Chapter 445: Preparing for the Expedition

Originally, the students' practical classes mainly involved using the physics knowledge they had learned to assist construction workers in building city walls, constructing tenement buildings, repairing roads, and building city defense equipment; in these practical classes, students who performed well could receive credit rewards.

Credits are very important and relate to the students' promotion assessments; once primary school students have earned enough credits, they can be promoted to middle school. One must know that although primary school students can eat their fill, they do not receive a salary.

Middle school students are different; they have a salary, and the salary is not low—basically the same as those craftsmen in the Manufacturing Department—and they can also be allocated housing.

Luolong County has many people and little land; although the city has been continuously expanding, new refugees can only be allocated a small ten-square-meter room in a tenement building, and that small room still requires rent to be paid.

One must know that after many refugees fled to Luolong County, they had almost nothing, and they were also dragging their families along; many refugees had five or six people living in a ten-square-meter small room, which appeared very crowded.

But as long as they pass the exam to become middle school students, not only is the monthly salary they earn more than what the able-bodied men in the family earn doing manual labor, but the Luolong County authorities also allocate a one-hundred-square-meter house.

Goodness, this is extremely attractive to those children of refugees; it can be said that as long as they can pass the exam for middle school, the fate of their entire family will be changed—eating better, using better things, and living better.

More importantly, these children who were once naughty and mischievous, as long as they pass the exam for middle school, will become the pillars of their families, earning more than their fathers and brothers, which is also very attractive to the students.

"Heidan, don't be playful; when you get to the school, you must listen to the teacher. If you don't study well, I'll come back and beat you to death."

"Wah, you must study hard; if you pass the exam for middle school, I'll let you drink alcohol and won't beat you ever again."

"Erqiu, if you want to eat meat, then study hard for me. The teachers say that studying can change one's fate; the teachers are absolutely right. You must not be playful and fail to study well."

Under the coercion and inducement of their parents, the students all have to study diligently. Moreover, children of poor families take on responsibilities early; although these students are not old, they have also experienced much hardship. They know that life is not easy, and they also yearn to get ahead through studying and change the lives of their entire families.

Ten days later, the Salvation Army will set out for the Ten Thousand Mountains to seize the Spirit Stone Mine, so the students' practical classes are now basically arranged at the military factory.

Meng Yifan tells the students that the work they are doing is very meaningful; only when the rear continuously produces excellent weapons and equipment can the soldiers at the front greatly increase their combat effectiveness and eliminate the Demon Race in large numbers.

The flesh and blood of the Demon Race will become food for Luolong County, allowing everyone to eat their fill, and the Demon Cores of the Demon Beasts will become cultivation resources, allowing the soldiers to become even more powerful.

The soldiers can heroically kill the enemy at the front, and the students participate in manufacturing weapons and equipment at the rear; their contributions are also indispensable.

These words make all the students' blood boil, and they also deeply realize that their responsibility is heavy.

Because many students' fathers and brothers are in the Salvation Army, the students all know that before long, the Salvation Army will set out on an expedition to seize the Spirit Stone Mine.

If there were no weapons and equipment like the AK47, the soldiers of the Salvation Army would only be able to use their old, outdated weapons to risk their lives against the Demon Beasts; that would certainly lead to heavy casualties, and perhaps their fathers and brothers would die on the battlefield.

Understanding this point, no matter how bitter or tired they are, the students dare not slack off; they are highly responsible for every link, striving for perfection.

The miners are digging in three shifts, the military factory is also producing weapons and equipment in three shifts, and the soldiers of the Salvation Army are high in spirits, training hard and practicing cultivation arts every day.

The soldiers have already learned from Zhang Shagen that Master Meng Yifan is willing to consume a large amount of resources to temper their Spirit Roots; as long as they have Spirit Roots in their bodies, even if it is a Nine-Element Waste Spirit Root, he can allow most of them to become Immortal Cultivators.

An Immortal Cultivator is an Immortal Master; the status of an Immortal Master in the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty is very transcendent. Even a lowest-level First-Grade Immortal Master can sit on equal footing when facing a county magistrate, and in many cases, even the county magistrate dares not offend a First-Grade Immortal Master.

Immortal Cultivators can use mysterious Immortal Arts, and they can also prolong their lives; they can roam the North Sea in the morning and the Cangwu in the evening. If they are lucky, they might even achieve immortality. Hearing that they can become Immortal Cultivators is extremely attractive to the soldiers of the Salvation Army.

When they learned that Meng Yifan needs a large amount of Spirit Stones to temper their Spirit Roots, the soldiers of the Salvation Army were all high in spirits, wishing they could set out on the expedition now to capture the Jiguan Mountain Spirit Stone Mine for Meng Yifan as soon as possible, so that they could become Immortal Cultivators one day sooner.

Moreover, the soldiers of the Salvation Army already know that even if they die on the battlefield, their families will be properly taken care of and will not have to worry about food or clothing.

Not only that, after Zhang Erwa died on the battlefield, he became a Ghost Soldier and patrols the city every night; he can go home to see his family, and since coming out of the Secret Realm World, Zhang Erwa has already advanced to a Third-Grade Ghost Soldier, his strength has greatly increased, and he can manifest himself in front of people to reunite with his family.

Zhang Erwa's example leaves the soldiers of the Salvation Army with no further worries; they do not fear life or death, for even if they die, they can be transformed into Ghost Soldiers and walk another path of cultivation, perhaps with an even faster cultivation speed.

In addition, those soldiers in the Salvation Army who truly have no Spirit Roots can also be transformed into vampires; this is also a method to quickly improve strength. Although there are some side effects, many soldiers are willing, because after all, only with strength can they allow their families to live a good life.

The soldiers are all practicing hard, and the Fifth-Grade Experts like Hu Mei'er are not idle either; they found a place with no one around and tried detonating an atomic bomb, so as not to not know how to use it when the time comes.

"Boom!" A mushroom cloud rose in an uninhabited Valley; the shockwave formed by the atomic bomb explosion swept in all directions. Hu Mei'er went to feel it herself and felt that the power of this explosion was comparable to the full-force strike of a Fifth-Grade Intermediate Expert, which secretly shocked her.

Meng Yifan brought Missile Launch Vehicles, which means that even an ordinary person who has never practiced cultivation can launch an atomic bomb and unleash a full-force strike comparable to that of a Fifth-Grade Intermediate Expert, which makes Hu Mei'er feel very uncomfortable inside.

Hu Mei'er's natural talent is quite good; she cultivated for over three hundred years to reach the Fifth-Grade Intermediate level, yet an ordinary person could potentially kill her by pressing a button. This makes her doubt the meaning of life, feeling that if weapons are this powerful, what is the point of bitter cultivation.

Meng Yifan saw Hu Mei'er's thoughts and enlightened her: "Although atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs have immense power, they can at most threaten experts at the Grade 6 level. Once one reaches the Grade 6 level, one can be fearless of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. You are already about to break through to Grade 6, how can you let this shake your Dao heart?"