Chapter 32 Everyone’s Reaction

Chapter 32: Reactions of the Crowd

Wei Kang’s parents had no idea that their son was living a blissful life in the laboratory. Each day, he didn’t have to do any work and had a large space for play and entertainment. He was also well-fed—even though he received only one nutrition pack of less than ten milliliters per day, he always felt completely full.

The highlight of each day was opening a mystery pack to discover which flavor the nutrition dose would be.

So far, the most common flavors were corn, sorghum, sweet potato, and potato.

There were apparently other flavors too, but Wei Kang hadn’t tasted them yet.

Though he couldn’t understand why such a small amount could keep him from feeling hungry, there was no denying that his energy and spirit were steadily improving.

Being well-fed every day gave him strength, and at his age, he was full of vitality. He couldn’t stay idle—every day he played joyfully in the large open space within the experimental facility.

Some of the homeless participants, now also well-fed, began walking laps around the open area daily.

Before they knew it, the final day of the experiment arrived. Wei Kang and Zhu Liangping drank their last nutrition dose and followed the staff to the hospital for a medical checkup.

When the results came back, Wei Kang couldn’t read the technical terms, but the staff told him all his nutrition levels were now normal. Even the anemia detected during his first examination had disappeared. In fact, he had gained two or three pounds since arriving and even grown one centimeter taller.

Wei Kang was stunned. He couldn’t believe the experiment was already over. Every day, he had done nothing but play happily, without worrying about tomorrow.

He had never imagined that his time as a volunteer would become the happiest period of his life.

Summoning his courage, Wei Kang asked one of the staff, “Uncle, are there any more experiments like this? I’d love to join again.”

The man addressed as “uncle” was Wu Youyang, who had come to review the final results in person.

“You’re a little kid with big dreams! How could something this good happen every day?” The experiment had been a great success, and Wu Youyang was in a good mood, happy to joke around.

Wei Kang’s face turned red. He realized it was true—such good fortune couldn’t possibly happen again. Before this, God must have taken pity on him for suffering so much and sent an angel to save him.

A blessing like this, once in a lifetime, was already more than enough.

Wu Youyang patted Wei Kang’s head. “Don’t worry. This time, each of you will receive 100,000 credits as a participation fee. With that money, your life will improve greatly.”

“Soon, the nutrition doses will go on sale. Once that happens, everyone will be able to get enough to eat, and the word ‘hunger’ will disappear forever.”

Now that Wei Kang knew what he had been eating during the experiment was called a nutrition dose, his eyes widened. “Really? Will they be expensive?”

“No, not at all. A single day’s dose costs just one credit.”

“One credit?” Wei Kang gaped in amazement. His parents together earned 4,000 credits a month. For a family of four, just 120 credits a month would mean never going hungry again. Wouldn’t that make his family financially comfortable in no time?

“It’s true. I wouldn’t lie to you,” Wu Youyang said, kneeling down to look the boy in the eye. “But you must remember—the person who created the nutrition dose, who brought about all these changes and lifted your life from hell to heaven, is named Ji An.”

Wu Youyang longed to tell the child Ji An’s real name, but he couldn’t. The spatial storage device was one thing—after all, people could live without it.

But the nutrition dose was different. It was a treasure capable of solving humanity’s survival crisis. If certain people with malicious intentions learned that Ji An was the inventor, he might very well be assassinated.

“Ji An,” Wei Kang softly repeated the name. He knew no one actually went by that name, but that didn’t stop him from vowing to remember those two syllables for the rest of his life—because the person behind them had saved him and his entire family.

He didn’t realize that, in time, those two syllables would be remembered by the entire world forever.

Since the volunteers now carried large sums of credits and their safety on the way home couldn’t be guaranteed, the research facility provided transportation to personally escort each of them back.

It was an ordinary evening after work. Wei Kang’s parents walked wearily home, exhausted, but they barely felt the fatigue—or rather, ever since their son had joined the experiment, they had tried to distract themselves with work to avoid thinking about whether he was okay.

As usual, the couple opened the door without any hope—and then, they stood stunned.

Standing inside the door was their son, who had gained weight, grown taller, and looked more radiant. Most importantly, he appeared healthy—the gaunt, malnourished boy they had parted with was gone. Though still thin, his cheeks were now rosy, clearly just a lanky kid going through a growth spurt, not lacking in nutrition at all.

"Son, you're back?" Wei Kang's mother asked, tears welling up.

His father also spoke up, "Son, do you have to go back?"

At this, Wei Kang sighed in disappointment, "I wish I could, but they won't take me."

His mother swatted at him halfheartedly, though it was more like a caress, "Nonsense! I won’t let you go anywhere else!"

His father stepped forward and embraced both mother and son, overjoyed, "It’s good to have you back, it’s good to have you back."

Wei Kang’s little sister wormed her way into the hug, giggling sweetly, "Brother, brother, brother’s back!"

Looking at his sister’s sweet smile and feeling his parents’ warm embrace, Wei Kang felt everything had been worth it.

Suddenly, his mother broke free from the hug, "Son, are you missing any body parts?"

Wei Kang couldn’t help laughing, "No, not at all. In fact, I’ve gained three pounds."

"What kind of experiment did you even join? How did you come back heavier?" his mother asked in confusion.

Before leaving, the staff had told him there was no need to hide anything—he could freely talk about what happened in the testing facility.

So Wei Kang recounted everything in detail and added, "Before I left, I asked that uncle, and he said the nutrition packs will be available for sale in a few days. We can all buy them—just one credit each."

"Holy smokes!" The couple exchanged glances, seeing both disbelief and hope for the future in each other’s eyes.

Wei Kang continued, "Mom, Dad, I have 200,000 credits here. I’ll transfer them to you so you can get those legs looked at. It’s been a month, and I can still see you limping. You shouldn’t let it become a chronic issue."

His mother quickly refused, "Keep those credits for yourself—put it toward a dowry or spend them however you like. You risked your neck for that money; we can’t take it."

His father agreed, "Your mother and I won’t use it. We couldn’t do much for you, but at least we won’t burden you further."

"Mom, Dad, please take it. If not for wanting to help you with your legs, I wouldn’t have joined the experiment in the first place," Wei Kang insisted. "And it wasn’t as scary as you imagined—life there was actually really good."

"Besides, if your legs get worse, it’ll just become another mouth for me and sis to feed later," he added, noticing their hesitation. "And in the future, you’ll have to mind the grandkids. If your legs give out, who’s going to do that? We’d just end up taking care of you instead!"

"Alright," his father finally relented. "Your mother and I will get checked. Our child has already done so much for us—as parents, even if we can’t help them, we shouldn’t hold them back."

The vagrant emerged from the testing facility with money, took a bath, changed into fresh clothes, and then bought a pile of food to visit his old homeless friend.

"I told you we should’ve gone together, but you refused, saying we’d die. Look at me now—well-dressed, well-fed, some schmuck who eats regularly now. With the credits I have now, I could even get myself a wife!"

The old homeless man wolfed down the food greedily while staring enviously at the man who looked so different he would’ve walked right past him if not for the voice. "What did you guys even do?"

Excited, the vagrant recounted everything about the testing facility and concluded, "It was the best decision I ever made. In a few days, when that nutrition pack hits the market—one credit a day—with my 100,000 credits, I’ll be sitting pretty! Hahaha..."

A girl named Xiaoli leaned against the doorway, scanning the horizon. Her companion walked over and asked, "You really believe your man will come back?"

"He will. He promised me."

"Even if he does, he’d need to walk out of there first. Do you think anyone who joins that experiment comes out alive?"

"He will survive. He promised me—even if he has to crawl, he’ll crawl back to see me."

Xiaoli and Dajun were a young couple who had fallen in love during the Collapse. They had planned to marry, but Xiaoli’s father, a gambler, sold her to the black-marketeers.

For a girl like Xiaoli, what those bastards would do to her didn’t bear saying out loud.

Dajun was just an ordinary guy, broke as they come. In the end, to buy Xiaoli’s freedom, he went and signed up for that sketchy experiment.

“Xiaoli, Xiaoli!” Xiaoli could’ve sworn she heard Dajun’s voice. She looked up—and there he was, that familiar figure sprinting toward her.

Xiaoli didn’t care about anything else anymore. She tore down the street toward him, full speed. They crashed into each other’s arms right there in the street, sobbing uncontrollably.

“I got the cash, Xiaoli! Once we pay off the debt, I’ll take you somewhere far away—somewhere your deadbeat gambler dad can’t track us down. We’ll live good. Real good.

You don’t know this yet, but in a few days, they’re rolling out something called nutrient paste. Just a single credit a pop, and it fills your belly for the whole day while giving your body everything it needs to survive.”

“Really? Really!”

Word of this miracle spread like crazy through every alley and street, lighting a beacon of hope for the men, women, and children drowning in darkness—a promise of tomorrow.

The news wasn’t exactly secret, so it didn’t take long before every bigwig department in the compound had caught wind of it.

This included the research institute.

“It’s out,” Zhao Zhen said, choking on the storm of feelings inside him. Was Ji An’s zombie vaccine more important, or was this nutrient paste the bigger deal?

The whole lab went dead quiet—like a tomb. Everyone held their breath, praying they could turn invisible.

There was no doubt the zombie vaccine mattered—it could stop infections, save lives. But the nutrient paste was just as game-changing. It could feed millions, keep them from starving to death.

Let’s face it—you can’t expect folks to give a damn about morals when they’re hungry. Only after they’ve eaten do people start learning decency, understanding manners, and following laws.

Without food, nothing else matters. Just chaos.

The successful development of this nutrient paste was a national treasure—something that would go down in history and be remembered forever.

It would save countless lives. A legacy for the ages!

Zhao Zhen was green with envy. He wanted to rip Ji An’s success away and slap his own name on it!

Why? He’d worked his ass off under Han Yaokun, sacrificing everything—kissing ass, doing whatever it took—just to escape the shadow of Han Yaokun and lead his own project.

He dreamed about it—literally dreamed about it!

After all that effort, all that loyalty, how did he still not get his own project? And some rookie comes along, has one wild idea, and suddenly he’s got two groundbreaking projects under his belt?

How old was Ji An? Barely thirty. Zhao Zhen was pushing fifty—almost thirty years older. Why couldn’t it be him?

Life’s a rigged game!

Zhao Zhen kept his head down. No one saw the rage twisting his face into something monstrous—like a pissed-off devil burning in hell.

Han Yaokun suddenly sighed bitterly, “There’s always someone better, always something bigger. Never count out the kids—the ancients knew what they were talking about.

Spatial tech—I could kid myself and call it a neat trick. But this nutrient paste? A godsend for the people. This is the kind of thing I’ve chased my whole life!”

“Ji An… he’s an outstanding researcher.”

Meanwhile, Na Boyu, Zhou Fanxiu, and Bai Na were deep in conversation.

Zhou Fanxiu covered his face in shame. “I actually told Ji An he could work under me. If he didn’t want to be my student, at least be an assistant.

And now look—he pulled off these two breakthroughs. That spatial storage device alone opened up a whole new field. Even holding the finished product, I can’t figure out how the hell it works.

And the nutrient paste? Feeding millions.

What the hell was I thinking saying that crap back then?”

Bai Na smirked. “Just hearing you say it makes me cringe for you!”

Na Boyu added, “Honestly, I was the one who first suggested he join my team. Thank God he said no—otherwise, I’d have stifled a damn prodigy!”

With a mix of pride and bitterness, Na Boyu muttered, “Old Zhou, Xiao Bai… as much as it kills me to admit it… we’re not fit to lick Ji An’s boots.”