Ball of Nothing

"Make an incision about four centimetres from the anus," Hua Tuo instructed.

Zero did as he was instructed and a load of innards started spilling out. Still, the young doctor steeled his nerves and continued until the incision was made. The pheasant's skin was very thin and the scalpel went through it easily.

Hua Tuo observed how steady Zero's hands were despite the organs spilling all over his hands. The boy kept a cool head and continued despite the distraction. The Sage God was pleased when he noticed that none of the organs was damaged after the incision was made. Zero truly had good control and was very accurate in his judgement. It didn't matter if that was magic or acupuncture, the brunet knew just how much to push or hold back. Zero was also quick to make adjustments if something was wrong. It's a skill that took doctors many years of practice and experience to achieve but Zero was naturally gifted with an intuition that rivalled no other. Not even Zero could explain how he did it or knew things when Hua Tuo asked him previously. The boy just knew it instinctively.

Zero watched as Hua Tuo pulled out the insides of the chicken. The doctor worked swiftly with no room for mistakes, tugging and cutting where he should. Zero wondered if the day would come when he would also be as good as his teacher. As the physician cleaned it up and passed the dissected female pheasant to Zoe and Gweshr, he turned to Zero with a serious look.

"We are going to start identifying the entrails," he told Zero who tried his best not to gag at the foul smell.

The teen nodded and held his breath, listening as Hua Tuo named the parts one by one. Zero read it in books and saw pictures of organs but none of that could compare to the real stuff.

"Nobody here eats innards so you can use your hands to touch it directly, it's going to be thrown to the decomposing bin later," Hua Tuo told his apprentice.

Zero froze and made no attempt to remove his glove. Hua Tuo raised a brow. "Is there something wrong?"

The teen hesitated and looked at his teacher with big eyes. "Do I really have to touch them with my hands?"

The physician raised a brow then removed a glove. He reached down to the scooped out entrails and held them up to show Zero that it could be done.

"In the future, you might need to stitch up warriors with half their intestines falling out. Are you going to look for gloves during a life and death situation?"

Zero felt sick and turned green but obeyed. He took his gloves off slowly and looked at the slimy pile of entrails. They smelled and were absolutely revolting but Zero made sure to touch it, calling their names out and reciting their purpose from memory before setting them aside.

Hua Tuo nodded, satisfied. Zero had every part remembered and correctly identified. Now, he wanted Zero to start cutting up the organs to take a look at what was inside instead of just the exterior.

Zero baulked. "I-Insides?"

Hua Tuo nodded as if it were the most natural thing to do. "An operation is needed to rectify internal problems. Didn't we also open up the cow's uterus to remove the baby?"

Zero thought about it. His teacher made sense. However, for Zero to have to cut open so many organs to look inside, will he ever be able to look at living creatures in the same way again?

Instead of looking at Sedna as a Goddess with a fishtail, would Zero start to imagine her entrails as human from the lungs and fish from the stomach?

"Zero?"

The teen shook his head. "It's nothing. Is there a fixed method for opening up the organs?"

Hua Tuo smiled. His student knew the right questions to ask. "The type of cuts is dependent on the kind of injury and opening width as well as risk and blood vessels. There isn't a specific way or place to cut when it comes to surgery, there is only a more preferred path that doctors feel more confident about. Knowing the anatomy of your patient will play a huge part in designing the incision areas and surgical process."

Zero looked back at the pile of torn out entrails. Since they were already out of the body, there was no real need to fuss over the type of cuts. If his teacher wanted him to cut them open to see what's on the inside, then all Zero had to do was cut them completely in half.

Hua Tuo watched as Zero slid his scalpel in the organs gently with precision. The brunet made sure to be very gentle because of how slippery the organs were. He also didn't know how deep to cut to note damage the things inside so he followed Hua Tuo's earlier example of cutting the cow's uterus to make small slices on the same area until the outer walls broke by themselves. He then widened the area with a neat slice all the way down before holding the gap open with his fingers.

Hua Tuo nodded in satisfaction at how Zero dissected things. The brunet was careful and precise with his actions, not causing any unnecessary damage to them. The first thing Zero opened up was the intestine and whatever that was stuck inside them came oozing out, filling the kitchen with a pungent smell.

Hua Tuo flinched slightly at the sourish odour but continued his lessons. Gweshr who had a sensitive nose had to excuse himself quickly. Zero could hear the sounds of someone retching outside but ignored it to focus on Hua Tuo's lesson.

They quickly moved on to other organs like the liver, lungs, kidney and more. When they reached the reproductive organs, Hua Tuo took over.

Zero watched with surprise when many tiny eggs of different sizes started spilling out of a baggy looking sac.

"This is where all the immature eggs are stored until they are ready to be laid. These are what the yolks are before the white and shell get formed around them."

Zero was amazed by it. His earlier disgust and fear were forgotten with the new revelation about the mysterious life creation process. Hua Tuo answered all of Zero's questions with patience and the teen found himself extremely fascinated with what a body was capable of. His questions only snowballed when Hua Tuo revealed that not all eggs in the female pheasant could bear hatchlings.

"But why?"

Hua Tuo didn't answer immediately. Instead, he pointed to the male pheasant still waiting to be dissected.

"Your answer is in that body. It's your turn to dissect and pull all the organs out from that male pheasant. Don't forget to clean it up and pass it back to Zoe when it's all out."

This time, Zero didn't hesitate. He grabbed the dirtied scalpel and smoothly made the incision. The male pheasant had lesser things on the inside when compared to the female pheasant. While most of the organs were things Zero recognised from the lesson before, there were some that he'd never seen before.

"These are...?"

Hua Tuo smiled from behind the mask. "This is a male's reproductive organs. It is different from a female's. This is also the answer to your question why not all of the eggs can become hatchlings."

Zero watched as Hua Tuo cut open the testes. Zero peered from over his teacher's shoulder, expecting something like tiny eggs inside but was disappointed when the whole thing looked like a lump of blood vessels and muscles. There wasn't really anything interesting there. Why would this be the answer to eggs and hatchlings?

Hua Tuo prodded at something with his blade. Zero watched the squishy part fall to the table and Hua Tuo pointed at it. There was some strange white liquid and Zero was confused. Wasn't blood red?

"See this? It's the thing that produces this white liquid. Only males have it. This is what is required to combine with the egg in order for hatchlings to form."

Zero nodded. Then he had a question. "Shifu... if the white liquid can only be formed in males and eggs only formed in females, how do the pheasants know how to transfer the liquid to the egg to make hatchlings? Unless someone cuts them open to transfer it, I don't think it is possible for any hatchlings to be born. Do pheasants also know how to perform surgery?"

Hua Tuo remained silent at that, not knowing how he should explain the process of mating to Zero. Also, if he explained it, someone up there might smite him. Once Zero knew about mating, the topic of sex would eventually appear. The Sage God did not sign up for this.

"They go through a process called mating where males will extend a tube into the openings of females to transfer the white liquid."

Hua Tuo's explanation was brief and vague but thankfully, the answer was enough to satisfy Zero who then took the squishy male bits to put on top of the undeveloped eggs.

"Your parents may not be here to do it but let me help," he told the unfertilised eggs and Hua Tuo closed his eyes. Sometimes, Zero can be very dumb.

"Zero. There won't be any hatchlings even if you did that. Hatchlings need to develop in a living body. The moment blood stops flowing in a body, the body dies. Both pheasants have been bleed and slaughtered so stop that."

Zero paused."Ah... I'm sorry. Maybe next time I can try them on some live birds instead."

Hua Tuo sighed heavily. "No, Zero. It's best to leave it to nature to decide how many hatchlings they want. Interfering can be bad for the ecosystem. Remember the story about rabbits and foxes I told you about?"

Zero nodded. In order to teach Zero about the dangers of overhunting and saving small animals, Hua Tuo told him the story about a hunter saving two rabbits from a fox. The hunter had a kind heart who only wanted to help the rabbits however, because of his actions, the foxes starved to death and the rabbits bred by the hundreds. By the end of the story, the rabbits had eaten all the crops from the neighbouring village and everyone eventually perished from hunger simply because of the hunter's actions. the world had to balance on a fragile cycle of life and death. Zero couldn't always do as he pleased even if he had powers because every action has a consequence, one that even he may not be able to bear.

"Alright, shifu. I won't do it."

Hua Tuo nodded and removed his mask. "Alright, the lesson's over for today. Clean up and help Zoe cut the vegetables."

Zero beamed and got to work immediately. The cut-up entrails were scooped up into a wooden bowl and Zero carried it out to dispose of it in the compost bin. He went back quickly to help clean the surgical tools, tabletop and cutlery before offering his assistance with cutting vegetables.

After cleaning his hair cap, mask and gloves with convenient cleaning magic, Zero stored them in his inventory for future use. Now that he wasn't learning medicine, the teenager rolled his sleeves up. It was time to use magic to speed up the things he had to do while Hua Tuo wasn't around to nag at him. Zoe allowed Zero to show off his new vegetable chopping technique.

Zero throw up a basket of ingredients high up into the air with a big grin before conjuring up a mid-tier wind spell.

"Vegetable Dicing Style - Wind Net Slasher!"

Zoe clapped soundlessly as the vegetables in the air magically became diced up. Zero didn't waste time and executed his air walking technique to catch them all in the basket with one handsome move.

The prepared vegetables remained in the basket and Zero moved on to the soup, heating the water to a boil with magic. Zoe directed what she wanted done and Zero helped out with his splendid use of magic. Making lunch had never been quicker and more entertaining.