The Surgeon’s Studio

Old Chief Physician Pan and Zheng Ren heard the call for help and rushed back to resuscitate Chief Surgeon Liu, which was a simple but annoying task.

 They took their leave only after Chief Surgeon Liu had been sent to the CCU.

 Liu Tianxing was fine since his condition had mainly been triggered by rage. However, Old Chief Physician Pan exonerated himself from the matter, and Zheng Ren wondered if the old man was descended from Zhuge Liang himself with that kind of ability to hold an argument.

 Old Chief Physician Pan gave Zheng Ren a holiday so that he could return home and get some rest.

 Zheng Ren needed to organize his thoughts as well, so he packed up his belongings and rushed home.

 He felt like he had been cut off from the outside world for ages even though only two to three days had passed.

 He had been blessed with the System in Professor Ichiro Moriyu’s failed surgery, but had been forced to work in the hospital for almost thirty straight hours after being threatened with elimination by the same System. He would have definitely drunk the energy elixir had there been more surgeries awaiting him.

 1Well, better to save it for future use if his body was still able to endure the fatigue.

 He had not realized how tired he was in the hospital just now, but once he returned home, his body became leaden as if all the exhaustion that had accumulated over the past thirty hours of intense surgery instantly overwhelmed his body.

 Little Zhao, who rented the house together with Zheng Ren, was livestreaming at the moment.

 Little Zhao was an online streamer in the food and drink genre, who usually bought lots of seafood from the market and gave live commentaries while eating the stew he made from them.

 Zheng Ren avoided the camera’s field of view carefully and greeted him with a hand gesture before returning to his room.

 He then took off his shirt, lay on his bed, and entered the System.

 The emotionless and monotonous robotic female voice remained silent as usual. Zheng Ren inhaled the fresh air in the System deeply, which was as refreshing as described by elementary school textbooks. He could even feel his energy recovering to a certain extent as well.

 Zheng Ren, who had been visiting the System a few times, figured that this small world had the ability to speed up energy recovery.

 However, it was merely speculation as there was no related data shown in the System.

 He sat in front of the skill trees and began calculating his earnings—skill points and experience points—like a pinchpenny.

 He had 1067 skill points in the general surgery skill tree and 150+13=180 points in his inventory, which were altogether still insufficient to reach the Expert rank of 5000 skill points. Since there were enough skill points in the general surgery skill tree, he had decided not to spend his savings just yet.

 5There were 132+13644+300=14076 experience points in his experience pool, which he could use to purchase a set of surgical equipment in the Shop, but he had no intention of doing so because it was better to save it for a rainy day.

 A child used to growing up in poverty was like a rat preparing various kinds of food to get through the winter so that it would not freeze to death in the frigid weather.

 Putting his inventory aside, Zheng Ren began to think about the reward—intensive training in the System’s operating theater for 20.83 days—from the System’s Hostility From Peers mission.

 It was a tremendous and precious reward.

 The last time Zheng Ren entered the System’s operating theater for little more than fifteen days, his initial Graduate rank in general surgery had shot up to Expert and he could now perform appendectomies perfectly.

 What about this time?

 This sort of mission reward was far more practical than skill points.

 “Great Shining System Deity, how do I receive the intensive training from the mission reward?” asked Zheng Ren as he stared at the fox statue lying in front of the thatched cottage.

 [Please select a branch of the skill trees for intensive training.]

 1The System answered Zheng Ren’s question this time.

 A screen with various surgical subspecialties appeared before him.

 Zheng Ren believed that he had achieved at least a first-class standard in his appendectomy skill; he was perhaps one of the best in the country after being intensely trained in appendectomies last time.

 What should he learn next?

 It had to be related to general surgery as its skill tree had already been developed. It was better to master a subspecialty completely before moving on to another surgical branch.

 Also, Zheng Ren figured that he should consider the needs of emergency surgery in the emergency department. Old Chief Physician Pan highly valued him and the System had even given him a mission called The Soldier Dies For His Comrade. He would probably be expected to develop the emergency department in Sea City General Hospital for the next few years.

 Thus, Zheng Ren started deleting the general surgery subspecialties that did not fulfill his requirements.

 General surgery specialty…

 Breast surgery, uncommon for emergency surgery. Deleted.

 Thyroid surgery, uncommon for emergency surgery. Deleted.

 Anorectal surgery, uncommon for emergency surgery. Deleted.

 Hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery… Acceptable.

 Gastrointestinal surgery… Acceptable.

 Zheng Ren was stuck in a dilemma between hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and gastrointestinal surgery.

 Acute cholecystitis and hepatic rupture were frequently encountered in the emergency department. However, acute intestinal obstruction and gastric perforation were common in the emergency department too.

 Which subspecialty should he choose?

 Zheng Ren was having a hard time making a decision as he stared at the screen in front of him.

 A lightbulb went off in his head after a long time. Perhaps he could try to consult the System?

 However, the System seemed to be emotionally unstable. It would answer his questions occasionally but would ignore him most of the time, and even threatened to eliminate him once…

 What could he possibly do when the System was bound to him?

 “Great Shining System Deity, what should I choose, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery or gastrointestinal surgery?” Zheng Ren gave it a try and asked.

 There was a flicker on the screen and all other surgery subspecialties were dimmed, leaving only hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery alluring Zheng Ren like a flirtatious prostitute.

 3This hint was more than enough even though the System did not use its robotic female voice to communicate with him.

 Zheng Ren clicked the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery option on the screen. Then, with a sudden flash of bright light, the operating theater started forming itself around him.

 The operating table, simulation mannequin… Everything looked so familiar but this time, the disease had changed from acute appendicitis to various acute and chronic cholecystitis.

 “…” Zheng Ren was at a loss for words.

 1He merely wanted to check his inventory and rest up for the intensive training later, but why did the System begin his training unexpectedly?

 Well, it was too late to regret it now. After his attempt to negotiate with the System ended up in vain, he had no choice but to start his training in cholecystectomy.

 Since the System did not threaten him with elimination this time, Zheng Ren was able to calm his mind and gain more experience during the process.

 He actually felt energetic instead of tired after performing numerous surgeries in the System, even clearly recalling all the literature and information around hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery that he had read many years ago.

 A simple open cholecystectomy was at the same tier as an appendectomy—a tier-one surgery.

 In fact, it was possible for house officers to perform an appendectomy personally under the close supervision of clinical tutors at the end of their housemanship.

 1However, no one dared let house officers perform a cholecystectomy.

 Anatomically speaking, a cholecystectomy was much more complicated than an appendectomy.

 Zheng Ren began the training with an open cholecystectomy to familiarize himself with the anatomical structures and prepare himself for a complicated laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

 Time was easily forgotten and he would lift his gaze to check the countdown timer only after finishing an operation.

 He truly felt that time was more precious than gold in the System.

 Zheng Ren felt slightly uneasy after 20.83 days had passed.

 Hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery was far more complicated than an appendectomy, after all.

 It was obvious that an appendectomy was incomparable to hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery since it was merely a tier-one or tier-two gastrointestinal surgery.

 When the countdown timer reached the last second, the operating theater vanished before Zheng Ren’s eyes and he raised his hands subconsciously to clutch at the fading theater.

 Unfortunately, there was only air in his grasp.

 While he was absorbed in his own thoughts, numerous crystal-clear white lights flooded into the System and transformed into a trickle of brilliance, which made the mysterious world vivid and full of life.

 [Please take note that training time for surgery has been unlocked in the Shop.]

 Huh? He could buy that too? Zheng Ren went to the Shop quickly and began searching for it.

 …

 At the same time, the live surgery broadcast room in Xinglin Garden had been fixed. Hundreds of doctors waiting eagerly on the homepage started swarming into the livestream room to secure a spot as there was a limit on the total number of viewers in each room.

 It was as if a new channel had been added into a game.