But the moment Airi followed Velvie over, she immediately blushed and covered her eyes.
"No! Velvie, why isn't Chang Yuan wearing anything?!"
Quickly turning around, Airi asked in a flustered voice.
She had been wearing clothes when she came out of the incubation pod. They had been very thin, but she had definitely been wearing something.
Unlike Chang Yuan, who was completely naked.
"What are you embarrassed about? Just don't look. Even I, a doctor whose main field is surgery, don't care."
Having operated on quite a few people—and seen quite a few die on the operating table—Velvie had long become desensitized to the human body.
So, she did not understand why Airi was feeling embarrassed.
"I-I... I won't look."
Covering her face, Airi turned and fled the room.
She was nothing like Velvie, whose mental fortitude was as unshakable as someone who had been gutting fish for decades.
Meanwhile, Chang Yuan's situation inside the nutrient pod was far from good.
In the end, he had underestimated the power of Fusion Warrior surgery.
Within a pitch-black abyss, all he could feel was suffocation and despair.
That dark abyss kept telling him that it was fine to keep sinking forever.
Chang Yuan kept thinking of Airi. She was his only spiritual support at the moment.
He held on like that, for who knew how long.
Until, in the end, he even felt that it would be fine to simply keep sinking. After all, even if he got out, he might not be able to save anyone.
But unlike him, the outside world was in turmoil.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on?!"
Seeing Chang Yuan's vital signs suddenly plummet, Velvie panicked and began adjusting all kinds of settings.
Adrenaline, painkillers, and every beneficial drug she could think of were injected frantically.
Yet none of it stopped his vital signs from declining.
"Velvie, what's wrong with Chang Yuan?!"
Hearing the alarm, Airi immediately rushed back inside.
She noticed Velvie fumbling around in panic.
A terrible premonition rose in her heart.
The next second, Velvie confirmed that ominous feeling.
"For some reason, Chang Yuan's vital signs suddenly started dropping in a straight line. If this keeps up, he'll die!"
While operating the equipment, Velvie explained the current situation to Airi.
"No, no. The previous failed cases all showed warning signs in advance. Why isn't there one this time? Could it be because of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast genes?"
While keeping Chang Yuan's vital signs stable, Velvie was also trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
"It's below seventy percent. It can't go any lower! If it drops below fifty percent, he may never wake up again! Damn it, what else can I do?"
In her anxiety, Velvie's mind raced wildly as she searched for a way to break the deadlock.
Meanwhile, knowing she could not help, Airi could only stand before Chang Yuan's incubation pod.
She no longer had the mind to be embarrassed. Gently pressing her hand against the glass cover, she continuously prayed for Chang Yuan in her heart.
"Chang Yuan, hold on. Do you remember our promise? I still haven't said it, and you still haven't saved the people you wanted to save. So wake up."
Outside the glass cover, Airi murmured softly.
It was that murmur that reached Chang Yuan, who had been preparing to sleep forever in the abyss.
"A promise..."
Within the deep abyss, Chang Yuan slightly opened his eyes and murmured.
Those words instantly pulled him back to the time when the two of them had made a promise to each other by the beach.
They had promised one another that, in the future, they would help fulfill each other's wishes.
"Hey, hey, hey! His vital signs are gradually rising! Airi! What did you do? Keep going!"
Velvie had no idea what Airi had said to Chang Yuan inside the incubation pod, but as long as it worked, that was enough.
Hearing Velvie's words, Airi thought of what she had just done.
At once, she understood the key to breaking the deadlock.
She immediately began recounting all sorts of things from the past.
Chang Yuan, whose desire to survive had already been stirred, kept advancing toward that voice.
Now was not the time to sleep. The future might not be so bleak; there was still a sliver of hope.
"Back to normal, back to normal. Woohoo."
Seeing all of Chang Yuan's vital signs return to normal, Velvie wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
If she got Chang Yuan killed here, she did not know whether anyone else would come after her, but she herself might just die of depression.
After all, Chang Yuan was practically half a life mentor to her. He had given her far too much inspiration.
If she got this person who was both teacher and friend killed, she would feel guilty for the rest of her life.
"Velvie, Chang Yuan seems to be awake."
Seeing Chang Yuan's eyelids twitch slightly inside the incubation pod, Airi reminded Velvie.
Hearing that, Velvie focused her attention on Chang Yuan.
The moment Chang Yuan opened his eyes, Velvie immediately removed the incubation pod's glass cover.
The nutrient fluid inside, along with all the injection tubes, was instantly withdrawn.
"Chang Yuan, are you all right?"
Worried sick, Airi had no mind to care what Chang Yuan looked like right then.
She only wanted to know whether his body was unharmed.
"I'm fine, but Airi, could you find me some clothes first? Being cold is one thing, but this is really awkward."
Scratching his cheek, Chang Yuan said with some embarrassment.
Reminded by Chang Yuan, Airi instinctively looked down. Her face instantly turned so red that she nearly fainted backward.
Then she immediately fled in a panic without even saying a word.
"Oho, you developed pretty well."
"...Big V Teacher, right now you should be finding me some clothes, not saying things like that."
Chang Yuan looked at this female hooligan with a face full of black lines.
He knew Velvie's words carried no other meaning, and that she herself could not possibly have feelings for him beyond friendship.
But it was still awkward enough. What the hell was this, walking a bird in the moonlight?
"What the hell are you embarrassed about? I already saw you inside and out before you went in. Here, these clothes are for you."
By inside and out, Velvie naturally meant it in the literal, physical sense.
She had naturally needed to cut Chang Yuan open when performing Fusion Warrior surgery on him, so Velvie could be said to be the only person who currently understood Chang Yuan's "inner self."
Catching the set of clothes Velvie tossed over, Chang Yuan put them on right in front of her.
She was not embarrassed, so why should he, a grown man, be embarrassed? Besides, it was not like he was the one losing out.
Before you continue