Lu Sheng briefly shared his experiences from last night with a few people.
"With current technology, it is almost impossible to achieve such a huge leap forward in the development of planting and animal husbandry."
Xu Yi's eyes were a little dark, probably because he hadn't slept well.
"But the vegetables and meat here are delicious." Han Rui poked a tender boiled corn with her chopsticks. "The corn is super sweet, almost like KFC's. It's much better than those moldy dried vegetable scraps in the research institute."
"If my family hadn't all been at the Yunshan base, I might have actually stayed here, at least I wouldn't be eating stale rice."
She finished her portion of corn, only to realize that no one else had touched their chopsticks.
"Why aren't you eating it? It's really sweet."
Lu Sheng took out a large bag of compressed biscuits from his pocket and distributed them to the remaining people.
The compressed biscuits were dry and had a scallion oil flavor. Xiao Yu filled their cups with water before they could even manage to eat them.
The place was eerie, and no one wanted to get infected by eating something.
While they were eating, a burst of cheers suddenly erupted from the right side of the canteen. Several young workers were gathered around a table, congratulating one of them.
"What's making you so happy?" Zhang Xiaojuan asked, swallowing a piece of compressed biscuit with difficulty.
The young girl at the next table casually remarked, "He's been chosen to participate in the awakening ceremony; he'll soon become an awakened superhuman!"
"Once you become an Awakened, you can go on missions outside." The young girl looked enviously at the young people surrounded not far away.
The people at the table looked at each other in bewilderment.
Most awakened individuals like Lu Sheng discover their abilities unintentionally. It could happen after waking up from a nap, or it could be triggered in a critical moment; they've never even heard of an awakening ceremony.
"What is an awakening ceremony? Can everyone participate?" Sun Tiantian asked curiously.
The young girl looked on with longing. "It's not that easy. Only those who perform exceptionally well on a regular basis have the opportunity to be selected by Mr. Pei to participate in the awakening ceremony."
Lu Sheng's expression shifted slightly.
It's Mr. Pei again.
"Who is Mr. Pei? Is he the factory manager?" Han Rui picked up Zhang Xiaojuan's corn and started eating it, asking vaguely as she ate.
“Mr. Pei is a great benefactor to our factory!” A faint blush rose on the young girl’s face. “After he came to the factory, he taught us how to add insulation to the dormitories and improved the machine tools. He also taught us new planting methods.”
"And what happens after you awaken your superpowers?"
"Oh dear, I can't say so much to you." Realizing she had spoken too much, the girl quickly picked up her plate and ran away.
The girl had just left when Sister Li came over.
Lu Sheng and the others went through the onboarding process at the factory's personnel department with Sister Li and were assigned to the planting group.
Newcomers like them obviously don't have the chance to control zombies; they can only stick their butts out and follow behind the zombies to plant seeds.
[Warning, warning.]
Lu Sheng was bending down to plant green beans when the system suddenly emitted a piercing electrical sound, which made her ears hurt.
[Host, you have a sign-in reward that is about to expire. Please claim it within two hours.]
[The sign-in rewards will be automatically destroyed after the expiration date; this process is irreversible.]
Except for the first month, the sign-in rewards could only be claimed once every ten days. Lu Sheng numbly checked in every day and forgot that he still had a reward to claim.
Annoyed by the system notification sounds, Lu Sheng found a moment to slip away to a corner.
[Congratulations, host! You have obtained a rare reward item.]
Clicking on the twisting little gift box icon in the system immediately brings up a golden notification.
[Item obtained: Social Anxiety Welfare Collar]
[Item Description: Gothic-style vintage black leather choker, exquisite design and expensive price.]
【Item Function: Bring care and good news to those suffering from social anxiety. Using the collar allows for quick integration into the group.】
Your presence in a crowd is practically zero; everyone will ignore you. This effect will be lifted once you initiate a conversation.
[Effect lasts 30 minutes after use, cooldown time 18 hours. Uses: 5]
[Usage reminder: Don't wear this if you have a thick neck; I'm too lazy to fix it.]
Lu Sheng tapped the item icon, and an exquisite little leather collar immediately appeared around her neck.
The system really came at a time of need.
Lu Sheng immediately perked up.
They hadn't received their work uniforms yet, making it very inconvenient for them to go to the factory to conduct investigations. Now, with the social anxiety collar, it's much easier for her to go wherever she wants.
Pressing the metal clasp in the center of the collar, Lu Sheng immediately changed into a set of work clothes.
With fifty-nine minutes remaining, she ran as fast as she could, rushing towards the factory's office building.
Lu Sheng arrived at just the right time; twenty young workers who were preparing to participate in the awakening ceremony were gathering downstairs.
The young man who was congratulated by his friends in the cafeteria that morning was also there.
It seems they took this ceremony very seriously, as they even wore a new tie clip on their work clothes.
Thanks to the social anxiety collar, everyone in the group completely ignored Lu Sheng's presence, and she successfully blended into the building by following behind the group.
The team was led by Yuan Zhihua, who was bombarded with questions from excited young people along the way.
"Director, what kind of superpowers can we awaken?"
"It depends on each of your talents; it's not necessarily the case."
"Director, after we awaken, do we still need to work in the workshop?"
"After you awaken, you will naturally have more important tasks to be assigned to you. You are crucial to the development of the factory."
Yuan Zhihua suddenly stopped and chuckled.
Lu Sheng followed them around and around until they finally reached the top floor.
At the top of the stairs leading to the top floor is a heavy metal door, clearly recently installed. The door and the hallway are not at the same height, with a gap about the width of a palm showing between the door frame and the ceiling.
The gate has a combination lock and 360-degree surround monitoring, so it's obvious that nothing of substance is hidden there.
Yuan Zhihua cautiously blocked his view with his body, hunching over as he quickly entered the password.
After a series of beeps, the heavy door slowly opened, and a putrid smell wafted out through the cracks.
Lu Sheng was very familiar with this smell.
The smell of decaying fat mixed with the smell of fiber and soil was the same as the smell in the zombie subway station.
Yuan Zhihua urged the team to move through the gate: "Hurry up."
After following the group through the door, we discovered that the entire top floor had been transformed into a huge laboratory, or rather, a huge specimen room.
In the large room, the cabinets on both sides were filled with glass jars of different sizes.
The jar contained plant specimens and some animal carcasses, but mostly strange chunks of meat whose species and parts could not be identified.
Under the pale white light from the ceiling, it looked particularly eerie.
"Everyone, please take your seats."
The young workers sat anxiously in their chairs as cold shackles suddenly emerged from the armrests and chair legs, firmly locking their limbs in place.
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