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

"Commander Gu! How...how could such a young girl possibly perform this kind of surgery!"

The old military doctor shouted it out.

Ye Zhen completely ignored them.

She went straight to the cot and shone a flashlight into the injured man's pupils.

"Lin Yi, report vital signs."

Ye Zhen put on her stethoscope.

"Blood pressure 85/50, heart rate 135, shallow and rapid breathing, cold extremities."

Lin Yi quickly connected the cuffs.

Ye Zhen pressed on the injured person's jugular vein and listened to the breath sounds on both sides. The entire examination process took less than 30 seconds.

"The injured person is currently in compensatory shock, and the wind is too strong here. We need to move him to the underground explosion-proof laboratory. There will be minimal vibration and dust there, making it easier to set up a sterile area."

The group carefully transferred the injured person to the underground laboratory, preparing to connect the equipment.

The backup power supply above my head made a strange "hissing" sound.

The only surgical light in the lab flickered twice before going completely dark.

The surroundings were plunged into darkness.

At the same time, Liang, who was lying on the bed, suddenly convulsed, and a mouthful of dark red blood foam gushed from the corner of his mouth, dripping down his chin onto the hospital bed.

The electrocardiogram monitor emitted a sharp, piercing alarm sound.

The base doctors in the laboratory were instantly thrown into a panic.

"Pulmonary hemorrhage! He can't hold on any longer!" Director He looked at the mouthful of bloody foam, his face turned pale, and he subconsciously reached for a cardiac stimulant.

"Don't move!" Ye Zhen shouted sternly.

She quickly wiped the blood and foam from the injured person's mouth, placed the stethoscope on each area of ​​the lungs, and listened intently for five seconds. Then she pressed on the injured person's carotid artery.

"His breath sounds are clear, and there are no widespread crackles. This is not a massive pulmonary hemorrhage." Ye Zhen stared at the faint waveform on the monitor. "This is gastric mucosal bleeding caused by shock stress, plus a small amount of reflux from the pleural cavity. He can still be saved; the opportunity for surgery has not been lost."

Ye Zhen turned around, her gaze sweeping over the remaining supplies in the laboratory.

"Take inventory. Bring out everything that's usable."

Ye Zhen pointed to several heavy iron frames in the corner.

"What is that?"

The base's logistics squad leader ran over: "Report! That's the universal clamp on the weapon repair table!"

"Take it down. Use it as a microscopic instrument holder." Ye Zhen gave the order. "Go find military searchlights, take as many as you can, connect them to batteries, and use them as alternative light sources."

Without a word, Gu Zheng led two soldiers and rushed over, quickly disassembling the universal clamp into parts. They reassembled it on both sides of the hospital bed, tightly wrapping the joints with military-grade tape.

"The bed is shaking." Gu Zheng pressed the edge of the hospital bed. The aftershocks of the sandstorm outside were still causing slight vibrations.

Gu Zheng turned to the soldiers and ordered, "Go carry sandbags and weigh down the four corners of the bed!"

Five minutes later, four military searchlights shone on the center of the hospital bed from different angles. Although the light source was not as soft as the shadowless lamp, it was bright enough.

Li Hong unpacked the intravenous puncture kit, preparing to establish a lifeline for Engineer Liang. She pressed the back of the injured man's hand, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

"Teacher Ye, the peripheral veins have completely collapsed; we can't insert the needle at all!"

"Change to internal jugular vein puncture." Ye Zhen stood at the head of the bed and disinfected the patient's neck with an alcohol swab.

Li Hong held the thick needle in her hand, breathing rapidly. This was an injection being inserted into the neck of a national treasure-level engineer who could die at any moment, without any ultrasound guidance.

"Take a deep breath. Locate the triangle area of ​​the sternocleidomastoid muscle." Ye Zhen's tone was calm and unhurried. "You have one chance. Go in."

Li Hong gritted her teeth, found the right spot, and inserted the needle. She pulled back, and dark red venous blood gushed into the syringe.

"Puncture successful!" Li Hong pushed the indwelling needle in.

Lin Yi was responsible for recording vital signs and connecting the suction system. Due to extreme nervousness, he connected the main suction tube and the backup tube in reverse, and the machine had no suction for a long time.

Ye Zhen glanced at it: "Connect the main negative pressure pipe to the left, and the backup pipe to the right. Keep your mind focused, and don't make any rash moves."

Lin Yi jolted awake, quickly unplugging and reconnecting the tube. The machine emitted a dull suction sound. He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the panic in his heart.

Looking at the extremely rudimentary operating table, Director He still felt it was too risky.

"Dr. Ye, the expert team from Xi'an is on their way. Can we try conservative treatment first and wait until they arrive before proceeding? Without cardiopulmonary bypass to stop the heart, the coronary arteries definitely won't be saved if the shrapnel is removed!"

Ye Zhen pushed the radiography equipment over.

"We can't wait." Ye Zhen pulled up the radiographs from earlier. "Look at the weather outside. The helicopter can't get in, and the convoy will have to drive for four hours through the sand. The patient's blood pressure is barely maintained at 70 with the help of vasopressors, and the ST segment on the electrocardiogram is already showing an upward trend."

Ye Zhen pointed to the reflective spot on the film: "The tip of the shrapnel is now stuck to the adventitia of the left anterior descending artery. If we wait any longer, the blood vessel will rupture itself from the heartbeat, even without removing it. Waiting is not safe, it's murder."

The base leaders stood at the laboratory door, their faces ashen. Engineer Liang was at the heart of a top-secret national project; if he died on this rudimentary operating table, no one could bear the responsibility.

Just as the base leaders were hesitating about whether to issue the surgery authorization, Liang, who was lying in the hospital bed, let out a weak cough.

He briefly regained some consciousness.

Engineer Liang weakly opened his eyes, his vision blurred, and his lips moved with difficulty.

"The project...the blueprints...are not stored away..."

"It's sealed up, Engineer Liang, don't worry!" the base leader replied, his eyes red.

Engineer Liang was panting heavily, his chest heaving. He looked at Ye Zhen, who was wearing surgical scrubs, beside him.

"Let...her...operate." With his last strength, Engineer Liang uttered these words before falling into unconsciousness again.

Ye Zhen stood at the operating table, looking down at the results of the radiographic localization. The situation was even more dangerous than described on the phone.

This shrapnel is not a regular geometric shape. One side has tiny metal barbs, which are positioned directly within the fibrous layer of the pericardium. If it were pulled out forcefully, the barbs would tear a large gash in the coronary artery.

"Small incision pericardial window. Local stability. Reverse rotation ejection mechanism," Ye Zhen instructed.

She looked at Lin Yi, Li Hong, and Director He, who was covered in sweat.

"Everyone, keep to the second. I will give you the instructions, and you will execute them without uttering a single unnecessary word. The surgery is beginning."

Ye Zhen picked up the No. 10 scalpel.

Under the blinding light of the searchlight, the first incision was made with precision. The subcutaneous and muscle layers were swiftly cut open, and the intercostal spaces were stretched open by a traction device.

Ye Zhen carefully cut open the pericardium with surgical scissors.

The moment the pericardium separated, everyone followed Ye Zhen's gaze. On the surface of the frantically beating heart, a small piece of black shrapnel flashed with a cold, sharp light.

The next second, my heart clenched. Pulled by my heartbeat, the tip of the shrapnel shifted directly.

On the electrocardiogram monitor screen, the waveform that was originally relatively stable suddenly changed.