Chapter 1691: Surgical Success Rate 65%

At 11:30 noon, Xia Qing took the loss report submitted by Territory 1-26 and went to Territory 7 to get her idol's signature.

After Xia Qing made the announcement through the loudspeaker, she also sent a message in the territory alliance chat group on Tang Huaijin's phone, asking everyone to report their losses truthfully, because the data had high research value.

So, after hearing the announcement, the allies who had originally planned to report no losses at all reported them truthfully.

The caged chickens in the standardized greenhouse of Territory 1, the burrow-raised rabbits in Territory 4, the parrots in the glass greenhouse of Territory 8, and the shed-raised locusts in Territory 12 suffered relatively large losses. The bee colonies raised in Territories 1, 12, and 5 also experienced attacks by bee-aphid flies and internal fighting among colony members, leading to bee deaths.

The only farmed animals in the Northern District 1 territories unaffected by the tiger's roar were the mealworms raised in Territories 1, 3, 8, 12, and 17, which were extremely insensitive to sound.

The bee colonies in Territory 3 showed no abnormalities, probably because they listened to Sheep Elder's and Wolf Lao Er's roaring every day and had built up a high tolerance for the roars of fierce beasts.

What about Territory 7's losses? Because the lord of Territory 7 was in "closed-door cultivation," Zhang Song had taken the inspection team out, and Zhang He had entered the lab at six just like Zhang San, hanging up a "Do Not Disturb" sign. So Territory 7's deputies Zhang Jingwu and Zheng Chen couldn't report the situation or tally the losses.

Xia Qing entered Territory 7 and only then dug her idol out of the lab, where he had been for over six hours.

Hearing what Xia Qing had done and looking at the compensation amount of 288,300 on the form she handed over, Zhang San was silent for two seconds, then asked, "Who covers the losses? 31-1?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "Lao Si. Third Brother, could you tally the losses on your side and add them in? The higher the losses, the more strictly Lao Si will restrain the tiger cub and keep it from roaring so loud in the future."

Zhang San understood, called Zhang Liu from the territory office, and asked her to issue a notice requiring every research group in Territory 7 to report their losses within two hours. Then Zhang San instructed, "In the future, if there's a situation where I, Zhang He, and Zhang Song are all unreachable at the same time, you and Zhang Jingwu and Zheng Chen will consult and make decisions together."

"Yes." After answering crisply, Zhang Liu's face lit up as she reminded him, "Third Brother, you could listen to the announcement Sister Qing posted at 8:31 this morning while you have lunch. The recording of the announcement was posted online by the Territory Management Department, and the official accounts of Huicheng Base and Hui-3 Base both liked and shared it."

Xia Qing……

From Zhang Liu's expression and tone, Zhang San confirmed Xia Qing had done something very impressive related to Territory 7, and gave an acknowledging sound.

After Zhang Liu left, he went online and skimmed the content of Xia Qing's speech, then turned, took two dragon fruits from the fridge and a box of snacks from a drawer, and placed them in front of Xia Qing. "Although a few word choices had minor flaws, the flaws don't obscure the jade—your crisis PR operation this time can be called perfect. Yesterday I was careless and forgot to arrange the follow-up work."

Xia Qing happily tore open a bag of lemon chicken feet. "You don't need to arrange small things like this. I read documents every day—I can put out an announcement like that without a draft, off the cuff!"

And she's satisfied with that? Wouldn't a normal person focus on those "minor word choices" and strive for perfection?

Zhang San slumped lazily in his chair, not wanting to talk anymore.

Xia Qing asked, "Third Brother, Wu Chengyu messaged me this morning wanting to sign the agreement today and bring his family over tomorrow. How confident are you about his surgery?"

Half an hour later, Wu Chengyu and his two evolved Border Collies entered Zhang San's office.

Xia Qing spoke first. "Professor Wu, Third Brother has worked out a treatment plan with a higher surgical success rate. This plan can raise your surgery's success rate from 20% to 65%."

Hearing the number "65%," Wu Huan's ears shot straight up, and Wu Le's tail wagged rapidly as both dogs looked up at Xia Qing.

Wu Chengyu thought his condition had become so serious he was hallucinating, and asked in disbelief, "Director Xia, did you just say… 65%?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Theoretically 65%. If within the next month, your improvements to the medical equipment exceed Third Brother's expectations, the success rate will go even higher."

Hearing this new human spout numbers the moment she opened her mouth, Zhang San lifted an eyelid and glanced at her.

Wu Chengyu's body could collapse at any moment—he couldn't last a month. But the reason Zhang San scheduled the surgery a month out was precisely because he had a way to keep Wu Chengyu going for that long. Wu Chengyu had no doubt about Zhang San's ability, nor did he question Xia Qing's promise. He steadied his emotions and asked in a voice lacking strength, "Third Brother, what instrument do you need me to improve?"

Zhang San opened his laptop again and briefly introduced the treatment plan to Wu Chengyu. The two Border Collies squatting on either side of Wu Chengyu raised their front paws onto the desk—one watching the images on the screen, the other watching Zhang San. At a glance, the colors on Xia Qing's face were a bit similar to the fur color on the Border Collies' faces.

This made Zhang San pause for a second before he began introducing the treatment plan he had devised.

Wu Chengyu's retroperitoneal tumor was lodged in the angle between the abdominal aorta and the inferior vena cava, measuring 6.3 centimeters in diameter. A standard procedure would have to navigate past three barriers—the intestines, the pancreas, and the kidneys—performing a blind cut in the shadow of the vascular bifurcation. The success rate would be like opening a mystery box.

So, just like the treatment plan given by the Lan-1 expert, Zhang San decided to use intravascular interventional micro-instruments for the surgery. A very thin catheter would be inserted into the target vessel; the catheter tip would carry micro-mechanical forceps and an electrocautery blade that could open, close, and rotate. The tumor would be peeled away through the catheter. Using the existing instruments, even with Zhang San performing the surgery, the success rate would only be around thirty percent.

If it were any other patient, of course the sooner the surgery the better. But the person having the tumor removed was Wu Chengyu, which was why Zhang San scheduled the surgery for a month later.

The catastrophe had stalled human technological progress, and intravascular interventional micro-instrument technology remained stuck at pre-catastrophe levels. Given Wu Chengyu's precision-instrument R&D abilities, he was capable of completing improvements to the intravascular interventional micro-instruments within a month.

In other words, the key to reaching a 65% surgical success rate did not depend on Zhang San's surgical skill, but on how far Wu Chengyu could improve the medical instruments after taking the potion Zhang San gave him.

Although Wu Chengyu had never researched intravascular interventional micro-instruments, after watching the video introduction of the existing instruments on the laptop and hearing Zhang San's requirements for the improvements, Wu Chengyu agreed with Xia Qing.

As long as Zhang San's potion could restore his energy to normal, he was confident he could, within twenty days, improve the micro-instruments beyond Zhang San's expectations, achieving a surgical success rate above 65%.

Having been "sentenced" to death by the doctors, Wu Chengyu saw for the first time the hope of living on with his family and his dogs.

The rigorous and responsible Zhang San, seeing the change in Wu Chengyu's expression, reminded him of the risks of this plan. "The potion I formulated can restore your energy, but it will accelerate your metabolism. Over this month you'll need to take in 1.5 times your usual amount of high-quality nutrients. If the instrument improvement fails, your body's reserves will be drained, and at that point you won't even be able to withstand a surgery with a twenty percent success rate."

"As long as I can get my energy back, I can control the instrument's precision error to within one-tenth of what you require."

Wu Chengyu straightened his back, his gaze calm, his tone firm—for the first time, Xia Qing saw in him the bearing a big shot should have.