Chapter 26: Chapter 26: The Genius of Frenzy Base

The moment he said that, all eyes instantly fell on the craftsman.

The craftsman seemed a little nervous, stuttering as he spoke. "I-it was something the guardians at Wildfire Base mentioned while chatting. I’ve never actually seen one myself..."

Li Xingye asked gently, "What’s your name? I remember them saying you have a superpower."

"Leader, my name is Lin Wei. My superpower is Mechanical Mastery, and I’ve barely reached the Third Rank."

Lin Wei was very respectful toward Li Xingye, even though he was nearly twenty years older than him.

Qiangzi, however, frowned. "You have a superpower. How did you end up getting... captured?"

Lin Wei gave a bitter smile. "I have a superpower, but my wife and child don’t. I couldn’t just abandon them. If it weren’t for you, Leader, my family would have died long ago at Wildfire Base. What I was trying to say is... Wildfire Base very likely has these kinds of Crystal Core-driven devices."

Everyone present exchanged a look, and they could all see the excitement in each other’s eyes.

If their base could obtain devices that used Crystal Cores for power, their standard of living was sure to see a massive improvement.

After Lin Qi’s death, the base had lost his Gravity Sensing superpower, which was like losing a line of defense. Now that the base’s population had nearly doubled, they needed to strengthen their defenses. With that kind of power source, the possibilities would be endless.

Unfortunately, even with a top-tier superpower user like Li Xingye holding down the fort, the base’s overall strength was still lacking.

There were too few superpower users and too many ordinary people to support.

In the past, Li Xingye had actually tried to expand the base by recruiting new superpower users. After all, with his level of strength, plenty of people were willing to join him.

But the more people there were, the more complicated things became.

After all, not everyone was like him—willing to protect a group of "useless" ordinary people in the face of food shortages.

To make matters worse, some had even suggested that Li Xingye treat those people as a "reserve food supply."

The most vocal proponent of this idea was none other than Ding Yao, who had since been exiled from the base. When he left, he took a group of like-minded people with him. It was said they all went to join Frenzy Base.

The only silver lining was that the incident made the people in the base more united. After all, the ordinary people knew that with Li Xingye, they could still be treated like human beings. If they left, however, there were no such guarantees.

As a result, Li Xingye’s enthusiasm for expanding the base had waned.

He was beginning to foresee what the outcome for his group would be if there wasn’t a new breakthrough.

It wasn’t that he was giving up, but after struggling for ten years in the apocalypse, he had finally come to calmly accept their seemingly inevitable fate.

But now, with Chi Wan’s arrival, that spark of hope in Li Xingye’s heart had slowly begun to burn brighter.

As long as they had enough food, he was confident he could protect more people.

Call it naive or call it foolish, Li Xingye was ultimately unwilling to watch everyone lose their last shred of humanity in the brutal grind of the apocalypse.

The news that Frenzy Base had developed a new type of energy device also made him realize that to save more people, expanding the base was imperative.

As Haozi listened to Lin Wei talk about the new energy devices at Wildfire Base, he seemed to have a sudden idea. He quickly tossed out, "You guys wait for me a second," then turned and ran toward the warehouse.

He returned in less than five minutes, hoisting a strangely shaped object on his shoulder.

"Master Lin, take a look. Is this what you were talking about?"

"This is..."

Haozi placed the object on the ground. It consisted of two cylinders standing side by side, almost thigh-high.

Lin Wei circled it, examining it carefully. In just a moment, he said excitedly, "This is it! It’s an igniter!"

He closed his eyes, and his hands moved with incredible dexterity, tracing the igniter’s form. In an instant, he had disassembled it into countless parts.

The most conspicuous component was the Second-tier Zombie’s Crystal Core at its center.

Perhaps because he was now in his element, Lin Wei’s timidness vanished. He excitedly held up the Crystal Core. "A Fire Ability User stores a portion of their power, and the device then uses the common properties between that power and the Crystal Core’s energy to simulate the release of an ability, thus sustaining a flame."

"Coming up with the idea is one thing, but to be able to confine an uncontrollable superpower with such precision inside this tiny device... that’s the work of a true genius. Frenzy Base must have a mechanical-control superpower user who’s at least Sixth Rank, someone with a deep understanding of how superpowers and Crystal Core energy function!"

Lin Wei struggled to suppress his excitement as he said to Li Xingye, "Leader, Frenzy Base must have more devices like this. If we could apply this technology to weapons or vehicles, our base’s security would be much greater."

Although he didn’t quite understand the principles Lin Wei was explaining, Qiangzi perfectly distilled the main point. "So, we should go to Frenzy Base and ’invite’ this person to join us?"

"You mean ’kidnap’ them," Cheng Peng said flatly. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Qiangzi waved his hand. "Can’t we be a little more civilized about it?"

Cheng Peng rolled his eyes.

Haozi, on the other hand, was more curious about something else. "Can you put it back together?"

Lin Wei nodded. "Inventing one from scratch would be hard for me, but as long as I have a sample like this, I can replicate it. The only thing is, my superpower rank isn’t high enough, so I can only make small-scale devices at most."

Li Xingye had been listening quietly the entire time. Only now did he speak up. "Then, for now, use these parts to make a Crystal Core-powered stove. As for everything else, I’ll figure out a way to get it for the base."

Lin Wei was taken aback. "Huh? Oh, oh, no problem. With a stove, cooking will be much more convenient."

Qiangzi and the other two looked at Lin Wei with pity. ’You think that’s for the base?’ they thought. ’How naive.’

Still, they were all incredibly supportive of Li Xingye’s tendency to prioritize the Space God above all else.

It wasn’t just a matter of repaying her for saving their lives; you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, after all.

Besides, they could sense a sharp drive returning to Li Xingye, something they hadn’t seen in a long time.

The three of them exchanged a look, their eyes full of eagerness. ’When the boss said he’d "figure out a way" to get things for the base... he meant *that*, right?’

*

The Space God in question had no idea what a huge surprise Li Xingye would soon have for her. She had just finished her shopping and was preparing to say goodbye to Zhou Huaijin.

Zhou Huaijin had been worried someone might bother Chi Wan again, so he had been planning to escort her home. But he relented when Chi Wan told him that Chi Yuanshan was already on his way to pick her up.

Seeing Chi Yuanshan get out of the car and walk toward them, Zhou Huaijin helped carry the various bags to the car and said with a smile, "I’m planning to head back to campus in a day or two, so I’ll see you at school... Junior Sister Wanwan."

Although Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe didn’t know why their daughter was with this young man from the Zhou family, they still politely invited him to have lunch together.

He politely declined, of course.

The family of three then parted ways with Zhou Huaijin.