Chapter 65

As Su Jing sat quietly on the cushions in the study on the second floor of the villa, the deep blue spiritual energy swirling around her fingertips suddenly contracted inward—

With a soft "hum," the spiritual energy flowed entirely into her dantian. The pale blue light membrane surrounding her instantly thickened from 5 millimeters to 8 millimeters, its surface also shimmering with tiny, luminous white specks.

The system notification sounded in my mind right on time, breaking the tranquility of the study: [Congratulations! You have successfully broken through to the second level of Qi Refining (mid-stage). Your physical strength has increased by 30%, your speed by 20%, and your current physique level is 28. The thickness of your spiritual energy protective layer has increased to 8 millimeters, which can withstand the claw attacks of low-level demonic beasts (such as blue wolves).]

The precision of spiritual energy manipulation has been improved, allowing control of objects weighing ≤3 kg at short distances (within 2 meters); the power of the "Qi Condensation Bullet" has been enhanced, equivalent to an enhanced pistol bullet.

Su Jing slowly opened her eyes. As the "breathing seal" on her palm was released, she could clearly feel that the spiritual energy in her Qi Hai acupoint was much thicker than before.

The previous deep blue spiritual energy has now turned indigo, like flowing deep sea water, and when gently shaken, it will create subtle ripples in the meridians.

She raised her hand to touch the edge of the desk. The moment her fingertips touched the wooden surface, a wisp of spiritual energy flowed from her fingertips, drawing a complete circle on the surface—

The improved precision in controlling spiritual energy allowed her to manipulate it more precisely, no longer only able to "roughly control" it as before.

"It's time to test my strength after the breakthrough." Su Jing got up, left the study, and headed straight for the villa's underground storage room—

The metal supplies prepared for reinforcing the trenches were stored there, including a solid iron block weighing 50 kilograms with a metal ring welded to the top for easy handling.

The motion-sensor lights in the warehouse turned on with her footsteps, illuminating the neatly stacked supplies: on the left were reinforced steel plates, on the right were spare tires, and on the metal rack in the middle was the 50-kilogram iron block, its surface still covered with a light layer of anti-rust oil.

She walked to the iron block, bent down, and grasped the metal ring with one hand—

Before she made this breakthrough, she could barely lift the iron block off the ground with both hands, and couldn't even hold it for 3 seconds.

At this moment, Su Jing took a deep breath and mentally mobilized the indigo spiritual energy in her Qihai acupoint, which flowed along the meridians of her arm to her palm: a warm current instantly filled her entire arm, and the tension in her muscles disappeared, replaced by a sense of even strength.

With a gentle lift, the 50-kilogram iron block steadily left the ground, hovering 30 centimeters above it!

Su Jing tried taking two steps forward—

The iron block didn't wobble, and my arm didn't feel any soreness or stiffness. It was as if I was holding a 5-kilogram dumbbell instead of a 50-kilogram weight.

She then raised the iron block above her head, held it for 10 seconds, and then slowly lowered it. When it landed, she used her spiritual energy to cushion the impact, and the iron block gently hit the ground without making a harsh sound.

"Now, even if I encounter a blue wolf, I can deal with it without the laser gun." She felt a sense of relief. The system panel popped up with "Current Strength Value: 55 (The average adult strength is 20)," confirming the effect of this breakthrough.

Back in the living room on the first floor, Su Jing was about to sit down and have a drink of water when a faint black anonymous message popped up on the system panel—the sender was still "System Anonymous User (Permissions: Special)".

It was a private message from Lao Zhou. She opened the message, which was concise and clear: "Comrade, we need to purchase another 1,000 Body Strengthening Pills to improve the physical condition of the soldiers. There are only 20 days left until the end of the world. The frontline defense forces need to enhance their resistance to cold and attacks. We hope to trade at the same price as last time (10 grams of gold/pill). The gold is ready, with a purity of ≥99.9%, and can be sent immediately through the encrypted channel."

Without hesitation, Su Jing quickly replied with her fingertips: "1,000 Body Strengthening Pills have been transferred from the reserve stock and can be transmitted encrypted at any time. The total amount of gold is 10,000 grams. Please confirm receipt after transmission to ensure that the pills are distributed to the troops in a timely manner."

She understood that the military was crucial for post-apocalyptic defense, and supplying them at the original price not only supported official preparations but also ensured overall safety after the apocalypse.

The reason why we sold to users outside of China at high prices in the past was because they were mostly private teams, while official procurement was for collective purposes, and the two are different in nature.

"Encrypted channel activated, transmission command sent, expected to complete in 15 seconds." Old Zhou's reply came quickly.

Su Jing immediately walked to the open space in the center of the living room, which was spacious enough to accommodate the teleportation volume of pills and gold.

Fifteen seconds later, a pale blue light membrane unfolded in front of her: on the left side of the light membrane were 100 transparent jade bottles, each containing 10 pale yellow health pills, labeled "Health Pill (Low Grade)" on the bottle, and a bitter medicinal fragrance instantly filled the air.

On the right are 100 neatly arranged blocks of gold, each weighing 100 grams, gleaming with the soft luster unique to 99.9% pure gold, piled up into a small heap of gold.

[System notification: Encrypted transmission completed! 1000 Health Pills have been successfully delivered, and 10,000 grams of gold (99.95% purity, in accordance with the agreement) have been received; Precious metals inventory update: Current total gold is 99,700 grams, which has been categorized and stored, and can be withdrawn or smelted at any time.]

Su Jing squatted down and picked up a piece of gold—it felt heavy in her hand, with a smooth and impurity-free surface. She ran her fingertip along the edge and found no burrs, indicating that it had been finely cut.

She focused her mind and stored all 100 gold bars in the "precious metals zone" of her space—the inventory screen on the panel updated in real time: next to the gold bars that were originally piled up, these 100 gold bars were added, and the system automatically categorized them as "official purchased gold".

Distinguished from the gold traded in previous cross-border transactions, the label also indicates "October 15, 2025, for improving the physical fitness of the troops," facilitating subsequent traceability.

Walking to the window, Su Jing looked at the robots patrolling the yard—

They were moving slowly along the trenches, their red scanning eyes beeping as they scanned the reinforced steel plates, and the solar panels gleamed warmly in the setting sun.

She recalled the cultivation resource area in her space: after breaking through, the spiritual herbs had grown to 12 centimeters tall, releasing 18 points of spiritual energy every day, which was enough to support her to continue to break through to the third level of Qi Refining.

There are also 800 Qi-Gathering Pills, 600 Healing Pills, and 300 Body-Strengthening Pills in reserve, which fully meet my personal needs.

"Perhaps I could sell some of my spare pills to the system for recycling and earn points." Su Jing suddenly remembered the "Pill Recycling" function in the system shop—

Previously, I had only sold supplies and had never tried recycling pills. Now that I have enough reserves, recycling 2,000 pills will not only free up space but also increase my points, which can be used to purchase high-level cultivation items (such as the "spiritual energy gathering body" I saw before) or technological resources (such as more advanced defense robots).

The moment the idea popped into her head, she decided to first organize the gold and then consolidate her Qi Refining Level 2 cultivation to ensure her condition remained stable.