Sitting in the co-pilot seat, Gu Fan discovered that the Lu family's scientific research base occupied a very large area, with various buildings distributed inside, some of which were only one or two stories high, and some were as high as more than ten stories.
Since Lu Ya said that the base was full of secrets, Gu Fan didn't ask him what these buildings were used for.
The off-road vehicle was driving slowly on the main road. After driving for a distance, two young men in military uniforms walked out of a building nearby. They recognized Lu Ya's car and waved at them. However, the smiles on their lips froze when they noticed Gu Fan. They stared at her blankly, as if they had seen something strange.
The off-road vehicle approached the two people and then moved away from them. During the process of one or two minutes, the two people's eyes followed the movement of the off-road vehicle closely, and Lu Ya remained expressionless.
Finally, the SUV stopped in front of a five-story white building.
"This is the Lu family army's pharmaceutical research center."
After getting off the car, Lu Ya introduced Gu Fan.
Gu Fan looked up and couldn't help but ask, "There are four armies in Jiangnan Base. Does each army have its own research center?"
Lu Ya was silent for a few seconds, then said, "The talents are dispersed, competition promotes breakthroughs, and after the breakthroughs, the four armies share them. The results are the same."
Gu Fan suddenly felt that these words were somewhat familiar.
Isn't this also the narrative shared by the various sects on the continent of cultivation? Everyone cultivates to uphold justice, yet while they speak beautifully at sect conferences, they engage in constant private strife. Elders fight tooth and nail for high-level treasures, while lower-ranking members might secretly kill for a few spirit stones. Even disciples within the same sect can slaughter each other.
Human nature is the same, and everyone lives for their own interests.
Gu Fan thought that the four armies in the Jiangnan base must not be as united as they seemed, otherwise why didn't they merge directly?
"Come in. You need to change into sterile clothing before the tour."
Gu Fan nodded.
As soon as the two came in, a staff member came to greet them and took them to the locker room to change clothes.
Two minutes later, Gu Fan walked out of the locker room, wearing a white shirt, a white hat and a white mask, revealing only a pair of clear, black eyes.
She looked around and saw the door next door open. Lu Ya was also dressed in the same outfit.
Just then, someone walked over quickly and asked, "Why didn't you tell me beforehand, Xiao Lu?"
Gu Fan looked over and saw a man in a white coat, about forty years old. He had a very amiable appearance, but half of his head was bald, which attracted a lot of attention.
Gu Fan couldn't help but look at Lu Ya. This man was too heartless. The uncle in the white coat obviously had a close relationship with Lu Ya. Lu Ya knew that she had the hair growth pill, but he didn't even ask. Did he lack a hundred merit points?
He doesn't lack anything, what he lacks is a warm heart.
Lu Ya noticed Gu Fan's gaze and said directly to Professor Ma, "Professor, the pills I gave you to examine last time were made by Miss Gu. She's good at refining pills but knows nothing about modern pharmaceuticals, so I brought her here to take a look. Please accompany us. Talking with Miss Gu a little more might inspire you."
When Professor Ma heard this, Lu Ya immediately disappeared from his sight and he enthusiastically walked over to Gu Fan to start a conversation.
Gu Fan still brought up her "grandfather", saying that she learned all the alchemy skills from her grandfather. As for where her grandfather learned it from, she just said she didn't know.
Professor Ma speculated, "Alchemy has been practiced in China since ancient times, but the ancients' technological capabilities were limited, and the resulting elixirs were either ineffective or had serious side effects, making them difficult to popularize."
"Old Master Gu is the same age as the Marshal, and he's mastered such a skilled alchemist. This suggests he was involved in a related field before the radiation. Perhaps he was a Taoist, and after the radiation, he combined his special abilities with his profession, discarding the dross and retaining the essence. He's thus truly refining all sorts of miraculous elixirs."
"Miss Gu, let's add each other as friends. When Mr. Gu comes to the base to pick you up, please contact me. If Mr. Gu is willing to teach the alchemy skills to the base, then humanity will soon regain its freedom, and Mr. Gu will become everyone's modern-day medicine saint."
Gu Fan: ...
This professor is really good at talking!
But she still smiled and added Professor Ma as a communication friend.
What followed was a visit that opened Gu Fan’s eyes.
She had long admired Earth's technology, and now, after seeing how Earth people made medicines, Gu Fan was even more amazed. The biopharmaceutical method allowed researchers to develop a series of medicines for the benefit of mankind without having to climb mountains and cross rivers to find rare herbs. It was much simpler than refining elixirs.
Of course, the pills refined by these cultivators are much more magical in effect.
Despite his admiration, Gu Fan had no interest in relearning pharmaceutical technology, nor could he offer any useful advice to Professor Ma.
During the entire visit, Gu Fan became more interested in the refrigeration technology of the research center because she needed to use this technology to grow snow lotus.
Professor Ma said: "Refrigeration technology is very simple, but snow lotus grows on the top of snow-capped mountains. It is best to understand the local year-round temperature, light conditions, and soil nutrients in advance. Otherwise, the snow lotus you cultivate may develop diseases, and even the efficacy of the medicine will be affected."
Gu Fan had taken care of various medicinal herbs before. Under those complicated conditions, cultivators only needed to regularly nourish the herbs with wood-type spiritual power. What she lacked was a continuous snowy environment.
Professor Ma understood: "Okay, tell me your address and I'll transform a snow mountain for you."
Gu Fan was filled with gratitude and said to Professor Ma with a smile, "You've helped me so much, I have to give you a gift in return. To be honest, I can also refine hair growth pills. When I first came to the base, I sold all the stock to earn merit points to buy a house. I went out to collect herbs half a month ago and refined another batch last night. Do you need it?"
Professor Ma was surprised and asked, "Hair growth pill? Is that what I understood?"
Gu Fan smiled and took out a bottle of two hair growth pills from his bracelet.
Professor Ma looked at the medicine in her hand with shining eyes.
Gu Fan said, "Don't worry about the efficacy of the medicine. The young marshal witnessed it with his own eyes. He even wanted to buy it from me at that time, but unfortunately he was too slow to act and I sold it all out."
Hearing this, Professor Ma looked at Lu Ya with a touched expression: "You are not bald, and the Marshal has thick hair. You bought the hair growth pills as a gift to me, right?"
Lu Ya turned his head and looked to the side.
Professor Ma laughed heartily and said to Gu Fan, "Xiao Lu is a man who appears cold on the outside but is warm on the inside. He hides his kindness to everyone in his heart and never speaks out. Miss Gu, you'll understand after spending more time with him."
After saying this, he glanced meaningfully at the two people standing side by side.
Lu Ya had no expression on his face.
Gu Fan thought that Professor Ma had simply misunderstood, and Lu Ya didn't have him in her heart. She said that to save Lu Ya's face, so that Lu Ya wouldn't suspect that she was deliberately trying to sow discord between him and Professor Ma.
"Just take one, and your hair will grow back in about an hour."
"Okay, okay, then let Xiao Lu entertain you. I'll go try it right away!"
Professor Ma returned to his office excitedly.
Lu Ya took Gu Fan to change his clothes.
It was almost noon, and Lu Ya asked Gu Fan to get in the car and he would take her home.
After they both sat down, Gu Fanxian expressed his shame: "I'm sorry for taking up half of your time for nothing and not being able to help you at all."
Lu Ya turned the steering wheel, looked ahead and said, "You helped the professor."
Gu Fan laughed out loud: "The professor and I are helping each other, and I also want to thank you for your help in making the connection."
Lu Ya glanced at her and said, "It takes anywhere from two to three months to one to two years for a monster to grow from infancy to combat-ready. However, it takes at least a dozen years to train a human with special abilities. Therefore, every special ability is extremely important. The professor's job is to save every injured soldier as much as possible. The professor is obsessed with pharmacy. The antidotes and hemostatic powders he developed have reduced many unnecessary casualties for the four armies. If you can work together to refine a medicine that can quickly heal wounds, the army will be more confident in clearing out the monsters. That's why I brought you here for a tour."
Gu Fan: ...
She knew that everything Lu Ya took her to do was full of utilitarian motives.
But, when Lu Ya mentioned the medicine that could quickly heal wounds, was he just saying it casually, or did he know something?
In silence, the off-road vehicle moved at a constant speed along the road.
Gu Fan noticed that surveillance cameras were installed at regular intervals on both sides of the road.
This was just this morning when Meng Lianying mentioned that he wanted to install surveillance cameras on her wall. When he saw the surveillance cameras on the road, he pointed them out to her.
Meng Lianying said that surveillance cameras are installed on the road to prevent people from speeding and to provide video evidence when traffic accidents occur.
An idea popped up in his mind. Gu Fan looked out the window and released his spiritual sense to observe Lu Ya. At the same time, he asked, "Is there a surveillance camera in the prison?"
Lu Ya's expression didn't change at all, and he answered simply and crisply: "Yes."
Gu Fan's heart sank: "Have you seen the surveillance footage of me and Lianying?"
Lu Ya finally looked at her.
Gu Fan still had his back to him.
Lu Ya slowed down the car and slowly parked to the side. Holding the steering wheel with one hand, he explained, "I took the surveillance footage away that night. No one in the entire base knows what you fed the company except me."
Gu Fan was surprised at his own calmness and continued to speculate, "So you insisted on taking me to An City, not because you were worried that the Beast Repellent Pill would be useless, but because you wanted to see if I would use that medicine again. You didn't dodge the wind bear's attack on purpose, deliberately getting injured so that you would give me a red pill as well."
Lu Ya: "Yes, I took advantage of your kindness. If you need it, I am willing to provide compensation."
Gu Fan smiled, looked over and said, "I don't need your compensation. I just hope that after I fulfill my previous promise to you, you will stop thinking about using me. You know that my strength is very weak. I just want to stay safely in the base and don't want to take any risks at all."
Lu Ya seemed to smile as well, then looked at her coldly and said, "The base's current stability is the result of countless lives sacrificed. If you don't have the ability to help the base, and you only seek stability, that's perfectly normal. But if you can refine that kind of life-saving elixir, but are secretive and unwilling to share it with others, what qualifications do you have to enjoy the sacrifices of others?"
Gu Fan didn't think his choice was wrong. He sarcastically said, "It's a crime to possess a treasure. If I had your self-preservation ability, I would also be willing to sacrifice the elixir and become a hero for the base. But I'm just a C-level psychic. Any of you can easily capture me and restrict my freedom. Why should I take risks for some unrelated people?"
Lu Ya: "The base is so big, there must be someone you can trust."
Gu Fan: "Sorry, besides my grandfather, I only trust myself."
She folded her arms and looked out the window again.
Lu Ya looked at her. She looked only seventeen or eighteen years old and pretty and harmless, but why did his heart feel so cold?
"How many of those red pills do you have left? I can buy them at a high price and keep them a secret for you."
Communication was ineffective, so Lu Ya proposed a deal.
Gu Fan's eyes turned and he said calmly, "That's the Muscle Regenerating and Blood Nourishing Pill, a high-level elixir refined by my grandfather. Before leaving, he gave me two bottles of thirty pills in total. Lianying and his men treated me sincerely, so I gave him one bottle for emergency use. I kept the remaining bottle for my own life. And there are only fifteen pills. Even if I sell it to you, you won't be able to save many people. It's useless."
Lu Ya: "If you can save one, save one. 100,000 points each. How about selling ten to me?"
Gu Fan: "If I don't sell it, what will you do?"
Lu Ya frowned, looked at her and said, "It's a fair trade. If you don't want to sell, I won't force you."
Gu Fan thought for a moment, then took out a bottle of Muscle Regenerating and Blood Nourishing Pills, poured out some, put one back, and then held ten pills in his palm and handed them to him: "I'm not short of merit points right now, so I'll keep five for myself and give you these ten as a favor. I only ask that the young commander remember what I just said and not force me in any way again."
Lu Ya was silent.
Gu Fan said: "Don't worry, I'm not that cold-blooded. When Grandpa comes, I will speak on your behalf and ask him to send you more high-level pills."
Lu Ya glanced at her, took her ten flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pills, and then handed her a black space crystal.
Gu Fan expressed his doubts with his eyes.
Lu Ya said, "It contains the Qinglin grass I collected from the bottom of the lake. I have no use for it, so I'm giving it to you."
Gu Fan's heart beat faster and he tried to put his spiritual sense in. What he saw was a dense green. Not to mention that these Qinglin grasses could still be cultivated, even if they were refined into flesh-growing and blood-replenishing pills, tens of thousands of them could be refined.
She was still lost in thought. Lu Ya put the crystal into the storage box on her side and continued driving.
Gu Fan asked after a while, "Did you kill that black snake?"
Lu Ya: "I killed him."
Gu Fan looked over fiercely: "Can you kill that snake by yourself?"
Lu Ya's face was very cold: "Don't you already know that unless I do it on purpose, even an S-level wind bear can't hurt me."
Gu Fan: ...
He was clearly pretending to be injured, so how can he be so self-righteous now?
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