This time, we survived, but no one knows what will happen once it truly advances to Level Six.
I wonder how Fatty Ma would feel when he finds out there’s a fierce beast right beside him.
Hopefully, Comrade Old Ma will quickly come up with a plan and do what a mayor should do.
Besides, for the first time, Ren Zhong developed new doubts about the mechanism of the Ruined Beast’s creation.
According to the database of the Ruined Beast, these monsters are generated by being attached to Crystal Chips.
So how did the Crystal Chips come to be?
This doesn’t conform to the scientific view that 21st-century doctors have always upheld.
This point has always puzzled Ren Zhong, and no one has given an explanation.
It seems as if it has always been this way since ancient times, just like ancient people in primitive societies never had time to think about why there are animals, plants, or humans in the world.
Anyway, that’s the objective fact, knowing this is enough.
Ren Zhong used to think this way, but the Descending Demon Baby slightly overturned his understanding.
This thing is obviously related to humans.
Moreover, when Ren Zhong killed the Demon Infant sub-bodies, he saw on their metal faces a complex and changeable expression, almost like that of humans.
Some sub-bodies even emitted cries eerily similar to that of a human baby before dying.
Sub-bodies of the same Level Five Ruined Beast should logically be identical, yet there are individual differences.
Though they all have the same face, the cries of different sub-bodies have subtle differences; you can even tell if it’s a boy or a girl.
And there are also subtle personality differences; some sub-bodies are unyielding even in death, while others are timid and easily bullied.
This fact gave Ren Zhong the creeps.
It’s too unreasonable.
He could only tentatively offer an explanation.
Different sub-bodies, after maturation, show differences due to the influence of the memories of the deceased to whom they are attached.
This is hard to understand.
According to legend, when the Descending Demon Baby first appeared, the people in Bone Valley had been dead for many years.
It’s said that when a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out, the soul disperses with no trace, so how could memories manifest on the sub-bodies of Ruined Beasts?
Ren Zhong could only forcefully explain it from his own perspective.
There are remnants of the deceased’s memories within the Demon Infant.
The instinctual memories of the deceased did not completely vanish with death, but instead merged into certain underlying streams of information that can generate Crystal Chips, and are then revived in the world as the Demon Infant transforms them into sub-bodies.
Ren Zhong, who never believed in ghosts or gods, began to question the basic physical laws on Source Star.
He realized that perhaps the physical laws of this planet are indeed different from those of Earth.
Returning to the town, another piece of news, neither good nor bad, arrived.
Lin Wang’s six semi-professional affiliated teams suffered heavy losses.
Only Ren Zhong’s team of six remained unharmed; of the other five teams, two were completely wiped out, three were left with fragments, barely able to reassemble into two.
Lin Wang’s six teams of seasoned workers suddenly turned into three teams.
Lin Wang himself even came personally to visit Zheng Tian, expressing condolences and leaving behind a restoration subsidy of 100 points.
The evil dragon lost too many of its hunting claws and paid a little more attention to the few remaining underlings.
After all, professional teams need to eat.
So it’s clear that Lin Wang would not easily sever his hands and feet for the time being; instead, he would utilize and support Zheng Tian’s team to market externally to recruit new quality workers.
Thus, the security of Ren Zhong and his team’s safety factor increased.
At 8:05 PM, having just completed cashing out stocks, Ren Zhong lazily lay on a beach chair.
His equipment was under repair with Ju Qingmeng, and it wouldn’t be delivered to him tonight; he had to pick it up himself.
This time, with no gear weighing him down, he could enjoy a rare day of rest.
He sneakily checked the balance on his wrist watch, and a rare, satisfied smile surfaced on his face.
He never imagined that after just a day, he had 2266.59 points in his pocket again.
This reckless venture today was truly worth it.
The two crates he picked up and sold through a solo account fetched a total of 620 points.
The Crystal Chips in Zheng Tian’s squad’s crate were valued at 800 points, which was twice that of the other two squads.
The main reason was that Ren Zhong personally intervened in the afternoon, increasing the squad’s competitiveness.
In the afternoon, he also split the loot of two Third Level Ruined Beasts with others and had a solo kill.
Adding the morning’s, these four Third Level Crystal Chips were worth 320 points.
Additionally, there were dozens of First Level and over twenty Second Level chips.
Adding the 100 points feignedly sent by Lin Wang, the squad’s total income today reached 900 points despite losing the corpses.
Ren Zhong took 300 points, and the remaining 600 points were shared among the others.
"Remember my instructions for tomorrow. Don’t rush into the professional title assessment, continue to accumulate. But you can slightly upgrade your equipment and training methods. We can appropriately increase our hunting efficiency," Ren Zhong instructed the others.
Everyone had no objections to this.
Just then, the door to the courtyard was knocked.
Everyone straightened their expressions, surprised.
It was already night, who would visit at this time?
Zheng Tian: "Ou Youning, go open the door."
Ou Youning lazily got up, holding a handful of sunflower seeds, stuffing them into his mouth while impatiently muttering loudly, "Who is it! At this late hour..."
He opened the door, and then swallowed the second half of his sentence.
"Ma... Ma... My goodness! It’s Captain Ma! What breeze brought you here! Please come in, come in! Have some sunflower seeds, freshly flavored from the supply store! Absolutely delicious!"
The one who knocked was the Guard Captain of the town, Ma Xiaoling.
Ma Xiaoling, with her hair tied in a ponytail, was clad in armor, holding her helmet under her arm.
She ignored the clowning, self-acquainted Ou Youning, only glanced into the courtyard, immediately spotting Ren Zhong: "Mr. Ren, come with me."
The sunflower seeds in Ou Youning’s hand scattered all over the ground again.
They didn’t seem tasty anymore.
Even though it was well-known that Mr. Ren had impressive connections and knew the mayor.
But for the town’s publicly known Level Four Genius Warrior, the Valkyrie Ma Xiaoling whom many Scavengers only dared to admire but never fantasize about, her late-night visit was still too overwhelming!
Ren Zhong rose calmly.
Of course, he knew Ma Xiaoling’s purpose.
Precisely because of the Descending Demon Baby.
Now that Ma Dafu was already betrayed by Starfire Resources.
He had already become half of Ma Dafu’s own man, leading his subordinates to safely retreat from the hands of the Demon Baby whole and intact.
If they don’t ask me about the Descending Demon Baby, who else would they ask?
Ren Zhong already had some guesses internally that needed validation by Fatty Ma.
"Alright, let’s go then. Are we taking your car again?"
Ma Xiaoling nodded, "Yes. What? Do you want to crawl over by yourself?"
Her expression was slightly cold towards Ren Zhong, with a touch of resentment in her tone, as if she had issues with him.
Not just as if, she indeed had issues.
It was not surprising.
She was already wary about the content of Ren Zhong’s and Ma Dafu’s last private conversation.
Afterwards, she also privately asked Ren Zhong about it.
But Ren Zhong kept his mouth shut, only saying whatever you want to know, you should ask your father, not me.
She couldn’t be happy, so today she took the chance to tease him to vent her discontent.
But her words, heard by others, had an ambiguous undertone.
After the two left, others immediately connected the rumors of Ren Zhong and Ju Qingmeng, visualizing an intense love triangle.
Well now, Ou Youning didn’t even feel like drinking his beverage.
He gazed up at the twin moons, letting out a sigh, "You guys tell me, what’s the point of living really?"