TN –
Thanks to “Playful Little Fox” for the donation. This is the 2nd extra chapter out of 4.
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“The two days you were unconscious, Mom and the others each activated one, even Abu and the others have theirs now, these are the leftovers.”
After hearing Yue Zheng’s words, Xu Song nodded, suddenly a thought flashed through his mind: “Can each person only use one? What if we wear two?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
Xu Song took out one and aimed it at the ceiling light: “I mean, can each person only use one? I wonder if wearing two will have any effect.”
The eyes of several people lit up. If they could wear more than one, would it accelerate the absorption of abilities?
Yue Zheng thought for a moment: “I think there should be a limit to the amount of this thing the human body can absorb, but this crystal can absorb energy. Wearing more pieces might help us store more energy for backup, so we don’t have to recharge every one or two days.”
The current crystals, although useful, had too small a storage capacity. Everyone basically had to recharge every two or three days. Although there was a considerable amount of idle time in between, if something happened during that time and they couldn’t recharge, they would be forced to interrupt.
Moreover, even though those sealed in the jars could preserve energy, some would still dissipate each time the jar was opened. If they could use more crystals, this loss would be reduced.
“Let’s try it.” After understanding Xu Song’s idea, Yue Zheng looked around and saw everyone eager to try it, nodding in agreement.
Xu Song took out a few syringes from the laboratory and conducted an experiment on Yue Zheng—last time when Luo Wen’an and the others were bleeding, everyone forgot that there were syringes and needles at home, so they had to manually draw blood.
Drawing a certain amount of blood, Xu Song roughly remembered the amount of blood drawn last time by Luo Wen’an and the others. This time, he drew a little more blood, then dripped it onto the crystal—sure enough, it worked!
One piece, two pieces, three pieces… After the fifth crystal absorbed fresh blood, the sixth crystal no longer responded.
“Has it reached the limit?” Everyone looked curiously at the five crystals, then at Yue Zheng.
“I’m afraid so.” Could there still be restrictions on the crystals each person held?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Yue Zheng picked up a pouch. Indeed, the crystals soaked in blood immediately absorbed the energy.
Cr obg atf batfg mgsrajir atja tjvc’a yffc rbjxfv lc yibbv, atfgf kjr cb gfrqbcrf ktfc atfs abemtfv atf qbemt.
Kjxlcu atf cfkis jmdelgfv olnf mgsrajir lc tlr tjcv, Tef Itfcu gjlrfv jc fsfygbk jcv ibbxfv ja atf qfbqif ktb kfgf ibbxlcu ja tlw fzqfmajcais: “Ktf mgsraji P bglulcjiis mjgglfv klat wf lr ralii rilutais kjgw, yea atfrf olnf—tjnf cb gfrqbcrf.”
Everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief, which was both disappointment and to be expected—if all six stones had heated up together, the cultivation speed would have been too abnormal.
With Yue Zheng as a precedent, everyone began to bleed. The maximum each person could carry was about the same. Several men could activate six crystals at the same time, while Liu Shishi and Mother Xu could activate a total of five, and Tiancheng Tianyou could activate four.
This probably had something to do with each person’s physique.
The crystals seemed to help each person store some extra energy, but apart from that, no other uses had been found yet. Xu Song stored this pile of crystals in the laboratory, ready to slice them up when he had time to study their composition, age, effects, and so on.
In Base City B, cheers filled the air as people hugged each other, tears streaming down their faces, crying and cheering with joy.
The massive army of mutant creatures besieging the base had finally retreated!!
Since the last heavy rain, the people in the base had finally found a better method of defense—sending water towards the location of the animals, then either electrifying it or letting the electrically-abled mutants unleash their powers directly!
Although they could counterattack in this way, the flying mutants, now cleaned of their feathers, remained as ferocious as ever, spreading their wings and launching aerial assaults on the base.
The base had expended countless rockets, mortars, artillery shells, and missiles in the brutal five-day battle that followed the heavy rain. It wasn’t until the morning of the sixth day that the mutants on the opposite side began to retreat. By the sixth day, with the assistance of radar and satellite photos, everyone could finally confirm—the mutant creatures had indeed retreated!!
Some people hugged each other, unable to speak through their tears. After experiencing the despair and brutal battles between life and death, those who had lived through peaceful times for so long finally realized how hard-won peace truly was.
Even the most radical individuals in the base were unwilling to return to their homes after risking their lives to make a living outside, only to face the possibility of conflict again.
Once it was confirmed that the mutant creatures had indeed retreated, the base immediately issued new missions. Reconstruction, production, and organizing combat forces to go out hunting.
At the higher levels of the base, another matter was reaffirmed—the mutant animals may have retreated, but they had not completely withdrawn from human activity areas.
“The marine creatures currently occupy several important port cities in the Bohai Bay. S City is still in their hands, and at the same time, they have also invaded several inland cities, such as F City and N City…”
Elder Wu pondered for a moment: “Spread this news and instruct all the teams going out to avoid these cities.”
One person nodded: “Our morale is currently greatly damaged, so it’s not advisable to engage in battles with them for the time being. We’ll reclaim those cities once we’ve regained our strength!”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Elder Wu’s gaze swept around deeply: “Do you think we need to reclaim those cities?”
One person said solemnly: “Those are important territories of our country. Of course, we can’t just easily hand them over to them!”
Elder Wu slowly picked up his water glass: “The territories of each country have always been delineated to distinguish them from other countries. I’ve never heard of any country whose territories don’t even allow foreign animals to enter.”
Everyone fell silent, speechless. It was unbearable for them to admit that even animals with low intelligence could form their own country and become a group equal to humans… Although this had indeed become a reality now.
The mutant animals were powerful enough and agile enough. What they had lacked before was unified leadership, control, and purpose, but now… it seemed that a “king-like” existence had appeared among them.
“We have only tens of thousands of people left in our base. As for the population of other bases… it’s better not to mention it. Some bases have long lost contact with us, and we don’t even know if there are any survivors.”
With that, Elder Wu looked at everyone again. “With just tens of thousands of people, do we really need such a large area? The more scattered our residences are, the faster we will die. It’s a miracle that we can still maintain the operation of the base now! Are we still thinking about reclaiming those port cities?”
He shook his head again. “They won’t always be there… Even if marine creatures manage to come ashore, they’ll retreat once winter comes. It’s only the second year after the apocalypse. No one knows what the outside world will develop into. We need to focus on solidifying the base before anything else.”
While the radicals might gain some support by advocating for driving away the mutant creatures to expand their influence, once they calmed down and thought about it, they would understand—the Earth belongs to all living beings, not just humans.
If they couldn’t understand this, the base would sooner or later face even more intense attacks than this one. It wasn’t like the time when humans ruled the world.
Some nodded among the group, while others disagreed in their hearts. However, these people were unaware that the heavy weaponry in the base had almost been depleted, and it would be difficult to withstand another siege like this one.
But the mining sites and smelters were located far away from Base City B. Who would dare to go there for production? Who would dare to escort materials back to the capital?
Although the research institute had found alternative methods for smelting, the production was too limited to meet demand.
Team 0246 finally embarked on their journey back north. They learned from the message sent by the base that it had been liberated, and the mutant creature army had temporarily retreated, occupying several port cities not far from Base City B.
Since waking up, most of Xu Song’s time had been spent in the laboratory. Yue Zheng split his time in half, either driving ahead or accompanying his dear one in the laboratory. The rest of the time was spent shuttling between these two locations, much to the amusement of Luo Wen’an and the others—did they think Yue Zheng couldn’t hear them? He simply pretended not to hear and ignored them.
“How’s it going?” Yue Zheng entered the compartment with lunch in hand, seeing Xu Song standing next to a piece of equipment. He placed the food on a small table away from the equipment and asked.
Xu Song printed out the documents and frowned as he walked over to him. “According to the test results—everything seems fine.”
“No problems?”
Xu Song nodded with a sigh. “Yes, its composition and structure are almost identical to that of diamonds.”
“Almost?”
“Yes, both are made of carbon, but there are some differences in their structural arrangements,” Xu Song said, spreading his hands. “But this difference isn’t significant enough to explain why it can absorb blood and release energy to specific individuals.”
“What about the glass steel developed by the base?” Yue Zheng thought for a moment and asked.
“That material can only isolate energy leakage, not absorb or release energy, and it does not react to blood.” Xu Song sighed and sat down next to him.
“So I’m puzzled. Why does it have such a significant effect? Do we have to attribute it to theology? Or do we need to wait for researchers at the base to conduct further studies?”
Although encountering that white mist and the memories inside had felt surreal to Xu Song, there were still some things he hoped to understand through his own efforts. Issues like this, which had no clues to follow, were truly perplexing.
Yue Zheng smiled and arranged the food. “Let’s eat first. Some things take time to figure out. It’s best if we can research them, but if not, there’s no need to dwell on them too much.”
“Okay,” Xu Song responded and began to eat his meal determinedly—although they couldn’t figure out the principle behind it, it was still possible to develop more practical applications!
…
Half a month later, Team 0246 returned to the devastated outskirts of the base once again…
Home? again. Thank you
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