Definition of Crystal Quality

On the way back, Tom encountered another swarm of ants, but for him, it was a piece of cake to deal with them. Two mutant soldier ants attempted to intercept him halfway, but without hesitation, he swiftly dispatched them with a shot from his Termite Zero Cannon.

What surprised him was encountering a grasshopper along the way. This green insect with chewing mouthparts feasted on plant leaves and possessed powerful hind legs, capable of astonishing leaps. As the tank passed by, it happily nibbled on grass leaves at the roadside, paying no attention to Tom and his group.

This grasshopper was likely non-mutated, meaning it neither fed on humans nor gemstones. If Tom wasn't concerned about potential ant attacks, he would have considered using the emerald to communicate with it and perhaps even tame it as a mount. A mount with such remarkable jumping ability would be incredibly useful for both combat and travel.

However, with ten men and women in the vehicle, his priority was to get them back to the shelter first.

Like Feng Hanyun and the others, when Wang Zixiong and his group saw the Redemption Shelter, they couldn't believe their eyes. They never imagined that the fountain pool they saw every day could have such a function.

Although people in the community could see the shelter, they couldn't open the door on the ground floor and had to run back. It wasn't until Tom broke the glass window with his Termite Zero Cannon that they had a chance to escape.

After closing the door behind them, the shelter indeed opened its first aid kit. With Lin Meiqi's assistance, Tom re-bandaged and stopped the bleeding for two amputees, and administered antibiotics to prevent infection.

Seeing Tom return, Lu Qiuman and Zhu Yihong were delighted. They gathered around Tom to help, but Feng Hanyun still harbored resentment towards Tom for his "heartlessness," secretly cursing him as "straight-male syndrome."

However, Tom was unaware of Feng Hanyun's thoughts, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. His attention was now focused on the watch.

Returning with ten people, excluding the duplicate count of Lin Meiqi, the shelter system registered nine survivors, increasing his shelter points from 7 to 16.

It was now 2:18 in the afternoon when Lu Qiuman sweetly handed him the large red crystal. The crystal had depleted its energy and was now being recharged by the yellow gemstone. Now that the yellow gemstone was depleted, the red crystal appeared much darker. Tom shone a light on it and estimated it was about eighty percent charged.

This surprised him. Considering the small size of the yellow gemstone used to recharge the large red crystal, which was no bigger than a thumb, it was astounding that it could almost fully recharge it. How much energy was contained in that large yellow crystal?

Lin Meiqi had an explanation for this. After Tom called her into a small room, she examined the depleted yellow gemstone with interest before speaking, "According to your description, most of the gemstones dug out of the ants' bodies are red, with only a few being yellow. Considering that the pre-mutated ants were too small in size, they likely obtained their flesh from the same person. Therefore, I deduce that these gemstones are condensed elements from the same person's body. Furthermore, the yellow gemstone likely contains the majority of the energy, while the red gemstone only accounts for a small portion of a person's energy."

Tom looked at his hand, puzzled, and asked, "There have been cases of people being eaten by crocodiles or tigers before, and even if not by animals, being partially eaten by insects. But would gemstones or crystals form inside their bodies?"

"It's simple!" Lin Meiqi tossed the blank gemstone a couple of times before continuing, "The turning point of the matter lies at 2:00 a.m. on April 6th! After that time, most people were shrunk. So what caused people to shrink and become delicacies in the eyes of animals? The answer likely lies in the energy contained within these gemstones. The presence of this energy in a person's body may cause mutations in these animals."

"Are you saying... that after humans shrink, energy is produced inside their bodies? So, are we being targeted by animals because of that?" 

Lin Meiqi shrugged and pouted, "Whether this energy originally existed within us or if some factor caused us to shrink, resulting in a reaction in our bodies that produced this energy, I don't know. Unless you give me a human corpse that hasn't shrunk for dissection, and then conduct a comprehensive analysis with a set of instruments and equipment, we won't be able to figure out the cause."

"But flies licked the corpses of humans who hadn't shrunk and still mutated."

"You also mentioned that these corpses were smaller in size, so they had actually shrunk as well. They likely died during the shrinking process due to certain circumstances. Therefore, their bodies also contained this energy. As for what you said, every blue gemstone dug up was produced by maggots feeding on the flesh of corpses that failed to shrink, so the blue gemstone can be considered an accidental product of the shrinking process."

Thinking of the 3D panoramic view he saw in the shelter, with only about twenty people left in such a large community, plus the few people he encountered on the way, Tom became more convinced of one thing: "The success rate of human shrinkage may not be high, otherwise, the entire community, even the village I'm in, wouldn't have so few people."

"Some people may have starved to death trapped in their homes, but..." Lin Meiqi looked up and thought for a moment, "You're right, the success rate of shrinking us is indeed not very high. Most of the quiet people probably died during the shrinking process."

Chapter 121 Crystal Quality Definition

On the way back, Tom encountered another group of ants, but for him, it was a routine encounter and he dealt with them effortlessly. At one point, two mutant soldier ants attempted to intercept him, but without hesitation, he dispatched them both with a single shot from the Termite Zero Cannon.

Unexpectedly, he also encountered a grasshopper, a green insect with powerful hind legs that chewed on plant leaves. As the tank passed by, it happily ignored them, indulging in its meal on the roadside grass.

This grasshopper seemed unmutated, meaning it neither ate humans nor had ingested any gems. Tom pondered briefly about communicating with it using the green gem, contemplating whether it could be trained as a mount given its impressive jumping ability. However, with ten passengers in the vehicle, his priority was to ensure their safe return to the shelter.

Upon arriving at the Redemption Shelter, Tom and his companions were amazed to find that the fountain pool they saw every day also served as an emergency escape route. However, due to a malfunctioning door on the ground floor, they initially struggled to enter until Tom broke a window with the Termite Zero Cannon, providing them with an opportunity to escape.

Once inside, they found the shelter equipped with first aid supplies. With Lin Meiqi's assistance, Tom tended to two amputees, re-bandaging their wounds and administering antibiotics to prevent infection.

Upon seeing Tom return, Lu Qiuman and Zhu Yihong were overjoyed and eagerly assisted him. However, Feng Hanyun still harbored resentment towards Tom for his perceived indifference, silently cursing him as a "straight male cancer".

Unaware of Feng Hanyun's thoughts, Tom's attention was focused on his watch. Of the ten survivors they rescued, excluding Lin Meiqi's duplicate entry, the shelter system registered nine individuals, increasing his shelter points from seven to sixteen.

It was already 2:18 PM, and Lu Qiuman approached Tom with a large red crystal. The crystal had previously depleted its energy and was now recharging using the yellow gem. However, the yellow gem was now depleted, leaving the red crystal darker in color. Tom inspected it under the light and estimated it to be about eighty percent charged.

This surprised him, considering that the yellow gem used for recharging was only the size of a thumbnail. It made him wonder about the immense energy contained within the large yellow crystal.

Lin Meiqi had an explanation for this phenomenon. According to her analysis, most gems extracted from ants were red, with only a small portion being yellow. Considering the small size of pre-mutated ants, they likely obtained the gems from the same source, possibly from the flesh of a single individual. Therefore, she speculated that these gems were condensed from the elemental composition of a single person's body. The yellow gem likely contained the highest concentration of energy, with the red gems representing only a small fraction of a person's energy.

Tom pondered on this revelation, realizing that the energy within these gems might be responsible for the mutations observed in animals and insects. However, the exact mechanism behind this phenomenon remained unclear.

After their discussion, Tom decided to rest before embarking on his next journey. Lin Meiqi suggested bringing along Wang Zixiong, noting his combat skills and potential usefulness as a companion. Despite initially hesitating, Tom agreed to the idea, realizing the benefits of having an additional ally.

Later, Tom organized a crystal resonance test for the nine survivors, allowing each of them to test four different colored crystals to determine if any of them had awakened abilities. Among them, only one man with a broken leg resonated with the green crystal.

Despite his failure to communicate with the grasshopper or manipulate metal, the man displayed a unique ability that remained unidentified.

Afterward, Tom focused on crafting metal armor and weapons for Wang Zixiong, providing him with a steel needle gun, a large machete, and a shortened butcher knife, considering their effectiveness in close combat situations.