients is something everyone has basically experienced; they all share the joys and sorrows, and for a moment the comment barrage filled the screen, obscuring the operating field.

Continuous epidural anesthesia was quickly completed; Zheng Ren began disinfecting, while Xie Yiren stood quietly by the instrument table awaiting a new battle.

After disinfection, Zheng Ren reached out and the scalpel handle was placed in his hand.

Incision made, 5 cm cut.

Originally, as the operation began and things gradually quieted, those preparing to watch the surgery saw the live‑stream comment barrage erupt instantly.

【With such a small incision, what does the master intend to do?】

【Holy cow, this incision is so small you can't even see the peritoneum.】

【May I ask which hospital the master works at? I'd like to go there for further study.】

All the doctors watching the live broadcast shared this thought: a 5 cm incision is just right for ordinary appendicitis, perhaps even qualifies as a small incision. But for an obese patient with a fat layer 10–12 cm thick, such a tiny opening seems incapable of doing anything.

【It must be a laparoscopic procedure.】

【Agreed, it definitely has to be laparoscopic.】

【Don't be foolish, kid—have you seen the laparoscope equipment? The master is challenging humanity's limits! Mortals, worship and tremble before him.】

Zheng Ren never performed a laparoscopic appendectomy. It wasn't due to lack of laparoscope equipment; rather, during his appendectomy training camp in the System Space, he discovered that laparoscopy could not achieve perfection.

Because laparoscopic surgery mainly uses electrocautery and electrocoagulation on the fat layer, the probability of fat liquefaction is especially high.

Therefore he plans to complete this case using a small‑incision approach, a task that other doctors consider impossible.

To minimize fat liquefaction, the first priority is to use as little electrocautery for hemostasis as possible, preferably none. Second, avoid contamination as much as possible. Third, use negative‑pressure suction postoperatively, keeping drainage time around 2–3 days.

However, the last method proven effective cannot be used by Zheng Ren, because once an indwelling drain is used with negative‑pressure suction, the surgery cannot be of perfect grade.

Fortunately, he has other means that can likely achieve a perfect surgical outcome.

After all, Zheng Ren is the man who has performed thousands of appendectomies in a row without eating, drinking, or sleeping!

After the incision, Zheng Ren plunged the blade in, his motion confident and steady; the scalpel sank deep, its handle submerged in the fatty layer.

This thrust seemed to pierce the hearts of the doctors watching the surgery.

Director Pan's brows knit tighter, and at the same moment the live‑stream room exploded again.

【This is practically murder!】

【How can you be so confident? Normally, regardless of prior measurements, the patient's condition changes once they lie down; this thrust is too rash. A slight mistake would injure the patient's intestine.】

【I'm stunned, barely breathing; if I don't show up tomorrow, please tell my department colleagues to collect my corpse.】

Zheng Ren was completely unaware of the discussion about this thrust.

He withdrew the scalpel, asked Xie Yiren for a piece of iodine‑soaked gauze, wiped his left middle finger, then inserted it. At the same time, his right hand took an elongated large curved forceps and probed it into the narrow incision.

The operating field was zero.

No matter how powerful the System is, it would never dare broadcast the interior condition. If it did, Zheng Ren would surely be taken away for tea by the relevant authorities the next day.

Watching Zheng Ren's finger and the large curved forceps move so faintly as to be almost imperceptible, the demonstration room's Director Pan, Director Liu, and the live‑stream audience fell silent together.

No one would have imagined that such a situation could occur.

Soon Zheng Ren withdrew his finger and the large curved forceps, reached for sterile gauze to protect the incision, so as to prevent pus from contaminating the wound.

It turned out he was performing blunt dissection of the fat layer, muscular fascia, all the way to the peritoneum.

Seeing two more pieces of sterile gauze stuffed into the already narrow incision left everyone speechless—not only the observers, but even the surgeons on stage could hardly see what was happening inside.

But Zheng Ren's subsequent movements left everyone stunned.

He disinfected his left middle finger again, then inserted it together with the elongated large curved forceps once more.

【I… simply don't know how to comment. If this were the first live broadcast of an appendectomy done this way, I'd surely pick up the phone and call the police, thinking someone was streaming a murder.】

【Is this the legendary blind operation? Can anyone tell me?】

【What on earth is the surgeon doing? This flashy maneuver has blinded my pay‑to‑win dog eyes.】

Among the countless astonished comment barrage, all that could be seen was Zheng Ren once again reaching for the elongated large curved forceps; two of them occupied every spot, making even finger insertion difficult.

However, the first large forceps remained in the abdominal cavity, and the second large forceps that was needed also stayed there; what this meant was clear to all the doctors watching the video livestream.

The surgeon, without an operating field, relying on rich clinical experience, 'felt' the appendix, and began to ligate the ligaments and arteries.

The livestream room fell silent for the first time, not a single comment appeared.

Everyone was immersed in an unimaginable, inconceivable feeling that this guy must be a freak, unable to extricate themselves.

Post a comment? It simply didn't exist; everyone was dumbfounded.

Even the anesthesiologist beside Zheng Ren was stunned, his mouth hung open, staring blankly at Zheng Ren performing the blind operation.

Only the big-hearted Xie Yiren didn't care what Zheng Ren was doing; she simply relied on feeling, estimated what Zheng Ren would do next, and handed over the appropriate instrument.

Xie Yiren had a bewildering confidence in Zheng Ren.

Without any dazzling, magic-like maneuvers, every step Zheng Ren took was familiar to all the doctors, and what to do next was clear, yet they simply couldn't believe it was real.

Because, he was performing the blind operation.

The next step should be to cut off the appendix artery, right……

Then they saw Zheng Ren insert the extended large forceps clamping the smallest blade into the incision.

Then it was……

Then it was……

If it goes smoothly, the surgery should be over now.

When that thought arose, Zheng Ren began to withdraw the large forceps from the incision.

Without an operating field, in this blind operation, had the appendix been cut off? Had the appendix artery been securely ligated? Would there be bleeding?