White Robes, Clad in Armor

Director Sun hurriedly rushed in.

Time is life—this saying is an unshakable truth during emergency resuscitations.

Her gaze swept from the IV line to the monitor, then to the compression dressing. Although satisfied, she offered no praise to the obstetrics and gynecology doctor.

The OB-GYN doctor immediately reported the patient's rescue status to the director.

“Director, the bleeding is severe. I estimate that compression won’t stop it; surgery is necessary,” the doctor finally stated.

“Observe for one hour.”

The OB-GYN doctor hesitated, then leaned toward Director Sun’s ear. “Director, Deputy Director Lin is here.”

“??” A sea of question marks filled Director Sun’s mind.

“Deputy Director Lin says to perform an interventional embolization procedure.”

“!!!”

A faint smile of relief broke across Director Sun’s anxious face, and her tension suddenly eased.

The patient was in hypovolemic shock; anesthesia was a major hurdle—whether she could get through it was uncertain. Interventional surgery, performed under local anesthesia, was minimally invasive and best suited to the patient’s condition at this moment.

For massive hemorrhage due to scar pregnancy, emergency interventional surgery is far more appropriate than traditional surgery.

Moreover, if the uterus can be spared, it is always better not to remove it.

Director Sun’s smile was genuine.

Deputy Director Lin was impressive—she had no idea where he had found someone capable of performing interventional surgery.

This was a game-changer!

“Great! Damn great! Where is he?” Director Sun swore.

“In the doctors’ office.”

Director Sun took one last, deep look at the patient, reassessed her vital signs and condition, then turned and left.

At the doorway of the doctors’ office, Director Sun heard a bright, familiar voice inside.

“The surgery proceeds like this: if successful, the patient not only retains the uterus but can be up and about within twelve hours. It won’t even look like she had surgery.”

“Once stable, curettage will be performed by obstetrics and gynecology.”

“If all goes smoothly, discharge will occur within five to seven days. Regarding expenses, don’t worry—we understand the family’s limited means and will help save as much as possible.”

Luo Hao?

Why was he giving the preoperative briefing?

Director Sun stepped into the office, puzzled.

Inside were Deputy Director Lin, Luo Hao, and a group who appeared to be the patient’s family.

Where were the experts?

Where was the specialist who could perform interventional surgery?

Confusion etched across Director Sun’s face.

“Director Sun is here,” Lin Yuming said. “We’ll attempt the interventional surgery first. Success is best. If the patient’s vessels are malformed and embolization is difficult, prepare for surgical intervention.”

Director Sun’s lips trembled, but she swallowed her questions.

Everything was said in front of the patient’s family—this was the basic professionalism of a clinician.

“Doctor, that surgery… is there any risk?” a worried man stammered.

“Of course, every procedure carries risks,” Lin Yuming replied calmly. “This surgery is quite difficult; we can’t guarantee success. Think about it—any surgery that stops bleeding without damage and spares the uterus would be miraculous to have a high success rate.”

“But! This is the best and most favorable option for you now. We’ll try. If it fails, Director Sun from obstetrics will perform a hysterectomy—she is an expert in the city.”

Director Sun had a bad feeling.

When Director Qian from the interventional department performed uterine artery embolizations before, he never explained it this way.

For Director Qian, this surgery was routine. As he put it, the uterine artery was so wide you could line up four 0.015 guidewires side by side.

But now, Deputy Director Lin’s every word hinted at extreme difficulty, as if preparing for failure.

The family asked more questions; Lin answered each until he received a call and instructed Director Sun to escort the patient.

The OB-GYN doctor and family wheeled the patient toward the DSA operating room. Director Sun approached Deputy Director Lin and asked, “Lin, who will perform the surgery? Where is the expert? I want to meet and thank them. You know, we’ve hoped for an interventional expert for years.”

“Doctor Luo,” Lin said through clenched teeth.

!!!

A flood of exclamations overwhelmed Director Sun’s mind, scrambling her thoughts.

At that moment, her brain stopped functioning normally—her mind filled with Luo Hao’s image.

Could he perform interventional surgery?

Impossible.

Interventional surgery differs from others; manipulating guidewires requires high skill and hands-on teaching.

Director Qian took five years to train just three doctors capable of performing it.

Stunned, Director Sun saw Deputy Director Lin walk away a few meters ahead and hurried to catch up.

“Lin, I didn’t hear clearly. Who? Doctor Luo from Medical University? I never heard of a Luo expert there.”

“Luo Hao,” Lin said coldly, teeth clenched.

Damn!

Director Sun finally understood that ominous premonition.

Luo Hao and surgeon—those words simply didn’t fit.

“Lin, this won’t do! Absolutely not!” she blurted out.

Lin stopped and turned, his gaze dark and menacing.

At her refusal, Lin Yuming unleashed his fury on Director Sun.

She felt like she was walking among graves, surrounded by ghostly fires, shivering uncontrollably.

“Director Sun, why not?” Lin asked coldly.

“Lin… Lin, Luo Hao is so young; his skills must be average. If a medical accident happens… it wouldn’t be responsible for the patient,” she stammered.

“Director Sun, do you remember what I told you five years ago when old Director Qian was about to leave?”

“Interventional uterine artery embolization isn’t difficult. I advised you to learn it before Qian left so that you could handle such cases yourselves.”

“And what happened? Five years! Five whole years! Did you study? The patients didn’t die, but how many uteri were removed! Don’t you have a clue?”

Lin Yuming scolded softly, waving his right hand with five fingers in front of her.

“Five years passed. Did you study even a single day?”

“Now you tell me you’re thinking of the patient? Where were you before?”

The cold autumn wind blew; Director Sun shivered.

She was deeply afraid of Lin, especially now, seeing his dark, suppressed anger ready to erupt anytime. Her hands and feet trembled.

“Lin… I’m not specialized in this field. Performing interventional surgery would be practicing medicine illegally,” she explained.

“Nonsense!” Lin snapped, old grievances flooding back instantly.

“Is cardiology specialized in this? Why can they perform interventional procedures? What about general surgery? Vascular surgery branched from general surgery, and they do interventional work!”

Director Sun was speechless.

“If you were capable, if you could do it, do you think I, Lin Yuming, would make you carry this blame? Am I that kind of person?!”

“Hmph!”

“Prepare for surgery. If Luo Hao fails the interventional procedure, you lead the team for surgery immediately.”

Lin snorted coldly and turned toward the catheterization lab.

Director Sun was furious and humiliated. She dared not argue or act against Lin, but inside, she was deeply resentful.

Crazy, all crazy.

If it were lucrative orthopedic or cardiovascular interventional surgeries, she could understand Lin’s nephew fighting for them.

But stents, the most profit-making interventional procedures, were taken by cardiology and vascular departments, leaving only low-profit wire-only interventional cases.

Why would Lin’s nephew fight for this kind of surgery?!

Something was wrong—there had to be a catch! Director Sun thought.

Just wait—there would be trouble, and she’d have to rush to the OR to clean up Luo Hao’s mess.

What a mess!

She was an OB-GYN doctor; why waste time learning interventional procedures? Lin only knew how to stand on moral high ground and scold her.

Damn it!

Director Sun cursed inwardly.

…

In the catheterization lab,

Deputy Director Lin stood like a wounded beast, his face dark. The technicians dared not sit; they bent over the console, adjusting the machines.

Lin crossed his arms, watching Luo Hao through the lead glass, coldly.

Luo Hao comforted the patient, checked all lines, scrubbed in.

Disinfection, sterile draping—Luo entered the virtual operating room with calm focus, using up his remaining system surgery training time.

In the virtual world, in the blink of an eye, Luo completed over a dozen surgeries, each with a completion rate over 95%.

Though the number of surgeries was limited, the system accelerated his cognitive feedback, bringing great benefit.

Luo exited the virtual OR, looked at the surgical field, and took a deep breath.

The lead apron was cold and heavy, like armor worn by ancient warriors.

His opponent was an invisible disease.

Clad in white, armored, the battle was about to begin.

He hoped the patient had no vascular malformations.

His surgical level was moderate—level 4—enough to complete uterine artery embolization.

But Luo understood clearly: he could handle routine surgeries, not rare vascular malformations.

Calm and focused, Luo prepared to puncture.

At the groin, he palpated the pulsating femoral artery.

Just like the cadaver instructor in the virtual OR!

A promising thought flashed through Luo’s mind but vanished as he concentrated fully on the surgery.

One needle puncture, precise.

Blood was drawn back, dark red and fresh. Luo inserted the arterial sheath, then carefully advanced the guidewire.

Lin watched grimly through the lead glass.

“Close the door, step on the line,” Luo’s voice came.

The heavy airtight lead door shut. Lin glanced at the time.

Ten minutes had passed.

Though he said so, Lin knew even peak Director Qian could not finish uterine artery embolization in ten minutes.

Luo would exceed the time, and Lin would remember this.

If there was a next time, Lin would use this surgery duration to reprimand Luo.

On the operation screen, the guidewire appeared, smoothly entering the iliac artery via the femoral artery.

The guidewire’s progress was so smooth that Lin almost imagined Director Qian himself was operating.

Entering the iliac artery so easily suggested the surgery wouldn’t be much longer, even if overtime.

Lin felt some relief.

However!

Lin soon frowned.

The guidewire advanced along the iliac artery with no sign of stopping.

It reached the iliac artery bifurcation.

Luo was going to embolize the uterine artery!

Anger surged uncontrollably in Lin’s heart.

He felt deceived by Luo—this bastard never intended to finish in twenty minutes!

After surgery, he’d make Luo clean up his own mess.

This bastard deceived him!

“Embolizing the iliac artery is easier; no need to be so precise,” Director Sun whispered.

“Yeah, I thought he’d embolize the iliac artery. Didn’t expect little Luo to target the uterine artery,” the technician agreed softly.

“This is a hassle; the patient’s blood pressure is so low, half an hour of fussing and she’ll need resuscitation again,” Director Sun frowned.

Though Luo was Lin’s nephew, Director Sun dared not openly criticize Lin. But she could freely scorn Luo, a young doctor.

If the surgery failed, Lin wouldn’t have the face to say much.

Too young, Director Sun thought scornfully.

“Don’t be fooled by the uterine artery’s size compared to the guidewire—it’s still hard to superselect. I remember Professor Fan from interventional once tried superselecting the uterine artery for almost two hours without success.”

“The patient is unstable now; half an hour of fiddling might make things worse,” the technician muttered.

Called in the middle of the night, his morning grumpiness showed in his tone. Though he dared not complain, his mood spoke volumes about the surgeon’s skill.

“Doctor Luo is young. So what if he graduated from Xiehe? If he’s capable, why not stay?” Director Sun sneered.

The technician glanced at Lin knowingly, avoiding the topic. “Better to embolize the iliac artery. If the first superselection fails, I’ll suggest that to Doctor Luo…”

He trailed off, staring blankly at the screen.

“Even old Director Qian never bragged like this. I wonder where Luo got such confidence,” Director Sun muttered.

The technician was in a daze. Lin’s frown deepened as he fixed his eyes on the screen, ignoring Director Sun’s slightly provocative remarks.

“You have to take it one step at a time. Jumping straight to uterine artery embolization—maybe he’s afraid the lipiodol will leak and not block properly. To enter the uterine artery, he’d need that skill…”

Director Sun grew more agitated, venting years of frustration.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her right foot. “Ah!” she yelped.

She looked down to see the technician’s foot stepping on hers and twisting deliberately.

“Xiao Zhao, you…” she started.

“Director Sun, shh~” the technician whispered, voice only for her ears.

“What’s wrong? I’m just speaking frankly. Can’t I say a word?” she protested, glaring at him.

“The surgery is almost done,” he signaled.

“If it fails, I’ll call the OR,” she said, disgruntled.

The technician sighed inwardly.

If it weren’t for Director Sun performing surgery on his wife’s childbirth at night, he wouldn’t bother with this faceless, clueless person.

OB-GYN doctors don’t understand X-ray details, naturally—but surely they could at least read expressions?

This was foolishness.

Director Sun was a good person but somewhat incompetent.

The technician said no more, smiling as he looked back at Lin.

“Deputy Director Lin, you’ve been searching for someone to perform interventional surgery. I thought you wouldn’t find anyone. Unexpected!”

Lin watched the monitor, expression complex.

“This surgery—impressive! If old Director Qian were still here, he’d probably kneel and kowtow twice.”

!!!

Director Sun was stunned.

What did Xiao Zhao mean?

Lin glanced at the clock above the door; eight minutes had passed.

“Deputy Director Lin, when did Xiao Luo practice this surgery? That superselection is truly impressive—I didn’t expect he wouldn’t even need to try; the 0.018 guidewire seemed to have eyes, entering the uterine artery on its own.”

Xiao Zhao praised abundantly, leaving Director Sun bewildered.

Already finished?

“Prepare for imaging.”

A voice on the intercom startled Director Sun.

“All right, the imaging sequence looks normal, right? Doctor Luo, any special requests?”

Xiao Zhao’s morning grumpiness had vanished without a trace, even gentler than when assisting Director Qian.

In medicine, incompetence is a sin.

Luo Hao was not incompetent; to the contrary, he was unexpectedly skilled. Xiao Zhao instinctively showed full respect.

He was practically ready to kneel and kowtow.

Embolization and post-embolization imaging showed no uterine artery blood flow—the surgery was clean and efficient.

Bleeding from scar pregnancy mainly comes from the uterine artery; blocking it stops the hemorrhage.

No need to worry about uterine ischemic necrosis. Although a major artery is occluded, rich collateral circulation suffices.

This principle was similar to Luo’s previous description of left gastric artery embolization for obesity.

Seeing the still imaging, Lin knew the main procedure was complete.

Time used: 9 minutes 23 seconds.

His feelings were mixed. One thought lingered—how great it would be if Luo weren’t his nephew.

Interventional surgery is harmful, especially for someone as young as Luo, unmarried and childless—he shouldn’t be doing this at all.

Deep regret weighed on Lin.

If it were someone else, Lin would lavish praise and lobby endlessly to promote interventional surgery.

Since Director Qian and other interventionalists were poached by southern hospitals, Lin had been searching for surgeons like this.

Over time, his standards lowered; now, he only needed someone who could complete emergency embolizations in three to five hours.

But after years of searching, his wish remained unfulfilled.

Unexpectedly, the “inexperienced” nephew, disqualified for the scope of practice, was exactly the person he had been looking for.

What a mess!

Lin’s mood was complicated. Through the lead glass, he saw Luo finishing the surgery, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

Luo glanced sideways; his eyes squinted. Beneath the sterile mask, he must be smiling brightly.

Lin’s mood worsened, devoid of the joy that should follow success.

“Is the surgery done? Embolized? Don’t let it bleed again when you leave,” a “timely” voice whispered into Lin’s ear.

Lin’s irritation ignited like a blaze, and that comment was like pouring gasoline on the fire.

The flames flared instantly.

Director Sun, Sun Binbin, just you wait!

If you had learned embolization, would you still need Luo to take over?

I’ll show you!

More unbearable than obstetrics was orthopedics.

They also worked with radiation; the orthopedic director wore armor like a terracotta warrior—lead collars, lead glasses—afraid of any radiation exposure.

Yet he only operated on lucrative procedures, never touching pelvic fracture embolizations.

Lin’s anger grew, even venting on orthopedics.

His foolish nephew was just like his father—completely clueless! Embolization surgery that not even dogs wanted to do, he rushed to perform.

“Director Sun, Doctor Luo’s skills are truly advanced,” Xiao Zhao said helplessly when Director Sun still failed to grasp this.

“Old Director Qian at his peak probably couldn’t match Luo’s skill level.”

!!!

Director Sun choked on an imaginary egg, feeling miserable.

“Xiao Zhao, I think the imaging looks fine. What do you think?” Lin finally confirmed.

“No problem. The patient can return for pressure hemostasis. Once hypovolemic shock resolves, curettage will follow in a few days,” Xiao Zhao assured.

Luo applied pressure. He gained a new appreciation for the system.

Previously, Luo thought system training was about ten times more efficient than normal.

But this surgery’s flawless success owed to the system’s perfect 1:1 simulation of every detail.

Any complication could be anticipated and avoided.

Luo decided never to waste system training time again but to save it for challenging surgeries.

Fifteen minutes passed in a flash. Luo prepared to bandage with an elastic wrap when a crisp sound rang in his ear.

“Ding dong~”

[Emergency Task: Difficult Choice Completed.

Task: Treat a patient with massive hemorrhage from scar pregnancy.

Time: 5 hours.

Reward: 10,000 experience points; 3 hours system surgery training.]

Three hours of system training time!

Luo felt a little excited.

“Ding dong~”

Before he could process it, another crisp sound rang.

[First surgery completion rating reached Excellent (above 75 points); awarded one system reward lottery.]

!!!

For a moment, Luo thought the system was quite generous, not stingy at all.

No need to spend one 648 after another—free lottery chances, more generous than big tech.

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