189: Chapter 189 8.3% Risk

Chen Youhua sat down at his office desk. Li Wei walked in and gently pushed a heavy, encrypted data tablet in front of him. A ring of colorful electronic tags was displayed on the screen, marking different data categories.

"All the raw data and preliminary analysis reports are inside,"

Li Wei's voice was tinged with obvious exhaustion, the listlessness left behind after months of high-pressure work.

"From the initial cell screening electron micrographs to the 24/7 physiological monitoring streams of every experimental animal, even..."

She swiped her fingertip across the screen, opening a hidden folder. Dozens of glaring red tags instantly popped up.

"...all records of sub-standard anomalies and failure cases are all here."

Chen Youhua didn't speak; he just gave a slight nod and tapped open the first folder.

High-resolution cell imaging data instantly filled the screen.

"Here,"

Li Wei leaned over Nature, pointing at a set of comparative images.

"After adjusting the expression vector for the specific membrane protein, look at the signal strength and stability in the docking area—it's improved nearly threefold. This had us stuck for almost three weeks before."

"Used the hSyn promoter?"

Chen Youhua asked, his gaze never leaving the screen as his fingers quickly scrolled down to pull up the underlying molecular construction plan.

"Yeah, a neuron-specific promoter. The effect is much better than the general-purpose ones, but the screening process was a lot more troublesome."

It was Wang Zhe who spoke. He had entered at some point and pulled up a chair to sit Nature on Chen Youhua's other side, leaning forward to look at the screen.

"enlightenment simulated nearly eight hundred combinations before screening out the one with the highest efficiency and lowest off-target rate. It complained to us quite a bit because of that."

Chen Youhua's lips twitched ever so slightly as his gaze swept over the vast and complex simulation calculation logs.

"The cost was worth it."

He clicked open a dynamic recording video.

In the footage, a Rhesus Monkey equipped with a test prosthetic limb was using mechanical fingers to deftly and stably grasp blocks of different shapes. The movement was so fluid it was almost Nature.

However, this was an animal experimented on using the new semi-automated linking technology, completely different from the manual surgical methods previously used for demonstration.

This was also the key to whether the prosthetic could move from the laboratory to industrial application.

"The precision is high. What about the signal delay data?"

Chen Youhua asked, his eyes fixed on the micro-movements of the mechanical finger joints.

"It's averaged under 15 milliseconds, almost approaching the speed of a native neural reflex arc."

Wang Zhe immediately reported the data, his tone carrying the characteristic precision of a Researcher.

"But that's the optimal performance. Look at this record, number M07,"

He skillfully helped Chen Youhua pull up another file.

"After two hours of continuous high-intensity precision operation, periodic fluctuations appear in the signal stability.

We suspect it's a bottleneck in the microcirculation supply efficiency at the interface, or perhaps the neural fatigue threshold model still needs refinement."

Chen Youhua gave a low "mm" and leaned forward slightly.

For the next hour or so, the three of them centered around that data tablet, sinking into a highly efficient and intensive technical discussion.

The cursor on the screen scrolled rapidly at times and lingered on a certain chart or video clip for a long time at others.

Chen Youhua kept asking questions—precise and sharp, pointing directly at every potentially weak technical link.

Li Wei and Wang Zhe took turns answering and adding details, occasionally engaging in low-voiced arguments over differing views on a certain technical point.

Chen Youhua raised his hand to rub the area between his eyebrows, which was feeling a bit strained, but his eyes grew increasingly bright.

What he saw wasn't just sets of cold data, but the condensed trajectory of all the team's sleepless nights, countless trials and failures, and final breakthroughs over the past two months.

When the final tissue section analysis report on long-term biocompatibility was finished, Chen Youhua leaned back into his chair and remained silent for a moment.

"Remarkable."

He finally spoke, his voice carrying a heavy sense of recognition.

"Truly."

Li Wei let out a soft breath and exchanged a look with Wang Zhe. Both of them showed expressions of relaxation and achievement that were hard to hide.

But Chen Youhua's next words made their newly relaxed nerves tighten once again.

"Therefore, we must not let anything go wrong with it."

He sat up straight and his gaze swept over the two of them.

"A 91.7% success rate would be a sensational achievement in any academic journal.

But if we want to actually use it on humans, even just an 8.3% risk of failure is a hundred percent disaster."

He tapped to open the files marked as anomalies and failures, letting them be glaringly arranged in the center of the screen.

"We need to know exactly what's going on with this 8.3%.

Not in an ideal environment, but in the most extreme and harsh conditions—where is its boundary? What factors will trigger a link failure?

Does the signal attenuation model still hold under long-term pressure? How much impact will individual physiological differences have?"

"Notify all the project group leaders; there's a meeting in the conference room in one hour,"

Chen Youhua said to Li Wei, then turned to Wang Zhe.

"Pull up the preliminary feasibility plan enlightenment made regarding large-scale, multi-variable repetitive animal experiments over the next three months. We need to refine it into an actionable roadmap immediately."

An hour later, the conference room was full of people.

The team members still had the joy of phased success on their faces, but seeing Chen Youhua's calm expression and the serious looks on Li Wei and Wang Zhe, they all Nature quickly quieted down.

Chen Youhua didn't waste any time.

He first reaffirmed the amazing breakthroughs achieved in the second phase and even specifically praised several key contributors, making the atmosphere in the conference room warm and uplifting.

Immediately afterward, the large screen behind him lit up, and those striking figures of 91.7% and 8.3% appeared side by side once again.

"But today's meeting isn't to celebrate this 91.7%. Instead, we are going to concentrate all our resources to completely conquer this 8.3%!"

He presented the preliminary experimental plan.

A larger scale of animal groups, harsher testing environments, longer continuous observation periods, and targeted replication and deep dissection of those 8.3% failure cases...

"What we want is a medical device that is truly safe, reliable, and can withstand a thousand trials—one sufficient to change the lives of countless people."

Chen Youhua's gaze swept across the room.

"This means that what we are going to do next may be more boring and tedious than the past two months, and we might not even see as much exciting success data, but this work is of even greater significance."

He looked at Li Wei and Wang Zhe.

"The two of you will be in charge of leading and integrating all resources. Next, we must figure out the correlating factors behind every abnormal fluctuation."

"Understood."

Li Wei nodded solemnly.

"No problem! I guarantee we'll figure out all its issues!"

Wang Zhe was also eager to get started.

However, Chen Youhua didn't just use the 'praise then pressure' tactic; he followed up by painting a grand vision.

"You should clearly understand that our ultimate goal in doing this is not to raise the success rate in a paper from 91.7% to that cold figure of 99.9%."

He leaned forward slightly, pressing his hands on the conference table.

"We are doing this so that we can reduce that remaining few percent risk of failure to as close to zero as possible.

To the point where the National Medical Products Administration can approve it without hesitation, and to the point where the market and patients can accept it with complete peace of mind."

His tone rose slightly as he described a clear and tangible picture.

"When that day comes, I will personally coordinate and push to open the channel for human clinical trials.

At that time, this technology will turn into a soldier disabled by injury being able to use this hand to grip chopsticks again and pick up a piece of food for their family.

It will become the most tangible support for thousands upon thousands of people who have been mocked by fate to regain control of their lives and find back their dignity and future."

He looked around at every face held in rapt attention and saw the light ignited in their eyes.

"Do you have the confidence to work with me to develop this technology completely and without any risk?"

The conference room was silent for a moment, and then a low but firm response erupted.

"We do!"