Chapter 93 Cooperation and Win-Win
About ten minutes after the driver finished speaking, the car in front drove into a courtyard. A sign hung at the entrance, bearing the large characters: Royal Power Base Research Institute.
The experts at the research institute, dressed in white coats, stood waiting in front of the building. After getting out of the car, Gu Zefeng handed Xiao Heng over to an elderly man who was leading the group, saying, "Give the child a thorough examination first and see if he can be cured."
Even though Jiang Xiaoheng was brave, he was still a little scared to be handed over to a stranger. Xiaoheng turned his head to look in the direction of the bus, "Dad."
Jiang Rong quickly got out of the car and ran towards the child, "Xiao Heng, don't be afraid, Dad is here."
Gu Zefeng chuckled and scratched his cheek. "Captain Jiang, there's no need to be so nervous. With so many people watching over the child, he won't get lost. If you're worried, you can keep watch outside the lab."
The laboratory has large, transparent glass windows, allowing a clear view of the interior from outside. Jiang Xiaoheng obediently lay down on the equipment. He was a little nervous at first, but with the gentle reassurance of the medical staff, he quickly calmed down and even chatted with the attending physician.
Good news soon came from the laboratory: Jiang Xiaoheng's illness could be cured.
Upon hearing the news, Jiang Rong tried to smile, but his nose stung and his eyes reddened. He had waited so long for this news. From the moment Xiao Heng was hospitalized with a lung infection until today, he had been on tenterhooks every single day, fearing something might happen to his child. Now, everything was alright; Xiao Heng was finally saved!
Gu Zefeng, holding the treatment plan in his hand, whistled a few times lightly. "Captain Jiang, are you free? Shall we sit down and talk about the medical expenses?"
Jiang Rong straightened up. "Captain Gu, please."
The meeting took place in the conference room across from the laboratory. Gu Zefeng casually propped his legs up on the table. "Our Royal Power Base isn't one to take advantage of a crisis. As long as the conditions are right, we'll start treatment immediately. Captain Jiang, my demands aren't high. How about we give the crucial stage to Royal Power?"
Before Jiang Rong could speak, Guan Shao gave Gu Zefeng a cold glance. "You'd better think carefully before you speak." With Guan Shao in Huangquan, Gu Zefeng's future days would definitely be difficult.
Gu Zefeng chuckled twice. "Just kidding. You're old and frail, there's no use keeping you around. I heard your Xinghuo Base is doing well with production, with vegetables and meat. Captain Jiang, what do you think? For the next ten years, Huangquan will take half of Xinghuo Base's harvest. Whether it's vegetables, meat, or anything else, we want half."
As soon as he finished speaking, the superhumans at the Starfire Base all turned pale. As expected of Gu Zefeng, he really had a big mouth.
Jiang Rong glanced at the direction of the laboratory, then sat up straight and said seriously, "Captain Gu, the Spark Base is not a place where I, Jiang Rong, can make my own decisions. As a father, I am willing to give everything to treat my child. However, as a member of the base, I have no right to harm the collective interests."
"Spark can provide seeds and technology to help the Imperial Power Base with planting and breeding, and the two bases can coexist peacefully and amicably. However, if the Imperial Power wants to use Spark as a logistics supply base, not only will I disagree, but all the people of Spark Base will also disagree."
Gu Zefeng raised an eyebrow and waved the treatment plan in his hand. "Captain Jiang, don't forget, now it's Xinghuo Base that needs our Huangquan Base's help."
Jiang Rong shook her head and calmly said, "Captain Gu, you're wrong. It's not that Xinghuo Base needs something from Huangquan Base, but that I need something from Huangquan Base. Xinghuo doesn't need Jiang Rong, nor does it need a child, and a father can't lose his child. Within my capabilities, Captain Gu, just say what you want."
Gu Zefeng removed his legs from the table and rested his chin on his hand. "If that's what Captain Jiang says, then I'll give you the truth."
He pointed to the laboratory outside the door, "Do you know how expensive our laboratory equipment is? How much does it cost to turn it on once? And what about the special medicine? How much does one dose cost? Captain Jiang, forgive my bluntness, but how much can you personally contribute?"
Jiang Rong said seriously, "I have crystal cores and some supplies."
At the Spark Base, points have replaced currency. Most ability users keep the crystal cores they obtain for themselves, and when moving around the base, they're used to using points just like ordinary people. However, outside the Spark Base, crystal cores are the hard currency.
Upon hearing the words "crystal core," Gu Zefeng looked Jiang Rong up and down. "Crystal core? Hmm, crystal core is not bad either."
Jiang Rong said seriously, "Could you please calculate how many crystal cores are needed to treat Xiao Heng?"
Gu Zefeng stared at Jiang Rong thoughtfully for a while, then raised his hand, "Find the finance department to calculate our treatment costs."
A dozen minutes later, Huangquan's finance department reported that, based on Jiang Xiaoheng's condition, he needed to receive three injections of the special medicine this time, and two injections every year thereafter.
Each dose of the special medicine requires two thousand level-two crystal cores. Gu Zefeng tapped the table slowly, "Three doses of the special medicine will cost six thousand crystal cores, plus nursing fees, entertainment expenses, and all sorts of other things... Captain Jiang, just this one time alone will cost eight thousand level-two crystal cores."
After speaking, Gu Zefeng looked at Jiang Rong with a half-smile. Jiang Rong himself also needed crystal cores to upgrade, and he had so many ability users under his command. Eight thousand level-two crystal cores were a huge sum of money for him and the Starfire Base, and it would be too difficult to come up with them.
Sure enough, Chu Qiang muttered, "What kind of miracle drug costs two thousand crystal cores per dose? Is this robbery?"
Gu Zefeng was waiting for Chu Qiang to say this: "Brother, what you're saying is unpleasant. Do you think special medicine is easy to obtain? To be honest, there are countless superhumans queuing up for every single dose."
Jiang Rong raised her hand and pressed it down, signaling Chu Qiang not to act impulsively. "Captain Gu, I've been wanting to ask, what kind of medicine is the special effect drug you just mentioned? Could you let us see it?"
Gu Zefeng looked around and then stood up. "Alright, come with me."
Jiang Rong and the others followed Gu Zefeng out of the conference room, exiting from the back of the laboratory building. Only then did they realize that there was a river behind the building. Large machinery blocked a narrow section of the river, and the grayish-black water swirled and rippled as it flowed through the filter.
Gu Zefeng stood on the riverside platform, pointed to the river below, and asked, "Why has our world become the way it is now?"
Guan Shao said seriously, "The red light on the day of the great crisis and the black rain that followed." After the red light, plants and animals began to mutate, and those who could not survive were forever asleep in the past.
Gu Zefeng nodded slightly. "That's right. The red light can't be collected, so we have no way of knowing what it represents. But the black rain has seeped into every inch of the land. Our team at the base discovered through tireless research that the black rain contains an element. This is a completely new element, and there is no record of its existence. Our team named it Element D32."
"D32 can be useful for superpowers. If used properly, it can become an even more terrifying existence than the crystal core."
“But it is very difficult to obtain. As long as it is exposed to the air, it begins to deteriorate and deteriorate. Nowadays, it can only be found in water.” As he spoke, Gu Zefeng nodded to the superhuman beside him, who quickly stepped forward carrying a box.
Upon opening the box, a metal conduit was found inside. As Gu Zefeng moved, the D32, shimmering like gold, flowed slowly; it was hard to imagine that such a beautiful element could be extracted from the black rain.
Gu Zefeng picked up the tube, which was only the length of his thumb, and said slowly and deliberately, "This is the purified D32. Just this little bit, and it will take all the filtration equipment in the entire Royal Power Base to filter it day and night for three months."
"The special medicine used on Jiang Xiaoheng is composed of D32. Do you still think this medicine is cheap now?"
The Imperial Power Base is a large-scale facility, with hundreds of filtration systems in the river. Filtering with so much equipment for three months is indeed costly; now it seems that 2,000 crystal cores for one dose of the special medicine is a very reasonable price.
Jiang Rong was worried about another issue: "Is it safe?" You can't be careless when it comes to things for children, especially since they had never been exposed to D32 before. What if Xiao Heng has an adverse reaction after using the medicine?
At this moment, the superhuman carrying the box said, "Our research institute's superhumans and Captain Gu have already personally tested the drug's effects. D32 is radioactive, but it's not very harmful to the human body; its half-life is very long..."
Gu Zefeng cleared his throat. "Get to the point."
The superhuman chuckled awkwardly, “It’s quite safe. A small dose of D32 can help superhumans increase their abilities, but a high concentration will actually inhibit them.”
"Jiang Xiaoheng's organ failure is because his superpower is too strong, and his body cannot withstand it. If he can be injected with a high concentration of D32, his superpower will be temporarily suppressed. We estimate that he can stop receiving D32 injections once he reaches adulthood."
"Team Leader Jiang and Team Leader Guan, it's not that we're asking for too much, it's just that D32 is so rare. The further we go, the harder it is to purify D32."
Jiang Rong and Guan Shao exchanged a glance. From what Gu Zefeng and the others said, the black rain contained a large amount of D32. That's why they were all weakened after being soaked in the black rain, and because of the effects of D32, the superpowered individuals' abilities became even stronger after the black rain.
Jiang Rong's eyes lit up. "Expert, I'd like to ask, if there's still black rain now, can we quickly purify D32?"
The superhuman nodded and said with a wry smile, "That makes sense. If we had the original black rain now, we could study it and make further progress. The first black rain to fall had the highest D32 content. Thinking about it now, it wasn't black rain at all; it was clearly a golden rain from heaven for all mankind."
However, humanity was slow to realize this and failed to preserve the precious rainwater. If they had been able to collect a cup of black rain back then, it would have been equivalent to six months of filtration at their base. Now, obtaining the most pristine black rain is impossible; the subsequent dozens of days of scorching heat evaporated any rainwater that fell into the mountain gullies.
Jiang Rong took a deep breath to calm her wildly beating heart. "Captain Gu, there's black rain at Xinghuo Base." Not only is there, but there's a considerable amount.
Gu Zefeng, who was cleaning his ears, suddenly stopped. "Huh?!"
Jiang Rong's voice was somewhat agitated, "Our base has black rain. Look, can we sit down and have a proper talk?"
Gu Zefeng: ...
*
Time flies, and it was already late August. After nearly two months of treatment, Jiang Xiaoheng's symptoms had completely disappeared. His supernatural abilities were suppressed, and he would not be able to use his mental abilities until he came of age.
Xiao Heng wasn't uncomfortable with this at all. He hadn't had his superpowers for long and didn't know how to control them. After taking the medicine, he felt the whole world was peaceful, his appetite improved, and he slept soundly.
The August sun blazed fiercely, and Jiang Rong and her group wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather to go home. Just as dawn was breaking, the superhumans from the Starfire Base slowly drove away from the Royal Power Base.
Jiang Rong looked up and saw three heavy trucks directly in front of them, their cargo compartments filled with Bloodthirsty Vine.
After spending nearly two months in the mountains surrounding the Royal Power Base, Little Darling and Little Fairy teamed up to eliminate all the mutated plants and animals in the vicinity. They went on a rampage outside the high walls of the Royal Power Base, and by the time the superhumans at the Royal Power Base reacted, these two had become the most terrifying mutated plants in the area.
These two mutated plants were exceptionally well-behaved, and would even greet the superhumans from the Royal Power Base obediently. Before long, the superhumans from the Royal Power Base began to regard them as treasures.
Under the intimidation of Xiao Guaiguai and his group, and the lure of Black Rain, Jiang Rong's negotiations with Gu Zefeng went exceptionally smoothly. In order to obtain Black Rain, the people from the Royal Power Base not only waived Xiao Heng's medical expenses but also signed a peace agreement. Jiang Rong never dreamed that his ingenious idea, which had been circulating on the day Black Rain fell, would one day come in so handy.
There are more than a dozen buckets of black rain downstairs from his house, each weighing thirty kilograms, enough for the researchers at the Royal Power Base to study slowly.
The theme song of the Meow Meow Team played in the carriage. Jiang Rong turned her head to look back and couldn't help but laugh. "If Gu Zefeng saw this scene, he would be very hurt."
Three children were sitting on the sofa, watching TV intently, with their pet lying at their feet, making the originally spacious living area cramped.
Although Gu Zefeng wasn't a good person and was always thinking about plundering Guan Shao's supernatural abilities, he was genuinely good to the children. During his time in the imperial court, the relationship between the three children and him developed rapidly. Under Gu Zefeng's special care, the three children became much closer.
When they said goodbye, they hugged Gu Zefeng and cried their hearts out, and Gu Zefeng's eyes were also red. But before long, the children's attention shifted from parting to the cartoon.
Guan Shao recalled, "Gu Zefeng loved children. When he went on missions, he would always get along well with the local children. He once told me that his biggest wish in life was to retire from the army with Yun Que and go back to his hometown to adopt seventeen or eighteen children."
Unfortunately, Yun Que died, and after his grief, Gu Zefeng began his pursuit of power and influence.
Jiang Rong sighed, "Fortunately, he's not too crazy yet, and he still knows how to weigh the pros and cons. At least he's not completely rotten to the core." At least Gu Zefeng still knows to consider the superhumans of the Imperial Power. By taking advantage of Jiang Xiaoheng's treatment, both the Imperial Power and Xinghuo can get what they want.
Chu Qiang's voice came through the walkie-talkie, "Xiao Jiang, I just received news from the Peace Base that Meng Liang and Liu Heng are dead."
Jiang Rong was somewhat surprised, "Dead? Really dead or fake dead?" He thought that the tug-of-war between Meng Liang and Liu Heng could last for a while, but he didn't expect that Meng Liang still couldn't survive the summer.
Chu Qiang confirmed, "He's really dead. Zhou Xing is currently in charge of the Peace Base, so we'll have to go there for his funeral after we get back."
After hanging up the walkie-talkie, Jiang Rong looked ahead and said, "I thought we could relax a bit after the base developed steadily, but it looks like we'll be busy for a long time to come."
Wherever there are people, there is a world of its own. Whether it's the Spark Base or any other base, people come and go every day, and new love, hate, and grudges arise every moment.
Guan Shao glanced at Jiang Rong and said, "It's alright. As long as everyone is doing well, being a little busy is nothing."
Jiang Rong echoed, "Yes." If it weren't for his companions, he definitely wouldn't have been able to rescue Xiao Heng on his own.
The sun rose in the east, and golden sunlight streamed through the mountains onto the road ahead. Jiang Rong breathed a sigh of relief, "I've been away from home for so long, I wonder what the base and my home are like now."
Guan Shao picked up the walkie-talkie and issued the order, "Attention! Full throttle, forward! Let's get home as soon as possible!"
A response came through the walkie-talkie: "Okay~" "Yay, home!"
The convoy began to accelerate, and Jiang Rong leaned back in her seat, feeling the bumps and swaying of the vehicle. The road ahead had been cleared by the superhumans; there were no thorns or obstacles.
Watching the mountains and trees rushing past him, Jiang Rong realized that he hadn't thought about his past life for a long time. But nothing good happened in his past life; things were much better now. He had a lover, children, friends, and a base—he had everything he needed.
Jiang Rong glanced at Guan Shao's handsome profile and smiled contentedly, "It's so good, I can finally go home."
————End of text————
Author's Note:
Gu Zefeng: There are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Give me enough money, and I might call you grandpa.
As I typed the last three words of the main text, I felt so reluctant to leave.
There are a few more side stories, and then Jiang Rong and her children's story will come to an end.
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