Chapter 515

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Ten hours were both long and short.

Long enough to complete a fake-person procedure—from waiting to eating, from movies to romance, from bathing to intimacy, from cleaning to goodbye.

Short enough that participants in the fake-person procedure couldn't rest fully.

For the young people on the tour, ten hours were both like testing their endurance and like challenging numbers.

This was a brand new world!

Research into anything could yield enormous benefits, but the time consumed would increase accordingly. The gentlemen heading to the mine had observed bacteria metallurgy, some had observed the slave organization, and others studied the composition of platinum mines. The natural rubber forests and the fortifications along the route also offered different observation directions... Whether to carefully study the information of a certain fragment or to obtain more surface information was an extremely important choice for everyone.

In short, this was like a game's beta test opportunity; whoever seized it would have more initiative in the more open days ahead.

Zhang Pei sat focused on the helicopter, heading to the Rare Earth Mining Area.

His gaze was resolute, his demeanor both calm and fierce, his body trembling slightly from an adrenaline rush.

His conversation with Chen Yi was clearly not pleasant. Based on Zhang Pei's understanding of his family, unless a major upheaval occurred, these were his last ten hours on the West Continent.

In the current situation, Chen Yi was the Ginseng Fruit of the entire Chen Clan and even China; he didn't even need any hints—if the clan thought he might be unhappy about something, they simply wouldn't do it.

And Zhang Pei would not let this happen!

No!

Zhang Pei gripped his hands tightly, like on a first date. He silently swore: I must do everything in my power...

To stand out among nearly a hundred family members, he relied not only on being a student but also on an unyielding spirit. Whether he could come to the West Continent again, whether he could keep the status of core family members, all depended on these ten hours.

The helicopter flew for thirty minutes; after switching to low-altitude flight, Zhang Pei felt the impulse disappear.

More than ten kilometers from the Ring City Highway, the wilderness was desolate as if from the Jurassic period. Trees a hundred meters high were everywhere; small forests dotted the hilly areas, pitch black and terrifying like a throat, with wretched wild beasts appearing occasionally at the edges, ferocious beyond measure.

Zhang Pei was sticking his head out to admire the rare primitive scenery when a twenty-meter-long Special Violent Bull actually leapt into the air, roaring as it pounced toward the humming helicopter, its pale teeth and long single horn gleaming brightly in the reflected sunlight...

Zhang Pei shrank back in fright, his whole body shaking with excessive adrenaline,

The special forces soldier piloting the plane laughed heartily, the fuselage shaking, and shouted: "Harmless animal! The powerful ones have long been cleared out. Miss Liu's prospecting team—even Saber-toothed Beasts can only cry at the sight of them. Look at the slave camp now, every one of them with faces black from eating meat, all monsters they've hunted."

As he spoke, the helicopter shook like a sieve, not to dodge the Special Violent Bull, just a bad habit. No matter how much training and Knowledge Solvent supplementation, the special forces soldiers' piloting skills always remained at the level of dodging rocket shells.

The Divine Art Knight sitting in the cabin was as steady as Mount Tai, while Zhang Pei's face was ashen. He didn't want to be looked down upon, so he held it in until landing, then rushed impatiently to the water's edge, splashing cold water on his face over and over.

"Spit it out, you'll feel better."

Zhang Pei shook his head desperately.

Losing face was like losing life; it was the Zhang family tradition.

The veteran laughed, lit a cigarette, smoked half of it, and only when he saw the Four-Wheel Drive Vehicle rushing over did he say: "Mr. Zhang, where are we going? There are some rubber forests in the middle; to the south is the mining area's slave camp, and there are also a few copper mines under preparation. This godforsaken place, they can't even find an iron mine."

On the surface, the easiest mineral to discover was the copper mine. The Bronze Age itself was built on the simple smelting technology of copper and tin.

Without rich copper mine resources, humans would naturally have other choices. By the same principle, Earthlings used steel and oil extensively because there were large amounts of iron mines and oil, and they were cheap and good, which is why countless people researched how to better utilize them.

Zhang Pei finally caught his breath, climbed into the back seat of the Four-Wheel Drive Vehicle, and said: "Go to the Rare Earth Mine, we're in a hurry."

"Brother, earth mine." The veteran laughed, turned his head, and said: "If you're in a hurry, hold on tight."

Zhang Pei hadn't come to his senses and asked: "What?"

The Four-Wheel Drive Vehicle went wild.

Rare earth mines were transported out via the thirty-kilometer railway built previously; the simple highway had endured half a year of heavy truck abuse and could no longer bear the load. This road was also rarely traveled; a plan to rebuild it had been made, but there was no manpower to carry it out, so it was delayed again and again. Until today, weaker city SUVs couldn't enter the mining area; only hard off-road vehicles like Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles could do it.

Martial Arts Hall Students above level 6, with a bit of cultivation, had the bearing of mounted knights; moving with the rise and fall of the Four-Wheel Drive Vehicle, they were as comfortable as riding in a sedan chair.

Fortunately, the road wasn't far; after a few minutes, the vehicle was enveloped in a gray mist.

"What's going on?"

"Dust from rare earth mining. Now you know why slaves are made to work?" Everyone put on Gas Masks and casually threw one to Zhang Pei.

In the harsh environment, sure enough, the drivers of the engineering machinery were all white-skinned slaves.

Driving was physical labor, but easier than the basic laborers using primitive tools below, so the slaves desperately learned driving skills.

The machinery Chen Yi brought in was numerous; if not for controlling the casualty rate, the mining area would almost have entered the age of mechanization.

"If the Environmental Protection Bureau saw this, they'd be thrilled. You guys keep busy; just get a guide to follow me." Zhang Pei joked and began looking around.

Analysis and evaluation—that was his job, and also the job of most people on the tour.

The veteran patted his chest and said with a smile: "I'll accompany you, sir."

Zhang Pei glanced at his "sir," helplessly said: "Let's go see the warehouse or the ore pile first, to see how the finished products are."

He had seen rare earth ore at the Jiangbei Port wharf, but didn't know if it had been processed. Analysis and evaluation should be based on firsthand resources as much as possible. If everything relied on looking at other people's data, the result would just be a graduation thesis.

Amidst the busyness, Zhang Pei's Electronic Watch kept announcing the time.

The reminder every half hour made time seem increasingly urgent.

After eight hours, Zhang Pei wore an Oxygen Mask but still felt his throat tight and his breathing unsteady.

He had collected a lot of data, but none could be called extraordinarily valuable.

Valuable enough for others, but for him, far from sufficient.

Just as he was anxious, in the gray field of vision before him, a European-style brick villa appeared.

"Did you build this?"

"This is the Knights' Rest Area; it's best not to go in." The veteran reminded him.

Not allowed in? Zhang Pei wanted to go in even more.

He took two quick steps, rushed straight into the revolving door, and the sound of an air extractor started, as if cleaning the clothes on his body.

A discharged soldier came in too, stripped off his uniform in two or three moves, and said, "You've been in the Mining Area so long, still want to get clean? There are clothes inside, just take them off."

"Take them off?" Zhang Pei looked with disgust at the old soldier's naked body.

The latter bent his leg, twisted his waist, immediately struck a bodybuilder's standard pose, and shouted at the same time: "Cleaning Program."

"Cleaning Program." The Computer Expert repeated it once, and water began to pour from the ceiling.

A large amount of water.

Zhang Pei was soaked through, and his clothes could not be kept on even if he wanted to.

After great difficulty stripping himself clean, Zhang Pei said awkwardly: "Does the West Continent have intelligent programs now?"

"The Personnel Ministry hired a few down-and-out programmers in Oslo or something, I'm not too clear either." The discharged soldier washed himself in a proper manner.

"Oslo is the capital of Norway." Zhang Pei's voice was a little low. The last time he had appeared naked before a man was several years ago.

"What?"

"Nothing."

When the two entered the building, they happened to see Divine Art Knight Yin Sen Zhu drinking tea and chatting.

He was a member of the Yin Sen Family from the third batch to become Divine Art Knights, and the contract he signed was three times thicker than the original, almost transferring all his rights and interests to Chen Yi, so he had long been stationed in the West River Territory.

The Combat Knights in the Knight Villa were mostly Family Knights hoping to become Divine Art Knights, mainly from the Yin Sen Family, with occasionally a few members of Marriage Alliance Families, all of whom had met Yin Sen Zhu before.

Now their ranks differed greatly, but the old friendship remained. Compared to the Bodyguard Life, a life of mutual flattery was a bit more interesting.

The Knight Villa was the safest place possible; the freshly bathed Zhang Pei held Chen Yi's signed pass and naturally passed without obstruction, free to look wherever he wanted. Yin Sen Zhu unleashed his Shenjia and continued shooting the breeze.

Thus, a group of Combat Knights and one Divine Art Knight sat around a large tatami mat like old ladies in a village, some cross-legged, some squatting, some lying on their sides, each talking their own talk. Moreover, they were busy with their own work—making weapons, just like old ladies knitting sweaters.

Zhang Pei took more than ten minutes to come out from various places that stank to high heaven, lamenting that he had wasted time while saying to the old soldier: "Such a disgusting place, why is the entrance cleaning like a pharmaceutical company?"

"They like cleanliness; this is the test area of the programmers in Oslo."

"Computer Experts, right." Zhang Pei was half an expert himself, wiping his head with effort, and added: "They like cleanliness, but the room stinks like a dog kennel?"

"Knights don't pay attention to hygiene." The old soldier also felt it was a bit contradictory, and added: "But they like cleanliness."

"Alright, withdraw, wasting time." Zhang Pei's Electronic Watch rang again, like a middle school truant with a loose string.

"Sir, we are departing." The old soldier respected the martial-powerful Divine Art Knight greatly; this was also Chen Yi's requirement. Such figures represented the pinnacle of West Continent civilization's evolution, their Combat Power equivalent to the Superheroes Americans fantasized about, and respect was the cheapest way to communicate.

Yin Sen Zhu made an "oh" sound, thinking: The last hour.

Zhang Pei suddenly called out, standing behind a certain Combat Knight, and asked curiously: "What are you doing? This is Tungsten Alloy, right? And beside it is Tungsten?"

"I'm adding Refined Gold now; it can harden weapons."

"How hard?"

The Combat Knight waved his hand casually, and the Tungsten Steel spear shaft beside him used for forging was instantly punctured. (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to vote for Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)