Chapter 674: Brother Fang Chang's Big Picture

Chapter 674: Brother Fang Chang’s Grand Vision

It turned out that dangling people like cargo beneath an airship was indeed not a great idea.

At first, with over a dozen tons of goods hanging below, the tow rope’s sway wasn’t too extreme.

But once the cargo was unloaded onto the deck, the dangling rope began to swing restlessly. The Bull Horse airship had barely lifted the Blue Lantern off the deck before giving him a taste of flying.

Fortunately, the pilot’s skill was decent, and after a few attempts, no lives were lost, safely returning the Blue Lantern—clutching his briefcase—to the camp.

His feet finally on solid ground, the first thing he did was crouch down and heave loudly.

Walking over to the fellow, Fang Chang smiled and asked with concern.

“Brother, how do you feel?”

“Not bad…”

After a long while, he recovered, and the Blue Lantern, sitting on the ground, couldn’t help but remark.

“This game… the physics engine… is pretty realistic.”

“Haha, glad you’re happy,” Fang Chang said with a grin. “Now, about the fare.”

“Oh right, almost forgot,” the Blue Lantern slapped his forehead, opened the briefcase, counted out ten hundred-yuan bills, and handed them over with an embarrassed smile. “Thanks, brother.”

“Don’t mention it.” Fang Chang took the cash and stuffed it into his pocket, squinting with a smile as he watched the departing cargo ship. “Pleasure doing business.”

Business was business.

Even if it was a small favor, the airship’s start and stop still cost fuel.

Even if he didn’t care about the petty cash, he had to consider the interests of the Bull Horse Group’s largest shareholder—the collective of Vault 404.

Currently, Bull Horse Group’s net assets ranked first on the server, even surpassing the second and third combined when factoring in its Ideal City operations. Conversely, its financial audits were among the strictest on the server.

If it were a non-economic gameplay action, it wouldn’t matter, but once it generated economic benefits, it became a business activity. Skirting the rules for a thousand silver coins wasn’t worth it. So he had to take the money, and later log it in the VM ledger.

Looking away from the distance, Fang Chang turned to the one following him, “Spare the Prisoner.”

“…Speaking of which, this airlift loading method seems unreliable. One slip and it’s a total loss. We should build a dock as soon as possible.”

Spare the Prisoner sighed.

“I’m considering it, but building a dock is far more complicated than those construction sites on shore. The shallow-sea mutants are also a problem. They’re different from land creatures—you can’t just fence them in. It’ll definitely be a hassle during construction.”

If this were the River Valley Province, the mutant types were limited—the big ones driven into deep forests by players, and the usual trio of mutant cockroaches, rats, and hyenas handled with psychic interference devices.

But the Baiyue Province was different.

Marine mutants were abundant, especially in the shallow seabed of the Baiyue Strait, where many shallow-water sea mutants liked to roam.

The frequency bands of psychic interference devices had limits; they couldn’t drive away all mutants.

In fact, the Southern Islands Federation’s ships only used such devices to repel a few species prone to capsizing vessels.

As for methods like soaking large amounts of black ironwood in water, as done in Silver Moon Bay, that was a decent approach but too material-intensive.

Black ironwood was a temperate plant, unsuitable for tropical cultivation. If they copied Silver Moon Bay’s method, they’d have to import large quantities from Oasis 4.

Economically, that was clearly a bad idea.

Fang Chang frowned.

“What about netting?”

Spare the Prisoner smiled bitterly.

“You think this is like real-life small fish and shrimp? What kind of net can stop mutants…”

Hearing their conversation, the Blue Lantern, who had dusted off his pants and stood up, casually interjected.

“How about demon silk? I saw those folks in West City using it for nets to farm split-claw crabs and battleship shrimp. It’s better than wire and doesn’t rust. Oh, and those fishing enthusiasts use it as fishing line—I heard the rod breaks before the line does. Even if the boat capsizes, the net holds.”

Hearing this, Spare the Prisoner was stunned.

Right!

Demon silk was a specialty of Dawn City!

Rubbing his chin in thought, his eyes grew brighter as he muttered.

“Let me think… Damn, it might actually work! At least it should stop those mutant sea turtles and crabs!”

“Don’t overthink it. When I log off later, I’ll ask Night Ten to place an order in Dawn City for a batch of demon silk nets. We’ll test them on the next flight back! If it works, even without a dock, we can at least secure the shoreline area.”

With that, Fang Chang patted the Blue Lantern on the arm with a smile.

“Nice one, brother! That’s a good idea. Next time you have a suggestion, post it on the forum—if it’s good, we’ll use it!”

Seeing his idea so well received, the Blue Lantern looked flattered and smiled sheepishly.

“Really?! Then I won’t hold back.”

Fang Chang laughed.

“No need to hold back—we’re all family.”

A thousand silver coins was pocket change, and 140,000 silver coins was also pocket change, but the economic value of a “port with daily cargo throughput in the tens of millions of silver coins” was no small sum.

The Baiyue Strait Development Co., Ltd. was in the “platform economy” business—keep the customers happy, then harvest them later.

Things like port fees, loading fees, handling fees, storage fees, trimming fees, lighterage fees… could all be copied from reality.

Then it would be easy money.

Oh, and considering that traders in the wasteland were often part-time killers and robbers, they’d need to build two coastal defense guns on the shore to keep order.

For some reason, looking at this brother with his refined and easygoing smile, the Blue Lantern felt a bit creeped out.

Probably just his imagination…

Clearing his throat, the Blue Lantern changed the subject.

“Speaking of which… isn’t Ideal City also on the coast? I recall it’s at the mouth of the Tianshui River? Do they have dock construction vessels? If the price is right, outsourcing to them might be easier than airlifting equipment from Dawn City.”

Fang Chang nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

“Good idea. I’ll look into it later.”

To be honest, he—the first player to reach Ideal City—had almost forgotten that Ideal City was right on the coast!

They didn’t have to source everything from Dawn City.

The Alliance and the Corporation had a currency swap agreement, and Bull Horse Group had some unsettled foreign exchange. Tenderizing a port for Fries Town directly in Ideal City was a viable option.

Speaking of which, Li Shuyue’s Ruyue Group was a subsidiary of Ideal City’s largest “property”—the Ideal Group?

Fang Chang had heard long ago that her identity was no simple matter, likely with ties to the Ideal Group’s board.

Maybe…

He could ask her to look into it.

…

Just as Fang Chang was debating whether to fly to Ideal City specifically for this matter, at the northern wall entrance of Fries Town, two tracked vehicles with bulldozer blades on their bumpers, escorted by a hundred fully armed players, advanced into the depths of the jungle.

These hundred players were all fearsome individuals ranking high in the server's combat leaderboards, half belonging to the Burning Corps and the other half to the Jungle Corps.

K-10 Iron Wall exoskeletons armed most of the players to the teeth, and those leading the vanguard were clad in power armor models like the Shimmer and Dragoon.

The two tracked vehicles fitted with bulldozer blades were even more extraordinary, being replicas of the Reindeer tracked vehicle, a standard issue for the Academy's elite teams!

Previously, the Burning Corps had intercepted this mobile research workstation from an Academy beacon squad and replicated it within the bounds of their technical capabilities.

Yet, constrained by the Alliance's severely limited technological conditions, the design units tasked with the reverse-engineering could only subject it to drastic compromises.

Not only was the height reduced to 3.5 meters and the length to 6 meters, but the originally diverse weapon platform was also condensed into a single remote weapon station integrated with a 20mm autocannon, a short-barreled grenade launcher, and a tank-style smoke discharger.

At the suggestion of Yin Fang, the head of the scientific expedition, this armed research vehicle allocated to the expedition team was ultimately named the Husky.

From this rather malicious moniker, it was easy to see that the researchers of the expedition team did not harbor much hope for the reliability of this machine.

That being said, even if this stripped-down replica of the Reindeer tracked vehicle was utterly incomparable to the genuine article, it did not compromise in the slightest on the essential scientific equipment.

Such apparatus included a sample repository capable of providing an ultra-low temperature environment near absolute zero, a cryogenic hibernation pod able to operate in harsh environments for at least twenty years, a mobile workstation equipped with a quantum processor, and various precision sensors.

Pulling out any single piece of this equipment at random would reveal a valuable prize worth over a million silver coins.

Furthermore, this was all thanks to the scientific cooperation agreement negotiated between Chu Guang and the Academy's representatives, which allowed the Alliance to procure a batch of equipment for research purposes from the Academy's Department of Research at an agreed price denominated in silver coins; otherwise, many of these items could not be bought with money alone.

Although the Alliance always found unconventional ways to save money on weaponry and equipment, its investment in scientific research was never lacking.

As long as there were good things available, Chu Guang would always find a way to secure them for the Alliance's researchers, granting them the maximum possible support.

It was precisely because of this, so as not to fall short of the Overseer's expectations, that the Alliance's research institutions, from the grassroots to the high command, were filled with an immense passion for their work.

The airship Explorer, laden with scientific equipment, had barely settled into its berth at Fries Port when the staff of the Biological Research Institute and the scientific expedition immediately drafted an action plan.

The two Husky tracked vehicles were deployed one after another to the northern side of the camp, and once the security personnel were in position, the two factions charged into the lush, dense rainforest as if in a race.

The captain of the deployment team for the Alliance's Biological Research Institute was Chen Yutong, whose outstanding performance on related projects in Jinchuan Province had earned Heya's recognition.

The captain on the scientific expedition's side was Meng Liang, a former resident of Vault 401 whose resume was equally impressive, having once served as a military surveyor aboard the Heart of Steel and participated in the investigation of Vault 0.

It was worth mentioning that both captains were cross-disciplinary talents.

Back when she was an E-rank surveyor at the Academy, Chen Yutong's primary focus was AI, with biotechnology being a mere hobby; it was only after joining the Alliance that she formally took up bioengineering as her main field.

Meanwhile, Vault 401, where Meng Liang had previously resided, studied mental interference technology, meaning his research was primarily related to the biological field.

It was not until he was rescued from the raiders by the Alliance that he developed an interest in archaeology, joining Yin Fang in the business of unearthing ancient tombs.

At this very moment, aboard the tracked vehicle bringing up the rear of the column.

Seated beside the biological analyzer, Chen Yutong was staring intently at a leaf pinched between her fingertips, her expression lost in thought.

She had casually plucked this leaf from a nearby tree upon disembarking from the airship.

At first glance, it seemed no different from ordinary tropical foliage, yet intuition told her that this thing was absolutely not as simple as it appeared.

Especially since just a few minutes ago, the local Alliance construction crew had reported some unusual phenomena to her regarding this place.

The local forest seemed to possess a peculiar self-healing property, capable of repairing sustained damage at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Subtly, this extraordinary self-healing ability was not exhibited by a single species alone, but manifested collectively across different species.

For instance, if a palm tree were cut down, what sprouted the next day would be the neighboring king grass and oil hemp vines...

Staring at the leaf between her fingertips, a glimmer of intrigued curiosity could not help but rise in Chen Yutong's eyes.

Although her primary reason for coming here was to avoid the growing number of Academy personnel in Qingquan City, since learning about the local conditions, she had become increasingly curious about the secrets of this land.

"...The analysis results are out." The voice of her colleague came from the direction of the biological analyzer, interrupting Chen Yutong's train of thought.

Setting the leaf aside, Chen Yutong immediately stood up and walked over to the adjacent terminal, asking as she stared at the data on the screen.

"And the result?"

"It is very strange..." The researcher sitting before the terminal said with a puzzled look. "The Naguo strain we collected in Jinchuan Province cannot infect the vegetation in this area. We tried a total of seven sample groups and they all failed, even when we adjusted the temperature to a level suitable for the growth of those strains."

"But the experiments conducted in Qingquan City succeeded," Chen Yutong said thoughtfully. "All twelve samples were infected by the J-strain Naguo fungus."

"Yes..." The researcher nodded, a completely baffled expression on his face.

The so-called J-strain Naguo fungus was a strain collected around Jinhe City in Jinchuan Province, characterized by its suitability for growth in subtropical to temperate humid regions.

Compared to the original B-strain collected from Baiyue Province, the J-strain, which was fused with the genome of the Qingquan City broodmother, exhibited extreme aggressiveness, which was also the truth behind the Paradise that blanketed Haiya Province.

Vault 79 had simulated the climatic environments of Jinchuan Province and Baiyue Province respectively, co-culturing the plants collected from Baiyue Province with the J-strain Naguo fungus in petri dishes of various sizes; the ultimate outcome was always the plants from Baiyue Province being corroded and assimilated by the Naguo fungus.

Later, the Alliance researchers conducted further observations and discovered that when the B-strain appeared in the petri dish, the growth rate of the J-strain was noticeably inhibited, but this inhibitory effect disappeared after lasting for a mere forty-eight hours.

The previous hypothesis of the Alliance's Biological Research Institute was that the original strain from Baiyue Province—namely the B-strain—could inhibit the growth of the J-strain artificially cultivated by the Church of the Torch.

Yet perplexingly, they could observe no phenomenon in the laboratory to support this conjecture.

To understand why the Church of the Torch's Naguo strain had not spread to Baiyue Province, the Alliance's Biological Research Institute approved experiments within the region.

Unexpectedly, even before they had added the B-strain to the petri dishes, having only just set up a few control groups co-culturing Baiyue Province plants with the J-strain, they observed that incredible inhibitory effect.

The exact same experiment yielded a completely different result when conducted in Baiyue Province itself.

In fact, the J-strain introduced into the petri dishes not only failed to erode the plants inside, but even showed signs of withering—as if it were entirely unsuited to the local environment.

A murmur broke out among the researchers inside the vehicle cabin.

"Could it be a problem with the soil?"

"Obviously not. Several of the experiment groups we conducted previously in Vault 79 used soil sampled from Baiyue Province."

"Could it be that what inhibits the growth of the J-strain is not the original B-strain at all?"

"We cannot rule out that possibility..."

"How utterly bizarre."

Chen Yutong did not speak, merely staring at the screen as she fell into deep thought.

She actually agreed with another perspective raised by her colleagues: the factor inhibiting the J-strain did not lie in the original B-strain, but in something else entirely.

Something that existed only on this land...

What could it be?

Just then, the voice of Unit One came through her earpiece.

Meng Liang: "...This is the expedition team. We intend to head toward the ruins of Shidong City next to search for an underground site. What about you?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Chen Yutong glanced at the map hanging in the cabin, raised her index finger to press against her ear, and said:

"We plan to continue moving north for another three kilometers... The life signal detection device showed an anomalous feedback there, so the samples we need might be present."

Meng Liang said with a smile: "It looks like we'll have to split up. Good luck to you."

The corners of Chen Yutong's mouth curved upward.

"The same to you."

The two columns parted ways.

The vehicle of the Alliance's Biological Research Institute deployment team continued northward under the escort of the Burning Corps, while the scientific expedition's vehicle advanced toward the ruins of Shidong City under the escort of the Jungle Corps.

Watching their allies continue northward, the players of the Jungle Corps cast envious glances one after another.

Just an hour ago, the vast majority of players in this vicinity had received a notification for the regional quest to search for the broodmother.

Finding that guy not only unlocks a limited title, but also comes with a reward of a million silver coins and ten thousand contribution points!

What does a million silver coins even mean?

It’s more than enough for a house in a first-tier city!

Obviously.

Sticking with the biology institute folks makes it more likely to complete this mission; tagging along with the scientific expedition team just means scavenging old-world scrap metal.

“Bro Chicken, can we swap with them?” Turning to Midnight Chicken Slayer, the Prostrate Model Worker said with a look of longing.

Midnight Chicken Slayer made a helpless expression.

“I’ve got no say either—the biology institute specifically requested them.”

He didn’t have the heart to say that the expedition team had actually wanted the Burning Legion from the start, but Old Bai had turned down the task to look out for their gaming experience, so it ended up with them.

There was no helping it.

Those hardcore players were indeed impressive—whether in combat records or sequence ranks, no doubt about it. Just look up at the Steel Heart hanging in the sky above Dawn City and you’d get it.

But understanding aside, the bunch of strength-type beasts couldn’t help kicking up a fuss.

“I bet there’s some shady backroom deal behind this.”

“Bro Chicken, why don’t you go make a deal too?”

“Pretty please, Bro Chicken!”

Listening to their chatter, Midnight Chicken Slayer rolled his eyes.

“Screw off—go do it yourselves if you want!”

Prostrate Model Worker: “Damn!”

…

The expedition team’s convoy was still heading toward the ruins of Shilong City, while the biology institute’s “Husky” had already reached the destination first.

“Squads, spread out and stand guard!”

“Roger!”

Watching his teammates flash OK signs, Old Bai, clad in his Dragoon power armor, waved his hand to signal them to fan out from the tracked vehicle and keep watch for any threats lurking in the jungle.

This jungle was crawling with mutants.

Just on the way here, they’d already run into four or five waves of attacks.

The sample collection had to be done by the institute’s researchers, and during that time, they had to ensure the safety of these NPCs.

Just then, Chen Yutong, wrapped tightly in a protective suit, jumped out of the open door with a toolbox in her right hand.

Seeing it was someone he knew, Old Bai couldn’t help walking over to ask.

“Why are you getting out?”

Catching the worry in his tone, Chen Yutong couldn’t help curving her lips, but she had no intention of going back to the vehicle, simply stating matter-of-factly,

“I’m the most senior here, and I’m in charge of the whole project. If I don’t get out, who will?”

Old Bai sighed and said patiently,

“The situation here is a bit unusual—the mutants in this forest haven’t stopped attacking us. I think… you’d better be careful.”

“I know, I’ll be done soon.” As she spoke, she spread the toolbox open on the ground and took out sampling tools and test tubes.

Chen Yutong was busy crouching on the ground, and Old Bai didn’t want to disturb her, but after watching her work for a while with no results, he couldn’t help asking,

“How much longer?”

“Fifteen minutes at most… What, are you scared?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“I’ve been to Jinchuan Province before—this place can’t be more dangerous than that.”

Old Bai made a helpless expression.

“You never know.”

There were no mutants or raiders here, but instead countless mutants, each more vicious than the last, and he couldn’t predict what they’d run into next.

Chen Yutong, still crouching, suddenly looked up at him and blinked.

“But I trust you.”

“…” Old Bai stared at her in surprise, momentarily speechless.

And while he was frozen, one sample had already been collected.

Carefully tucking the test tube into the groove of the toolbox, Chen Yutong snapped the box shut neatly, stood up, and looked at him with a smile.

“Let’s go—on to the next spot.”

“… Don’t run off. Send me the coordinates, and stay behind me.”

Hearing the stern tone, Chen Yutong couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I know, don’t worry—I won’t make trouble for your work.”

As she spoke, she tapped her VM with her index finger twice, and the coordinates synced to Old Bai’s VM in no time.

Through his helmet’s tactical visor, he confirmed the coordinates were about twenty meters away. Old Bai gestured for nearby teammates to flank him, while he took point to clear the path.

The rustling in the jungle made him instinctively tense up, but Chen Yutong, following behind him, didn’t seem scared at all, sharing her discoveries along the way over the comm channel.

“I heard this forest has self-healing properties… That basically matches the results from our biology institute’s analysis. Just like we predicted, this rainforest isn’t just a simple forest—it’s a fusion of Gaia’s species and Earth’s species.”

Old Bai: “Fusion?”

“Exactly.”

Gazing at the dense woods on either side and the sunlight filtering through the gaps, Chen Yutong squinted her curious eyes and continued in a light tone,

“… There’s no parallel in Earth’s ecosystems. We speculate it’s a unique ecological phenomenon on Gaia—species share their evolutionary gains with each other, unlike the widespread competition in Earth’s ecosystems. Maybe it’s because they all evolved from the same primordial cell, or there’s another possibility—they were once part of an extremely advanced civilization that eventually achieved a species-level ascension based on their own civilizational ideals and understanding of life.”

Old Bai turned back to look at her, puzzled.

Another concept he didn’t understand had popped up in her words.

But Chen Yutong didn’t stop to explain; she just kept talking briskly,

“The only thing we’re not sure about now is whether this rainforest has its own consciousness, like the Mother Nest in Clear Spring City.”

“Ever since we entered this forest, I’ve had a feeling—the key to solving the Nago fruit crisis is right here. I don’t agree with burning down the entire Haiya Province. Since it’s a biological issue, we should find a biological solution… Trust me, I can find that key. Just give me some time.”

Trying to grasp the meaning of her words, Old Bai racked his brain but came up empty, finally shaking his head in defeat.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but if you need help, let me know… And, same as in Jinchuan Province, when you’re out on duty, stay close to me—don’t act on your own.”

Chen Yutong curved her lips.

“Got it, I’ll stick close to you… Oh, by the way, did you record everything I just said?”

Old Bai was momentarily taken aback.

“The action recorder? I’ve had it on the whole time.”

Satisfied, he nodded slightly, and Chen Yutong broke into a smile as she spoke.

"That's good. I'm afraid I might forget one day—you remember it for me first."

Reading the carefree smile, Old Bai shook his head, turned, and continued walking ahead.

"You remember it yourself."

"I won't let it come to that."