Chapter 545

Facing Su Yunni’s question, Zi Yunzhen said casually, “There’s nothing left for me in the lab for now, so the boss sent me to work on the construction site.”

Su Yunni chuckled and said, “The lab is so busy—how could there be nothing to do? What, is Zhang Yu no longer forging the prototype?”

While speaking, Su Yunni also began probing about the progress of the prototype, especially the data on various aspects.

After all, she had worked alongside Jin Jun for a while and was familiar with the performance and stats of the Tianri Huang Shen at different levels.

Of course, the Tianri Huang Shen she knew about was only the prototype’s data.

After all, the real Tianri Huang Shen was a military-grade puppet; it had to receive a military certificate, undergo modifications, and have its restrictions lifted before it could unleash military-grade performance, at which point the data would surge once again.

At that moment, Zi Yunzhen watched Su Yunni asking questions left and right and found it quite amusing, but she had already guessed the purpose of Su Yunni’s visit.

Zi Yunzhen spoke up and said, “Alright, I’ll tell you the truth: Zhang Yu has already reported the prototype and applied for a review.”

“Really applied for a review?” Su Yunni said in surprise. “Has Zhang Yu’s prototype been upgraded to level 11?”

“Level 11?” Zi Yunzhen snorted. “Yunni, I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.”

After all, this project was one she, Zi Yunzhen, had personally participated in—leading half the project team, covering all the essential groundwork, and working consecutive overtime shifts until now to achieve these results. It was a project experience that would be at the top of her resume.

For this, she had even worked as Zhang Yu’s assistant for a measly two spirit coins a month, with free overtime far exceeding that of any previous project she had ever been on. How could she let Su Yunni disparage the project’s achievements in front of her?

Zi Yunzhen said proudly, “In just two months, our project team pushed the prototype from level 1 all the way to level 15 before submitting it for review.”

“Level 15? Two months? How is that possible?” Su Yunni instinctively didn’t believe it.

Seeing Su Yunni’s utterly astonished expression, Zi Yunzhen chuckled and used her eye-wear to capture the look, then continued, “Yunni, the path of artifact crafting is just this ruthless—there are always people studying how to be faster, better, and cheaper than you.”

“When we’re assistants, the most important thing is learning to pick the right project, and picking the right project is all about judging the right person.”

“You have decent grades, but your eye for people is still a bit off.”

“Jin Jun? Last year, I already saw him as ambitious but lacking talent—nothing but a skeleton in a grave.”

“Zhang Yu, on the other hand, when the project was first being prepared last year, I recognized him as a rough gem buried in clay and wood, with an extraordinary instinct and inspiration in artifact crafting. That’s why, after his repeated invitations, I agreed to join the project team.”

Listening to Zi Yunzhen’s words, Su Yunni thought to herself, “Last year, you were still cursing him as ‘that lousy civil engineer.’”

But seeing how confidently Zi Yunzhen spoke, Su Yunni couldn’t help but believe about thirty percent of what she said about the level-15 prototype.

And thinking that following Jin Jun’s project team would ultimately end up losing to Zhang Yu, Su Yunni now began to feel increasingly uneasy.

While Zi Yunzhen and Su Yunni were talking, Fu Xinyao slowly walked over, trying to get closer to these two artifact-crafting students.

But in the next moment, a loud shout came from behind her.

“It’s her! Grab her!”

Fu Xinyao quickly turned her head and saw Yu Xinghan pointing at her and saying, “It’s her! She pretends to offer unlicensed massages, but actually she’s into dual cultivation!”

“She lures customers with cheap massages, and once they start, she forces dual cultivation on them. Countless people have fallen for it, secretly drained of their Qi and blood and magic power!”

Seeing two patrol team members approaching, Fu Xinyao couldn’t help but glare fiercely at Yu Xinghan, cursing inwardly, “Damn it… Why is this kid always the one reporting me?”

One of the patrol team members looked at her and said, “It’s you again, you lousy vocational school graduate. This time it won’t be just a few days of overtime.”

The other patrol team member said, “Take her back and confiscate her tools of the trade.”

Fu Xinyao’s heart tightened, and she quickly said to Ping He and the other soul cultivators, “Remember, the Corpse Frame has restrictions set by Lord Qiongjiang; ordinary cultivators can’t trace its origins.”

“No matter how they interrogate you from now on, don’t let anything slip yourselves.”

Watching Fu Xinyao being led away, Yu Xinghan nodded with satisfaction. Then his gaze swept over a lazy-looking worker not far away, and his brow furrowed again.

Recently, there had been a noticeable drop in worker efficiency on the construction site, and even the hours they worked had decreased.

But what surprised Yu Xinghan even more was that, amid the city-wide infrastructure boom where all sites were struggling to recruit enough workers, as the workers voluntarily cut back on overtime, the company’s pay had actually gone up.

Yu Xinghan wasn’t sure how long this anomaly would last, only worrying whether the Two-Day Cult was behind it, laying some scheme or conspiracy.

On the other side, after her conversation with Zi Yunzhen, Su Yunni brought the news back.

As soon as she returned to the lab, she hurried to see Jin Jun.

There, Jin Jun was controlling true fire, using artifact-crafting equipment to keep striking woven magic circuits—one by one—into the prototype.

Seeing Su Yunni appear, Jin Jun didn’t say a word, only sent a message: Wait until I finish what I’m doing.

After finishing etching a complete mana circuit, Jin Jun paused the artifact refining equipment, looked up at Su Yunni in front of him, and calmly asked, "Go ahead, what's the situation?"

Su Yunni said, "Zhang Yu pushed the prototype machine to level 15!"

Jin Jun was slightly stunned, then the next moment he laughed and said, "You believe such absurd things?"