Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Man-made Superpower
That day, the existence of the massive water sphere completely dominated social media.
Even international forums were abuzz, with people exclaiming in disbelief and wondering if it was real or just a screenshot from a video game posted by users from Hua Country. After all, it was just too incredible to believe.
Various factions tried to subtly probe for information about what it was. After all, something that could completely shield a person from an explosion was essentially an insurance policy for one’s life.
Hua Country, however, offered no explanation, merely condemning the crazed assassination attempt in the strongest terms.
Soon, rumors began to circulate that Hua Country had secretly reached an agreement with the manufacturer of the protective gear and had already distributed this special equipment to its frontline armed personnel.
For a time, the whole world’s attention was focused on this manufacturer, with everyone hoping to establish contact.
Meanwhile, Chi Wan had already left Beijing City.
The trade between the base and the government was now on the right track. They could even communicate face-to-face through her space, and Chi Wan had returned this time to select a site to build a factory.
That was right. After some discussion, the higher-ups had decided to secretly give Chi Wan their full support to open a company in her own name, one that would specialize in producing this kind of defensive gear, and even weapons.
The government and Dawn Base reached a mutual agreement. The government would provide all the infrastructure and heavy equipment the base needed for free, while the base would be responsible for providing various Crystal Cores embedded with superpowers.
Now, all they had to do was periodically assemble those cores with the parts from the factory, and they could be sold all over the world.
And as long as the knowledge of superpowers remained firmly in Hua Country’s grasp, even if ill-intentioned parties purchased these items, they wouldn’t be able to crack the core technology.
As a "sole proprietor," Chi Wan could completely disregard the opinions of other countries and choose her business partners based on her mood. Of course, that was just in theory. The partners would naturally be screened and connected by the higher-ups; Chi Wan just had to be the face of the operation.
This also gave Hua Country more freedom on a national level.
They could do this because, during this time, Chi Wan had shown everyone that she had more than enough power to guarantee her own safety and had no fear of being threatened or exploited.
Chi Wan naturally had no objection to the higher-ups’ decision. She didn’t even have to worry about choosing a location for the factory—she had reclaimed the very factory Chi Yuanshan sold off when he went bankrupt.
As the family of three stood before the factory, Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe were naturally filled with a whirlwind of emotions.
In just six short months, so much had changed.
But regardless, knowing now that what happened back then wasn’t his fault, Chi Yuanshan could finally move past it.
However, they still grumbled for a long time about Chi Wan sending the old couple away to deal with the He Family on her own.
Chi Wan had no choice but to confess the truth about her and Li Xingye, which left Chi Yuanshan speechless for a long moment.
Although, when they first learned of the young man’s existence, the couple had already secretly discussed this possibility.
But to suddenly discover that their daughter had really been snatched away still left them feeling a bit disgruntled.
Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe exchanged a look. Chi Yuanshan whispered, "Wanwan, we hear that Xiao Li is very powerful, and he came from the apocalypse... What if he’s abusive?"
Chi Wan: ...
She hadn’t expected this to be Chi Yuanshan’s biggest worry.
But on second thought, it made sense. They had witnessed the power of Li Xingye’s superpower and naturally worried about how they, as ordinary people, could protect their daughter.
She said seriously, "Don’t worry, Mom and Dad. Trust my judgment. I won’t be handing my entire life over to someone else."
Meanwhile, Li Xingye, who was listening to their conversation from within the space, wanted nothing more than to rush out and prove his unwavering devotion to Chi Wan.
But he had to admit that, as parents, Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe’s concerns were understandable.
Parents will always worry about their children.
Looking at her parents’ conflicted expressions, Chi Wan smiled at Li Xingye and said, "Brother Xingye, it looks like you still have a long road ahead of you."
Li Xingye replied helplessly, "I’ll have to ask Sister Qianyu to help me come up with a plan."
Chi Wan asked, puzzled, "What kind of plan would you ask Sister Qianyu for?"
Li Xingye smiled. "To give you the ultimate Amulet. That’s the only way Uncle and Auntie will feel at ease entrusting you to me."
Even though the young couple had done plenty of intimate things in private, for some reason, hearing Li Xingye say this in front of her parents made Chi Wan feel inexplicably shy.
She blushed and changed the subject. "By the way, you mentioned that Aurora Base wanted to negotiate with you. What was the outcome?"
At the mention of this, Li Xingye’s tone became light. "Their so-called cooperation was nothing more than a ploy to get more research samples. But their leader can artificially create zombie hordes just to pressure us. There’s no need to cooperate with a madman like that.
"Baiyi Base also wants to work with us. I’m still considering it, but at least they seem more normal than Aurora Base. Besides, we’ve built more base stations now, so information spreads further and we can sell supplies to more distant places. Our current plan is to get resources circulating over a wide area, to at least solve the problem of hunger first."
As long as they weren’t struggling for food and clothing, most survivors can live decent lives, even without joining Dawn Base.
Chi Wan mulled it over for a moment. "Baiyi Base probably still has a lot of its original military forces, right? They have indeed protected many ordinary people. But the leader of Aurora Base remains a huge threat. I’m afraid he’ll do something desperate..."
Li Xingye reassured her, "We’re prepared. The other people at Aurora Base are no threat. The only tricky part is that person with the Spiritual Ability. Once things here are settled, I plan to go and pay him a visit."
Hearing this, Chi Wan felt a persistent unease, perhaps because a Spiritual Ability sounded impossible to defend against.
She thought for a moment and asked, "By the way, that guy who said he could see different timelines..."
Li Xingye chuckled. "Ever since they developed the ’truth serum,’ they used it on him immediately. Unfortunately, in the end, he only knew what he himself could see. He hadn’t seen what we most wanted to know. So we’re just keeping him alive, that’s all."
Although Chi Wan found it a pity, she knew there wasn’t much that could be done about it.
It was just as Ding Yao had said before: this was a completely new timeline now, so he couldn’t actually see future developments either.
But the unknown itself is the norm.
Yet Chi Wan couldn’t shake the feeling that this particular unknown held something dreadful that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Li Xingye seemed to sense her unease. But even if he didn’t go looking for that leader, they would come looking for him.
In fact, Dawn Base had already rooted out several waves of infiltrators during this period.
Each wave was stronger than the last.
But what made him feel an even greater sense of urgency was his discovery after interrogating them one by one: their superpowers had all been "artificially created."
