Chapter 1717: Zhang San Awakens

At 10:20 a. m. to 7 p. m., the sky shifted from deep blue to dark purple. As the jade-banded sea eagle circling over North Sector One's territory folded its wings and descended, a Eurasian eagle-owl silently took off from Territory Eight and continued its aerial patrol mission.

North Sector One's territory remained in a silent state with communications cut off; the several hundred people inside and outside Territory Seven kept all noise—whether talking or walking—below 50 decibels.

The second and minute hands spun round after round on the dial; the two unconscious big shots had still not woken, and the leaders' faces grew uglier by the minute.

Several young people handling this level of incident for the first time didn't even dare breathe heavily, let alone imagine what serious consequences would follow if either of the two big shots never woke up.

Humans on mission within the fifty-li evolutionary forest surrounding North Sector One remained on high alert at their positions; the lords of the evolutionary forest and their companions in the Blue Star Alliance group chat were all very busy.

The former southern wolf king's Fourth, leading two evolved wolves and an evolved Tibetan mastiff, was patrolling the western tiger group's territory; Queen Cui Yan's mate, Scarface Junior and Scarface Junior's father, had intercepted two hyena packs about to start a territory war.

Broken-Waist Wolf was warning Black-Scar Leopard to keep it away from Peak Four of Mountain Fifty; Little Wolf Sister was leading three war wolves from the northern wolf pack on patrol of the northern wolf pack's territory; Little Four-Eyes and Broken-Leg Wolf lay together on Mountain Sixty, watching the neighboring Xiong Qun territory.

On Peak Four of Mountain Fifty, Piece-Tiger and Honeysuckle Earless Wolf silently bit a large wild boar to death and dragged it under a big rock to eat.

Handsome Giant Wolf, stationed near the evolutionary forest area of Territory Seven, stared coldly at the dark clouds drifting across the sky; Little Wolf Brother beside it pulled a power bank from its protective suit pocket, plugged it into its phone, then sent a message in the group chat asking about the situation.

Inside the big-shot monitoring room at Territory Seven, Xia Qing pulled out her phone for the sixteenth time and replied to Little Wolf Brother in the Blue Star Alliance group chat: Third Brother still hasn't woken up, Little Wolf Brother hold on a bit longer, when the mission ends I'll treat you to six green-light eggs plus 20 milliliters of spinach juice.

The little fellow flipped through the phone's photo album, found no pictures of its little tusk tips in Daddy's phone, could only @ Xia Qing, replied with a system emoji, then opened the phone's camera mode and started taking photos to make emojis.

"Woof." Handsome Giant Wolf beside it let out a low, commanding growl; Little Wolf Brother immediately pressed the phone with the power bank attached under its belly, raised its frost-covered head, and stared solemnly at the distant human territory lit up with lights.

"Giant Wolf Brother, something happening?" Hearing Handsome Giant Wolf's low growl, Huo Zhun immediately raised his head and asked in a low voice.

After locking eyes with the wild, fierce, hard-to-communicate giant wolf for three seconds, Huo Zhun asked again, "Giant Wolf Brother, nothing's wrong, right?"

Handsome Giant Wolf remained wild and fierce; Huo Zhun wiped his protective suit visor and silently shrank back.

At ten o'clock, the aerial patrol birds were replaced by drones; the brain-domain evolved beasts patrolling the surrounding evolutionary forest all switched peaks; Piece-Tiger and Earless Wolf, stuffed full, groomed their fur three times; Handsome Giant Wolf beat the black wolf into a snow-white one; Little Wolf Brother finally made an emoji it was satisfied with…

Zhang San was still asleep.

At eleven o'clock, leaders including the Director of the National Academy of Sciences Special Talent Security Bureau, the Chairman of the National Evolutionary Ability Safety and Ethics Committee, and the Commander of Hui City Main Base called one after another to ask about Fu Tianfeng and Guo Qingbin's conditions; Guo Qingbin's brainwaves were still slow, and Zhang San was still asleep.

Apart from the two of them and the children within North Sector One's territory, no one slept.

At 3:10 a. m., the curves and data on the multifunctional life monitor at Zhang San's bedside changed. Zhang He in the monitoring room, Zhang Song, Jiao Duo and others in the command room, and the thirty-plus experts in the medical tents outside Territory Seven all simultaneously widened their already bloodshot eyes.

Hearing Zhang He's breathing rate change, Xia Qing turned her head and saw her idol's eyes were still closed, but the fluctuation amplitude of the curves on the monitor screen had increased; her idol's heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and breathing rate were all slowly rising.

Two minutes later, she saw the eyeballs beneath her idol's thin eyelids begin to slowly move left and right, the eyelashes begin to tremble, and the Adam's apple—particularly prominent on that slender neck—also rolled up and down once, extremely slowly.

……This is……

Expressionless Xia Qing widened her eyes and looked toward Zhang He standing beside the hospital bed. After Zhang He, tears in his eyes but smiling, nodded at her, the heart Xia Qing had held suspended for sixteen hours and fifty-two minutes slowly returned to its place.

Under the breathless anticipation of over a hundred people, Zhang San slowly opened his eyes; his pupils contracted when they met the soft light in the monitoring room, then slowly closed again; two seconds later, when Zhang San opened his eyes once more, his gaze was already clear.

He slowly turned his head and looked at the curves and numbers jumping on the monitor beside the bed. After confirming his physical state, Zhang San glanced at the time on the screen, looked at Zhang He in the airtight protective suit beside the bed, and asked hoarsely, "How many levels of emergency and isolation protocols were activated? Any signs of secondary infection? Any casualties?"

Zhang He immediately replied, "After you lost consciousness, Zhang Song assumed command and activated Level One emergency status and Level One isolation protocol. In the seventh hour of your coma, it was downgraded to Level Two isolation protocol; in the twelfth hour, downgraded to Level Three. It's now seventeen hours and eight minutes. No deaths, no secondary infection detected. Apart from you, Professor Guo Qingbin has also fallen into a coma and has not yet woken."

Zhang San closed his eyes. "Report that I've woken, consciousness clear. Give me a nutrient solution."

Zhang He's voice carried a sob. "Yes!"

Zhang San's voice was hoarse and weak, yet carried a power that steadied people's hearts. "Don't panic. It's not a big problem."

"Yes." After reporting the situation to Zhang Song, Zhang He raised the hospital bed, took out a nutrient solution, unscrewed the cap, inserted a straw, and held it to the teacher's mouth.

After the bed was raised, Zhang San saw Xia Qing standing at the foot of the bed facing outward, took a sip of nutrient solution, and asked, "How's the situation outside?"

Xia Qing didn't turn around and replied calmly, "Everything's normal."

After finishing a nutrient solution, Zhang San instructed Xia Qing's stiff back, "I'm hungry."

Territory Seven's lord and top-tier medical research big shot Fu Tianfeng had woken; Jiao Duo confirmed through various monitoring data that although his bodily functions were at the low end of normal, he had already passed the critical stage.

Commander Zhang Song announced the lifting of Territory Seven's silent state and the restoration of communications; Hui Three Base Commander announced the lifting of the alert status within the surrounding fifty-li range, and humans on mission in the evolutionary forest continued their original tasks.

The beast lords who had received Xia Qing's notification returned to their respective territories. The North Sector One lord channel and phone chat groups erupted; chimneys in every territory began sending up cooking smoke.

Zhang San, whose limb mobility had not yet recovered, sat in a wheelchair, protected by Zhang Jingwu's squad, and was pushed by Xia Qing out of the monitoring room into the command room, where he conducted face-to-face or video exchanges with Zhang Song, Jiao Duo, and the various leaders in the tents outside Territory Seven.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhang San returned to his office with first-class soundproofing and quickly reviewed all the information Territory Seven had received and sent during his coma.

The new human across from him was on his third bowl of rice.

Why wasn't Xia Qing eating from a basin today? Because the meal box had been sent over for Zhang San, and no rice basin had been prepared.