OBS Chapter 252: Resource Search, a Special Harvest!
Chapter 252: Resource Search, a Special Harvest!
'Resources?'The thought suddenly crossed his mind, and Cheng Ye immediately associated it with the newly added Resource Search entry in his Sharp Scout System.
Speaking of which, ever since unlocking this function, he had discreetly tested it many times.
Unfortunately, whether it was Cui Qiao, the vice director of Revival Medical, the other medical staff, Luo Kuke, the four guards who escorted him out of the city, or Wang Kang, Lin Xu, and the rest...
The Resource search entry did not appear on any of their status panels. The permission simply was not available.
It did not even appear when he deliberately raised a medical staff member's Cooperation Level to a full one hundred percent.
This made him suspect that he probably wouldn't be able to truly utilize this newly added function of the Sharp Scout System until much later.
But now that Yu Erlan had specifically mentioned the word 'resources', Cheng Ye's heart stirred. He pretended to be deep in thought on the surface while secretly opening his personal panel.
The first thing that caught his eye was the Cooperation Level.
To his surprise, Yu Erlan actually had a full thirty-one percent Cooperation Level.
'Could it be the credit for bringing back the Immortal Item?'
He had to admit, this deputy director of the Research Institute was much more generous than those Elders. Her Cooperation Level wasn't stuck in the awkward single digits.
Scrolling down, the searchable entries were clearly listed:
[Yu Erlan, 31%, Searchable Range: Intelligence, Items, Skills (Lv1; Lv2), Resources (Lv1)]
'Oh, the Resource entry actually appeared!'
Cheng Ye was secretly delighted, but on second thought, it made perfect sense.
If even a core figure like Yu Erlan didn't grant Resource Search permissions, he really wouldn't know where to look for clues about resources.
However, he didn't rush to trigger the search. Instead, he closed the panel, looked up, and asked,
"Tan Ming previously gave me two Runes. One is the Life Force Rune, and the other is the Withering Rune. This Withering Rune can extract Life Force and convert it into Blood Shadow Soldiers. Does the 'resource' you mentioned refer to things like Life Force?"
The Elder had already seen the Runes, so they weren't a secret.
As for the abilities, meanings, and costs of using the Runes, since he was backed by Happiness City, there was naturally no need for him to figure them out on his own. Rather, he intended to ruthlessly exploit the shelter city's intelligence to help himself grow rapidly.
Furthermore, these were all high-value pieces of intelligence. Collecting more of them would be highly beneficial for his Rank Advancement.
"Of course," Yu Erlan confirmed. "The 'resources' I'm talking about are essentially products under normal state rules. Entities in the Control State use these products to create new rules, but the prerequisite for using them is that you must first be aware of their existence. That is, you must be able to accurately perceive the form of these resources in the Normal State."
After saying that, she seemed to feel her explanation was a bit abstract. She frowned, just about to switch to a more layman explanation, but Cheng Ye raised his hand to interrupt her.
"No need to explain, I understand."
"It's just like how if I want to use the power of Life Force, I first have to be able to see the existence of Life Force, then grab and gather it before I can convert it into the Energy to create the Bloodshadow Legion, right?"
"Yes, exactly!" Yu Erlan nodded immediately.
"Does that mean that to gather this kind of resource, one must either reach the Control State or possess a Rune?" Cheng Ye pressed on, his eyes quietly observing Yu Erlan's reaction.
"Heh."
Yu Erlan let out a soft, ambiguous chuckle. She neither directly confirmed nor denied it, but instead changed the subject, bringing up the hidden worries behind it all. "The reasons for the current state of the wasteland were partly caused by Transcendents. Those resources used to rewrite the rules constantly deplete the planet's inherent reserves. The barren land, the harsh environment, the scarcity of all kinds of supplies... these are all the bitter fruits of that consumption."
"Moreover, the broader the scope and the higher the intensity of the rules' influence, the more the demand for resources will grow explosively.
"Most of the Transcendents from the previous era fell into endless wars precisely because they were fighting over these 'casting resources,' ultimately leading to a massive disaster."
Hearing Yu Erlan's words, Cheng Ye didn't continue pressing her, but a wave of realization washed over his mind.
The Resource search entry had appeared on her panel, which meant there could only be two possibilities.
Either Yu Erlan herself was an expert in the Transcendent Control State, or, like him, she had obtained a Belief bestowed by an expert, allowing her to temporarily utilize the rules of a Rune.
'Which one could it be?'
Cheng Ye marveled to himself. Without rushing to a conclusion, he secretly opened his panel once again.
His Recharge Value had now grown to eight hundred units. Although he hadn't dared to continue charging these past few days while under the full surveillance of Revival Medical—leaving his current charging progress stuck at fifty percent—searching for a Lv1 Skill only required ten percent. Even a Lv2 Skill only cost fifteen percent. He still had plenty to spare.
He selected the Lv2 Skill search without hesitation, aiming directly at the person in front of him, who was perhaps the strongest individual he had ever seen aside from the Elder.
Rows of text flashed by. Cheng Ye didn't immediately focus on them; instead, he pretended to continue studying the Undetermined Fox in the corner, maintaining a facade of calm.
It wasn't until the panel loaded the complete search results that he discreetly shifted his attention over.
[Yu Erlan (Transcendent Control State)]
[Lv1 Skill]: Locked [Lv2 Skill]:
Talent: Visual Enhancement (Perfect; significantly improves vision, granting permanent immunity to nearsightedness and farsightedness)
Talent: Calmness (Perfect: significantly reduces the fluctuation of emotions)
Skills: Intermediate Data Modeling and Analysis (Star), Intermediate Theoretical Tracing and Organization (Star), Intermediate Precision Instrument Operation (Star), Intermediate Equipment Principle Recognition (Star), Intermediate Interdisciplinary Knowledge Integration (Star)...
[Lv3 Skill]: Locked [Lv4 Skill]: Locked [Lv5 Skill]: Locked [Lv6 Skill]: Locked [Lv7 Skill]: Locked.
'It really is the Control State, a level higher than the Symbiotic State.'
'Happiness City truly is filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers!'
Cheng Ye was somewhat alarmed. He never expected that such a top-tier powerhouse, capable of personally establishing rules, was right beside him—and was even allowing him to boldly run searches on her.
Furthermore, regular searches couldn't display her transcendent status panel; he could only retrieve her Normal Skills. Yet, these alone were enough to leave him dumbfounded.
The densely packed theoretical abilities spread across the panel. Counting carefully, he found that in the Lv2 Skill tier alone, there were no less than thirteen knowledge skills marked with a star!
'But how old is Yu Erlan?'
He recalled the nameplate on the first floor. Yu Erlan was born in Year 6 of the New Era, which meant she was exactly twenty-nine years old right now.
She was only ten years older than his current body, and just three years older than he was before he transmigrated.
But the vast reserves of knowledge behind those skills... let alone three years, even given thirty years, he might not be able to finish learning it all!
'A genius!'
'Director Yu is absolutely a top-tier genius endowed with extraordinary talent!'
No wonder she could sit in the position of deputy director at the Happiness City Research Institute at such a young age. This brilliance and potential were probably not inferior to Director Long Haoran, who had taken office at the age of twenty-five.
'I just don't know when I'll be able to grind her Cooperation Level up to one hundred percent...'
Seeing the two perfect talents displayed on the panel gave Cheng Ye a bit of a headache.
No wonder Yu Erlan always looked so indifferent. It turned out it was the work of a perfect-grade talent.
However, it was exactly because of this extreme Calmness that she could settle her mind and delve into core scientific research amidst the chaotic environment of the wasteland.
Cheng Ye's gaze swept over the information, not lingering too long on the two perfect talents, and instead accurately locked onto the skill Intermediate Interdisciplinary Knowledge Integration.
Since he was going to engage in research, Inspector Cheng—despite knowing he lacked such heaven-defying talent—never lacked the diligence to learn.
If he was going to dabble in the research field, he needed to master these foundational academic subjects as quickly as possible.
As the panel closed, he had already made up his mind. He would first search and learn all the academic knowledge contained in Yu Erlan's Lv1 and Lv2 Skills.
Once he thoroughly digested all this knowledge, he couldn't guarantee much else, but snagging the qualifications of a First-Level Researcher at the Research Institute shouldn't be a problem, right?
'It's just... going to be tough!'
Cheng Ye sighed deeply in his heart. The dread of being dominated by study tasks a while ago quietly resurfaced.
Even with the Joint Mounted Auxiliary Learning to assist him, it was still inevitable that he would suffer from that Drowsiness after the knowledge was forcefully implanted.
Now that Little Flame had completed its Shaping and lost its original abilities, he no longer had the Blazing Hawk's Heart Fire to replenish his mental energy. The path of learning ahead was likely going to be even more grueling.
After sorting out his thoughts, Cheng Ye didn't immediately stand up. Instead, he pressed the Resource Search button on his panel.
The familiar introductory information smoothly flooded into his mind, just like when he had used the search functions previously.
Resource Search, single-use Recharge Value cost: 25%, which equated to two hundred units of electricity. It wasn't too much.
With his current rank, he could search for resources of both the Lv1 and Lv2 tiers.
Lv1 only required a base Cooperation Level of ten percent to unlock, while Lv2 required a Cooperation Level of fifty percent.
This restriction model was somewhat similar to the initial skill searches, but the overall threshold was much more relaxed.
However, correspondingly, with the relaxed restrictions, the quality of the resources found was highly likely not to be top-tier. Cheng Ye was mentally prepared for this and didn't expect to completely turn his life around the moment he obtained this new search entry.
'Not bad, let's search once and see what good stuff there is.'
He concentrated his mind slightly, and the Recharge Value on the panel was immediately deducted by twenty-five percent, leaving him with a final ten percent in reserve.
The next second, the characters on the panel flashed rapidly, and the search results slowly appeared.
This time he saw it clearly. The Runes that could only be created by those in the Control State were surprisingly just inconspicuous scraps in the results. What truly caught the eye were the decorative patterns—more dazzling and miraculous than Runes—and it was precisely these patterns that formed the text!
[Search Successful!]
[Yu Erlan]
[Lv1]:
A portion of Constant Humidity and Comfortable Air (Excellent; can cover 0.000125 cubic kilometers; sustained influence duration: 5
days)
A portion of High Oxygen and Pure Air (Excellent; can cover 0.000125 cubic kilometers; sustained influence duration: 1
week)
A portion of Pure and Pollution-Free Air (Normal; can cover 0.000125 cubic kilometers; sustained influence duration: 1 month)
'?!'
'What is this?'
Cheng Ye thought he had adequately prepared himself mentally, but seeing the search results still caught him off guard.
The resources were actually air?
Why would Yu Erlan's resource type be air? Could it be that even in the Normal State, she was already capable of precisely perceiving and controlling rules related to air?
Moreover, the names of these air types were exceedingly peculiar: Constant Humidity and Comfortable, High Oxygen and Pure, Pure and Pollution-Free...
If these were the consumable resources she used when wielding her Control State power, didn't that mean she needed to travel to regions with the corresponding environments to collect air?
Well... there was also a possibility she didn't need to, because these types of air could entirely be manufactured artificially.
More importantly, manufacturing air wouldn't deplete the planet's inherent resources, making it an extremely 'eco-friendly' casting material.
His eyes landed on the coverage area. Doing a quick conversion, this volume equated to 125,000 cubic meters, which was roughly equivalent to a Space with a length, width, and height of fifty meters.
'If I use this Pure and Pollution-Free Air in a heavily polluted area, wouldn't it instantly turn the air in that region completely fresh?'
A thought suddenly popped into Cheng Ye's mind, and he naturally associated it with another matter. 'Wait, there's an obvious difference in air quality between the Inner City and the Outer City. Could it be that the Research Institute has been using these types of resources to regulate it all along?'
He mulled over this possibility repeatedly, but since he hadn't verified it in person, he couldn't reach a definite conclusion for now. He could only file this speculation away in his mind.
At the same time, an even bolder idea quietly surfaced!
The Information Fusion function provided by the joint path could currently also be used for Skill Fusion.
But if he continued to choose an Integration-Related Direction during his next Rank Advancement, he wondered if it would be possible to unlock Resource Integration permissions.
If possible, what would be the ultimate result of continuously fusing these normal resources?
Would the sustained duration be extended and the coverage area expanded?
Or would the very essence of the resource be upgraded in rating during fusion, birthing special extra effects just like with skills?
Carrying these questions, Cheng Ye hesitated briefly among the three resources. He ultimately selected the Pure and Pollution-Free Air, which, although Normal in quality, had a sustained duration of up to one month.
Since it was a test anyway, naturally, the longer the duration, the easier it would be to observe the effects.
[Search Successful!]
[The Civilization Collector has successfully recorded: A portion of Pure and Pollution-Free Air]
[The resource will be stored in a dedicated Resource Category Bar and will not occupy the Storage Bar. Please review.]
[The target for Resource Search must be the Complete Owner of the resource.]
The four prompt messages flashed by.
Seeing that the resources wouldn't take up space in his newly expanded Storage Bar, Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow.
And the subsequent prompt vaguely allowed him to figure out the reason why he couldn't perform searches previously. The key lay in the restriction of being a 'Complete Owner'.
In other words, the owner of the resource needed to possess one hundred percent disposal rights over it.
Combined with Yu Erlan's earlier explanation of the rules, the resource also had to be limited to natural products born under the Normal State.
In that case, none of the targets he had searched previously actually met this condition, so naturally, no corresponding resource entries could be found.
'I wonder if, according to this rule, the lords of those gathering places out there count as the Complete Owners of the resources within their Territory?'
Cheng Ye started calculating in his mind. No matter what, he had to go out and properly verify this.
If he could genuinely search for and collect resources from these settlement lords, then this was absolutely a Farming God Skill!
As long as he could continuously find high-quality resources, even a Barren Land could potentially be forcefully piled up into a highly livable Grotto Heaven and Blessed Land.
Thinking up to this point, Cheng Ye stood up, looked at Yu Erlan, and asked, "Director Yu, may I ask which Evolutionary Stage the Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse on my body is currently in?"
"The Normal State, naturally," Yu Erlan replied in a flat tone, then immediately added, "As for the other Transcendent Creature on you, it hasn't even touched the threshold of the Normal State yet."
Her tone shifted, adding a few degrees of seriousness, "Happiness City won't interfere with your attempts to walk the path of Transcendent Creatures, but there is a prerequisite. Your path must not cause any negative impact on the shelter city. If it ever results in severe consequences, even if the Elder vouches for you, you will be permanently expelled from Happiness City's borders, never to set foot inside again. Including your efforts in Dabo Town... all of it will go down the drain."
"Understood!" Cheng Ye's heart tightened, instantly realizing that he still hadn't been able to hide Little Flame after all.
However, Yu Erlan's stance also made him sigh in relief. This seemed to mean that Happiness City allowed the people below a certain degree of transcendent freedom?
Come to think of it, he already bore the two Rune marks left by Tan Ming. Having an extra Transcendent Creature wasn't considered too outrageous.
He composed himself and continued to ask, "Then, does our Research Institute currently possess any Transcendent Mother Source that has reached the Anti-State?"
"We do, and you arrived just in time. If you were a bit later, this sole Anti-State Mother Source would have had to be returned to Kindling Shelter City according to our agreement."
Yu Erlan nodded, and the two walked out of the Undetermined Fox's Containment Room.
They didn't continue touring the other Infection Sources downstairs, but instead went straight up to the third floor.
The layout of the third floor was extremely simple. There were only two max-specification Giant Containment Rooms, one of which was completely empty inside.
The other occupied containment room, however, was surprisingly decorated to resemble a human Living Space. It even bore some resemblance to the hospital ward Cheng Ye had stayed in previously.
The two slowly approached, and a Black Figure caught their eye. It was actually a human!
This person looked to be in extremely poor condition. With a hunched figure, he sat on the sofa staring at the TV screen. His hands propped up his head, exuding a sickly lethargy.
But upon sensing someone approaching from outside the door, the Black Figure whipped his head around. A crisp 'clack' sounded from his neck, like rusty Mechanical Parts being forcefully turned.
But what was bizarre was that his shoulders didn't rotate along with it; only his head twisted rigidly toward the door. The posture was as grotesque as a spider tilting its head to observe prey.
Now, Cheng Ye could see it even more clearly.
The thing in front of him wasn't human at all!
Those deeply sunken eye sockets were like two pitch-black caves. Sparse eyelashes clung to his livid eyelids, and his cloudy eyeballs were covered in bloodshot veins.
The moment he locked his dead stare on the two of them, his pupils abruptly shrank to the size of pinpricks. What was even more hair-raising was that a fingernail-sized Black Spider was actually crawling on the whites of his eyes, slowly creeping along the bloodshot veins.
"Who is he?" Cheng Ye forcefully suppressed the Chilling Dread in his heart.
"Speaking of which, you are looking at a Mutated Human."
Yu Erlan's tone was so flat it didn't have a single ripple. She raised her hand and pressed a button on her arm device:
"C35, the one who brought you to Happiness City is here to see you!"