Arknights: The Prophet of Penguin Logistics — Chapter 97

Chapter 97: The Plan

From a broader perspective, every facet of the human anatomy aside from the brain is cumbersome and unnecessary. Or, to adopt a more extreme viewpoint, the human design is almost entirely geared toward raw survival. Yes, all of it. Even the brain exists solely to keep the organism breathing.

In truth, human vitality, environmental adaptability, and recovery speed were generally top-tier among creatures of similar mass—at least, they were before Lynn crossed over into this world. Those seemingly complex biological designs are merely organs that evolved to adapt to specific environments during specific eras. Occasionally, these vestigial structures still manifest their unique states and needs in foreign environments. No human organ is completely useless or entirely worth discarding.

The issue, however, is that these evolutionary designs are often ill-timed. From a modern, clinical perspective, they are entirely outdated, redundant mechanisms.

In the eyes of the dozens of assembled experts and scholars, it was nothing short of a medical miracle that this ruined human body belonged to the hero who had saved the nation. Had they not been absolutely certain that he possessed this baseline physiology even before his recent catastrophic injuries, many would have suspected his current state was the grotesque aftermath of some mutated Originium Arts.

Especially after rumors circulated that this body might have been the leaked product of a clandestine biochemical laboratory, the Deputy Director sent by Umbrella Technology found herself on the receiving end of countless icy glares. She tried to explain that Umbrella and Rhine Lab were one and the same a mere three months ago, and that they simply lacked the time to commit such an atrocity. Her defense fell on deaf ears, and the price of her association was that Silence received those same cold glares right alongside her. The conservative traditionalists and pure medical researchers found these bio-engineers increasingly repulsive to look at.

Silence, in particular, felt the heavy weight of the room. Although she had talked a big game during the preliminary briefings, she lacked actual confidence in such an unconventional, borderline heretical surgery.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time a specific, total, and multi-field targeted modification was being performed on a living human body. Calling it a surgery was a gross understatement; it was closer to forcibly evolving a species into something else entirely, saving only the head. Had it not been for the subject’s own forceful, desperate request, no one in their right mind would have considered this a viable idea.

From Lynn’s perspective, however, the faster they cut into him and delivered results, the better. The sheer, unadulterated agony of having the nerve endings across his entire body exposed to the air far exceeded the limits of human imagination. A slight ache in a single tooth nerve could reduce a hardened warrior to a writhing mess on the floor. With his entire nervous system screaming in that exact frequency of pain, death seemed like a gentle mercy. This physical torment was far more tangible, far more immediate than the abstract horror of a shattered soul. Even now, Lynn had to rely on heavy nerve anesthesia and total liquid immersion just to force his vocal cords to work; without the freezing numbness of the tank, he would not be able to utter a single syllable.

From the patient’s point of view, Originium Arts and extreme modification treatments were a matter of absolute, terrifying urgency.

After injecting a fresh dose of heavy anesthetic directly into Lynn’s nutrient tank to let him sink back into a dreamless sleep, the gathered experts retreated to the sterile Council Chamber to commence their first official medical conference.

“First, we must establish our baseline. Theoretically, the gentleman can maintain his self-will entirely through his brain. In other words, as long as his consciousness is preserved, the rest of his biological body can be treated as non-existent. We can entirely use mechanical or synthetic biological structures to assemble him into a state he can accept.”

“That will not do. It violates fundamental ethical codes and would be severely detrimental to his daily habits. Have you never heard of Phantom Limb Theory? Even standard amputees occasionally hallucinate that their missing limbs are still attached, let alone a man in his current, fragmented state. Unless absolutely necessary, there is no need to graft external physical entities onto him. Setting aside the nightmare of tissue rejection and neurological mapping, just dealing with phantom limb phenomena and psychological dissociation would consume considerable time.”

“Then how about starting from the petri dishes? We simply extract his remaining viable cells and use the Differentiation Culture Facilities to grow entirely new organs to compensate for the failing ones.”

“That treats the symptoms but ignores the root cause. His primary issue is systemic organ alienation and cascading failure. Look at these scans. There is clear, aggressive alienation in these nerve clusters. They are tangled, messy, and extending unnaturally. The network wraps around from the outside, but in reality, this is a useless, mutated design. It could have easily been wired internally.”

Pointing a laser pen at several high-resolution images displayed on the blackboard, an old scholar with a shock of white hair and a thick beard glanced sharply at the Umbrella researcher cowering in the corner. His words dripped with heavy implication.

“I strongly suspect this anatomical disaster is the masterpiece of some unscrupulous bio-corporation attempting to load their ridiculous, untested technology into an innocent life. But now is not the time for pointing fingers. I have reviewed the bloodwork and found that while his body has a multitude of fatal flaws, there is one exceptionally outstanding anomaly. He has almost zero biological rejection. As long as an implanted organ is biological in nature, his immune system will not attack it, even if that organ contains heavy metallic components.”

“What do you mean? What do you mean by zero biological rejection?”

“Are you just a simple surgeon? It means exactly what it sounds like. As long as we pass basic tissue compatibility and subsequent quality tests, he will not suffer from graft-versus-host disease. Extracted tissue and foreign substances introduced into his body can be swapped and paired like machine components, provided they pass that initial compatibility check. Do you understand the implications of what I am saying?”

“He has no requirement for genetic matching or physical homogeneity? We only need to design the organs and calculate the internal volume of the body cavity?”

The Umbrella employee, who had been shrinking into her seat and not daring to speak while being verbally berated, suddenly brightened up.

“Yes. However, our current roster is not enough to pull this off on our own. We need to bring in a dedicated group of specialists in extreme biological modification. In some necessary cases, we might even need to consult mechanical engineering designers… The people from Rhine Lab and Umbrella will not start a turf war in the operating room, will they?”

“No. We are all just doing this for the funding. Commercial friction stays in the boardroom, and contract disputes stay in the contracts. We all need to make a living. It will be fine.”

“That is good to hear. With the compatibility issue solved, we need to move on to considering the skeletal structure and overall impact resistance…”

“What if we use the Original Gene Pack as a baseline reference within the body, and then apply targeted Originium Arts to artificially help the evolution process?”

Various radical ideas collided within the cold walls of the conference room, and slowly, a terrifying but viable direction began to take shape.