Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2269: Chapter 1470: Heartflutter_2

Tang Shun stared at the image, silent for a moment.

"What about mature bodies? Adults no longer develop, is this blueprint still useful?"

"It’s useful, but not for building from scratch, it’s for local repair. When part of the liver is resected it can regenerate, not because it redeveloped, but because it still retains the blueprint for building the liver. When damage occurs, the construction instructions are activated, the crew calls on backup bricks, and guided by the blueprint, repairs the damaged area. That’s why some organs can regenerate, and some cannot... it’s not that they don’t have a blueprint, it’s because their blueprints are locked, or their construction instructions can’t be sent, or their construction crew is gone."

Yang Ping drew another circle of dashed lines around the perimeter, and wrote four words: "Repair Boundary."

"The repair ability of the human body is not unlimited. It is strictly limited. Why? Because if not restricted, cells would run out of control and form tumors. After the developmental programs have completed their mission during the fetal period, they must be shut down. Not deleted, but dormant. Permanent deletion is too risky, what if there’s need later? So evolution chose a compromise solution, locking the program and keeping the key safely. When damage occurs, the key is found, the lock opened, and the program runs again. After repairs reach a certain extent, the lock is closed again, and the program goes dormant once more."

Yang Ping picked up a pen and wrote a question beside "Repair Boundary": "Where is the key?"

He has asked himself this question for many years. Since K Therapy first worked on Sisi he’s been asking, since the three-dimensional guidance theory was proposed he’s been asking, since stem cell research began he’s been asking. Each time he feels close to the answer, but each time he reaches out, he touches only fog.

This time, the fog seems to have lifted a little.

Tang Shun stood before the whiteboard for a long time, then spoke: "Professor, this... is too grand, it’s difficult to find a direction, this kind of research is like countless Coreys stacked together, we have always been doing addition, discovering new molecules, new pathways, new mechanisms. But according to your hypothesis, these things already exist, we don’t need to invent them, we just need to find a way to activate them. Not doing addition, doing subtraction."

Yang Ping looked at him, Tang Shun was right, not doing addition, doing subtraction, not creating new therapies, but clearing obstacles so the body can repair itself. He had said this many times before, but right now he still doesn’t know how to achieve it, the current achievements are but a little bit.

"Keep talking," Yang Ping said.

"Last time you told me, diseases are not component failures, it’s programs getting stuck. Treatment is not replacing components, but helping programs run again. Surgery removes the obstacle, medication provides the signal, the real worker is the body itself. We are never the healers, we are merely the assistants. Now I seem to understand this point more clearly."

Yang Ping nodded.

"Remember these words," he said.

"I will remember them," Tang Shun said.

In the afternoon, Yang Ping walked into Lin Xiaoyu’s ward.

The twelve-year-old girl leaned against the bed, a math textbook open in front of her. Her hair had grown quite a bit, black and soft, lying against her scalp. Her complexion was much better than a month ago, not pale but a healthy color in the process of recovery.

"Professor Yang." Lin Xiaoyu looked up, her voice stronger than a month ago.

"Are you solving problems?" Yang Ping walked over, glanced at her textbook, middle school math.

"I want to participate in next month’s exam."

Yang Ping looked at her, a twelve-year-old girl, with a tumor in her brain stem, she wants to participate in the exam. Not because she’s not afraid, but because she chooses not to be afraid. There’s a fundamental difference between the two.

"Is your mind clear when solving problems now?"

"Clear, much clearer than before treatment, back then solving problems felt like there was a fog over my mind, numbers jumping around on the paper, now it feels like the fog has lifted."

Yang Ping nodded. He remembered the words he wrote on the whiteboard today: the fog has lifted. It’s not that the fog itself lifted, K Therapy removed that ’pressing down’ mechanism, the repair program restarted, tumor cells were never normal body cells, the body has a set of mechanisms to identify and eliminate such abnormal cells, but tumor cells had mechanisms to resist or evade this action, now K Therapy found the key issue, restoring this mechanism.

Lin Xiaoyu’s treatment has been going on for several months, the necrotic focus has expanded from 3.2 millimeters to 8 millimeters, the tumor is shrinking, symptoms are improving. Every MRI shows the necrotic focus enlarging, each infusion leads to a period of fatigue and nausea, but the overall trend is positive. Her body is methodically, steadily, reliably repairing itself.

Yang Ping walked out of the ward, stood in the corridor for a while. Suddenly he thought of Sisi. He returned to the office, leaned back in his chair to rest, he liked to think this way, maintaining a state between clarity and semi-clarity, the efficiency of thinking was very high, and inspiration was very active.

The sunset was descending, dyeing the old building of the institute a reddish-orange. It was in this building he proposed the three-dimensional guided gene theory, initiated K Therapy’s clinical research, met Sisi, and alongside Tang Shun, Lu Xiaolu, Weber, Manstein, and others forged ahead in exploration.

Now he was excited, increasingly feeling he was about to touch the grand theory’s doorway, about to unlock an unprecedented mystery in human medicine.

Alongside excitement, came an inexplicable worry.

This hidden mechanism, why does the body freely exert it during embryonic stages, and as the individual matures, locks this mechanism instead, what’s the real secret behind this?

Why do this, if the secret is opened, what risks will it entail?

These concerns gradually grew heavier, excitement and worry mixed together, making Yang Ping’s feelings very complex.

He opened his eyes, checked the time, intending to go for a walk, then go home. Reaching the first floor, he looked back at the institute’s building, the windows on the fifth floor reflecting the twilight, not distinguishing which window was his office. But he knew that there was a whiteboard inside covered with writings, decorated from one dimension to four dimensions, marked with "Repair Boundary" and "Where is the Key". Those words, drawings, and arrows, represented moments when a common afternoon saw puzzle pieces come together, flashes of inspiration.

This moment held no monetary value, no journal would publish it, no foundation would fund it, nobody would notice it. Yet this moment might be more important than any paper published in the past few years. Papers are the outcome, this moment is the cause.

Yang Ping turned around, walked down the steps, headed home.

Street lamps were already lit, stretching his shadow long, like a black river flowing down the sidewalk. He walked neither fast nor slow, his steps were steady, each planted firmly before taking the next.

Years ago when he started research, he thought science was about addition. Discovering a new molecule, proposing a new concept, establishing a new theory. The more done, the greater the achievement. He no longer thinks this way. True breakthroughs are not about addition, but subtraction. Simplifying complexity, layering reduced to one, multiple theories merged into one. Not discovering new things, but realizing the old are actually the same. Not creating new knowledge, but discovering the inherent order of existing knowledge.

The night wind blew, he felt comfortable, yet the unease inside didn’t disappear, previously he had this feeling too, but not as intensely, in recent days he felt these questions would keep him up at night, he’d be forced to contemplate these matters.

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