Experiment

—Somewhere in the Qinling Mountains.

Deep within the belly of a mountain that had been almost completely hollowed out stood a protective fortification originally developed and constructed in stages by the Eastern Great Nation since the last century to withstand various special strikes amid dire circumstances, later repurposed as a long-term base facility. Further inside was a temporary experimental zone whose secrecy classification had been elevated yet again—

This experimental area, still unnamed in official documents and identified only by numbers, was like a silver-gray nut embedded deep in the mountain. Combined with electromagnetic interference technology, it almost completely cut off all outside daylight, noise, and prying eyes.

By now, only one kind of light was allowed to exist within it.

It was artificial sunlight produced by technical equipment to create a secondary simulation. Having been tamed by countless layers of filters and light-guiding panels, it poured down evenly and steadily, neither cold nor hot, illuminating the entire testing site within its semi-transparent, diffused environment.

Yet in this semi-enclosed laboratory, built without regard for cost and designed to fully simulate gentle natural sunlight, the brightness was now as shadowless as daytime. The air still faintly carried the lingering, astringent smell of a special disinfectant used in conjunction with ultraviolet sterilization.

Behind the enormous circular observation glass, shadows of people moved about. The hum of collective breathing and hushed conversation filled the air, but the atmosphere was so oppressive that it seemed almost stagnant.

Many people stared fixedly at the isolated experimental area below, as though they could not bear to blink.

At the center of the laboratory lay a body on something resembling a small operating table. A man missing most of the lower portion of his left arm was breathing steadily with his eyes closed. Even though the flesh-colored stump at his elbow, along with the skin and muscle tissue, had initially closed and healed after multiple surgeries, faint traces of trauma still remained.

But compared to the marks left on his flesh, what drew even more attention were the "foreign objects" attached to his body.

Patches of various types, precision sensor probes, external instrument testing terminals, auxiliary testing agents taken internally, miniature detection devices...

From inside to out, one after another, they densely "clung" to this military volunteer like leeches crawling over stone after rain, covering nearly every inch of exposed skin.

There was no doubt that the sight was enough to make anyone with trypophobia instinctively uncomfortable.

Workers moved back and forth around him, continuously relaying information into communication devices in low voices and tirelessly adding newly detected minor changes into the system's operational redundancy.

As curves repeatedly rose and fell across fluorescent screens and vast amounts of data constantly flashed and refreshed, these cutting-edge devices were clearly operating at full capacity. Following manual commands, they were doing their utmost to feed every subtle physiological fluctuation in the human body, second by second, into the instruments surrounding the area.

But apart from the personnel actively working, every gaze that could be called even slightly "idle"—whether the researchers in white lab coats behind the observation windows or the technical officers below in sterile isolation suits, standing like sculptures before their consoles—was locked onto the mechanical injection arm slowly descending toward its designated position above the small platform.

Or, more precisely, the strange, slender metal chamber fixed firmly at the end of the injection arm, held at a precise upward angle.

Its outer shell was a deep, ghostly blue, its entire body sleek and streamlined.

Other than the built-in needle port deliberately left at the end, non-destructive conventional scans had found no seams or markings capable of verifying its origin. It was so "clean" that it hardly seemed like the product of any normal civilization on this planet.

The liquid inside the chamber flowed soundlessly, without a trace of foam or impurities. Judging solely by subtle shifts in brightness visible from outside, those present could tell with the naked eye that roughly two-thirds of its contents remained...

As the "target" reached its designated position in perfect posture, an elderly man with graying hair and a white lab coat standing at the front of one testing station adjusted his headset uncomfortably. His Adam's apple moved with difficulty.

Soon, his slightly hoarse, deep-blue voice was relayed through the internal communication system and clearly reached every operator below—

"Attention, all units! The final injection procedure is about to begin. Conduct the final pre-operation data verification!"

"Received! Subject 002's vital signs are stable. Threshold ratio: 89.6%. Heart rate remains within normal range..."

"Received! Subject 002's neural bridge preparation is complete. No abnormalities in signal monitoring."

"Received! Environmental parameters within the designated laboratory remain constant and meet design requirements..."

As strings of orderly acknowledgments sounded one after another, nearly all irrelevant conversation around them quickly fell silent.

Everything was proceeding as expected.

The brief reports collided within the already grave and uneasy atmosphere like invisible sledgehammers, repeatedly pounding on every nerve of the "audience," making them tighten further against their will.

After all, pressure accumulated.

Within the sealed circulation system, the stable low temperature, maintained at around twenty-five degrees Celsius from beginning to end, was no longer enough to suppress the soundless, boiling anxiety.

"Old Yu, what do you think they've cooked up to make such a huge production out of this?"

An old gentleman with barely any hair left except for a few strands at his temples stood before a monitoring station used solely for viewing data. Under the even indoor lighting, the top of his head shone like a light bulb. He lowered his voice and slightly turned his head, whispering to the elderly man beside him in a dark navy Zhongshan suit.

Neither man showed any change in expression. Aside from the slight movement of their lips, someone standing even a little farther away might not have noticed that they were talking.

"Stop talking nonsense. Just watch. When it's time for business, bring your eyes, not your mouth. After all these years, do I still have to teach you that discipline?"

The old man in the Zhongshan suit, whom he had called Old Yu, raised his reading glasses awkwardly and shot him an irritated glare.

Large and small metal objects were not allowed to enter or leave the base without approval. For convenience, the brand-new pair of plastic reading glasses he wore had been hastily made and provided by staff after he arrived at the base yesterday.

Something he had only just received could never feel as comfortable as his old pair.

But clearly, despite sternly "scolding" his old friend, he was not without curiosity himself.

"Well, now that you mention it... Judging by this setup, they're even using a volunteer for an actual test. It's most likely some new development in medicine or neural signals..."

"Something's off. If this really were a medical breakthrough, I should have heard some rumors in this field over the past two years. And turning simple technological accumulation into practical application requires an ongoing process of testing and refinement. Why would they need to conduct a temporary test in a base like this?"

Running his hand carefully through the few sparse short hairs on his scalp, the old gentleman who had spoken first thought it over and tentatively rejected the other man's guess.

"Then... could it be a breakthrough in single-soldier military equipment? Or something in applied chemistry or new materials? Did some old fossil have smoke rising from his ancestors' graves and somehow pull something good from repeated 'lottery draws'?"

After thinking it over, Old Yu could not help muttering slowly to himself.

That was not a joke.

As an expert in polymer compounds, the analogy might not have been entirely fitting, but the elderly man in the Zhongshan suit knew very well that without a decisive breakthrough in theoretical depth, new materials in applied chemistry essentially relied on endless experimental testing—exhaustive trials! Combinations! Luck! Relentlessly throwing themselves against the wall again and again!

After all, whether theory came from results or results came from theory, there had never been any inevitable order between the two when it came to tinkering with materials.

Trying to crash into a "good result" through the fog ahead was inherently just blind trial and error. The chances of actually stumbling upon "a new material with absurdly powerful properties" or "a novel compound with astonishing effects" were not high, but they were not absolutely zero either...

But the problem was that they had already reached the stage of human testing. In theory, they should have achieved results long ago and begun gradually analyzing them for practical technological application. Why would they suddenly need to activate special classified testing procedures at this point?

That did not make much sense.

...It could not be that someone had accidentally "picked up" a complete set of technology from one of Amerika's secret laboratories that literally did inhuman things, could it? Or even more absurdly, that a mature product made by aliens had suddenly fallen from the sky?

What the hell am I thinking?!

After briefly drifting off, he finally came back to himself and could not help laughing inwardly.

If not for the seriousness of the occasion and the tense atmosphere making it clearly inappropriate, the old expert called Old Yu—or rather, Elder Yu—would practically have laughed aloud at his own string of utterly absurd speculations.

He had no idea that his seemingly illogical, scattered guesses had, without his realizing it, subtly approached an unbelievable "truth"...

But soon, including Elder Yu, these "technical consultants" who were not directly involved in the experimental procedure held their breath and focused all their attention on the heavily isolated testing area at the center—

More specifically, on the tiny needle that had precisely approached the missing portion of the human subject's left arm and remained especially inconspicuous even when deliberately magnified on-screen!

"Begin injecting the designated amount."

At the command, the hair-thin needle at the end of the injection arm precisely pressed against a minimally invasive injection point reserved in advance at the stump of the man's left arm. Part of the mercury-like liquid within was steadily and precisely pushed out under negative pressure, swiftly entering the blood circulation inside his limb.

A brief silence followed.

Someone behind the observation station swallowed unconsciously and leaned forward slightly.

Then the real change began.

It was not earth-shattering, but it was enough to make every witness's pupils contract.

Very quickly, a faint, barely noticeable silver tint quietly appeared beneath the flesh at the subject's left-arm stump, as though tiny fragments of light were shining through.

High-precision microscopic cameras transmitted magnified footage at different speeds to the main screen in real time—at the wound, tiny cells that had somehow taken on the same unusual silver-gray hue were "forced" aside. As finer particles, darker in color and smaller in size, continuously emerged from the tissue, certain specialized host cell structures began dividing and proliferating at an astonishing rate!

"Quick! Switch to higher-magnification lenses immediately! Move!"

Elder Yu heard someone beside him roar without concern for decorum, but he did not react. Or rather, nearly every witness had the same thought at that moment!

—They needed to see more clearly!

Soon, cameras with various lower and higher magnification settings were switched to the observation station in unison!

...Within layers upon layers of tiny tissues, among cells of varying sizes and flattened, diamond-shaped, or blotchy forms, the gray particles that had infiltrated the "active" environment finally became visible!

Compared to the native cells, which moved sluggishly like "elderly people in their twilight years," these tiny gray particles were like a swarm of wildly flying locusts. And when the "locusts" attempted to be swallowed smoothly by the cell walls without rejection—or even actively fused with them and invaded their structures—the silver-gray human cells likewise began dividing at a speed that seemed to be accelerating in fast-forward...

Drawing in a sharp breath, Elder Yu abruptly turned toward another low-magnification imaging camera!

Bones... muscles... vascular networks of varying thickness... fascia... cortex...

Compared with the microscopic perspective alone, this was an even more intuitive process.

As redundant granulation tissue formed at the wound after the injury was naturally broken down, newly grown bone and physiological tissue spread and connected at high speed within the subtly "wriggling" wound, precisely reconstructing themselves bit by bit along their original biological form at a rate nearly visible to the naked eye!

"Attention! Subject 002's physiological signals are dropping!... No! His internal-organ physiological signals are strengthening! Nutrients in his body are being consumed at high speed! His blood oxygen levels are falling!..."

"...Nutrient solution! Life Support System One, immediately inject Subject 002 with compound nutrient solution! Increase oxygen circulation support!..."

"Bioelectric signal team! Subject 002's brain activity shows signs of slight intensification..."

"Secondary metabolic indicators are rising! Check Subject 002's internal organ function and avoid possible metabolic edema..."

"Recalculate assessment values. Note that metabolic efficiency affects the anesthesia. Subject 002's actual anesthetic duration may be shorter than predicted..."

Apparently chaotic yet clearly organized information kept coming through the headsets. Amid the calm atmosphere, which had even begun to carry a faint hint of "fervor," none of the non-direct personnel spoke carelessly.

Even though sounds from the external observation area theoretically could not affect any personnel or operations within the experimental zone except through active communication, no one wanted to interrupt this scene that might well go down in history!

The process was clearly faster than imagination, yet it was filled with an unmistakable sense of order.

Soon, within just a few minutes, a complete human forearm, from elbow joint to palm, had already taken preliminary shape!

Five fingers, fingernails, skin texture...

Every detail was rapidly "growing" from the elbow at a rate visible to the naked eye, gradually becoming complete...

At the same time, they noticed that the silver-gray "little things" in the observation footage were also gradually decreasing, while cellular activity visibly began to slow.

Behind the observation station, the gasps and cries of astonishment that had been suppressed for so long finally broke out uncontrollably.

"A miracle... This is fucking..." A "young researcher" in his forties or fifties could not help blurting out a curse. Sweat ran down the side of his face, but he paid it no attention, only muttering to himself in disbelief.

"How many people could this save..."

"Data! The vast majority of Subject 002's physiological data remains within normal ranges! Rejection response is almost zero! Neural signal conduction efficiency... no issues detected! It also meets the baseline for native human neural signals!" The technician responsible for monitoring data was not as visibly overwhelmed as the researcher, but his voice still carried an involuntary tremor.

The screen clearly showed that, following a slight deliberate external stimulus, the five fingers of the newly grown left hand curled ever so faintly in a tentative motion.

It was not pain, but an instinctive reaction caused by the complete connection of newly formed internal tissue and the successful activation of nerve endings.

Through active amplification by the sensors, that tiny movement was clearly displayed across every data screen.

It had succeeded!

At that moment, even the old scientist who had given the command to "begin" the experiment gripped the railing tightly with one hand until his knuckles turned white.

Yet although his eyes gleamed with ecstatic joy that was difficult to believe, the old man still conscientiously maintained his final restraint, staring fixedly at every detail on the main screen.

He was not like these rash young people. To stand watch over every shift properly, one needed the patience to remain calm from beginning to end.

Keep waiting.

Only when the last trace of inconspicuous silver-gray finally vanished completely beneath the skin was the main process of this "experiment" provisionally declared complete.

Everyone could clearly see that the skin of the newly grown hand still held a faint pinkish hue. It differed slightly from the original skin tone of the arm, and its overall contour remained somewhat thin and weak, as if the limb were slightly underdeveloped.

But in terms of form, it was at least completely intact.

Even Subject 002, still asleep, had become visibly gaunter. His formerly plain and resolute face had thinned noticeably, and his complexion was far too pale, clearly showing the enormous expenditure of energy.

But no one could deny that resting upon his left shoulder now was an arm whose complete structure had been restored!

Unlike the jubilant observers, their faces glowing with excitement, or even the staff members who also wore smiles.

The old scientist, clearly in a leadership position, said nothing. He merely watched the arm on the screen for a long time. Only after confirming that no additional signs could be detected, and after someone operating the instruments had even asked whether the volunteer who had undergone the experiment should remain anesthetized longer, did he finally let out a long breath.

"Du Xiping, prepare to suspend the operational stage and enter the first observation stage... Also, Wang Chen, report to [Tower] immediately. Tell them the test results for that Nanite Repair Fluid are out and consistent with the original verification report."

"Understood."

Once the two people beside him, both also wearing white lab coats, rose to handle their assigned tasks, the old man finally lowered his head slightly, revealing a trace of exhaustion. Even his seated posture abruptly sagged.

"Old Ning, you've really landed yourself in something huge..."

Staring at the figure still lying on the operating table on the display, he murmured softly.

It was impossible to tell whom he was speaking to.