Biological Modification (Complete)

After Professor Han left, Gao Gong fell into deep thought.

Rather than choosing between two system modifications, it was more like choosing between two skill combinations.

One was Mobile Blood Bag, Organ De-Weakpointing, Miniature Limb Regeneration, and Same-Species Hunting Enhancement.

The other was Enhanced Agility, Metal Digestion, Same-Species Predation Enhancement, and Biochemical Star-Absorbing Technique.

The former was suited for resisting bosses and worked well for tanks—in other words, players like Fatty Xiang. But all three traits were highly practical. Even Gao Gong craved traits like "No Weakpoints" and "Finger Regeneration."

It was practically a godsend for melee builds.

As for the latter, it was more suitable for a healer?

That wasn't entirely accurate. It was suitable for rapidly recovering health on the battlefield.

It was just that "Metal Digestion" wasn't very useful.

But "Star-Absorbing Technique" was simply too tempting.

Gao Gong was deeply conflicted. His indecision lasted until Professor Han produced the specific "Biological Modification Plan," at which point he finally made up his mind.

He could only choose the second option.

There was no other reason. Normal systematic modifications all had a core.

The core of circulatory-system modification was the heart, while the core of digestive-system modification was the stomach.

Simply put, the former required replacing the heart, while the latter required replacing the stomach.

Replacing his stomach was no big deal. His stomach was still the original model, not an imported one.

Replacing his heart was another matter. His heart had long since been replaced by a mechanical heart.

It wasn't that he couldn't replace it. It was merely an ordinary power-supply device with mediocre energy consumption, and Gao Gong had disliked it for a long time. He would replace it sooner or later anyway.

But when taking the path of fusion ascension—that was, combining the carbon-based and mechanical paths—there was one major taboo.

When carrying out mechanical modifications, one should preferably not mess around with the biological systems.

The reverse was also true. When optimizing the biological systems, one should leave the mechanical systems alone.

It was like walking a tightrope. When leaning left, you turned a little to the right; when leaning right, you turned a little to the left. But if you swayed wildly from side to side, you would easily fall.

Professor Han was somewhat surprised that Gao Gong had settled on a plan so quickly. After hesitating for a moment, he said:

"I know you want to obtain greater power through biological modification. That's certainly no problem. It's just that implanting biological organs into the human body really isn't within my field of expertise."

"I also don't know exactly what kind of physiological reactions it might cause."

"Professor, you're not trying to stop me, are you?"

Professor Han shook his head. "What I mean is, if you only want to obtain the power of a radiation beast, there's another method."

"Host-body technology?"

"You know about it?" Professor Han asked in astonishment.

"I read your notes. I have to say, Professor, you had quite a great figure when you were young."

Professor Han's usually thick old face flushed for once. With a sigh, he said, "I was young and reckless. Being young really is wonderful."

"Besides, even in the pre-civilization era, host-body technology was one of your country's highest-level secrets. Although you, Professor Han, are a master of bionics—"

"Not pure host-body technology. Using bionic principles, we graft the limbs of radiation beasts onto the human body for a short period, allowing the user to obtain tremendous power."

Gao Gong suddenly understood. "So that's why classical mechanical hunters could wield such heavy weapons without undergoing mechanical modification. It turns out that's how it worked."

Professor Han's expression darkened. It was obvious that the knot in his heart from those days had not yet been undone.

Gao Gong smiled. "According to my guess, this kind of biological bionics must have major flaws. For one thing, if this connection-and-separation method is used too often, the life systems won't be able to integrate. Over time, biological rejection will reach a terrifying level."

Professor Han nodded. "That's right. There's another point. Host-body technology is wartime technology. Host bodies can be donned and used immediately, whereas our bionic limbs require at least several days of calibration."

Gao Gong completely lost interest and shook his head.

"Then I'll use my method."

The two began working together. Professor Han was responsible for carrying out a systematic bionic analysis of the "Harvester Queen," while Gao Gong began integrating the surgical plan. Some forms of "biological modification" were suitable for surgical modification, while others were not and required adjustment.

In the game's terms, what the two were doing now was creating their own blueprint and equipment.

During his breaks, Gao Gong would walk to a nutrient tank and look at the "stomach" inside.

Generally speaking, as a human digestive organ, most people's stomachs were shaped like water bags.

Compared to them, the Harvester Queen's stomach looked exceptionally ferocious. It was not shaped like a water bag, but like an oversized red gemstone. Its surface was covered in densely packed digestive tubes, resembling a red ball of snakes tangled together. The digestive openings, like snake mouths, burbled as they spat out bubbles.

Human modification was a taboo option in certain civilizations. It was what people called "species primitivism."

They would list all kinds of cases in which modifications had failed, along with various heretical theories—such as the "uncanny valley effect," the "bestialization principle of nonhuman organs," and "physiological variability"—to prove their point.

Put simply, they peeled off human skin, exposed the structure of the modified human body, and disgusted you as thoroughly as possible.

"Look, this isn't human. It isn't one of us. How disgusting."

"Now look at its behavioral patterns. The more you look, the stranger it gets!"

"Against ethics, against human norms, morally depraved!"

But the problem was, if you peeled the skin off the face of a perfectly natural beauty and had her stare blankly at you, you wouldn't be able to eat either.

If you pulled out your own heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, you would also wonder why the things inside you were so disgusting.

When you grew old and frail, you wouldn't find your own appearance pleasing either.

As a universal-love doujin player, Gao Gong had always upheld one principle: he needed an aesthetic sense that transcended intelligent species.

The ancients had put it well: only universal love could lead to Gao Gong.

Weren't mechanical battle maids alluring? Weren't beautiful bionic women alluring? Weren't ship girls alluring? Weren't tentacle girls alluring?

Without the broad-mindedness to embrace the entire universe, you could only be an ordinary game player, eventually turned into a biological battery or a brain-matter generator by NPCs.

That was karma.

Ahem, he had gotten off track again. In any case, after Gao Gong and Professor Han spent another day becoming accustomed to working together, they were finally almost ready.

"Does it really have to be this urgent?"

"Every second counts."

On the operating table, Gao Gong bared his teeth in a grin, then took out a set of electrode patches and attached them to his forehead and temples.

This was the first blueprint the system had given him when he changed class to become a prosthetic doctor: the "Pain Editor."

Pain Editor: A neural collaborative processor that suppresses pain receptors' transmission of signals to the brain's parietal lobe, preventing the user from feeling pain.

For the sake of biological modification, Gao Gong had built this equipment long ago, specifically so that he could operate on himself.

As expected, the moment the Pain Editor was activated, the pain signals were directly blocked.

"Let's begin."

Two surgical arms began operating. A needle was inserted into his leg for local anesthesia, preventing reflexive contractions of the leg muscles.

The scalpel on another surgical arm began cutting into his skin.

Both of Gao Gong's knees bore obvious sutures. Once the skin was opened, metallic knee joints were revealed.

Inside the joints, several wires as thin as nerve fibers could vaguely be seen. Miniature motors had been implanted there.

The knees would be replaced, but the motors had to be preserved. Combining biological and mechanical power generation meant twice the happiness.

The greatest difficulty in the operation lay in preserving the miniature motors.

Fortunately, the Harvester's knees were inherently rather compatible with alloy materials.

As long as a layer of "biological ironification membrane" was plated over the motors—the thin membrane between biological iron armor and flesh—there would be no problem.

Gao Gong even had enough spare time to replace the motors' aging wires and the like.

The scene was rather bloody. Gao Gong's expressionless dissection of a human body made him look exactly like a certain cannibalistic Doctor Hannibal.

[Implantation surgery in progress]

[Surgery complete. You have implanted Sensory Knees. Agility +3, Evasion +5%, Critical-hit rate while sneaking +10%]

[Your knees' load-bearing capacity has increased by 300 kg]

[Falling damage reduced by 20%]

[Your locomotor-system modification rate +1%]

[Health +20, Stamina +10]

Outside the sterile room, Professor Han was somewhat nervous.

During the operation, it wasn't as if he had nothing to do. He had to constantly check the rejection values of every part of Gao Gong's body. If the rejection of any system became too high, he would immediately have to alter the surgical details.

The knee surgery was completed smoothly. That had been expected. The main event was still to come.

After the surgery, there wasn't a single drop of sweat on Gao Gong's head. This was the effect of the "Blood Condenser," which functioned like a "sweat-gland refrigerator," freezing the sweat-gland system for a short period.

This was equipment made from a level-two technology blueprint.

Gao Gong took out another metal pellet and held it in his mouth.

It looked a little like the scene of an ancient person being buried with a "golden pill in his mouth to ascend to immortality."

In reality, it was an "oral special-effect medicine." Its function was to gather the body's trace metal elements for a short period, reducing mechanical rejection.

Swallowing it would actually have worked better.

But the problem was that Gao Gong was modifying his digestive system. If he swallowed it, where would it go?

Seeing the values on the screen stabilize again, Professor Han wiped away his sweat and said solemnly, "It's about time."

Gao Gong slowly lay down on the operating table. An electronic screen automatically unfolded above it, displaying his six-pack abs.

The next stage of the surgery would have to be performed entirely by the operating table.

First, anesthetic was injected into his abdomen. Then, with a sizzle, lasers sprang from the two scalpels.

These were "High-Polymer Surgical Knives." They were several times sharper than ordinary scalpels and were particularly suited to mechanical modification and certain "hardcore" biological modifications.

A red line slowly appeared across his chest. The human skin was cut open, revealing a titanium-alloy sternum and the mechanical heart beneath it.

And directly below the heart was the stomach.

Soon, this thing would bid farewell to its homeland and journey into the distance.

During the operation, Gao Gong had no time to pay attention to the system panel.

The system panel continued displaying a string of notifications regardless.

[Transplantation surgery in progress]

[Stomach transplant complete. Harvester stomach implantation in progress]

[Transplantation complete. Health +100]

[Additional status: High Digestion Mode]

[Maximum stamina +10%]

[Digestive-system modification in progress]

[Your digestive-system modification rate +3%]

[Health +60, Stamina +30]

[Fusing with the mechanical systems inside your body. Digestion Mode has automatically mutated]

[Digestive-system upgrade in progress. Health recovery speed +10%]

[Biological mutation has begun]

Professor Han's expression changed because he saw all ten of Gao Gong's fingers, along with several toes, split open at the same time, spraying blood in all directions.

Was this the beginning of biological modification, or a sign that the surgery had failed?