Chapter 104 Sky-high Price

As he was speaking, Chen Qiongzhi's voice came from the office:

"Team Li Yi, you can come in now."

When everyone walked in, someone from the Supervisory Department was carrying the calm-looking Chen Litang out of the office and passed by them.

Because Chen Litang's expression was unusually calm, everyone felt a little weird in their hearts.

But when did the Supervision Department come here?

During this time of virtual exploration?

When I entered the office, I heard Chen Qiongzhi say, "You will know about Chen Litang's affairs sooner or later, so I'll just tell you about it."

"He was originally a person we rescued from the cult base. He lived in the fleet's disposal area seven or eight years ago. Three years ago, due to his good performance, he reported the cult branch on the ship to the Supervisory Department and won military merit. As a result, he was promoted all the way and gradually rose to the special selection class."

"However, it seems that the depths of his mind have long been invaded and tampered with by the cult, and they have infiltrated with extremely deep orders."

"This kind of shady tactics really work. The people in the Supervision Department have gradually shifted their resources to monitor him and lowered their level of attention to him."

"I didn't expect that he would reveal his true colors in the matter of the sacrifice of the advance team."

Cai Xiaodong said, "Instructor, the special class can also infiltrate the cult. Isn't this too scary?"

Chen Qiongzhi shook her head and said:

"After all, there are only a few people who have the talent to control divine mechas and have high overall qualities. As long as a person is reviewed and found to have no problems, he will meet the normal promotion procedures and will be promoted."

"Besides, if anyone with a special resume is allowed in, AI and I will pay special attention to prevent any problems."

"Moreover, even if they are members of a cult, if they have only been re-educated but have not committed many crimes, our principle is to try to win them back first. If that doesn't work, we will deal with them differently."

Li Yi was thoughtful. It seemed that the Deep Space Fleet's handling measures were not wrong.

As the saying goes, we should judge a person by his deeds rather than his heart. If we convict a person simply because he has problems with his thoughts, then the number of guilty people would be countless.

Even if it is a cult, there should be many ordinary people who are innocently involved and helpless.

These people should not be enemies, but objects of rescue.

It is also important to distinguish clearly which are the real enemies and which are the false enemies.

From this, we can also see the basic principles of the upper level in dealing with various incidents.

Yao Shiwan asked, "So, what exactly is the situation about the parasite that the instructor just told us about?"

Chen Qiongzhi nodded and said, "Just as Li Yi suspected, the giant clam you faced before is probably a divine creature dormant under the ground in the fifth level."

"It's not the parasite that came out of the gourd man's chest."

"The parasite itself is probably hiding inside the giant clam, and is continuously eating it."

"If you kill the giant clam, the next thing you'll have to deal with is most likely the parasite's true form."

"The giant fern growing behind the giant clam is actually just a cover, just a mimicry of the parasite."

"As for why I know this, it's because I encountered the same case when I was exploring another ruin. Therefore, I recognized it at a glance."

Li Yi asked:

"Instructor, are you telling me this so seriously because this parasite itself has some special value?"

Chen Qiongzhi nodded and said:

"That's right. The genes of this parasite are very aggressive. Even divine creatures will be parasitized by it and turned into nutrients if they are not careful."

"At the same time, due to the uniqueness of its genes, its living materials are of high value. Perhaps, it is very likely to be of great help to humans in breaking through biological divine technology."

"Therefore, the Biological Research Department has offered a high price of 100,000 merits for the living material."

"After hearing this, you should understand what I mean, right?"

Everyone understood immediately and smiled knowingly.

"Is the return on this military achievement so high?"

Cai Xiaodong was surprised:

"Are you asking us to capture this thing during our field exploration?"

Chen Qiongzhi smiled and said, "Your strength has improved rapidly recently, and all kinds of weapons and equipment have reached the current best. Therefore, I think you can consider how to gain more military merits in the next field exploration activities."

"With more military merits, your authority will be easily upgraded, and various key items will be easily exchanged, which will allow you to enter the fast lane of strength improvement."

As he spoke, Chen Qiongzhi opened a light screen and said:

"For example, the advance team has already collected quite a few fragments of the divine nucleus. We can receive them when we get there. If you have savings, you can consider exchanging them."

"In addition, there are various non-destructive versions of body-strengthening potions, such as those for strengthening internal organs, bones, and nerve reactions. I suggest that you try to collect as many of these as possible. They are quite effective for human evolution."

"There are also various divine items that assist in cultivation, divine equipment that increases combat power, and so on."

"I suggest that you study these things more, and in the next month, use all the external forces you can to practice hard and improve as much as possible."

"This way, you can gain the most, understand?"

Everyone said they understood.

Li Yi said: "Instructor, are there any rewards for other giant creatures?"

Chen Qiongzhi said: "Yes, for example, the giant slime you encountered in the fifth level has a bounty of 50,000 combat merits. For the smaller ones, the bounty ranges from 5,000 to 12,000."

Pharmacist Wan was surprised and asked, "Is the difference so big?"

Chen Qiongzhi said:

"First, it is unique. The growth potential of macrophages is very strong. If the individual is large enough, it also has high research value. However, in terms of the deciphering of the entire ancient biological technology by the individual, it is judged to be lower than parasitic life. Therefore, there are 50,000, but only 50,000."

"As for the three different slime creatures, since they are not unique and their research value is indeed not great enough, these are the only ones left."

Li Yi understood and said, "But if that's the case, then the Biological Research Department has the final say on pricing, right?"

Chen Qiongzhi shook her head and said:

"No, for many research-related bounties, the difficulty and cost are already taken into consideration when the project is established. It is impossible for a project with a difficulty of B or C to only get a D-level reward."

"Unless the cost is too high, the reward amount will be appropriately reduced, but this will definitely affect the efficiency of processing the reward."

"In other words, the research value itself is not high, so the reward for military merit is likely to be much easier than the difficulty of capturing it."

"At the same time, when issuing reward intelligence, there will be requirements for review. Research rewards must have a high enough level of intelligence transparency."

"If the on-site enforcement personnel find that there are a lot of errors in the bounty information, they can file an AI notarization and demand compensation for the corresponding damage."

"Overall, the system is fairly balanced and is in a state that satisfies all stakeholders."

Pharmacist Wan asked, "Instructor, is there a bounty for the dog-like creature in the third level and the creatures waiting to be hatched in the incubator?"

Chen Qiongzhi replied, "For dog-like creatures, the reward is 4,000 merits, which is not bad. As for those giant creatures to be hatched, there is also a detailed list. The types that have been discovered also have different values. The general merit amount is between 1,000 and 6,000."

"However, there are also some duplicates, or some that we humans already have, but there are only a thousand or a few hundred, or even none at all."

"In fact, it is normal for creatures to be hatched without any reward for military merit."

"After all, the Biological Research Department doesn't accept just any random person."

"For those without a reward for military merit, the Animal Husbandry Department will usually buy them out with star coins, and you can make a lot of money there. You can consider it."

"Some of the products offered by the Biological Research Department are even low, but the Animal Husbandry Department offers a higher price in star coins. It is a good choice to let the Animal Husbandry Department purchase them."

Everyone was deeply moved after hearing this.

The chain of departmental interests involved in exploring the ruins is quite long.

Tan Haoran asked: "Instructor, since different combat merits represent different levels of difficulty, then generally speaking, how many combat merits correspond to what level of difficulty?"

Chen Qiongzhi smiled and said, "Good question. The rewards for D-level difficulty are generally 1,000-5,000 merits; for C-level difficulty, it is 5,000-20,000; and for B-level difficulty, it is 20,000-50,000."

"A-level, naturally it's more than 50,000."

Cai Xiaodong was surprised:

"Then the instructor's intention is to ask us to do the A-level bounty. Can we handle it with our current strength?"

Naturally, the others also had doubts, but they just didn't dare to speak to Chen Qiongzhi in that tone.

To date, the only people in the group who dared to speak to Chen Qiongzhi in this tone were Li Yi, Cai Xiaodong, and Yao Shiwan.

Although Chen Qiongzhi seemed easy to talk to at this time, in fact, her iron-blooded and devilish style of doing what she said during training tortured everyone.

Li Yigan is the instructor who relies on him and has full confidence in his abilities.

Cai Xiaodong dared to do this because he was a tough guy. Although he was from a powerful family, he was a declining family. He grew up in the harsh environment of Setan Star and was not afraid of being tortured by the instructors' training.

Pharmacist Wan dared to do this because her family gave her enough confidence.

Chen Qiongzhi smiled faintly and said:

"That's another reason why I asked you to focus on this mission."

"Because the parasites can control many giant creatures, and according to the exploration information you sent back, we also found that the parasites are very powerful, so the Biological Research Department misjudged it and thought that this was very difficult."

"But in fact, you have faced it yourself. How difficult do you think it is?"

Several people who had actually participated in the battle fell into deep thought.

Pharmacist Wan hesitated and said:

"But at that time, we were all strong and equipped, yet three of us were killed in an instant."

Zhang Xuqiang said, "You three were killed instantly because of bad luck. In fact, Li Yi and I worked together, and although it was dangerous, we were able to suppress that thing for more than half an hour. If you were added, we would probably be able to solve it within half an hour."

Chen Qiongzhi smiled and said, "Plus, divine mechas are naturally immune to parasites, so parasites can parasitize giant divine creatures at will and have extremely terrifying dominance. But for you, as long as you eliminate the threats of giant clams and giant fern mimicry, it won't be a problem."

Pharmacist Wan nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you for your advice, instructor."

As she spoke, Chen Qiongzhi finally mentioned the matter of the map.

She tapped the table and pondered, "By the way, the other two instructors were paying attention to the situation of their own students this time, to see if they could meet the standards for joining the Exploration Mobile Team or the Exploration Team in this last chance. Therefore, they didn't notice your discovery of the map."

"If I didn't happen to know a little bit about gourd writing and could tell the specific scales and words in it, I would have probably missed this."

"Li Yi, I believe you have already told them how big this scale is, right?"

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Li Yi nodded and said, "Yes, instructor, I have said that. And we also believe that this will be one of the greatest discoveries in the past hundred years."

"One of the greatest discoveries of the century?"

Chen Qiongzhi laughed and said:

"You guys are really good at making a name for yourselves, but I stand with you on this point, because this is the first map you discovered, and it is indeed the greatest map of this century. Of course, the premise is that it is the real thing."

Li Yi said:

"From various perspectives, I don't think this is fake. I think this is a profile completed after the early gourd civilization completed the overall exploration of the ruins."

"Then, the Hulu civilization was cut off, and the Hulu people accidentally discovered the map, so they came to look for the battle materials they wanted."

"As for why I believe this, I have four pieces of evidence."

Chen Qiongzhi raised her eyebrows and said seriously, "I'm all ears."

Li Yi continued, "First, the handwriting on this stick figure is completely different from the previous one. His handwriting is more sloppy, while the stick figure is more regular. It is very likely something that was directly copied."

"Secondly, the height of the first five floors in the stick figure is completely consistent with the height, depth and width data we saw in the virtual ruins, with basically no error."

"Third, the gourd man has the authority to control the ruins. He can also drive the fifth level to directly erect a huge blockade wall. The changes to the ruins are huge. This shows that he is very familiar with the use of authority."

"Fourth, according to the notes, he has been to the eighth and seventh floors. In addition, the second note contains more details, which is similar to the overall style currently displayed in the ruins. It is unlikely to be fabricated."

Chen Qiongzhi nodded repeatedly and said:

"That's very well said. Two pieces of factual evidence and two pieces of situational evidence are very sufficient."

Li Yi said: "Of course, these are just possible evidence, not definite evidence yet."

Chen Qiongzhi smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. Once we reach the sixth level and explore, we can basically confirm the authenticity of the map."

Li Yi said:

"Since the instructor knows the details of how this map was discovered, he must also know what we want, right?"

Chen Qiongzhi said:

"Regarding this, I definitely stand on your side and will definitely vigorously promote this matter."

"After all, in terms of strength, there must be other stronger starships. If we don't compete, we will easily be excluded from subsequent development."

When everyone heard Chen Qiongzhi's statement, they were immediately delighted and said, "We'll have to trouble the instructor to help us get those."

"Don't worry. I can't guarantee it, but I, Chen Qiongzhi, will not let you down."

Chen Qiongzhi made the promise with great generosity.

…

Other members of the group also asked questions.

Such an opportunity is rare, and everyone is asking for advice and understanding issues that they have never understood before.

The conversation was almost over.

Cai Xiaodong asked, "Then instructor, can we continue exploring the ruins in the next month?"

"That's it."

Chen Qiongzhi shook her head and said:

"Although your group has made many outstanding contributions, the clues and information obtained by other groups are miscellaneous and of low value."

"Considering the huge amount of computing power on board and the huge consumption of the corresponding divine cores, the cost will be excessive if we continue to do this."

"Of course, it was mainly the other two classes that were defeated by the Dark Horse Team of the Sun Chaser."

Li Yi said thoughtfully:

"Instructor, do you mean that they are also working on a virtual ruins strategy?"

Chen Qiongzhi said:

"That's right. Due to the upgrade of the exploration level of the ruins, the total income of our Yao Chi has been reduced in disguise."

"Therefore, our huge expenditure in the early stage is likely to result in a loss, so after review, the Finance Department decided to lend the authority to the two starships separately."

"And the two main ships also happened to be selecting people, so they each spent some resources to exchange the opening time of this permission with us."

"We are on the third standard day of the week, while they are on the fifth and seventh standard days of the week."

"On a comprehensive basis, our Yao Chi ship has already made up for the expected losses. As long as we land at the Tianshu ruins, we can receive the remaining supplies of the advance team and make a direct profit."

Pharmacist Wan sighed:

"That's a lot of calculations. No wonder they say every starship is a money-eating beast."

Chen Qiongzhi smiled and said, "Although we have funding from the federal headquarters, we still have a large number of people who need to practice and upgrade, so the resource gap is not small."

"So, every resource you enjoy now is the hard-earned money of the fleet, and it cannot be wasted at will."

Li Yi smiled and said, "Don't worry, instructor. Our team has a high enough utilization rate of resources."

Pharmacist Wan asked curiously:

"Instructor, is that authority the same as the diamond-shaped cone that Li Yi found from the gourd man? If so, how can the authority be lent out?"

Chen Qiongzhi said: "This involves some complicated quantum communication theories, which I don't understand very well. I just know that this is one of the few technologies of our human race that has achieved major breakthroughs without relying on ancient technological systems. If you are interested, you can learn more about it."

Li Yi suddenly realized, "I understand. It is equivalent to sending the virtual reality information calculated by AI Xiaochi's computing power to the distant opponent's starship? And then the opponent will send the contestant's information over?"

Chen Qiongzhi coughed lightly and said:

"That's about it. Well, that's about all I have to say. The others can go down on their own. Li Yi will stay for a while."

Everyone gave Li Yi a look that said "as expected" and left Chen Qiongzhi's office very skillfully.

After the door was closed, Chen Qiongzhi said:

"I am keeping you here alone this time to remind you that there will be a discussion meeting on the development of the Tianshu Ruins next week. As the youngest on-site staff officer, you will most likely have to answer some questions. Remember to be prepared."

Li Yi was surprised and asked, "Isn't it still a month before we arrive? Why are we going to have a meeting so soon?"

Chen Qiongzhi nodded and said:

"That's normal. The exploration team and the mobile team alone are the elite of the mecha divisions of the three ships. It's impossible not to be cautious. In addition, there are small mecha teams in the rear that also need to enter the field for logistical assistance. In addition, it involves a lot of resource collection and planetary exploration work, which involves countless manpower and material resources."

"With such a large amount of dispatch, if we don't prepare in advance and wait until the time comes to make temporary arrangements, the scene will inevitably be chaotic and inefficient."

Li Yi nodded and said, "I see. Then what kind of preparations do I need to make? Do I just need to have my questions answered?"

Chen Qiongzhi said: "That's right, but you need to face the questions of the three ships' strong groups. Don't let yourself get stuck or fail to answer."

"Some experts may even ask very tricky questions. You should be mentally prepared for these and not get carried away and hit people. That would have a bad impact."

Li Yi asked curiously, "From what the instructor said, is there a precedent?"

Chen Qiongzhi said carefully: "Of course, not everyone is a good guy, so you need to show your wisdom and personal charm in front of everyone. In this way, you will have fewer potential enemies and more friends."

“When you need to shoulder some major responsibilities, the accumulation of your daily words and deeds will become a great help to you.”

Li Yi smiled and said, "The instructor's arrangement seems to be to train me to be a captain."

Chen Qiongzhi nodded and said, "I have considered this. Although the captain of each deep space fleet is usually a celestial evolver, their combat power is generally comparable to that of celestial evolvers. Do you know why?"

When Li Yi heard what Chen Qiongzhi said, he suddenly remembered the Transformers he had encountered before, and hesitantly asked, "Could it be that the starship can also transform into a super-giant divine mecha?"

After hearing Li Yi's answer, Chen Qiongzhi burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)