Chapter 231: Chapter 231: Exploration Mission

Translator: 549690339

A crisp notification sound came from the speakers in the room, alerting Xiang Kun that Alice had finished her task.

Returning to the room, Xiang Kun sat in front of the computer: “Tell me your thoughts.”

Alice’s voice chimed in: “I have two points of view…”

Upon hearing this, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but smirk, thinking to himself: Alice always seems to have two points, is it her fixed way of summarizing?

Alice, of course, wasn’t aware of his thoughts, and without any pause, she continued: “Firstly, the mutated spider’s charging method is not optimal. It can be optimized according to its own needs to find a more stable way of charging;

“Secondly, equipment based on its flight principles can be produced for assistance.”

Listening to this, Xiang Kun nodded slightly. He had already considered both points.

The first point was that the mutated spider could utilize the changes in the electric field during a lightning strike to charge. Due to being born and evolving in the wild, it charges by harnessing the environmental conditions present during a thunderstorm.

But Xiang Kun is a human, and it’s the invention and use of electricity that has largely driven the advancement of human civilisation.

In human society, as long as you have money, you can obtain large amounts of stable, clean, safe, and uninterrupted electrical energy—conditions unmatched by creatures such as the mutated spider.

Xiang Kun believed that after experiencing the “charging” state a few more times and understanding the power model derived from the mutated spider’s blood, he should be able to figure out a way to evolve this ability into a more efficient, convenient, and safe training method.

As for Alice’s second point, it was another advantage of human “vampires” over other mutants.

When other mutants evolve a certain capability, they simply use it, maybe leveraging natural objects for some enhancement. But humans can deliberately create and use tools to better utilize and augment their capabilities, even creating new abilities from scratch.

What Alice meant was for Xiang Kun to develop corresponding auxiliary equipment based on the pattern of “Electric Mastery Flight”. This would help him better realize his aim of flying and gaining control.

However, Xiang Kun had previously thought: complex equipment would be difficult for him to produce presently, and if it included electronic components, it could easily be affected by the “Light Group”. Simple equipment, such as parachutes or simplified gliders, weren’t much use either. They were not easy to carry and offered no qualitative improvement.

After all, for Xiang Kun, flight itself was not the answer he sought. Given the conditions in modern human society, there were plenty of ways for him to take to the skies.

What he wanted to master in “Electric Mastery Flight” was the unrestricted, free-flight capability and the other applications derived from mastering this ability.

However, that Alice could propose these two views was already satisfactory to Xiang Kun; her “thought process” was still on the right track.

Xiang Kun’s cell phone vibrated. Picking it up, he saw that Chang Bin’s message reminded him to go to the airport the next day to pick up Zi Cheng.

Indeed, Zi Cheng was coming again.

The date for Chang Bin and Wang Han’s wedding had been finalized and was less than a month away.

Chang Bin had decided on three groomsmen: Xiang Kun, Zi Cheng, and another middle school friend. This time Zi Cheng was coming to get fitted for the suit he would wear at the wedding—a benefit Chang Bin was providing to his groomsmen.

Of course, it was also an excuse for everyone to gather together again, providing Zi Cheng a reason to request leave from his company and his father.

Xiang Kun had a brief chat with Chang Bin. Even though it was just through WeChat messages, Xiang Kun could clearly sense the anxiety leaking from his old friend.

He knew that there were many reasons for this anxiety, some of which he could guess, some of which he did not know. However, based on his understanding and analysis of Chang Bin and Wang Han, he knew that this issue was not significant, both of them could solve any little troubles that arose.

That’s what it’s like for a man and a woman together: as long as both are willing to compromise and give, the relationship can last.

Xiang Kun thought back to the news he had received from Tang Baona’s group chat: among the three bridesmaids that Wang Han chose, the sisters Tang Baoting and Tang Baona occupied two spots, and the other was a middle school classmate of her and Tang Baoting.

It was quite normal for Tang Baoting to be a bridesmaid, as she and Wang Han were classmates, best friends, and close girlfriends. Although Tang Baona had known Wang Han since they were young and often played together because of her older sister, theoretically, she shouldn’t have been chosen as a bridesmaid for the wedding. Xiang Kun figured that a significant reason Wang Han chose Tang Baona as a bridesmaid was that he was in Chang Bin’s group of groomsmen—they were trying to play matchmaker.

Xiang Kun checked WeChat again and skimmed over the unread messages in the group chats he had missed earlier.

In his “Youlong Play Rabbit Group” with the You Meng couple and Tang Baona, You Meng had sent two messages about fifteen minutes ago:

“Xiang Kun, did you do something? Our video is trending again!”

“When do we release the second video? You mentioned not seeking their team for the next one, so how do we plan to film the second part?”

It’s trending again?

Xiang Kun was somewhat puzzled. He signed into Bilibili and sure enough, the video under their “Youlong Play Rabbit” ID had seen a significant increase in views, coins, and bullet screens.

Could it be that a popular user had made a funny video using their clip as material garnering attention for them? Or had Tang Baona promoted their video in some way?

But after skimming through the bullet screens, Xiang Kun realized that the source of attention came from somewhere else.

He searched on Weibo and indeed found several discussions and trending topics.

The most debated was “#What’s the relationship between the Bald Chef and Chef Youlong?#”

Some users had compared the kitchen, shown in the background of their ‘Youlong Play Bunny’ video and Xiang Kun’s previous rabbit-meat cooking video. They had confirmed that both videos were filmed in the same kitchen.

Consequently, netizens started speculating about the connection between the bald chef who posts various cooking videos online, making bamboo rat meat with juggling-like movements, and the recently sensational “Chef Youlong” famous for his rabbit-cooking short video. After posting that video, Xiang Kun and his crew did not mark You Meng’s name or gave him a pseudonym, hence people naturally addressed the protagonist of the video as “Chef Youlong”, following the video-uploading ID “Youlong Plays Rabbit”. This was a deliberate attempt to guide the public’s perception.

Some netizens, based on the content of the “bald chef” video, deduced that his remarks were intended for “Chef Youlong”. Therefore, it’s very likely that the “bald chef” video was endorsed and produced backstage by him.

Local netizens from Tongshi Town recognized You Meng. They directly identified the name and location of You Meng’s restaurant and claimed that they planned to visit and even live-stream the dining experience.

Xiang Kun had initially advised You Meng not to renovate their kitchen,. He wanted to stir up associated promotional activities by capturing videos in the same setting as which first “leaked” in Xiang Kun’s previous videos.

Originally, his plan was to release two to three videos, and after building up popularity and interest in “Youlong Plays Rabbit’s” videos, he’d create related discussion topics and generate connections between the two viral videos. Therefore, Xiang Kun did not initiate immediate internet publicity yet.

Surprisingly, some netizens had already initiated discussions, attributing this to Tang Baona’s “promotional assist”, which granted the video a level of popularity beyond expectation. This incident led other netizens who had previously scrutinized Xiang Kun’s various videos to observe the identical backdrop, hence sparking new discussions.

Netizens eager to visit “Youlong Restaurant” will undoubtedly be disappointed as You Meng temporarily closed his restaurant to learn and practice the rabbit dishes taught by Xiang Kun. He plans to rehearse the scripts for the second and third video productions.

At this point, not many people would find out the address and visit “Youlong Restaurant” for a meal, so a temporary close wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Xiang Kun planned to release the second and third videos, further spark the topic, and explicitly reveal their restaurant’s location. This would draw enough attention and customers and may even invite some hosts for a few live-streamed taste tests.

As long as the beginning wave of customers leaves satisfied and leaves positive reviews, generating sufficient popularity, then everything that follows would be much easier.

Xiang Kun has a lot of confidence in his rabbit recipes, which were initially adjusted to cater to the tastes of the locals in Tongshi Town. You Meng had been operating a restaurant for years. As long as the ingredients were fine, and he gains proficiency, the taste would be guaranteed.

Of course, to cause an initial “explosion” with these few dishes, it’d be tough unless all customers were bribed. But Xiang Kun already had a plan and was confident that everyone who enters the restaurant and tastes the rabbit meat would find it delicious and see it as a delicacy.

Xiang Kun thought for a while and appointed Alice a few tasks, getting her to become familiar with the operating procedures of publicity stunts. Although her assistance may not be needed this time, once she had mastered the relevant mechanisms and developed the corresponding capabilities, she would be prepared and resourceful, potentially contributing to other activities in the future.

For example, when certain information that he didn’t want to see was spreading on the internet, influencing public opinion might turn out to be the optimal way to minimize the impact of such information if it cannot be completely deleted.

Meanwhile, in the uninhabited area of Qinling.

A team of more than twenty people was camping in a cleared area. Most of them were men, and the few women appeared tanned and unadorned, focusing solely on their tasks. They were conducting surveillance, scrutinizing their surroundings vigilantly, checking the equipment, recording some data, classifying specimens collected along the way, or seizing the opportunity to rest and eat.

On the outskirts of the campsite, a rugged middle-aged man with a suntanned complexion and a small beard was talking to someone over a device.

The device’s screen displayed his surroundings, and he used the drones above his head to connect with a communications satellite for live transmission.

“Mr. Liang, we’ve arrived at the location where the wild boar’s carcass was found. Starting tomorrow, we will begin searching according to the range and sequence you’ve marked.” The middle-aged man reported to the other side.

The voice on the other end was accompanied by a strange friction sound: “Team Leader Li, pay attention to the abnormal traces on the ground, trees, and rocks around you during the search.”

“Yes, Mr. Liang,” The middle-aged man responded, hesitated a little, and asked further, “Mr. Liang, do we have more characteristic information about the creature we are tracking?”

“No,” Mr. Liang’s peculiar voice replied, “All you need to do is observe and collect. Even if you really see something strange, there’s no need for any action. Prioritize your safety.”

“How do we know that what we see is a ‘strange’ creature?”

“When you see it, I will naturally remind you,” said Mr. Liang, and after this sentence, there was no response. The brief communication ended.

The man known as “Team Leader Li” exhaled and faired a helpless expression.

The feeling of not knowing the reason behind their task made him very uncomfortable.

He was aware that his department, secretly established by the company with tremendous funding, seemed to be studying some special creatures. However, he was unsure about what those creatures are and how they were unique.

His department housed several related labs with numerous dedicated researchers and had several field teams operating globally. He vaguely heard from colleagues from other teams that they seemed to have “captured” some unique creatures. However, no one knew what these creatures looked like.

Understanding they had signed non-disclosure agreements, and knowing that prying into unauthorized areas could forfeit their hefty bonuses, and may even face fines and lawsuits, the mysterious nature of the work sparked their curiosity, especially considering the situations resembling science fiction.

His team was fully equipped for this mission, with eight lab researchers supporting the exploration and investigation in this uninhabited area of Qinling. Team Leader Li was both concerned and thrilled.

He was aware of the fatal incident involving host Xue and two others in this area. He also knew that the wild boar corpse filmed by the host had been sent to their headquarters’ lab for detailed analysis before they were dispatched to this location.

Obviously, being dispatched here meant that problems had been detected in the test results. However, he remained unaware of the exact issue.

On their way here, he planned to chat up the researchers to pick up some information. However, the female doctor in charge of the research team was very strict. The researchers dared not mention anything unrelated to the task, and even refrained from disclosing their full names.

However, Team Leader Li conjectured that the company’s best practices suggest that these researchers probably wouldn’t know much either.

Resting in his sleeping bag, Team Leader Li couldn’t help but recall the video of the dead wild boar shot by host Xue, imagining what kind of creature could have caused the small wound on the boar.

He wasn’t worried about the safety of their team. Although they weren’t armed with any firearms, they were equipped to handle various wild animals and were provided with various high-tech portable security devices by the company, including several drones monitoring their surroundings with night vision and infrared modes. They could also communicate in real-time with the headquarters through a drone hovering above the