With the return of the expedition, Fishbone Base had resumed its former liveliness.
The construction of the base was back on track, the construction team began moving batches and batches of construction supplies outside of the wall and started to implement the expansion work as originally planned.
The women rescued from Huizhong Mercenaries base were placed in an empty apartment building. Jiang Chen assigned five nurses to take care of them and help them regain their sanity. At the same time, the survivors of the base could now utilize the point system to take the person they like home.
In principle, Fishbone Base encouraged “adoption” as a means for them to take responsibility and to help their partner to return to normal. Women who could successfully join their workforce would be rewarded with points.
The trading posts in front of the gate reopened after the zombie waves had ended. It was believed that after this incident, there would be an endless stream of survivors that would come and trade here, and the relationship between the Fishbone base and nearby survivor groups would be strengthened further.
The bullet production line and Hummingbird UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) production line were housed in a metal warehouse and the two military production lines could be put into production after a simple maintenance. So Fishbone base welcomed its first military factory and though the production efficiency was not high, it was undoubtedly a good start.
After ordering Lu Huasheng to construct a building in the newly developed area as the new site for the military factory, Jiang Chen walked to the direction of the mansion.
The UAV terminal could be manufactured from recycled electronic parts and since Yao Yao was the expert in this area, completing it should not be a problem for her. If she could create a drone system, the base defense and detection capabilities would rise to another level.
But the moment he opened the door, he was astounded.
“Do you know who I am?” Lin Lin with her arms akimbo and raised her head confidently.
“You, you are?” Yao Yao swallowed a mouthful, shrunk her tiny head a little and carefully asked.
“Me? I am the noble, perfect embodiment of science and technology—digitalized human!” Lin Lin smiled arrogantly. She was very pleased with the frightened look on Yao Yao’s face.
At the moment, Lin Lin’s mood was ecstatic that there was only one thought in her mind! The feeling of picking on the weak felt so wonderful. Hahaha!
However, that elated feeling didn’t last for long because she found Jiang Chen standing in the doorway and was looking at her with a faint smile.
Lin Lin’s mouth twitched stiffly and her arrogant expression remained frozen on her face.
After discovering Jiang Chen, as though Yao Yao had found her savior, she quickly fled behind his back and pouted her mouth looking like she was wronged.
“Digitalized human? So what?” Jiang Chen smiled and stared at the beautiful girl with silver and white hair.
“I, I…” Lin Lin’s mouth started quivering as she recalled the fear for this “devil.”
“Where is Sun Jiao?” He turned around and rubbed Yao Yao’s head indulgently.
“Sister Sun Jiao was taking a shower,” Yao Yao said quietly.
Then, she looked at Lin Lin’s direction and with a tone full of grievance, continued, “Sister Sun Jiao asked me to find her a room but as soon as Sister Sun Jiao left, she, she…”
“You bullied my Yao Yao?”
This was intolerable! Especially seeing the timid look like that of a little animal on Yao Yao’s face, Jiang Chen’s protective tendencies suddenly burst forth.
“What, what are you going to do?” Lin Lin was trembling and began to retreat back.
Her silvery hair quivered, her white was filled with fear. Despite her unearthly beauty, her bad character would only arouse human’s sadistic desire and not their protective instincts.
Almost unhesitantly, Jiang Chen took out his EP and then pressed a few keys.
A faint static sound emitted from Yao Yao’s neck and the electronic collar opened.
Without saying a word, he seized Yao Yao’s collar, approached Lin Lin with a leer, ignored her resistance from her flailing fists, and put the collar around her neck.
Yao Yao touched her neck with an aggrieved expression. That was the one thing connecting her and Brother Jiang Chen, but it got taken away by this strange woman.
The more she thought about it, the sadder she got.
Her big adorable eyes began to get watery.
“No, it’s too dangerous. I had always wanted to take it off for a long time. How about giving you a new gift later?” When Jiang Chen saw her expression and hurriedly appeased her.
“Hello! If it is dangerous, why did you put it on me?” Lin Lin protested.
“Who cares about you?” Jiang Chen turned around and gave her a ferocious glare making Lin Lin shrank back in fear again.
Yao Yao looked back and forth between the two of them feeling wronged, her tiny mouth pouted again.
She had a bad feeling about this. It felt like there were more and more opponents.
…
After forcing the unruly Lin Lin to “stay put,” Jiang Chen took her to the first floor of the study.
If was called a study but there was no book to be found here anymore. The bookshelves were disposed to the backyard as waste, and the room was now filled with experimental apparatus taken from Lin Lin’s shelter.
“Ahhh! How dare you treat my babies this way.” Lin Lin tearfully run and touched her precious instruments.
“This is your room from now on. Clean it up yourself.” Jiang Chen said bluntly with a wicked grin.
He swore he had always been a nice person.
But for some reason, Lin Lin seemed to be born with “please bully me” BUFF; her favorite was her over-the-top “provocation.”
Lin Lin fiercely glared at him before correctly placing the equipment upside down on the ground.
“Oh, so that’s how it is. I thought that side was the bottom.”
“Stupid,” Lin Lin cursed inaudibly and was no longer looking at him.
“The mutated human and Death Claw body are in the freezer. Your current mission is to dissect them. I want to know exactly what the x2 virus is and what particular effects it would bring to mutants and also the body stats data of mutated human. That shouldn’t be too hard for you, right?”
When Lin Lin heard this, she haughtily cocked her head, long silver hair flailed neatly to the side, “Why would I help you—”
“If you don’t need to eat, you don’t really need to help me,” Jiang Chen interrupted her words with a bright smile.
“You, you…” Lin Lin instantly looked like she was severely wronged, but aside from making Jiang Chen felt pleased, there was not the slightest sense of guilt.
[Who told you to have such a foul temper!]
“Your task has already been given to you, so if there’s nothing else, I am going to head out now. By the way, you better be nice to Yao Yao because she is in charge of your food.” Jiang Chen laughed and walked towards the door.
“Hold on!” Lin Lin hurriedly stopped him.
“What? If you’re going to protest, then it’s rejected,” Jiang Chen turned to look at her and said rudely.
“Where is my bedroom? Just to be clear, I want the best room on the top floor with its own bathroom and facing the south…” Lin Lin was reserved at first but started to get carried away the more she went on. Her onyx eyes were flashing with rays of expectation.
But Jiang Chen was just silently staring at her with an expression that couldn’t be more confused.
As though sensing that she was just talking to herself, Lin Lin cautiously looked at Jiang Chen and finally started to accept the reality that she had to yield to him.
Lin Lin thought, [A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him! As a beauty, I will submit for now, just wait until…]
Just that she didn’t know when would that time come.
“Is that okay?” she asked tentatively.
Jiang Chen was silent for a long time then suddenly asked a nonsensical question.
“Does a digitalized human need to sleep?”
“Of course! I am not a robot.” Lin Lin almost cried in devastation.
After a brief Wiki, Jiang Chen finally understood what kind of existence she was.
To put it in simply, she was just an ordinary person before, but because of congenital disease, 40% of her body’s tissues were forcibly replaced with electronics. Her brain was installed with nano components that could connect to her nerve endings, which allowed her brain to operate at computer level processing speed. The artificial stomach allowed her to digest food at two times the efficiency compared to ordinary people, and which could also convert some of the energies into electrical energy storage.
And as far as eating and sleeping needs went, there was no obvious difference between her and ordinary people.
“So, you’re not a robot,” Jiang Chen stated while he examined Lin Lin from top to bottom. Because he saw a robot at the Sixth Street before, his previous perception made him think that she was a robot. “I assumed you are made out of silicone.”
“You are made out of silicone!” Lin Lin gave him a fierce glare, but when she suddenly remembered she still had things to ask of him, her tone immediately softened and used a frail tone, “That, the room…”
“Room? It’s right here, isn’t it?” Jiang Chen’s expression looked odd.
“What?! Here? You want me to sleep with a bunch of lab equipment?” Lin Lin jumped up and shouted like a squirrel that had its tail stepped on.
“Then, why do you think we got you a big room like this? I’ll put a bed here in a bit,” Jiang Chen rolled his eyes.
Ignoring Lin Lin’s cry of disappointment, Jiang Chen left the room.
The reason why he was bullying her was partly because he wanted to do it from the bottom of his heart; on the other hand, he needed to discipline this girl.
There was a spare room in the mansion, but her attitude was beyond abominable. If he were a bit nicer, he was afraid that she would be more unreasonable beyond measure.
It would be unwise to spoil her when he must teach her a lesson.
…
When Jiang Chen entered the kitchen he found Yao Yao who was cooking dinner.
Yao Yao was wearing a pink apron and her right hand was holding a long spoon while intently staring at the pot of stew. The cherry-like mouth was softly humming and the tender face was filled with a happy smile.
[Ahhh, she is just too cute!]
Jiang Chen unconsciously covered his nose despite not getting a nosebleed.
As if hearing the sound in the doorway, Yao Yao’s little ears moved adorably as she turned around to look at the door.
“Hmm, Has Brother been very busy? Just wait for a little while, the meal is almost done.” After seeing it was Jiang Chen, Yao Yao’s face turned slightly red, then she turned around and continued to focus on the pot of stew.
“Ahem, I’m done. Also, sorry to trouble you but can you cook one more portion in the future?” Jiang Chen walked to her and rubbed her head like a small pet.
“Mhmm! I already cooked one more portion—” Yao Yao was comfortably enjoying the feeling of the big hand rubbing her head.
Jiang Chen couldn’t help but smile.
[Sure enough, Yao Yao is a kindhearted girl.]
Even after Lin Lin had bullied her, she was still considerate enough to include Lin Lin’s food.
“Oh, what kind of gift do you want?” Although he didn’t know why Yao Yao was so insistent on the dangerous electronic collar, he still put it on Lin Lin who definitely “needed it more.”
Yao Yao’s face felt hot, after a long while, she murmured in a tiny voice, “Could I save it for later?”
“Save it?”
“Yao Yao’s birthday is in November so…you give it to me by then?” she buried her head lower and her voice turned even lower.
Birthday?
“Mhmm!” Jiang Chen nodded and smilingly promised.