The Highest Bounty

Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Sudden Influx of Viruses

Besides the method of being grinded and refined into medicine, Energy Crystals could be used through the implantation method. When the Energy Crystal is implanted directly into bloodstream, your blood will be used as the carrier to transfer the energy.

In fact, this implantation method allowed people to gain strength faster with almost no energy loss.

Having said that, naturally, ordinary people would not accept the implantation of an object taken from a virus-infected body in case the object still carried the virus.

In addition to this, the Energy Crystal required blood as a carrier, which meant that it was usually implanted in the heart to get the best result. If it could not be implanted in the heart, it should at least be implanted somewhere close to the aorta. In any case, these sorts of implantation were not risk-free.

When Gu Ding heard about the method from Neptune, he was shocked. Obviously, he could not implant it in his heart because it would require operation from a professional physician. As for implanting it near the aorta, Gu Ding also could not determine how feasible it was.

“What’s the safest location if I were to implant it near the aorta?” Gu Ding was still considering where to implant it. “If it’s implanted in the brachial or femoral artery, won’t it be too troublesome during battles?”

“That’s why it’s more appropriate to implant it near the carotid artery,” Neptune explained. “since the movement in this area is relatively limited and the possibilities of this site being hit are fairly small. Although your body’s special, I expect it’ll need at least two or three days for the energy of the crystal to be fully absorbed. If it is implanted in the arm or thigh, any hits from fights during this period will impact the position of the crystal. Eventually, it’ll cause the crystal to be unstable and, in the worst scenario, will lead to an explosion. Therefore, the neck is the safest place if you think about it.”

“If that’s the case, who will be the one operating on me?” Gu Ding glanced at Liliath across the room and shook his head. He suspected that the little girl would not agree to the plan anyway.

“You can only rely on yourself,” Neptune suggested accordingly.

“How are you planning to use that Energy Crystals?” Liliath asked suddenly. “If you don’t grind it into a powder, you won’t be able to make medicine out of it. In any case, neither of us are strong enough to grind the crystal into powder...”

“I’ve decided to implant it!” Gu Ding did not intend to hide his plan.

Liliath was silent for a moment before she asked, “Do you need my help?”

“No, I can do it myself,” Gu Ding shook his head.

“It’s too dangerous for you to operate on yourself. This thing must be implanted close to the artery. Even if you’re using the monitoring device, the image you see is flipped. Any mistake made will cause heavy bleeding and the whole thing will be a mess,” Liliath frowned slightly. “I’ve taken surgical courses, so why don’t you let me do it on you? Although I only took it for a year, it’ll be better than having an amateur operate on himself. At least I’ve practiced dissection on a number of animals before.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Gu Ding thought this was out of character for Liliath.

“You see the monsters outside? I can only fight one at a time. And my wristwatch only just connected to this spaceship, which means that the power system has been damaged on purpose. I’m guessing the same goes for the other spaceships. Therefore, we’ll have to kill those five monsters so that the two of us can slip into the space dock to see if there are any spaceships that are still working. For this to happen, you’ll have to level up your strength as soon as possible. Now, it’s no longer a question of whether you want it or not, it’ll simply be much safer for me to perform the implantation. Furthermore, I’m guessing you probably don’t have much food left. So, obviously, we’ll have to leave this planet as soon as possible,” Liliath explained in all seriousness.

“It’s safer for her to operate than you trying to do so on yourself. I mean, you’ve seen the precision of her pupil ability,” Neptune reminded.

On the first day they met, Liliath showed that she had extremely precise eyesight. Only someone with her caliber of eyesight could achieve her level of accuracy.

“Okay,” Gu Ding took out the Energy Crystal and handed it to Liliath.

“We’re implanting it in your neck, right?” Liliath asked after she took the Energy Crystal.

“Yeah. The other parts won’t be convenient to me during a fight,” Gu Ding nodded.

Gu Ding took off his shirt and laid on the bed. He pointed toward the left artery on the side of his neck. “This side.”

Liliath took out a bottle of medicinal liquid and injected it into Gu Ding’s skin on his neck. After injecting the anesthetic, she proceeded with the disinfection process.

Her surgical equipment was simple—a scalpel, a pair of sterile gloves, and a bottle of Cell Restorer.

After a while, Gu Ding could feel the effect of the anesthetic. His entire neck had lost all sensation.

“Has the anesthetic begun to take effect?” Liliath estimated that it should have started to take effect by then.

“Yeah,” Gu Ding snorted.

“Then I’ll start,” Liliath picked up the scalpel and cut into Gu Ding’s neck.

About two or three minutes later, Liliath put the cleaned Energy Crystal into Gu Ding’s wound. The whole process went smoothly.

Gu Ding could not help but be amazed at the precision of her eyesight. She did not hesitate for one second and the process was done in one shot.

After she inserted the Energy Crystal into Gu Ding’s neck, Liliath injected the Cell Restorer into Gu Ding’s body.

In less than thirty seconds, Gu Ding’s wound had healed completely without any trace of scarring.

After she put away the surgical equipment, Liliath smiled and asked, “How was it? I told you my workmanship’s good.”

Gu Ding rubbed his neck. There was still some numbness from the anesthetic, but he could feel that the wound had healed completely.

“Take a look at it yourself, it healed just nice,” Liliath said and pulled a mirror out to reflect the location of the surgery on Gu Ding’s neck.

Gu Ding lifted his chin to see that it indeed did not leave any scar, nor did any swelling occur from the surgery. “Yeah, you did a good job.”

“After the Energy Crystal is implanted, you’ll feel a surge of energy from the crystal, and your body will be full of energy. However, don’t use your energy just yet. You’ll need the strength to strengthen your cells...” Neptune stopped mid-sentence, as if he was interrupted by something. Suddenly, his voice sounded a little panicked, “Where did these viruses come from? I checked it thoroughly multiple times! This crystal only contains pure energy. Why are there so many viruses appearing?!”

“No, this isn’t the same virus as the ones in the monsters...” Neptune quickly noticed the abnormality of these viruses. “And it’s just full of engulfing energy, so they aren’t attacking your body... ”

“What happened?” Gu Ding asked uncertainly. “Is my body being invaded by a virus? I don’t want to become a monster!”

“No, I made a mistake.” Neptune stared intently at the changes in Gu Ding’s body. Those mysterious viruses were quickly engulfed by the crystal’s energy as soon as they appeared. The entire process took less than three minutes. If Gu Ding were to absorb it himself, it would take at least three days.

After he finished the energy absorption, the viruses disappeared completely without a trace. Suddenly, the gene locks in Gu Ding’s body began to show a crack. As time passed, the crack grew bigger and bigger...