"Xiao Ying, stop!"
Li Zheng shouted to stop her, his expression gradually calming down.
Xiao Siyuan was right, the pain came quickly and went away just as fast.
At this time, not only did the ribs in front of his chest stop hurting, but there was even a tingling sensation.
"Tsk tsk."
Xiao Ying halted her rush, made a fierce face at Xiao Siyuan, landed beside Li Zheng, and nuzzled against his hair... his bald scalp.
There was no choice; the last time she nuzzled his cheek, she ended up covered in blood.
The little one learned her lesson.
"Judging by your expression, we can start on the next rib's healing soon."
Xiao Siyuan, worthy of his "Medical Mastery" skill, had an exceptionally accurate grasp of Li Zheng's injury.
Within less than five minutes after he said this, the Microgravity Skeletal Traction Gun stopped its operation, with its usage count decreased by one.
This indicated that the injury had completely healed.
The Microgravity Skeletal Traction Gun was truly a Silver Level medical device, with an effect more than twice as good as the Bone Straightener that Li Zheng had traded before.
"Wait a minute!"
Seeing Xiao Siyuan move the traction gun to another rib, Li Zheng's eyes twitched incessantly, and he yelled to stop, "Let me catch my breath first, I almost ascended just now."
"Sure, take your time, no rush."
As he spoke, Xiao Siyuan nonchalantly pressed the start button, and the traction gun started working again.
Buzz.
Click.
"You damn..." Li Zheng looked terrified, then screamed miserably, "No fair play ahhhhhh!"
"Fair play?"
Xiao Siyuan showed an innocent, honest smile, "When treating patients, I'm a doctor, medical ethics are enough, why talk about fair play?"
Li Zheng screamed, "Ahhhhhhh!"
Xiao Ying glared angrily, "Tsk tsk!"
Xiao Siyuan ignored it and continued talking to himself, "You remind me of a young comrade I had back in the day, he was probably around your age, about twenty-two or three.
At that time, he had just been transferred to the border, was still unfamiliar with the routes, and one day, the veteran leading him went on a mission, leaving him alone at the post.
The guy was determined, went out on patrol alone, accidentally strayed off the path, slipped, and rolled down a slope.
Goodness, he broke several bones, his right arm's fractured bones were already poking through the flesh, gleaming white.
Even so, he endured the pain, did some emergency treatment, and managed to walk back to the post.
According to the veteran who just returned to the post, even though the guy was sweating cold from head to toe, his clothes drenched in the chilly weather, he didn't make a sound.
What a pity..."
"Ahhhh... What's the pity?"
Li Zheng cried out midway, suddenly the pain began to disappear, a tingling sensation emerged, stopping him mid-spell with a stifled sob.
"It's a pity that after healing from that, he could never serve as a soldier again."
Xiao Siyuan's eyes showed a touch of reminiscence as he slowly said, "At that time, I happened to be at a nearby post, received the notification, and went over to take him to the hospital, I suppose I was the one who healed him since I was the lead surgeon then.
After recovery, due to the severe injury to his right arm and the prolonged time taken, it was practically disabled, he eventually had to leave the border and retire back home.
On the day he left, I went to see him off, he hugged me and cried miserably.
Even though he didn't shed a tear when his bones broke, and the bone fragments pierced through his flesh, why did he cry after it healed?
I didn't understand at the time, later... when I retired, I understood."
"Why are my eyes often filled with tears?"
Li Zheng muttered, reciting softly.
"Because I love this land deeply..."
Beep—
Clatter.
The traction gun in Xiao Siyuan's hand cleared its usage count, shattered into pieces, and became a scrap.
Li Zheng finally healed all the injuries caused by his greed.
The internal wound cleaning was also completed, all the nanorobots gathered in his abdomen, but this time Li Zheng didn't hurriedly return them.
Because he realized that the interval between two uses of the nanorobots, combined...
Was exactly eight hours.
"A big loss."
This thought flashed through Li Zheng's mind.
Xiao Siyuan composed himself, his eyes slightly reddened, and said with a smile, "Have you heard of this poem?"
"What's so rare?"
Li Zheng got up and stretched his limbs, the feeling of being restrained for several hours almost stifled him, "For us Chinese, even if we can't recite the whole poem, at least these last two lines are well-known."
"Yes... well-known indeed."
Xiao Siyuan patted his clothes, stood up, and said, "Since you're healed, it's time for me to go, considering the time, I might not use up my exploration chances today."
"You're just leaving like that?"
Li Zheng looked at Xiao Siyuan's back, his expression complicated.
The other chose a metallic door marked dangerous in red by the detector.
Opening his mouth, Li Zheng glanced at the remaining metallic door, the detector showing it as blue material.
After hesitating, he shouted, "But you haven't collected your consultation fee yet!"
Xiao Siyuan stopped, turned around, and said with a smile, "Your consultation fee, you can give it to the country someday when you leave here. As for me... the country will pay me a salary."
Having said that, he turned to leave.
Li Zheng gritted his teeth, finally making up his mind: "Wait!"
Xiao Siyuan stopped again, waiting for him to continue.
Li Zheng feigned indifference and pointed at the blue security door, saying, "If you trust me, go through there."
"..."
Xiao Siyuan silently watched him without speaking, then finally smiled, turned to the blue security door, and swiped the card.
Uzz~
The door opened.
As he was about to enter, Li Zheng loudly asked, "The wounded retired soldier you mentioned earlier, what happened to him afterward? Did he enter the matrix? If there's a chance, I'd like to meet him."
Xiao Siyuan paused, didn't turn back, and shouted, "His feathers have rotted underground."
Finishing those words, he disappeared into the light screen.
...
Watching the other person leave, Li Zheng stood there for a long time before coming to his senses.
"Rotted under... the ground."
Li Zheng understood Xiao Siyuan's meaning. The border defense soldier who had already retired and gone home, for some unknown reason, returned to the border post and ultimately sacrificed himself in a battle to protect the homeland.
"Truly a respectable person."
Li Zheng sighed endlessly, turned around and beckoned, letting Little Sakura return to his pocket, then walked toward the already powered-down Infinite Transformer.
Firstly, he tried to remove the revolver from its hand. After many attempts, he failed, so Li Zheng simply took out the Desert Eagle and fired dozens of shots at the Infinite Transformer's fingers, breaking them all.
Thud!
The exaggeratedly styled revolver fell to the ground with a dull sound.
"..."
Li Zheng shook his numb arm. Although he had gradually mastered the knack of shooting, the Desert Eagle indeed lived up to its name, with its recoil being no joke.
"Ying ying!"
Little Sakura revealed its head with a face full of dissatisfaction in protest.
"Alright, alright, I'll try to use the special shooting mode from now on."
Li Zheng comforted the little guy.
"Ying?"
Little Sakura looked puzzled, starting to pat its ears with its little paws as it couldn't hear what Li Zheng had just said.
Li Zheng laughed heartily, not bothering with it, as it would recover in a few minutes anyway.
"Let's see if it's usable."
He bent down, grabbed the gun handle with both hands, and lifted it with difficulty, but the system prompted:
[No usage permission, decompose suggested.]
"..."
Li Zheng was speechless, truly not even giving a tiny loophole to take advantage of.
"I guess it's not just the gun; perhaps this entire armor can't be directly used either..."
Instantly losing interest, he put everything back in place and opened the system interface.
"Decompose!"
[Decompose Infinite Transformer (powered-down)
Obtained: Flywheel Hand Cannon Blueprint*1, Nuclear Heart Transformation Permit*1, Micro Nuclear Reactor Blueprint*1, AI Core*1, Titanium Alloy 400g, Basic Module*50, Iron Ingot*30, B25 Grade Manganese Steel 500g, Tungsten Steel 800g]
"Good stuff! No wonder it's a Platinum Level monster, the decomposition bounty is simply absurd..."
Li Zheng glanced at the space display of his capsule accommodation, realizing it was almost full!
[Flywheel Hand Cannon Crafting Blueprint, Gold Level, one-time use
Description: Can craft a Flywheel Hand Cannon.
Required Materials: Power Core Type IV*1, Titanium Alloy 100g, Basic Module*20, B25 Grade Manganese Steel 300g, Tungsten Steel 500g, Iron Ingot*20, Advanced Components*5]
[Nuclear Heart Transformation Permit, Gold Level Human Transformation License
Description: Usable at the human transformation station for a special human transformation.
Required Materials: Power Core Type IV, Basic Module*10, Titanium Alloy 200g
Note: Must be used with a Micro Nuclear Reactor.]
[Micro Nuclear Reactor Crafting Blueprint, Gold Level, one-time use
Description: Can craft a Micro Nuclear Reactor.
Required Materials: Power Core Type IV*1, Basic Module*10, Iron Ingot*10, Tungsten Steel 100g, Titanium Alloy 100g, B25 Grade Manganese Steel 100g]
Li Zheng glanced briefly at the blueprints, thought for a moment, and opened the trading hall to list the Nuclear Heart Transformation Permit and Micro Nuclear Reactor blueprints, directed specifically to Xiao Siyuan in this channel, for unconditional trade.
Seller's note: You don't have to pay a consultation fee, but you did use two medical items of yours, consider this as compensation.
After a while, the system notified that the other party had accepted the trade.
Buyer's note: "The door you selected is indeed very safe, and these two items are of high value, consider it as me owing you a personal favor."
Li Zheng smiled slightly; he didn't really care about personal favors.
Even though they were two Gold Level items, ultimately, they were just blueprints and transformation permits, insignificant in value compared to other things.
However, if not for the other party's intervention which delayed the Infinite Transformer for a bit, Li Zheng might have been completely obliterated by now.
A life-saving grace, how could he not repay?
Moreover, Li Zheng had no intention of modifying his body.
"If it weren't for the fact that these materials are of other uses to me, I would've just sent all the materials over."
Li Zheng took off the detector on his ear, as the upgrade materials were already fully satisfied, and he could upgrade it again tonight.
"After upgrading one more level, it might become a Platinum Level detector, I wonder how effective it will be?"
Full of anticipation, Li Zheng chose not to upgrade immediately but instead put it back on.
"Silver to Gold takes four hours, Gold to Platinum must definitely take a lot of time, I'll wait until I've used up the remaining exploration opportunities."
Li Zheng looked at the remaining metal door marked with red danger.
It was time to leave here.