Chapter 109

Chapter 109

"I've thought about it too, but it probably won't be easy..."

Jiang Nian understood what he meant and shook his head helplessly in explanation:

"The energy conversion principle of zombie crystals is extraction, but ordinary instruments won’t work—it requires a medium. As for what that medium is or how to obtain it, Base S never disclosed it in my previous life."

He paused for a moment here, recalling before adding:

"Of course, it’s also possible that my information was too limited to know much. But until my death, I truly never heard of any other base succeeding in extracting and converting zombie crystal energy like Base S did."

Back then, he'd been confined to the basement, and all this was just conversations he overheard from Xia Weiwei and Chen Yue.

When they were administering drugs to him, conducting experiments, and observing him, they discussed things without restraint, leaving him no choice but to distract himself with these random chatter.

The information wasn’t complete, but it was still fairly accurate.

"Without a medium, it really won’t work..."

Cheng Jing nodded, his budding idea fading.

After thinking for a while, Jiang Nian reminded him again:

"But this line of thinking can still be brought to the leadership. Getting experts to focus on targeted research early means that once an expert with Brain Evolution superpower arrives, breakthroughs might happen."

Though he doubted even an expert with Brain Evolution superpower could solve the medium issue—otherwise, why didn’t Base S produce more of it to trade at high prices to other bases in his previous life?

"Mm."

Cheng Jing agreed:

"Then I’ll find time to bring it up with Minister Wang."

Jiang Nian patted him with a smile:

"Take it easy, Brother Jing. These things can’t be rushed. Let’s just do what we can and go with the flow."

Even knowing these details didn’t guarantee success—some things required long-term planning.

"I know."

After careful consideration, Cheng Jing decided:

"I think we can use the excuse of discovering something during an unauthorized excursion—hypothesize that ordinary zombie crystals contain energy that can be converted and suggest the base’s researchers focus on this direction to avoid going down wrong paths..."

Suggestions had to sound reasonable, especially those outside their expertise. Bringing it up out of nowhere would only raise suspicion.

Compared to the Purify ability, Jiang Nian’s reincarnation was the secret that absolutely must never be exposed!

He’d heard some people awakened mind-reading abilities, so now he was extra cautious around strangers.

During the day, he wore sunglasses; at night, night-vision goggles—just to be as careful as possible.

As for Jiang Nian himself, with his Purify ability, he didn’t have to worry.

Hearing they could go out, Jiang Nian’s eyes lit up:

"Great, let’s get out of here!"

He'd been waiting for this moment!

During this time, his superpower had already expanded to a diameter of 300 meters through intense self-training, and now it had reached 330 meters.

He aimed to break through 400 meters after this trip.

The brutal training regimen of exhausting himself to boost progress was effective, though it sometimes led to nosebleeds or fainting. He didn’t dare tell Cheng about it.

Cheng Jing knew he had been itching to go out and couldn’t help but laugh:

“Then it’s settled. After we return, we’ll report to Department Head Wang… We have plenty of leave, so let’s go somewhere farther this time and pull off something major.”

Jiang Nian rubbed his hands excitedly:

“Hell yeah! With this map, the world’s our oyster.”

They’d prepped the map for this very reason! Without a detailed one, they wouldn’t dare venture too far.

By the time they returned, the farm would be nearly ready. They’d make preparations to weather the scorching heat and deal with the people who would soon arrive.

With the plan set, Cheng Jing said he’d submit the back-to-back leave request tomorrow, have Zhou Li adjust their shifts, and depart after a few more days of training.

…

For couples in love, even the most trivial daily matters could serve as reasons to celebrate.

Let alone something as important as this.

Jiang Nian was especially excited today and clung to Cheng Jing most of the time, which took a lot out of both of them.

The next morning, the team pulled patrol duty outside the base, their shift ran till after 2 PM, but they scored half the afternoon off.

Cheng Jing seized the chance to gather everyone at the shop to discuss their leave and trip while also helping sort the herbal tea received the day before.

Jiang Nian lounged lazily on the recliner behind the counter, flipping through a planting encyclopedia, playing boss while Cheng Jing did the work, bossing Cheng Jing around, who then bossed the rest.

The weather was hot, and though he wore a collared short-sleeved plaid shirt today, it couldn’t hide the mess of hickeys on his neck.

There were simply too many to cover with band-aids—he’d look like a walking band-aid ad—so he decided to just let them show.

The others noticed but only smirked knowingly.

Young, passionate couples—what else could you expect? Especially since their Cheng clearly belonged to the virile type. As you do.

Only Huang Qian bluntly tugged at Jiang Nian’s collar with her slender fingers:

“Damn, someone got busy! And you can still get out of bed?”

No one looked over, but everyone’s ears perked up in unison.

“Sister Qian…”

Jiang Nian swatted her hand away and adjusted his collar, his ears turned crimson. Some things just shouldn’t be said out loud—once spoken, it just got awkward.

Cheng Jing emerged from the storeroom hauling stock for the shelves and overheard, firing back without hesitation:

“What, is Lu Ningzhou not keeping you satisfied? Someone’s jealous.”

“Oh, screw you! I’m just concerned about Jiang Nian!”

Huang Qian rolled her eyes and walked away. Every time she tried to tease Jiang Nian, this guy would always show up right on cue. Pfft!

"..."

Lu Ningzhou, who was sorting flower tea in the corner, got caught in the crossfire for no reason. He gave his girlfriend and Cheng Jing a resentful look:

"Cheng, that falls under the category of personal attacks..."

The others stifled their laughter, not daring to laugh too loudly—after all, this was just another way for them to show off their relationship, while they were all single.

At this moment, Liao Yu, who was just as mischievous as Huang Qian, felt his urge to get a girlfriend hit an all-time high. If he had a partner, he’d definitely compete with them.

His thoughts shifted as he glanced at his exceptionally good-looking single teammates:

"Anyone interested in dating me? I’m not picky about who takes the lead."

Jian Cheng and Tang Yi immediately declared they were only interested in beautiful women.

Zhao Lei shot him a glance but stayed silent. The young master had made these kinds of outrageous remarks several times already—he was probably seriously touch-starved.

Zhou Rongbin sized him up for a moment before asking with a smirk:

"I don’t care about gender, but young master, are you willing to fight zombies to support me? I wanna be a sugar baby."

"In your dreams!"

Liao Yu flipped him the bird:

"Having food at all is already good enough, and you’re still picky about it being ‘soft’? Get lost, you’re disqualified."

He sighed helplessly. Back before the world went to hell, he could’ve easily supported the whole team as freeloaders. But now… ugh.

His gaze swept past Zhou Rongbin with waning interest before landing on Zhao Lei. Finally, he pursed his lips:

Joking around with Zhou Rongbin was one thing, but taking it seriously was out of the question—they were both a bit too unreliable, and he was afraid he’d crack up mid-hookup.

As for Zhao Lei… he wouldn’t mind. But they were too familiar—the kind of familiarity that was like an uncle-nephew dynamic. The other man purely thought he was being ridiculous and would shut him down immediately whenever he brought it up.

In other words, even the low-hanging fruit was out of reach...