21st Century Necromancer

Chapter 177 Resurrection of the Dead (2nd Update)

"Mr. Chen Yu!" Jounouchi Hiromi called out to Chen Yu, startled by the sudden cardiac arrest of the old principal, but she quickly recovered and immediately began the rescue process, "Inject 0.5 mg of epinephrine! Get the ECPB (emergency cardiopulmonary bypass) ready!"

In the operating room, when faced with a patient's sudden cardiac arrest, the anesthesiologist acts as the resuscitator on the spot and also must take on the responsibility of directing the scene. Since Chen Yu was also her boyfriend, their silent coordination did not require much communication, which was why Jounouchi Hiromi didn't issue any commands to Chen Yu. She had full trust in her boyfriend.

However, at that moment, Chen Yu had yet to perform the fourth defibrillation and seemed as if he lacked the strength to lift the electrode paddles. His hands, gripping the paddles, remained on the old principal's chest as he stared with wide eyes, as if determined to muster every ounce of his strength.

"Professor, let me do it!" Nakagawa Susumu offered to help, seeing Chen Yu's condition.

But Nakagawa had barely made it around the operating table when Chen Yu shouted to a nurse nearby, "Charge for the fourth time! Get out of the way, it's my patient, and I won't allow him to die, not even King Yama has the right to take his life!"

Having said that, Chen Yu once again lifted the electrode paddles. After charging was complete, he pressed them onto the old principal's chest once more.

It seemed as if Chen Yu's determination had truly frightened King Yama. When the old principal's body jerked up from the operating table again, the heart monitor finally showed fluctuations instead of a flat line.

"The heartbeat has recovered!" Jounouchi Hiromi, seeing the restored waveform on the heart monitor and the quiet life support machines, finally took a deep breath, "That's great!"

"Phew!" Chen Yu couldn't help but breathe heavily. Although he didn't experience much physical exhaustion, he felt extremely tense just moments before.

Handing the electrode paddles to a nearby nurse, Chen Yu then said to everyone, "Clean up, let's continue with the surgery."

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"The suturing is complete, and the surgery is finished." Chen Yu announced the end of the operation, which had started out straightforward but became terrifyingly thrilling due to the old principal's sudden cardiac arrest, as he removed the tubes that had been inserted into the old principal's abdomen one by one and sutured the incisions.

Upon hearing Chen Yu declare the surgery finished, both Doctor Higashiyama and Nakagawa Susumu couldn't help but say from the bottom of their hearts, "You've worked hard!"

Perhaps the surgery had taken too much energy, but as Chen Yu walked out of the operating room, he merely raised his hand as a gesture without saying much.

Watching the back of the departing Chen Yu, seemingly exhausted, Jounouchi Hiromi also couldn't help feeling worried. She wanted to follow her boyfriend to see if he was okay, but while Chen Yu could rest after completing the surgery, she, as an anesthesiologist, had to take care of post-operative patient management. Jounouchi Hiromi thus had to stay behind and continue with her duties.

Chen Yu, leaving the operating room, didn't go to the changing room. Instead, he simply took off his disposable surgical gown and headed towards the hospital cafeteria. The exhaustion from the surgery made him feel very sluggish, and he needed to eat something to replenish his energy.

By the time Chen Yu arrived at the dining hall, although it was past lunchtime, the cafeteria seemed to still be open, allowing Chen Yu to successfully order the last bowl of ramen and a serving of pan-fried dumplings.

With food in hand, he found a table and sat down, only then did Chen Yu stretch languidly and begin to eat.

The surgery earlier had indeed shocked him; he had not expected a relatively uncomplicated operation to result in the headmaster's sudden ventricular fibrillation and subsequent cardiac arrest.

It was Chen Yu's first encounter with cardiac arrest during surgery. Even though he followed the protocol and cooperated with Hiromi Jounouchi in the resuscitation effort, the fact was that without more than just medical procedures, the headmaster wouldn't have been saved.

Chen Yu had realized this during the third defibrillation attempt on the headmaster.

As a Necromancer, judging whether a person was about to die and determining the state of their soul could almost be considered a fundamental skill. At that time, the life force in all of the headmaster's organs was rapidly fading, and his soul had already begun to leave his body. All the resuscitation methods used had not halted this process.

It's fair to say that even if resuscitation had continued or even an open-chest massage had been performed, it would have been impossible to restart the headmaster's heart, because his life had already ended.

In fact, what had brought the headmaster back, causing his heart to beat again, was not because of Chen Yu's final defibrillation shock, nor was it due to the adrenaline injected by Hiromi Jounouchi.

It was because, after the third defibrillation, as the headmaster's heart arrest was induced, Chen Yu channeled Necromantic Power into the headmaster's body through the electrode paddles he was holding.

This was why Chen Yu's hands did not leave the paddles after the third defibrillation; he was actually casting a necromancy spell called "Resurrection of the Dead" using the Necromantic Power injected into the headmaster's body, replacing the life force with Necromantic Power to sustain the headmaster's life, thus "reviving" him.

"Resurrection of the Dead" is among the more sophisticated spells used by Necromancers to revive the dead.

Unlike the simple Spirit Gathering Technique or summoning the dead to merely raise and manipulate the corpse with Necromantic Power, "Resurrection of the Dead" uses Necromantic Power to replace the life force lost from a body, reviving the person such that they appear no different from a living being.

Despite truly being dead, their appearance and signs of life are indistinguishable from those of the living. It's just that what sustains them is no longer life force but Necromantic Power.

This is one of the Resurrection Techniques developed by Necromancers. As long as the soul is present and the body is intact, this spell can be used to achieve the level of resurrection pursued by many Necromancers in the Medieval Period or in numerous legendary tales, who were either misguided or deemed evil, perfectly reviving the dead.

While there are other, more powerful Resurrection Techniques, this spell was the most suitable given the headmaster's condition at the time. The other spells either required a specific environment or caused too much commotion, and some required a Necromancer of Legendary-rank to cast.

The reason why Chen Yu seemed so exhausted was also because he had to infuse the headmaster's body with Necromantic Power while simultaneously casting the complex spell "Resurrection of the Dead" using silent incantation and instant casting techniques, thus causing even a Certified Necromancer like Chen Yu to feel a substantial drain on his energy.

However, saving the headmaster was the most important thing for Chen Yu, and he did not dwell on the minor depletion of his energy.

For the headmaster, though, the life force that sustained him had been replaced with Necromantic Power. Although there would be no adverse effects, due to the limited time Chen Yu had when infusing the Necromantic Power, the amount was finite, and like life force, Necromantic Power is continuously depleted.