ATDIWR Chapter 21
by VolareJi An had nearly five hundred thousand credit points in his hand. He kept two hundred thousand for circulation and transferred the rest to Zheng Yan.
Upon receiving the transfer of three hundred thousand credit points, Zheng Yan truly wept tears of joy.
Credit points in the Base had almost the same purchasing power as paper money before the Apocalypse. One thousand credit points was almost equivalent to one thousand yuan.
Three hundred thousand! For a poor family that could barely afford food or drink, it was a massive sum.
Holding this huge sum of money, Zheng Yan felt dizzy, remaining in a daze even after leaving the store.
Standing on the street for what felt like an eternity, only when people had dispersed and the shops were empty did Zheng Yan snap back to reality.
She didn’t go home immediately but instead immediately rented a relatively safe one-bedroom apartment in West City, and only then did she head home.
Zheng Yan was very clever. After returning, she didn’t show her excitement immediately, maintaining her previous dejected appearance.
Zheng Qiu hadn’t slept and was waiting for her at home. Seeing her empty-handed, he looked surprised and unsure, “Did that bunch of rich fools in West City really take your broken stones?”
“Are you dreaming? You can’t eat or drink them, nor can they help you level up, who would want them?” Zheng Yan said coldly.
“Then where are your things?” Zheng Qiu asked suspiciously, “Don’t tell me you threw them away, that’s impossible, didn’t you treasure those broken things? You moved repeatedly during the Apocalypse and still refused to throw them away.”
“Just as you said, I treasured them, and then those vagrants thought I had something good and snatched them away,” Zheng Yan said, even squeezing out a few tears as if she was sad.
Crying wasn’t difficult for Zheng Yan; life was so bitter. She never dared to think about it before, but now she could cry just by thinking about it slightly.
“Those vagrants got their hands on them and discovered they were just broken things. Enraged, they smashed them to pieces right there,” Zheng Yan cried very sadly. Zheng Qiu stared at her for a long time, felt she wasn’t lying, and left sullenly.
Zheng Yan didn’t say much after returning to her room. As usual, she urged her parents to sleep, claiming she was very tired.
However, Zheng Yan didn’t sleep at all that night. She was in a state of extreme excitement. If those jewels weren’t gone, she would have almost thought she was truly mad.
How could anyone actually want those broken things?
Keeping her eyes open until after midnight, only when everyone was asleep did Zheng Yan quietly wake her father and mother.
She didn’t let them speak or pack anything. In reality, they didn’t have much to pack anyway. All their useful possessions had been almost entirely seized by their two uncles’ families.
Only after the family was outside did Zheng Yan quietly explain the situation to her father and mother.
Mother Zheng worried, “Could it be afraud?”
Zheng Yan said nonchalantly, “Even if they are, so what? My broken things, if I gave them to anyone for free, no one would want them. But the nearly three hundred thousand credit points in my hand are real.”
Thinking this way, Father and Mother Zheng felt relieved. If such a person was a fraud, then perhaps everyone would hope to be deceived.
Arriving at their new home, looking at the clean, spacious room free from the leeches of the Zheng family, the family of three embraced and cried bitterly.
The suffering was finally over; the dawn’s light finally shone upon Zheng Yan’s family of three.
The next day, Ji An found a camera and a carbon pen for Tang Ning.
Tang Ning couldn’t distinguish the spiritual energy in the jade, so Ji An told her that she could ask the seller to write a word on the jade with a carbon pen, then take a photo of it with the camera to keep.
This way, after Ji An’s inspection, even if the jade’s quality wasn’t up to standard, when returning it to the seller, the photo could be used for comparison to easily see if the handwriting was what the seller wrote and if the position was the same.
It would also serve as proof that they hadn’t swapped the seller’s item, avoiding disputes.
After this, Ji An entered the laboratory.
He had been impatient for this experiment for a long time. The reason he hadn’t entered the laboratory earlier was partly because the laboratory wasn’t ready.
The Base’s previous individual laboratories were already occupied. It was impossible for experienced old professors to give up their laboratories to him, someone with a blank resume! This was unrealistic and impossible.
Secondly, he lacked experimental materials. To research spatial storage items, he needed jade. He only had his space necklace, and he couldn’t possibly disassemble that necklace.
Ji An had always felt his necklace wasn’t that simple; it was a very special existence.
The laboratory had just been built today. Not only his, but also the researcher Han Yaokun, who had been specifically invited back by the Base, and his assistant Zhao Zhen, accompanied by other researchers, happened to come to see the newly built laboratory.
The two groups met, and sparks flew.
Zhao Zhen mocked, “Oh, Researcher Ji actually got a laboratory. What, are you really going to research your spatial storage item? Did you forget? You’re living in the present world, not some ancient cultivation world!”
Ji An greatly disliked being bothered by buzzing flies. The best way to deal with a fly isn’t to ignore it but to swat it dead directly.
Ji An had fully recovered his ability during this time and mastered a new skill.
His mental power materialized into a bow and arrow. Holding the bow and arrow, he shot an arrow towards Zhao Zhen’s head.
The materialization of a mental power user’s mental power can only be seen by other power users; ordinary people cannot see it.
Everyone present was a mental power user and a power user, so they could clearly see Ji An’s actions. Their faces changed drastically, but they were helpless.
Although many of these researchers had higher mental power than Ji An, it was undeniable that since arriving at the Jing Shi Base, these people had been doing research and lacked combat experience. Mental power materialization wasn’t difficult for them, but at most, it helped them with minor tasks during experiments or retrieving items. They simply didn’t know how to use materialized mental power for combat.
Despite not knowing how to fight, they clearly knew that if Ji An’s materialized mental power arrow hit, Zhao Zhen wouldn’t fare well, possibly even becoming foolish.
A group of mental power users was in a state of panic, none knowing what to do.
Zhao Zhen suddenly remembered that Ji An could have a separate laboratory, not based on his research achievements, but on his remarkable battle record.
This was a killing god who could single-handedly lead an ordinary person into a zombie nest, then safely bring back many valuable experimental instruments, killing over a dozen Tier 3 and one Tier 4 zombies, as well as countless low-level zombies!
Just as the researchers were panicking and helpless, a lightning net formed from a thunderbolt descended from the sky, trapping the mental power arrow.
Then the lightning net transformed into a large hand, which easily grasped the tip of the arrow and slowly brought it before Ji An.
“Your arrow.” The owner of the thunder hand was none other than Gu Jinsheng. “Although flies are annoying, you can’t swat them to death.”
Gu Jinsheng was serious, not seeing Zhao Zhen’s face turn green with anger.
Ji An almost couldn’t hold back his laughter. His bad mood vanished. He waved his hand, and the materialized mental power arrow dissipated on the thunder hand. Without the arrow, the thunder hand might have felt empty, as it rubbed itself before also disappearing.
“Got it,” Ji An replied and turned to enter the laboratory.
Gu Jinsheng was about to follow when Zhao Zhen blocked his path.
“Commander Gu, shouldn’t you give me an explanation? Before I came, Commander Gu guaranteed that your Base’s security is excellent and there would absolutely be no thugs who resort to violence without a word?” Zhao Zhen demanded an explanation from Gu Jinsheng.
Gu Jinsheng slightly frowned, “You provoked first. Are you sure you want to pursue this?”
This sentence choked Zhao Zhen, almost making him faint. Zhou Fanxiu quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, “Young people are all hot-blooded. When they speak in haste, it’s hard to avoid resorting to physical action. Seeing how Commander Gu easily resolved Ji An’s attack just now, it seems Ji An didn’t intend to kill him. He probably just wanted to scare him. Let’s let the matter pass; both were at fault.”
Zhou Fanxiu was right. Ji An wouldn’t really turn the other person into a fool just because of a few provocative words. If that arrow had truly entered Zhao Zhen’s head, at most it would have given Zhao Zhen a headache for a few days, just teaching him a lesson.
Han Yaokun, as a top-level researcher, was always protected closely wherever he went, enjoying the highest treatment. He had never been so humiliated. He coldly said to Zhou Fanxiu, “Your student is truly remarkable. My laboratory cannot accommodate him.”
Han Yaokun’s words almost drained the color from Zhou Fanxiu and Bai Na’s faces.
As the current head of research for the Third Base, Han Yaokun’s meaning was clear: the research team would absolutely not accept Ji An in the future.
Without guidance, Ji An’s path in scientific research would be almost impossible. This was cutting off Ji An’s research path.
Unless Ji An could make a name for himself independently without joining the research team. Only then could no one stop his progress.
But this spatial storage item Ji An was working on sounded so fantastical, how could it possibly become real?
Almost everyone didn’t believe Ji An could succeed, but Ji An himself was extremely convinced.
Ji An had considered this problem when he was a ghost. His idea at that time was very simple.
Tang Tang didn’t rely on pretending to be a rare Space-type Power User to thrive in the Third Base and be treasured by everyone, even if her combat power was insufficient, as long as she could protect supplies.
Ji An thought he could research and create spatial storage items. Then everyone would have a space, and when space was no longer rare, he would see how Tang Tang could thrive just by relying on space.
At that time, as a ghost, he couldn’t go anywhere and couldn’t leave Tang Tang and Chen Chen’s bedroom. To distract himself from other thoughts, Ji An was afraid he would go mad.
So he mentally simulated the process every single day. It could be said that Ji An knew how spatial storage items should be made at that time; he just needed to actually make it.
Now the only thing Ji An needed to do was follow the blueprints in his mind and make the spatial storage item.
Once he immersed himself in experiments, he was more serious than anyone. Ji An almost ate and slept in the laboratory. Every day he opened his eyes was for experiments, and closing his eyes to sleep was still about experiments.
He didn’t care about the outside world’s troubles, whether it was day or night. Every day, his eyes were only on the experiments.
A month and a half later, on an ordinary noon, Ji An finally emerged.
For the past month and a half, Ji An had been eating food stored in his space. He hadn’t eaten well, so he went to the cafeteria.
Ji An had completed a small piece of research, and just as Zhou Fanxiu said, he had indeed leveled up a small tier. It seemed that advancing by using one’s brain was a faster route for Mental-type Power Users. If he relied on combat, it was uncertain how long it would take to level up.
The advancement of his mental power made Ji An’s mental power even stronger. As soon as he walked into the cafeteria, he heard people discussing him.
“Did you hear? That guy named Ji An has been in the lab for half a month and hasn’t come out. Not eating or drinking for a month and a half, could he have died in there?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Did you forget? He’s a Mental and Space dual-ability user. When he went in, he definitely prepared food.”
“Ah, I forgot. Before this, Mental-types had never awakened dual abilities. I thought Mental-types couldn’t awaken other types of abilities.”
“Honestly, Ji An is really amazing. He can actually awaken dual abilities, and his combat power is so strong. When he faced Zhao Zhen before, his materialized arrow almost scared Zhao Zhen into wetting himself.”
“Really scared him into wetting himself, or just pretending? Isn’t that an exaggeration?”
“If that killing god aimed his materialized mental power arrow at you, wouldn’t you be scared into wetting yourself?”
The person being asked actually thought about it seriously for a moment, then replied earnestly, “Hard to say, you know.”
Sitting not far from them was a group of researchers led by Han Yaokun.
Zhao Zhen pouted, “Only a month and a half, what could he possibly research? Even if he could really research something, it wouldn’t happen in such a short time. One of the teacher’s projects takes at least several years. Besides, that kind of thing is inherently an unrealistic fantasy!”
Han Yaokun shook his head, “Young people can have fantasies, but it’s better to be down-to-earth.”
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