Chapter 53

When I returned to Jiang Zihan's small clinic, he was already fast asleep.

The operation consumed so much of her energy that she wasn't even startled when she was gently moved onto the bed. She turned over and found a comfortable position to continue sleeping.

Lu Chenyuan covered himself with the blanket, and when he lifted his foot, he stepped on another ball of fur.

Those kittens often use the inner room where they rest as their playground. Although they always restrain themselves, they are bound to make a mess when there are so many of them.

Lu Chenyuan cleaned up carefully, and the room became tidy again after he left.

At dawn, Jiang Zihan struggled to wake up after feeling suffocated.

A slender hand stretched out from under the fur ball: "Zhuifeng, Zhuifeng! Get up, I'm almost crushed to death!"

Zhuifeng raised his big head slightly, and Jiang Zihan with messy hair took the opportunity to come out.

"Huh!" She took a long breath and blew out a mouthful of hair. She lowered her head and met several pairs of innocent eyes.

She poked everyone's head one by one: "Do you think you are little kittens? Huh?! If I wake up later, I will really suffocate to death, you know!"

The little snow leopard was not afraid of being poked on the head. It made a happy "chirp" sound and extended its big tail again. The other heads also squeezed over to show their weakness.

Jiang Zihan was almost pushed down again, and immediately took a deep breath: "Is anyone here? Come on! Give me a hand!"

After a while, Lu Chenyuan dragged Zhuifeng and Shunying by their hind legs and dragged the two big guys out of the clinic. The others also carried one each and soon cleared the room.

The lounge finally became empty again.

Jiang Zihan rinsed his mouth, his memory returned, and he packed up briefly before going to check on the old general.

When she arrived, old Admiral Albert was leaning against the head of the bed, wearing an oxygen mask and receiving an IV drip. His free hand was still feeding his old friend Griffin. She paused, and it seemed that he had recovered well.

"Doctor Jiang!"

"Doctor Jiang, you're here!"

The medical team's attitude changed 180 degrees, and He Ye stood aside and nodded and greeted them.

Jiang Zihan nodded slightly, walked to the instrument and looked at the records for a while, then breathed a sigh of relief: "He's in very good condition. If you can just lie down for a few more days, you'll be able to get out of bed soon."

Ebert laughed, coaxing him like a child.

Jiang Zihan examined the griffin again and said, "Its condition has improved. How about you add another bed here and bring it in to be your patient after the surgery?"

Albert was amused. He sensed equality in those brief words. There was a difference between humans and beasts. No matter how much the outsiders respected Jiuxiao, they ultimately considered it a vassal.

Ebert squinted his eyes and smiled. "I'll follow the doctor's orders. Doctor Jiang, after the operation, can Jiuxiao stay on the island for a while?"

Jiang Zihan was stunned for a moment: "Of course it is possible, but the blockade of the Exile Land has not been lifted yet..."

"Rules are dead, but people are alive." Ebert rolled his eyes slightly. "I don't know what those people are doing. Rules can be changed according to actual conditions. We are willing to help you build a base, but you still want to lock people up. I don't know what you are being stubborn about... cough cough!"

Perhaps because he was a little excited, he suddenly started coughing.

Jiang Zihan quickly tried to appease him, "Don't get too excited. Get well first. I'll discuss the details with the steward. The gathering place hasn't accepted a war beast like this before, so we need to clarify the issue first."

Afterwards, she discussed some precautions with He Ye and then left the room.

Considering the huge "rewards" brought by Admiral Ibert, she actually didn't mind accepting Jiuxiao's recuperation here, but outsiders might not have other ideas.

The Third Legion that caused trouble last time is a living example.

Before the blockade is truly lifted, she still has to sign a supplementary agreement for "war beast recuperation."

Not long after she left, the supervisors, who had been worried for several days after learning that Albert had also come to the island, finally got the right to visit. Not long after, they walked out of the yard with pale faces and went straight to the tower without saying a word.

This is to report to the leaders.

In the next few days, Jiang Zihan was either performing surgery on Jiuxiao or adjusting the surgical plan in the clinic, while Lu Chenyuan ran back and forth between the tower and the gathering place, and informed her of the latest news in a timely manner.

The supervisors' inspection reports have been submitted, and a team will be coming in a few days to help expand the base.

Although the war beast cubs were very close to Jiang Zihan, as they grew bigger, they seemed to know that it was no longer suitable for them to lie on her, so once they went out and were too lazy to walk, they would climb onto Lu Chenyuan.

The carefully selected rack is sturdy and he will definitely be able to bear it.

Lu Chenyuan accepted it calmly. His daily routine was to pull the cubs out when they sneaked into the lounge. For this purpose, he even used a military knife to carve a lot of toys, and worked tirelessly to comb their hair and clean their poop.

Gradually, Jiang Zihan got used to having one more person in the clinic.

The human-shaped cat climbing frame quickly became a beautiful landscape in the gathering place.

The courtyard was bustling with activity, with supervisors constantly rushing in. Albert was very aware of his status as a patient; how could a patient go to work? After regaining his strength, he attempted to wheel himself out, leaving the important matters to the steward.

After all, he is a patient who retired a long time ago.

He Ye was worried and followed him out on his own initiative.

He pushed the old general, who had just had a whim, to the back mountain to pick wild fruits to feed the free-range mountain deer. After feeding a few, he heard cursing voices coming from the wooden house not far away: "Who is stealing plums again?!"

Ebert's back stiffened, and He Ye, who was in charge of picking the fruit, also panicked: "Sorry, I didn't know this was planted by someone. Can I give you all the losses?"

Old Wu approached aggressively with his crutch. Seeing that things were not going well, the mountain deer ran away without saying a word.

The one-legged old man couldn't catch up, so he could only wave his crutch at the empty space to scare them from a distance. The little hill deer with half of its head exposed shrank back again.

Old Wu turned around with a look of helplessness on his face. "Plums aren't worth much. They're grown to be eaten, so picking a few won't hurt. But don't feed them to the war beasts carelessly. They'll come and steal food every few days. If they eat too much, they'll have less nutritious food, which won't be good for their recovery."

Ebert suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."

It was the first time that the old admiral saw someone of his own age on the island. He felt strangely familiar with him. Seeing that the other person was holding a chessboard in one hand, he looked at him curiously for a few more times.

Old Wu was not shy and asked him directly if he wanted to play chess together. The two of them hit it off immediately.

During the next few days of recuperation, the two of them made an appointment to play chess, go fishing, and go to the beach together, which really made their days interesting.

After Albert was able to walk, Old Wu took him to the mountains to pick wild vegetables. They happened to meet a patrolman who was spraying inhibitors, and they greeted each other.

Patrolman: "Mr. Wu, there are a lot of new wild vegetables growing in the east area. You can go over there and take a look."

Old Wu's eyes lit up: "Are there any bamboo shoots?"

The other party smiled and said, "I haven't paid much attention to it, but if you look carefully, you will definitely find it."

Old Wu changed direction with great interest: "Come on, I'll take you over there. We're having hot pot today."

Ebert was puzzled: "Do you always spray suppressants like this? The consumption is very high, right?"

Old Wu leaned on his crutches, his face radiating the joy of a harvest. "We need the resources of this mountain forest, so naturally we have to pay a price. Ensuring safety in the wilderness actually guarantees our own interests, so it's worth it. Fortunately, no matter how big a place is, there are always margins. If we defend this island, at least we won't starve to death."

Albert couldn't help but look thoughtful.

Old Wu cleaned the vegetables, sent some to the main kitchen, and asked for some hot pot base. They didn't go far, just lit a fire and set up the pot on the earthen stove in the open space next to the kitchen. Occasionally, members passing by would pick up a few chopsticks to eat.

Albert looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but slow down his chopsticks.

The laughter and joy became more intense in the rich fragrance.

He has worked hard for half his life, isn't this what he wants?

The reason why this gathering place has become what it is today is that Jiang Zihan built it up bit by bit. Although gender should not be used as an excuse, the fact that such a heavy responsibility is placed on such a thin shoulder still touches people's hearts.

I clearly decided to just come here to treat the illness and not get involved in anything else...

It's a foul.

In the following days, Albert went out more frequently, trying to travel around the surrounding areas, leaving the housekeeper alone to deal with the remaining debris.

Although trivial, seeing my boss come home relaxed every day is still very comforting. After a lifetime of hard work and being plagued by illness in his later years, it is rare to escape this highly distorted state. It would be nice to have a normal retirement life.

After Albert indulged himself for a few days, several more helicopters flew to the island, and a few more white-haired old men appeared in the yard.

They did bring a number of younger lieutenants to handle the work, and the butler soon relaxed and joined the fishing group.

The work of expanding the base was very busy, and Gaota had to keep an eye on the status of these precious kids at all times. In order to reduce the time of running back and forth, he set up a rest area in the gathering place and connected it to the signal tower on the island.

During this period, many top senior anchors have exchanged inhibitors and left the island. Some even want to come to the gathering place to work. After all, the supplies here are much richer than the rewards.

The live streaming platform directly lost half of its traffic.

Everyone at the gathering place was busy with the expansion and had no time to livestream. Jiang Zihan had even shut down the livestream, with no idea when he would return.

All netizens could only find some scraps of information from the regular reports of the official account of Gaota. When they found that many young animals appeared in the mountains and forests again, many people began to worry.

Looking at the closed live broadcast room, old viewers felt that it must be those black fans who made Dr. Jiang in a bad mood, and those who scolded him had to come out and apologize.

Since the people in the gathering place didn’t start broadcasting, the audience recruited the anchors who went there to work:

[Host, have you seen our Zihan? Remember to remind her that her fans are still waiting for her to come back!]

[Remember to remind Zihan to wear more clothes! ]

[This is so funny! Do you dare to shout this to Dr. Jiang’s face during his live broadcast?]

[Of course not. Who can withstand that scalpel?]

The old men had a great time on the island and didn't want to leave even after their bodies recovered. However, an urgent report came from outside the island requiring them to attend a meeting, so they had no choice but to pack up and leave the island.

But Jiuxiao stayed.

Before leaving, Albert repeatedly reminded that the yard must be kept for him and he would come back. Old Wu agreed again and again and took the key.

The other old gentlemen looked at the yard occupied by Jiuxiao with thoughtful eyes. Why don’t they take the war beast over as well?

Jiuxiao seems to be eating well and is in much better shape than if they had hired a professional breeder to take care of him.

Yes, that’s it.

During this period, many people coveted the fruits of the gathering place and wanted to steal them, but they were caught red-handed by the war beasts. After questioning, they found out that they had smuggled in. Jiang Zihan detained those people without saying a word and made them do hard labor.

I was just worried about the lack of people to make fertilizer and reclaim wasteland. Thank you.

The military department responsible for the surrounding defense was at fault for failing to maintain its external defense line. Coupled with the one-sided tendency of the veteran generals, the voices of secret opposition gradually died down.

After a few months, the base was finally built.

The system took a long time to finally find the rain-making device that had been used before. Combined with Jiang Zihan's mental power, everyone in the base was drenched in this rain full of healing energy.

Jiang Zihan narrowed his eyes, and suddenly there was a "pop" sound in his mind, and the original bottleneck was broken through, and his mental power was upgraded again!

Suddenly, ripples appeared in the originally calm air, spreading out like water waves.

Everyone in the base stopped what they were doing at the same time, and Momans and his companions who were working in the fields with their sleeves rolled up also sensed this huge energy and sat up in a daze. They felt that the vague discomfort in their bodies was gradually dissipating.

As federal officials, everyone is equipped with inhibitors, so the distortion is controlled within the safe range, but I have never felt as relaxed as I do today!

Not only them, the conditions of the war beasts have also improved. Different energy waves burst out in various places in the base, attracting the attention of people from all over the island.

The alien plants arched their bodies, and actually worked together to raise the ground of the gathering place in the center of the base. Combined with the bone wall that had stood there before, the whole thing formed a solid fortress.

In this wave of transformation, many members have also successfully broken through.

Qiu Min awakened the ability of [Gene Enhancement], while Qiu Shi awakened the control of fire element, attracting the curious onlookers of Chi Yan, and the others also more or less sensed their own abnormalities.

But Qiu Min's joy didn't last long, because she once again lost the right to use the robot. She looked at her "scissors" and the opponent's "rock", speechless.

Zhao Ming patted the robot's head cheerfully: "001, let's go, let's continue to adjust the potion."

With so many people in the base having broken through, they urgently need potions to stabilize their condition, so he has to hurry.

The system with the new codename flashed happily a few times, and followed the person to the pharmacy with a click.

Qiu Min could only grit her teeth and turn to her brother to ask if he could get another auxiliary robot, as she also needed those analytical functions.

Qiu Shi was a little embarrassed. He had a feeling that the robot was not simple, but he couldn't say anything. However, his sister rarely made requests to him, so he wanted to satisfy her.

He thought about it and decided to go and talk to Dr. Jiang.

Qiu Min jumped up happily and hugged her brother tightly: "I knew that brother is the best!"

Qiu Shi looked at his little cotton-padded jacket, lost himself in the praise, and ran towards the clinic full of strength.

"New robots?" Jiang Zihan raised an eyebrow. The base was so large that manpower alone was definitely not enough. "I'll talk to Gaota later and see if we can procure some."

After the others left, the system came over with a gurgling voice: "I can devote half of my energy to remotely controlling the other robots, but there will definitely be some delay."

"There's no need for real-time supervision. Just control it remotely when you need to retrieve data." Jiang Zihan pondered. At this point in time, there must be a lot of people keeping their eyes on the base, and it's inevitable that they will tinker with the robots. The data still needs to be strictly controlled.

…

After the old gentlemen left, they were not idle either. Not long after, news came from the top military officials that they were going to hold a video conference to apologize for the trouble caused by the Third Corps last time. After all, it would be inappropriate for so many people to go to the island at the same time, otherwise it would definitely cause a lot of impact on the outside world.

Jiang Zihan reluctantly participated in the event out of consideration for the elders' kindness, but amidst the polite words, he began to doodle on his notebook out of boredom.

As the legion leaders chatted, they began to bring up their own agendas. "Now that the base is complete, they must be short on manpower, right? The interns we sent earlier aren't quite up to the task. Why not replace them with more professional researchers? That would also help advance the base's construction."

Jiang Zihan paused, his tone becoming impatient. "What on the island is worth all your efforts? If you want to replace this person, you can do it. Then I'll just give you the base."

She scoffed and gave them a meaningful look: "Not everyone wants this from me. After all, I still want to have a good night's sleep."

The staff of the tower felt their backs numb and looked at Liang Luan, but he had already submitted an application for transfer. Seeing this deadlock, he actually found it quite interesting.

The military officials began to adjust the atmosphere: "Then the people from the War Beast Breeding Institute are staying behind, so why don't we send a few more over?"

Jiang Zihan knocked on the table and suddenly changed the subject: "That's fine. As long as the person you choose can surpass Fan Yun in all aspects, I can let them come and try."

After saying that, he stood up and left.

The military personnel quickly pulled out Fan Yun's resume and were left speechless. This resume could be considered that of a top talent. If this were sent to the island, the research institute in the capital would probably cause a commotion...

Jiang Zihan returned to the clinic speechless, leaned back in his chair and began to daydream.

"Doctor Jiang, you have a very tough attitude." Lu Chenyuan leaned against the wall and couldn't help but teasing.

"Do you really think I don't know what they're thinking?" Jiang Zihan rolled his eyes. "No matter how many talented people there are, if they all have ulterior motives, I don't want to cause myself any trouble."

"Let's wait and see, there's no rush." ​​Lu Chenyuan comforted.

"Although we're short on people, we'd rather have fewer than unqualified ones," Jiang Zihan said seriously. "I believe Zhao Ming and Qiu Min can stabilize the current situation. We can then recruit a few interns to help them."

Lu Chenyuan raised his eyebrows: "Do you trust them so much?"

Jiang Zihan raised his chin slightly: "Of course, after all, I picked it out carefully."

Outside the clinic, a tall and thin figure paused in mid-air as he was about to knock on the door. He then looked back at this familiar gathering place, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter. He suddenly felt relieved and stepped into the sunlight.

Outside the base, Qiu Min, with his afro, was furtively planting a few new seeds, muttering quietly, "I hope they won't just explode this time..."