Chapter 38 Photovoltaic Industrial Park

The next afternoon, Pan Pan arrived at Chu Qiang's house on his electric scooter at the agreed time. A large snakeskin bag sat on the back of the pink scooter. Chu Qiang stood under the eaves with his arms crossed, grinning, "You're too kind! Why did you bring something?"

Pan Pan pulled off his helmet, revealing sweat-dampened hair. His face was somewhat pale, perhaps due to the high temperature. He smiled and said, "I brought you some extra solar panels from home. You can connect them and start using them right away."

Chu Qiang raised an eyebrow and quickly walked down the steps to help carry the burlap sack: "Oh, thank you." Solar panels are in high demand and short supply these days; even if they can only power an electric fan, it's better than having no electricity at all.

Hearing the commotion, Jiang Rong came out and looked behind Pan Pan: "Didn't you bring your aunt?"

Pan Pan laughed and said, "The house is a bit messy. My mom said she needs to tidy it up first, and then she'll invite everyone to my house for dinner."

Chu Qiang understood: "You had a good time last night, didn't you? I can understand."

Last night, Pan Pan showed no mercy. He gave his stepfather's relatives a severe beating, leaving them bloodied and trembling. Those arrogant and snobbish relatives completely gave up their desire to seize Pan Pan's family property and will never dare to interfere with Pan Pan and his mother again.

The pent-up anger of over a decade was finally released, but the entire yard was also left in disarray by the superpower. Especially the yard; the superpower damaged the cement yard, and now there are scattered cement blocks everywhere in Pan Pan's yard.

Upon entering the living room, a cool breeze greeted him. Pan Pan sighed with relief; he hadn't enjoyed the comfort of air conditioning in a long time. Chu Qiang's solar panels must be quite powerful, otherwise they wouldn't be able to power the air conditioner.

A whiteboard was set up in the living room, and Uncle Chu and the others sat on stools next to it, waiting for Jiang Rong to start the meeting.

With Pan Pan joining, Jiang Rong and her group now had four superhumans, making them a small team. Now that they had a team, they needed to establish team rules.

As soon as Pan Pan sat down, Jiang Rong handed him a piece of paper: "Take a good look at this. Not only must you remember it, but you must also strictly follow it in the future." The paper had two big characters written on it: Youth League Regulations.

These rules were finalized this morning based on the opinions of Guan Shao and Chu Qiang, and they outline requirements for those with superpowers who have already joined or will join their team. The first rule is: team members must not indiscriminately kill innocent people or prey on ordinary citizens.

Pan Pan stared at the first rule for a long time, increasingly convinced that his decision to join Jiang Rong's team was correct. After carefully reading through more than a dozen rules, he clumsily folded the paper and put it in his shirt pocket: "I've memorized it."

Jiang Rong has never liked beating around the bush. When he chaired meetings in the past, he preferred to put the key issues out there for everyone to discuss. The first meeting of the superpowered team continued his style. After a brief self-introduction, Jiang Rong said, "Now we have four superpowered individuals in our team, and we have three important issues to resolve."

As Jiang Rong said this, he felt a little guilty. He had already included Guan Shao in his team of superhumans, and he didn't know if Guan Shao had noticed. After secretly glancing at Guan Shao, he found that Guan Shao was looking at him seriously, seemingly uninterested in the number.

Jiang Rong said slowly, "The first problem is that we are too far apart. Qiangzi is in the third village and Pan Pan is in the fifth village. If one of us is in danger, even if the others can get the news in time, it will take them more than ten minutes to get here."

In a critical moment, even a few seconds can be fatal, let alone ten minutes or more. Now that a team has been formed, we need to find a way to reduce distance between us, ideally living within a visible range. This way, they can respond promptly to any emergencies.

Chu Qiang nodded in agreement: "Yes, I talked to Xiao Jiang about this before. But road construction is really troublesome. We don't have a professional team, so it's too difficult to build a reasonable road. Why don't you move to our village, Xiao Jiang? There are several families in the village with empty houses, you can stay there."

Jiang Rong gave Chu Qiang a knowing look, and Chu Qiang quickly realized he had misspoke: "Yeah, it's not that easy..."

In terms of both housing quality and living environment, Jiang Rong's current living environment is several times better than when she lived in the village. With a fairy standing outside the yard, even mutated plants and animals have to give way.

But if they were to move, where could they go? They couldn't all live at Jiang Rong's house, could they? Putting aside whether Jiang Rong's house was convenient or not, there wasn't enough room for so many people.

Pan Pan lives the furthest away from this group. If she and her son wanted to leave, they would have done so long ago. It's precisely because they can't bear to part with the house their family has worked so hard to build that they've persevered until now. If Pan Pan were to move, all the grievances they've endured would be for nothing, and the show of force they established last night would be for nothing.

The first question stumped everyone, and a brief silence fell over the crowd. Pan Pan scratched his head in frustration: "It seems... quite troublesome."

Jiang Rong didn't need everyone to come up with an answer right now. After a pause, he pointed to the supplies that were everywhere in Chu Qiang's house: "Second question: Now that the market is open, there will be more and more things to exchange in the future. We need to build a special warehouse to store these things. The warehouse must be located in a safe and hidden place, so that it cannot be easily discovered and breached."

Otherwise, all their efforts would be in vain, and all the things they painstakingly accumulated would become a wedding dress made for someone else.

Chu Qiang had been thinking about this issue yesterday: "I originally wanted to use all the empty houses in the village to store supplies, but after thinking about it, I felt it was not appropriate. We really need to build a warehouse."

However, how to build the warehouse is a major problem. Where to build it, how big to build it, how to carry out the construction, how to ensure safety and how to guard it... The deeper you think about it, the more difficult each point becomes.

Chu Qiang crossed his arms and exhaled a breath of stale air: "It is indeed a troublesome problem."

Jiang Rong also felt that there were some issues with the market that needed improvement.

After opening the market for the first time yesterday, he discovered some problems: "The market opened too late, the lighting was insufficient and visibility was poor. It wasted electricity, and some people took advantage of the situation to rob us. If we want to build a safe and reliable market, we need to open it during the day. We also need to find some reliable people to maintain order."

The words "profiteering from someone's misfortune" flashed with pain in Ruan Hanyu's eyes as she sat on the stairs. She hadn't intended to join in, but seeing everyone so engrossed in the meeting, she found a small corner to sit down. However, after reading the superhuman team's rules, she hadn't left.

Ruan Hanyu was one of the victims of the robbery. Hearing Jiang Rong's words, she clenched her hands and slowly nodded. Jiang Rong and the others were so kind; they opened the market to offer discounts to ordinary people, but some people had to trample on their good intentions.

Chu Qiang nodded: "Xiao Jiang is right, but we're just starting out, so we'll have to figure it out slowly."

Jiang Rong looked around and slowly said, "The third problem is the most serious and urgent: we don't have enough people."

Upon hearing this question, everyone present paused for a moment. Jiang Rong said seriously, "We only have four ability users right now, which is too weak and the task is too heavy. If anything goes wrong, our team will be wiped out. We need trustworthy people and reliable teammates."

Whether it's building houses, repairing roads, or opening markets, their time and energy are limited; they can only attend to one thing at a time. In base construction, people are undoubtedly the most important factor.

But most of the people they knew and trusted were in the living room. There were only a dozen or so people in total. What could they possibly do? The teams of superhumans outside often had more than a dozen people. If Jiang Rong and his four-person team encountered them, they would only be able to get completely crushed.

The atmosphere grew heavy, and everyone in the living room fell silent. They all understood the道理 (principles/reasoning), but where could they find reliable people in such a short time?

The team of superhumans needed to go out and find supplies, encountering far more dangers than ordinary people. Uncle Chu sighed heavily, "I only regret that my old bones are no good enough..."

If he were twenty years younger, even if he weren't a superhuman, he would still join Xiao Rong's group, carrying a knife. But now, with each passing year, he's fortunate enough to be able to take care of himself and not be a burden to the children.

Hearing his father say this, Chu Qiang forced a smile: "Dad, don't say that. We met Pan Pan just by opening a market yesterday. Maybe if we open a few more markets, we'll meet a few more people with superpowers."

Jiang Rong comforted him, "Yes, Uncle Chu, don't worry. When I think about things, I tend to think of them as serious. To put it nicely, it's being prepared for a rainy day; to put it bluntly, it's creating anxiety out of nothing. We haven't reached the end of our rope yet."

At that moment, a weak voice came from the direction of the stairs: "Um... Jiang Rong, I have something to say."

Looking in the direction of the sound, Ruan Hanyu's bruises hadn't faded. Seeing everyone looking at her, Ruan Hanyu stepped back slightly, hiding her legs behind the armrest. Her voice was barely audible: "I... I've awakened a superpower. Can I join your superpower team?"

Lying in bed yesterday, Ruan Hanyu felt an inexplicable surge of power within her. This morning, upon waking, she discovered that the water glass on her bedside table had frozen solid.

In fact, Ruan Hanyu noticed something unusual about her body after the major crisis. Water droplets would often drip from her fingertips, and she didn't feel anything no matter how hot it was outside. At first, she thought she was sick; the dripping water from her fingertips and her body's sensitivity to cold suggested she might be quite ill.

However, after what happened yesterday, a clear thought arose in her mind: she possessed superpowers.

As she spoke, Ruan Hanyu extended her right hand. A few water droplets appeared faintly in front of her palm, almost invisible unless one looked closely. However, as the droplets grew larger, everyone could see a large, transparent sphere of water without having to look specifically.

A layer of white frost formed on the surface of the water sphere, which changed shape in Ruan Hanyu's palm and eventually stretched into an icicle with pointed ends and a length of two feet.

This was the second time Ruan Hanyu had conjured ice shards since waking up. Holding the chilling ice shards in her hand, she looked at Jiang Rong with a trembling voice and asked expectantly, "Can I join?"

Chu Qiang was so shocked he could barely speak: "Holy crap! Ruan, you're amazing!"

He had been wondering all day who had saved Ruan Hanyu. Now the answer was finally revealed: Ruan Hanyu was an ice-type ability user, and she saved herself.

Having such a superhuman on a hot day is amazing! It saves so much on air conditioning costs!

Jiang Rong smiled and nodded: "Welcome Ruan Hanyu to our team as our fifth member." After saying that, he led the applause, and amidst the applause, Ruan Hanyu, with tears in her eyes, grinned: "Thank you."

Pan Pan moved to the side and said, "Sister Ruan, come sit here." Ruan Hanyu turned her back to wipe her tears, then slowly but firmly sat down next to Pan Pan.

Chu Qiang extended his hand to Ruan Hanyu across Pan Pan: "Ruan, welcome to the team!"

Ruan Hanyu reached out and grasped Chu Qiang's warm and strong hand: "Thank you."

She was so lucky to have met such kind people like Jiang Rong during her difficult time. Jiang Rong and the others gave her a place to stay, allowing her to feel warmth and kindness even after a major crisis. She is willing to contribute her own strength, hoping to help Jiang Rong and the others.

The applause lasted for a long time until Jiang Rong waved his hand and said, "Now we have five people, and our strength has increased. Now I want to tell you about our next goal: the D City Photovoltaic Industrial Park. We're going to the industrial park to find some solar panels."

Although his house has solar panels on its roof to ensure his daily electricity needs, other households have been without power for a long time. Under the persistent high temperatures, some vulnerable individuals are dying more quickly.

Solar panels are currently the most urgently needed item on the market. After seeing Pan Xiaoquan bring unfinished panels yesterday, Jiang Rong once again had the idea of ​​finding solar panels.

Building a base requires people. If the base environment is too harsh, what makes it attractive to people? With enough solar panels, at least the electricity problem will be greatly reduced, which will improve their competitiveness.

Upon hearing the words "photovoltaic industrial park," Pan Pan's face paled even more. He hesitated and raised his hand: "Brother Jiang, is the photovoltaic industrial park you're talking about the one over on Jianglong Avenue?"

Jiang Rong nodded slightly: "Yes, there's a large photovoltaic company over there that specializes in solar panels." The solar panels on his roof were bought from there. He had visited their warehouse back then, and it was filled with solar panels.

Someone must have visited the industrial park during this period, but the superhumans haven't yet formed a large team, and they can't possibly take all those solar panels.

Pan Pan hesitated even more: "I know, Brother Jiang, the solar panels in my house came from the photovoltaic industrial park. After graduation, I worked at Jingyi Optoelectronics there. After the big crisis, my house lost power, so I went back to get some and assembled them myself."

Jiang Rong countered, "Jingyi Optoelectronics? You worked at Jingyi Optoelectronics before?"

Pan Pan nodded: "Yes, I was in charge of research and development in the solar panel workshop before."

Before the major crisis, City D was home to a nationally renowned new energy base, which spawned many large enterprises. Among them, Jingyi Optoelectronics was a leader, producing solar panels that were sold both domestically and internationally every year.

Jiang Rong had been inside once before; if you didn't have a car, you'd have to walk your legs off inside the factory area.

Upon learning that Pan Pan was an employee of Jingyi Optoelectronics, Jiang Rong was quite surprised: "Isn't this great? You're a professional, so I feel reassured with you here." There are hundreds of models of solar panels, and it's really hard for non-professionals to distinguish between them.

However, Pan Pan's expression turned even uglier. "Brother Jiang, can we all skip the photovoltaic industrial park?"

Chu Qiang asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Panzi, have you encountered some difficulties?"

Pan Pan struggled to his feet and clumsily unwrapped the bandages wrapped around his left arm. As the bandages were untied layer by layer, an arm riddled with bloody holes was revealed to everyone.

Each hole was about the size of a fingernail, arranged in a straight line along the outside of Pan Pan's elbow. It was unclear how long Pan Pan had been injured; scabs were forming around the wounds. The grayish-black scabs failed to cover the entire wound, and in the center, oozing yellowish tissue fluid, the skin and flesh were still visible.

Even though Pan Pan applied a thick layer of white medicine around the wound, an unpleasant smell still wafted out.

Upon seeing such a horrifying wound, everyone's expression changed: "How did this happen?"

Wang Chunlan quickly came over with her medicine box: "Sit down quickly, I'll reapply the medicine and bandage for you."

The process of applying the medicine was unpleasant; Pan Pan was in so much pain that a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. He gasped for breath and endured the pain as he said, "There's a monster in the photovoltaic industrial park. I don't know if it's an animal or a plant. If you say it's an animal, it has the appearance of a plant; if you say it's an animal, it's incredibly fast and it sucks blood and eats flesh."

The injuries on Pan Pan's arms and thighs were left by that thing; he was caught in it after just one encounter. Luckily, he reacted quickly and cut off the vines binding him, otherwise he would have lost his life.

None of them had ever seen anything like it before, and they all found it somewhat unbelievable. Chu Qiang frowned: "What is this strange thing?"

From the moment Pan Pan revealed his wound, Jiang Rong's face drained of color. He had seen such wounds in his past life, and on the bodies of superhumans. Because ordinary people, upon even a brief encounter with it, would be sucked in and instantly reduced to skin and bones.

Those with supernatural abilities call it the Bloodthirsty Vine, a species said to have appeared only after the Black Rain. It resembles a thorny vine, but is hundreds of times larger. It is entirely blood-red, with sharp thorns growing on every vine. These thorns pierce deep into the bodies of mutated plants and animals, then viciously absorb their blood or sap.

It is incredibly fast; even a mutant dog like Lele cannot escape unscathed from its vines. Furthermore, it is impervious to blades and spears. Ordinary vines cannot survive if their roots are severed, but the Bloodthirsty Vine has no roots and can roll anywhere. A cut vine exceeding one foot in length can transform into another independent Bloodthirsty Vine.

Because of this characteristic, no plant or animal can survive where there is a blood-sucking vine.

Those with supernatural abilities will stop at nothing to eradicate the Bloodthirsty Vines whenever they find them in the wild. They say that if left unchecked, these things will eventually take over the entire world.

In his past life, when he went on missions with other superhumans, he witnessed firsthand how a bloodthirsty vine strangled a mutated water buffalo. The poor buffalo, wrapped in the vine, let out a miserable cry before becoming a withered skeleton.

That scene left a deep shadow on Jiang Rong; for several nights in a row, she would think of that scene whenever she closed her eyes.

Such a terrifying plant actually exists in the photovoltaic industrial park. Just thinking about the mutated water buffalo that died tragically in his previous life, Jiang Rong's scalp tingled.

Seeing Jiang Rong's pale face, Guan Shao assumed he was frightened. He said with concern, "Pan Pan said he encountered this thing at night, so he might not have seen it clearly. In any case, let's go and see if it's true or not."

Jiang Rong nodded slightly, glancing once more at the wound on Pan Pan's arm, a chill creeping into his heart. He believed Pan Pan wasn't lying; if he could, he wouldn't want to encounter the Bloodthirsty Vine either. But if the Bloodthirsty Vine in the photovoltaic industrial park couldn't be removed in time, his base would be reduced to ashes.

After resting at home for a night, Jiang Rong and Guan Shao set off for the photovoltaic industrial park early the next morning.

After getting on the bus, Jiang Rong started doodling on a draft paper. The draft paper contained a simple layout of Jingyi Optoelectronics' factory. The factory in the northeast corner marked with a five-pointed star was their target warehouse, and the red area near the warehouse was where Pan Pan encountered the Bloodthirsty Vine.

Based on Pan Pan's description and the distribution range of the Bloodthirsty Vine, this particular Bloodthirsty Vine should not have advanced yet. This is good news, proving that they still have a chance to defeat the Bloodthirsty Vine.

However, Pan Pan encountered the Bloodthirsty Vine more than ten days ago, so it's unknown how the Bloodthirsty Vine has grown since then.

Jiang Rong searched the draft paper for the best route forward and retreat plan. To avoid being ambushed by the Bloodthirsty Vines, he needed to bury thorny seeds in key locations. The places marked with blue marks on the draft paper were where he planned to sow the seeds.

The entire manuscript was a mess of red and blue, making it dizzying to look at.

After driving for a while, Guan Shao said slowly, "Jiang Rong, look, this road has been cleared." All the accident vehicles were lined up on both sides of the road, leaving a passage nearly three meters wide in the middle.

Jiang Rong looked up and replied, "It was probably done by someone with superpowers."

In fact, the person who cleared this road was none other than himself. At that time, in order to pick up Chu Qiang's family, he drove two cars and cleared nearly ten kilometers of road.

The company they were going to, Jingyi Optoelectronics, was located on the side of one of the main roads. Unexpectedly, he benefited from their connection.

Guan Shao praised, "If we find out which superhuman it is, we must recruit him into our team."

Jiang Rong turned her head and met Guan Shao's eyes: "Hmm?"

Guan Shao slightly raised his chin as he looked at the road ahead: "To be able to clear such a well-ordered path amidst chaos, this person is meticulous and unassuming." After a pause, he added: "A master."

Jiang Rong smiled and said, "That superhuman would be very happy to hear you praise him like that."

After driving for half an hour, the gate of Jingyi Optoelectronics appeared by the roadside. The once bustling factory area was now deserted, with only scattered vehicles and solar panel components remaining.

Guan Shao turned the car around on the spot, so that if they couldn't defeat the Bloodthirsty Vine, they could quickly drive away.

Jiang Rong opened the car door, and a stench of decay mixed with heat hit her. After glancing at the draft paper in her hand, Jiang Rong determined the direction: "We'll go from the east side of the office building and circle around to the northwest warehouse."

Guan Shao responded, opened the trunk, pulled out a gun, and quickly walked up to Jiang Rong: "I'll clear the way."

As soon as Jiang Rong entered the gates of Jingyi Optoelectronics, she felt a somber atmosphere; it was too quiet. So quiet that not a cicada's chirp or a bird's call could be heard. The sound of their footsteps echoed, becoming the only sound in the vast factory area.

The main gate faced the office building directly, and they needed to turn onto the warehouse from the main road on the east side of the office building. After walking east for several dozen meters, Jiang Rong saw the first flower bed and said softly, "Wait a moment."

As he spoke, he casually tossed a thorny seed into the flowerbed to the east. The seed quickly sprouted and climbed up the wall of the office building. Jingyi Optoelectronics' office building was taller than the factory building, and as long as the thorny branch could climb to the top, Jiang Rong could overlook most of the factory area.

Jiang Rong's gaze slowly rose along the path the brambles had taken, and after looking around, he found no trace of the Bloodthirsty Vine. According to Pan Pan, the Bloodthirsty Vine was concentrated behind several factory buildings to the north, so it was normal that he couldn't see it for the time being.

Just as the two were about to continue forward, a bright red flashed before Jiang Rong's eyes. The next moment, the thorny vines he had just conjured were torn apart, and thin green vines rained down in front of them.

Jiang Rong clenched his fists tightly, his voice trembling as he roared, "It's up there!"

A chilling pressure emanated from above the two of them, as countless red vines hung from the roof of the white office building. They spread out, enveloping the entire building.

Author's Note:

Jiang Rong's second underling has appeared; please suggest a good name for him.

Ideally, it should be similar to the name of a fairy.

Speaking of the Bloodthirsty Vine, it was mentioned in Old Cat's first original article.

Ah, so much time has passed.

Just between you and me, Yun Qingqing, Yun Huahua, and Yun Doudou are my favorites.