Energy Crystal Application Technology

Bai Sifei rushed to the forefront of the globe and looked in amazement at an electronic watch appearing on the platform. "Who did this?" he exclaimed, reaching out to grab it.

Liu Lian quickly stopped him. "If you still want points, don't touch it randomly! This is my watch."

"Yours?" Bai Sifei withdrew his hand quickly, adjusting his glasses to inspect it. There were many rules in the shelter, such as this watch, which recognized the identity of the awakened individual. If the watch was touched by someone else before the awakened individual registered, it would be automatically invalidated.

Liu Lian was both surprised and delighted. He hadn't heard the sound of the wild cats just now; instead, he had envisioned the shape of a cat in his mind. He knew that his ability seemed to have upgraded. So when he registered as an awakened individual just now, the system suddenly said, "Awakened ability has advanced, reaching the awakened standard, classified as a level-one awakened individual." Then, a watch identical to the one Tom wore rose from the platform.

"Please put it on to complete the awakened individual registration procedure."

Hearing this voice, Bai Sifei was very excited, urging Liu Lian eagerly, "Put it on quickly, put it on quickly!"

Liu Lian picked up the watch and put it on his wrist. The watch immediately displayed: "Synchronizing with the host... Synchronization complete! Awakened individual's personal data registration complete, identity number D57U004!"

"It has a number... that means you can log in to the shelter to exchange points, haha!" Bai Sifei was very happy.

Liu Lian gave him a disdainful look. "Dr. Bai, it's useless for you to be excited here. I don't even have combat ability. Who among you will be grateful to me? Without gratitude, where will the shelter points come from for you to exchange for technology?"

But Bai Sifei didn't see it that way. "Don't say that. You were the first to discover those three cats just now. If we hadn't been prepared in advance, we might all have perished here. So you're still worthy of thanks."

"Oh, thanks. It seems that after discovering that I could log in, you finally want to thank me for the good things I've done along the way? I remember warning about the danger all along. Who was the one shouting 'Oh, the fat guy is scared, using his ability as an excuse'? Now suddenly you remember my good deeds? It's useless. We still have to see if this crappy place recognizes the gratitude you're pretending to show."

Ignoring Liu Lian's complaints, Bai Sifei directly handed him a camera, then waved for everyone to find a single room to hide in, waiting for the shelter's exchange system to appear. According to the two awakened individuals, the exchange system would only activate when there was only one awakened individual present and would not allow others nearby or into the exchange room.

With everyone gone, Liu Lian lay bored on the floor of the lobby. Suddenly, he remembered the day he ran out of the rental building with Tom and found himself lying on the street. "Well, it's more reliable to follow Tom. What professional armed team, what awakened individuals? That guy clearly has the ability, but when danger arises, he runs faster than anyone else. I wonder how he earned his gratitude." 

As he complained, the watch on his wrist began to vibrate rapidly. He looked at the LCD screen and saw an indicator arrow appear. "Follow the indicator to the location!" 

Liu Lian was overjoyed. "It's real! Hahaha!" 

He quickly got up and followed the indicator to another room. Inside, he found a door on the ground. "Oh, I bet Tom is definitely a sheltered individual. At least the gratitude from Xiao Mei and Mouse is definitely genuine."

Entering the door and descending the stairs, he arrived at a white room. He plopped down on the sofa. "Oh, it would be great if I could take this sofa back. It's really comfortable."

After thinking for a moment, he got up and approached the screen. It displayed the words: "Hello, awakened individual D57U004, from now on, you have an additional identity: sheltered individual!"

"Anyway, Xiao Mei's gratitude towards me is genuine. I wonder if Mouse has any. Uh... definitely not. How could that carefree guy ever be grateful to me?"

"Awakened individual D57U004, when you input your identity, five non-awakened individuals inside the shelter released emotions consistent with gratitude, as determined by brainwave fluctuations. It is judged that you saved the lives of five non-awakened individuals and obtained 5 shelter points."

"Oh, so that means Xiao Mei and Mouse don't count?" Liu Lian was surprised. "Awakened individuals don't count for points, what kind of logic is this... oh well."

"Using 5 points, you can exchange for two types of items: First, Energy Storage Application Technology Project 003; Second, a Crystal Charging Box."

Liu Lian remembered that Bai Sifei had said the exchange system would list available items based on the sheltered individual's current points, generally divided into two categories. One category consisted of technologies related to crystal applications, while the other consisted of items made using the technology. In his words, ready-made items were directly usable and were preferred for emergencies. Only the technology was the purpose of their trip.

"They said whoever brings back a technology will be rewarded with 500 contribution points and will receive dividends when the technology is applied in the future. Captain Ma even said that when the elite area opens, they can even get a set of elite area houses. Hehe, then it's definitely exchanging for Energy Storage Application Technology." Liu Lian immediately selected the first exchange item.

The screen on the watch began to receive data. Liu Lian looked up and saw a long list of text on the screen, so he quickly turned on the camera Bai Sifei had given him to record.

"Energy Storage Crystal Application Technology Project 003 is Fuel Strengthening Technology. After humans are reduced in size, the avenues for obtaining fuel are limited, and the amount of fuel used is also reduced due to the user's smaller volume. The goal of Energy Storage Crystal Application Technology Project 003 is to improve the release efficiency of current fuel, allowing users to regain the fuel usage efficiency from before the micro-scale disaster."

"Technology requirements: Two operators, both must be awakened; one Control Energy Crystal, one Variable Energy Crystal, one Blank Crystal."

"Unfortunately, Sheltered Individual D57U004 has only awakened telekinetic power, not variable power. It is necessary to find another awakened individual with variable power to cooperate in order to complete the task."

"Technical operation steps: 1. Place the blank crystal in the fuel, exposing the accessible part; 2. Awakened Individual 1 uses telekinetic power to temporarily store the energy stored in the energy storage crystal onto the blank crystal; 3. Before the blank crystal absorbs it, Awakened Individual 2 rapidly processes the energy into 'pseudo-liquid' using variable power; 4. Awakened Individual 1 uses telekinetic power to cover the surrounding fuel with the liquefied energy, completing the operation of the technology."

"Energy Storage Crystal Application Technology Project 003 Notes: ——Error—— Unable to display ——"

"Attention: The exchanged technology needs to be connected to the mainframe in the Redemption Exchange Room to be displayed. Due to confidentiality regulations, it cannot be displayed in other situations. Please memorize it silently."

Liu Lian recorded the above text without missing a word. After confirming the recording was successful, he couldn't help but comment, "It's much more comfortable relying on a big organization. No need to memorize these obscure and difficult-to-understand technical procedures. Submitting this recording, we can also enjoy it. 500 contribution points! It takes 10 days to earn one point. Even if I work as a guinea pig in the R&D department, I can only earn up to 5 points a day. With this one exchange, I'll earn at least 400 days' worth of salary. Haha."

After recording, Liu Lian lay down on the sofa, set a reminder on his watch for two hours later, and took a nap.

Two hours later, Liu Lian came out to the lobby and saw Bai Sifei pacing anxiously.

As soon as Bai Sifei saw him coming out, he grabbed Liu Lian's collar, simultaneously happy and angry. "Why did you stay inside for so long? You better give me a satisfactory result, or else..."

Liu Lian raised the camera and smiled, saying, "You better let go of me right now, or else... uh... okay, or else your subordinates will shoot me."

The soldier from the Special Operations Department next to him had already raised his gun at him, which annoyed Liu Lian, but he still obediently handed over the camera.

The soldier smiled and said, "The safety was off. Just kidding." Having endured Liu Lian's sarcastic remarks for a long time, he finally got the chance to retaliate.

"Brother, scaring people without consequences is right, but don't you have a guilty conscience?" Perhaps influenced by Ouyang Haotian's cynical personality, Liu Lian found his desire to ridicule growing stronger. Recently, Zhao Yingying even said he was becoming like Tang Seng in Journey to the West.

Bai Sifei quickly skimmed through the contents of the camera and then raised his hand excitedly. "Yes! We got it. This technology has great potential! That's fantastic!"

Liu Lian asked, "Hey, Dr. Bai, you promised 500 contribution points. You can't go back on your word."

Bai Sifei, who had been frustrated for a while, finally had a harvest now. Feeling good, he responded with a patient smile, "Of course, Liu Lian, your contribution points will not be lacking, and I have a feeling you'll get even more bonus rewards in the future."

"Let's talk about that later. Getting the 500 points first is the priority."

Ouyang Haotian was having a lively chat with Xiao Mei, so he had to follow suit and come over. "I don't mean to dampen the mood, but there's a mutated black cat outside. We need to make sure we bring back both the items and our heads. Otherwise, if this thing forces us out, we'll end up as cat feces."

At this point, the leader of the Special Operations Department explained, "Jingwei No. 0350 will come to this shelter as soon as he sends the survivors back, just in case our aircraft is damaged and he can pick us up. Based on the distance, he should be able to arrive before the shelter folds."

After hearing this, Ouyang Haotian immediately put on a righteous expression and said to Xiao Mei, "Ah... Xiao Mei, I'm not afraid of dying. Every day with you makes me so happy. I'm just afraid this happiness will end too soon."

Xiao Mei pouted and said irritably, "Hmph, your words are so cheesy. Who said I want to be with you?" In fact, when she turned her head away, both corners of her mouth were about to curl up like a pair of scales.

Liu Lian had some doubts about the technology. "Hey, Dr. Bai, what is a Control Energy Crystal? And what about the Energy Storage Crystal, and the variable power, telekinetic power... The technical steps are written like martial arts secrets. Are you sure these few sentences can achieve any improvement in fuel?"

With the technology in hand and a guaranteed retreat, Bai Sifei's mood became even better. He, who had been too lazy to explain before, now became patient. "Through the reasoning and research of the two technologies we obtained earlier, we have determined that the green crystal is the Control Energy Crystal, which can achieve control effects. Thanks to Xiao Mei's resonance, her resonated yellow crystal is the Energy Storage Crystal. It can be said that this technology will be very practical when brought back. I boldly predict that once this technology is put into practice, the first thing it will enhance is the firearms we have."

"Enhance firearms?" The soldier from the Special Operations Department asked in surprise, "How to enhance them?"

"Due to our insufficient mastery of firearm miniaturization, to avoid situations like overweight firearms and barrel bursts, the amount of gunpowder is greatly reduced. This also results in the bullets having too low kinetic energy. With this technology, we can improve the efficiency of gunpowder combustion while maintaining the original amount of gunpowder, thus increasing the kinetic energy of the bullets."

"Ah, that's great. Although these mutated creatures outside don't have superpowers like in science fiction movies, their thick skin makes firearms less effective. If we increase the kinetic energy, I'm confident I can kill the mutated cat outside with just one shot."

Liu Lian couldn't help but quip, "The premise is that you can return alive... or should I say... we can return alive. It's good that Jingwei No. 0350 is coming to pick us up, but with the mutated cat outside, can he land safely and pick us up?"