Chapter 125

Li Daoran tried to relax, letting his body go completely limp as he waited for the doctor to make the incision.

"Five, four, three, two, one," the doctor counted aloud. Li Daoran felt as though the doctor wasn't about to make a minor cut, but rather was facing the most crucial decision of his life, his voice tinged with a tragic, do-or-die solemnity.

Despite the nervous atmosphere, the moment the doctor finished counting, Li Daoran felt absolutely nothing. The doctor had already made a small incision on his left forearm. Because the blade was so swift and the cut so shallow, not even a drop of blood seeped out at first.

"Done?" Li Daoran asked. He couldn't see his own body right then, as it was covered from head to toe with various monitoring instruments. Even his speech was muffled because he was wearing a specialized oxygen mask. Though designed to allow him to speak, the sound still came through somewhat dull.

"Yes, done." The doctor wanted to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but wearing a sterile protective suit made that impossible.

Because of the fear of wound infection, a sterile laboratory had been specifically chosen. Even the tiniest wound carried the risk of infection, and obviously, such an occurrence would be an unforgivable mistake when dealing with Li Daoran.

Listening to the instructions through his earpiece, David walked over to Li Daoran, nodded, and said, "The wound has been synchronized, everything is fine. You can return now. Pay attention: the location is on the left forearm, the wound length is three millimeters, and the depth is one millimeter. It will be hard to find if you don't look closely, because the cut was made so shallow. Make sure to look for it."

Li Daoran signaled with his eyes that he understood, then closed them. This time, he deliberately timed himself to see how long it would take to find that frequency and return. But after a while, Li Daoran realized that such distraction was actually hindering him. Much like insomnia, the more one tried to sleep and the more thoughts that crowded the mind, the harder it was to fall asleep. By focusing on keeping time, Li Daoran found himself unable to enter the proper state.

"What's wrong? The wound has already healed, why haven't you returned yet?" David asked, noticing that Li Daoran's wound had closed up while he still hadn't crossed over into the Daoran World, leading him to think something had gone wrong.

Li Daoran opened his eyes, looked helplessly at David, and said, "What can I do when it heals so fast? Can you make another cut?"

David sucked in a sharp breath, but didn't dare to blow his top. He slowly exhaled and said, "Fine."

With that, he looked at the doctor standing nearby.

"Make another wound," David ordered.

The doctor looked troubled. Every single incision required layers of strict approval; it wasn't something that could just be done on a whim.

"For the sake of data stability, since the wound has already healed, another one must be made. Go ahead and cut, I'll take the responsibility for any consequences," David said.

What could the doctor do? He counted down another five seconds. Once again, Li Daoran felt nothing, but seeing the fixed gaze David was giving him, he quickly closed his eyes to search for the frequency of the Daoran World.

This time, free of distractions and letting his mind sink into complete tranquility, Li Daoran smoothly entered the Daoran World.

As the world reassembled, Li Daoran had no time to spare for anything else. He hurriedly raised his left arm, only to realize he was still wearing his exoskeleton armor. He quickly stripped off the armor to search for the wound on his left forearm.

"I see it. It's definitely there, and the two bodies are indeed synchronized with each other, though the timing cannot be determined. Sigh," David sighed.

"Where is it?" Li Daoran raised his arm, but initially couldn't spot any wound. However, before David could prompt him, he saw it. A bead of blood had welled up, right next to an identical, perfectly healed wound that missed by not even a hair's breadth—that one hadn't bled. Comparing the two instantly led to a conclusion: unlike the situation with the Blue Star, synchronization between the two bodies occurred based on Li Daoran's physical state at the exact moment his consciousness departed, rather than in real-time. Still, this was well within everyone's expectations.

"Your hypothesis is viable, Daoran. I think you've found a bug, or perhaps a lifeline for humanity. Next comes the most critical experiment. Are you ready?" David could not suppress the joy bubbling up in his heart. He clearly understood what these two wounds signified. This was the most favorable and likely scenario they had envisioned. The accidental extra wound actually allowed them to discern the differences even more clearly—a blessing in disguise.

Not that they hadn't anticipated this initially; when formulating the plan, minimizing the number of incisions for the experiment was the bottom line, and any potentially added risk was unnecessary. Thus, David had withstood the pressure to make the doctor cut a second time. Even though he was right, the subsequent accountability and rewards would both be substantial.

"What do we do next?" Li Daoran wiped away the bead of blood with his finger, blew on it, and looked again. The wound had stopped bleeding, leaving only a tiny scratch mark.

"How could you do that?!" David demanded.

"Huh?" Li Daoran asked, feeling puzzled. What was wrong?

"How dangerous! You could return at any second now, what if the wound gets infected? How can you touch the wound with your hands? You should spit on it to provide the simplest disinfection, then wait for it to dry on its own. After that, wait for boiled water to cool down and wash it with that. Don't go touching wounds casually with your dirty hands, it's too dangerous." David's voice sounded somewhat different from usual.

"Ahem, that was just said by the doctor next to me, using my phone. The doctor is right, just do as he says," David said, feeling somewhat helpless. When he saw Li Daoran handling the wound so carelessly, he hadn't reacted much—it was a very normal thing. In fact, he wouldn't even look twice at such a minor injury; for instance, right now he had wounds on his body that he was completely ignoring.

Yet the doctor beside him had been terribly anxious and had practically grabbed David by the neck. Left with no choice, David had patched the doctor into the communication channel, but lacking the doctor's own voice pack, he had to use his own.

Li Daoran glanced at the wound, hesitating. The wound had already healed; should he really spit on it? On a global broadcast, spitting on oneself looked rather undignified. But if he didn't, would they think he was ignoring medical advice?

Forget it, death before dishonor. With a resolute heart, Li Daoran spat a mouthful of saliva onto the wound. The saliva, dotted with tiny bubbles, ran down his arm. Helplessly, Li Daoran said, "Happy now?"

Then he checked the water; it hadn't boiled yet, and looked like it would take a few more minutes.

"The water isn't boiled yet. Once it boils, I'll wash it," Li Daoran said, acting like an obedient child. After all, David could be pushed around, but the doctor better not be. It wasn't about fear; rather, disrespecting a doctor meant disrespecting one's own life, and disrespecting one's life, in grander terms, meant disrespecting the lives of everyone on Earth.

"Next, which experiment are we running? David," Li Daoran asked.

"The most crucial one. Over here, we are going to make another wound on your Blue Star body. This time it will still be on the left forearm, at a spot two centimeters higher than the last. You need to see if it synchronizes to you over there. What we want to find out is whether your body still retains its synchronization function while your consciousness is in the Daoran World. Once you are ready, you can call out to start. We will wait for your command to make the cut."