The very next day, He Yuan was on a Spaceship to a minor Planet 3 light years away from Earth. He'd completed his research the day before and decided to choose this Planet for his treatment and rehabilitation. It was a peaceful Planet with barely any waves and very little attraction sites for tourists so it seemed perfect to him.
There was also another reason. He needed to have a full medical examination on Yang Xue's body regarding the magnetic energy extraction and he couldn't do that on Earth, Andron or even Cladis.
The Ding family influence was too strong in those three planets and he was pretty sure that the results of any medical examination he might carry out concerning Yang Xue's unique genes might reach their hands before he even got to see them.
Although it had taken him quite some time to find a magnetic energy specialist on the minor Planet, he was still successful in the end.
He Yuan took his mind off what was to come and focused on the commercial spaceship he was currently in.
Generally speaking, citizens had the option of equipping the entertainment casques attached to the headrest of their seats for the duration of their flight period. This was because outer space was nothing but a bluish purple void filled with satellites, stars, the Plex, asteroids and so on.
The combination of all these made for a beautiful sight and, for a person travelling outer space for the first time, it might be surreal to watch but overtime, it became a bit boring and overrated.
In this situation, different space stations had to come up with ideas to attract people to their docks and keep their customers satisfied hence the availability of entertainment casques -with a ton of different entertainment elements programmed into them- during transportations.
He Yuan ignored the casque attached to the headrest of his seat. Around him were other people with the casque attached to their heads, oblivious to their surroundings but he paid them no mind and instead stared out of the reinforced mimic glass window in awe.
Back at his origin realm, it would have taken the fastest spaceship 21,500 years to travel a single light year but in this realm, his flight was estimated to take three days. Due to the advanced technology, it would take this spaceship a little more than 300th of that time to travel thrice the distance!
More mind blowing was the fact that this spaceship was not even the fastest one available. All in all, the experience was quite unique but He Yuan lost his fascination in a couple of minutes. His job was literally to travel between realms.
Life couldn't get more fascinating than that.
This realization both amazed and scared him at the same time. He'd only traversed between a few realms and yet he felt his initial extreme excitement at seeing new things trickling away. Just how unfeeling would he be when he became an advanced or ultra level tasker?
He Yuan shuddered and quickly banished that train of thought.
Three days later, the commercial spaceship landed at the dock on the minor Planet. Arrangements had already been made beforehand so immediately after clearance, He Yuan spotted a digital imprint of his name flashing on a hover car right outside the spaceship dock.
Forty-five minutes later, he arrived at the specialist hospital and was led to a reception area. A couple of the patients raised their brows as He Yuan walked in. Not surprising knowing the fact that mandrons were seldom see in places located faraway from the three major Plexar Planets.
As uncomfortable as the stares were, He Yuan remained seated with an upright posture until it got to his turn to see the doctor.
The doctor in question was an andronian female with blood red hair, pointy ears with a ring at the tip and, the signature red eyes and lone fang that was unique to all andronians. She was a bit taken aback when He Yuan walked in. "Mandron?"
He Yuan resisted the urge to roll his eyes and answered, "Yes." With a deadpan expression.
The doctor cleared her throat and tapped her electronic pen against the high tech Ipad she was holding. She had every detail about the patient, of course, but she'd automatically glossed over the species column when going through his files. Her patients were mostly andronians with the occasional humans so she didn't pay close attention.
As soon as the doctor's embarrassment wore off, she began explaining the surgery process to He Yuan in overly vivid details. Although she wasted so much time going over the same thing repeatedly and unnecessarily oversimplifying her words, He Yuan was too lazy to mind.
He was very much aware that in Planets that had little to no interaction with mandrons, the inhabitants generally saw mandrons as a species too stupid to even comprehend the concept of language.
This did not mean that they treated the mandrons badly, it was just that their interactions with mandrons ended up becoming heavily dependent on the stereotype that they'd mostly learnt from other users of the Federation network..
At the end of the day, He Yuan was led to a single person ward where he would be spending his days until the period of surgery and rehabilitation was over.
Throughout the week before the surgery, he spent all his time abiding to the instructions of his assigned nutritionist and learning more about prosthetic limbs. With the current technology, prosthetic limbs were much more than he'd imagined. This was because the limb wasn't just attached to the body like it was thousand of years ago.
Rather it was made from a combination of nano technology and a viscous high grade resource gotten from Andron to make it look and function just like a real limb. To achieve this, millions of cells, veins, arteries, nerve endings, blood vessels and bones were merged with the new limb. Making it so that the prosthetic limb could be operated with a single thought, just like a normal limb.
The only complication arose from the fact that complete integration with the new limb could sometimes be unsuccessful. All the same, He Yuan was still relieved. If he worked hard enough and integrated with the limb, there was little chance that Yang Xue would be rejected from reenlisting in the army based on physical disability as soon as he returned.
Another thing he did during the week was to contact the magnetic energy specialist and have Yang Xue's blood and body samples taken away for research. Since the medical report showing every detail about his unique genes were in the hands of the Dings, He Yuan had to carry out the entire process from scratch.
The doctors on the minor Planet could naturally not compare to the ones on the first rate Planets -coupled with the fact that the magnetic energy specialist had seemed skeptical and disbelieving when He Yuan had told him about his body's capabilities, it would actually take a while to see some results.
Finally, the day for the surgery came and He Yuan was wheeled, on a stretcher, into the operating room. After the surgeons hooked him up on several machines, he was administered with an anaesthetic and put to sleep.
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The next time He Yuan woke up, his head felt really groggy. It took a while for him to realize that he was back in his hospital ward. His eyes quickly looked to his right leg at the same time 888 materialized, arms folded across his chest.
"It's been days. Were you planning on sleeping forever?" 888 asked with a bland expression. From the reaction of the nurses these past days, that wasn't normal. He'd tried reaching out with his energy but He Yuan was totally unresponsive. That development had made him a bit uneasy.
When He Yuan rolled his eyes with a helpless smile, 888 shook his head and lowered it as he inspected the new limb. "It looks pretty normal to me."
He Yuan nodded in agreement. His leg was currently suspended in the air with a thick wrap of bandage around his knee connecting his thigh and his new limb. There was also a patch of blood on the bandage but that did not worry or surprise him. After all, the part where his limb had been severed from had to be cut open once more in order to be merged with the prosthetic limb.
Although He Yuan couldn't feel a thing, as he was still under the influence of the administered drugs, the prosthetic limb really did look okay to him. His eyes went from his good leg on the bed to the suspended one. They both looked the same only that his new limb was much paler.
He was impressed by the exquisite workmanship.
"You're finally awake?" The andronian doctor said in pleasant surprise as she walked into the room with a nurse behind her and a small automated trolly carrying some drugs, light equipment and nutrient solution.
She did not have a lot of experience operating on mandrons so when the young mister had remained asleep for five days, she became a little worried.
"Hm." He Yuan answered, his eyes on 888, who hadn't dematerialized once the newcomers came in. The system had instead moved to casually lean against the wall.
The doctor gingerly carried out various checks before giving the nurse the go ahead to hand the nutrient solution and water over to He Yuan. Next, the nurse injected two or three drugs into the drip sachet attached to one of the few machines he was still connected to.
He Yuan quietly sipped from the bottle of nutrient as he watched them do their jobs. The more he drank, the clearer his head became. He looked down at the bottle in his hands before drinking all of it. Nutrients solutions were also used in the army when going on outer space missions. Or even regular in-world missions.
It was both time and cost effective. It was also more efficient than food because one didn't have to wait for it to digest before gaining the required body nutrients.
As soon as all was done, the doctor wrote a few things on her Ipad before facing He Yuan. "Judging from the tests that have been carried out, I'd say the operation was successful and even with your delayed rouse, there are no signs of sequelae. Which is very good. It would take about a month for your body to fully merge -and familiarize itself- with the prosthetic limb and one more week to heal completely.
-Which means that in about a month and one week, you can begin rehabilitation. A resident physiotherapist has already been chosen for you. Rest assured, the person is a certified expert in the field.
-The nutritionists assigned to you have also been informed to keep a tight diet schedule to aid your quick recovery and it would be best if you cooperated with them.
-The hospital has various entertainment facilities to reduce boredom and cater to your mental health during the period of your stay but I would advice not to overwork yourself and also...." After letting out a very long list of dos, don'ts and extras, the doctor nodded at He Yuan before walking off with the nurse.
He Yuan leaned his head against the headboard and groaned in relief, making 888 chuckle. Next, he took out Yang Xue's electronic bracelet and contacted the magnetic energy specialist.
As soon as the holographic call connected, He Yuan was faced with a very red faced and enegertic human. It was a far cry from the dismissive attitude that he'd received the first time he contacted the magnetic energy specialist.
"Mr. Yang!" The specialist began with excited eyes. "Your genes are revolutionary! When can another sample collection be scheduled?"