136 Part 2
Cong Zhenzhong nodded heavily in agreement.
Cong Xia asked, "Are they here in Beijing for the puppet jade?"
Liu Fengyu replied, "Most likely, otherwise, they wouldn't have appeared at the Academy first. These beasts seem extremely fixated on the puppet jade."
"What could their plan be..." Zhuang Yao's brain raced with thoughts.
Tang Tingzhi said, "Let's find that dog first. For the next few days, you all should avoid going out. It seems those insects are familiar with you."
After the conversation, everyone went their separate ways, except for Zhuang Yao, who stayed in the laboratory.
In these days, Cong Xia had just started attending classes. He was naturally adept at learning and absorbed knowledge quickly. He got along well with the young PhD student who taught him, and they exchanged ideas and discussed topics together. Cong Xia gradually assimilated important knowledge into his mind.
He hardly had any leisure time now; he wished for a day to have 48 hours to evenly distribute his time among studying, researching ancient jades, practicing, and resting. In the limited time, his personal cultivation progress had been slow. Recently, he invested much effort into studying methods of transforming weapons and armor through energy modification.
The trip to Xi'an was imminent, probably taking shape within a week. Traditional physical armor had limited effectiveness against those insects. When they entered the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, only the protective shield on that level could provide some defense, but its effectiveness and duration were uncertain.
With so many people going in, only Yao Qianjiang managed to come out alive, which indicated the shield's limitations. Cong Xia spent an entire night immersed in the void of the ancient jade, diligently researching the section on materializing armor and discovered a concept of an "energy protective shield" that fascinated him. This energy shield was different from physical armor; it could form an energy layer around a person, withstanding various attacks. It was exactly what they needed.
However, materializing all tools required a gradual transformation from material tools to energy tools. His current ability was only at the initial stage of manufacturing material tools—modifying existing tools. In other words, he still lacked the ability to turn a pile of scrap metal into a shield. He could only reinforce and improve existing shields. Materializing energy tools was the highest level of energy manipulation ability. For him now, it was like the difference between a baby learning to walk and an expert running a 100-meter hurdle race. Even if he had a week, let alone a year, he wouldn't be able to achieve it.
He gazed enviously at the energy shield for a long time but finally had to give up. He focused on researching more methods of materializing and modifying physical armor. After coming out of the void, he tinkered with a military knife in his room. Combining the knowledge he had acquired during this period, he analyzed the lightweight steel material of the blade, infused it with energy, increased its density, and shortened the length. Then, he modified the silicone particle handle to suit his own usage habits. After numerous failed attempts, he finally succeeded in transforming the military knife into the perfect shape that suited him best.
Through countless processes of energy alteration on both the exterior and interior of objects, his control and utilization of energy became more skilled and precise.
After finishing his work, he went to the underground training ground in District Six to see what others were up to. To his surprise, besides their own group, there were also several Dragonblood individuals and some foreign mercenaries. They seemed to be discussing combat techniques and practicing with each other. Although their words carried challenges, they seemed to get along relatively well.
"This elbow technique derived from Russian bars consists of only three simple moves, but it is highly effective in actual combat and can often inflict significant damage to opponents in one go."
"Wow," exclaimed Cong Xia. "There's a woman here too?"
He followed the sound and indeed found a blue-eyed, blonde Caucasian woman wearing a tight tank top and military pants. Because of her petite stature, she was being blocked by a tall African-American man. The woman was gesturing with her elbows while facing Deng Xiao. However, Cong Xia noticed that Deng Xiao's mind was clearly not on learning the technique; his face was flushed, and he would occasionally glance at the woman's fair and ample chest.
Suppressing his laughter, Cong Xia walked over to Shen Ming and asked, "How come there's a woman here?"
Shen Ming was punching a sandbag and casually replied, "Oh, she's called Baihe. She's a member of 'Falcon,' and she's also Huang Ying's wife."
Cong Xia was surprised. "She's a mercenary too?"
"Don't believe it? You can try her yourself."
Before he finished speaking, they heard Deng Xiao shouting in pain. Bai He, who stood at less than 1.6 meters tall, had just thrown Deng Xiao, who was over 1.8 meters, with great force.
"I believe you," Cong Xia said.
He continued walking inside and saw Tang Yanqiu using a device to train his arm strength. Cong Xia went over to take a look, and the scale showed it had reached 220 kilograms.
Tang Yanqiu stopped and wiped the sweat off his face with a towel. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to learn how to use guns," Cong Xia said, glancing at the scale. "220 kilograms?"
Tang Yanqiu nodded, "Doing this is easier than shooting a bow, but I still need to increase the weight. Unfortunately, there's no suitable equipment available."
Cong Xia asked, "Your arm muscles don't look too exaggerated. How do you have such great strength?"
"Muscle strength doesn't depend on the size of muscle mass but on elasticity and flexibility. When these two factors combine, it becomes explosive muscle power." Tang Yanqiu pulled a nearby piece of equipment and exerted force, causing his arm muscles to instantly expand by half, which looked quite astonishing.
Cong Xia gave him a thumbs up, "Impressive."
Beside Tang Yanqiu, Liu Fengyu was using an apparatus to assist in doing leg raises.
Cong Xia chuckled, "Liu Ge, this is the first time I've seen you exercising."
"You haven't seen me exercising because I do it when you're not around."
"This one's for exercising your thighs?"
"This one is for glute lifts."
"Huh?"
Liu Fengyu wiped the sweat, "You think maintaining a good figure is that easy? Look at you," he glanced at Cong Xia's slim figure, "It's useless to talk to you about it."
Cong Xia touched his thin chest muscles and said dejectedly, "From now on, I'll come to exercise every day. By the way, why haven't I seen Cheng Tianbi?"
"I knew you'd ask about him. He's in the adjacent training room practicing shooting."
"I, I'm not looking for him. I was just asking casually. I'm here to learn about firearms." Cong Xia touched his head, feeling somewhat bewildered. Why was Liu Fengyu so irritable these days? His words were so sharp. Although he used to be like this, it wasn't this serious.
Could it be... Cong Xia looked at Tang Yanqiu and noticed that although the two were not far apart, they hadn't exchanged a single glance. It seemed like they were having a quarrel.
Was it because of that incident that day? Little Tang's reaction was indeed strange, and so was Liu Ge's behavior. Usually carefree, they didn't seem like people who would stop talking to each other because of a quarrel. What was going on with these two?
Unable to figure it out, Cong Xia decided to keep his distance from Liu Fengyu and moved to a corner to attend the weapons knowledge class arranged by Zhuang Yao, which proved to be very useful.
He stayed there for two hours until the internal line phone in the training ground rang, and Tang Tingzhi asked them to gather at the experimental area in District Six.
They quickly took a shower and went to District Six to join Shen Ming.
Apart from Zhuang Yao and Cong Zhenzhong, the Dragonblood Clan members Shen Changze and Al Moray were already waiting there.
Tang Tingzhi said, "Take a seat. Today, let's discuss the results of the search over the past two days and the schedule for going to Xi'an."
When Cong Xia heard the word "Xi'an," he thought he would feel very uncomfortable. However, perhaps due to being stimulated too much, he had become numb and calmly accepted the fact that they would return to Xi'an and march towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Cong Zhenzhong said, "We have found the Samoyed named Zhuang Zhuang in the outskirts of the city. Only the dog was found, and the child is missing. The dog's owner is a woman in her twenties, and the little boy is her younger brother, named Fei Fei. She said her brother disappeared suddenly with the dog two days ago and hasn't returned since. I personally went to meet her, and she wasn't lying; she knows nothing about what happened to her brother. We searched the area near where the dog was found and found some clues, such as footprints. First, there were two adults who left with Fei Fei. The shoe sizes were 41 and 43, both male, with heights ranging from 177 to 182, which basically matched the features of the two Jiujian Prefecture members who were infected in the video. Secondly, the dog was not infected by the creatures; it's very sensitive to the smell of the bugs. We can use it to track those people."
"Have there been any incidents of people being harmed by the bugs in the past two days?"
Cong Zhenzhong shook his head, "We haven't received any reports on that matter. But Beijing is so large that it's difficult to discover a few missing people."
Cong Xia asked in a low voice, "Could they be creating more mutated individuals?"
Cong Zhenzhong said, "We are in charge of controlling the situation in Beijing. Your task is to conquer the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and put an end to this nest of creatures. Only then can the problem be fundamentally solved."
"Tell us about the plan."
Tang Tingzhi said, "Based on Yao Qianjiang's and your reports, we have improved the protective suits, and further modifications will be made by Cong Xia. As for weapons, we have equipped gas flamethrowers, which are effective against these creatures, as well as small concussion grenades, smoke grenades, and some conventional firearms. However, as some of you are not familiar with firearms, we will adjust the weapon allocation according to each person's needs. Regarding the strategy..." He turned on the projector, and the structure diagram of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda appeared on the wall. "The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has seven floors in total. Based on our detection, the Puppet Jade is on the third or fourth floor. You will split into three teams. The first team will fly directly into the fourth floor and search downwards, led by Shen Changze, Al Moray, and Tang Yanqiu. The second team will stay outside the entrance for rescue operations, and the third team will enter through the main entrance. The specific members of the latter two teams need to be discussed."
Cheng Tianbi asked, "How many people will be going this time?"
Tang Tingzhi said, "There will be six of you, and the Dragonbood Clan will send around ten to fifteen people."
Zhuang Yao asked, "Will you go?"
Tang Tingzhi shook his head, "It's enough for you to go. I'll stay in Beijing and cooperate with the Jiujian Prefecture to deal with those creatures and mutants."
Liu Fengyu gritted his teeth and said, "Tell us, when do we depart?"
Cong Zhenzhong said, "It depends on how quickly Xia can finish modifying the protective suits. The sooner, the better."
Cong Xia replied, "I'll do my best. By the way, how are we going to Xi'an?"
"We have steam-powered flying vehicles, and their speed is decent."
Cong Zhenzhong looked at Cheng Tianbi and Shen Changze, "Also, I hope you two can cooperate and hone your skills in these few days. You two are our main fighting force with the ability to kill bugs on a large scale, but you haven't coordinated with each other yet."
Cheng Tianbi and Shen Changze exchanged glances, and they didn't trust each other too much.
Shen Ming raised an eyebrow, "Sounds good. I'd like to see a spectacular scene of killing bugs."
Shen Changze said, "Alright."
"Don't wait for the right moment, do it now." Shen Ming gestured to Cheng Tianbi, "Come on, let's have my son try a few moves with you."
Cong Zhenzhong checked the time, "I have an hour to spare. Let's go to the wilderness now and let you two try to cooperate."
Without further ado, everyone followed Cong Zhenzhong and headed outside.
Deng Xiao approached Shen Ming, "Big brother, who was that blonde beauty today? Does she have a boyfriend?"
Shen Ming glanced at him, teasingly said, "Kid, how old are you?"
Deng Xiao furrowed his brow. "Eighteen."
Shen Ming blew out some smoke towards his face, "Bai He is married, and she doesn't fancy a brat like you."
Deng Xiao exclaimed in horror, "She's married?"
"Yeah, her husband is someone you know, Huang Ying."
"Huang Ying!" Deng Xiao wailed, "Why... how come, I'm handsomer than him."
Cong Xia patted him helplessly, "Xiao Deng, Miss Bai He is not suitable for you. There will be girls your age who will appear."
Deng Xiao said indignantly, "I must surpass Big Brother Huang Ying."
Zhuang Yao mocked, "You may have strong muscles, but you can't even touch his skin."
Deng Xiao, embarrassed and enraged, lifted Zhuang Yao off the ground and ran forward, holding him up. Zhuang Yao screamed in terror, "You jerk! What are you doing—"
136 Part 2
Cong Zhenzhong nodded heavily in agreement.
Cong Xia asked, "Are they here in Beijing for the puppet jade?"
Liu Fengyu replied, "Most likely, otherwise, they wouldn't have appeared at the Academy first. These beasts seem extremely fixated on the puppet jade."
"What could their plan be..." Zhuang Yao's brain raced with thoughts.
Tang Tingzhi said, "Let's find that dog first. For the next few days, you all should avoid going out. It seems those insects are familiar with you."
After the conversation, everyone went their separate ways, except for Zhuang Yao, who stayed in the laboratory.
In these days, Cong Xia had just started attending classes. He was naturally adept at learning and absorbed knowledge quickly. He got along well with the young PhD student who taught him, and they exchanged ideas and discussed topics together. Cong Xia gradually assimilated important knowledge into his mind.
He hardly had any leisure time now; he wished for a day to have 48 hours to evenly distribute his time among studying, researching ancient jades, practicing, and resting. In the limited time, his personal cultivation progress had been slow. Recently, he invested much effort into studying methods of transforming weapons and armor through energy modification.
The trip to Xi'an was imminent, probably taking shape within a week. Traditional physical armor had limited effectiveness against those insects. When they entered the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, only the protective shield on that level could provide some defense, but its effectiveness and duration were uncertain.
With so many people going in, only Yao Qianjiang managed to come out alive, which indicated the shield's limitations. Cong Xia spent an entire night immersed in the void of the ancient jade, diligently researching the section on materializing armor and discovered a concept of an "energy protective shield" that fascinated him. This energy shield was different from physical armor; it could form an energy layer around a person, withstanding various attacks. It was exactly what they needed.
However, materializing all tools required a gradual transformation from material tools to energy tools. His current ability was only at the initial stage of manufacturing material tools—modifying existing tools. In other words, he still lacked the ability to turn a pile of scrap metal into a shield. He could only reinforce and improve existing shields. Materializing energy tools was the highest level of energy manipulation ability. For him now, it was like the difference between a baby learning to walk and an expert running a 100-meter hurdle race. Even if he had a week, let alone a year, he wouldn't be able to achieve it.
He gazed enviously at the energy shield for a long time but finally had to give up. He focused on researching more methods of materializing and modifying physical armor. After coming out of the void, he tinkered with a military knife in his room. Combining the knowledge he had acquired during this period, he analyzed the lightweight steel material of the blade, infused it with energy, increased its density, and shortened the length. Then, he modified the silicone particle handle to suit his own usage habits. After numerous failed attempts, he finally succeeded in transforming the military knife into the perfect shape that suited him best.
Through countless processes of energy alteration on both the exterior and interior of objects, his control and utilization of energy became more skilled and precise.
After finishing his work, he went to the underground training ground in District Six to see what others were up to. To his surprise, besides their own group, there were also several Dragonblood individuals and some foreign mercenaries. They seemed to be discussing combat techniques and practicing with each other. Although their words carried challenges, they seemed to get along relatively well.
"This elbow technique derived from Russian bars consists of only three simple moves, but it is highly effective in actual combat and can often inflict significant damage to opponents in one go."
"Wow," exclaimed Cong Xia. "There's a woman here too?"
He followed the sound and indeed found a blue-eyed, blonde Caucasian woman wearing a tight tank top and military pants. Because of her petite stature, she was being blocked by a tall African-American man. The woman was gesturing with her elbows while facing Deng Xiao. However, Cong Xia noticed that Deng Xiao's mind was clearly not on learning the technique; his face was flushed, and he would occasionally glance at the woman's fair and ample chest.
Suppressing his laughter, Cong Xia walked over to Shen Ming and asked, "How come there's a woman here?"
Shen Ming was punching a sandbag and casually replied, "Oh, she's called Baihe. She's a member of 'Falcon,' and she's also Huang Ying's wife."
Cong Xia was surprised. "She's a mercenary too?"
"Don't believe it? You can try her yourself."
Before he finished speaking, they heard Deng Xiao shouting in pain. Bai He, who stood at less than 1.6 meters tall, had just thrown Deng Xiao, who was over 1.8 meters, with great force.
"I believe you," Cong Xia said.
He continued walking inside and saw Tang Yanqiu using a device to train his arm strength. Cong Xia went over to take a look, and the scale showed it had reached 220 kilograms.
Tang Yanqiu stopped and wiped the sweat off his face with a towel. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here to learn how to use guns," Cong Xia said, glancing at the scale. "220 kilograms?"
Tang Yanqiu nodded, "Doing this is easier than shooting a bow, but I still need to increase the weight. Unfortunately, there's no suitable equipment available."
Cong Xia asked, "Your arm muscles don't look too exaggerated. How do you have such great strength?"
"Muscle strength doesn't depend on the size of muscle mass but on elasticity and flexibility. When these two factors combine, it becomes explosive muscle power." Tang Yanqiu pulled a nearby piece of equipment and exerted force, causing his arm muscles to instantly expand by half, which looked quite astonishing.
Cong Xia gave him a thumbs up, "Impressive."
Beside Tang Yanqiu, Liu Fengyu was using an apparatus to assist in doing leg raises.
Cong Xia chuckled, "Liu Ge, this is the first time I've seen you exercising."
"You haven't seen me exercising because I do it when you're not around."
"This one's for exercising your thighs?"
"This one is for glute lifts."
"Huh?"
Liu Fengyu wiped the sweat, "You think maintaining a good figure is that easy? Look at you," he glanced at Cong Xia's slim figure, "It's useless to talk to you about it."
Cong Xia touched his thin chest muscles and said dejectedly, "From now on, I'll come to exercise every day. By the way, why haven't I seen Cheng Tianbi?"
"I knew you'd ask about him. He's in the adjacent training room practicing shooting."
"I, I'm not looking for him. I was just asking casually. I'm here to learn about firearms." Cong Xia touched his head, feeling somewhat bewildered. Why was Liu Fengyu so irritable these days? His words were so sharp. Although he used to be like this, it wasn't this serious.
Could it be... Cong Xia looked at Tang Yanqiu and noticed that although the two were not far apart, they hadn't exchanged a single glance. It seemed like they were having a quarrel.
Was it because of that incident that day? Little Tang's reaction was indeed strange, and so was Liu Ge's behavior. Usually carefree, they didn't seem like people who would stop talking to each other because of a quarrel. What was going on with these two?
Unable to figure it out, Cong Xia decided to keep his distance from Liu Fengyu and moved to a corner to attend the weapons knowledge class arranged by Zhuang Yao, which proved to be very useful.
He stayed there for two hours until the internal line phone in the training ground rang, and Tang Tingzhi asked them to gather at the experimental area in District Six.
They quickly took a shower and went to District Six to join Shen Ming.
Apart from Zhuang Yao and Cong Zhenzhong, the Dragonblood Clan members Shen Changze and Al Moray were already waiting there.
Tang Tingzhi said, "Take a seat. Today, let's discuss the results of the search over the past two days and the schedule for going to Xi'an."
When Cong Xia heard the word "Xi'an," he thought he would feel very uncomfortable. However, perhaps due to being stimulated too much, he had become numb and calmly accepted the fact that they would return to Xi'an and march towards the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
Cong Zhenzhong said, "We have found the Samoyed named Zhuang Zhuang in the outskirts of the city. Only the dog was found, and the child is missing. The dog's owner is a woman in her twenties, and the little boy is her younger brother, named Fei Fei. She said her brother disappeared suddenly with the dog two days ago and hasn't returned since. I personally went to meet her, and she wasn't lying; she knows nothing about what happened to her brother. We searched the area near where the dog was found and found some clues, such as footprints. First, there were two adults who left with Fei Fei. The shoe sizes were 41 and 43, both male, with heights ranging from 177 to 182, which basically matched the features of the two Jiujian Prefecture members who were infected in the video. Secondly, the dog was not infected by the creatures; it's very sensitive to the smell of the bugs. We can use it to track those people."
"Have there been any incidents of people being harmed by the bugs in the past two days?"
Cong Zhenzhong shook his head, "We haven't received any reports on that matter. But Beijing is so large that it's difficult to discover a few missing people."
Cong Xia asked in a low voice, "Could they be creating more mutated individuals?"
Cong Zhenzhong said, "We are in charge of controlling the situation in Beijing. Your task is to conquer the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and put an end to this nest of creatures. Only then can the problem be fundamentally solved."
"Tell us about the plan."
Tang Tingzhi said, "Based on Yao Qianjiang's and your reports, we have improved the protective suits, and further modifications will be made by Cong Xia. As for weapons, we have equipped gas flamethrowers, which are effective against these creatures, as well as small concussion grenades, smoke grenades, and some conventional firearms. However, as some of you are not familiar with firearms, we will adjust the weapon allocation according to each person's needs. Regarding the strategy..." He turned on the projector, and the structure diagram of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda appeared on the wall. "The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has seven floors in total. Based on our detection, the Puppet Jade is on the third or fourth floor. You will split into three teams. The first team will fly directly into the fourth floor and search downwards, led by Shen Changze, Al Moray, and Tang Yanqiu. The second team will stay outside the entrance for rescue operations, and the third team will enter through the main entrance. The specific members of the latter two teams need to be discussed."
Cheng Tianbi asked, "How many people will be going this time?"
Tang Tingzhi said, "There will be six of you, and the Dragonbood Clan will send around ten to fifteen people."
Zhuang Yao asked, "Will you go?"
Tang Tingzhi shook his head, "It's enough for you to go. I'll stay in Beijing and cooperate with the Jiujian Prefecture to deal with those creatures and mutants."
Liu Fengyu gritted his teeth and said, "Tell us, when do we depart?"
Cong Zhenzhong said, "It depends on how quickly Xia can finish modifying the protective suits. The sooner, the better."
Cong Xia replied, "I'll do my best. By the way, how are we going to Xi'an?"
"We have steam-powered flying vehicles, and their speed is decent."
Cong Zhenzhong looked at Cheng Tianbi and Shen Changze, "Also, I hope you two can cooperate and hone your skills in these few days. You two are our main fighting force with the ability to kill bugs on a large scale, but you haven't coordinated with each other yet."
Cheng Tianbi and Shen Changze exchanged glances, and they didn't trust each other too much.
Shen Ming raised an eyebrow, "Sounds good. I'd like to see a spectacular scene of killing bugs."
Shen Changze said, "Alright."
"Don't wait for the right moment, do it now." Shen Ming gestured to Cheng Tianbi, "Come on, let's have my son try a few moves with you."
Cong Zhenzhong checked the time, "I have an hour to spare. Let's go to the wilderness now and let you two try to cooperate."
Without further ado, everyone followed Cong Zhenzhong and headed outside.
Deng Xiao approached Shen Ming, "Big brother, who was that blonde beauty today? Does she have a boyfriend?"
Shen Ming glanced at him, teasingly said, "Kid, how old are you?"
Deng Xiao furrowed his brow. "Eighteen."
Shen Ming blew out some smoke towards his face, "Bai He is married, and she doesn't fancy a brat like you."
Deng Xiao exclaimed in horror, "She's married?"
"Yeah, her husband is someone you know, Huang Ying."
"Huang Ying!" Deng Xiao wailed, "Why... how come, I'm handsomer than him."
Cong Xia patted him helplessly, "Xiao Deng, Miss Bai He is not suitable for you. There will be girls your age who will appear."
Deng Xiao said indignantly, "I must surpass Big Brother Huang Ying."
Zhuang Yao mocked, "You may have strong muscles, but you can't even touch his skin."
Deng Xiao, embarrassed and enraged, lifted Zhuang Yao off the ground and ran forward, holding him up. Zhuang Yao screamed in terror, "You jerk! What are you doing—"
