Chapter 33
The repair instrument operated in complete silence. There wasn’t a single sound, nor were there any external displays or interfaces to see what was happening inside. Everyone could only wait anxiously, praying that this machine would actually work.
“Little Xia, you’ve really had a long day. After discussing things with the Chief and the others until this late, we still had to ask you to come over.”
Professor Gong habitually reached into his pocket for a cigarette, a habit of his when he was anxious. Only then did he realize he had left in a hurry today and hadn’t brought them.
Xia Anran had indeed been running around all day. After looking at the gift from the interstellar civilization with the top leaders in the afternoon, she had immediately started discussing the newly opened system shop with them. Compared to the repair instrument, the shop was clearly of greater interest to everyone. They were all eager to see what kinds of things were inside.
Xia Anran also rubbed her hands together and excitedly opened the shop page. She hadn’t dared to open it on the way here, afraid this cursed app would pull some other stunt.
And then she discovered her fears were not unfounded.
The moment she opened the shop page, a prompt immediately popped up.
[Activation Fee: 20,000 Coins. Pay?]
Xia Anran: ?
What the hell? It needs to be activated? And what were these “Activation Coins”?
She frowned and scrolled around, discovering a gold coin-shaped icon at the very top. She tapped it, and a prompt told her she currently had zero Activation Coins, but she could convert them from her earnings. The conversion rate was a terrifying ten thousand to one.
Xia Anran counted on her fingers. Her current earnings of a little over two hundred million were just enough to convert to a little over twenty thousand.
She seriously suspected this cursed app was doing it on purpose! How could it be such a coincidence?!
…
Only Xia Anran could see this whole transaction. The leaders sitting beside her only saw her face fall, her eyes blazing with fire, and her fists clenched so tightly she looked like she was about to hit someone.
“Little Xia, what’s wrong?”
Xia Anran took a deep breath and, with a wooden face, explained the series of infuriating and unfortunate events that had just occurred.
The leaders were also stunned. Xia Anran asked for their opinion on whether to open the shop now. It was a given that they would open it; her asking was just a formality. In her head, she was already calculating that if she opened the shop, she wouldn’t have much money left. She didn’t even need to think to know that the items in this shop would be ridiculously expensive. After opening it, she would probably only be able to look, not buy.
This vicious app! It was truly malicious!
“Open it. It seems for now, this is what the livestream earnings are for, besides being withdrawn,” the top leader said.
Xia Anran nodded and, with a pained heart, converted the Activation Coins and clicked “Open.”
“How is it, Little Xia? What’s inside?”
Ever since seeing the repair instrument at the base, Marshal Yue had been exceptionally interested in these things from the interstellar era. Only Xia Anran could see the shop page, and he was getting incredibly antsy sitting on the side.
Xia Anran was concentrating on examining the items in the shop and was startled by his loud, impatient voice.
The top leader pressed down on the arm of the Marshal, who was about to jump up, and said gently, “Old Yue, don’t be so anxious. You’re scaring Little Xia.”
The Marshal also realized his gaffe, rubbed his nose, and apologized to her.
Xia Anran quickly waved her hand. The top leader added, “Old Yue isn’t just thinking of himself. He’s worried about the comrades who went through life and death with him.”
The Marshal gave a bitter laugh. “At least I could get a prosthesis for my leg. How many of my brothers are still lying in bed, with only their eyeballs able to move? Thank goodness we’re finally seeing a glimmer of hope.”
When he had been so eager to test the repair instrument at the secret base, it wasn’t for himself, but in the hope that his brothers could use it as soon as possible.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. I also hope I can help, but…” Xia Anran’s head ached as she looked at the row of grayed-out items. As expected, this unscrupulous app wasn’t going to let her get away with anything!
She explained the situation, with special emphasis on her complaint that the app seemed to be skimming her earnings. Who knew how much it had secretly embezzled from her! Otherwise, by her calculations, they should have been able to buy quite a few things by now.
The top leader comforted her a bit. For now, they were helpless against this app and hadn’t fully figured it out. They could only swallow this bitter pill.
“Automatic Tracker, Gene-Coded Door, Invisibility Aircraft, Atomic Brain Chip, Cryo-Pod… wait, and a Portal?”
Xia Anran read through the items in the shop one by one and her eyes suddenly widened. She could understand the previous items, but what was this Portal? Wasn’t that outside the realm of science?!
The leaders couldn’t see the shop, so she clicked on the details page of each item and read them aloud.
She opened the details page for the Portal. Its description was also just a few simple sentences. In short, it had a main “mother” portal and several “child” portals. Through the mother portal, one could reach a child portal in a matter of seconds. The child portals could also be retrieved and moved to different locations at any time.
“A good thing. It would be extremely useful for transportation and combat,” the leaders all nodded, very interested in this Portal. Something that had only ever appeared in sci-fi was actually real!
Of course, the price of this Portal was also quite beautiful: a whopping one hundred thousand system coins. And she now only had seven yuan in her pocket. She couldn’t even afford a trial card.
She roughly scrolled through the few hundred items that were currently unlocked in the shop. A large portion was still grayed out and couldn’t be viewed. With only a few coins to her name, all she could do was drool over these high-tech items. She scrolled to the bottom and found nothing she could afford. After some discussion, the leaders decided to focus on streaming to save up money first. None of these things were cheap. They needed to discuss which one to buy first to maximize the use of Xia Anran’s hard-earned blood money.
After today’s stream, if this bastard app didn’t skim off the top, she felt she should be able to buy something good.
…
Professor Gong and the others had left early and hadn’t participated in the subsequent discussion of the shop items. As it turned out, none of the items could be bought right now. The experts had once again buried their heads in the study of the repair instrument, and since it was so late, the leaders hadn’t informed them of the specific situation. Professor Gong only knew that Xia Anran still had matters regarding the app’s shop to discuss with the leadership.
Originally, he had also been very interested in the shop and couldn’t wait to learn about its products from Xia Anran. But now, the condition of the frontline anti-drug comrade weighed more heavily on his heart.
The repair instrument had been running for five minutes, and there was still no movement, only the indicator light flashing quietly. Professor Gong frequently raised his wrist to look at his watch, his anxiety written all over his face. The medical staff in the isolation room also stood by the instrument, waiting anxiously.
The atmosphere was too heavy. Xia Anran wanted to distract him. “Professor Gong, how was this person sent here?” The instrument had only arrived at the academy this afternoon, and the number of people who knew about it could be counted on two hands. How could a patient have been sent over so quickly?
“Let me answer that question.”
The lab door was pushed open. The sound of footsteps was heavy and powerful, striking the ground with a steady rhythm.
Xia Anran turned to look. The newcomer was a tall man in a military uniform, standing as straight as a pine tree, with a calm and steady demeanor. He took off his military cap, revealing a slightly stern face. He was very young, but his aura was very seasoned.
“After the mission ended at six this evening, we immediately contacted the hospital and explained the situation. Dr. Xu suggested we contact Professor Gong.”
Professor Gong nodded and explained to Xia Anran, “Old Xu is rarely at the academy. She specializes in medicine and is mostly at the hospital. She was one of the people at the base today.”
“This is Ren Yi, Senior Colonel Ren, the captain of our country’s anti-drug task force.”
Ren Yi was clearly not in the loop about Project Liuhe. He didn’t know Xia Anran’s identity or why such a young girl was in a classified lab at the Academy of Sciences at this hour, let alone where this machine that could supposedly cure all diseases and even regrow limbs came from. But he was a well-trained soldier. Since the higher-ups hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t ask.
He gave Xia Anran a slight nod as a greeting. “Professor Gong, how is the situation inside?” he asked in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on the silver-white machine.
Professor Gong sighed. “It’s unclear. We still haven’t fully understood the operating principles of this machine. If it weren’t an emergency, we wouldn’t be using it at all.”
Ren Yi clenched his fists, thinking of when they had rescued the man from the dungeon—the floor covered in blood, his brother tortured to the brink of death, yet still biting his lip and not saying a word. They had caught and interrogated those drug traffickers. Even after being caught, the group had been grinning, talking about the lives they had taken as easily as squashing a few ants. They had bragged about the tortures they had inflicted on their captured brother, saying how tough he was, not even crying out when they cut off his arm.
Damn them.
Seeing his expression, Professor Gong quickly tried to comfort him. “Don’t worry. Although we’re not absolutely sure, this repair instrument will definitely have an effect.” It was just a question of how much, and whether it would be good or bad. For now, all they could do was take a gamble.
“Were all of them caught?” Professor Gong asked.
At this, Ren Yi’s face darkened even more. “A few got away. They’ve already crossed the border.” They had been pursuing a transnational drug trafficking ring that had been operating internationally for many years. This time, they had only found a lead after years of undercover investigation and had busted a major stronghold of theirs on the Hua nation’s border, arresting over a hundred people. But a few had gotten wind of it before they made their move and had escaped.
A silence fell over the room. Even Xia Anran felt the heavy, oppressive atmosphere. Just then, the repair instrument beeped several times, and the green light on top went out.
[Repair complete. Please check in a timely manner.]
“It’s finished!” Xia Anran’s eyes lit up. Professor Gong also turned on the intercom. “Liyun, open the machine.”
The medical staff received the instruction and pressed the single button on the machine. The door slowly opened, and several doctors rushed in to check the patient’s condition.
Xia Anran’s heart was in her throat. Ren Yi leaned forward, his eyes glued to the treatment room beyond the glass.
Soon, a scream came from within the instrument. Professor Gong’s heart sank. Could something have really gone wrong?
Fortunately, before long, the hospital bed was pushed out. But the sheets, covers, and the patient’s gown were all gone. The patient lay naked on the steel frame. Xia Anran blushed and quickly lowered her head. Although she hadn’t gotten a clear look, his limbs had indeed grown back!
The medical staff put new clothes on him. Professor Gong and Ren Yi had already rushed in. Xia Anran followed behind, sneaking a peek. Seeing that he was dressed, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him carefully.
His arms and legs had grown back. His eyes, ears, and nose were also restored. There were no visible scars on the exposed parts of his skin. In fact, his skin was smooth and fair, as if he had been born anew.
“This is simply incredible…” Professor Xu Liyun looked at the whole and intact person before her and the all-normal readings on the monitoring instruments, feeling as if her entire worldview had been refreshed. To reconstruct a person’s body in just ten minutes… no one would believe it even if they told them.
The medical experts and Professor Gong were all stunned by the instrument’s effect. After confirming that the patient was fine, they all, as if injected with chicken blood, began to circle the repair instrument, looking at it from all angles.
Ren Yi, however, was more concerned about his brother’s condition. “Tianyang, how are you? Do you feel any discomfort?” he asked nervously.
Jiang Tianyang was already conscious, but his mind hadn’t seemed to catch up yet. He sat up blankly and raised his hands, then touched his face. His eyes, nose, and ears were all still there.
Ren Yi was also extremely emotional. He carefully touched Jiang Tianyang’s arm. It was warm and supple, no different from a normal person’s.
Jiang Tianyang looked up and saw Ren Yi, and his mind seemed to return. He gripped Ren Yi’s hand tightly. “Captain, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything…”
“I know, I know,” Ren Yi said, calming his agitated emotions and trying to get him to lie down and rest.
But Jiang Tianyang insisted on sitting up, muttering, “I should be dead by now. My hands and feet are back, my eyes are back, and I even got to see you, Captain…”
“It hurt so much. It hurt so much back then,” he said in a low voice. “Good thing I held on. Otherwise, I would have died with regrets.”
“You’re alive, Tianyang. You’re alive,” Ren Yi said, holding his hand tightly. “You’re back. We brought you back.”
Jiang Tianyang asked, bewildered, “I… I’m back?”
“That’s impossible. They cut off my hands and feet, and my eyes…”
Xia Anran, standing by, also smiled. “Yes, you’re in the medical room now. You’re very safe.”
Jiang Tianyang didn’t know Xia Anran. Only then did he realize there were a lot of people he didn’t know around him. Could this really not be his life flashing before his eyes before he died? But how was it possible? He could accept everything else, but how did his limbs grow back? Had modern medicine really advanced to this point?