Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

[The assignment you posted—"Building Requirements" has been submitted, please review it as soon as possible.]X3

The tips from the panel shimmered lonely in the darkness until Bai E woke up to take notice of them.

Wen Jie is too diligent!

"You\'re awake?"

Before him was Helen\'s face, so exquisite it dazzled from the first glance.

Bai E had gradually become accustomed to the sensation of lying on the cold experimental table.

"Your body is recovering quite quickly, and there\'s no need for any special treatment from me."

"Mm..." Bai E glanced at the panel at the progress of unlocking his talent specialty—

33% now.

Having few opportunities to get hurt, his progress in unlocking this particular talent specialty was indeed slow, yet even the unlocked portions had been a great help in his routine training and combat.

If it\'s not weak when fully unlocked, it should be quite strong.

In a moment of cautious silence, Bai E carefully inquired, "If you\'re not busy, may I go eat..."

"Wait," Helen\'s gaze was as calm as water as she focused on Bai E\'s eternally impassive expression, "I have a question for you, just a simple inquiry."

"Please ask."

"Did you utilize your full strength during the combat training?"

[Heart requests to accelerate pumping...]

[Suppress.]

In the span of a heartbeat, Bai E suppressed the panic that surged within.

Had this scholar from the Scientific Research Institute discovered something?

Fortunately, this time he truly hadn\'t held anything back.

"I did my best..." Bai E looked directly into her eyes, open and honest.

His talent for fighting was never strong, and having reserved all of his experience for advanced physical training and Yue Ying\'s archery lessons, he couldn\'t just cheat to enhance his level of expertise in combat.

He was simply unskilled.

Staring into the honesty in the depths of Bai E\'s eyes, Helen was a bit distracted.

She was willing to believe this fact, yet somewhat reluctant to accept it.

Performing poorly in combat specialty meant he lacked the inherent talent to control his body well or to grasp the timing of fights, and an individual with such flaws was ultimately not the perfect seed she was searching for.

Rose? Her talent was more all-around, certainly outstanding compared to ordinary artificial humans, but her performance wasn\'t as dazzling as Bai E\'s, and using her as the seed also felt like something was missing.

If she had never seen light, she might have endured the darkness...

Driven by her pursuit of the prime body project, for a moment Helen was more inclined to believe that the artificial human before her was hiding something.

If it was a case of concealment...

"In fact, I would prefer if you were hiding something from me."

Helen\'s sea-blue eyes quietly observed Bai E, yet unfocused, as though she was looking at the perfect seed she imagined stood behind him, "If that\'s the case, I hope you remember one thing—your actions will define your habits, your habits will define your thoughts, your thoughts will define your faith. It will determine the path of your life.

You may hide things from me, but please, do not let down humanity..."

If he was as innocent as he seemed, this statement might as well have gone unsaid; but if he was truly cunning, then these words might bring a sliver of hope to her plans in the future...

As for the project itself, let\'s put it aside for now...

Bai E\'s eyes slightly glazed over as if he were trying to commit everything to memory, "I will remember your words."

"It\'s alright, go have your meal," Helen exhaled a long breath, sealing the dust on her plans, now once again shrouded in silence.

"Goodbye, Academician."

Bai E saluted one last time, left the lab, and quickly headed toward the canteen.

Players were still waiting for him; he had to hurry. Your next journey awaits at mvl

…

Gong Yan\'s eyes slightly glazed over, recalling the words of the thugs from Black Street.

"Miss, it\'s not that we doubt anything, it\'s just that looking for concrete isn\'t free of cost for us, that\'s money out of our own pockets. Yet, you haven\'t shown us any real feedback, and you\'ve kept us in the dark about where the concrete we provided is going, which leaves us uneasy... How about giving us a bit of reassurance? What do you say?"

The small figures are cunning and ruthless, and like barefoot children, they have a singular focus and determination.

Shadowing, probing...

In just two days, for the sake of that concrete, Gong Yan and her adversaries had spun a tale reminiscent of a cop drama.

The lies she spun in desperation to escape had now entangled her with them, making it difficult to break free.

Even if she didn\'t need their concrete, as long as she needed to resupply from Black Street, she couldn\'t avoid dealing with them.

"Not giving them an explanation definitely won\'t work anymore," agreed Dai Lian, nodding his head at Gong Yan\'s concern.

"But we only have a little over 100 bullets at hand; is that useful?"

The bullets won from previous tasks had almost all been exchanged, leaving just over twenty, and the 105 bullets rewarded from the concrete task after the grown-up\'s return were still in their possession, adding up to just over a hundred in total.

Kuang Xin felt that, as a bluff linked to the military area, a mere 100 bullets seemed childish and probably wouldn\'t be enough to hold the others at bay.

"How about setting up a battlefield in advance and finishing them off?" suggested Dai Lian, a fierce look flashing in his eyes.

Playing games, after all, should be done with a smile.

To be threatened by an NPC?

"But that way we\'d also lose our supply of concrete... and it\'s dangerous," Gong Yan was reluctant.

She preferred strategizing over the brute force loved by other players, and this brought her joy.

"If only we had more bullets..."

Gong Yan\'s eyes glazed over as she pondered the possibilities with the resources and information at hand, "We\'ll see…"

"The grown-up is here..."

Gong Yan quickly nudged Kuang Xin\'s leg, "Give the clothes to the grown-up."

Kuang Xin, as if awakening from a dream, turned to get the clothes from the cave, "Oh right~"

As Bai E approached step by step, Kuang Xin didn\'t forget to murmur, "Why do I have to do it?"

Dai Lian barely moved his lips as he rebuked, "Just do it if you\'re told, no more nonsense."

"Oh~"

Seeing the three waiting, Bai E immediately smiled and asked, "Where\'s the boy?"

"Below, he doesn\'t dare to show his face," Kuang Xin was the first to reply, meanwhile, holding the clothes forward, "Grown-up, it\'s not very convenient for you to move around in military attire, so we\'ve prepared a set of clothes for you. Would you try them on?"

The military uniform might not necessarily have a logo, but it was visibly different from civilian clothing, too easily noticeable.

Bai E raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the three faces before him, yet he readily accepted.

"I\'ll try them on later."

Saying so, he headed towards the entrance of the cave below; he needed to see the boy first and then decide on some arrangements that needed to be made today.