Chapter 309: Five Large Trucks

The explosion incident in the Training Room served as a wake-up call, prompting the Base to once again purge and reinforce its experimental safety protocols. Li Sinian was confined and made to write a tearful, deeply profound self-criticism. Meanwhile, the astonishing control and unflappable composure Xia Wan had displayed during the explosion once again drew the attention and praise of the higher-ups. Lei Dong privately commended her and asked whether she needed higher-level training resources.

Xia Wan politely declined. She understood that after this period of arduous cultivation—especially the extreme response during the explosion crisis—her control over her own power had stepped onto a new level. The foundation was already solid; what she needed now was not more resources, but to thoroughly integrate this control into instinct, and to test and hone it in actual combat.

The information stream brought by the Origin Contract, besides the coordinates of the Final Trial, also contained some vague guidance on the use of power and the nature of cosmic energy. She needed time to contemplate and understand it. At the same time, she also vaguely sensed that she seemed to have touched upon a certain bottleneck; the deep awakening of her Bloodline Power seemed to still require some trigger.

Days slipped quietly by in calm yet fulfilling training and contemplation.

That afternoon, Xia Wan had just finished a round of meditation and was preparing to head to the Gravity Chamber for physical enhancement, when her Personal Communicator rang—it was Lei Dong.

"Xia Wan, if it's convenient, come to my office." Lei Dong's voice sounded somewhat... odd, seemingly mixed with helplessness, confusion, and a barely concealed trace of shock.

"Understood, Commander Lei, I'll be right there." A faint doubt stirring in her heart, Xia Wan quickly tidied herself up and headed to the Command Center.

Walking into Lei Dong's office, Xia Wan discovered that besides Lei Dong, several supervisors in charge of logistics, warehousing, and the energy department were also present. Their expressions were identical to Lei Dong's—all wearing a dazed look, as if they had witnessed something inconceivable.

"Commander Lei, you wanted to see me?" Xia Wan greeted with a salute.

Lei Dong rubbed his brow, pointed at the screen on his desk displaying the Base's internal Logistics Monitoring Screen, and said in a complicated tone: "Xia Wan, take a look at this."

Xia Wan leaned closer to look. The screen showed a dedicated passage leading from the Base's core area to Qin Feng's residence (if that Quiet Chamber with almost no personal belongings could be called a residence). At this moment, a long convoy of five large enclosed transport trucks was lined up on the passage, moving slowly and orderly inward under the guidance of logistics personnel.

This was quite a sight... The Base's internal material transport usually used small electric carts or conveyor belts; deploying such large trucks, and five of them at once, was extremely rare.

"Is this... transporting some important materials?" Xia Wan asked in confusion. "New research equipment? Or energy cores?"

The energy department supervisor gave a bitter smile and cut in: "If it were those, that would be fine. We received a notice from Mr. Qin saying he needed a batch of 'daily necessities' and asked us to prepare them according to a list and deliver them to him. We thought they would just be ordinary items, but when we got the list..."

He handed over a tablet.

Xia Wan took it, her eyes swept over the list, and then... she too was stunned.

The contents on the list completely exceeded her comprehension.

The items listed were a dazzling variety, and the quantities were extremely massive:

Morning Dew of Yin Hour from the peak of Kunlun Mountain: 1000 liters (required to be packed in Cold Jade Bottles)

Abyssal Mystic Ice Soul with retained activity from the ten-thousand-zhang abyss of the South Sea: 500 kilograms

Thunderstruck Wood Heart (requires peach wood over a thousand years old, struck by heavenly thunder on Thunder Strike Day without being destroyed): 10 sections

Western Geng Metal Essence (required to be extracted from Meteorite Cores): 100 units

Earth Vein Purple Crystal Orchid (required to be picked on a full moon night at a Dragon Vein Convergence): 50 plants

North Sea Cold Iron (required to be forged ninety-nine times under the aurora): 1 ton

Vermilion Bird Feather (Forged) (required to be drawn on Fire-Washing Cloth using hundred-year Cinnabar mixed with Phoenix Blood Vine juice): 99 pieces

All in all, there were over a hundred kinds of items, every single one sounding unfathomably mystical, exceedingly rare, and some even existing only in myths and legends! And the quantities demanded were so exaggerated as to make one's scalp tingle!

1000 liters of Morning Dew of Yin Hour? 500 kilograms of Abyssal Mystic Ice Soul? 1 ton of North Sea Cold Iron?!

How could these be "daily necessities"? This was clearly... the rhythm of emptying half the treasure vaults from myths and legends!

The logistics supervisor pointed at the five enormous trucks on the monitoring screen, his voice tinged with a sob: "Miss Xia Wan, look... for the items on this list, we mobilized all our reserves, contacted every external channel we could reach, and even employed some... unconventional means, and only just barely gathered less than seventy percent! And that alone has already filled five large trucks!"

Five large trucks... filled with these things?

Xia Wan looked at the slowly moving truck convoy on the screen, imagining the "daily necessities" loaded inside—enough to drive any cultivator or researcher mad—and for a moment didn't know how to react.

She finally understood why Lei Dong and the supervisors had such wonderful expressions.

"Mr. Qin, he... what does he need these things for?" Xia Wan couldn't help asking. These items, no matter how you looked at them, didn't seem like what Qin Feng's usual extremely simple lifestyle would require.

Lei Dong sighed and shook his head: "We asked, and Mr. Qin only replied with four words—'Of some use.'"

Of some use...

Using five large trucks of mythological-grade materials just for "of some use"?

How great must this "use" be?

The supervisors also exchanged glances. They were responsible for allocating resources and knew full well what favors and costs the Base had paid to gather these items; some had even been barely obtained by mobilizing national power. Yet in Mr. Qin's eyes, it was merely a casual "of some use."

"Mr. Qin's actions are unfathomably profound, beyond what we can fathom," the energy supervisor could only conclude in the end, his face written full of helplessness. "As long as he continues to help the New Era, help humanity face the coming crisis, let alone five large trucks, even fifty large trucks, we'd have to find a way to get them for him."

Though the words were said, watching the five large trucks that had nearly emptied the Base's special material reserves slowly drive toward Qin Feng's empty Quiet Chamber, everyone's hearts were filled with immense curiosity and a faint, hidden unease.

Mr. Qin Feng suddenly needs such massive and rare resources...

What exactly is he going to do?

Xia Wan watched the trucks disappear at the end of the passage on the monitoring screen, her heart equally filled with questions. She recalled what Yun Ge had said about time running short, and what Jing Yi had mentioned about "their" accelerated awakening...

Is Sir collecting these related to the approaching crisis? Or is it... preparation for the Final Trial?

She had a vague premonition that the peaceful days might soon come to an end.