Inside the aquarium, looking at the hawksbill turtle lying in front of him, Yang Lin was incredibly nervous.
After all, this was his first time performing surgery on an animal. If anything went wrong and the surgery failed, this sea turtle that had lived for over a hundred years would be lost because of him.
"Please don't let anything go wrong."
"Bear with me for a moment, I'll try to be as quick as possible."
While silently praying, Yang Lin slowly located the hawksbill turtle's stomach.
After marking the spot with a marker, he aimed the angle grinder in his hand at the marked position.
Taking a deep breath, he immediately gritted his teeth.
The next second, the spinning angle grinder began to cut into the turtle's carapace.
Instantly, a large amount of powder splashed out, making Yang Lin's eyelids twitch.
If he hadn't had strong psychological fortitude, he might not have been able to go through with it.
Even so, it took him nearly ten minutes to cut out a palm-sized section of the shell.
After this portion of the carapace was cut away, Yang Lin could clearly feel the hawksbill turtle beneath him trembling.
"Just a little longer, it'll be over soon. Once I take out whatever is inside you, I'll heal you right away."
While speaking words of comfort, Yang Lin once again cast a low-level healing spell.
Taking advantage of the turtle's momentary relief from pain, he quickly picked up a sterilized scalpel from the side and carefully located the hawksbill turtle's stomach.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have dared to do this, as he wasn't a trained medical professional.
The only reason he dared to proceed now was because of the system's existence.
As long as he could remove the foreign object from the hawksbill turtle's abdomen, he could instantly heal it by awakening his talent.
With this thought, he sliced open the hawksbill turtle's stomach.
The next second, a rather peculiar-looking object appeared before him.
"What is this thing?"
Yang Lin had expected that the most likely things a hawksbill turtle would swallow would be marine debris.
Or perhaps some human artifact found at the bottom of the sea.
If it had been an antique or something made of gold, silver, or jade, he might have made a small profit.
But what was in front of him looked like a product of modern technology, and a highly advanced one at that.
Occasionally, a red light would emanate from it.
"Could it be a component that fell off a ship?"
"No, with this level of precision and such strong endurance, it shouldn't be civilian technology."
Instantly, Yang Lin thought of a possibility.
Just as he was about to examine it further, he suddenly remembered that his patient was still in a state of open surgery.
He immediately set the object aside.
"I'm sorry, Grandpa Turtle, I'll heal your wound right away."
As he spoke, Yang Lin opened the information and talent panel for the hawksbill turtle in front of him.
[Hawksbill Turtle (Near Death) 546 years old, Fear]
Upon seeing the information, Yang Lin was stunned.
He knew the hawksbill turtle was very old, but he hadn't expected it to be this old.
546 years old, what did that even mean? It could be traced back to the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty.
This wasn't just Grandpa Turtle; it was a living ancestor.
The last creature discovered to have lived this long was an ocean quahog.
When that ocean quahog was discovered by scientists, it was 507 years old, but it died tragically when its shell was opened.
In terms of age, that ocean quahog, also from the Ming Dynasty, was merely a descendant of this hawksbill turtle.
After the shock, Yang Lin quickly looked at its talent panel.
Knowing it had lived for over five hundred years, he became even more unwilling to delay.
[Longevity (Special Talent) Requires 1 Talent Point per activation, adds 100 years to lifespan per activation, maximum 5000 years.]
[Jade Armor (Green Talent) Requires 1 Talent Point to activate]
[Fortune and Misfortune (Gold Talent) Requires 5 Talent Points to activate]
...
Looking at the talent points before him, Yang Lin hadn't expected to encounter that special longevity talent again.
He had discovered this special talent on a tortoise before.
But clearly, this hawksbill turtle was even more outstanding than the tortoise in terms of longevity.
Its lifespan limit was the length of a civilization.
However, now was clearly not the time to marvel at this, because if he hesitated any longer, he would truly become a sinner for all time.
He immediately invested one talent point into the Jade Armor talent.
The next second, the hawksbill turtle, which had been bloody and mangled, instantly began to be healed by a mysterious power.
The cut stomach and the carapace that had been cut by the angle grinder were immediately repaired as if new.
After all the injuries were healed, a special luster flashed on the back of the sea turtle that had survived for over 500 years.
From afar, it looked like a piece of exquisite jade.
Even the previously deformed area had returned to normal.
Seeing this change, Yang Lin couldn't help but touch its shell, and a unique tactile sensation immediately arose.
When he tapped it lightly, crisp sounds emanated from the shell.
"With this hardness and luster, even a great white shark might not be able to bite through it."
As Yang Lin was marveling, a voice filled with vicissitudes came from the sea turtle.
"Thank you for saving me, young man."
"The ocean will bless you."
Hearing this voice, Yang Lin quickly looked at the sea turtle in front of him.
Vaguely, he felt that the being before him was not a sea turtle, but an elder who had endured endless years of refinement.
He had a premonition that this sea turtle from five centuries ago would bring good luck to him and the Xihong Zoo.
With this thought, his gaze fell upon two items beside him.
One was the piece of carapace removed from the hawksbill turtle's back, and the other was the unidentified instrument retrieved from the turtle's stomach.
"This piece of shell could be made into a bracelet or a protective amulet."
"As for this unknown object..."
After a moment of muttering, Yang Lin took out his phone and found a familiar number in his contacts.
After hesitating for only a moment, he dialed the number.
As soon as the call was connected, he immediately said:
"Hello, is this the Ministry of State Security? I am Director Yang of the Xihong Zoo."
"I just found something inside a sea turtle's stomach, and I think you might be interested."
...
Not long after the call ended, several police cars, along with several unmarked special vehicles, stopped at the entrance of the Xihong Zoo.
Then, shortly after, under the gaze of many tourists, Yang Lin was escorted into one of the vehicles.
Before long, the news of Director Yang's arrest spread across the internet.