NOVPUBChapter 117: Chapter 116 Abundant Rewards
Chapter 117 -116 Abundant Rewards
“Paradise game is entering routine maintenance, and after the next activation, it will enter the long-term quest phase; please wait patiently for the activation notification, Paradise looks forward to meeting you again.”
As these words lit up, Zhang Zhiyuan felt himself returning to the real world—the air was filled with a faint disinfectant scent, and the touch of the medical bed behind him seemed soft and warm.
It was at least a rare pleasure compared to the wooden hard bed he had been sleeping on for several days.
He removed the VR headset, rubbed his somewhat sore eyes, and turned to look at his two colleagues, “How are you guys, any discomfort?”
“I feel like a tourist… the quest ended before I could do anything.” Cui Zhen’en’s eyes looked somewhat empty, “Why didn’t this round of the game even have a battle section? I was hoping to show off my skills in that area.”
“Because the main quest this time was to help the temple get out of trouble, right? The pharmaceutical company’s framework has also been set up, which is a completely different type from the previous quests.”
“I hate management games,” she muttered under her breath.
“And you? How do you feel?” Zhang Zhiyuan turned towards Xue Quan, pretending not to hear Cui Zhen’en.
“I can only say it has been an eye-opener.” Xue Quan smiled and sighed sincerely, “I personally don’t believe in fate, but sometimes destiny is just that mysterious. If we want to be recorded in history, we need to push ourselves even harder.”
Uh… are these really the talents that the country has selected?
Their level of ideological awareness seems to be on a whole different level from mine.
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help feeling somewhat embarrassed.
At that moment, all three of their phones rang simultaneously.
He picked up his phone and saw it was a message for a delivery.
“Your messages are about deliveries too?”
“Hmm… the sender is Paradise,” Cui Zhen’en nodded, “Probably the rewards we exchanged for with points?”
Since there was no combat this time, most of the points were saved up, and Zhang Zhiyuan had also seen a new option in his exchange column—the “Glowing Stone.” Thus, he simply exchanged all of his points for these inconsequential stones.
His reasoning was simple: since these things came from another world, naturally there would be a scarcity when researching them. To ensure more experts could get samples, it couldn’t be wrong to exchange for more.
Furthermore, he noticed that the exchange interface for the three of them was basically the same, all with the Glowing Stone option, but it seemed that other people had different options. He had asked Zhou Zhi privately, and the latter did not have the stones for exchange but instead had an extra ticket.
In other words, Zhou Zhi could enter the game again without spending one million US dollars, as long as he kept a certain amount of points in hand.
“The dispatch address is Yu City… it’s so far from last time’s Jin City.” Zhang Zhiyuan casually forwarded the message to his boss Gao Wei, then planned to go out for some air.
The world there might be novel, but the nightlife was seriously lacking, especially the food—without a variety of seasonings and chili peppers, his taste buds were practically dying of blandness.
“How about we have hot pot tonight? My treat.”
“Yay! I’m in!” Cui Zhen’en cheered, raising her arms.
“I have no other plans,” Xue Quan also agreed readily, “I’ll go with your suggestion.”
Unbeknownst to Zhang Zhiyuan, the moment he sent out that message, the entire command center at the control center was mobilized!
1:22 PM, Yu City.
A police car bearing local license plates entered the Jin City Express Northern Ring District Sorting Station, and after presenting identification, two police officers and one Jin City supervisor took away three boxes of express deliveries on the pretext of “intercepting dangerous goods.” Although the sorting station staff found it somewhat strange, the company’s headquarters had issued a notice and dispatched accompanying personnel, so they didn’t have much room to question it.
Shortly after leaving the sorting station, the police car joined a large convoy. The convoy was led and followed by police motorcycles, and the transport vehicles in the middle were made up of four special police bombproof vehicles. At the same time, the highway to Yu City Airport was made one-way, and after receiving instructions, the traffic police set up temporary barriers at every intersection to ensure that only the escort convoy could enter the airport expressway.
At 2 p.m. sharp, the express parcels were loaded onto a military transport plane and flew directly to Beifu. Those involved in the escort did not know what exactly they were protecting until they were dismissed.
At 4:35 p.m., the transport plane landed at Beifu Air Force Training Base, where it was met by another special police convoy.
When this convoy entered the front courtyard of the Security Control Center, the yard was already filled with people.
Fu Jiangshui was among them.
His idea was simple, he just wanted to see with his own eyes how such an incredible item was being transported to them.
The result was shocking.
At the moment the researchers carefully opened the temperature-controlled box and took out the three parcels of express delivery, a collective gasp echoed through the crowd. The reason was nothing else but the packaging’s plain and unremarkable appearance, so ordinary it seemed like an item worth ten US Dollars from an online stall. Even the cardboard boxes appeared to have been reused multiple times, with some showing signs of compression.
Fu Jiangshui felt the veins on his forehead throbbing.
These people were too careless, did they have any idea how precious this thing was? If years of restraint hadn’t suppressed his temper, he would probably have cursed out loud on the spot!
But when everyone saw the stones wrapped in newspaper inside the boxes, their complaints were instantly forgotten.
Because the quantity this time was more than ten times the previous amount!
Fu Jiangshui knew that last time everyone had used samples cut from a single stone, each person receiving only a piece the size of a thumb, but this time there were about twenty stones, and some appeared to be of even better quality.
Of course, the Security Control Center could not distribute the stones on the spot like divvying up sweet potatoes, and their gathering was only to satisfy their curiosity. All the Yaoshi stones were reboxed by the staff and then transported into the heavily guarded storeroom with a trolley.
“Professor Fu, I have finally found you,” a familiar voice suddenly came from behind.
Fu Jiangshui turned around, “Oh, it’s Director Gao. What can I do for you?”
Since his arrival, he had been engrossed in scientific research; the only administrative person he knew was Gao Wei. Although the two didn’t intersect much in their work, Director Gao always greeted each researcher at meal times in the cafeteria, occasionally joining them for meals, and after a few days, everyone had become somewhat acquainted.
“It’s not that I need something from you, but the department plans to hold a technical meeting. It’s scheduled for 8 p.m. tomorrow in the multipurpose hall. Your last report on superconductivity caused quite a stir among the experts and academicians, so your attendance is required at the meeting.”
After saying this, he handed over a written notice.
“You had to personally make this trip for such a trivial matter, I really…” Fu Jiangshui smiled as he took the notice, pulled out a pen from his pocket, signed his acknowledgment and name, and then handed the paper back to the other party, “Can’t they assign a secretary to handle this for you?”
Due to restricted internet and limited phone use, the most ancient textual tools had once again become the main choice for work handover.
“With secrecy matters, the fewer people involved, the better,” Gao Wei secured the notice, “You go ahead with your work, I still have several people to find.”
“Wait a moment… Director Gao.” Fu Jiangshui couldn’t help but stop him, “Can you tell us now where these stones came from? Seeing their packaging, I thought they were dug up by some family from their backyard.”
Gao Wei shook his head slightly, “I would not want to hide it from you, but orders are orders.”
“Well, that’s disappointing,” he said regretfully, “but I still hope you can pass on a message, asking those who excavated these to put more effort into the packaging. Using recycled cartons is just too inappropriate! These items are definitely valuable enough to be considered priceless, and we surely aren’t lacking that bit of funds. If it comes to that, I am willing to take matters into my own hands—if they truly were dug up, that is.”
