254: Chapter 255 Modification Surgery

As soon as this guy boarded, he started clamoring for the Astartes gene-seed augmentation surgery immediately.

After being refused, he even dared to draw his weapon in public and demand a duel of honor against a Space Marine!

Bell, as Captain, was swamped with military duties every day and had no time to deal with a mortal lunatic.

So, he spoke offhandedly, threw the kid into the arena where prisoners of war were held, and declared, "As long as you can win five consecutive matches here empty-handed, I will agree to perform the surgery for you."

Originally, this was just an excuse to swat away a fly; Bell assumed this mortal would be torn to shreds by those renegades in the first match.

Who could have imagined!

This guy actually relied on his bare fists to win all the way through!

He even forced the Third Company's veteran Terminator, Black Fist, to submit during a ground grapple!

This unbelievable combat record caused Bell's curiosity about this group of mortals to reach its peak instantly.

Just then, heavy footsteps approached.

The company's chief Librarian strode onto the high platform.

"Captain, I just heard some confirmed news from brothers in other companies."

The Librarian reported with a grave expression,

"The Chapter Master led a team a few days ago to support a campaign against the Tyranids in a remote star system.

It is said that there is a local faction in that star system called the Spark Alliance.

The mortal soldiers under their command have ridiculously high combat power and are suspected to be some kind of advanced clones."

The Librarian pointed to his head and lowered his voice:

"However, according to side intelligence, although these clones can fight, they seem to have very serious mental problems and cognitive impairments; they are simply a bunch of lunatics who fear neither life nor death."

Hearing this, Captain Bell suddenly realized everything.

He looked down again at John Cena in the arena, who was wearing star-spangled underwear and frantically shaking his butt at the air in a strange pose.

Bell suddenly understood everything.

"That's not strange at all!"

A hint of relief even appeared on Bell's cold face.

It is well known that in this universe, the more severe a person's mental illness, the more terrifying their combat power tends to be.

Clearly, the mortal below is quite ill.

Bell rubbed his chin and turned to the Librarian:

"Do you think we should keep our promise and perform the gene augmentation surgery on him?"

The Librarian pondered for a moment and nodded:

"Since he insists and won the duel, then do it.

Although the failure and mortality rate for augmentation surgery on adults is as high as ninety-nine percent, and even if he manages to survive, he will have severe genetic rejection defects, rules are rules."

"If it really doesn't work..."

The Librarian said in a cold tone,

"If he becomes a paralyzed cripple on the operating table, we will contact the Adeptus Mechanicus directly and stuff his remains into the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought, so he can continue to serve the Chapter all the same."

Bell nodded and immediately issued an order:

"Contact the Apothecary, reserve a top-level Cogitator life-support unit, and prepare to perform the augmentation surgery on him!"

After dealing with the matter of John Cena, the Librarian's face became even gloomier.

"Captain, besides this, the Astropathic Choir has just intercepted a top-level distress signal from the north."

The Librarian reported,

"The Warp daemon tide in the Malfatus Sector continues to intensify!

Plus, a portion of the Imperial Navy and Astra Militarum main forces were previously temporarily transferred to support the Tyranid invasion.

The northern defensive line is critically under-manned!"

"Currently, the Imperial defenders in the north can no longer hold the line and are retreating to the core fortress, Black Port."

"But there is one thing very strange."

The Librarian frowned,

"A Tyranid splinter fleet that was originally advancing towards us seems to have received some kind of high-dimensional information; they have collectively changed course and altered their route! It is currently unclear where they are going."

Bell's eyes sharpened:

"Does the Chapter Master have any decisions?"

"The Chapter Master has ordered."

The Librarian replied,

"The Third Company is to ready itself immediately! Respond to the Imperial distress call, Warp at full speed, and support the Black Port defensive line!"

...

The next day.

Inside the gene augmentation operating room on the lower deck of the Pale Maw.

The Chief Apothecary stood before the cold operating table, looking at John Cena, who had been brought in, somewhat bewildered, and could even be said to be at a loss.

Standard Space Marine augmentation surgery is a long and extremely dangerous process.

It usually requires following three strict stages:

Core Physiological Strengthening Phase (10-13 years old):

During these years, the chest cavity must be opened sequentially to implant the second heart, ossmodula, biscopea, haemastamen, and Larraman's organ.

Completing the foundation for superhuman strength, endurance, and monstrous self-healing abilities.

Perception and Environmental Adaptation Phase (13-16 years old):

Continuing to open the body, implanting the preomnor, occulobe, Lyman's ear, melanochromic organ, and oolitic kidney, among other organs.

Used to strengthen the recruit's five senses and survival capabilities in extreme environments like toxic gas and radiation.

Final Formation Phase (16-18 years old):

Implanting the core progenoid glands (gene-seed carriers) and the black carapace under the skin.

Completing the neural adaptation for power armor and formally becoming an Astartes.

This process spans nearly a decade.

This can both maximize the success rate of bodily rejection and compress the formation time of the recruit as much as possible.

But the mortal before him had fully closed bones and was a fully developed adult!

The Apothecary looked at the muscular man lying on the operating table, who was not afraid but instead looked excited and was looking around, feeling a headache.

But because he had received the Captain's strict order, he had to bite the bullet and try to construct a surgical plan with an extremely high mortality rate.

"Since adults will no longer grow naturally, the implantation stages for the first two sets of organs must be merged into one stage, stuffing them all into his body at once."

The Apothecary quickly wrote down the plan on parchment,

"After the body is forcibly modified and has accommodated these organs, we will then check his vital signs to decide when to perform the third stage of black carapace implantation."

The plan was constructed.

The Apothecary waved his hand and ordered the medical Servitor nearby to start preparing the surgical chainsaws and bone-stripping knives covered in dried blood.

Several burly Servitors stepped forward and locked the heavy hydraulic restraints tightly onto John Cena's limbs and neck.

Subsequently, a thick needle was driven fiercely into his vein, injecting a potent anesthetic sufficient to knock out an elephant.

This marked the official start of the first stage of the surgery.

However, when the Apothecary put on his blood-stained gloves, picked up the buzzing chain-scalpel, and was about to cut open the mortal's chest.

He suddenly stopped.

The Apothecary discovered with horror that the mortal had not closed his eyes!

He was staring at the knife in his hand without blinking, with those clear, curious eyes!

Their eyes met.

An unspeakable awkwardness filled the air.

The Apothecary turned his head sharply to look at the anesthesia Servitor behind him, reprimanding it in an extremely heavy tone:

"Waste! Has your processor short-circuited?! Did you forget to administer the anesthesia?!"

In Space Marine augmentation, anesthesia is not actually meant to protect the subject from pain.

It is to ensure that the subject does not struggle violently due to severe pain during the surgery, which would affect the Apothecary's precision.

The Servitor blinked its red lights and answered innocently in a cold, mechanical voice:

"Reporting, my lord, I did not forget. Moreover, because your temper is always explosive, to prevent accidents, I have already injected him with double the Astartes-grade anesthetic dose."

"Then inject more!" the Apothecary roared.

Thus, under the Apothecary's stern gaze, the Servitor stepped forward and, without hesitation, pushed in two more full, extra-large doses of potent anesthetic.

However, five minutes passed.

As time passed, John Cena, lying on the operating table, still showed no signs of sleepiness.

He even twisted his neck in boredom, continuing to watch everyone with that curious gaze as if watching a monkey show.

The Apothecary was completely baffled.

What the hell is this mortal's drug resistance?!

John Cena, looking at the sweating Apothecary, became impatient and urged him directly:

"Hey! Doc, don't be polite! Hurry up and start! I'm in a rush to log off and eat!"

The Apothecary instinctively retorted:

"Your whole body's muscles are arching around here, hard as stone! How am I supposed to find a cutting angle with this knife? I can't proceed!"

John Cena suddenly realized.

"Oh! You should have said so earlier!"

John Cena nodded, finally understanding,

"So you're annoyed that I'm moving around. Got it, got it. Then I'll just log off right here and go AFK so you can cut me."

Thus, under the gaze of the Apothecary and several Servitors!

He acted as if his soul had been instantly sucked out, dropping dead on the spot!

His entire body's muscles completely relaxed in a second, and he went limp.

His eyes also lost focus and rolled back.

"Beep—beep—"

But the vital sign monitor beside him showed that his heartbeat and pulse were indeed still beating steadily!

It's not that the Apothecary hadn't seen human subspecies in The Galaxy with extremely high resistance to anesthetics.

But a human who could just say a word and instantly cut off all neural perception, forcing himself into a state of deep brain-dead hibernation, was something he was seeing for the first time in his life!

"What a total lunatic..."

The Apothecary wiped away his cold sweat, quickly composed himself, and raised the sharp surgical scalpel again.

"Szzzt—"

The sharp blade cut fiercely into the muscle of John Cena's chest.

However, the knife had just fallen and made a bloody incision.

The blood spilling from the incision actually solidified at a visible speed the moment it hit the air!

Those cells seemed to have a consciousness of their own; they quickly scabbed over, forcibly pulling the wound together, healing it instantly!

"Clang!"

The scalpel in the Apothecary's hand was scared right out of his grip and fell onto the metal tray.

He retreated two steps, beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead, and shouted in horror while pointing at John Cena:

"Xenos! This is not human self-healing ability at all! This is definitely a Xenos in disguise!"

To be safe, the Apothecary stepped forward, drew a tube of his blood, and immediately put it into the Cogitator gene analyzer nearby for comparison.

However!

Ten minutes later, the long string of genetic reports spat out by the analyzer left this knowledgeable Chief Apothecary completely stunned, and he even suspected his faith was collapsing!

The report showed:

This kid is not only a thoroughbred human!

But his genetic double-helix structure is even more perfect than that of an Astartes who has undergone nineteen augmentations!

He is closer to a truly pure human than a Space Marine!

As the Chapter's top genetic expert, the Apothecary immediately pulled up the classified database for deep comparison.

He actually discovered that this mortal's underlying genetic sequence was very similar to the charts of the ancient human remnants from the Golden Age recorded on Holy Terra!

"Although the genetic telomeres indicate that he is a clone created in a short period of time..."

The Apothecary's hand holding the report was trembling wildly,

"But who exactly is the original genetic template for this clone?! Ancient humans? Or the legendary First Men?!"

Clearly, in this remote sector, the Apothecary would definitely not get an answer involving the underlying layers of the Alliance.

The deeper he analyzed that genetic report, the more absurd and shocked he felt.

The report showed that the bone density and muscle fiber strength of this body, without any organ implantation, had already reached or even exceeded the level of an ordinary Space Marine!

For a moment, the Apothecary even felt that performing the so-called Space Marine augmentation on this perfect body was purely gilding the lily and unnecessary!

"His heart's pumping capacity is already dozens of times that of a normal person; why would he need another redundant second heart?"

Finally.

The Apothecary looked at the outrageous medical report in his hand and stood before the operating table, pondering for a long time.

He silently picked up a red pen and crossed out most of the implantation items on the surgical plan he had just written.

After deleting and editing, he reformulated a simplified surgical plan that only implanted the ossmodula, biscopea, haemastamen, black carapace, nerves, and some functional sensory organs.

The Apothecary sighed, stared at the body for a long time, and finally began to operate again.