Chapter 42: Need to Know the Value

"Your conditions are, in principle, personally acceptable to me. However, Mr. Li, you must also understand that the military is not a monolith."

Lin Feng's tone suddenly turned profound.

"Zhao Qilong is merely a mad dog operating in the open. In the shadows, more than a pair of eyes are coveting this fragment."

Lin Feng stared at Li Hexuan for a full three seconds, as if trying to see right through this excessively young man.

Ultimately, without saying another word, he turned around.

"Understood. Follow me."

His action served as his promise.

City E's official shelter was built upon a massive underground national defense installation.

The entrance was well-concealed and heavily guarded.

As the heavy alloy blast doors slowly closed behind them, shutting out the external ruins and roars, a sense of order characteristic of human civilization rushed over them.

Passing soldiers hurried back and forth with solemn expressions.

High-mounted automated defense turrets rotated silently, their muzzle crimson scanning beams pausing briefly over each member of the Thunder Squad—cold and lethal.

"Good grief, this place is more exaggerated than the movies," Zhang Nan muttered under his breath, thoroughly awed.

Lin Feng led them through several security checkpoints, stopping in a relatively independent and tranquil area.

This consisted of several separate two-story buildings specially prepared for senior officers and experts.

"District C will henceforth be the exclusive garrison of the Thunder Squad," Lin Feng pointed to the most intact building among them. "The internal facilities are complete and completely independent. Aside from me, no one will disturb you; though, of course, necessary security is indispensable."

The subtext of his words was clear: this was a sanctuary, but also an ornate cage.

Li Hexuan gave a noncommittal response.

At that exact moment, an unharmonious voice interrupted.

"Well, Lieutenant Lin, is this the 'big shot' you brought back? He doesn't look like he has three heads and six arms, yet he gets to stay in the expert quarters?"

An officer wearing the rank of captain on his shoulders, built heavily and robustly, strode over with a retinue, looking at Li Hexuan and the others with undisguised contempt.

Lin Feng frowned.

"Captain Wang, they are my guests and important partners of the military."

"Partners?" Captain Wang sneered, his gaze sweeping over Su Mengyi. "Privileges traded for a woman and a worthless rock? Don't forget, Lin Feng, military merits are earned through blood and steel on the battlefield!"

"You motherfuc—"

Zhang Nan's temper flared instantly, the veins bulging on his hands as he gripped his massive shield.

Li Hexuan raised a hand to stop him, not even sparing Captain Wang a sidelong glance, and asked Lin Feng directly.

"Lieutenant Lin, where is the laboratory?"

Being ignored so blatantly caused Captain Wang's face to flush to the color of a pig's liver, speech stuck in his throat, neither able to go up nor down.

Lin Feng held even greater respect for this composure that remained unshaken even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him.

"Follow me, Dr. Qin is already waiting."

Passing through a bustling training zone, they arrived before a building classified as top-secret.

"The military's premier source-energy scientific laboratory," Lin Feng introduced. "The director is Dr. Qin Shanhai, a research madman with an eccentric personality, but his professional competence is unmatched."

The laboratory doors slid open.

A peculiar scent mixed with ozone, metal, and strong coffee assailed their nostrils.

The interior was in utter chaos, various precision instruments emitting faint glows piled up haphazardly, while holographic projected schematics flickered in the air.

An elderly man with graying hair and thick goggles was hunched over a colossal instrument, muttering to himself, completely oblivious to the incoming people.

"Dr. Qin," Lin Feng prompted aloud.

The old man waved impatiently without turning his head.

"Don't bother me! The energy transmission rate is wrong again! This damned source energy is just like an unruly wild girl!"

Lin Feng wore a wry smile, clearly long accustomed to this.

Too lazy to waste words, Li Hexuan directly retrieved the fragment of the source-energy core from his embrace.

Hum—!

The moment the multicolored halo illuminated, the indicator lights of every single instrument in the laboratory went wild, flashing frantically and emitting piercing, sharp alarms!

"What is that?!"

Dr. Qin jerked upright as if electrocuted, nearly launching his goggles off his face.

He stared fixedly—unblinkingly—at the fragment in Li Hexuan's hand, a light bordering on madness erupting in his turbid eyes!

The next second, moving with lightning speed unbefitting his age, Dr. Qin lunged forward, snatched the fragment right out of Li Hexuan's hand, and utterly disregarded Li Hexuan's existence.

"A miracle! This is a miracle!"

Dr. Qin cradled the fragment in both hands, the muscles in his face trembling with a mixture of shock, fanaticism, and a devotion akin to a believer beholding a deity.

"A perfect energy structure! Self-contained circulation and amplification! It... it is even breathing! Heavens! This is not a rock, this is a living energy universe!"

Babbling incoherently with excitement, he cautiously placed the fragment onto a massive, precision detection instrument.

"Activate the microscopic energy probes! Set the power to thirty percent! Quickly!"

Overawed by his imposing momentum, a researcher immediately set to work operating the machinery.

A tiny beam of energy shot toward the fragment. Yet the very instant it made contact, the energy beam was swallowed whole, only to be violently repelled outward!

Boom!

A beam of energy dozens of times thicker roared toward the other end of the laboratory, melting clean through a specialized alloy wall half a meter thick to leave a bottomless crater!

"Good heavens!"

Everyone was chilled to the bone by this terrifying energy amplification effect.

"Pandora! This is Pandora's magic stone!" Dr. Qin looked completely unhinged. "It can change everything! Weapons, abilities, the future of humanity!"

He whipped his head around, truly acknowledging Li Hexuan for the first time.

"Kid! Where did you get this thing?"

"The top of the tower," Li Hexuan answered succinctly.

Dr. Qin's gaze then landed on Su Mengyi, his brow furrowing tightly as if he had spotted something even more incredible than the fragment.

"You, come here," he beckoned to Su Mengyi.

Hesitating slightly, Su Mengyi looked toward Li Hexuan.

Li Hexuan nodded.

As Su Mengyi stepped forward, Dr. Qin signaled for her to place her hand upon the core fragment.

The exact moment her fingertips touched the fragment, the data on the detector—which had already maxed out—shattered its critical threshold in an instant! On the screen, green data streams representing life energy surged like a waterfall as countless warning lights flashed frantically!

"Resonance! It's a perfect life-energy resonance!" Dr. Qin shrieked, trembling all over with excitement. "You are not an Esper! No, you transcend the category of Espers! You... you are the key! You are the key to decoding this Tower of Source Energy, the key to decoding the origin of life!"

While Dr. Qin plunged into fanatical research, Lin Feng brought news.

"Mr. Li, after discussion among the military high command, your conditions are accepted in principle," Lin Feng's expression was grave. "However, privileges must be proven with strength. The military needs to see the value of the Thunder Squad."

He brought up a holographic map, upon which a blood-red zone was marked.