The Soyuz space station has no gravity, making it difficult for animals to adapt to long-term survival, so Bob stayed in the "nest".

Before tonight, Zhang Fan had kept Bob in the research module and left him plenty of food. He didn't know how Bob had managed to escape on his own.

What are you doing out here?

Zhang Fan's tears fell in a steady stream.

A man doesn't easily shed tears, unless he's truly heartbroken.

Bob was Zhang Fan's first companion after arriving on Mars. He stayed with him through the first few lonely and difficult days, playing around, fighting for food, and studying together...

If we consider gender alone, Bob is Zhang Fan's only brother on Mars.

When a brother is in trouble, of course I'll go to great lengths to help him.

So Bob came.

Without hesitation.

Bob lay in a pool of blood, barely breathing. His body was so shattered that even the slightest breath, the rise and fall of his chest, must have caused unimaginable pain to others.

Bob's pupils began to dilate.

Even something as strong as it is cannot withstand the sharp scythe with its flesh and blood alone.

Life is slipping away at a speed visible to the naked eye...

Beep beep, beep beep—

The arm monitor had been beeping for a long time, and Zhang Fan, annoyed, casually tapped the screen and ignored it.

"Get up!" Liao Changtian's cold voice came through the communication screen.

"Don't bother me, just let me cry for a while, okay?"

“What’s the use of crying? Will it solve the problem?” Liao Changtian said in a deep voice.

"Yes, I'm so useless." Zhang Fan looked at Bob, tears streaming down her face. "All I want to do right now is cry my heart out. I don't care if the whole world is watching me cry! Please don't worry about me, okay?"

"Do you still want to save Bob?" Liao Changtian's face was cold and stern, and he spat out a vicious sentence through gritted teeth, "You damn bug! You son of a bitch!"

Liao Changtian usually gives people the impression of a gentle and refined intellectual, and this is the first time Zhang Fan has heard him swear.

What did you just say?

"Damn bedbug! You son of a bitch!"

"Not this sentence, the previous one."

"Do you still want to save Bob?"

"Can this still be saved?"

Zhang Fan wiped away her tears. Bob's body had been cut into paper-cut shapes. Even disregarding whether he could be saved, just stitching up the wounds would probably take several days.

“We have obtained authorization from the World Government,” Liao Changtian said. “They have found the last remaining ‘doctor,’ and you will need to perform an operation under his guidance in a moment.”

What kind of surgery?

"DN gene surgery".

...

Zhang Fan moved Bob to the control panel in the research module. Anesthesia was no longer needed because Bob's heart had stopped beating.

According to the "doctor" there, even after an animal dies, its body cells still remain active for a certain period of time.

"The host has too many wounds and needs cell suturing." On the other end of the communication screen was an elderly man with white hair.

The old man looked to be at least 90 years old, with gleaming white hair, but he was in good spirits. He was sitting in a wheelchair with a gray blanket covering his knees and his hands on the blanket, his fingers thin and long.

The old man seemed unable to contain his excitement; his fingers moved nimbly, as if he were holding an invisible scalpel, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

"Old man, what should I do?" Zhang Fan had already put on the full set of surgical equipment, but looking at Bob, whose entire body was covered in undamaged skin, he didn't know where to start.

"Use the live cells of cockroaches," the old man replied. "The fresher the better."

"OK!"

What we have no shortage of now is cockroach cells. Zhang Fan picked up the limb fragments of the four-star male cockroach he had just killed, one of which still had a crystal attached to it.

"Then what?"

"It's been so long since I've had this surgery, please allow me to think about it." The old man closed his eyes, lost in memories of his youth.

The last time the elderly man participated in DNA gene surgery was as an assistant in the lab, helping his teacher with surgical experiments on mice. He was only 20 years old then, and now he is 106, meaning he hasn't had this surgery in over 80 years.

The old man's teacher had told him that this was a forbidden art, and he and his companions had sensed that the surgery was heading in a dangerous direction.

Humanity is not yet ready to possess this technology, and if it is misused, the destructive power it could cause will be no less than that of nuclear weapons.

So his teacher and colleagues decided to seal away the technology, delete all related data on Earth, and keep only the backup in the "Bird's Nest".

The scientists have reached a consensus that this surgery will no longer be permitted or should be performed on humans until they reach maturity.

But the technology itself is not wrong; his teacher wanted him to memorize every step of the DN gene surgery.

He did indeed achieve this; he is currently the only living person on Earth with practical experience in DNA gene surgery.

"To perform DNA surgery, it is necessary to incorporate some DNA from other organisms as a host," the old man said, opening his eyes after thinking for a moment.

“No problem,” Zhang Fan replied. “The ‘Bird’s Nest’ stores the DNA nucleic acid of all known animals on Earth.”

"So now it comes down to choosing the parasite's DNA," the old man asked. "Young man, what kind of parasitic form do you want to give this beast?"

"Can we use DNA from any organism?" Zhang Fan asked.

“Theoretically, either is fine.” The old man nodded. “However, from the perspective of improving the success rate of the surgery, I suggest you choose an insect DNA for it, because cockroach cells have already been used to repair the wound, so the risk of rejection and side effects after the surgery will be smaller.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted!” Zhang Fan nodded. “My first choice was always an insect.”

"Oh? What's that?" the old man asked curiously.

"White-browed huntsman spider".

With cockroach cell raw materials and parasitic DNA all ready, Zhang Fan began performing DNA surgery on Bob under the old man's one-on-one guidance.

Using activated cockroach cells to repair wounds, Zhang Fan felt that the whole process was like using cockroach meat glue to piece together Bob's shattered skin.

Then, Bob's blood was extracted, and using genetic modification technology, his own DNA was fused with the DNA of the white-fronted huntsman spider, and then injected back into Bob's body to induce a genetic mutation.

According to the elderly man, the complete activation of cells and the complete fusion with DNA require 24 hours. If no rejection or side effects occur within 24 hours, the surgery is considered successful.

After the surgery, Zhang Fan transferred Bob to a life support pod and towed the pod to the repair garage.

After a day of surgery, the sun had already set, and I figured the next wave of bugs would arrive soon.

rustling sound—

An annoying noise came from outside.

Zhang Fan pushed the life support capsule into the back compartment, then pulled back the curtain covering the vehicle, jumped into the driver's cabin, and closed the door.

"Xiaofeng, start the vehicle."

The engine has started.

Rumble—

The "Bird's Nest" Mars Base reminds you: There are countless roads, but safety is paramount. Reckless driving will bring tears to your loved ones' eyes.

"Hahaha!"

Zhang Fan liked the vehicle start-up notification sound he had set.

Boom!

The next second, the "Giant Beetle" Mars base rover burst through the steel roller shutter door of the maintenance garage, like a beast being released from its cage.

"Xiao Feng, let's go wander outside Mars together!"