The Surgeon’s Studio

Zheng Ren was still training in the System. He was getting faster at the surgery and spending less time thinking as well.

On average, each surgery earned Zheng Ren about 450 skill points.

Zheng Ren sighed inwardly and admitted that this was truly the toughest procedure in all of interventional surgery. It was apparent just from the increase in skill points.

In order to reach Prime level in surgery, one had to train to perform incredibly intricate surgeries. Relying on appendectomy alone would take thousands of years to get to Prime…

Even if one lived that long, Prime level would be out of their reach. The skill points earned per surgery depreciated when one performed a similar type of surgery repeatedly.

Before he knew it, Zheng Ren had exhausted his entire reserve of skill points, experience points, and surgical time that he accumulated!

In his interventional surgery tree, he had gained 450 skill points per round for a total of 29,830 skill points.

He was only inches away from Grandmaster.

Zheng Ren looked around the System, now empty but for the two golden chests shining in the corner coquettishly.

He did not expect to win the lottery, but it was worth a shot.

The two golden chests unlocked simultaneously with a single thought.

The experience points he had exhausted replenished themselves instantly. Zheng Ren exhaled; the two chests were truly beneficial.

After the glow faded, Zheng Ren found himself with almost thirty thousand experience points, a skill book of 3,000 cases of gastrointestinal surgery, and a Master-level skill book on ultrasound.

Even though the two golden chests were not exceptional, he was satisfied and used both books immediately even though they were rather common in clinical surgeries.

Zheng Ren was thrilled when he saw that he needed only 100 skill points to upgrade his interventional surgical skill to the Prime level.

It did not seem that long ago that he had dreamed of achieving the Master level but here he was, so close to Prime.

Zheng Ren quickly purchased two more hours of surgical training time and performed another prostate interventional embolization.

He was now able to complete the surgery within 2 hours. It was a huge improvement from his previous performance. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could only reach 90% completion.

He had hoped to see some changes after reaching the Prime level in interventional surgery.

After 1 hour and 49 minutes, he finished the System’s surgery, but the completion status remained under 91%.

Quantitative change translated into qualitative development, finally upgrading Zheng Ren’s interventional surgical skills to Prime.

There was no brilliant aura surrounding him, nor was there any petals falling from the sky. It was as if nothing had changed.

Zheng Ren sat next to the pond and slowly closed his eyes, his fingers pinched gently as if holding a micro guide wire to pass through some blood vessels and reach its desired location.

It felt just right.

Half an hour later, Zheng Ren opened his eyes. They were gleaming, as clear as the pool of water before.

So this was how it felt to reach Prime level.

With this realization, the System’s operating theater emerged from the ground once more and Zheng Ren entered it, now a Prime rank interventional surgeon

Sure enough, quantitative changes had resulted in a qualitative one. After Zheng Ren conquered his summit, he was greeted with a world much greater than the one he had known.

Prostate interventional embolization. Time spent: 1 hour and 32 minutes. Completion status: 100%

Zheng Ren grinned and purchased a bottle of energy elixir.

When he opened the bottle, a minty scent filled his senses.

He frowned as he was still not used to the smell. Then, he raised the energy elixir to the little fox across the pond.

A toast to success.

After downing the energy elixir, Zheng Ren exited the System.

…

…

Huang Zhishan, a 40-year-old Singaporean Chinese was the Regional Director for Biosensors International’s operations in East Asia.

He had grown up in the US where he received western education. After graduating from Caltech, he had had a startup in Silicon Valley which eventually failed.

Nevertheless, he did not give up, but got back onto his feet and returned stronger.

At the age of forty, he was in his prime with the energy and ability to create. He had won this latest battle by leading a sinking ship through a narrow strait.

Huang Zhishan was very pleased with himself. The bet he had taken by going against the board was paying off.

After sending off Professor Rudolf Wagner on his flight back to Germany, he returned to his office. He looked out of his window and stared at the Huangpu River as he imagined his future, filled with great plans and promises.

Had it been worth offending every top professor in the country currently present in Imperial Capital? It was, without a doubt.

Among all the tools of interventional surgery, those used in cardiovascular surgeries contributed half of all total profit, followed by those used in neurological surgery and peripheral vascular surgery.

The prostate interventional surgery had just been a stepping stone. If he were able to get through to hospitals with capitation, there would be more opportunities for medical insurance reimbursements in the future.

Huang Zhishan also could not care less about the production line that had been specifically reserved for Professor Rudolf Wagner’s prostate surgery.

It was disposable, after all.

It had served its purpose and would be retired from the stage after the surgery was complete. In Huang Zhishan’s opinion, prostate interventional surgery was not practical for the common folk. The cost of one was so exorbitant that it almost surpassed that of drugs used in targeted chemotherapy.

The main focus of Biosensors International was still catheters and stents used in cardiothoracic surgeries. There was vicious competition with other international manufacturers!

Huang Zhishan was neither anxious about nor afraid of the upcoming battle. Instead, there was excitement; in this fight, his throne would be paved with the blood and bones of his opponents.

What could trump this?

Huang Zhishan snickered at the thought of his oblivious competitors, although no one could see him.

He then picked his phone and made a call.

“It’s me.

“What are those losers in Imperial Capital doing?

“Uhm, don’t bother. We will have a really nice Christmas celebration this year.”

After hanging up, despite being extremely satisfied with his effort, Huang Zhishan felt a twinge of regret.

Local pioneers in interventional surgery had been quite displeased to find out that Professor Rudolf Wagner had succeeded.

After all, they had not had the support of a personal product manufacturing line. Most of them had also exceeded the golden age to perform surgery as interventional technology was a fairly recent introduction.

Like Wu Haishi, many of them had chosen to leave the Imperial Capital in the night.

Huang Zhishan treated this scattering to the winds as the glorious pinnacle of his achievements. Nonetheless, there was something missing in this chapter, as if there was one missing note keeping the finale from absolute perfection.

Unfortunately, no one had stood up against them. It would have been perfect if some ignorant bloke had attempted the prostate interventional embolization.

Nevertheless, this small issue had no effect on the big picture.

Huang Zhishan stood and waltzed his way over to the bar, where he opened a bottle of scarlet wine and filled a glass.

The residual color on its side resembled thick, fresh blood as he swirled the wineglass.

He walked towards the window wall to admire the bird’s eye view of the Huangpu River. As he stared down at the Huaxia Financial Center, pride and ambition filled his heart.

He raised his glass to the city lights twinkling outside the window and said gently, “A toast to success.”