The warm light gently enveloped Le Yao's abdomen, acting like some kind of protective healing energy. President Liu then asked Xu Yao, "General, what is inside the little rabbit doll?"
"Good Fortune Talismans, why do you ask?"
Instead of answering Xu Yao's question, President Liu turned to his assistant. "Xiao Chen, check Mr Xiao Le again to see if the children's membranes are showing any signs of recovery."
Previously, they had planned to perform a surgery because the membranes had ruptured and a natural childbirth could no longer be performed. But now, it seemed that the gentle light was repairing those membranes.
Dr Chen quickly re-scanned Le Yao's abdomen. He was worried that the inspection would get affected by the light from the talismans, but the result obtained was clearer than ever before.
"President, the fetal membranes have not been repaired, and one of the children is showing signs of hypoxia." Dr Chen continued, "What should we do now?"
"Prepare for surgery immediately!" President Liu ordered, "Adjust the temperature of the intelligent incubator to emulate that of the womb and send them in immediately after the children come out."
"Liu… President Liu… isn't it too-too… early?" Le Yao felt tremendous pain in his stomach, he felt as if something was trying to tear him apart from the inside. He had awoken once the light of the Good Fortune Talismans had surrounded him, but he was in so much pain that he couldn't speak at all.
However, the current situation was really much too terrifying. The children were too small. Even a child carried for little more than five months on a singular pregnancy wouldn't develop well, let alone the fact that he was carrying three.
Three children were being provided sustenance through him alone.
Is that the same as giving nutrition one-on-one? Of course not!
"Please rest assured, we will do our best." After speaking, President Liu signaled the anesthesiologist and nurse to prepare for the required pre-operative work.
Le Yao turned his head towards Xu Yao.
Xu Yao had been holding Le Yao's hand this entire time. Sensing his gaze, he bent down and pressed his forehead against Le Yao's.
"Don't be afraid, you and the little guys will be fine, I promise you."
Le Yao wanted to nod, but a sudden drowsiness struck him, and his vision faded into darkness.
Xu Yao felt as if his heart had been savagely gouged out. He used all his willpower to remove Le Yao's hand from his palm, and eventually turned to President Liu and gravely stated a single sentence, "President Liu, you must ensure their safety."
"You want to go outside?" President Liu instantly understood Xu Yao's intentions.
"Report any problems immediately." Leaving only those words, Xu Yao walked out from the operating theatre.
As soon as Wan Deqing confirmed that Le Yao had been rescued by Xu Yao, he immediately withdrew his team from Huaxia. His collaborators, the teams from Sarna, also withdrew and then sent more than half of their force as reinforcements for the attack on Vodapei.
They knew clearly that if they were to lose this battle again for the second time, they wouldn't be able to recover from such a loss within eight or even ten years in the future.
So this time, even if they couldn't grasp Huaxia into their hands, they had to strive to occupy the mining planet, Vodapei.
This withdrawal of the enemy from Huaxia meant that the soldiers currently defending Vodapei still needed help.
On one side was his dear wife, who was about to give birth to their children, and on the other side were his comrades, who were desperately fighting against the enemies to protect their land.
Xu Yao felt torn by this dilemma even as he exited the operating theatre. However, as soon as he left, a strange feeling forced him to halt his footsteps at the door.
He then suddenly bit his finger, and, in front of the eyes of his surprised guards, he drew a very strange rune on the operating theatre door.
This rune didn't exude an ominous feeling of malevolence, which was strange considering that it was drawn with blood. It exhibited an aura full of divine glory instead.
Xu Yao stared at this rune for a length of time before regaining his senses, upon which he reiterated his instructions to the guards.
"Be sure to stay alert and inform me immediately if any problems occur!"
"Understood!"
This day was not destined for calmness. Xu Yao's silver mecha swiftly brought him back to the battlefield, and during that same time, Le Yao's stomach was cut open.
Wrapped in a membrane, a child with an imposing sense of presence, but who was just the size of an adult's palm, was revealed.
This child actually had a touch of golden light radiating out from its body!
All the doctors present, including President Liu, were surprised, but upon remembering that Le Yao had mysterious abilities, they quickly put the matter aside for the time being and brought the remaining children out.
The children were too small. So small that it could make anyone distressed. The heaviest boss itself weighed no more than six hundred grams.
The doctors felt that for the first time in their lives they were using such a level of patience and gentleness to carefully transfer these delicate babies from Le Yao's body, then proceeding to clean up their mouths, noses and tiny bodies, before sending them to the intelligent incubator.
They didn't even have the strength to cry out, their eyes were tightly shut and their little clenched fists were only the size of a longan fruit.
The doctors adjusted the intensity of light for them, and the intelligent incubator dutifully collected their biological measurements and data.
By this time, Xu Yao had reached the battlefield where the first sentry post had been attacked. Not only had Wan Deqing left, but most of the surviving orc soldiers had also rushed to Vodapei.
They had only dared to be arrogant in the beginning because they had taken Le Yao hostage. Now that Le Yao had been rescued, this group of Orcs had had to shift their focus to a different battlefield.
"They should be committed to occupying Vodapei and appear to have sent most of their personnel over to attack Brother Tang's side."
As Yan Jie reported, he suddenly paused as he remembered and asked, "Brother Xu… how is Mr Xiao Le now?"
"He was being prepped for surgery when I was piloting my mecha here." Xu Yao showed no expression on his face, but his eyes were very cold.
He still didn't know that his children had already come into the world at this time. However, it was also due to the need for continuous care and observation that President Liu hadn't had the time nor presence of mind to update Xu Yao on the situation.
"Damn this Wan Deqing. He must be trying to get Mr Xiao Le to help him control the undead. Brother, don't you think it's strange that as soon as they knew Mr Xiao Le had been rescued, they rushed to Vodapei?"
"There was a spy in the conference that happened in the Hall of the Great Moon."
The situation couldn't have been this coincidental otherwise.
The Sarna Orcs attacked Huaxia during daytime, when the sun was the strongest, and even captured Le Yao. After knowing that Le Yao had been rescued, they quickly retreated from Huaxia.
They must have known that a daytime attack had the greatest chances of victory. Evidently, these people already knew that Le Yao had a special ability, but, more than that, they also had deeper intel, like the fact that the undead were averse to sunlight.
They might even know about how 'the undead cannot leave Huaxia', which was why they immediately left for Vodapei, in order to avoid an attack by the undead during the night. They must have thought that the undead were not able to reach Vodapei.
"No wonder, so it was like that. If that's the case, what do we do now? They will reach Vodapei in around 35 minutes. But, if we mobilise support against them, Huaxia's security can't be guaranteed. We've also detected two Sarna ships in this location."
Yan Jie pointed to a spot on the three-dimensional galaxy map displayed by his light brain and said, "It would take these ships less than three hours to reach Huaxia. If we leave for Vodapei, they will surely attack our people here."
"There is only one way."
Xu Yao added, "Yan Jie, do you remember the dolls Le Yao had made when we were going to Xingdu? Send someone and get more paper dolls like that printed. The more the better, and have them sent to me afterwards."
"The paper dolls? But Mr Xiao Le… right now he's… I'll go now!" Yan Jie stuttered before he suddenly remembered that the man in front of him could also draw talismans!
More importantly, his talismans seemed to be even more powerful than those drawn by Mr Xiao Le!
It was going to be dark soon. If anyone dared to attack, the undead brothers present on Huaxia certainly wouldn't be polite! Even if they couldn't leave Huaxia, they could still fight and possess the enemy's body.
As for their soldiers on Vodapei, they could also send undead dolls over as support! The enemy wanted to lure the tiger from its mountain, but apparently their General had no intention of leaving!
Yan Jie did not design the dolls as carefully as Le Yao had. He simply retrieved a design template and printed the dolls according to it, hence why all the fifty dolls he made looked the same.
Each consisting of a big head and a small body, he packed these dolls into a bag hurriedly, and immediately went to find Xu Yao to draw talismans on each of them.
Xu Yao remembered every talisman drawn by Le Yao clearly, and he also drew them faster. He drew each of the required runes directly on the dolls and summoned the corresponding undead.
Not long after, fifty undead soldiers, led by Shen Weilin, had been attached to the big-headed dolls.
Xu Yao told Yan Jie. "Take them, and call all mecha soldiers to lend support to Tang Ye. Use the Haixuan gate immediately."
Yan Jie asked, "All of them? What about you?!"
Xu Yao glanced at Yan Jie coldly.
Yan Jie didn't dare to ask anything further. He took the bag of dolls and rushed out.
He couldn't pinpoint it, but he had a strange feeling. It was as if the 'Xu Yao' who came back from the hospital wasn't the 'original Xu Yao'. He couldn't say exactly what the difference was though.
It just felt strange. And to top it off, this strange feeling seemed to have nothing to do with Le Yao. It was really very puzzling to him.
If it wasn't because the rune drawn by Xu Yao was so perfect, Yan Jie might have started wondering whether someone had used plastic surgery to imitate his face.
But he knew that was impossible.
The sky outside had now completely turned dark. Xu Yao quietly stood in front of a hill of corpses, and an observer could only wonder about what he was thinking.
His left palm suddenly heated up, as if a fire burning inside it. Upon inspecting it carefully, it seemed to be carved into the shape of the rune he had drawn on the door of Le Yao's operating room.
The rune wasn't obscure, instead it looked vaguely familiar, however, he couldn't remember where he had seen it prior to today.
Suddenly, Leslie's voice, surging with urgency, sounded from his communicator.
"General, Madam has already given birth!"
Xu Yao immediately returned to his senses.
"What did you just say?"
Leslie said with care, "Madam has given birth. Two Alpha boys and one Alpha girl. They have already been transferred to the hospital's intelligent incubator to receive intensive care. I don't know why but there are a lot of undead surrounding the hospital."
"What about Le Yao? How is his current condition?"
Leslie answered, "He's fine right now. But the effect of the anesthetic hasn't subsided yet, so he's still sleeping. Would you like to see him?"
Xu Yao didn't ask any more questions. He simply entered his mecha and flew directly towards the hospital.
Looking at the surroundings of the hospital, as Leslie had previously mentioned, there were indeed a lot of undead loitering around.
Actually, to say 'a lot' would be too modest. To be precise, it should be that tens of thousands of souls were surrounding the hospital, and they were all actually kneeling!
…