Chapter 143 Shen Yan Awakens

"Don't move around." Ruan Ning walked over and handed him a water bottle. "Your internal injuries are quite serious, and your bones are broken. You need to rest."

Shen Yan took the water bottle, drank a few sips, and asked in a hoarse voice, "How long was I unconscious?"

“A day and a night,” Ruan Ning said. “My teammates went back to base to turn in their missions. I stayed behind to wait for my mutated dog, which is absorbing the crystal core and leveling up.”

Shen Yan looked at the sleeping fire in the corner, sensing the faint but powerful aura emanating from it, and his eyes flickered slightly: "Third rank to fourth rank?"

"Um."

“Ruan Ning…junior.” His voice was hoarse and dry. “Thank you.” Shen Yan’s gaze swept around: “My knife…”

“It’s broken, it’s over there.” Ruan Ning pointed to the broken half of the knife lying next to the rock.

Shen Yan glanced at it, said nothing, then looked at Ruan Ning: "Those two golden eagles..."

“He’s dead. We’ve taken the crystal core.” Ruan Ning said directly.

Shen Yan nodded: "Of course. You saved me, so the spoils are naturally yours." He paused, "What are you doing here? Did you receive a mission?"

"An exploration and gathering mission," Ruan Ning replied simply, then asked, "And you? You're going to provoke two peak-stage Tier 3 golden eagles all by yourself?"

Shen Yan's lips twitched into a bitter smile: "I was careless. My original target was the injured one; its nest contained what I needed. I didn't expect the other one to be nearby the whole time—it's my mate. I got caught in the crossfire." He coughed twice, his face paling even more.

"Your injury requires you to go back for treatment as soon as possible."

Shen Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Could you... do me another favor?"

"explain."

“My mission objective this time is to retrieve the few ‘Wind Pattern Stones’ from the nest of that injured golden eagle. They are very important to me. The nest is on that solitary peak ahead, and now that both golden eagles are dead, the nest should be empty. Could you… accompany me to retrieve them? In return, I can tell you some information about the base and the ‘research institute.’” Shen Yan looked at Ruan Ning with a serious expression.

"Can your injuries hold up?" Ruan Ning asked.

"It's a short distance, I should be able to walk slowly." Shen Yan tried to move, cold sweat beading on his forehead, but his eyes remained determined.

Ruan Ning pondered for a moment. Shen Yan's strength and lone-wolf status might indeed give him access to information difficult to obtain through ordinary channels, especially regarding the research institute.

“Okay. But the fire is escalating from its dormant state. I’ll take you there, but if there are any other dangers at the nest, I’ll evacuate immediately.”

"No problem." Shen Yan breathed a sigh of relief. "I've checked the nest. Apart from the golden eagle, there are no other powerful creatures. The main defense is against falls from great heights."

With the matter settled, Shen Yan ate something and continued to recover from his deep sleep. Ruan Ning kept watch.

The next morning, the fire was still asleep, but its breathing was steady, and the energy fluctuations around it were even stronger, clearly indicating that the upgrade process had gone smoothly. Ruan Ning left enough food and water, and set up simple protection and concealment around it using stones and thorns.

Then, she helped Shen Yan walk toward the solitary peak he had indicated.

The mountain path was rugged, and it took nearly two hours to reach the foot of the solitary peak. The peak was steep, but not insurmountable for those with supernatural abilities. Shen Yan pointed out a relatively safe route.

It took them almost another hour to finally climb to a protruding platform near the summit.

Inside the platform, a massive nest constructed from thick branches and soft moss, exceeding five meters in diameter, is clearly visible. The nest still retains traces of raptors' scent and contains some small animal bones.

In the center of the nest, where a thick layer of some kind of luminous moss covered the ground, were scattered seven or eight fist-sized, grayish-white stones with natural blue-green wind-like patterns on their surfaces. The air around the stones seemed to move with a strange rhythm.

“Those are the ones, the wind-patterned stones.” Shen Yan’s eyes revealed longing. “Be careful, there may be residual invisible wind blades around the stones.”

Ruan Ning carefully sensed it with her mental power: "There is indeed a weak and chaotic wind-elemental energy field, but it's not strong. If we're careful, we should be fine."

Then she stepped forward, using water-based energy to condense a flowing water shield in front of her, carefully approached, and quickly collected all seven or eight wind-patterned stones. During the process, several invisible wind blades sliced ​​through the water shield, making a hissing sound, but they were all blocked.

After obtaining the items, the two quickly returned to the camp via the same route.

It was afternoon when they returned to the camp. The fire was still dormant, but the golden light emanating from it had subsided, and its aura had become more concentrated, clearly indicating that the upgrade was nearing its end.

Shen Yan sat down against the rock, looking tired, but his spirits had improved somewhat. He watched as Ruan Ning handed him the wind-patterned stones, taking only three from them and pushing the rest back.

"The agreed-upon payment," he said.

Ruan Ning didn't stand on ceremony and put away the remaining five wind-patterned stones. These stones contained wind-elemental energy, had a wide range of uses, and were quite valuable.

Shen Yan cleared his throat; his voice was still hoarse, but clearer.

"Let's talk about the research institute first. They're looking for something, or rather, a type of thing. It's related to highly psychic mutations and special life energy crystals. Not just plants, but possibly animals, even... people. Wang Jinsong is one of the people in charge on the surface, but there are others behind him with higher authority and greater mystery."

“When I took on the mission, I overheard some bits and pieces of information. There was a ‘source tracing’ team within the research institute with extremely high authority, reporting directly to a vice chairman of the committee. Many of the files they accessed were marked with ‘top secret’, ‘source’, or ‘initial’.”

Ruan Ning's heart skipped a beat. The character "源" (Yuan) and "初" (Chu)... the "源初" (Yuan Chu) project?

"continue."

Shen Yan said, "They've been making a lot of moves lately. Besides openly acquiring things, they've also been secretly supporting or controlling several hunting and exploration teams in the outer cities, specifically helping them find special samples. There might be someone from the research institute behind the 'Black Rat Gang,' otherwise they wouldn't dare to be so arrogant. Your conflict with the Black Rat Gang a few days ago may have already been noticed."

“Furthermore,” Shen Yan lowered his voice, “the research institute seems to have a secret deal with Zhao Chengkun of the ‘Business Alliance.’ The specifics are unclear, but it involves a large number of crystal cores, rare resources, and people. Some missing survivors with no background, especially young women and children.”

Ruan Ning's face darkened.

What do they want to do?

Shen Yan shook his head: "I don't know. But it's definitely not a good thing. Zhao Chengkun is very ambitious and ruthless. He cooperates with the research institute to get what he wants, but in the end, it's always the people at the bottom who suffer."

“There’s also the ‘Hunter Alliance,’” Shen Yan continued. “It’s a mixed bag, but there are some sensible people. There are a few strong lone wolves and squad leaders who are very dissatisfied with the research institute and the Merchant Alliance’s actions and have some private contacts. If you want to find allies or more information, you can start by contacting certain people within the ‘Hunter Alliance.’”

The information he provided was fragmented, but pieced together, it outlined the turbulent undercurrents beneath the base's calm surface. The research institute's reach extended further than they had imagined.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ruan Ning looked at him. "Aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"

Shen Yan twitched the corner of his mouth: "Trouble? Haven't I had enough trouble? Besides, you saved my life. And..." He paused, "I can tell you're not ordinary people. That Wang Jingsong contacted you, right? He rarely takes the initiative to contact outsiders. You might have something they want, or you yourselves might be one of their targets. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

How do you know all this?

Shen Yan spoke, his voice low, "The reason I know this is because... I almost became their 'sample'."

Ruan Ning looked up at him.