She Outshines Them All



Chapter 72noveldrama

At 10 p.m., Athena arrived at a private airport in the southern suburbs of Dichester. She then put on a mask, switched to a small car, and headed into the city to meet with the person sent by Louis to pick her up. Together, they drove to Lucy's sanatorium.

Athena thought Matthew was bold for hiding Lucy in Dichester.

But upon further reflection, she realized that hiding Lucy in the bustling Dichester, the political center where the elites gathered, made sense. The Graham family didn't have as much influence as they did in Valemont City, making Lucy's presence less noticeable. This clever arrangement likely enabled Lucy to remain hidden for five years.

An hour later, Athena arrived at a villa in the northern suburbs of Dichester. It was an upscale area. The environment was quiet and open with villas set far apart, offering great privacy.

As Athena made her way there, she hardly encountered anyone, only passing a few cars.

The car pulled up to what looked like an ordinary villa, but its interior was lavishly decorated. Inside, Athena met Freya and others.

Without exchanging pleasantries. Freya immediately led Athena to a two-story building in the backyard. Athena entered a bedroom on the ground floor and saw Lucy.

Lucy had been ravaged by illness and looked extremely frail. Her body was covered in tubes, and her face was pale. There was a scar from the brain surgery on her bald head.

Despite her condition, she remained beautiful. Her eyebrows were trimmed finely, and her lips touched with a hint of lipstick. This showed that Matthew had been taking great care of her.

Athena examined Lucy carefully. After reviewing the patient's medical reports and health analysis, she said, "Gather everyone for a meeting to work out the surgery plan."

There were a total of 13 people in Athena's team, 10 of whom were medical staff, and three were researchers.

On Matthew's side, three experts attended the meeting. However, these experts were powerless to help with Lucy's condition and could only participate as assistants, observers, and learners.

As Athena reviewed the surgery plan prepared by Freya and the others, she asked questions and made modifications to the plan.

An hour later, she finalized it, saying, "Send this plan to Mr. Graham. If he has no objections, we'll proceed with surgery at 9 a.m. tomorrow."

Because of his mother's and sister's conditions, Matthew had studied medicine himself. After reviewing the plan, he thought, 'This is a bold approach! If it succeeds, it will be a medical miracle and will solve a major medical problem, benefiting all of humanity!'

Matthew had no objections to the plan and signed it online, stating, "I have absolute trust in Dr. Annie and her team and fully support her plan."

With that settled, Athena had a good night's sleep.

The next morning at 8 a.m., she took a cold shower after a simple breakfast. Then, she tied her hair into a tight bun and put on a white coat, a mask, and glasses before walking out of the room and meeting up with everyone outside the operating theater.

The two-story building had long since been converted into a small specialist hospital, equipped with everything from wards and operating rooms to an ICU and pharmacy. All of them were advanced setups, only slightly inferior to the medical supplies in Athena's research lab.

Matthew was already waiting outside the surgery room with a solemn expression. When he saw Freya and the team approaching, he quickly stepped forward and asked politely, "Freya, I heard Dr. Annie arrived last night?"

Freya turned slightly to look at Athena beside her and introduced, "This is Dr. Annie. Dr. Annie, this is Mr. Graham, the patient's brother."

Matthew gazed at Athena, whose face was covered with a mask. He bowed with great respect and said sincerely, "Dr. Annie, thank you for performing surgery on my sister. We owe you a great debt of gratitude."

Athena's eyes flickered slightly behind her black-rimmed glasses. She said, "No need to thank me, it's my job."

Then, she turned to everyone and said, "Let's go inside."

Her voice came muffled from behind her mask, making it difficult for Matthew to recognize her as Athena.

However, Matthew felt that the doctor was somewhat familiar. Her height, build, demeanor, movements, and even the gaze behind her glasses reminded him of Athena.

He couldn't help but wonder, 'Could Athena and Dr. Annie be related? Is their connection deeper than it appears?'

On the other hand, Athena's mind was fully focused on the surgery.

She led the team into the operating theater area, changed into surgical scrubs, and entered the sterile operating theater.

Not everyone was needed in the room, so some remained outside, watching through the glass, ready to assist at any moment.

In the operating theater, Athena asked the people from the scientific research department, "Are you ready?"

The researchers nodded and replied, "Yes."

According to the surgical plan, after opening the patient's skull, a specially formulated magnetic fluid would be injected into the targeted bone fragments with an extremely fine injection needle. Once the fragments became magnetic, a magnet would be used to suck them out.

The bone fragments were very thin, and the injection process required utmost precision. There couldn't be even the slightest mistake.

Humans alone couldn't handle such delicate operations, but the instruments could.

The top scientific research team of the Vission Group had successfully developed a lithography machine.

Given a few more years, they would definitely be able to produce the most advanced lithography machine in the world, ending the foreign dominance over the nation's chip supply.

A lithography machine is the most sophisticated instrument on Earth. Some said the technology is akin to splitting a single hair into tens of thousands of pieces. So, if Vission Group had created such a machine, developing an ultra-fine needle and instrument capable of injecting fluid into bone fragments in a short time was hardly a challenge.

Two researchers brought over a delicate instrument and secured it beside the operating table. After that, they began the simple yet extraordinary procedure. Athena and the others had seen all kinds of high-tech technology that exceeded ordinary people's imagination. Therefore, they remained calm. However, the experts observing from behind the glass were left speechless, with only one thought in their minds: "Amazing!"

Ten minutes later, the instrument extracted the least dangerous bone fragment. Thirty minutes later, the second fragment was removed. After an hour and a half, the most dangerous third fragment was successfully extracted, with almost no bleeding, and the patient's brain nerves were undamaged.

The researchers exited the room amidst the applause.

Next, it was Athena's turn.

She was highly experienced in this kind of surgery, and her skills were refined to perfection. Everyone was at ease.

As usual, she performed without a single mistake. Additionally, the medication, surgical tools, and sutures she used were the best and most advanced, unavailable on the market.

Meanwhile, Matthew stood outside the surgical area, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He lowered his head slightly and closed his eyes, waiting motionlessly. He remained in that position without saying anything, resembling a lifelike and perfect mannequin.

Suddenly, the sliding door opened, and a nurse stepped out carrying a tray.

Matthew raised his head, opened his eyes, and quickly walked forward. Struggling to contain his anxiety, he asked hopefully, "How did the surgery go?"

The nurse replied with a smile, "The surgery went very smoothly. All three fragments have been removed. The patient will be taken to the ICU for observation shortly. These are the three fragments."

Matthew looked at the few blood-stained bones in the tray and felt his legs went weak. Fortunately, Louis caught him.

Matthew shook his head and stood upright, trying to compose himself. Then, he asked the nurse politely, "Can I keep these fragments as a memento?"

He wanted to keep the broken bones to remind himself how badly his sister had been harmed.