The date had come to September 1st.
It was the third day of the "Scarecrow" incident.
Over these three days, the incident had fermented online to a certain extent, and although most of the information had already been censored and deleted, some fish still slipped through the net.
You see, the number of viewers in the live stream that night had reached a five-digit figure. Naturally, there would be people who had recorded what happened and saved it, which made it inevitable for some of the footage to spread underground.
So, if you went searching on some remote forums, you might still get lucky and see that shocking video.
Of course, where there are believers, there are also skeptics.
Although the number of people in the live room was considerable compared to the Huyu platform, it was just a drop in the ocean when looking at the entire internet.
Most hadn’t seen the live stream, with many hearing about it through word of mouth, so they were naturally skeptical about such a bizarre incident, and most hadn’t even heard of it.
However, Zhang Xiaoman had not paid much attention to it since that night. He had casually searched online but found no relevant results, and then he put it out of his mind.
In fact, he had been quite busy these past couple of days, mainly with three things.
The first was some arrangements at the Rebirth Island camp, which wasn’t much to talk about, mainly trivial tasks like buying generators and installing lighting equipment. With Star Guard helping, he wasn’t too exhausted.
What did attract his attention in the Gang Store was an item related to construction, namely "Gang Building Materials."
He had actually seen this item when he first activated the Sect Establishment Order, but at the time he had felt it wasn’t of immediate use to him, so he had overlooked it and hadn’t paid much attention.
But now, considering the need to build a base, "Gang Building Materials" had once again entered his field of view.
The price of "Gang Building Materials" was very cheap, only 1 Star Dust, and upon opening it, you could see that it came in many varieties, not just one.
There were names Zhang Xiaoman had never heard of, like Dual Titanium Alloy, Isotopic Polymer Material, Super Devouring Ore, and so on.
As for the ordinary building materials like powdered minerals and cement that are commonly used in today’s society, he didn’t see a single one.
Within Gang Building Materials, although you could buy them with just 1 unit of Star Dust, the amount you got differed according to the material.
For example, the cheapest Re-Titanium Crystal Gel could be bought for 1 unit of Star Dust which amounted to 10,000 cubic meters, roughly 15,000 tons, astounding him at first sight.
According to the explanations in the attribute panel, the use of this type of Crystal Gel was somewhat similar to concrete, but its overall performance was superior in every aspect.
It was not only stronger than concrete, but it also weighed only a third of the same volume and even storage was much more convenient. In its normal state, it could be stored just like bagged cement, and its shelf life far exceeded that of cement, being tenfold longer.
This type of Crystal Gel was soft and looked a bit like a large grey jelly under normal conditions.
When casting, as soon as Crystal Gel was mixed with water, it would start to harden like concrete, but the process was quicker, with an extremely high strength and unparalleled tensile and compressive properties.
This allowed it to be used directly in pouring without the need for steel reinforcement steps.
It could be said that once the supply and cost issues of such a material were resolved, it would inevitably replace the current concrete models, becoming the new mainstream construction material of choice.
It was only at this point that Zhang Xiaoman realized how foolish he had been to focus solely on earning money through futuristic technology.
Ignoring the gold mines here and thinking about those tough-to-crack future technologies was simply a waste of time.
Leaving aside whether he had the spare points to buy finished products for studying those black technologies, where on earth could he find a scientific research team to develop items of such a level?
Even if he spent money to find a team, whether the members could be trusted or whether they could comprehend this black technology was questionable.
How long it would take to reverse-engineer and study after understanding, as well as subsequent product development and practical application, and finally getting them to market, were all considerable issues that could not be overlooked.
By the time he could develop a product and make money from it, years would have passed.
So, he felt that the route to riches through black technology was quite impractical under his current circumstances.
Now, having learned about the materials in the Gang Building Materials, Zhang Xiaoman felt as though he was staring at mountains of gold laid out before him.
Compared to the far-fetched black technology development, the ready-made trade in construction materials here seemed much more manageable.
Leaving aside the obviously futuristic items for the moment, materials like Re-Titanium Crystal Gel would be easily accepted by the market.
Although dealing with construction material supply currently required relevant qualifications and standards, it was relatively easier to manage, and with Su Fu, the real estate industry insider, everything would run much more smoothly.
Thus, the second thing Zhang Xiaoman had done these days was to contact Su Fu to discuss the matter.
The latter agreed decisively, but required a sample of the material for a series of necessary preliminary tests, qualification applications, standard setting, and market research preparations. It might take some more days before moving forward.