After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

10:10 PM. Operating Room Number Two.

The two lead doors closed heavily, cutting off all outside noise.

The indoor temperature is kept constant at 22 degrees Celsius.

The little boy lay on the operating table, his entire body wrapped in a green sterile drape, with only a small square area the size of a palm visible in his chest. His skin had been coated with iodine, turning it a dark brown.

Ye Zhen stood at the surgeon's position. Her hands were wearing size 7.5 sterile gloves, which hung in front of her chest.

Gao Haiping stood as an assistant, while Liu Jianmin sat in front of the extracorporeal circulation machine.

Above, two enormous shadowless lamps converged, illuminating the palm-sized operating area in a stark white light.

"Deep anesthesia is appropriate, blood pressure 85/55, heart rate 110," the anesthesiologist reported.

Ye Zhen extended her right hand. "Knife."

"Snap." The scrub nurse slapped a No. 23 round-bladed scalpel into her palm.

Without hesitation, the blade pressed down.

Second floor observation room.

Edward, Williams, and all the Chinese and foreign experts crowded in front of the large explosion-proof glass. A dozen pairs of eyes were fixed on the operating lights below.

When they saw that Ye Zhen's blade did not land on the center of her sternum, but instead veered off to the lower left side of her chest, a suppressed gasp filled the observation room.

Open chest surgery at the fourth intercostal space on the left side.

The first strike that defied convention.

The blade cuts through the skin and subcutaneous fat.

"Electrosurgical knife".

I took the electrocautery pen. A hissing sound accompanied by a burnt smell rose up. The serratus anterior muscle was cleanly and efficiently separated.

"Expander".

Metal gears meshed. The little boy's left ribs were forcibly pried open, exposing the pleural cavity.

"Scissors."

Ye Zhen flipped her wrist and cut open the pericardium.

A heart the size of a walnut, deformed and unable to beat, was completely exposed to the bright light.

In front of the glass on the second floor, Edward suddenly snatched the high-powered monocular telescope next to him and aimed it at the surface of the heart.

I only glanced at it.

His scalp instantly flared up, and he went completely numb inch by inch.

On the anterior wall of the right ventricular outflow tract, a tiny blood vessel is crossing at an extremely strange angle.

Ectopic left anterior descending coronary artery.

Location, direction, even the thickness of the blood vessels. Absolutely perfect.

It is exactly the same structure that Ye Zhen casually drew in front of the lightbox with red and blue pencils.

Edward's legs buckled, and he stumbled back half a step, bumping into the back seat.

If it were cleaved in the middle according to Mayo's plan, the anterior descending branch would be severed instantly. The child would now be a corpse.

"God..." Williams made the sign of the cross on his chest.

Below the stage, Ye Zhen didn't spare even half a second to care whether the British people upstairs understood or not.

"Pericardium slices were extracted."

The tissue scissors cleanly cut along the edge, and a piece of autologous pericardium about 6×4 cm was peeled off.

"0.6% glutaraldehyde, get ready."

The circulating nurse approached with a stainless steel tray. Ye Zhen dipped the pericardial tablets directly into the pungent medicinal liquid.

The timer on the wall was pressed.

"Establish cardiopulmonary bypass." Ye Zhen spoke slowly, but each word was forceful. "Intubate the ascending aorta. Perform single-tube drainage in the right atrial appendage."

"Intubation complete! No air bubbles." Gao Haiping was covered in sweat.

"The situation is starting to change. The temperature is dropping."

The machine started humming, taking over the responsibility of circulating blood throughout the body from the heart. The child's temperature plummeted from 37 degrees to 28 degrees.

"Block the aorta. Infuse with cold blood cardioplegic solution."

Inject the cold potassium solution.

On the screen, the wildly fluctuating electrocardiogram waveform gradually slowed down.

My heart twitched twice. Then it stopped beating completely.

It turned into a deathly gray lump of flesh.

From that moment on, everyone in the operating room had their heartbeats recorded on the constantly beating countdown timer on the wall. This is called the myocardial ischemia tolerance period.

When the time comes.

"Remove the pericardium. Rinse with saline solution."

Rinse repeatedly six times to remove any remaining glutaraldehyde. The pericardium, which was originally as soft as a rag, is now strong and elastic.

Ye Zhen held tweezers in her left hand and a needle in her right. She picked up a Proline suture that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Begin to create.

The observation room on the second floor was deathly silent. Everyone held their breath, watching the micro-operations below.

She had to sew this membrane into a tube with a diameter of 1.2 centimeters, and inside it would be three one-way valves that could open and close.

One needle in, one needle out.

Slightly rotate your wrist. Hold the needle, insert it, withdraw the needle, and attach the thread.

Her movements were like those of a precision machine tool with a pre-programmed sequence. The spacing between her stitches was precisely on the 1-millimeter scale, without a single deviation from beginning to end.

Without any support, it relies entirely on the tension between the lines and the organization.

Three crescent-shaped "petals" gradually take shape inside the lumen.

Eight minutes.

"Snap." Ye Zhen cut the end of the thread.

A homemade valved pericardial catheter is now complete.

She took a 50ml syringe, filled it with saline solution, and forcefully injected it into one end of the tubing.

The water flowed out smoothly, pushing open the three internal valves; as soon as the syringe was removed, the pressure disappeared, and the three valves closed instantly. Not a drop leaked.

Edward, on the second floor, had tears in his eyes and clenched his teeth so as not to scream.

This technique, known as "glutaraldehyde tanning," was truly showcased today in front of the UK's top medical experts.

"Prepare for anastomosis." Ye Zhen moved the tube into the chest cavity.

The main event is coming.

The blood vessel walls at the bifurcation of the child's pulmonary artery were extremely poorly developed, thinner and more brittle than cigarette paper. With the slightest force, the sutures would tear the blood vessel like a razor blade.

Once torn, it's impossible to repair within those few millimeters of space.

As an assistant, Gao Haiping was responsible for using tweezers to pull the edges of the tissue. He didn't even dare to blink; sweat streamed down his brow bone and into his eyes, stinging painfully, but he endured it without moving.

"Distant anastomosis."

The tiny needle tip pierced the thin, fragile blood vessel wall, threading a fine line through. Ye Zhen's hand was incredibly steady, finding the point of pressure with millimeters of precision. A continuous suture was completed in one smooth motion.

"Proximal access to the apex of the right ventricle."

The last few stitches.

"tie."

Six consecutive surgical knots, tightly interlocked.

This heart, riddled with holes, has finally been connected to a brand new life channel.

"exhaust."

"Check the anastomosis."

There are no bleeding points. Dry and clean.

"Release the clamps to open the blood flow!"

Liu Jianmin loosened the clamps that were clamped on the aorta.

Venous blood surged into the pulmonary artery through the newly connected channel. The valved conduit filled instantly, and the three self-made valves, as thin as cicada wings, opened and closed perfectly under the rush of blood.

"Rewarm."

The thermometer readings started climbing. 30 degrees, 32 degrees, 34 degrees.

But on the operating table.

That deathly gray heart still lay there limply.

Not moving at all.

On the monitor, the electrocardiogram showed a glaring green straight line.

"drop!"

The piercing wail shattered the silence of the operating room.

Time ticked by. The second-to-second attempt failed.

In the observation room on the second floor, Williams suddenly stood up, cold sweat pouring down his forehead: "The pause in heartbeat has lasted too long! There's not even ventricular fibrillation!"

Outside.

In the corridor, the Duke, who had been sitting upright, suddenly froze. A long whistle pierced through the door, and the cigar he had been clutching was snapped in two with a snap.

Gu Zheng leaned against the shadows in the corner of the wall, slowly straightening up. His dark eyes were fixed on the lead door.

Inside the operating room.

Ye Zhen didn't even blink, and didn't put down the equipment in her hands.

"Lidocaine 1 mg, intravenous bolus injection."

"Defibrillator. 10 joules."

The nurse handed over two miniature electrode plates.

Ye Zhen held the electrode plates with both hands and placed them on both sides of the child's tiny heart.

"Charge."

hum!

"Clear".

"Bang."

The electric shock pad pressed down hard, and the child's small body jolted violently on the operating table.