Sports Medicine Master System

Inside the pre-operative prep room.

Anna Sheffield, a neurosurgery expert from Mayo, studied the drawings on the whiteboard, her eyes filled with shock.

"Chen, did you draw these?"

Before her were eleven sheets of white paper.

On the paper were anatomical drawings of the brain, done in pencil. Eleven drawings in total, some showing specific sections, others from different angles.

They were even in color, detailed to the point where every major blood vessel and nerve was clearly labeled.

Seeing them all laid out, it felt as if the patient’s head had been completely sliced and displayed right before her eyes.

The crucial point was that Sheffield had no idea how Chen Yu had obtained such a clear picture of the patient’s brain.

An MRI might have been able to capture such clear images, but the patient had shrapnel in his brain, making that impossible.

Sheffield was a few years older than Chen Yu, approaching 40.

She had chestnut-brown, shoulder-length curly hair and was very well-maintained. Her skin was as smooth as jello, with no trace of age on her face.

She was very beautiful, rumored to be a famously beautiful doctor in the neurosurgery department at the Mayo headquarters.

"That’s right, I drew them. So? Looking at it this way, you should be able to understand the surgical approach now, right?" Chen Yu said with a smile.

If it wasn’t to make the surgical plan clear to her, Chen Yu wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of drawing these diagrams.

At the mention of the surgical approach, an incredulous expression once again appeared on Sheffield’s face. Pointing at one of the drawings, she said, "To be honest, after first looking at these diagrams, my immediate thought for a possible surgical approach was transoral, through the hard palate."

"But you... you actually chose a translabyrinthine approach. Honestly, I have no idea how you even thought of that."

She stared at Chen Yu, her eyes frighteningly bright and full of admiration.

As someone who had made it into Mayo, and as the third-youngest recipient of the American College of Surgeons’ Gold Medal in history, it was safe to say she was among those at the pinnacle of the medical world.

Very few people could elicit such feelings of bewilderment, shock, and even reverence from her anymore.

Chen Yu had done it.

"Chen, if all of this is accurate, then your chosen translabyrinthine approach—despite the cost of hearing in the left ear—is absolutely the method with the least damage to the brain and the highest chance of success."

"It’s a stroke of genius!"

Sheffield exclaimed.

When she performed surgery, she always considered how to minimize damage and preserve as much of the patient’s function as possible.

But this particular patient’s injury was so unique that minimizing brain damage seemed nearly impossible.

Yet Chen Yu had creatively chosen the translabyrinthine approach. It might cost the patient his left ear’s hearing, but it opened up a path that would cause the least amount of damage to the brain.

This method of sacrificing something small for a huge gain directly shattered Sheffield’s conventional thinking.

"And your incredible spatial reasoning, your familiarity with human anatomy... Chen, I’m starting to suspect you know magic, that you have a pair of eyes that can see through the human body." Sheffield felt that perhaps only someone with X-ray Vision could have chosen such a surgical path.

It was like a vast, complex labyrinth full of thorns, yet Chen Yu had seemingly pierced through all obstacles and found the perfect path.

"I don’t know any magic."

Chen Yu subconsciously glanced at Sheffield’s body. ’I might not have magic, but I really do have X-ray Vision.’

Sheffield studied all the drawings before her and nodded firmly. "Chen, I think I should be able to do this surgery."

The difficulty was bound to be high, especially when it came to dissecting the blood vessels and nerves around the shrapnel. One small slip, and it wouldn’t just be a matter of paralysis or functional loss—the patient could end up in a persistent vegetative state, never to wake up again.

"But he really needs the surgery. The shrapnel is eroding his nerves, he’s already showing some symptoms of distal paralysis, and his liver is failing badly."

Almir had reached the point where surgery was essential. Without it, his body could collapse at any moment.

Chen Yu said, "Anna, this patient is very important to me, so I want to perform the surgery myself. As you know, I’m an expert in minimally invasive surgery. I’ve been studying for this operation for a long time. I invited you here to supervise me and ensure nothing goes wrong."

"You’ll do it?"

Sheffield was taken aback.

Even she wasn’t a hundred percent confident about this surgery. For Chen Yu, an orthopedic specialist, to jump into neurosurgery... wasn’t that a bit of a stretch?

After a moment of hesitation, Sheffield said with a serious expression, "Chen, you need to think this through. Entrusting the surgery to me is your best option."

She didn’t know what Chen Yu’s relationship with the patient was, but she knew Chen Yu was a world-class authority who, as he said, was an expert in minimally invasive surgery.

Still, she felt it was inappropriate. If Chen Yu hadn’t been the one to propose the surgical approach, which already proved he had a thorough understanding of neurosurgery, she would have thought he was delusional.

"I understand, but I still want to insist."

Chen Yu maintained his smile.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Sheffield’s skills. But for this surgery, if he wanted to reduce the damage to a minimum, or even to zero, he had to be the one to do it.

’Sheffield truly couldn’t achieve that.’

Their eyes met for a moment, and then Sheffield surrendered. "Alright. You do it."

"Thank you."

Chen Yu said his thanks.

Inviting Sheffield over was just to give Adriano’s family a little peace of mind.

"So, have you discussed the sacrifice of his left ear’s hearing with the patient?" Sheffield asked.

Although losing some hearing was a small price to pay compared to death, the patient still had to accept it.

Chen Yu shook his head. "Not yet. I was waiting for you. Let’s go. We’ll see the patient together and schedule the surgery soon. I don’t have much time."

’My wedding is just around the corner, and the president’s itinerary is already set. It’s too late to change anything.’

Almir accepted.

He didn’t have a choice. Losing hearing in one ear was better than not surviving at all.

Time was tight. The surgery was scheduled for two in the morning.

"Doctor Chen, I’m begging you, you have to save my father. I really can’t lose him." As Chen Yu was about to enter the operating room, Adriano grabbed him, his hand gripping Chen Yu’s arm tightly, his eyes filled with extreme panic.

In Sheffield’s description, this was a surgery with a slim chance of survival.

"Easy there. If you scratch my arm, there’ll be no one to operate on your father," Chen Yu said, patting the back of his hand.

Adriano quickly let go, though the panic in his eyes was still plain to see.

Chen Yu gave him a final smile and walked into the operating room.

’The guy’s really close to his father.’

「Inside the operating room.」

Chen Yu was scrubbing in when Almir, lying on the operating table and about to be anesthetized, suddenly asked to stop so he could speak with Chen Yu.

"What’s wrong? Feeling nervous? Don’t worry, we’re very confident about the surgery."

Chen Yu entered the operating room.

Almir shook his head. "Doctor Chen, I’m not nervous. I just have some things I want to say to you. I’m afraid I might not get another chance."

Chen Yu subconsciously started to say, "You’re overthinking it," but Almir stopped him before he could get the words out.

"Doctor Chen, I know my body’s condition."

Almir gave Chen Yu a small smile and said, "I’m already so gratified that Adriano has become an outstanding player. I have no regrets. So even if I die, it’s not a big deal. I’m just worried about Adriano."

"He looks up to me, and he depends on me."

"And did you know, he actually has a lot of flaws? A couple of years ago, when he was in Italy, I wasn’t by his side, but I read the news. I know he didn’t train hard enough, often went to nightclubs, and frequently changed girlfriends."

Chen Yu couldn’t help but chuckle. "Almir, that doesn’t really sound like a huge problem."

Going to nightclubs and frequently changing girlfriends is really nothing for these soccer stars.

As far as Chen Yu knew, there were players who partied ten times harder.

"No, no, no." Almir shook his head. "Chen, I’m just an ordinary worker with a humble job. I never had a good education, so I don’t know many grand principles. But my father—a small vendor who raised the four of us by making the best cassava pancakes in Cruzaro Town—once told me, ’When you think you’ve succeeded and become complacent because of it, you’re not far from failure.’"

"He’s still young, only twenty-one this year. He needs to keep working hard. He doesn’t deserve to start enjoying life yet. Slacking off will only make him regress."

"But I’ve been sick for so long, I don’t have the energy to manage him anymore. Doctor Chen, I can tell he trusts you a lot. And I’ve read in the papers that you also know psychology."

"If the surgery fails and I die, I hope you can tell him that I’ll always love him and that I believe he can become the next Zico. And that he’ll always be my popcorn boy. Then, please help me console him. Tell him that death is the fairest thing in this world; no one can avoid it."

"He doesn’t need to be sad for me, because he has his own life to live. You’re a psychologist; you should be able to help him understand."

"Oh, and tell him he must work hard and stay away from alcohol and women. At his age, he needs to train even harder."

Almir spoke as if giving his last words, rambling on and on, saying many fragmented things.

Chen Yu didn’t stop him, his heart filled with a swirl of emotions.

This was a father’s deep, final love for his son.

"Anything else?"

After a long moment, seeing that Almir had stopped, Chen Yu asked with a smile.

Almir opened his mouth. He had so much more he wanted to say; he’d even thought about what kind of wife Adriano should find in the future. But after a moment’s thought, he just shook his head.

"Thank you."

He suddenly grabbed Chen Yu’s wrist, a smile on his face as he said it.

Before, he’d had some doubts about Chen Yu, but now his heart was filled with only the most sincere gratitude.

Chen Yu patted his arm and said, "Don’t worry, Almir. The surgery will be a success. You can save those words and tell them to your son yourself."

"Just as you said, your son is still young and very talented. He needs you, his father, to guide him."

Almir paused for a second, then just smiled and nodded, taking Chen Yu’s words as mere comfort.