Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2198: Chapter 1439: Time to Open the Champagne

The snow in Heidelberg has been falling for a whole week.

Weber stands by the laboratory window, watching the tourist boats slowly traverse the snow-covered Neckar River. The tourists on the boats are wrapped in thick winter clothes, holding up their phones to take pictures, and marveling at the ancient city. He watches for a few seconds, then draws the curtains and turns back to the experiment table.

All six monkeys are in place — three from Heidelberg University’s own breeding center, and three borrowed from Berlin’s research institute. Weber spent three days checking their health status, weight, blood routine, and imaging data one by one, then created a detailed file for each monkey — just like he did for M7.

"Hope, trust, love, patience, courage, wisdom," Hanna looks at the list and can’t help but laugh. "Professor, are you naming the monkeys, or praying?"

"Both," Weber says. "They’re accomplishing something important for me, the most important thing in my life. I should give them the best names, not just a string of cold numbers."

Hanna doesn’t say anything more. She has followed Weber for twelve years and knows that every decision this old man makes has its reason, even in the matter of naming, he wouldn’t take it lightly.

The pre-surgery training starts a month later.

Weber personally designs the training program, precisely down to every hour of every day. Training time is from eight to ten in the morning and from two to four in the afternoon, rain or shine. The six monkeys are divided into two groups, three each, taking turns to train.

Hoffnung learns the fastest, adapting to the test platform in three days and learning to walk steadily on the gait analysis track within a week. Vertrauen learns the slowest — it dislikes having its hind legs touched, and struggles each time a limb mobility measurement is conducted. Weber doesn’t force it but instead spends an extra half-hour each day with it, gently touching its hind legs to help it get used to it slowly.

Liebe is the one in the middle, neither outstanding nor lagging, but Weber notices it has a special temperament; it’s calm and unhurried, doing everything in its own rhythm. While other monkeys pace anxiously in their cages after training, Liebe quietly lies on its mat, observing its surroundings with a philosopher-like gaze.

Geduld is true to its name, being the most patient of the six. It can lie quietly on the operating platform for thirty minutes without moving, which is extremely rare in primate behavior training. Weber writes in its file, "This monkey is naturally suited for surgery."

Mut is the boldest of them all. When other monkeys see new test equipment, they shrink back. Mut, however, approaches willingly, tapping the metal instruments with its paws as if to say, "This thing isn’t going to affect me."

Weisheit is the last to arrive yet the smartest. Weber teaches it complex limb movement coordination in just three days, which usually takes a week or more for ordinary monkeys.

Six monkeys, six names, six personalities. Weber spends a lot of time with them every day, not for data but for trust.

"Monkeys aren’t machines," he tells Hanna. "They are animals that can feel fear, tension, and refuse to cooperate. If you don’t understand them, you won’t get real data."

Hanna nods. She’s seen too many researchers treat animals as tools, disposing of them after use. But Weber is not like that. He treats every monkey like his patient, no, like his child.

A month later, the surgery begins.

The first to undergo surgery is Hoffnung.

Weber stands at the operating table, the high-speed burr in his hand emits a slight hum. He removes the vertebrae plate, cuts the dura mater, exposes the spinal cord, locates the injury area, and makes the predetermined half-cut injury, each step identical to what he did in Nandu. Hanna cooperates on the opposite side, handing instruments, suctioning blood, monitoring vital signs.

"Injury completed," Weber says calmly, "Prepare for transplantation."

The first tube of inducing factor, the second tube of exogenous neural stem cells suspended in temperature-sensitive hydrogel. The third tube, FG-3019. Three tubes, three liquids, three colors, injected successively into the area surrounding the injury.

"Close the incision," Weber puts down the instruments, exhales deeply, "Hoffnung, welcome to the first day after surgery."

On the first day after surgery, Hoffnung wakes from anesthesia. Its condition is better than expected; by the second day, it starts eating; by the third day, it can turn over in the cage; by the fifth day, it starts supporting its body with its arms, similar to M7.

Weber sends Yang Ping a weekly experiment brief.

After reading the first week’s brief, Yang Ping replies with one sentence, "Highly consistent with M7’s first week post-surgery, Professor Weber, your technique is superb."

Weber replies, "It’s not technique, it’s luck! M7’s recovery was groundbreaking; mine is just repetition."

"Being able to repeat something groundbreaking is, in itself, groundbreaking," Yang Ping replies.

Weber stares at the message, silent for a long time. Then he places his phone on the experiment table and continues writing the experiment record.

Vertrauen’s surgery is conducted three days after Hoffnung’s.

Vertrauen is a bit larger than Hoffnung and its injury is deeper. Weber encounters a small problem while making the injury incision; Vertrauen’s dura mater is nearly twice as thick as usual, and this is rarely seen in his experience. He switches to a sharper surgical knife, slowing down his pace, cutting it bit by bit as if sculpting a delicate piece.

Hanna is watching nervously from the side; cutting the dura mater is one of the most dangerous steps in spinal surgery. Any slight carelessness can harm the spinal cord tissue below, affecting the experiment’s effect. Yet Weber’s hand is surprisingly steady, and at seventy-eight, his fingers show no sign of trembling under the microscope.

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