Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 2544: Chapter 2536: No Time (Second Update)

Since there was no alcohol, the hotpot didn’t last long; it was over in just an hour.

Then Yi Jue put everything away, even pouring the broth base into a garbage bag to take with them.

He Runxian watched this scene and didn’t say anything. There really are a lot of things where knowing is worse than not knowing.

The drizzle was still pattering down. After the meal, he sat under the Sun Umbrella, sipping hot tea, feeling the damp, moisture-laden air and looking at the pitch-black night sky, and his heart was genuinely at peace.

"I haven’t been this relaxed in a long time," He Runxian couldn’t help sighing. He’d already accepted the premise of "when it rains, the bugs won’t come," and his whole body loosened up. "I really wish this rain would just keep falling forever."

Feng Jun let out a dry laugh. "I don’t want to be a buzzkill, but I still have to remind you: that’s a price you can’t afford."

But on this point, He Runxian really did have ideas. "Mr. Porsche, why don’t you name a price? Hesheng’s capital might be a bit small, but for victory, we can spare no expense."

Feng Jun fell silent. After a while he replied, "This price is more than the entire Xingzheng Star combined could pay."

This time it was He Runxian’s turn to fall quiet. He didn’t really believe that the whole of Xingzheng Star couldn’t scrape together the money—after all, behind this star system was the financial backing of the Federation Government. But he was sure Hesheng couldn’t afford it, so he couldn’t be bothered to ask further.

Before they knew it, it was close to midnight. He Runxian asked in a low voice, "Aren’t you going to get some rest?"

"Can’t hold out anymore? Then go sleep," Feng Jun answered casually. "If we rest and some bugs show up, what then?"

So the rain alone can’t stop the bugs? He Runxian felt another stab of curiosity, but then thought it through and let it go: right, if rain alone could keep the bugs out, would humans really be living this hard?

And clearly this rain didn’t have much offensive power; that guy called Porsche even liked to step out from under the Sun Umbrella and stand in it.

He had all these thoughts in his head, but he didn’t voice them. "You two, I really can’t hold on anymore, I’m going to rest first... I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in almost three months. Today I can finally let myself relax a bit."

"Go," Feng Jun jerked his chin, then paused and added, "Talk to your people properly. These next few days, they’d better catch up on sleep. Once the rain stops, you might be facing the bugs’ frenzied revenge."

"Frenzied revenge?" He Runxian froze for a moment, then nodded. "True, those bugs are very vindictive. But..."

At this point he let out a cold laugh. "So what if they want revenge? As long as the energy stones are sufficient, I’m not scared of their damn eggs! What really matters is we finally got some time to rest. I’ve got to notify everyone to seize the chance and rest up properly."

With that, he left, taking two bodyguards with him. Feng Jun and Yi Jue didn’t move, remaining under the Sun Umbrella—mainly because even if they wanted to move, it wasn’t convenient; the base’s electromagnetic systems had them both locked onto.

The two of them naturally didn’t care about that kind of targeting, but under these circumstances, using things like Blink or the Storage Bag wasn’t very convenient.

And True Sage Ban Yu had said: we’re not afraid of exposing our identities, but we’d best expose as few trump cards as possible.

So Yi Jue complained to Feng Jun, "These people are really no fun. We’re helping them this much, and what we get in return is..."

"All we’re after is a clear conscience," Feng Jun replied offhandedly. "Don’t you think they’re pretty pitiful too?"

"They’re pitiful only because they’re weak," Yi Jue answered dismissively. "If you’re weak, then at least fix your attitude. Instead they try to morally blackmail you—disgusting!"

Are you angry on my behalf? Feng Jun smiled. "At most they’re just a bit overconfident and stuck in their own patterns of thinking. Is it really worth getting angry over something like that?"

After He Runxian went back, he of course couldn’t fall asleep. At the production base, it wasn’t just Commander Muller who was present; even the governor of Zuo Jing City had rushed over, and the military had sent the chief of staff from the Zuo Jing Military Region.

These two were not the type to sit quietly. As soon as they arrived they wanted to meet the supplier, not taking the supplier’s threats seriously at all.

It was only when someone told them that after it started raining here, the entire Insect Race had vanished and, up to now, hadn’t reappeared, that they realized there was a problem: this was something even the army had no way to achieve.

The army couldn’t do it, but the other side could. Even though they couldn’t sense any threat from this rain, they also realized that some people’s toughness was backed by the actual qualifications to be tough.

Then the two of them plunged into another shouting match, arguing over the newly arrived energy stones, medicines, food, and other supplies.

When He Runxian came back, the two were still bickering. In this sense, they were quite dedicated— the governor was actually very sleepy, but the moment he left, no one would be able to keep the chief of staff in check.

Once he returned, things "improved": the two stopped fighting each other and both turned their fire on him.

But He Runxian very straightforwardly stated that he really didn’t know those two people’s background, only that one of them was called "Porsche". As for what they talked about, he wasn’t afraid to say it, he just avoided a few sensitive topics—such as anything related to Minister Shen.

In the latter half of the night, Feng Jun and Yi Jue noticed something wrong: vague, flickering shadows were moving toward them.

"Halt!" Feng Jun spoke coldly. "Otherwise... die!"

"I’m from the Zuo Jing Executive Mansion," the other side did stop; a voice spoke out loudly, "The Governor would like to see the two of you."

"No time," Feng Jun answered in a deep voice. When the other party came over, there was no killing intent, so he was willing to act a bit more mild. "If you keep pestering us, we’ll turn around and leave. Don’t blame us if the supplies don’t get transported."

"The Governor is very sincere," that voice was quite flexible, able to bend and stretch. "I’m just a little errand runner. You two are people of status—why make things hard for a small fry like me?"

"Is my standard accent that heavy?" Feng Jun stood up. "Fine, then I’ll leave right now."

"Don’t!" The shadow slowly retreated. "Mr. Porsche, please don’t be angry. The Governor is thinking of the people of Zuo Jing."

"I don’t care who he’s thinking of," Feng Jun said in a low voice. "He’s the one playing Governor, not me... Say one more word and I’ll turn around and leave."

"What about us, the Zuo Jing Military Region?" Another shadow couldn’t hold back anymore. "You ought to give us a chance to speak, at least, right?"

"No," Feng Jun replied crisply. "Get lost!"

The two, seeing that he was completely unyielding, didn’t dare say anything more and could only turn around and leave. It wasn’t that no one had the guts to fight to the death—Frontier Star never lacked heroes. What everyone worried about was that if they took drastic action and actually caused the rain to stop, what then?

If the Insect Race really came surging back, and they still wanted to transport these supplies out safely, they had no idea how many lives would have to be thrown in to make that happen.

Facts proved their concern was not unfounded. As the sky grew slightly lighter, an observation post suddenly spotted something. "Three insect swarms, each over ten thousand strong, are charging toward the rain zone. Everyone, heads up—each swarm has at least twenty General Level bugs!"

General Level meant Golden Core Insects. Ten thousand bugs with twenty Golden Cores; someone immediately analyzed the nature of the swarms. "These are... assault swarms?"

Assault swarms were specially tasked units for surprise attacks, sometimes moonlighting as scout swarms. But what the military cared most about was: "Is the transport convoy in danger?"

The convoy really was in danger. This stretch of rain cloud linked the base and the urban area. The vehicles shuttled back and forth, and once they reached the city they still had to distribute the supplies further. With that much noise, if even a single bug wasn’t asleep, it would definitely notice.

So one of the swarms headed straight for the junction zone. In the next instant, the observation post issued a warning. "Careful, a swarm of more than thirty thousand bugs is heading for the junction. At least eighty General Level bugs!"

"Touch down and defend on the spot!" Orders were immediately relayed. "Eggshell-type Vehicle Formation!"

The number of Golden Cores in this swarm still wasn’t as high as the Golden Core Insects that had besieged the base earlier. But the base was a semi-permanent fortress-type defense, far sturdier than any armored transport vehicles. So the convoy’s reaction was actually quite normal.

However, some people raised objections. "Shouldn’t the empty vehicles turn back and the loaded ones push to the destination as fast as possible?"

This was also a viable response plan, and in many situations the Human Race’s transport convoys preferred this option—though it led to a relatively high casualty ratio, there was at least a chance of breaking out, especially when the enemy had only thirty thousand bugs.

Before Feng Jun arrived at the base, the military had been transporting like this. But as the casualty ratio climbed higher and higher, they finally gave up on such attempts, leaving Hesheng sitting on a mountain of unshipped military supplies.

Facing this relatively small number of bugs, both the military and the local government felt they could try to break through.

The officer who gave the order, however, replied with one line: "We have to trust our cooperation partners!"

"Isn’t that bullshit?" Some hot-tempered people cursed out immediately. "Thirty thousand bugs are easy to punch through. But stopping to form a vehicle formation... and then trying to run once it looks bad, ramping up speed will be a huge problem!"

On the battlefield, everyone could voice objections without scruples. A chorus of curses erupted. This kind of expression was tolerated by the military—if someone’s about to die and you won’t even let them curse a bit, what are you doing? As long as they didn’t disobey orders, having opinions wasn’t a big deal.

While all the in-vehicle channels were in an uproar, an explanation came down from above. "Objections are understandable, but you need to think it through. You’re carrying energy stones. If they’re knocked loose during a charge, just imagine the consequences... Execute the order!"

Once the Insect Race discovered that the scattered "cargo" was energy stones, they would absolutely go berserk. Mobilizing a few million bugs for an all-out attack would be routine. Conversely, if they formed an Eggshell-type Vehicle Formation and defended, the odds of keeping that secret were higher.

With that explanation from above, the intention was obvious—we weren’t blindly trusting some "cooperation partners". The key was that at this point, aside from choosing to trust them, there really was no better option left.

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