Chapter 699: 688: The Lifelong Enemy That Doesn't Exist

It's time for the angiogram; this surgery… Mu Tao felt a sudden confusion.

Could Wu Haishi and Wu Lao do it? No, not even at the peak of their prime could they do it.

In the Mayo Clinic, those big shots who wouldn't even look at me—could they do it?

They definitely couldn't either; their level is higher than mine, but absolutely not up to the surgeon's level in the operating room.

Has the surgical skill already broken through the heavens?

Mu Tao was very puzzled.

When I think back, I once defined this surgeon as my lifelong enemy… but now I see I truly don't deserve to be his enemy.

Perhaps they simply never noticed me at all.

Countless thoughts churned chaotically in my mind; after three seconds, Mu Tao's mind went blank.

The surgeon didn't withdraw the catheter but began the next super-selective procedure!

No!

Mu Tao shuddered; after just one glance at the surgeon's procedure, he knew the purpose.

An extremely tiny branch of the iliac artery—the surgeon needed to perform a super-selective embolization of this vessel.

Is there bleeding here?

Mu Tao couldn't remember.

He didn't continue watching the surgeon's procedure; instead, he began retrieving previous imaging data on the machine.

He set the image to the first angiogram frame, and Mu Tao furrowed his brow searching for the tiny iliac artery branch the surgeon was embolizing.

Found it! Right here!

On the screen, the contrast leak was barely visible, but when the image was enlarged, Mu Tao confirmed there was indeed a rupture, with contrast appearing.

The amount was tiny—so small I hadn't even noticed it.

He knew that if he were doing the surgery, after embolizing the major vessels he would definitely do another angiogram; a repeat angiogram would reveal bleeding from this small vessel, and then he would embolize it.

That is the standard, textbook procedure.

Yet the surgeon inside directly skipped many steps, discovering and embolizing an especially small vessel.

Would not embolizing it work?

The answer is no.

After other vessels are embolized, blood pressure will rise; this small vessel now appears to bleed little, but soon it will become the main bleeding artery.

This really is…

Mu Tao shook his head and looked at the surgery again.

There were two similar vessels; just as Mu Tao was reviewing and analyzing the angiogram images, the surgeon in the operating suite had already embolized both completely.

The catheter was withdrawn, without a follow‑up angiogram, and the surgery ended.

This surgery was… rather unrestrained? Mu Tao searched for words but couldn't find the right description.

In the end, he could only describe his feeling as unrestrained.

The airtight lead door swung open, and Zheng Ren bellowed, 'Next!'

……

It's an assembly line… and the only skilled worker on that line is him.

Outside, they were checking the numbers; Mu Tao stood up, preparing to act as a temporary circulating nurse to help Zheng Ren with some postoperative duties.

'Chief Zheng, hello.' Mu Tao entered the operating room, smiled, and greeted him.

Zheng Ren stared blankly at Mu Tao, his eyes somewhat empty.

What kind of look is that? Mu Tao also froze for a moment. When greeting Zheng Ren, shouldn't one respond warmly and then reminisce about our scientific work in the capital to quickly close the distance?

Could he just be exhausted?

'Who are you…' Zheng Ren was in an extreme state; besides surgery, he wasn't thinking about anything else.

Even the fact that his father‑in‑law resembles Xie Yiren flashed by; who is Mu Tao? Why waste thought on him?

Zheng Ren asked directly, somewhat impolitely, but he didn't want to waste a second.

Although I had just discussed with Su Yun the person sleeping outside, Zheng Ren, wholly focused on surgery, couldn't remember such an irrelevant detail.

'Um… I'm Mu Tao.' Mu Tao felt dejected; indeed, there was no trace of him in the other's eyes.

'Ah, Teacher Mu from Pengcheng, hello hello.' Upon hearing the name, Zheng Ren immediately recalled it—he just couldn't match the name to the face.

…… Mu Tao was dumbfounded.

'Teacher Mu, could you please hand me an elastic bandage—just tear open the packaging; the external person will do the pressure wrap,' Zheng Ren said.

Mu Tao began searching for the elastic bandage, meanwhile asking, 'Chief Zheng, when you do the super‑selective procedure, do you exert force with your wrist and fingers?'

'Yes, this patient's vessel is slightly malformed; the bifurcation angle is too large, requiring three wrist motions plus finger coordination to succeed at the super‑selective,' Zheng Ren replied matter‑of‑factly.

Three? Which three? Mu Tao hesitated slightly, his mind racing like a CPU.

'Teacher Mu, let's do the surgery first; we can discuss later.' Zheng Ren was very fatigued, his chest hurting severely; even a breath caused piercing pain.

However, Zheng Ren thought this also had a benefit—at least when in pain, he didn't feel as sleepy.

Well, that counts as a benefit.

He heard Mu Tao's question, observed his appearance, and knew what he was thinking.

Normally, a demonstration surgery would just be taught—nothing major.

But now, outside there are countless wounded awaiting surgery, awaiting rescue.

Now is not a good time.

Mu Tao also understood the implication; after pondering, he probed, 'Chief Zheng, shall I prepare the next station for you?'

'Won't you go do surgery in another operating suite?' Zheng Ren asked.

Mu Tao felt embarrassed; he heard from Zheng Ren's words a hint of precious technical expertise, and he could even be certain that, if he mastered it, the gap between them wouldn't be so great.

As for surgery… it could improve his skill, making him faster; Mu Tao consoled himself in this way.

"Just woke up, I'll get you a tray to perk up." Mu Tao said with a smile.

"Sure." Zheng Ren said indifferently.

At that moment, Director Jiang came in with some people, took over the patient on the tray, and then sent the next patient up.

"Director Jiang, how many more wounded are outside?" Zheng Ren asked.

"Twelve. The post-op patients have all been contacted; 120 ambulances are taking them to Huaxi and Provincial Hospital." Director Jiang replied succinctly.

This was the information Zheng Ren needed; he nodded, finally seeing a glimmer of hope.

"Director Jiang, please keep an eye out for any patients who need amputation." Zheng Ren said.

"Uh..." Director Jiang froze, this Doctor Zheng, could it be…

"Zheng… Doctor Zheng, we don't have a hybrid operating room here. It's too small; we can't perform hybrid surgery." Director Jiang said hesitantly.

"Oh, I'm not trying to do hybrid surgery; I want to perform thrombectomy on patients who need amputation, improve microcirculation, minimize the amputation cross‑section, and make postoperative recovery a bit easier." Zheng Ren said.

Director Jiang isn't involved in vascular surgery, and his exposure to vascular intervention is also not deep.

Whatever Zheng Ren said, he only half‑understood it. But since the experts said it, he'd just follow along—after all, the people present were all top‑tier surgeons, and he had no reason to waste time.