Chapter 4 — The Age of Sewing Bones (1)

The bones moved.

More precisely, the bones were returning to their original positions.

On the screen, the shattered bone fragments slid together as if pulled by magnets.

The misaligned axes of the bones gradually straightened. The broken surfaces fit together perfectly…

And soon, the complete shape of a leg bone appeared on the screen.

A light flashed in Stein’s dark blue eyes.

This sight…

Stein had seen it countless times before.

Inside his mind.

And on cold autopsy tables.

Stein had dissected more animals than he could count. During those examinations, he often aligned broken bones with his own hands.

While matching the fractured surfaces and restoring their shape, he always thought the same thing.

If only this position could be maintained… these animals could walk again.

But living animals were different.

The bones would not stay aligned like the fragments he arranged by hand.

With even the slightest movement, the bones would shift out of place again.

Most of all, pain was the greatest obstacle to treatment.

Even morphine, the strongest painkiller available, could not completely stop the agony.

Stein knew that better than anyone.

Trying to set bones while the patient was conscious…

Was no different from torture.

Stein had struggled with this problem countless times.

He experimented again and again.

But he never found the answer.

In the end, the best he could do was external fixation.

Splints, bandages, and wires wrapped around the limb to hold it still.

Stein even invented lighter yet stronger metal splints instead of wooden ones.
He twisted horsehair into thread to increase the pressure strength of bandages.

He even built steel frames so the injured leg would not touch the ground.

Because of those innovations, hunting dogs that once limped could run through hunting fields again.

Cats that had fallen from great heights could jump across rooftops again.

But horses were different.

Cows were the same.

No matter how well he treated them, their heavy weight overcame the treatment.

Stein knew that was the best he could do.

And he knew that was the limit.

But now—

Right before his eyes—

A scene he had only imagined.

Something he once believed impossible…

Was becoming reality.

The hypotheses he had researched through sleepless nights…

The limits he had never been able to overcome…

Were now being realized with astonishing ease.

At that moment, the screen changed.

The bones disappeared.

The carefully aligned bones dissolved into light and vanished.

And in their place—

A dog lay on an operating table.

Its chest, covered with green cloth, rose and fell slowly.

Its front leg was fixed in place.

The fractured bone was still broken.

Stein straightened his posture even more.

Until now he had been amazed by the reconstruction of the bone.

But now, before him was a living creature.

Now… are they about to show how that bone will be treated?

Stein frowned slightly.

In the video, the surgeon’s hands began to move.

Stein missed nothing.

He stared at the screen without blinking.

The blade cut into the skin.

A clean incision appeared.

Then the muscles were gently separated while carefully avoiding nerves and blood vessels.

…Is such precision even possible?

According to everything Stein knew, the moment the knife touched flesh, blood should burst out like a