The removed ribs were a shallow golden color, quite heavy, and required Researchers A, B, and C to carry them together.
The system remarked softly: "[There's no meat on them, so we can't braise them. But they'd make a good soup.]"
Lu Yan: "Really?"
[...Are you seriously considering it?]
Lu Yan turned to Xiao Bing and asked, "What should we do with these ribs?"
"They will be temporarily stored in a special container. Tang Xunan will handle them himself after he wakes up, but there will be a storage fee, about 50 contribution points per day."
Lu Yan nodded slightly, changed his clothes, and headed to the observation room.
After the surgery, as the attending physician, he needed to make his rounds.
There was a faint smell of blood in the ward.
Although Tang Xunan had 18 pairs of ribs, the gaps between them were small, so removing them would not affect his movement.
The staff responsible for monitoring his condition stood up and reported nervously: "Mr. Lu, the patient's postoperative indicators are normal, and the wound has begun to heal!"
The Harbingers always had strong self-healing abilities.
Lu Yan put on gloves, pinched Tang Xunan through his hospital gown, and asked, "Does it hurt here?"
Tang Xunan stared at his face with his golden eyes, thought for a moment, and replied, "Yes."
"What about here?"
Tang Xunan answered seriously, "It hurts a little."
The system: [Heh, this dog will get excited if you touch him more.]
So, Lu Yan stopped and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Tang Xunan asked, "Doctor, am I okay?"
His tail hung down from the bed, lightly rubbing against Lu Yan's leg.
Lu Yan signed his name in the medical record book and answered calmly, "There's no hope. Just wait to die."
The system cheered like it had seen a goal in a football match: [Good, that's right!]
Tang Xunan had no choice but to say, "It doesn't hurt."
Lu Yan nodded slightly, "Okay, try to recover soon."
After saying that, he subconsciously wanted to check on other patients in the ward, but then remembered that the patients in other rooms hadn't confirmed whether they would undergo surgery.
Tang Xunan pulled back the covers and said, "It's late, let's go to sleep, Yan Yan."
When he said sleep, he naturally meant just sleeping.
Lu Yan changed into pajamas and lay down beside Tang Xunan, asking, "Does it really not hurt?"
"A little, but I've had worse injuries before."
In the pitch-black room, Tang Xunan held Lu Yan's hand.
If it were a really serious injury, Tang Xunan wouldn't say much about it, fearing that Lu Yan would worry.
But for a minor injury, he couldn't help but say it, hoping to garner a little sympathy.
Lu Yan thought for a moment, "I didn't say I liked you because I pity you."
"I know." Tang Xunan squeezed his hand slightly and said, "I just hope..."
"What do you hope for?" Lu Yan looked puzzled.
Tang Xunan nuzzled his nose against Lu Yan's: "I hope Yan Yan can love me a little more."
The reports related to this surgery were transmitted back to headquarters even before the "abattoir", prompting a global video conference that same night.
The last time such a collective meeting was held was during the "Blood Moon Incident". This showed that the "global rise in pollution levels" and the "reduction in the pathology of high-level Harbingers" were equally important matters in the eyes of headquarters.
Although Ji Wen was forced to suspend his salary and duties due to violations, he still wore a happy smile on his face, as if it were New Year's.
"If this surgery can be popularized, the demand for healing-type Harbingers worldwide can be greatly reduced."
Tang Xunan's subsequent recovery was ideal, so much so that within just one week, numerous researchers flew in from all over the world to visit.
"The recovery is indeed very good."
"The pathology level has also dropped!"
"This well-fed guy can still work for at least another twenty years!"
Because there were too many visitors, even Tang Xunan, who had a very good temper, began to decline visitors. Fortunately, there were precious videos in the monitoring system of the research institute showing early humans taming tyrants, which could be played back.
These researchers not only visited Tang Xunan but also visited Lu Yan.
Lu Yan was in the operating room.
Michael was tied up like a skewer, and Researcher C was stuffing wood and vines under his operating table.
If it weren't for the fact that this was an operating room, it would look like some sort of cannibal tribe adding a meal.
Michael's sky-blue eyes were full of nervousness: "Do you really have to use fire?"
Lu Yan calmly replied, "Not necessarily. Other methods are fine too, but roasting is more convenient for plucking feathers."
In the abattoir, Michael's pathology level unfortunately exceeded 90 due to excessive use of the talent Holy Light, making him the second test subject.
And his source of pollution surprisingly came from the feathers on his wings.
Other researchers had never thought that Michael's source of pollution would be the feathers on his body, because he shed quite a lot of them usually. When he woke up, he could find several white feathers on his bed.
Michael was very sad: "Doctor Lu, tell me the truth. Are you jealous because I have more online popularity than you? My new feathers just grew out, and I haven't had time to take photos."
Lu Yan turned to Researcher B and smiled, "Can you get a gag? I'm afraid it might hurt a bit later, and Michael won't be able to control himself."
Nowadays, several researchers in the operating room were very obedient.
Regardless of whether Lu Yan really had a grudge against Michael, Michael's mouth was indeed shut.
Micah's white feathers were roasted off, revealing the red flesh underneath, and a layer of golden feathers slowly emerged moments later.
The scent of oil wafted through the air, reminiscent of honey-glazed wings.
Xiao Bing's nose twitched, involuntarily swallowing saliva. "Smells delicious."
Lu Yan held tweezers and plucked out the newly grown feathers one by one, feeling like a veterinarian.
He quipped to the system, "After years of practice, I never thought I'd stoop to plucking feathers from birds."
The system replied, "[Micah isn't exactly a bird... well, close enough.]"
The surgery itself didn't require any overly complicated procedures.
Lu Yan set down the surgical knife, pushed open the door to the operating room, and before he could take a few steps, he was surrounded by people nearby.
An elderly researcher with white hair trembled as he shoved his paper into Lu Yan's hand. "Dr. Di, would you be interested in taking on a doctoral student? This is my thesis. I also studied medicine in college!"
Beside him, several burly researchers looked nervous. "Zhang, you're highly respected and have dedicated your life. It's time to retire. This kind of thing is too exhausting. Let me handle it!"
If they hadn't said this, they would have continued pulling the old man behind them, which might have been more persuasive.
Lu Yan looked at the eager faces and felt unexpectedly heavy-hearted. "I'm sorry, but I currently have no plans to take on researchers. My ability to identify pollutants is not based on experience but on the talent Devour."
"Devour, a healing talent, autonomously seeks pollutants in the bodies of high-level Harbingers."
In a sense, Lu Yan wasn't lying.
Lu Yan had once asked the system if pollutants could become a discipline to be organized.
The answer was no; evolution itself is uncontrollable.
Over the next few days, Lu Yan performed surgeries on Bai Qiushi, Odin, and Zhou Qiming.
The intense use of talents made Lu Yan's head ache.
He also heard strange noises in his ears, similar to the sound of water in his ears.
Not very comfortable.
If it were just surgery, Lu Yan wouldn't feel tired. Surgery was his way of decompressing.
But performing pollutant removal surgery required constant use of the system. The amount of information needed was significantly different from the casual chatter.
Dressed in surgical attire, Lu Yan suddenly had a whimsical idea and asked, "What is my pollutant source?"
With just this question, he suddenly started coughing up blood from his nose and mouth.
Lu Yan bent over, coughing. Blood sprayed onto the floor, dotting it.
The researchers who had come to assist from the institute were shocked. "Dr. Lu, are you okay? Take care of yourself!"
Since Lu Yan announced that he could perform surgery, he had become a national treasure in the eyes of other researchers, easily setting off countless alarms.
This matter had not been leaked yet, only known within the major research institutes and by some senior figures.
Despair isn't scary; what's scary is giving people hope and then despairing.
Lu Yan said that the surgical plan couldn't be promoted yet and wasn't universal. Therefore, only some urgent high-level Harbingers were sent to the operating table, and priority was given to those Lu Yan knew.
"Talent overuse." Lu Yan wiped the blood from the floor with paper and threw it into the incinerator. "It's okay. I'll take a few days off after this surgery."
Lu Yan knew very well that this bout of hemoptysis had nothing to do with the pollutant removal surgery. It was because he asked a question he shouldn't have.
He walked into the operating room and glanced around. Zhou Qiming's pollutant source turned out to be his eyes.
This was another field that Lu Yan had not explored.
He had to urgently take out his phone and watch eye surgery videos.
Zhou Qiming's hand rested on his stomach, somewhat nervous. "This scene seems familiar, Dr. Lu."
When he was about to have a cesarean section, Lu Yan was the same, although he had no idea what he was doing, he remained calm and confident.
Lu Yan replied, "Yes, it might be a bit painful. Endure it. After the surgery, you will experience temporary blindness for a short period, about a week, before you can recover."
Zhou Qiming looked up at Lu Yan's head, and the title had changed again, reducing from three lines to one.
【Dawn's Light】
Zhou Qiming's eyes were filled with satisfaction. "That's great. After the surgery, I won't have to worry about the degree of mutation for a long time."
"In theory, that's correct."
The surgery lasted for five hours. Lu Yan peeled off Zhou Qiming's cornea and replaced it with a new one.
After the surgery, he said to Xiao Bing, "I can't continue with surgeries for the time being."
Xiao Bing frowned, looking worried. "I understand. Dr. Lu, you need to take care of yourself."
Lu Yan finished his work and didn't immediately go to find Tang Xunan but returned to the single room arranged for him at the institute.
Although it was called a single room, the furnishings were the same as his house in K City, just with fewer decorations.
After returning from the abattoir, he hadn't checked his related data.
Lu Yan undid his cufflinks, looking at the fish scales that had grown to his wrist and whispered, "System."
It was obvious that the system knew what Lu Yan wanted to ask.
【Spiritual Power Threshold: 9600, Mutation Degree: 81.2.】
【You have a high spiritual power threshold and a high degree of mutation. Your body is in a dangerous state. Fortunately, because of your persistence, others are temporarily unaware of the specific data.】
"Is it because of the pollutant removal surgery?"
【Not entirely.】The system became cryptic.
【I think it's time for us to go home, my dear.】
Because of the headache, Lu Yan didn't react for a moment. "Back to K City?"
【No, to Laiye.】
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