During the surgery, Gaia was focused, calm, and decisive. It was completely different from the usual Gaia.
These people had been soldiers for more than ten years, they had seen plenty of people with these traits.
They had also seen countless people who had to give themselves first aid on the battlefield due to emergencies.
Under such circumstances, many people would undoubtedly be flustered, since they had to do a surgery that they had never done before on themselves.
However, the Gaia right now was very calm. Up until now, he did not show any sign of hesitancy or panic.
"His technique of the incision is getting better and better."
Douglas exclaimed.
Not only was Gaia not flustered, but he was also familiarizing himself with the process. This could be seen from the shorter times Gaia needed to remove each spore.
"Wipe my sweat."
Gaia ordered.
The next second, the robotic arm reached out to wipe the cold sweat off his face.
Although he was already under local anesthesia, the area affected by the local anesthesia was limited. He also did not expect the spores to spread so quickly. They had already reached his abdomen.
Therefore, currently, the abdomen was still not anesthetized at all.
If he were to pause and inject an anesthetic, there would not be enough time, so Gaia could only endure the pain and continue the surgery.
The people outside also noticed that there was something wrong with Gaia as they got increasingly worried for him.
Only Douglas was still paying attention to the technical aspects of the surgery.
He muttered to himself, "Now it's time to operate on the abdomen. This surgery here will be more difficult, and the burden on Gaia's body will also increase. He has to pay close attention to various values."
If Gaia was now beside Douglas, he would definitely know that Douglas was documenting the entire process of Gaia's surgery in his mind.
Gaia's operation is like a rare medical theater, it had great significance in aiding them in future research.
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The abdomen had a thicker layer of fat and a lot more space. It provides enough nutrients for the spores to propagate and spread.
It also gave the spores more room to move, thus. the incisions had to be longer and deeper, which makes the issue of blood loss even worse.
"Another blood transfusion, 300cc." Seeing the red warning sign on the screen, Gaia quickly ordered the machine to do a blood transfusion.
This time, Gaia waited for half a minute.
When his body recovered, he immediately controlled the robotic arm and pressed down on his left kidney, cutting a small incision on it.
"Tsss!"
The two-inch-long incision was opened as yellow juice gushed out. A lump of 'meat' squirmed inside like a loach drilling into the mud, desperately digging into the fat under the skin.
The spores that lived here had all matured. They already developed sentience and were harder to catch.
"Plop!"
Gaia maneuvered the robotic arm to pass through the fat layer and into the abdominal cavity.
A slimy lump made of coagulated blood and yellow juice slipped down the mechanical arm. A stench also started to fill the air.
The spores had excreted a lot of the slime, using the stench to drive the enemies away.
Gaia did not care at all. He took control of the arm again and proceeded to grab the mature spore, fiercely pulling it out.
"Pop!"
This spore assembly weighed nearly 2.5k kilograms and was squirming violently. The robotic arm did not manage to grab hold of it for long. Soon, it fell to the ground, splattering its juices everywhere.
The next moment, the suction machine appeared in front of the matured spore. The strong suction force of the machine instantly sucked the spores into a storage container.
The robotic arm with disinfectant followed closely behind, spraying disinfectant on the ground to prevent the spores from spreading further.
This disinfectant had been tested to be most effective on the spores. During testing, the spore had been left in Petri dishes filled with different types of disinfectant. This disinfectant seemed to have the strongest effect on these spores.
As long as the spore was left in this disinfectant for ten seconds, the spores would die.
Gaia's belly caved in after that procedure.
"It was that big?"
Outside the door, William and the others kept wiping the sweat off their foreheads. They were terrified.
They did not expect the spore to have grown so fast. It had grown so big within such a short amount of time.
If they had left it on its own devices for a little while longer, Gaia would probably have been a lost cause.
Douglas looked at the spore and said in surprise, "I did not expect this spore to go through several stages of life in the host's body. This is too meaningful not to research."
All of the chunks of spore membranes were cut out by Gaia, filling up half of the storage box.
These spores were not much of a threat once they left the human body. They could not propagate themselves as effectively in this form.
It took Gaia twenty-one minutes to cut out a total of eighteen chunks of spore clusters. The operation could be said to be perfect.
"Roar!"
Not far away, a loud roar was suddenly heard, followed by the sounds of shrubs being ripped aside.
"On alert!" Gaia warned the rest of the group.
According to Attuned to Nature, there were different types of spores. They would react to external stimuli such as light, acid, and fog, which was why he had to avoid areas with those things during surgery.
The loud sound waves would cause the spores to panic and move deeper into the human body. It would be troublesome if they had moved towards the internal organs.
"Quick! Quick! Quick!" William urged.
To be honest, he did not need to urge them. Everyone knew the urgency of the situation.
Gaia was undergoing surgery inside. If something happened outside, it might affect Gaia inside.
"Don't use guns. If the sound is too loud, it will cause the spores' stress reflex," Douglas reminded.
This was a message that Gaia had just sent him.
Although many communication devices could not be used now, after repeated testing, some radio devices could be used to transmit information over a short distance.
"Got it."
William put down the rocket launcher in his hand and picked up two military knives and put them on his waist. He held a machete in one hand and a shield in the other.
Brad, on the other hand, had throwing knives at his waist and a heavy crossbow in his hand.
The others were dressed the same, mostly using cold weapons.
However, Douglas was different. He changed into a tactical vest, which was geared with several medicine bottles, medicine bags, and the like. He only had a stun baton in his hand, making him look like a wizard.
Although his current appearance was very funny, William and the others knew how terrifying Douglas's strength was.
This was a terrifying person who had once barged into the base of a terrorist organization alone and poisoned thousands of people to death within an hour.
Therefore, when they saw that Douglas had changed into this outfit, William and the others quickly distanced themselves from Douglas.
"Kill them!" William said in a low voice, his tone extremely cold.
Seeing Gaia treating his injuries alone in the cave, they were already stressed to their limits.
This bloody thing coming here right now was akin to it walking into the lion's den.
Even if Douglas did not ask them to, they would have still changed to cold weapons.
After all, cold weapons could only relieve stress much more than a gun could.