Chapter 181: Developing the Camp
Zhou Ming stayed at Qinghui Base with Su Mei for five days.
After returning to the camp, Su Mei went back to Qinghui Base alone.
This time, her task upon leaving the camp was to deliver thirty Sapphire Fish into the hands of Scorpion-Lion, while also bringing back the next batch of resources.
After Su Mei left, Zhou Ming placed his main focus on himself.
At the central island of the underground lake, Zhou Ming began constructing an independent laboratory that belonged solely to himself.
For the sake of secrecy, the establishment of the laboratory was completed entirely by him alone.
However, with the camp providing the necessary resources, and coupled with his experience from constructing the Snake Valley laboratory, the laboratory on the lake’s central island was completed very quickly.
As for the various instruments, he naturally had the Han Family help deliver them.
In any case, Zhou Ming still had more than three thousand Source Crystal Coins on hand, which was more than enough to support the current expenditure.
The electricity required by the laboratory was supplied by pulling a dedicated power line directly from the camp.
At the same time, a short-distance wired telephone was installed, allowing Zhou Ming to receive messages from the camp at any time.
If he had any instructions, he could also directly issue orders to Lu Tao and the others through the telephone.
Several days later, as Su Mei returned with the resources Zhou Ming required, the laboratory on the lake’s central island became even more complete, and the resources provided by Scorpion-Lion allowed him to cultivate with peace of mind.
After no longer worrying about resources, Zhou Ming focused most of his energy on three areas: meditation, snake venom research experiments, and Sapphire Fish breeding.
Meditation to improve spiritual power was the foundation of beast taming.
Zhou Ming naturally did not dare to slack off in the slightest, because strength was the fundamental basis of everything.
As for snake venom, it was a killing method that Zhou Ming directly controlled.
Whether it was understanding his own venom or increasing its toxicity, he needed to invest time and energy into it.
It was precisely because of this plan that he handed over the research on the Ironthread Snake’s genetic structure diagram to Su Ningfeng, so that he could free up his own energy to study snake venom.
As for the Sapphire Fish, they were currently the only precious resource that Zhou Ming had under his control.
How to maintain the population size of the Sapphire Fish was also an extremely important task.
After all, if he wanted to obtain more precious resources from Scorpion-Lion, the quantity of Sapphire Fish he provided would definitely have to increase.
Even if his relationship with Scorpion-Lion was quite good, the Duanmu Family would not allow him to arbitrarily mobilize various rare resources.
Zhou Ming was very clear about this matter.
As Zhou Ming began to cultivate in seclusion and carry out his own research, the camp at the underground dark river did not stop changing either.
According to the plan Zhou Ming had formulated, aside from collecting and hunting basic resources in the wilderness, the External Affairs Department would, on every outing, also look for Wildfolk wandering around the vicinity of Qinghui Base.
Aside from the underground world and Wildfolk who had already established their own bases, other Wildfolk who wanted to survive could not do without Alliance bases.
This was not only because of the various supplies they needed, but also because the areas around the bases were safer.
The ten kilometers outside the base city walls belonged to the safe zone, mainly used to plant various crops to provide grain and vegetables for the base, as well as other economic crops, such as the cotton required by the Han Family’s textile industry.
Within this area, City Defense Army patrol teams could be seen at any time, and hunters who engaged in underhanded dealings generally would not act in this region.
As for the thirty kilometers beyond the safe zone, under normal circumstances there would be no high-tier Ferocious Beasts appearing.
Most were mutated animals and a small number of low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
Only such an environment allowed the Wildfolk, who lacked firearms, ammunition, and heavy firepower, to survive.
Within this range, large and small Wildfolk camps were hidden, surviving like rats underground.
There were no high-level talents that Zhou Ming needed among the Wildfolk, but ordinary talents were sufficient.
Even finding someone who could serve as an assistant to Su Ningfeng would be a considerable gain.
As an external operations squad that originated from the Wildfolk, they naturally knew how to find these Wildfolk.
Especially some Wildfolk who went out to collect resources—once they were caught by the external operations squad and learned that the squad was also of Wildfolk origin, and that they were joining a force established by a great person,
Heh, sorry about that.
The captured Wildfolk did not hesitate at all and immediately became guides.
Everyone knew that if one wanted to gain more benefits after joining an unfamiliar force, one had to submit a pledge of allegiance.
Wildfolk who had experienced hunger, lack of clothing, and constant fear of being captured and turned into slaves felt no guilt at all about becoming informants.
Under such circumstances, the scale of the underground dark river camp began to expand at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In order to accommodate the newly joined Wildfolk, Lu Tao had no choice but to search for new caves along the dark river and arrange for people to begin constructing various facilities.
However, when it came to treatment, Lu Tao, who understood human nature, still made distinctions.
Except for those who possessed decent strength or special skills.
As for those who caused trouble and did not abide by the rules, they would be directly locked up and then sent by the Snake Guards to the underground lake to completely disappear.
For these ungrateful Wildfolk, very few people cared whether they lived or died.
Whatever fate befell them was entirely of their own making, and as a result, no panic arose within the camp.
As for the Snake Guards, after Li Hu obtained the equipment provided by Zhou Ming, he followed Zhou Ming’s instructions and led the team to temper their combat strength in the wilderness.
Generally, only four Snake Guards were left in the camp—two responsible for taking care of and protecting Su Ningfeng, and two responsible for obeying Zhou Ming’s commands.
At present, within the camp, only Snake Guards who had undergone Bloodline Modification were qualified to enter the underground lake.
Aside from delivering various supplies to Zhou Ming, Wildfolk who committed offenses were also escorted there by the Snake Guards on duty.
Amid the vigorous development of the camp, half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and the cold winter arrived once again.
The underground lake was no longer pitch-black.
Bright lights flickered on the central island of the lake.
On the previously barren island, a two-story small building had already appeared.
Bedroom, living room, study room, bathroom, laboratory, storage room—everything that should be there was present.
It could be said that although the sparrow was small, it possessed all its vital organs.
This small building was constructed by the Snake Guards with great effort after Zhou Ming agreed to allow them to enter the underground lake.
After all, as various instruments and resources were transported to the island, the original laboratory was no longer sufficient to support Zhou Ming’s needs.
Inside the largest laboratory on the second floor, Zhou Ming wore a lab coat and sat beside an electron microscope, observing the venom that he had separated through a centrifuge.
This was something he had spent a great deal of effort specially formulating, then purifying through the centrifuge and other tools.
“Penetration has increased by 30% compared to before.
Although the toxicity hasn’t improved much, it still counts as the greatest gain of these past six months.”
Through the microscope, Zhou Ming observed the snake venom penetrating a specially made membrane.
A trace of barely perceptible delight surfaced on his otherwise indifferent expression.
After a Beast Tamer advanced to a professional rank, they began to grasp transcendental power themselves, and could isolate toxins through various means.
For example, the Scarlet Crystal Barrier that Qi Shouwu used back then could completely block the purple poisonous mist that Zhou Ming had used.
The enhancement of the snake venom’s penetration meant that the venom became difficult to guard against, and ordinary gas masks were completely useless.
However, in order to test the improved snake venom, Zhou Ming immediately picked up a test tube and walked toward the small compartment behind him.
That room was fully sealed, and entry and exit required dust removal and bacterial cleansing.
At the same time, it concealed the greatest sin within the laboratory.
Dark caves, solitary research, touching upon the dark side of scientific research—the cold indifference that had once disappeared from Zhou Ming gradually resurfaced.
However, at regular intervals, Zhou Ming would take out Lei Yuan’s photograph.
His current state of mind was still unable to completely avoid being influenced by the external environment.
He could only maintain himself by relying on emotional attachment.
In the process of pursuing powerful strength, how to maintain one’s self was something every Beast Tamer had to face, especially someone like Zhou Ming, who participated in various dark experiments.