Says to Pay Back

"Thank you, Director Ni." In front of the Ant Nest gate, Tom got off the car and closed the car door. The driver quickly took off the bicycle hanging behind the car for him and then drove away.

Ouyang Haotian swaggered out in his big cotton pants and slippers, looking at the distant car and asking, "Who is that? It seems you are so respectful."

Liu Lian, who was following, could tell the clues: "The car from the sales department... is it that Ni Peiyun?"

"Ni Peiyun? Is that the old lady from the gym?" Ouyang Haotian was deeply impressed by the incident where he went to the gym to ask her for clues and was troubled. "This old woman is so enthusiastic, I always feel like she has something else to do."

Tom didn't mind and pushed his bike to greet everyone, "Let's go in and talk."

Returning to the spacious living room, Tom talked about what had just happened.

Just now, Ni Peiyun took him to a restaurant for dinner, and it was the newcomer who treated him. Tom couldn't wait to hand over the photo of his sister he was carrying with him for confirmation. The other party was very certain that on the evening of April 5th, he did indeed take Luo Xuan out of the Jinrui Hotel. He had a slight impact on the time because the radio broadcast of a traffic accident at that time matched the time when Luo Xuan left as recorded in the hotel's surveillance footage.

According to the former driver, Luo Xuan got off the car at the Dongyuan Hotel.

Tom knows that he has been to this place twice. Compared to the Jinrui Hotel, the Dongyuan Grand Hotel is a bit low-end, but it often holds various special events and exhibitions. He speculates that his sister may go there to participate in some event.

The ordinary life in the shelter made him somewhat uncomfortable after being wandering for half a year, and now with new clues, Tom's heart was surging. After all, Dongyuan Hotel is located in Fumao District, and Haiwei Mini Industry is also located in Fumao District, so it can be said that it is not far away.

That night, Tom was so excited that he couldn't sleep and ran to the rooftop to meditate.

For so long, he never gave up exploring the mutated organ in his body.

One is an organ called a nucleus near the navel, and the research and development department has already made some progress in the study of nuclei. Mutant humans absorb energy from crystals through their crystal nuclei and store it. When mutated humans use their abilities, the crystal nuclei directly release the energy, which is then transformed into abilities by the human body.

The R&D department has never had a clue about how crystal energy can be converted into supernatural powers, but at least the role of crystal energy is quite clear.

There is a problem that the crystal energy released by crystals is harmful to ordinary people. Once the human body absorbs this energy, cells become abnormally active and unstable, and this thing has a stronger impact on the brain. This may be the reason why people will mutate after swallowing crystals.

If it is only normal contact with crystals and resonance occurs, the human body does not seem to absorb crystal energy, but only processes crystal energy through cells.

The R&D department believes that there may be some energy substances in crystal energy that are harmful to the human body. If this harmful energy substance can be filtered out, ordinary people may also be able to swallow crystals normally and produce crystal nuclei, so they do not need to rely on external crystals.

If we compare crystal energy to air, the filtering organ is like a lung, so some people define this hypothetical organ as "crystal lung".

Before his death, Yue Zhenghui, the mutant captured by Tom in the shelter, once said that Tom, like him, was also a mutant. But the reason why Tom won't lose his sanity is because besides having a crystal nucleus, there is also an unknown organ in his body.

Perhaps... this is the crystal lung envisioned by the researchers in the R&D department.

At this moment, Tom sat on the rooftop holding a red crystal tray, trying to absorb the crystal in his hand. He did this action countless times, each time without any gain, and the energy in the crystal did not diminish at all. But he never gave up because he was the only one in the entire shelter who could activate stronger abilities through the Superpower Crystal.

According to Ouyang Haotian, Tom's move can be considered a super deadly skill that ordinary awakeners do not have, an absolute great weapon.

Perhaps... this is one of the benefits gained from one's own mutation.

In addition, he noticed that it seemed that in the past few months, every time a crystal was used to activate a power, the duration of the crystal was shorter than before, but the strength of the power did not increase. If "power" does not increase, where will more crystal energy be consumed?

Perhaps... is it the crystal nucleus near his navel that secretly "intercepts" a part every time the crystal energy flows?

At this point, there are no conditions, so we can only put them together for the time being. Today was another fruitless attempt, but Tom has become accustomed to it and will not feel discouraged. This is like doing morning exercises, doing it whenever you have free time without seeking any rewards.

Since Tom has his sister's new clue, he is naturally full of enthusiasm. He first accelerated the progress of the new improvement plan for worker ant armor, and at the same time began to collect intelligence information about the surrounding environment of Dongyuan Hotel, and read all the task briefs of the shelter nearby to understand the current situation of Dongyuan Hotel.

After a regular meeting, Shen Jiayi stayed with him to inquire about his recent situation. He took the opportunity to share his plans to travel and search for his sister.

"Let the 5th organize an exploration mission for you at Dongyuan Hotel, and he will arrange the manpower and materials accordingly."

Tom refused, "This is my personal matter, I don't want anyone else to be implicated because of my situation."

Shen Jiayi's face changed. "You are an employee of the shelter, and your life, like everyone else, belongs to the shelter. Others have tasks, and you participate and contribute. Similarly, if you have tasks in need, others have an obligation to help you."

"I want to go on my own this time, I can handle it." After reading multiple task briefs at the Dongyuan Hotel, Tom thought there might be a Darwin Abbey examiner nearby.

Given the attack they encountered on the old street, Tom had reason to believe that it was the examiner of the Darwin Order who drove the insect beasts over and surrounded them. Perhaps the person who drives him away is Wen Sitian. Whenever he thinks of Wen Sitian, he thinks of the purple rose that will kill him.

He didn't know why Purple Rose had to die on her own, but he didn't want to implicate anyone else in this search for her whereabouts.

"In the eyes of the people of the Darwin Order, all of us have to go through survival. It's the same whether you take others or not." Shen Jiayi saw through Tom's thoughts at a glance, "This is the end of the world, and everyone must unite. The risk of one person is much higher than that of a team."

Tom shook his head and said, "I have a bad feeling that this time is different... My sister's situation is quite complicated... so I hope to go alone."

Shen Jiayi understood Tom's personality and once a decision is made, it is not easy to change. She sighed and said, "When do you plan to depart? You can report to the 5th for what equipment you need, and he will submit an application to the R&D department on your behalf."

"Thank you, Mr. Shen. I will." Tom was quite grateful.

Leaving Shen Jiayi's office, Tom felt relieved.

He had a premonition that his sister's clue might not be that simple. Although I don't know what the problem is, it is very likely related to the people of the Darwin Order.

From the appearance of her younger sister, Ni Peiyun's description of her, and the mutated little black cat she left in the suite, all these signs indicate that her sister may be involved in the Darwin Order.

The work is ongoing, and preparations have not stopped. The upgrade and improvement of worker ant armor have also been basically completed. Tom knew that his day of traveling was coming soon.

As friends, Ouyang Haotian and Liu Lian naturally hoped to go out with him, but Tom calmly refused their help.

He doesn't want to involve other soldiers, nor does he want these friends around him to be involved.

New Year's Eve is only five days away, and the festive atmosphere in the shelter is even stronger. Hope Town and Watch Town are all decorated with lights and decorations, and people are about to welcome their first New Year after the micro disaster.

Shen Jiayi set off to inspect the mini hydropower station ten kilometers away, and Tom had originally planned to accompany and guard it. However, since she refused Shen Jiayi's request to send someone to find his sister last time, Shen Jiayi seemed to have become distant from him and even removed him from the list of guards, which left him somewhat puzzled.

The mini hydropower station is a power station located on the banks of the Longyan River, which was constructed by Haiwei Mini Industry before the micro disaster. Originally, everyone thought that this small power plant was just a model project built by Haiwei Mini Industry to please the Morikawa City Government, but after the micro disaster, it became the main source of energy for the shelter.

In addition to technical workers, there are also soldiers from the Special Investigation Department who are most loyal to Shen Jiayi stationed in the mini hydropower station. Of course, there are also technical personnel and some ordinary soldiers. The rotating personnel will travel back and forth through a long underground tunnel.

As the New Year approaches, in order to boost the morale of the stationed personnel ten kilometers away and to confirm the situation of the hydropower station, Shen Jiayi believes that she needs to go there in person, both in terms of emotion and reason.

Feeling depressed, he bid farewell to Shen Jiayi's convoy, and Tom returned to his laboratory to study new directions in crystal technology with Lin Meiqi.

In the evening, on the way back, he met Ni Peiyun again. This time it's different from last time. She drove a very inconspicuous private car herself.

"Tom, you said you wouldn't refuse me for help, did you?" Her face looked very unhappy.

Tom's heart tightened and he said, "Of course, Director Ni, what happened?"

"My daughter is still alive. She was rescued last month... but... she has some misunderstandings about my mother. In order to stay away from me, she applied to be transferred to a livestock farm located outside the shelter."

The breeding of raw meat in shelters has never been abandoned because meat is the main source of food for humans. It is also a guarantee that survivors have sufficient strength to cope with the end of the day battle. However, whether it's chickens, ducks, geese, or other carnivorous animals, they are still too big compared to modern humans. So animal husbandry farms are deliberately arranged outside shelters, basically slaughtering and then transporting to avoid difficult places. Only a small number of poultry are transported separately to shelters to ensure freshness, and are slaughtered and distributed immediately.

After the last time Yuanbao Chicken lost control, the shelter strictly restricted the conditions for live meat birds to enter the shelter, and further tightened the slaughtering process of the breeding farm, which indirectly increased manpower.

Tom remembers that the people who work at the farm earn high salaries, and it is estimated that Ni Peiyun's daughter is also interested in this.

"So what do you need me to do?" The breeding farm is already part of the sales department. As the director of the sales department, Ni Peiyun wants to take care of his daughter in his own territory. It's not too simple. Why is he so anxious to come to him now?

Ni Peiyun looked around and said solemnly in a low voice, "I've always felt that there's something wrong with Farm 3, maybe it's related to the loss of control of Dimension Baoji."

"Is there a problem?" Tom's heart tightened as he suspected that the out of control Yuanbao Chicken that attacked Shen Jiayi last time was manipulated by Wen Yiku, who had infiltrated the shelter. After all, she was likely a member of the Darwin Order. "Then you can submit an investigation application to the safety supervision department. They are very skilled in this area of investigation."