Chapter 42 The Budding Disaster

The plane landed on the helipad of the Third Shelter. Bennet straightened his collar, adjusted his hat, and stepped off the aircraft. He looked around at the scene of harmony. No riots had yet occurred here. A group of men in black suits were standing by the helipad corridor, and Huang Yu, the current head of the Third Shelter, had arrived early with his subordinates to wait for him.

"You could have just given me a call. There was no need for you to come in person," Huang Yu said respectfully.

Bennet waved his hand, signaling Huang Yu to lead the way. "I need to see a few people. It's urgent. Did you notify them?"

"I conveyed the message of the meeting according to your instructions. They are waiting for you in the conference room."

The group arrived at the core area of the shelter, turned through complex and winding corridors, and reached the conference room. Bennet had the bodyguards stay outside, and he and Huang Yu stepped into the conference room. There were three women in the room—Hela, Aurora, and Yi Ye Qing. They all turned their heads, their eyes focused on Bennet.

"Your Excellency."

Hela was expressionless and nodded slightly. Because Aurora had not been used, Hela had not gone to extremes. Although she was still cold, she did not skimp on a little respect for a figure like Bennet.

"Let's skip the small talk. I still have two experiments I haven't done today. Why did you gather us here?" Yi Ye Qing asked bluntly.

Bennet's face was serious. He took out several reports of the riot incidents, distributed them to the three, and said in a deep voice: "More than a year ago, you reported some anomalies. I didn't pay attention at the time, but the current incidents may be related to the phenomena you mentioned. You are talents left behind by Black Phantom, and you also know his disaster prophecies. I want to know your opinions."

Because Hela and the others were talents that Han Xiao had told him to take care of, Bennet did not restrict their freedom. Before Han Xiao left, Hela kept saying that she would travel the world after Aurora recovered, but Han Xiao had disappeared for more than two years, and Aurora had long since recovered. Hela had not left, but had stayed in the shelter.

Bennet naturally wouldn't drive them away.

Aurora's ability could sense life, and the vast life she had initially sensed had disappeared a few days later. However, Aurora remembered the "smell" of this life. This was one of the effects of her ability—recording life wavebands, like a unique barcode. She could easily distinguish it.

Although the vast life was only a flash in the pan, she discovered that some creatures had the smell of the vast life on them. This smell was constantly spreading, and more and more living things were being contaminated, whether plants or animals.

Aurora's voice was timid as she slowly explained the scene she felt. Bennet's face became more and more solemn.

If this was really a virus, then at least hundreds of millions of people around the world were infected... No, if the ferocious beasts and massive plants were added, the number of infections would be extremely terrifying!

Aurora looked at the others, hesitated, plucked up her courage, pointed at Huang Yu, and said softly, "He has that smell on him too."

Huang Yu's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly touched his body. "I... I don't feel anything!"

Bennet grabbed Huang Yu's shoulder with one hand, and his strength penetrated Huang Yu's body through his fingers. After probing back and forth several times, Bennet released his hand and said in a deep voice: "I can't sense any abnormalities either. What kind of virus is this? Although I don't know the principle, it seems that only Aurora can tell who is infected."

Everyone looked at Aurora. Aurora trembled, her big eyes fluttering with nervousness and anticipation, and she stammered: "C-can I help?"

Bennet really wanted to show a kind smile, but the situation was urgent, and he really couldn't smile. He had to nod with a straight face.

Aurora seemed extremely happy. She had always been taken care of, and she had long been looking forward to doing something to repay the people who helped her.

Yi Ye Qing flipped through the report, not only not surprised, but also excited. "Sure enough, my perception is correct! It wasn't a waste of my whole year of research!"

As soon as she said this, the others present immediately looked over, their expressions astonished.

"What do you mean by that?" Bennet asked.

"Follow me."

Yi Ye Qing stood up directly and couldn't wait to walk outside. The others had no choice but to follow.

Passing through a heavily guarded security zone, the group arrived at Yi Ye Qing's laboratory area. There was no one here, and even the guards did not dare to stay here, for fear of inhaling some strange chemical toxic fumes that would cause coma, nervous system disorders, hemiplegia, loss of fertility, and other adverse consequences.

Yi Ye Qing led the group to an open-air greenhouse. This was a plant nursery. Yi Ye Qing's ability was to control plants, and most of her pharmaceutical raw materials were various plants she grew herself. In this nursery, there was only one kind of plant. Its shape was a fan-shaped green leaf growing out of the soil. With such a normal appearance, ordinary people would basically not take a second look if they saw it in the wild.

"This is the Redeon Fanleaf. Its growing environment is harsh, and it is very difficult to cultivate artificially. It is an endangered plant with very little remaining in the world. However, the scarcity of the quantity does not mean that it has a high value. In fact, the Redeon Fanleaf has no medicinal function. Its only use is to be ground into a paste, cooked, and then eaten... as long as you are a herbivore. In short, this plant has almost no cultivation value."

Yi Ye Qing gave a simple introduction, leaving everyone confused.

"But you still cultivated so many. What is the purpose of bringing us to see this thing?" Bennet asked.

At this moment, Aurora stretched out her finger and curiously touched a fanleaf. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she said in surprise: "These plants are not contaminated with that smell."

Bennet was shocked and seemed to have thought of something. A look of surprise appeared on his face.

"You guessed it right. A year ago, I noticed that some plants gave me a sense of being窥视 (*kui shi*, spied upon), which caught my attention. I searched in many ways and found that this plant was the only plant that did not produce a sense of 窥视 (*kui shi*, spied upon). I don't know the specific reason for the sense of 窥视 (*kui shi*, spied upon), but I know that the Redeon Fanleaf can resist it, so I started cultivating it. Redeon Fanleaf is extremely difficult to grow, and its seeds are scarce. These fanleaves in front of you are all of them." Yi Ye Qing confirmed everyone's guess.

"Have you conducted clinical trials?"

"I have only experimented on plants. Extracting the sap of the Redeon Fanleaf and adding some auxiliary materials, the resulting potion can make the sense of 窥视 (*kui shi*, spied upon) of other plants disappear for a period of time, playing a suppressing role."

"That's great. We don't have time to delay. I don't know if the riots will happen again. I'll have people send over some isolated rioters later, and you can test whether the potion works on them."

Bennet was very decisive. At this time, he couldn't care about whether the potion had any aftereffects. He was very grateful that Yi Ye Qing had made preparations in advance, which was much better than the helpless Six Nations at this time.

"Okay, but there's something I need to tell you first. Because the number of Redeon Fanleaves is scarce, the potion production is very limited, and the juice collected at one time cannot be too much, otherwise the fanleaves will wither and die, and they cannot be used for a long time. It is very difficult to cultivate each plant."

Yi Ye Qing shrugged.

In the plot of the previous life, Yi Ye Qing did not escape from Corpse Island until after the Alienization Disaster had completely broken out. After a long period of research, she developed the formula for the inhibitor. But now, Han Xiao brought her out of Corpse Island early and gave her the freedom to research. This time, due to Han Xiao's changes to the plot, she developed the inhibitor when the Alienization Disaster had only just shown signs of emerging, which was a huge change.

The inhibitor cannot kill the Alienization Disaster, it can only temporarily contain it, but this is an extremely rare means of resistance and is very important. In the previous life, the distraught Six Nations fought red-eyed to compete for Yi Ye Qing in order to obtain the inhibitor formula.

And now Yi Ye Qing is in the Third Shelter, protected by Bennet. It is still unknown whether this will cause the shelter to be coveted by the Six Nations, but Han Xiao, who was far away, exchanged Yi Ye Qing in the first place for the purpose of long-term planning, so that the Third Shelter would be the first place to develop the inhibitor, which would attract players to flock to the shelter—he had foreseen this step long ago.

Aurora was rescued by him and was not made into sauce. Her ability to identify infected people is also an important factor in changing the plot, because the Alienization Virus is extremely latent, so after the disaster broke out, everyone became suspicious and worried that the partners around them would turn into enemies at any time, and there was no longer any trust to speak of, but Aurora could at least prevent this situation in the Third Shelter... In fact, many people would take the initiative to come to the shelter to seek this peace of mind.

Under the influence of Han Xiao, Bennet and others were able to react in advance. The Great Technician Han had already begun laying out the 2.0 version a long time ago, and the effects are gradually becoming apparent.

As the group left the nursery and walked on the road, Hela suddenly asked, "If this is the disaster he predicted... will he come back as he promised?"

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Everyone here had a close relationship with Han Xiao, and every time Black Phantom was mentioned, their faces would become very complicated.

"Maybe..." Bennet sighed.

Black Phantom said that he was going to search for a solution to the disaster in space, but he had been out of contact for two years, and no news had been sent back. They had no idea what Han Xiao had encountered in space. Space was very mysterious to them. It was another higher and farther world, which could also be said to be the "real" world, which was both curious and daunting.

Every time they looked up at the stars, they would always think that Han Xiao was there, but there was no way to contact him.

Until now, Bennet no longer had any hope.

Even Hela felt that the chance was slim. She took out the key that Han Xiao had left her and held it in her hand, her eyes drooping, covering the light in her eyes.

He may... never come back.

...

Han Xiao, who was far away in space, did not deliberately observe the situation of Aquamarine Star. He already knew the evolutionary stage of the Alienization Disaster, so there was no need to watch it in person. Time is money, and wasting time is wasting money, which is absolutely unacceptable!

In the 2.0 version, players will not reappear until a period of time after the Alienization Disaster has completely broken out. He has calculated the time, and the Alienization Disaster will show signs of emerging about one or two months before the opening of the version, and then the virus will leave the latent period, the phenomenon will begin to spread, and finally evolve into a disaster.

This is an important node for players to enter space. There are only a few opportunities in life, and if you can seize them, you can take off. Han Xiao is proceeding with preparations in an orderly manner, without distractions.

As the preparation items on Han Xiao's plan table were crossed off one by one...

The date was also gradually approaching.