Chapter 174 What Happened?

Gao Yuan was surprised at how weak he had become after finally taking a breath—saying that even moving his fingers was an exaggeration, but raising his arm truly felt strenuous.

Shi Lei held the water bladder to Gao Yuan's lips, and Gao Yuan clamped onto the straw, taking a strong suck of water.

Water bottles were no longer suitable; now, water bladders were the best option.

After draining the water bladder in one go, Li Jingang positioned an opened Energy Bar at Gao Yuan's mouth.

One after another, one after another, Li Jingang had brought twenty Energy Bars, and in less than ten minutes, Gao Yuan had devoured them all.

After eating a few, Gao Yuan had enough strength to sit up.

The team led by Shi Lei was mainly there to cooperate with Gao Yuan. The second-in-command's role, apart from covering and meeting up, was to ensure proper logistics.

So, what did logistics involve? Mainly, it was about carrying enough food and water for Gao Yuan.

"Still eating?"

"Could he possibly eat himself into trouble?"

"How many has he had?"

"Seventy already, should we keep giving them to him?"

A few people couldn't help but start discussing among themselves, because Gao Yuan's way of eating had scared them all.

Gao Yuan stood up from the ground, then he whispered, "Keep eating while walking."

He definitely needed to eat, but there was no need to stay put anymore.

With the nuclear material on his back, everyone else stood scattered around him, while Gao Yuan, walking along, would reach out, and someone would hand him an opened Energy Bar.

Unable to hold back, Shi Lei whispered to Gao Yuan, "These are Energy Bars; aren't you eating too many? Could that cause an issue?"

In a low voice, Gao Yuan replied, "I don't know if it will cause an issue, but I do know if I don't eat, I won't be able to walk. My legs are weak, and walking feels exhausting."

Shi Lei hurriedly said, "Then put the stuff down, and we'll carry it."

"No need, give me all the Energy Bars you brought. Eating a bit gives me strength. I'm feeling much better now."

Right now, the most important thing was to quickly get the nuclear material back.

Gao Yuan had eaten a lot, so he wasn't hungry, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of weakness in his body, which made him uncomfortable and puzzled.

Could he really have exhausted himself?

Entering the base, as usual, required decontamination, but this time upon re-entering the base, it wasn't just about decontamination.

As the iron door opened, everyone underwent mandatory washing and disinfection, a process that Gao Yuan deeply detested. However, though he now had immunity to the virus, it didn't mean that others had the same immunity. Bringing the virus into the fully sealed command center could potentially lead to disaster.

Gao Yuan went through decontamination first, and after it finished, he picked up the still wet sealed container and was the first to pass through the second iron door.

The iron door opened to reveal a dense crowd.

Li Wen hadn't come in person, but among the people who had, there were several generals.

The sealed container was placed on a cart, and then a dozen people immediately surrounded the cart and moved out.

"Great job!"

General Luo appeared extremely excited, clutching Gao Yuan's hand tightly and vigorously shaking it.

"It's fantastic, truly fantastic!"

General Luo, shaking Gao Yuan's hand, noticed Gao Yuan's expression seemed pained.

"What's wrong?"

Gao Yuan hesitated before nodding, then he honestly said, "My arm hurts, and then, I feel very tired right now, almost unable to stand..."

General Luo was taken aback and called out, "You... Doctor!"

At General Luo's urgent shout, four or five people immediately came over; all of them were doctors.

"Rush him to the hospital, find out what's going on!"

Gao Yuan was a bit dazed, but a wheelchair was promptly pushed over to him.

The preparations were quite thorough; the doctors were all ready.

Upon seeing the bed, Gao Yuan hesitated for a moment—he wanted to say he was fine, but even he didn't know what state his body was in. He still had no idea what was causing this weakened sensation.

So Gao Yuan obediently lay down on the gurney.

Now that the nuclear materials had been handed over and he had arrived at the base, well, that meant there really was nothing wrong.

Once the lying Gao Yuan realized this, he suddenly felt very sleepy, so he closed his eyes.

After Gao Yuan closed his eyes, he did not move again, and General Luo remarked with emotion, "Xiao Gao, you've really made a significant contribution this time."

Gao Yuan didn't move.

"Xiao Gao? Xiao Gao!"

Still, he did not move.

General Luo became anxious and immediately said to the nearby doctor, "What's going on? What's happening?"

"Check him."

A doctor in his fifties immediately flipped open Gao Yuan's eyes to check, then muttered softly, "There's nothing wrong."

He placed a hand on Gao Yuan's neck for a bit, but then the doctor's complexion changed.

"No, this isn't right, move quickly."

Not every doctor typifies the image with a stethoscope around their neck, but this doctor indeed had one. Several people began pushing the gurney inside, while the doctor placed his stethoscope on Gao Yuan's chest and jogged alongside the gurney.

"Why is his heartbeat so slow."

After a brief listen, the doctor started to sweat.

"Connect to life support equipment, notify the examination room to prepare a ventilator."

Several doctors had started to run with the gurney; poor General Luo, already in his fifties, began to run along with it.

Now General Luo was also sweating profusely.

"What's the matter, what happened? Will someone speak up!"

General Luo was truly frantic, and the doctor, who was not one to simply nod and agree, said urgently, "Commander, nobody dares to say what's happening right now, but we know the patient's heartbeat has slowed and his breathing is very weak. What's the blood pressure?"

"Diastolic forty, systolic eighty."

The doctor quickly said to General Luo, "The patient's condition is critical, Commander, please don't obstruct our resuscitation efforts."

General Luo's eyes widened, and then he felt completely overwhelmed.

"He was just fine a moment ago, how could he suddenly become like this, where's Shi Lei! Shi Lei!"

Fortunately, Shi Lei had just finished decontamination and passed through the second iron door.

The gurney was being pushed away, but General Luo stopped in his tracks, wiping the sweat from his forehead, then said to the person next to him in a low voice, "Go notify commanding officer number one immediately."

After saying that, General Luo shouted, "Shi Lei, Shi Lei!"

"Present! Commander, were you looking for me?"

General Luo grabbed Shi Lei and asked anxiously, "What happened? Why is he suddenly not okay?"

Confused, Shi Lei replied, "What do you mean not okay?"

"Gao Yuan is in bad shape!"

"Ah? What? That's impossible, he was just fine a while ago!"

General Luo said urgently, "Now is not the time to assign blame. Tell me, what exactly happened!"

Shi Lei was utterly bewildered, then said with a trembling voice, "Nothing happened, everything was normal! Gao Yuan was exhausted, so he just ate something, and then we safely pulled back."

"Ate something? What?"

"Seventy Energy Bars."

General Luo was stunned, then suddenly became uncontrollably furious, grabbing Shi Lei by the collar and saying, "Seventy! Try eating seven yourself! Is that something you eat casually? That's an Energy Bar!"