Pei Wen's face was visibly darker.
He was holding a bowl of soup in his hand, but after hearing Si Lan's nonchalant and indifferent description, he couldn't even drink the soup.
Si Lan was also surprised when she heard this: "You call this childhood sweethearts?"
Pei Wen: "You call us neighbors when we grew up together, went to school together, came to your house for dinner today and mine tomorrow, and our parents were almost trying to get us engaged and married?"
Si Lan: "It's not tied yet."
Pei Wen gritted his teeth, with a look of despair in his eyes.
"So, in your eyes, what constitutes a childhood sweetheart? Your other neighbors?"
Si Lan: "Does that count as a neighbor?"
Pei Wen: “…”
have to.
I understand her standards.
He turned the words on the tip of his tongue over and over again, and finally, he chose to give up: "You are awesome."
But after this conversation, the people next to him seemed to have some idea of what was going on.
Especially the male compatriots Fang Xun and Xu Changfeng, looking at Pei Wen's unpredictable expression, they all cast sympathetic eyes towards him.
Fan Wenqing looked at Si Lan. Although she didn't react on the surface, she silently gave her a thumbs up in her heart.
Si Lan didn't continue the conversation, but instead asked, "So, do you have a conclusion? It's time to pass on this information you have. Otherwise, when will the outside world know about this?"
Pei Wen was used to her temperament and style, so he simply followed her lead and replied, "If I were in the world outside the game, with access to trapped players or even corpses, I could even conduct in-depth research."
"But now I don't have any samples, and many details cannot be verified. The best I can do is provide remote guidance."
Si Lan thought for a moment. "It seems the Infrastructure Team has discovered the signal we left behind. If you need to communicate, you can try using that lake."
"But with professional communication like yours, a lot of things can't be simplified, right? Forget it, I'll build you a signal station, and you can just sit there and type code every day from now on."
There was a hint of disdain in the tone. Pei Wen muttered, "We can't communicate in this internationally accepted way nowadays."
Si Lan looked over with a questioning look, and he explained, "This is an international secret."
"Especially after all this time, the higher-ups haven't provided any in-game settings to facilitate progress. This is enough to prove that both the chip and game companies are uncooperative. At times like this, we have to consider their motives for not cooperating. Perhaps they're unwilling to reveal these core technologies."
"If we show signs of having learned the core technology, there's no guarantee they'll take steps to prevent us from spreading the news."
Si Lan: "You mean, we might still be monitored by the country where this technology originated?"
Pei Wen looked up at the sky and said uncertainly, "It's hard to say. It depends on whether this accident was an accident or human error."
Si Lan understood what he meant, retracted her gaze, and looked at Fang Xun and Xu Changfeng again.
"Then perhaps we can use the unique communication signals of the domestic military. Officer Fang and Commander Xu should know more about this than I do, right?"
Fang Xun thought to himself, I still don’t understand why you know everything.
He nodded: "Indeed, there is... but I don't usually come into contact with that level, so I'm not proficient. Where's Old Xu?"
Xu Changfeng: "I can help, but to be on the safe side, let the infrastructure team find a colleague who can communicate with Professor Pei first, so as to avoid any errors in the communication process and the inability to correct them in time."
Pei Wen: "Maybe they've already found it. In this kind of incident, they'll basically look for the same few people. It's unlikely they'll fight alone."
Xu Changfeng thought about it and it made sense, so he didn't say anything more. Si Lan then asked them how much basic language this code required and how many materials and tools they needed to prepare. The few of them paired up and came up with a list, so they could start collecting on the way.
At night, everyone saw that the surrounding environment was pretty good, and after getting tired of chatting, they leaned against a big tree to rest.
Qian knew that Pei Wen tended to sleep restlessly at night, and wanted to find him a quieter and more comfortable place to sleep, but Pei Wen and Si Lan were still chatting, sitting face to face by the campfire, and writing and drawing on the ground.
Qian Ming looked at the two of them, then looked at everyone else who had already dispersed to sleep. He inexplicably felt that he shouldn't disturb them, so he tactfully went to sleep alone.
The next day everyone woke up early and continued on their journey.
Qian Ming was worried that Pei Wen didn't get enough rest last night, so he wanted to show some concern for him. However, he didn't expect to see that Pei Wen was in very good spirits, without any of the fatigue and gloom he had shown in the mountains before.
Think about his condition these days: it really doesn’t seem as bad as before.
Qian Ming couldn't help but lean over and ask, "Professor Pei, you don't seem to have nightmares these days?"
Pei Wen was stunned for a moment, then gave him a mysterious look: "Do you really have to ask?"
Fang Xun was also surprised to hear Qian Ming's question and asked him, "Professor Pei often has nightmares?"
Qian Ming replied for him, "Our professor had a serious life-threatening incident. He's been traumatized and feels restless at night."
Then he looked at Pei Wen with joy: "But it seems that you have gotten much better recently? It's amazing, professor, we can heal ourselves!"
Pei Wen's face looked unhappy, even embarrassed.
Si Lan, who was usually silent, laughed for the first time. When no one else was sure why, she gave him a look that only Pei Wen could understand: "What a ghost."
Pei Wen felt extremely powerless, said "Shut up", and walked away.
Qian Ming wanted to ask Si Lan what happened, but Si Lan didn't say anything. She waved her hand and told everyone to leave quickly, then she also walked forward.
Qian Ming had no choice but to pack up and catch up.
It took five days to get from the camp to the beach, including stopping to collect any suitable resources we saw along the way.
Later, everyone was a little short on storage space, so Fan Wenqing used her deft hands to make backpacks for everyone using bark fibers, straw ropes, and large leaves. Each person had one, which they used to carry some small, lightweight items. This freed up a lot of space, and they were able to organize a lot of things.
When they arrived at the beach, everyone immediately observed its area, environment and resources.
After looking around, Xu Changfeng pointed to an empty stretch of sand on the far beach. "Summer will be here soon. We can build a salt pan there and stabilize salt production. With some people left to watch over and manage it, and with regular transportation, we should be able to establish a relatively stable supply chain."
Si Lan and the others looked at the environment over there and nodded in unison: "Okay."
Everyone took action immediately. Si Lan, Fang Xun and others first piled up the pond ridges of the salt field. Based on their work, Pei Wen manually measured the length and width of each pond field. After demarcating the scope, he circled out the locations of the pond gates, ditch embankments, salt platforms and other parts between each pond.
Fan Wenqing, Qian Ming and some residents who were already familiar with logging and building houses built temporary houses on the beach.
When they came, they brought a batch of wood and straw huts. Now they set up a hut in a place where there were trees to block the wind, lit a bonfire, and their stronghold was established.
Afterwards, some people searched for all edible food on the beach, some continued to cut wood and build, and some used pottery to boil the sea salt they were going to bring back this time.
Probably inspired by the player attribute data, Fan Wenqing deliberately assigned tasks to residents with different specialties and compared them. Then she found that residents with higher attribute values expended less energy than others when carrying out corresponding activities.
This discovery would seem reasonable and normal in ordinary games.
But everyone is now deeply involved in the game, and any action will affect their progress in leaving, so the meaning of this discovery is different.
Fan Wenqing relayed this discovery immediately, and Si Lan and the others immediately reorganized the beach construction and logistics staff, significantly improving efficiency. At dinnertime, they consumed less food.
Everyone worked together and rushed to finish the work overnight. In the end, it took two and a half days to build and repair the beach. It also took a day to dig the large salt ditch around the beach. In addition, they made and adjusted tools such as water trucks, windbreaks, and sluices. It took them a week to finally build a small salt field that could operate smoothly.
During high tide, Fang Xun and Xu Changfeng solemnly opened the sluice gates to let in the tide. The tide flowed through the sluice gates and water wheels into the first layer of the salt field's beach pool, quietly waiting to be dried in the sun.
After two days of drying, they introduced the seawater from the upper pool into the lower pool, and it went smoothly again. Everyone felt relieved: if it could be put into practical use, the salt field would be stable.
Most people here are not familiar with the salt drying process and the detailed control, but Pei Wen has been exposed to similar research in his scientific research career. Coupled with his solid knowledge, even though he has never done this kind of thing, he applied the theory to calculate the approximate time required for drying salt in each pool, as well as the method of observing the brine concentration, and passed it on to everyone.
Making salt from seawater depends not only on the weather but also on the time consumption. It is impossible for everyone to just sit there and wait.
So when the salt field was built and Pei Wen had taught all the theories and experiences, the remaining work would depend on the caretakers who decided to stay here to continue practicing and improving.
When the main force was leaving, Fang Xun looked at Xu Changfeng, who had insisted on staying, and hesitated: "How about I stay? Most of the helpers here are residents of my camp. I'm familiar with them, so it's better for me to stay."
Xu Changfeng said hi and waved his hand: "No need. You are the only police officer in your camp, and you are the one who is in charge of the overall situation. But I still have Lao Liu. I am the best here."
Fang Xun pursed his lips and looked at the residents behind Xu Changfeng: "Then you must listen to Commander Xu. Don't act recklessly or cause trouble. Otherwise, it will affect everyone's progress, and in the end, no one will be able to leave the game smoothly, understand?"
Residents: "Okay, Officer Fang, if we didn't understand this, would we have followed you all the way here? Don't worry, we will do our best to take care of this salt field. Just wait for us to transport the salt back."
At this time, Si Lan pushed out a wooden cart from somewhere - she actually made a wooden cart by herself without saying a word.
"I made this when I couldn't sleep. We haven't found any iron ore or iron bacteria yet, so we can't make a sturdier cart. But this structure and size are almost enough. If you have nothing to do, make a few more according to the process. It will be more convenient when transporting salt."
As she spoke, she handed over a thick stack of coconut leaves, on which all the materials and processes for making a wooden cart were drawn with red-hot branches, ensuring that everyone could follow the instructions.
Xu Changfeng looked at her in amazement: "You do so much work during the day, and you still find time to carve wood and grind it to make a cart at night?!"
Si Lan shrugged: "I can't help it because I'm full of energy."
But Fang Xun roughly guessed that this was a lie, and he looked at her silently, full of gratitude and admiration.
The two groups went their separate ways. When they were out of sight of the remaining team, Fang Xun walked over to Si Lan and whispered to her, "I understand that you have a lot of energy and abilities, and you can accomplish more in a day than others."
"But this game is related to the human body. I still hope you pay more attention and get more rest. Otherwise, it will be bad if you get sick."
Si Lan suddenly stopped in her tracks, not knowing what she was thinking about, with a somewhat subtle expression.
But she didn't explain it to Fang Xun. She smiled faintly and replied, "You're an adult now. You know how to judge yourself. Don't worry."
Fang Xun understood her personality, so he just gave her a reminder and didn't say anything more. He retreated and talked about other things with the team behind him.
Si Lan took advantage of the fact that no one was around and walked over to Pei Wen's side. She lowered her voice and asked, "If we are trapped in the game because of the chip stimulation, then over time, will our real bodies also be affected?"
Pei Wen opened his personal dashboard and glanced at the real time, his eyebrows furrowed. "Come to think of it, it's been over a week over there."
"Yes. Even if the chip doesn't cause any additional damage to the human body, the body shouldn't be able to sustain the natural consumption over a week."
Pei Wen nodded: "Indeed."
Suddenly realizing something, he turned around and asked her, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Si Lan lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before answering truthfully, "My energy isn't as good as before."
She had gone through a long and unusually difficult period, and was more sensitive to her physical condition than others.
This chip may have the function of regulating the senses, allowing players to stay in a "spiritual" state for a long time during the game.
However, Si Lan, who was extremely sensitive to her physical condition, was able to feel her subtle changes earlier than others.
Pei Wen stopped immediately after hearing this: "Are you sure? Are you tired? Are you in pain? Are you having chills or a fever? Could you be sick?"
As he said this, he checked the temperature of her forehead.
But she was obviously in normal condition in the game and he didn't notice anything, so her subtle feeling must have come from her body in the real world.
His head buzzed and he felt a little panicked for a moment.
His unusual behavior caught the attention of Fang Xun and the others, who came to question him. Si Lan, not wanting to cause panic, replied, "I didn't get enough sleep last night. He thought I was just sick. It's nothing."
After everyone felt relieved and continued on their way, she whispered to him, "There's no need to tell them now. We're inside and can't take care of the outside world. Telling them won't do any good."
Pei Wen took a deep breath, his mind full of the fact that she was feeling unwell.
After thinking for a moment, he took out all the high-quality food he had stored and pushed it all at her: "Eat, eat first, eat your fill."
"Even if we can't reach the outside, if you're in good condition here, the positive feedback the chip gives your body will be strong. Even if it's a lie, it can still trick your body for several more days."
After saying that, he pulled her and turned away. "Then we have to hurry back and use your communication station to transmit the signal. Even if we have to blow up the mountain, we have to remind them to take measures."
But the task force had already discovered this problem. When Pei Wen was extremely nervous, the medical representative had already come up with a specific plan and reported it to Wang Teng: "To address the functional depletion of the trapped players, simply delivering saline and glucose is far from enough."
At this point, she placed the budget sheet in front of Wang Teng, her expression becoming even more serious. "However, due to the large number of trapped people and the ongoing discovery and confirmation of trapped players, our budget for this measure is also very high. Just setting up special wards for everyone that do not interfere with daily operations will be a huge expense."
The author has something to say:
For some reasons, the country names in this article are uniformly replaced with letters. For example, the protagonist's superpower will be Country T from now on. Please don't make a mistake~
The methods of drying salt in this article, including many subsequent primitive techniques, are all reference materials, documentary videos, or inquiries from experienced people. The author has not experienced it, nor is it from ancient times, so there is no way to guarantee that all methods and details are authentic and effective. If there are any errors or omissions, please correct them. I hope you will forgive me.
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