Dozens of minutes earlier...
Chen Yu, Xiao Xi, Miwa, and Reiko wheeled the unfortunate man into the center of the operating room.
Beside them lay the tools Yuzuriha and Kaseki had worked on over the past few days, with Senku shaping them and Taiju polishing them.
"Are you ready?" Chen Yu asked.
"Ready," all three answered in unison.
"Good. The first surgery of the Stone Age begins now." Chen Yu closed his eyes, spoke those words, then picked up the scalpel and began operating.
"AAAAH!!!" The man suddenly screamed.
The sudden scream startled all four of them, and Chen Yu looked at the man in confusion.
That's not right. He should be under temporary anesthesia, so how could he still scream?
"Um... I forgot to give him the injection..." Reiko slowly raised her hand.
The other three stared at Reiko in shock.
Then Chen Yu looked at the man and the incision he had made with the scalpel. He had already pressed it closed when the man began screaming. Since he had only just made the cut, there was not much bleeding.
Chen Yu felt ready to kill Reiko. The next time he went back, he would have a serious talk with that woman North East West South about just what sort of person she had found for him.
After getting everything ready for surgery again, Chen Yu used a makeshift syringe to inject the man with an anesthetic mixture extracted from poisonous plants that caused hallucinations and unconsciousness.
Because this anesthetic carried certain risks, they had to finish the surgery as quickly as possible. Everyone worked tensely, pushing for greater speed and efficiency.
Still, Reiko kept driving Chen Yu mad. When he wanted a hemostat, she gave him a needle holder. When he wanted a curved vascular clamp, she