107: Chapter 107 Searching for Stones in the Gobi Desert

It was already 2:30 PM when he left the medical base, and the sunlight on the Gobi Desert was a blinding white.

Chen Fan drove the mengshi off-road vehicle back into that desolate world. Outside the window, the mounds of the Yardang landforms distorted in the heat waves, their edges blurring until they looked like mirages suspended in the air from a distance.

The tires crunched over the coarse sand and gravel, making a continuous rustling sound, while the long trail of dust kicked up behind the car rose straight up in the windless noon air.

Xiao Zhi floated above the passenger seat, its droplet-shaped surface swirling with faint blue light patterns that flickered like breathing. It was scanning for Star Core signals within a thirty-kilometer radius at maximum power, updating the coordinate map every few minutes.

“Boss, we have arrived at the first marked point,” Xiao Zhi’s voice was steady and clear.

Chen Fan stopped the car and pushed the door open, stepping into the heat wave. The ground temperature exceeded fifty degrees Celsius; he could feel the scorching heat through the rubber soles of his shoes. He took an entrenching tool out of the trunk.

Selecting the right spot, Chen Fan took a deep breath and swung the shovel to start digging.

His enhanced physical fitness made his work efficiency extremely high. Every shovel stroke went deep into the ground, bringing up large chunks of compacted sandy soil. In less than ten minutes, a pit two meters deep had taken shape. The entrenching tool made a light "clink" when it struck a hard object.

He crouched down and brushed away the loose soil with his hands, revealing a corner of a dull black stone surface. It was the unique color of a meteorite, as if it had absorbed all the surrounding light.

Chen Fan lightly pressed both hands against the exposed meteorite surface and closed his eyes.

Mental Power reached out like invisible tentacles, seeping into the interior of the stone.

The absorption began.

A faint warm current surged from his palms, spreading up his arms and permeating every inch of muscle and every nerve. Then, the warm current became turbulent, like a river with opened gates, washing through every corner of Chen Fan's body. He felt his consciousness expanding and his perception extending.

In his mind, the Amplification system interface quietly updated:

[Star Core energy absorbing... Current progress 12%...]

[Mental Power index increased to 31% of the baseline...]

[Energy Vision range expanded to a 50-meter radius...]

Five minutes later, the golden light stream inside the meteorite completely dimmed, turning it into ordinary rock. Chen Fan withdrew his hands; when he opened his eyes, a flash of dark gold light vanished in the depths of his pupils.

“Next one,” he stood up and patted the dust off his hands.

For the next five hours, Chen Fan drove through the Gobi Desert, digging and absorbing at each of the eight coordinate points marked by Xiao Zhi.

As he absorbed more and more meteorite energy, Chen Fan could clearly feel the changes in himself.

It wasn't just the growth of his Mental Power. His muscle density was increasing, his bones were quietly strengthening, and his neural reaction speed had become fast enough to see every frame of a fly's wingbeat. Even more wonderful was that his control over energy was becoming more refined—now he could not only perceive Star Core radiation but also distinguish the difference in energy "purity" between different meteorites.

“Boss, there is an abnormality at the seventh coordinate point,” Xiao Zhi suddenly issued a warning as Chen Fan drove near the penultimate marked point. “High-concentration biological contamination residue detected. Suggesting increased alertness.”

Chen Fan slowed down. Ahead was a relatively flat stretch of Gobi Desert with a shallow pit in the center where a meteorite lay.

There were several dark red bloodstains on the meteorite that had already dried and turned black. Even more striking were the claw marks—each was the size of a bowl, showing the creature's massive size and staggering explosive power.

“These claw marks... they're more than twice the size of the wolf from yesterday.” Chen Fan crouched down to examine them closely. The edges of the claw marks were clear and the depth was uniform, indicating the creature that left them was very heavy but had a light gait. “Freshness: no more than six hours.”

After finishing the collection at the seventh point, he drove to the eighth coordinate point.

It was a massive crater, over a hundred meters in diameter, with steep walls in a perfect bowl shape. In the center of the pit, a huge black meteorite was half-buried in the soil; the part exposed above ground was the size of a small car. The meteorite's surface was covered in honeycomb-like natural holes, giving off an eerie matte finish under the sunlight.

Most striking was the area surrounding the meteorite—the ground was charred in a radial pattern, and the rocks had melted and then resolidified, forming a glassy, smooth surface. These were the marks left by the incredible heat released during the meteorite's high-speed impact.

[High-purity Star Core energy detected in the target meteorite. Estimated content is more than three times the total collected today,] Xiao Zhi reported. [But warning: unknown microbial colonies detected on the meteorite surface. Energy characteristics show similarities to Aberration contamination sources.]

Chen Fan did not approach rashly. He stood at the edge of the pit and activated his Energy Vision to observe carefully.

Inside the meteorite, the golden energy light stream was like boiling magma, with an activity level more than ten times that of the previous fragments. But on the meteorite's surface, a layer of dark green biofilm was attached, looking like moss but slowly writhing. In his Energy Vision, this biofilm emitted a turbid, unsettling vibration.

“Parasitic organism? Or a microbe that came with the meteorite?” Chen Fan frowned.

He picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the meteorite.

The moment the pebble landed on the biofilm, the dark green membrane suddenly writhed, extending several hair-thin tentacles to wrap the pebble and drag it into the membrane. A few seconds later, the tentacles retracted, and the outline of the pebble was clearly visible under the membrane—it was being slowly dissolved.

Chen Fan took a sharp breath. If a person touched that... “I can't make direct contact.” He made a judgment. “Xiao Zhi, analyze the weaknesses of this biofilm.”

The scanning beam focused: [Biofilm main components are protein-polysaccharide complexes, structured similarly to fungal hyphae but containing unknown metallic elements. Weakness: sensitive to high-frequency vibrations, weak resistance to Strong Oxidants. Suggesting the use of physical isolation methods to collect the meteorite.]

Physical isolation... Chen Fan thought of the space jade pendant.

Chen Fan focused his mind, locking his intent onto the giant meteorite at the bottom of the pit. In his field of vision, the outline of the meteorite glowed slightly, establishing an invisible connection with him.

“Collect.”

Silently, the meteorite weighing several tons disappeared from the bottom of the pit, leaving only a deep hole in its place. At the same time, Chen Fan felt a slight vibration inside the space jade pendant—the meteorite had been safely stored.

He let out a long sigh of relief. This ability was even more useful than he had expected.

Next, Chen Fan also collected several smaller meteorites scattered around the pit into the jade pendant one by one. These fragments ranged from the size of a basketball to the size of a fist, but all without exception were covered in that dark green biofilm. Under the isolation of the space jade pendant, they should be unable to spread.

By the time he finished the collection, the sun was already low in the west. Twilight in the Gobi Desert came extremely fast; the sky turned from a blinding azure to a warm orange-yellow, and then quickly took on a faint purple hue.

Chen Fan drove back. On the way, he stopped at a small convenience store near the “Desert Solitary Smoke” guesthouse—it was a simple building made of corrugated iron and wooden boards, with a faded “General Merchandise” sign hanging at the door.

The shopkeeper was a Northwest old man in his sixties who was drinking cheap white liquor with peanuts. When he saw Chen Fan come in, he merely lifted an eyelid.

“Boss, how much mineral water do you have left?” Chen Fan asked.

“Ten full cases, and... about twenty loose bottles,” the old man said vaguely.

“I'll take them all.”

The old man perked up at this, put down his liquor bottle, and briskly started moving the goods. The trunk was packed to the brim.

Chen Fan parked the car in a spot and performed an Amplification on the mineral water.

[Detectable item for Amplification: Ordinary mineral water]

[Proceed with random Amplification?]

[Batch Amplification triggered: “Super Disinfection and Sterilization” special effect + “Tissue Repair Promotion” effect + “Omega Virus Suppression” specific effect]

In Chen Fan's perception, every bottle of water was undergoing a subtle change. The bottles shimmered with a faint blue glow in the sunset; when he twisted a cap, he could smell an extremely fresh scent similar to ozone.

When Zhao Mingyuan sent people tomorrow, these would be vital supplies for fighting Aberration infections.

By the time he returned to the “Desert Solitary Smoke” guesthouse, the sky was completely dark. There was no light pollution in the Gobi night sky; the Milky Way spanned the heavens like a glowing veil, and the stars were so dense they were dizzying.

Chen Fan parked the car in the backyard but didn't rush into the house. He stood in the center of the yard, looking up at the starry sky.

The Star Core fragments collected today, especially that massive meteorite, were enough to take his strength up another level. But at the same time, the abnormal behavior of the Aberrations, the parasitic organisms on the meteorite, and that ominous premonition... Chen Fan amplified a Strong Oxidant and poured it all into the space meteorite to deal with the microorganisms attached to it.