201: Chapter 201 Tedious Inspection

One was a man in his early forties, wearing plain clothes, but his posture was upright; he was clearly a soldier by training.

The other was a woman in her twenties, wearing glasses and a lab coat, with a gentle expression.

"Hello." The middle-aged man spoke first, his voice resonant. "I am Liu Zhiyuan, responsible for the military liaison work for this project. This is Li Wei, a Researcher for the project team."

Li Wei nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over them before she smiled.

"Welcome," she said. "Over the next few days, we will conduct comprehensive physical examinations and pre-operative assessments for you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me at any time."

Lin Yue noticed that when she said "you all," her tone was very natural; there was no forced gentleness, nor any uncomfortable sense of pity. It was as if she were talking to ordinary people.

This detail made him feel a bit more at ease.

Over the next few days, Lin Yue underwent the most comprehensive physical examination of his life.

The first day was for routine examinations.

Blood tests, urine tests, ECGs, chest X-rays... It was similar to the physicals in the military, only with more tests and more advanced equipment. When drawing blood, they took several vials; the nurse said they needed to run a complete blood count, coagulation tests, infectious disease screening, and genetic testing.

"Genetic testing?" Lin Yue did not quite understand.

"Yes, to see your body's compatibility with the materials," the nurse explained patiently. "Everyone's constitution is different, and reactions to implants vary. We need to know in advance if you will have any rejection reactions."

Lin Yue nodded, thinking to himself that there was so much to consider just for getting a prosthetic limb.

The second day began with nerve function tests.

He had never done this before.

A young Researcher led him into a small room containing a large instrument, with various waveforms jumping across its screen.

The Researcher had him sit on a chair and roll up his right pant leg, revealing the stump below his knee.

"I am going to attach some electrode pads to your amputated limb," the Researcher said. "Then I will apply a weak electric current. It will feel a bit numb, but it won't hurt."

Lin Yue nodded.

The Researcher attached a dozen small metal pieces to the skin of his stump, each connected to a thin wire. Once they were attached, the Researcher walked to the instrument and pressed a button.

A weak current surged up from his stump.

It didn't hurt; it was a very strange sensation. It felt like something was crawling under his skin, or as if his muscles were twitching gently.

He could feel the current traveling up along his nerves, deep into his thigh, past his knee, and then disappearing.

"Do you feel anything?" the Researcher asked.

"Yes," Lin Yue said. "It feels like... someone is tickling me."

The Researcher smiled: "That's good. We will increase the intensity a little."

The current was increased bit by bit.

Lin Yue could feel that "tickling" turn into "numbness," and then from "numbness" into some indescribable sensation.

His toes, which no longer existed, seemed to twitch.

He knew it was just an illusion. After the nerves were stimulated, the brain would think the foot was still there and that the toes were moving. But he still couldn't help but look down.

There was nothing there. His pant leg remained empty.

"Very good." The Researcher wrote something in a notebook. "Your nerve conduction velocity is within the normal range, and the signal strength is also quite good. This indicates that your nerve endings are well-preserved, and the success rate of the connection will be higher."

Hearing this, Lin Yue's heart skipped a beat.

He did not ask, "What is the success rate?" He was afraid to hear the answer.

But he kept the word "connection" in his mind. Connection.

It was like two broken wires being reconnected. His nerves were the broken wire, and that thing called an "artificial neuron" was the other.

If they connected, he would be able to move. If they didn't, he would remain as he was now.

The third day was for psychological assessment.

He hadn't expected this either.

The person conducting his assessment was a female doctor in her forties, surnamed Zhou, who spoke very slowly and gently.

She had him sit on the sofa, poured him a glass of water, and then asked him some questions.

"Can you tell me how you were injured?"

Lin Yue hesitated for a moment, then recounted what had happened on the night of the exercise.

He spoke very simply, without embellishment or emotional appeal. He just said what happened, where he was injured, and how it was treated.

After listening, Dr. Zhou nodded and asked, "How was your mood after the injury?"

"It was alright," Lin Yue said. "At first, I had some trouble adjusting, but later it got better."

"How long was 'later'?"

Lin Yue thought about it: "About... six months? A year?"

"Do you drink alcohol?"

"I drink a little occasionally."

"Every day?"

Lin Yue was silent for a moment, then said, "It used to be every day. I haven't been drinking recently."

Dr. Zhou glanced at him but did not press further.

She changed the subject: "Why did you want to participate in this project?"

Lin Yue had thought about this question many times. During the two weeks he spent at home waiting for the notification, he thought about it every night. But when he was actually asked, he was still taken aback for a moment.

"I want to walk," he said. "I want to walk without crutches. I want to run. I want to..." He paused, his voice dropping, "I want to be like a normal person."

Dr. Zhou did not speak, she just nodded.

"Comrade Lin Yue," she said finally, "your psychological state is not a major problem. But I hope you can understand one thing. This surgery is not magic. It cannot bring your leg back. What it can do is give you a tool. How well you use it will depend on you."

Lin Yue looked at her and nodded.

"I know," he said.

On the fourth day, all the examinations were completed.

Li Wei called them together for a short meeting.

The meeting room was the same one they had been in on the first day, with a long table, documents, and laptops.

But this time, there were a few cups of tea on the table, steam rising from them in wisps.

"Your physical conditions are all quite good and meet the requirements for the surgery," Li Wei said, getting straight to the point. "The next step is to wait for notification. In about one to two weeks, the specific surgery time and plan will be determined."

Zhao Guoqiang raised his hand and asked, "Researcher Li, how high is the success rate of this surgery?"

The meeting room went quiet.

Several people looked at Li Wei.

Li Wei was silent for a moment, then said, "In animal experiments, the comprehensive stability was 99.97%. For humans, we cannot guarantee it, because everyone's physical condition is different, and the rate of nerve recovery also varies. But we will do our best."

99.97%.

Lin Yue repeated the number silently in his heart. He didn't know what this number meant, but he knew that a 0.03% failure rate was a negligible error for those conducting the experiments.

But for everyone sitting in this meeting room, it was 100%.

He looked down at his right leg.

The pant leg remained empty. Just as it was when he arrived, just as it had been for the past two years.

After the meeting ended, Lin Yue did not leave immediately.

He stood in the hallway, looking at the sky outside the window. The sky was very blue, so blue it didn't seem real.

In the distance, there were a few trees with all their leaves gone, their bare branches reaching toward the sky like outstretched fingers.

Li Wei came out of the meeting room, saw him standing by the window, and stopped to ask, "Comrade Lin Yue, do you have any other questions?"

Lin Yue hesitated for a moment, then asked a question he had been holding back for several days: "Researcher Li, after the surgery... will I be able to run?"

Li Wei was stunned for a moment.

Then she smiled.

It was a very sincere smile, not perfunctory, not comforting. She looked into Lin Yue's eyes and said, "Yes. This is one of the goals of our project."

Lin Yue nodded and did not speak again.

He turned around, leaned on his crutches, and walked step by step toward the other end of the hallway.