Chapter 1348: Who Has the Best Relationship with Xia Qing?

Zhang Song cursed her like this right in front of the two Red-11 Base special forces soldiers in the vehicle, and it directly made Zhang Han lose control. She slammed both hands on the seat to brace herself and roared, "You're the one with no brains! What gives you the right to curse me like that?!"

"Because you deserve it!"

Zhang Song's voice and expression were equally stern, "Red-1 promised to transfer your parents to Red-1 Base, and you believed them? Their roots are in Red-11; if they went to Red-1, they couldn't even get into the inner city! If you weren't the daughter of Red-11 Base's deputy base commander, given what you just did, you wouldn't have walked out of Territory Three alive!"

Zhang Han, who had always had smooth sailing growing up, vented all the grievances she'd suffered over the past half month in Territory Seven onto Zhang Song, "You think I wanted to come? I'm just a student who hasn't graduated yet. My advisor told me to come—could I refuse? If I don't complete the task my advisor assigned, how am I supposed to graduate? You brain-evolution PhD and master's supervisors, do you have any idea how much hardship an ordinary person like me put in to get this far?!"

"Clack—"

The reinforced blast-proof tire of the military off-road vehicle rolled over a stone on the road, making a slight sound, and Zhang Song's body swayed along with the vehicle.

He glanced at the Red-11 special-ops team member driving in front, gave a cold snort, and leaned back into his seat, ending his interrogation of Zhang Han, "If your cognitive representations are indeed consistent with your behavioral output, then your prefrontal cortex's functional level is clearly a perfect match for your decision-making pattern."

Zheng Chen...

The special-ops team member driving...

Zhang Han was also jolted somewhat back to her senses by the sway. She began to feel annoyed and fearful over her emotional outburst just now, closed her eyes, leaned against the seat back, and stopped paying attention to Song Mingqing, who had been interrogating her like a criminal.

Zhang Song clearly intended to stuff a few more things into Zhang Han's prefrontal cortex before returning to Territory Seven, so she wouldn't appear too stupid in front of Zhang San, dragging Red-11 Base into being blacklisted by Zhang San along with her, and dragging him into being kicked out by Zhang San, missing out on a research project that would absolutely make him regret for three lifetimes.

"Third Brother let you enter Territory Seven, and told me to guide you seriously, not because of who your parents and advisor are, and not because he couldn't see that you suddenly came for an internship carrying a mission, but because he values talent and understands your difficulties. So what if you're not a brain evolver? Forty-five percent of the researchers in Territory Seven aren't brain evolvers. Are their research results few? Are their contributions to humanity's disaster resistance and elimination few? You afraid you can't graduate? You're interning at Third Brother's research institute, and I'm personally guiding you. As long as you seriously do research and produce results here, who would dare not let you graduate? You're the one who gave up this opportunity."

Zhang Han opened her reddened eyes and looked at Zhang Song defiantly.

Zhang Song glanced at her micro-expressions and immediately knew what she was thinking. A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth, "Look down on Professor Fu Tianfeng's research team? Think he's a marginalized team that was driven out of Hui-1 Base and can't even scrape together research funding? Heh... Based on the principle of cognitive resource conservation, I suggest you optimize your social screening strategy and prioritize contact with high cognitive-load-tolerant individuals."

"In empirical research projects, researchers who can actively obtain first-hand data are the ones who produce more original and reliable research results. So even without sufficient funding and resource support, in the research on combating natural disasters and maintaining Blue Star's ecological balance, Professor Fu Tianfeng's team remains at the international forefront."

Able to see Territory Seven's south gate through the car window, Zhang Song wrapped up his remarks in three sentences.

The first two were directed at Zhang Han, "The basic data and materials you obtained in the hive and the lab over this half month are enough for you to write two excellent graduation theses. Your amygdala is currently over-activated, temporarily suppressing the prefrontal cortex's cognitive control function. I suggest you restore your optimal decision-making ability before going to see Third Brother."

The third was directed at the two special forces soldiers in front, "What I said today, you can report it directly upward. If Third Brother terminates cooperation with Red-11 because of this, it will be the biggest loss Red-11 Base has suffered since its establishment, because the distance between Red-11 Base and our country's largest evolution forest zone is zero."

After saying that, Zhang Song pushed open the door and got out of the vehicle. After stumbling two steps and being steadied by Zheng Chen, who had jumped down from the vehicle, he walked steadily to the security gate and submitted to the guards' inspection.

Zhang Han, whose heart had been left unsettled by Zhang Song's words, instinctively looked at Zheng Chen. Zheng Chen said nothing, only carried out his mission, raising his hand to invite her to get out of the vehicle.

Zhang Han bit her lip, tidied her hair, put on her protective mask, got out of the vehicle, and entered Territory Seven.

After driving the vehicle back to the territory's parking lot, the special-ops team member who had been driving, Luo Weiyi, could no longer hold back, "Captain, what did Song Ge mean by that 'high cognitive-load-tolerant individuals' line?"

He hadn't read much, so he could roughly understand the other things, but he really couldn't figure out what Zhang Song was cursing at with that sentence.

Zheng Chen shot him a look, "If you're stupid, stop hanging around with idiots."

Luo Weiyi...

Luo Weiyi touched his own face, which was as smooth as an egg, and urged, "Captain, hurry up and report the situation. Report Song Ge's words verbatim. We absolutely can't let Third Brother blacklist our base and kick us out."

This place was so nice. Third Brother didn't just give them discounted medicine to treat their physical injuries—when he was in a good mood, he'd even treat their minor ailments.

Last time, when Luo Weiyi was standing guard at the cafeteria entrance, Third Brother, who had come over to eat, saw that his face was covered in pitted acne scars, tossed him a bottle of medicine and a tube of ointment, and told him to scrub the bumps clean before coming back to stand guard.

After seven days of eating and applying it, he became the soldier with the best skin in Territory Seven! Now, standing guard at the cafeteria entrance not only wouldn't ruin Third Brother's appetite, it might even help Third Brother eat a couple more bites and put on some weight!

After Zheng Chen reported Zhang Song and Zhang Han's conversation to his superior, the superior immediately realized the seriousness of the matter, and his tone grew solemn, "You continue to carry out your duties. Absolutely do not take any action on your own initiative. I will report to the base commander immediately. How is your relationship with Xia Qing right now? Can you compensate her with some supplies and ask her to put in a few good words for us in front of the big shot?"

Zheng Chen was silent for two seconds, then answered truthfully, "Not great. No."

The superior asked, unwilling to give up, "Who in your squad has the best relationship with Xia Qing?"

"... Me."

The superior was speechless, "Didn't Ji Li, Yan Long, and Watching Huo Zhun from Hui-1 Base all get along pretty well with Xia Qing before? How come it doesn't work with you guys?"

Zheng Chen said shamefully, "It's probably because I acted too eager before, which made Xia Qing alert and resistant."

"Try your best to make amends and fix the relationship as soon as possible!"

"Yes!"

Zheng Chen hung up the phone, reached up to scratch his buzz cut, his face full of distress, and continued to carry out his mission.

At twelve noon, Daya came out of the kitchen carrying a large food box, and cheerfully called out to Zheng Chen, "Captain Zheng, Third Brother wants you to deliver some supplies to Sister Qing. It has soup in it, so don't knock it around and spill it."

"Got it." Speed evolver Zheng Chen took the heavy food box and, without driving, ran directly toward Territory Three.

Why not drive? Because it has soup in it, and the road is bumpy—the vehicle would jostle it.