Exchange of Craftsmanship

The first batch of evacuation lists was quickly finalized. In addition to the designated four individuals, there were five remaining spots. Li Zexin, Cheng Fuhua, Xiaogao, and another security guard were all on the list, while one of the three local uncles was chosen through a draw.

The uncle who didn't make it onto the list was somewhat disgruntled, but facing the cold barrels of the bodyguards' guns, he could only swallow his anger and say nothing. Otherwise, he might not even get a chance for the second trip.

However, that Uncle Wu Zun was quite the character, saying he wasn't quite ready to leave so soon.

Tom didn't care about their thoughts. He, along with Li Qiang, helped Liu Lian to the globe. Liu Lian placed his hand on it and successfully registered as the third awakened individual, extending the shelter's survival time by four hours.

With this proof, Tom knew that the people from Haiwei Group wouldn't ignore Liu Lian. As an awakened individual, they would surely try their best to treat him and then attempt to recruit him.

Liu Lian felt reluctant to leave and bumped his forehead against Tom's, indicating they would meet there and not to forget. If Tom didn't come, he would come out to find him.

This touched Tom deeply. For over twenty years, except for Ouyang Haotian, he had mostly been alone. Now, after the struggles of the post-apocalyptic world, he had gained the respect and friendship of several people, something he had never experienced before.

The two guards who left first left behind two pistols and two daggers, while Cheng Fuhua and the others took off four sets of protective gear and gave them to the two guards and the local uncle.

After a simple farewell, everyone left the shelter and boarded the hexacopter. They rose slowly amidst the resentful gaze of the local uncle and flew away.

The remaining seven people returned to the shelter and closed the sturdy gate behind them.

The two black-clad men sat down directly beside the gate, starting to inspect their equipment and weapons. Tom asked Li Qiang to go talk to them. Unexpectedly, the two strong bodyguards dismissed Li Qiang after a few words, refusing to disclose any information. This further elevated Tom's evaluation of Haiwei Group.

However, he couldn't control the affairs of the group. Surviving was still the most important thing.

The endlessly complaining local uncle was named Chen Geng. At this moment, he glared at Tom with resentment, but hindered by the presence of the two security personnel, he didn't dare to cause trouble.

Since there was a way out, Tom had a choice regarding the redemption points exchange.

He patiently studied a ruby in the shelter and, at noon during nap time, had Li Qiang guard the small room for him. Then he walked in and opened the secret room using his watch.

In the secret room, Tom chose to exchange for the "Craftsmanship of Crystal Energy Conduction Material Production."

This kind of crystal or gemstone was unheard of before. Tom still hadn't figured out the rules by now; why some people could use it while others couldn't was completely baffling to him. All he knew was that to activate the gemstone's power, it must be in contact with the skin, preferably in the area of effect.

For example, when Tom activated triple strength, the ruby could be held in his hand, worn on his chest, or placed in his shoes, as long as it made contact with his skin. However, the further away it was from the position of the hands that activated the power, the weaker the enhancement effect.

Holding it in the palm of the hand was no different from wearing it on a ring on the arm. But if worn on the chest, the strength wouldn't be tripled, but around double. If worn on the feet, the effect of the power activated by the hands would be even weaker.

He had tested it with plastic gloves; the gemstone couldn't be activated on plastic gloves. But this platinum ring he picked up in the rental house was unaffected. The ruby placed on it could still be effective.

This was probably related to the material of crystal energy conduction.

Compared to gemstones, crystals seemed to have a more enduring power explosion. So, if he ever found a crystal larger than the gemstone in the future, this ring wouldn't fit.

Therefore, Tom chose to exchange for the production technology, believing that with the mastery of this material, he could use his skilled hands to create larger equipment to hold crystals.

"Consuming 6 redemption points, unlocking the Craftsmanship of Crystal Energy Conduction Material Production! Uploading data to Shelter E39A001's portable terminal."

The screen of the watch displayed that data was being received. Tom looked up and saw a long list of words on the screen.

"Most materials on Earth cannot conduct crystal energy, but through the addition of craftsmanship, the exhausted crystal particles can be mixed into the molecular gaps of the material, making originally non-conductive materials conductive."

"Craftsmanship Requirements: The operator's psychic power must be awakened."

"Congratulations: Shelter E39A001, your psychic power has awakened, meeting the requirements of the craftsmanship."

"Craftsmanship Operation Steps: 1. Use psychic crystals to resonate with exhausted crystals and grind them into powder; 2. Spread the crystal powder evenly on the surface of the material to be mixed, with a standard of 3 milligrams per square centimeter. (Based on post-miniaturized disaster standards); 3. Release psychic power from the palm to decompose the crystal powder into molecular states and allow it to penetrate the material; 4. Disperse psychic power through the palm to the entire material, allowing all molecular crystal molecules to reconnect as a whole to complete the mixing process."

"Crystal Conduction Material Precautions: —— Error —— Unable to display ——"

"Note: The exchanged technology needs to be displayed by connecting to the mainframe in the redemption exchange room. Due to confidentiality reasons outside, it cannot be displayed. Please memorize it silently."

Tom's 6 redemption points only exchanged for these few sentences.

"What's going on here? What's psychokinesis? And what's a control crystal?" Tom repeated each word on the screen twice to make sure he memorized them all before leaving the exchange room.

As soon as he emerged, he saw two black-clad guards standing in front of him, one pointing a gun at Li Qiang, and the other at Tom himself.

"Where did you just go?" the guard asked in a cold tone. "What place was that? Why did you conceal it and not report?"

"This... this is my freedom!" Tom was taken aback, surprised that the guards from the Huiwei Group had found out.

The door to the exchange room wasn't even closed when the guard grabbed Tom and tried to force him back in. But a surge of electricity knocked the guard to the ground.

A synthesized voice sounded inside the room: "Warning: Non-awakened individuals, unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering this area. Please exit immediately, otherwise, the shelter will terminate early and enter folding status in ten seconds!"

The other guard quickly dragged the one who was electrocuted back up. Tom saw the old man named Chen Geng outside, looking gleeful.

After confirming that the electrocuted guard was okay, the other guard pointed the gun at Tom and said, "I will report what I saw truthfully. You must report the secret of that room to the relevant authorities when we return to the shelter!"

With the gun pointed at him, Tom sighed and nodded in understanding.

After the guard left, Tom touched heads with Li Qiang, learning the whole story. Originally, the guards weren't concerned with them; they were just resting at the door. But then Chen Geng suspected Li Qiang's behavior, which led to the guards investigating.

Li Qiang tried to explain, but couldn't convince the guards, resulting in the scene Tom witnessed earlier.

"What did you find inside?" Li Qiang curiously asked.

"Some strange crafting techniques. I'll explain later, come on!"

Li Qiang carefully stored all the gems that had been drained of energy into a small pocket in his backpack, which now came in handy.

In the backpack, there were still one large gem each of red, green, and blue, as well as three small red, three small green, and one small yellow gems. There were three drained gems that had turned white, and one large crystal, which Tom found on the queen ant's body before. It was depleted during the conversation with the orange cat, Ah Huang. When they evacuated, Li Qiang stuffed it into the backpack.

"'Control crystal, control crystal... What's a control crystal?" Tom looked at the various colored gems in front of him, his mind racing.

He currently possessed three abilities: the red gem enhanced his strength threefold, the green gem allowed him to communicate with animals, and the suspected combination of the blue and red gems enhanced his physical defense.

Despite a cat's teeth being exceptionally sharp and having strong biting force, it couldn't pierce Tom's skin after he accidentally activated the abilities conferred by two gems. He found this defense to be very powerful.

However, this ability consumed the blue gem's energy at an alarming rate. With just a few actions, the blue gem was depleted, turning into a white stone.

The "control crystal" definitely referred to a crystal. Tom used the process of elimination to rule out the red gem, which had nothing to do with control. Yellow? Xiao Mei used it to turn into a human-shaped light bulb, so that was out too.

That left the blue and green crystals.

Tom removed the red gem first, then replaced it with the blue one, and tried to operate on a gem that had been drained of energy.

Resonance?

After trying for a long time, there was no effect. The white crystal in his other hand also showed no response.

What about the green one?

Still no effect.

Well, since they were talking about crystals, maybe the gems didn't have enough energy. It seemed he would have to wait until he acquired larger crystals to try again.

Tom was about to put away the gems when Li Qiang nudged him. Following Li Qiang's gaze, he saw the man named Chen Geng staring greedily at the gems in Tom's hand.

"Ange, another jerk like I used to be. Want me to go teach him a lesson?" 

Tom stopped him. "No need. Let's just be vigilant. With armed guards around, he won't dare to do anything out of line."