"Following the procedure, first lie down in the Medical Pod. Right, then raise your right hand and hold it for five seconds without moving. Then, Tail will collect the blood..."
Aidan followed the manual left by his Erudition state to operate on Delta inside the Medical Pod.
"Hmm... mm-hmm, red means danger, yellow means normal, and green means..."
He looked at the indicator light.
"Green means the Separation Surgery can proceed."
Delta lay in the Medical Pod with several monitoring patches attached to her body. Her Tail, which usually swished around, was now coiled stiffly by her legs, and her fingers gripped the edge of the padding tightly.
"Start already. I don't want to wait another second."
"Understood." Aidan straightened up, walked to the console, and following the diagrams in the manual, reached out and pressed down hard on a red circular button.
He didn't know how to perform complex operations, so Erudition had simply set up a one-click completion.
The Medical Pod's glass cover slowly closed with a faint hiss of exhaust. Immediately after, a pale blue liquid surged from several small holes in the pod, gradually submerging Delta.
Aidan stared at the progress bar on the screen while flipping through the manual: "Once it covers your face, you'll fall asleep. The whole process takes about... one system hour. During this time, the machine will automatically strip Liliya's consciousness and tissues from your body, then place her in that small pod next to you to reconstruct her body."
Delta didn't reply. The liquid had already reached her chest, and a wave of intense drowsiness surged over her. Her eyelids grew heavier, and her grip on the padding slowly loosened.
Aidan pulled over a chair and sat down next to the Medical Pod.
Although he spoke casually, he was actually feeling a bit nervous. So, he could only rigidly check every step in the manual like a robot.
"Phase one, consciousness separation... progress at twenty percent." He muttered to himself, his finger tracing down the lines of text in the manual. "In case of a continuous alarm, please turn valve number three half a turn to the left. No alarm, good."
Inside the Medical Pod, the pale blue liquid enveloped Delta, and a faint red and blue light began to shimmer around her body.
"Feels like some kind of Rules Horror story."
A yellow light lit up on the console.
"Beep, beep, beep."
The sound wasn't loud, but it seemed particularly piercing in the quiet medical room.
Aidan was startled and quickly looked down to flip through the manual.
Yellow light? What did the manual say to do for a yellow light? Which page was it on?!
He frantically checked the manual.
"When a yellow light prompt appears, it indicates that the separated consciousness's energy is too low, and an Awakening Agent must be manually injected. Please open storage compartment number two, take out the green vial, and insert it into the injection port on the right side."
Aidan quickly pulled open the drawer under the console, and sure enough, a green vial was lying inside. He picked it up, aimed for the hole on the right marked with an injection symbol, and shoved it straight in.
The yellow light flickered twice and then went out.
"Whew, scared me to death." Aidan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
As the surgery progressed, faint wisps of blue light began to appear in the transparent tube connecting the two pods. Those light flows seemed to have a life of their own as they slowly traveled through the tube toward the small Incubation Pod.
Aidan didn't really want to know how Liliya was being constructed by the Incubation Pod.
After words like flesh reorganization or bone construction crossed his mind, he felt the scene would surely resemble a monster factory in a horror movie.
In the medical room, aside from the sound of the machinery running, only the sound of Aidan tapping his fingers on the armrest remained.
Time passed slowly; after all, it would take nearly a hundred and twenty minutes.
Fortunately, Ai-chan could help keep an eye on things.
"Surgery complete. Operator, please perform the final confirmation."
A crisp notification chime rang out in the room, and all the lights on the console turned a soft green.
The blue liquid in the large Medical Pod was receding rapidly. Delta was still lying inside, but her previously furrowed brows had completely relaxed. The horns on her head had also shrunk slightly, likely because extracting the part belonging to Liliya had left her quite weak.
— — —
"Thank you."
Liliya looked at Aidan.
"...Um, but, did you help me get dressed?"
Aidan's expression stiffened.
"Well, you see, let me explain. It was a necessity. Anyway... I swear I didn't see or touch anything."
"I'm not blaming you."
The large Medical Pod emitted a soft "beep," the pale blue repair fluid was completely drained, and the glass cover slowly opened.
Delta's eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes.
She first looked blankly at the white ceiling, then suddenly sat up, her gaze instantly becoming sharp. A second later, she turned her head and saw Liliya sitting on the neighboring hospital bed.
Delta froze completely. She didn't even dare to blink, fearing that the scene before her was just another illusory bubble from her countless nightmares.
"Liliya?" Her voice trembled violently.
Liliya stepped onto the cold floor with bare feet, walked quickly to Delta, and threw her arms around her.
"Rozaliya, it's me."
Delta's hands hovered in mid-air for several seconds before she finally hugged her sister back tightly. She buried her head in Liliya's shoulder, her own shoulders shaking violently.
Aidan rubbed his nose, stood up, and tiptoed toward the door.
Leaving the medical room, he closed the door behind him and took a long stretch.
I really am a great guy.
Two heads popped out from the corner of the hallway. March 7th and Stelle were peeking around the wall, one above the other, their eyes wide and staring straight at him.
"Are you two stacking up there?"
"We're just concerned! How's the situation inside?"
"The sisters are safe; the Separation Surgery was a success."
Delta and Liliya stood at the doorway. Delta's eyes were still a bit red, and the tear tracks on her face hadn't been wiped clean, but the previous tension that felt like it could explode at any moment had completely vanished. Although Liliya's face was still somewhat pale, she seemed in good spirits as she sized up March 7th and Stelle in the hallway.
Meanwhile, Delta stared at Aidan, her lips twitching several times. Finally, as if she had made up her mind, she closed her eyes, her face turning bright red.
"Um—" Delta took a deep breath and shouted as if yelling a slogan, "Thank you so much!"
Aidan rubbed his ears, shaken by her shout.
"If you're going to thank me, just thank me. Why so loud? You're going to deafen me."