"Whoa!" The door opened and their eyes met. The person outside was startled by the sprawling vines.
A soldier asked uncertainly, "Is this Chang Le?"
"Who are you?"
The soldier said, "Mr. Jiu has something urgent to attend to and asks you to come over. He also asked me to tell you that we will depart for Jingwei City at 2:00 noon tomorrow."
"Past? Now? Me alone?" After confirming with the soldier, Chang Le said goodbye to Wen Yuqiao and left with him.
The soldier led her to Jiu Fanggui's workplace, a temporary research facility located on the basement floor of the central building. The two stopped in front of a door marked "Laboratory."
"Mr. Jiu is waiting for you inside."
"Thank you," Chang Le said, then pushed open the door and entered.
The room was divided into two rooms. Outside, there was a simple experimental table, and an entire wall was transformed into a display cabinet, filled with many containers that contained alien samples.
"You're here?" Jiu Fanggui came out of the inner room, wearing a clean white long coat, a mask, and his hair was neatly tied up. He smelled of disinfectant, just like the room.
"Sir, is there something you need from me?" Chang Le watched as Jiu Fanggui took off his mask and washed his hands at the sink, rinsing away some fresh red stains.
Jiu Fanggui wiped his hands and said, "I'm studying the mutant I killed today, but I've encountered some obstacles in the experiment and need your help."
What can I do to help you?
"You'll find out soon enough." Jiu Fanggui kept everyone in suspense. He turned to go to a small space partitioned off by half a wall, then suddenly turned back. "You probably haven't eaten yet, have you?"
"How did you know, sir?"
There seemed to be a small kitchen there, with a refrigerator. Jiu Fanggui peeked in, carrying a bag of noodles: "Is this okay to eat?"
"Ah, okay." Chang Le replied after a moment's hesitation.
Jiu Fanggui's voice came through: "Previously, the eggs of the [Sandworm] entered the city along with the parasitized human body. According to the test, the last batch of eggs will hatch tonight, so the city is actually under lockdown, and the distribution of food is being delayed to prevent the spread of the hatching eggs. So I know you haven't eaten yet."
A fragrant aroma of scallion oil wafted over, and Chang Le's stomach rumbled loudly. She pressed her stomach, feeling a little embarrassed.
Jiu Fanggui's laughter rang out: "Hungry? It'll be ready soon."
"Hey, don't just stand there, find a place to sit down, or come and take a look?"
Chang Le hesitated for a moment, then chose to walk over.
In the small kitchen, Jiu Fang Guizheng was stirring noodles in boiling water when Chang Le peeked out from behind the partition wall, unconsciously swallowing his saliva. The scene was warm and inviting, a stark contrast to the dilapidated ruins outside.
"Eat first, then help out." Jiu Fanggui turned off the fire and took out a porcelain bowl to serve the noodles.
Chang Le, ever observant, helped bring the noodles to the table. The table was a small folding table placed to the side.
The two sat down at the table, where there were two bowls of clear soup noodles with green leafy vegetables and eggs.
"Due to limited resources, this is the best I can do in terms of cooking. Try it and see if it suits your taste?" Jiu Fanggui handed her the chopsticks.
Chang Le picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, his eyes lit up, and then he buried his head and took another bite before puffing out his cheeks and giving a thumbs up: "Mmm! Mmm! Delicious!"
At times like these, a bowl of hot soup noodles is like ice water in the desert.
"Eat slowly, no rush. Oh, and don't worry about the safety of the person with you, the situation with the Sandworms is under control."
"Mmm," Chang Le responded without stopping her chopsticks.
After eating and drinking his fill, Chang Le patted his belly, feeling warm and comfortable inside, which made his face relax.
Chang Le offered to wash the dishes, but there was no dishwasher here. Jiu Fanggui stopped her, saying, "You don't need to. You just finished eating and you can sit for a while before moving around."
After working for a few minutes, Chang Le didn't forget the important matter: "Sir hasn't told me how I can help."
Jiu Fanggui stood up: "Then let's go now."
Chang Le followed him into the room inside.
The glass partition divided the room into two spaces. The two people first disinfected themselves and put on clothes, masks, hats, gloves, etc. in the outer area before entering the innermost experimental area.
"Come on, look at this."
There were some glasswares on the lab table, but Chang Le only recognized some of them.
There were also two palm-sized sealed containers, one containing a section of the [Mother Flesh] offspring, and the other containing some minced meat, presumably remnants of the mother's body tissue after her self-destruction. Both containers had openings connected to a piece of equipment.
The instrument has a microscope-like observation device on the side. The front of the observation device and the central part of the instrument are transparent, allowing you to see the reaction inside. Above the transparent part is a display panel with various data. Currently, the instrument is paused, and the data is blank.
Jiu Fanggui pointed to two vessels.
"This is meat...the mutant from during the day?" Chang Le almost blurted out the name of the meat mother.
“Yes, I am studying the connection between the two morphologies in the two stages of this heterogeneous species.” Jiu Fanggui pointed to the samples of the parent plant and the offspring plant. “I suspect that they are two interconnected individuals, possibly in a parasitic, symbiotic, or other relationship.”
Chang Le mentally affirmed: You guessed right.
"How can we be sure?" Chang Le asked, puzzled.
She had only learned from textbooks that the "flesh mother" is a mother and child unit, but she didn't know how predecessors had researched and discovered this. It's like everyone knows that seahorses are male and give birth to offspring, but the initial research process may not be clear.
Jiu Fanggui pointed to the instrument next to him: "Let me formally introduce this thing to you. I made it. I call it 'Furnace'. 'Furnace' means 'fusion' and 'furnace' means 'furnace'."
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