Chapter 550: Magical Surgery is still Surgery
[Huh…I just realized this is the first time any of us have been used for something other than combat skill bestowal,] Razorstella noticed.
[Granted, this is also the first we’ve been involved with surgery too.]
[To be fair, Lacerage and I have been employed as members of the Zhen Clan for awhile now.]
[How is that going by the way?]
[Oh wonderful, the children are very receptive to the lessons.]
[Really?]
[Yes, I just taught them how to paralyze a man with precisely three finger strikes.]
[Oh.]
[And how to stop their hear completely with a single punch.]
[What the fuck?]
[But I’ve been thinking of incorporating dance lessons as well, can you assist me with that?]
[Uh…sure.]
[Wonderful!]
[Yeah…anyways! Let’s focus on cutting this girl open.]
_____________________________________________
“Brr, it’s chilly in here,” Zhen Hai commented as he and Zhen Liu entered the ice dome that Frosttusk had made.
“Apologies for that,” Zhen Liu replied, “but it is a bit of a necessary evil.”
“I understand that.”
“Good.”
The reason for this ice dome operating theater was twofold.
First, due to the nature of surgery being rather…invasive, a sterile environment is practically mandatory. While an operating theater that had been sterilized from floor to ceiling was preferred, a dome made of ice where the freezing process practically killed every possible microbe in the designated area, made for a good second choice. Granted, while Zhen Liu had no idea if the bacteria of Valresta could resist aether-infused elements, it was worth an attempt at least.
Second, and most importantly, they had no medical supplies to use during this medical procedure.
Surgery sounds straightforward, cut someone open, remove some portion of the body that is the cause of the issue and/or stitch up anything that shouldn’t be bleeding, etc.
However, such a procedure required a multitude of items….items that the Zhen Clan scions had none of.
Anesthetics were needed to numb the pain and prevent any adverse reactions, sterile surgical implements were needed to cut through the flesh as swiftly and painlessly as possible and then stitch back up altogether to make sure it heals properly, blood bags were needed to perform a transfusion to replace any blood lost during the procedure. Not to mention that oxygen masks were needed as well to make sure that everything in the patient was properly infused with air to prevent suffocation or worst.
Aside from the surgical implements being replaced with a judicious application of aether, the lack of anesthetics and blood bags made this entire situation even trickier, therefore, Zhen Liu opted to go for a more…indirect method .
When the human body is subjected to a low enough temperature, like in the application of ice, it can numb the skin and flesh to an extent, cooled even further and it can cause blood flow to slow to a crawl. Some forms of media even exaggerate that freezing someone fast enough could preserve them forever.
Of course, such exaggerations were just a more twisted version of something known as cryonics…
If Zhen Liu and Zhen Hai couldn’t supply this poor girl with drugs and blood, then they would have to make do with ice cold temperatures to try and prevent anything else from leaving her already damaged body.
As the two young masters of the Zhen Clan looked over the girl, barely breathing on the “operating table”, the one in charge of cutting the girl open and removing the presumed bone shards from inners looked…nervous.
“Zhen Liu…are you sure this is the right course of action?,” Zhen Hai asked. “Are you sure we’re the ones who should be doing something like this? I mean…jumpstarting someone’s heart is one thing, but this…this is something else entirely. As a warrior, I have made peace of taking someone’s life in the heat of battle…but using my hands to try and save someone’s life while hurting them seems…”
“Contradictory?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm.:
Zhen Liu was silent for a moment before he answered Zhen Hai’s concern.
“In truth, there is probably somewhere out there more qualified to treat this girl than us, the world is very large after all.”
“But…”
“But we’re the ones who are here, right now, meaning we have to be the ones to do it.”
“Of course…”
“Besides, you saw how she was treated. You really think a doctor around here will treat her better?”
“…no. No they wouldn’t…”
While this wasn’t the greatest pep talk in the world…it seemed to have to done its job
“…which is why we’re going to be the ones to make it up for her.”
With the burdening question off his mind, Zhen Hai proceeded to concentrate his aether into the tips of his fingers, creating a thin, razor sharp blade of aether at the very end of them. Unfortunately, it was bout as wide as a butcher’s knife.
“Hmm…needs to be smaller….there we go.”
In an uncharacteristic show of aether control, Zhen Hai managed to shrink the blade down to be about scalpel size. Satisfied with his handiwork, Zhen Hai began the operation.
“You better not die on me girlie. Otherwise this entire evening will be a disaster to the audience…wait, would I-bah, forget it.”
_____________________________________________
=Logically speaking, it would make the most sense for our lord to make use of our extensive medical facility…but, doing that might cause even more secrets than necessary to be exposed to our lord’s family. Remember, he still wants to try and keep them separate from his identity as the Kaijin Lord.=
=You tell me, you’re the one who is more understanding of the concepts of “drama” and “family secrets”.=
=No, it’s because you spent thirty-six hours playing through several mystery genre videogames. Half of which involved a family secret plotline.=
=I’m sure they were, but I think we need to focus on our lord’s surgery right now.=
_____________________________________________
“Huh…ya know, I was initially jealous that Zhen Liu was apparently able to bestow the characteristics of his aether puppets to other people…but seeing all this happen…I’m kind of glad I got skipped over.”
“I am way with you, Zhen Xing. This looks…too delicate for me.”
“And all that blood…”
“Guys, shush! I have no idea how good this dome is transmitting sound, but its probably better if we stay as quiet as possible!”
“Sorry…”
The ice dome that Zhen Liu’s puppet had prepared to perform this surgery had manifested surprisingly clear, giving the other Zhen Clan scions a way to view what Zhen Liu and Zhen Hai were doing without possibly interfering or distracting them.
Which they had initially scoffed at, but once they saw Zhen Hai proceed to use his fingers to delicately cut open the girl’s abdomen and Zhen Liu hold the opening via careful manipulation of aether threads, they completely understood why the ice dome was needed.
It was like staring into a snow globe or a fish bowl…except what inside wasn’t submerged in water and there was a fuck-ton more blood involved.
“Okay, I’m gonna be honest with y’all…this is making me squeamish,” Zhen Feng told the others. “I’m used to seeing viscera and blood, but that’s when we’re handling dead aether beasts. Something about seeing a live person being cut open like this is…unsettling.”
“I understand…its…weird seeing someone cut open off the battlefield…it doesn’t feel right,” Zhen Tai added.
“Hey check it out,” Zhen Guo whispered to the others, “looks like Zhen Hai found something.”
“What he find?”
“Looks like…a bone?”
“Oh shit, they were right…,” Zhen Yue muttered in quiet alarm.
Only a few minutes had passed after Zhen Hai made that initial incision, and already, significant progress was made, in the form of a large chunk of bone, presumably a fragment of the girl’s ribs, being pulled out of the intestines.
“Oh gods…”
“Wait…I think there’s more.”
As time went on, more and more bone fragments were being pulled out of the poor girl’s internals.
With each removed piece though, the looks on the Zhen Clan’s scions’ faces grew uglier and uglier.
“How badly beaten was this girl?!”
“I don’t know, but damn she is built different.”
“Wait…shouldn’t there be a lot of blood flowing out? Why isn’t that happening?”
“I think I know why…take a look.”
Normally, the act of removing shrapnel from one’s wounds tended to be a rather bloody affair, with blood flowing everywhere.
However, this wasn’t the case, as while Zhen Hai was cutting and removing the bone from the girl’s insides, Zhen Liu was busy suturing the wounds before they even had a chance to bleed. It was honestly a thing of beauty to behold.
“Wow…I didn’t know Zhen Liu could do that.”
“Yeah…wait, are those stitches him naturally doing that, or is it thanks to a puppet.”
“Probably a puppet.”
“Okay, yeah…but which of his can make threads?”
“That’s…huh.”
The Zhen Clan scions stared into the clear ice dome, still watching Zhen Hai cut away and Zhen Liu stitched until coming to a single, conceivable conclusion.
The man has been hiding his abilities far deeper than anticipated.
“Hey… y’all think he can make us puppets?”
