"Dr. Gu, have you tested the Second Heart's effects yet?"
After a brief spell of melancholy, Xia Xu returned to the matter at hand.
"Preliminary tests have already been conducted."
Gu Haiming composed himself as well and explained, "This Second Heart was developed by inducing my own stem cells to differentiate. It also performs cardiac functions to a certain extent. If transplanted through sufficiently skilled surgery, with the circulatory system reconstructed, it should be able to replace the original heart and sustain life if the original is damaged."
"A replacement heart? That's certainly useful. It makes the heart less of a fatal weak point. You could say it substantially improves survivability in a roundabout way, which is crucial in combat, especially on a battlefield."
Xia Xu nodded slightly, but then raised his eyebrows a little and looked at Gu Haiming. "But... growing it from your own stem cells-Dr. Gu, are you planning to conduct the next phase of experiments on yourself?"
Organ transplants required consideration of rejection. An incompatible organ could have extremely serious consequences, potentially causing the immune system to collapse or even turn against the body.
That also meant that, to conduct human trials with the Second Heart currently being grown, it could only be transplanted into the person it had been cloned from: Gu Haiming himself.
Even setting aside the risks of surgery, whether this Second Heart truly had no defects or hidden dangers remained to be verified. Being the first human test subject would be extraordinarily dangerous.
"There isn't a more suitable candidate right now, is there? After all, I can't exactly experiment on you, boss."
Gu Haiming seemed unconcerned. He shook his head with a chuckle. "Finding a legal, voluntary test subject in the Xia Kingdom who is willing to risk their life and also