Jin was no doctor, so he had nothing to contribute by staying in the surgical theatre of the recovery instance when the Panda Nurses pushed Yuan Ba into the room. It was also the first time Milk and the Panda Nurses were using it. This was because previously there was no situation that required the surgical theatre. Most injuries’ recovery was aided by the System and the Panda Nurses. Milk was just hanging around to accelerate the recovery process every now and then. Though, just as Yun before her, she primarily acted as a mediator or counsellor..
However, this time was different. She would be utilizing her surgical skills which she had not been using for years, if not decades ever since she was accepted by the System. “So Milk was a doctor before? I thought she was a Priest Class with a Monk subclass? I am confused.” Jin asked the System in his head to clarify as he and Yang Ling entered the upper floors of the surgical theatre to witness the surgery without becoming a hindrance.
“Milk’s history is fairly uncommon. She was born into a family of high nobility, famous for being doctors in their era. Her parents were ruthless in teaching her the skills to be a doctor, yet she was more of a rebellious person. Something similar to User when User first started. It was through a certain incident, that Milk had encountered a religious heretic, from whom she learnt her skills as a priest and as a battle monk.” The System stated.
“Religious Heretic? Wow, I kinda always pictured Milk as some girl who came to hate god after a long time in the church, due to her behaviour. I did not expect her to be learning from a heretic out of the bat.” Jin was somewhat astonished by Milk’s backstory.
“Don’t you know, that in history the winners decide the ‘truth’? Therefore it should not surprise you, that she was branded a ‘Religious Heretic’. Milk’s master was a World’s Scion, a Saviour. The crowning glory of her civilisation, who offered them hope and light. The Perfection in mind, body and grace. It was to Milk’s dismay that her master eventually ‘betrayed’ the entire civilisation… ultimately being forced to step up against the one, she may even have worshipped or seen as a part of her family. Though, in her master’s words, it was just another lesson for Milk to learn.” Kraft interjected his own opinions.
“Okay…It seems like Milk had a rough past too. Wait, you seem to be praising her too much. Do you like her?” Jin thought to tease the old fox.
“Why not? Her b.r.e.a.s.ts and body looked so deliciously voluptuous. Do not tell me you do not like those. Otherwise, I would begin to worry whether the System might have chosen the wrong person to entrust itself for the revival of the Panda Clan.” Kraft started to doubt Jin’s preference since he had not made a move on any of the girls that were around him.
“What are you talking about! I…am just picky!” Jin blushed a bit and felt a bit awkward, but Yang Ling did not notice a single bit since she was concentrating her efforts observing the preparation of the surgical procedure. Wishing there was more she could do, to help.
“Besides, it’s not just her. All of the bellators here have their own story to tell. Even me! Hahahaha!” Jin listened to Kraft and it felt that for the first time Kraft’s usual laugh hid a tinge of vulnerability to him.
“Yea yea, you must be some guy, who happened to take care of a baby fox, that he found injured right at the side of the road. You took him with you, nursing him back to health, only for an incident to happen. And when the situation seemed hopeless, the fox eventually decided to repay you back in a way that you did not expect.” Jin tried to get back at Kraft, who oddly enough kept quiet.
“In any case, I got some information from the assassin Ban De. He was rather tight lipped, but he will loosen up given time. I will report back once it is done.” Kraft told him as he disappeared from Jin’s thoughts and the surgical procedure happened to be starting soon.
It was similar to a standard procedure in the real world with a few Panda nurses and two ‘surgeons’ mainly Peppers and Milk. Milk passed the responsibility of holding the container to a senior Panda Nurse as she aided Peppers with the surgery.
“So do you want to put the Isolation Core near the chest similar to Iron Woman? Afterall, the danzhong (middle dantian) point is located at the centre of the chest.” Peppers asked as she picked up the circular core to observe its shape. Yang Ling told Peppers how the Isolation Core should work in theory, but she had no idea if it would really work as planned in reality. It was only through the AI computer simulation that Jin kept assuring her that it could be trusted, the only evidence for this particular isolation core could work.
“Yea, the AI computer simulation can be trusted.” Peppers echoed at Jin when Yang Ling told her about it but there was a tinge of sarcasm that Yang Ling was not sure if it was intended or not.
“According to the chi circuits the Computer provided, his dantian core solidified in the pelvic region. So if we want to place the isolation core, technically we should put it near there so that the Qihai (lower dantian) point would not be affected especially considering my observation that the poison corruption tends to flow to the solidified dantian core naturally.” Milk was still conscious about avoiding saying the System’s name as those in the viewing room could hear the conversation held in the operating theatre.
“Hahaha! Can you imagine whenever he goes to the toilet or wishes to have s.e.x, there will be this circular metal thing blocking his view? Oh, such sadness.” Peppers let out bluntly, which incurred Milk’s wrath. She headbutted her, since her gloves were sterile. Afterwards, she calmed down a little before giving her decision.
“Alternatively, I can place it at the Mingmen point which is around his Lumbar spine, primarily L3, L4 area. Besides, there were indications of a herniated disc at that location and his chi circuits have shown a high activity in the Mingmen point. It indicates that Yuan Ba is suppressing the pain of his slipped disc. I can perform a discectomy and insert this Poison Isolation Core as a disk with titanium casing cover too. Worst case scenario, I can do a spinal fusion, but it would immobilise him quite a fair bit. That way, no one would suspect that he would have the- ” Milk explained her options to her team, though Yang Ling interrupted them:
“Please, no spinal fusion. He is the head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Family, immobilising him is equivalent to crippling his power and control. I believe he’d rather die than to live this way.” Yang Ling said in a desperate tone through the operating theatre speaker.
“Fine, fine, whatever princess. Peppers, I need you to utilise my Scan skill. I need vision to operate this. Real time camera, X Ray images and chi circuits fusion scans. Jin, if possible turn the time dilation up in this particular dungeon instance. I am afraid it will be a long surgery. I believe if the other military vendors stay in quarantine too long, people will start to get suspicious. Not to mention this VIP.” Milk was aware based on experience that if someone of high ranking was missing for too long, it would create a hassle for many people.
“Nurses, get the necessary equipment from the storage room.” Milk was taking control of the current situation like a head doctor as the Panda nurses flipped the knocked out Yuan Ba to a prone position.
With two snaps of her finger, the panda nurses rushed to get the equipment with massive robotic arms used for industrial welding but these one were used for precision cutting of the skin and removal of the herniated part of the spinal disk.
The surgery started and the timer on the wall commenced as the panda nurses had their own jobs to do. Monitoring the vitals of the patient, rotating to control the corruption poison, wiping the sweat from Milk’s face as she remotely controlled the multiple arm machine to cut and remove part of the disk. With only one surgeon operating, the multiple arm machine was a godsend as it was also partially powered and operated by the System.
The System would guide Milk to a certain extent. It held the flesh of the body and spine apart, along with the vessels if necessary as she carried out the heavier workload. Separately, Peppers was focused on continuously casting the legendary skill, Scan. Once, it was easy to obtain the information for that particular moment of time but because Milk required real time imagery, a tremendous amount of mana was needed to cast the Scan over and over from different perspectives.
But because of the recent extended usage of mana especially after the fight against the Titan Knight, her mana tolerance was much higher than before. Hence, this was not as bad as it would be. Besides, there was a Panda Nurse right beside Peppers who monitored her vitals too and cast healing spells on her if needed.
The surgery was proceeding smoothly which assured Jin so he dismissed himself from the operating theatre viewing room as he had other things that needed to be taken care of.
