Lu Heng received the alchemy furnace and books from Wu Chenzi and was also invited to stay at the academy for a night.
After dinner, Lu Heng sat in the room prepared for him and took out a voice recorder from his pocket.
He had spent the afternoon listening to Wu Chenzi enthusiastically explain many alchemy knowledge points. Fearing he might misremember or forget some details, he had taken out a voice recorder to record them, intending to organize the information into text for Lin Yu to study in the apocalypse.
Putting on earphones and connecting them to the voice recorder, Lu Heng began to sort through the knowledge.
Wu Chenzi's explanations were very detailed, likely because he wanted Lu Heng to share them with his young friend. He specifically chose to explain the most basic knowledge.
Wu Chenzi did not hold back, explaining in detail the detours and confusion he had encountered during his early days of alchemy, knowledge that was not found in the books.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Just as Lu Heng was concentrating on organizing the information, the outer door was knocked upon, and Wu Chenzi's booming voice followed.
"Young friend Lu, I forgot to give you something this afternoon. Are you resting?"
"Not yet." Lu Heng stood up and walked to the outer room to open the door for Wu Chenzi.
"I have some basic herbs here. If it's convenient, you can take them to your young friend. And... huh? What are you wearing on your ears?" Wu Chenzi said, but then paused as he looked up at Lu Heng.
Lu Heng had forgotten to remove the earphones connected to the voice recorder before coming to open the door.
How was he supposed to explain this?
Wu Chenzi had forgotten his original purpose and was carefully observing the earphones on Lu Heng's ears.
"Come in first." Lu Heng moved aside to let Wu Chenzi in.
Closing the door, Lu Heng and Wu Chenzi sat in the outer room. The laptop on the table inside had not been put away.
Perhaps feeling sleepy after a day of lessons, Lu Heng's mind hadn't fully processed the situation.
After a few minutes of silence, Lu Heng, unable to bear Wu Chenzi's gaze any longer, took out the voice recorder from his pocket.
"This is a voice recorder, it records sound. This wire is for earphones, it transmits sound."
"Can I listen to it?" Wu Chenzi, having understood Lu Heng's explanation, asked with great anticipation.
"What? Am I trapped in here? How can I hear my own voice?" Wu Chenzi exclaimed in surprise after hearing the voice from the recorder, losing his usual composure and even forgetting to refer to himself as "this old man."
"No, you didn't recognize it? These are all the things you explained this afternoon. I thought what you said was profound and feared I might forget, so I recorded it to listen to later. As you know, I have no talent for alchemy, and much of it sounds like gibberish to me."
After listening carefully for a few more moments, Wu Chenzi was finally relieved. He then took the small voice recorder and examined it closely.
"I have never heard of such an object. The novelties here, young friend, truly broaden my horizons."
Wu Chenzi carefully felt the casing of the voice recorder. He had never seen the material before; it felt hard but lacked the coolness of stone or metal.
He was astonished that such a small, dark object could record his voice so completely.
Reluctantly, he handed the voice recorder back to Lu Heng and watched as Lu Heng put it away into his spatial storage.
"You said you were going to give me some herbs earlier?" Lu Heng changed the subject, pointing to a basket of dried leaves on the table.
"Ah? Yes, these are herbs I dried myself. They are all over three years old and would be most suitable for your young friend to refine basic elixirs."
"Thank you very much then." Lu Heng took the basket of herbs and put it directly into his spatial storage.
"Uh, since the items have been delivered, I will take my leave. Young friend, you should rest early."
"Alright."
After seeing Wu Chenzi off, who was reluctant to leave, Lu Heng closed the door.
Back in the inner room, he put his laptop into his spatial storage as well. It seemed best to use these items within his spatial storage. Otherwise, if he exposed too many things that didn't belong to this world again, explaining them would be too troublesome.
With Wu Chenzi's interruption, Lu Heng lost the mood to organize the materials. He took off his outer clothes and lay down on the bed to sleep.
At dawn, as soon as the sky brightened, Lu Heng hurried to get up. He had to return to the city soon. Du Feng had returned the remaining crystals to him yesterday, and he planned to sell crystals here in the morning before returning to the apocalypse to handle city affairs in the afternoon.
...
Within Wuming City.
Lin Yu was reporting yesterday's situation to Lu Heng. He knew that if Lu Heng couldn't be found in the city, he must have returned to that other world.
Fortunately, Wuming City was very lively now, and there were many matters he had to handle on Lu Heng's behalf.
After upgrading the initial three hundred people, Lu Heng no longer directly interacted with the people below. He would place the resources needed for exchange in the city into Lin Yu's storage ring.
Lu Heng had also left Lin Yu many weapons that could enhance attributes and abilities. If he couldn't return in time, Lin Yu could handle everything himself.
"Yesterday afternoon, another two thousand people arrived in the city."
"So many? Were they all in one group?"
"No, they arrived in several waves. However, there were fewer people with families among them; many were lone ability users."
"Hmm, in the future, if more people arrive, you can arrange their accommodation by mixing them up. Just record the arrival date and personal information, and create electronic files for them, including their photos."
Lu Heng was worried that these people might have been organized groups before coming to Wuming City. By scattering their accommodations, he could prevent them from quickly sharing information in this era without communication.
Over time, this would further dismantle these groups.
He did not want an organization stronger than his own to emerge in his city.
"You should also pay close attention. Select some reliable people from those who have been promoted to administrators to help you manage the city's affairs. Don't try to do everything yourself; you'll wear yourself out. As for who is reliable, you can bring the Director with you; the Director can help you pick them out."
To this day, Lu Heng had not told anyone about the Director's mind-reading ability. He had also instructed the Director that if anyone discovered its ability and it had no other means of self-protection, it could easily become a target for certain individuals.
"This is the alchemy furnace I got for you, along with some herbs. Keep them first, and when you have time, you can practice refining some simple elixirs." Lu Heng took out the herbs and the alchemy furnace from his spatial storage.
"Thank you, Brother Lu. I've memorized all those books. I'll try them tonight."