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Chapter 30: 30

“Is this a human specimen?”

“Surely not, which part of it looks like human skin?”

Ten groups of students discussed animatedly with each other . The contents of the ten anatomical table refrigerators were almost the same thing . A large rectangular piece that seems like a part of a creature’s torso, but the exposed skin was dark and slightly rotten . Even the pungent smell of formalin could not conceal the distinctly foul odour it carried .

“Tycoon Jun, what do you think?” Cai Zixuan asked again .

Gu Jun stared at the thing on the anatomical table . The more he looked at it, the more he was struck by a sense of familiarity .

“I think this is the chest area of some sort of creature,” he said to Cai Zixuan and Wang Ruoxiang . “Look here and here . ” He pointed to the four cross-sections of the foreign body part which was situated at the top and bottom, as well as the left and right . “I imagine that these cross-sections were originally connected to the neck, upper limbs, and abdomen . ”

“That seems to be the case . ” Wang Ruoxiang visualised the complete torso while frowning . “So this is a humanoid creature?”

Cai Zixuan was surprised . “Could it be a malformed body caused by another sort of disease?”

Other students had this idea as well . Sun Yuheng and Yang Ming of the Qingyun University team felt this way . It seems that the situation was really very serious .

“It may be or it may be a variant of the same disease,” Gu Jun said . His right hand was slightly probing the chest . It was definitely the chest with the worst texture he had ever felt .

1

The epidermis could be said to be the skin, but it felt more like a thick layer of hyperplastic keratin . If you pressed it harder, you can feel a strong sense of resistance . It is a bone; a large piece of bone on the chest . A flat bone?

Gu Jun thought and opened the incomplete anatomical reference in his mind . Comparing the two, they seem to be the same creature .

“So how do we start?” Wang Ruoxiang asked . She was the first assistant . Cai Zixuan was the second assistant, and Gu Jun was the chief surgeon .

Ever since Gu Jun showed his skills back in the laboratory, he was the one taking charge .

“I’ll think about it first . ” Gu Jun was still looking at the chest, designing an anatomical plan .

Other contestants were looking at it at the same time . The professors and students in the audience were staring as well .

The first step of dissection is to make an incision and to separate the layers of tissues, organs, and structures step by step .

If you directly stab a scalpel in to make an incision, it was not dissection but dismemberment .

Only through proper dissection can the diseased organs and its component structures be studied . What were the differences in size, shape, structure, texture and other characteristics compared with its normal state, this was the only way one could understand the related pathology .

Through dissection of the malformity, it was thus possible to clearly understand its physiological structure and find out what kind of creature it was .

These were the real purpose of studying anatomy in the medical world .

If the chest was part of human anatomy, the students were apparent on what to do . The mid-chest incision, the upper chest incision, the lower chest incision, the oblique chest incision… Now they could only stare in confusion . They could only fully appreciate what those pioneers of human anatomy felt when they first held their knives .

They could only deliberate while undergoing the dissection, and they had to prevent dismembering the corpse as well . This was the real difficulty of this round of assessment .

“Students, please freely exhibit your skills,” Professor Qin spoke again . “Oh . I forgot to mention, but please complete this dissection within two hours . ”

Some of the student contestants immediately grew anxious . There were only two hours? This was an hour shorter than the usual routine anatomical dissection .

The judges were not surprised towards the crowd’s adverse reaction . This was not the first time such an assessment was carried out . Basically, the students would end up dismembering the corpses in the end . It just depends on who was more creative while doing so and who exhibited more skills .

Their eyes wandered around . Even if they knew that Gu Jun was fool’s gold, they still wanted to see what else this kid would do . At that moment, when they saw that Gu Jun was standing still at the dissection table, the several judges could not help but whisper to each other .

“The kid is dumbfounded . ”

“I reckon that he hasn’t properly grasped the knowledge of human anatomy . How can he not be dumbfounded?”

“Let’s see if he has any talents in surgery . Perhaps, we can still teach him later . After all, his willpower is excellent . ”

Soon after Professor Qin urged, there was a group of students who started first . The four of them were a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers from different schools . They were unfamiliar with each other’s names . Their strategy was straightforward, just follow the anatomical operation of the human chest . The shape of the two looks similar anyway .

Conventionally, the surgeons would find the upper edge of the Manubrium sterni or the xiphoid to find the correct position . Alas, the nominees could not locate either of the 2 . However, they still dutifully estimated and made a midline marking on the specimen based on gut feeling . Thereafter, they picked up the scalpel and stabbed into the skin .

Immediately, they froze in astonishment . They were unable to cut through .

The texture of this black and smelly layer of “skin” was very hard . Once the scalpel was stabbed in, it seemed to be stuck there like a pedestrian who fell into a pool of concrete .

2

At the same time, other students who had attempted to dissect the skin first also encountered a similar problem .

Some students chose to start from the cross-sections, such as Sun Yuheng from Qingyun University . However, they immediately encountered another problem . Let’s not talk about how stiff the flesh was that it couldn’t be cut, but there were bones if one cut deeper . They were obstructed by bones everywhere . It was impossible to know where to break off .

These bones were like boulders blocking the passageway; you can’t enter the thoracic walls and chest cavity without moving them away .

But how do we move them?

Among the ten groups of students, only Gu Jun’s group has yet to make a move . Gu Jun merely asked Wang Ruoxiang and Cai Zixuan to swap the chest’s position a few times, before finally returning it back to the supine position . He can basically be sure that this was what is in the map of the incomplete anatomical reference .

“The outer layer is all hard keratin and has no tissues or organs . ”

Gu Jun picked up a large scalpel, held it irregularly, and cut out a piece of keratin from the cortex of the specimen .

The judges at his side saw him in this abnormal posture . Does he really want to dismember the body?

“Indeed, it’s lacking in tissues and organs . ” Wang Ruoxiang took it and examined it . She really couldn’t see the superficial fascia, blood vessels, etc . It was a mass of dead skin .

“This is not a human being,” Cai Zixuan suddenly said . “It doesn’t seem to be a mammal? Is there even such a thing?”

“Let’s leave it aside for now,” said Gu Jun . The blood vessels were not clear, but it seemed that this thing still has “nerves” which he knew the location of . “I think the outermost layer is its protective film . It is composed of skin and muscle . It even has components of bones inside . ”

He drew a better boundary line on the specimen according to the incomplete anatomical reference and said to the other two, “Remove all the cortex in these positions . You don’t need to be gentle . Use all your strength and dig out everything cleanly . Only bare bones should be left . ”

“Huh?” Cai Zixuan didn’t quite understand, but still nodded . “I’ll listen to you . ”

“Okay . ” Wang Ruoxiang also didn’t understand . This kind of instruction is more suitable for the pork butcher in a vegetable market .

However, the two still obeyed Gu Jun . They were now frantically cutting, digging, peeling, and picking using a large scalpel . The dissection table suddenly descended into a disorganised mess .

What are they trying to do? The surrounding contestants around them saw their crazed actions and were all puzzled . The onlooking professors and students in the stadium couldn’t understand it as well . Isn’t this disrespecting the principle of anatomy?

“Hmm?” The judges however revealed expressions of surprise . Professor Qin’s eyebrows jumped . This Tycoon Jun seemed to have some sort of plan .