Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 255 - 255 35 The End of Surgery

255: Chapter 35 The End of Surgery 255: Chapter 35 The End of Surgery Mr.

Hamuki received a communication.

It was from his supervisor, the armed cadre Mr.

Fraser.

“According to the weather satellite’s detection, will there be a relatively sparse period in the sandstorm in three hours?” Mr.

Hamuki asked.

“Yes, at that time, visibility will become relatively high, and there can be stable communication between the system and the individual soldiers,” Mr.

Fraser said.

“If the calculations are not too far off, this window of opportunity will last about fifty minutes.

After that, a thick wall of sand dust will hit.

That’s the last wave.

A few hours after that, the sandstorm will cease completely.”

Mr.

Hamuki asked, “Should we wait until the sandstorm has completely passed to carry out a large-scale bombardment?”

Most of the Heroes could not access the data from the weather satellite.

Even if they had indeed managed to sneak into the satellite and gain access through a backdoor, they could not connect to it from the wilderness.

They lacked stable base stations.

But the Protectors did not face this problem.

They did not need to conceal themselves, so they could use high-power base stations.

Even if the sandstorm, mixed with Iron Dust, obstructed communication, they could even transport storage devices laden with massive amounts of information using large unmanned drones.

The Protectors were well aware of the changes in the weather, but the Heroes knew nothing about this.

The Protectors could formulate their strategy calmly, based on this knowledge.

“Why do you think I mentioned that window of about fifty minutes?” the cadre retorted.

“Although the sand will be thinner, communication interference will still be present…”

“That window of about fifty minutes will signal to those Heroes that the sandstorm is about to end.

Then, they will inevitably try to escape in the last thick wave of the sandstorm,” Fraser said.

“Their individual combat capabilities are indeed much stronger than ours.

That’s for certain.

Judging by the signs of melting and radiation residues on the wreckage of that ship, Tao Enhai’s Pseudo Star Device is still intact.

They have also seized at least sixteen isotope batteries.

The final batch of Heroes breaking out will definitely be experts.”

“If these Heroes gather together and make a rapid assault in the sandstorm, they indeed might be able to break through our defenses.”

“Understood,” Mr.

Hamuki said with a slight bow.

“You are correct.”

After speaking, a series of commands was issued like that.

…………………………………

When Xiang Shan temporarily removed his hand from the protective chamber, Lucius spoke, “Senior, the brothers outside are asking how much longer it will be.”

As an assistant, he must not disturb the chief surgeon at any cost.

In most situations, Lucius could not speak.

He could only convey messages from outside to him when he was certain that Xiang Shan was “temporarily resting.”

Otherwise, Xiang Shan might easily make a surgical mistake.

The strong life force of Benchmark Man and the prosthetic body technology ensured that even if Xiang Shan made a mistake, Tao Enhai might not die in a biological sense.

But in such an operation, a tremor from the chief surgeon could result in damage to Tao Enhai’s memory, consciousness, or even personality.

However, Xiang Shan’s ultimate goal was to preserve his old friend’s consciousness and Martial Arts intact.

Xiang Shan pressed his forehead and said after a while, “Four hours?

Three hours?

I can’t be certain.”

“I understand,” Lucius said.

“I’ll go tell them.

But they also hope I can inform you that the wind speed is becoming unstable, and the density of the sand dust is decreasing…”

Yet Xiang Shan stood there for several more seconds.

These were conditions that Tao Enhai had also not anticipated.

Currently, Xiang Shan was a “disabled person” on a mental level.

He had lost his memory.

Almost all concrete memories related to the incident had vanished, leaving only subjective, ambiguous, and indistinct emotional sensations.

Normally, the human brain would use elements from memory to fill in forgotten spaces.

Sometimes, memory is like that.

A person recalls a past event years later, then checks their journal, only to find discrepancies between memory and record.

But Xiang Shan’s brain had no material to “fill in.” He remembered only scientifically constructed rational knowledge, along with emotions that lacked any factual support.

His brain, his psyche, instinctively craved completeness.

The memories given by Tao Enhai induced a series of storms in his mind.

Xiang Shan could barely stop the process.

——Let me add an explanation.

Doctor Tao, our company’s operational scope includes gene therapy, cognitive science, and prosthetics.

Our ultimate goal is to have those who cannot stand to run, those who cannot see to observe, those who cannot move to live…

We want to conquer disease, conquer aging.

If possible, I even want to defeat death!

——Is this not the greatest medical skill?

Memory.

This was a memory most cherished by Tao Enhai.

This was the most crucial piece of the puzzle in the memories missing from Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan pressed his head: “Don’t think about these… not now… these are not needed for now… technology… technology… technology… surgery!

The anatomical structure of the brain!”

Xiang Shan roared at himself.

Xiang Shan could not leave behind even a single Evolu cell.

Cybermen with full transformation rates are immune to the vast majority of pathogens.

However, if a pathogen does indeed breach the enzyme system’s defenses, their poor nonspecific immune capabilities would not be sufficient to eradicate it.

The surgery has now reached its final step.

Most of the aberrant tissue, composed of Evolu cells, has been excised.

The operation is also approaching Tao Enhai’s new cortex.

Here, thought, memory, morality, and even personality, all manifest in physical form.

In this domain, “ideas” really do take on a material form between the neurons.

A scalpel can truly carve personality here.

But whether it’s Rodin or Michelangelo, no one can craft beauty in this place.

Humanity’s technology has not yet fully deciphered the relationship between the brain’s physical structure and the software of thought.

It’s akin to covering a block of stone with cloth, then having a sculptor whose hands are nearly senseless attempt to carve it.

Of course, sometimes the sculptor can still create a piece with a sense of avant-garde art under these conditions, and the odds are definitely greater than a monkey typing out “The Complete Works of Shakespeare.”

But no one would actually do such a thing.

Must be careful…

Careful…

——Boss, I have to say, you are really harsh on monkeys.

Indeed, they are test animals, destined to undergo life-and-death gene therapy experiments.

Dissecting their brains just maximizes resource use.

But even so, your actions are too crude.

Do you know?

A primate brain, if handled properly by medical students, can greatly enhance their cognitive level…

Like pulling up a radish bringing up soil, more memories sweep over.

Careful…

——Doctor…

we’ve succeeded!

We’ve saved this person!

He’s alive!

We saved him!

We’ve succeeded!

Now, we’ve unlocked the future of humanity!

Careful…

——Everyone in the medical team can get a 0.1% bonus!

Careful…

——The revolution is not yet successful, comrades still need to work hard…

Doctor Tao, there’s still time if we don’t give up…

Another small piece of gnarled Evolu cells is separated

Artificial glial tissue fills another area.

Yet Xiang Shan is suddenly overwhelmed by some emotion.

His consciousness has been detached from action.

In this surgery, he is closer to being a “plug-in” — he is the plug-in for Tao Enhai’s memory.

Tao Enhai’s technology is working through his brain to save Tao Enhai’s brain.

And what this technology is removing is Yawgmoth’s cells.

These cells were once donated in the name of humanity, for scientific and medical research.

Xiang Shan carefully affixes several medical electronic components to the inside of Tao Enhai’s brain, meticulously connecting the nerves with the data structures.

In 1966, the psychologist George Holman interviewed 25 veterans, all of whom had suffered spinal cord injuries two years earlier or even before that.

Holman asked them to describe their experiences of fear, anger, sexual impulses, and sadness before and after their injuries.

They said that except for sadness, their emotions had changed after the injury; they weren’t as intense, they didn’t resonate, or they viewed them with detachment.

Most importantly, the more severe the injury, the greater the change.

Non-central nerves can also affect emotions.

This is true for the nerves of the viscera and muscles as well.

A person with a high-level quadriplegia due to a neck injury once described an experience where he was lying in bed, dropped a cigarette end, and couldn’t reach it.

That cigarette end could very well ignite the carpet or bedsheet and burn him to death.

His rationality could clearly recognize this, but he was unable to feel any fear.

Yet, even without fear or panic, he still tried his utmost to extinguish the cigarette end.

Physiological sensations are closely related to emotions.

Even just losing the physical body, cybernetically enhanced people would feel something was wrong, and over time, this could lead to psychological disorders.

In the 21st century, Xiang Shan and his colleagues’ solution was to input false sensory signals using electronic devices, to make the brain believe the body was still there.

Just by losing those peripheral systems of the body, the brain could feel abnormalcy, let alone Tao Enhai who had lost most of his brain.

These lost functions couldn’t even be compensated for and transferred to other parts to perform in the short term.

Thought cannot be maintained with such brain deficits.

This might lead to terrifying sequelae.

It’s like covering someone’s eyes for several years.

When you remove that cloth, the person naturally loses their sight.

On one hand, Lucius had to suppress Tao Enhai’s brain activity with anesthetics.

On the other hand, Xiang Shan also had to implant these electronic devices.

They could firstly act as a support to prevent the brain from deforming.

Additionally, they could deceive the remaining brain into believing “you are still complete.”