Inside Operating Room 1.

Jiang He said, "I’ve found it."

Yang Xu responded quickly, "The rupture is on the posterolateral wall. It’s a longitudinal tear. Your needle entry should be from bottom to top."

"Understood." Jiang He’s expression was one of intense focus.

At this depth, nothing was visible. He simply unfocused his eyes, letting his gaze rest on the sterile drapes at the edge of the surgical field.

All his senses were concentrated in the tip of his left index finger.

In his mind, an image began to form!

The branch of the celiac trunk... the extremely fragile root of the splenic artery... the tail of the pancreas behind it...

"I’m going in with the needle, Professor. Pull your fingertip back a little," Jiang He said.

Without a word, Yang Xu retracted his index finger slightly.

’Now!’

Jiang He’s wrist suddenly dipped and turned inward!

The needle tip pierced the vessel wall.

The sensation was incredibly familiar—a unique, pliable resistance.

Buoyed by this familiar feeling, Jiang He hardly needed to confirm his action.

Needle in, needle out, pull the suture.

"First stitch is through. Preparing to tie the knot."

His movements were swift as he tied a perfect vascular surgeon’s knot.

"Professor, release the pressure just a bit. Let’s see if it leaks."

Yang Xu’s index finger lifted slightly.

The violent crimson gush did not reappear. There was only a minor ooze of blood.

"Hold pressure. Reinforce it with another figure-eight stitch."

Yang Xu’s fingertip pressed down firmly.

Jiang He guided the needle holder back into the cavity for a second time.

With the first stitch as an anchor, the second was even more fluid.

Needle in, needle out, pull the suture, push the knot.

Three perfectly executed surgeon’s knots sealed the rupture at the root of the splenic artery.

"Suturing complete." Jiang He released the needle holder. "Professor, you can release all pressure now."

Yang Xu slowly withdrew his right hand from the depths of the abdominal cavity.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The surgical field was calm. The desperate fountain of red was gone.

After a warm saline rinse, the dark red depths of the surgical field finally revealed the normal color of the organs.

"Her blood pressure is rising!" the anesthesiologist said, his eyes glued to the monitor. "Volume has been restored! BP is stable at 90 over 60, heart rate is down to 130! O-two sats are coming up, too!"

Standing to the side, the first assistant, Liu Jianbang, stared at Jiang He across the table, a look of sheer shock flashing in his eyes.

’A third-year medical student... repaired an artery branching from the celiac trunk with a blind suture in under two minutes, during a massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage with zero visibility?’

’If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it!’

The others in the room were equally stunned.

But no one wasted time on words. In the operating room, they all tacitly refocused their attention on the surgery itself.

As for praise, that could wait until the patient was well and truly saved.

The circulating nurse quickly handed over a warm, damp gauze. Yang Xu took it and wiped the blood from his gloves.

With the crisis averted, he said in a deep voice, "Excellent work. I’ll take it from here."

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang He took a crisp half-step back, yielding the chief surgeon’s position. "Understood, Professor."

Their roles switched seamlessly in that instant.

This kind of bottom-up, reverse approach severely tested the chief surgeon’s spatial awareness and placed even more demanding requirements on the assistant.

The assistant had to be able to completely read the chief surgeon’s anatomical logic to provide a precise field of view from a reverse perspective.

"Ovum forceps. Debridement," Yang Xu said, holding out his right hand.

Jiang He immediately slapped the forceps into his palm.

"Bovie."

Yang Xu had barely spoken when Jiang He’s non-toothed forceps had already clamped onto a minuscule bleeder, lifting it gently to expose it completely.

Yang Xu’s Bovie didn’t even need to search. He just had to follow the line of the forceps and give a light touch. A wisp of blue smoke rose, and the bleeder was instantly sealed.

"Suction."

"It’s clear, Professor. Watch out for the superior mesenteric vein posteriorly," Jiang He said, having already suctioned the fluid completely dry a second before Yang Xu even spoke.

Liu Jianbang was numb with shock watching from the side.

’Are they really a temporary master-and-student pairing?’

He had seen the teams of countless elite visiting surgeons, but even among core groups that had worked together for decades, there was inevitably a split-second of verbal confirmation or hesitation between the surgeon and their assistant.

But these two... it was as if they shared a single brain.

Jiang He seemed to anticipate all of Yang Xu’s anatomical logic, always delivering the best possible view to the tip of the surgeon’s scalpel half a beat ahead of time.

It was exhilarating!

Yang Xu worked faster and faster, growing more and more excited.

As one of the country’s top surgeons, it had been far too long since he’d encountered such a world-class assistant who could completely understand his intentions and flawlessly support his technique!

Twenty minutes.

Thirty-five minutes.

Sixty minutes...

Large amounts of necrotic tissue were cleared from the abdominal cavity and tossed into a kidney basin.

As the source of the toxins was removed, the girl’s vital signs began to steadily stabilize.

"I’m going to try titrating the norepinephrine drip down a notch," the anesthesiologist said, staring at the monitor. After a few dozen seconds, he let out a breath of relief. "BP didn’t drop. It’s holding steady. Looks like she’s starting to regain spontaneous circulation."

They had finally made it through the most critical phase.

"Debridement complete," Yang Xu said, putting down his instruments. "Warm saline. Large-volume irrigation."

"Saline ready," the circulating nurse replied, wheeling over an IV pole hung with large bags of warm normal saline.

The irrigated fluid was initially a murky, reddish-brown, filled with tissue debris.

With each successive rinse, the fluid gradually cleared, eventually becoming a pale, faintly reddish color.

The fluid ran clear.

Jiang He turned off the suction.

Under the shadowless lamp, the surgical field was perfectly dry.

"No active bleeding." The tension that had gripped Yang Xu all night finally eased slightly. "Prepare to place drains. Three double-lumen sump drains."

The nurse tore open the sterile packaging and handed over the drains.

"Secure the drains. She’ll need 24 hours of continuous saline irrigation through them post-op," Yang Xu said, looking at Liu Jianbang.

"Understood." Liu Jianbang nodded. This was his specialty in the ICU; he knew exactly how to manage it.

"Count the instruments, sponges, and needles," Yang Xu gave the final command before closing the abdomen.

The scrub nurse and circulating nurse immediately began the count in unison.

Their voices alternated in the quiet operating room.

"Sponges, correct."

"Suture needles, correct."

"Instruments, correct. Nothing missing."

"Begin closure," Yang Xu said, taking the needle holder and an absorbable suture.

With Jiang He providing exposure and retraction, Yang Xu’s suturing was smooth and effortless.

Peritoneum, anterior rectus sheath, subcutaneous fat—he closed them layer by layer...

2:15 AM.

With the final subcuticular stitch complete, Yang Xu snipped the end of the suture flush with the skin.

The once-shocking abdominal incision was now a neat, straight line of sutures.

He placed the needle holder firmly back in the scrub nurse’s hand, took half a step back, and left the sterile field.

Yang Xu looked up at Jiang He across the table.

Through their masks, they shared a nod of perfect understanding.

"Surgery’s over."