Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2194: Chapter 1437: Waiting for Fifty Years

Weber was silent for a long time, so long that Yang Ping thought he had forgotten the previous conversation.

"Professor Yang," Weber finally spoke, his voice somewhat scattered by the night wind, "I’ve been in the laboratory for fifty years. Fifty years, and I always thought what I lacked was better equipment, more funding, smarter students. Now I know what I lacked was patience."

Yang Ping said, "You do not lack it, you have the best patience in the world."

Weber shook his head, "In my laboratory in Heidelberg, I have the best stem cell equipment in the world, the smartest doctoral students in Germany. The papers we publish annually stack higher than a person, but how many of those papers truly changed anything? How many have made patients hurt less or stand one more day?"

Yang Ping did not answer.

"None," Weber answered his own question, "Not a single one. We conducted countless experiments, published a hundred papers, and won ten awards. Yet patients with spinal injuries are still sitting in wheelchairs."

Weber’s voice trembled, not because of the cold, but due to something that’s been pent-up for too long starting to loosen.

"Professor Yang, do you know why I came to China?"

Weber turned around, leaning against the railing, facing Yang Ping, "Because after reading your paper, I realized how insignificant my own research successes were."

Yang Ping fell silent.

Weber took off his glasses, using his sleeve to wipe the lenses. His actions were slow, as if he were polishing something precious and fragile.

He put his glasses back on, "The pursuit of my life is to make a bit of difference, but I always felt dissatisfied. After coming to China, I am very satisfied with my work."

"Actually, you’ve already done well enough." Yang Ping could only answer this way.

The night wind grew stronger, making Weber’s coat flap loudly.

"Let’s go back," Yang Ping said, "We still have to work tomorrow."

"You go ahead, I’ll stand here a bit longer."

Yang Ping did not persist. He turned and left the rooftop.

Weber stood alone on the rooftop, watching the increasingly sparse lights in the distance. His fingers gently tapped on the railing, and as he tapped, his rhythm became disordered. He took off his glasses and used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes before putting them back on.

The sixth week post-operation for M7 was a turning point.

The optogenetic closed-loop control system went online at the end of the fifth week, and the predictive algorithm, combined with Weber’s improved cooling scheme, passed seven consecutive days of stability testing. Abnormal discharges were suppressed within normal limits, the tactile threshold rose from 0.6 grams to 0.8 grams, and the pain threshold increased from 13 grams to 15 grams, nearing the reference range for normal monkeys.

But even more importantly was the change in motor function.

On the morning of the first day of the sixth week, Fritz, as usual, performed morning care for M7. He took M7 out of the cage, placed him on the mat, and prepared to do passive joint movements. M7 lay on the mat with its hind legs hanging on both sides of its body, no different from previous weeks.

Fritz held M7’s left hind leg, starting to flex and extend. The range of joint movement was normal, with no stiffness or spasms. He released the left leg and switched to the right leg.

Then he was stunned.

M7’s right hind leg moved on its own after his hand was released.

Not a reflex twitch, not a spasm, but a rhythmic, directional flexion and extension. Toes first opened, then curled, like a baby practicing grip. Then the ankle, dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, dorsiflexion, plantarflexion. Then the knee joint, flexion, extension, flexion, extension.

Fritz’s hand hovered mid-air, not daring to move, not daring to breathe, fearing that he might interrupt this fragile miracle.

"M7," he said softly, "move again."

M7 turned its head, glancing at him. In those brown eyes, there was no pain, no fear, only a calm, almost lazy curiosity. Then it shifted its gaze to the window.

Its right hind leg moved again, more forcefully than before, its toes pushed against the mat, propelling its body forward by a few centimeters.

Fritz suddenly stood up, knocking over the stool, and he did not bother to straighten it. He rushed out of the animal room, colliding with Tang Shun who was holding a cup of coffee in the corridor. The coffee spilled everywhere. Before Tang Shun could speak, Fritz had already grabbed his sleeve.

"M7," his voice trembled, "Its leg moved, it moved on its own."

Tang Shun stared at him for two seconds, then placed the coffee cup on the table against the wall and turned to run towards the animal room.

Yang Ping received Tang Shun’s call while he was in the office reviewing a funding application. Tang Shun’s voice on the phone was suppressed, but the excitement could not be hidden, like a taut string trembling.

"Professor, come quickly to the animal room, M7’s right leg has autonomous movement, flexion-extension pattern, purposeful, not reflexive."

Yang Ping put down his pen, picked up the notebook on the desk, and quickly walked out of the office. In the corridor, he met Weber, who had just come out of the laboratory, holding a data report in his hand.

"Professor Weber, come with me."

"What happened?"

"M7 moved."

Weber did not ask, "What moved?" He knew what Yang Ping meant by "moved." He handed the data report to a passing student and followed Yang Ping, jogging. At over seventy years old, his knees made a rattling sound as he ran, but he did not stop.

The animal room was already crowded with people. Tang Shun, Fritz, Eva, Hans, Lina, everyone was there, even Alina had come. She stood in the corner, still holding an unfinished apple pie.

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