167: Chapter 167 Acceptance of Results

The night was deep, but the hall of the Cloud Top Fortress was lit with a warm, cozy glow.

Zhou An sat cross-legged on the soft carpet, holding a rattle in his hand, teasing Zhang Kong, who was lying in the baby playpen.

"Come here, Xiao Kong, look this way."

Zhou An shook the rattle in his hand.

Zhang Kong, only a few months old, was clearly much smarter than the average infant of the old era.

His big, dark eyes precisely captured Zhou An's movements. Upon recognizing the man who often held him, he immediately let out a crisp "giggle," his toothless little mouth splitting into a bright smile as he excitedly waved his chubby little hands, begging to be held.

At first, watching the child laugh foolishly at everyone and grin non-stop, Zhou An, a grown man who had never raised a child, had privately muttered to Dr. Shen, worrying whether the child might have congenital intellectual disabilities like Down syndrome.

As a result, Shen Xingyue had speechlessy tossed him a full-dimensional genetic test report, indicating that the child was not only healthy but that his gene activity was far superior to that of an ordinary person.

"Click!"

Just as Zhou An handed the rattle over, Zhang Kong grabbed the metal handle.

With a crisp sound, the specially made alloy handle, which could withstand over a hundred jin of tension, was actually deformed by the chubby little hand of the few-month-old infant!

"This kid's strength is getting more and more ridiculous."

Zhou An casually tossed the ruined rattle into the trash can, skillfully supported Zhang Kong under his armpits, and lifted him high.

Zhang Kong was completely unable to precisely control his strength and often crushed surrounding toys whenever he got excited.

However, this was understandable. As a human newborn born in this airspace, from the moment he was in the womb, the mother had absorbed the best nutrition. After birth, although he could not directly eat high-tier exotic beast meat, Old Zhang and Lin Qing used legendary grade ingredients every day to refine gentle baby food to feed him.

Under such top-tier resource piling without regard for cost, the child's bone density and muscle strength had long since surpassed the scope of traditional humans.

Looking at the giggling Zhang Kong in his arms, a glimmer of anticipation flashed in Zhou An's deep eyes.

He sometimes wondered what terrifying heights this "native" child, who had grown up entirely nourished by dense energy and legendary grade food, would eventually reach in the future.

...

Unlike the cozy atmosphere in the hall, the medical room was currently filled with the faint scent of disinfectant and blood.

Hila, who had gone out for training, had returned.

She was shirtless, sitting on the medical bed, with several fierce claw marks added to her fair back and left arm, and a faint burning sensation still lingering at the edges of the wounds.

However, the expression on her face was excited, without the slightest dejection from being injured.

Shen Xingyue, wearing sterile gloves, skillfully and gently used a cotton swab dipped in high-tier recovery fluid to clean the necrotic tissue from her wounds.

"You ran quite far this time, who did you run into? These wounds have a burst attribute; they don't look like they were caused by ordinary monsters."

Shen Xingyue asked casually while treating the wounds.

"I was lucky, I ran into an expedition team from the Dragonman Guild."

Hila's deep cyan eyes flashed with bright fighting spirit, and she excitedly waved her uninjured right fist: "The leader was a Tier 5 early-stage Dragonman, with exaggerated strength and thick skin. But... he still wasn't faster than me. They couldn't beat me even all together. I took out their captain with one spear strike, and the rest all ran away!"

Watching Hila looking as proud as a little swan, Shen Xingyue couldn't help but chuckle: "I know you're amazing. But actual combat training is one thing; don't joke around with your own body."

Shen Xingyue deftly bandaged her wounds, her tone then turning somewhat serious, like a worried older sister: "Those life-saving injections and Moon-Glitter Grade recovery fluids that the Boss gave you before leaving—use them when you need to, don't be stingy. Our fortress doesn't have much else, but the Boss is rich, and supplies are plentiful. I prepared those medicines for you to use at critical moments, not for you to keep as family heirlooms, understand?"

"I know, Dr. Shen, I just thought it was a minor skin injury, using that high-grade medicine would be such a waste."

Hila stuck out her tongue and nodded obediently.

"Alright, the wounds are treated."

Shen Xingyue took off her gloves and picked up the holographic recording board.

"Don't go out for the next few days; rest honestly in the fortress for a day or two. I need to record your various physiological data after this Tier 5 high-intensity combat."

Shen Xingyue adjusted her glasses and added rigorously: "With this combat data, I can readjust the genetic agent ratio for your next stage; at the same time, I need to synchronize the data with Uncle Zhang so he can tailor new high-energy nutritional meals for you based on your current consumption."

"Got it!"

Hila put on her coat, leaped off the medical bed, and walked out the door lively.

"Then I'll just go find Sister Ning to play for these two days, and by the way, see if she has tinkered with any new, powerful tactical items in the lab recently!"

...

In the blink of an eye, another month flew by.

During this month, everything at the Cloud Top Fortress and the White Feather Guild went smoothly, and it could even be said that they had entered a staggering period of high-speed development.

During this time, although Zhou An seemed to do nothing but eat and sleep every day, bored out of his mind, in reality, he had not stopped "harvesting leeks" from the regional trading market for a single moment.

Using his vast reserve of supplies, he frantically engaged in buying low and selling high, hoarding and reselling.

Relying on his top-tier vision and keen market sense, his assets saw a terrifying surge.

In just one short month, Zhou An had managed to turn the initial two billion-plus in basic deposit supplies into a full five point two billion in Tier 5 unit supplies!

After finishing his daily reselling routine, Zhou An had nothing to do, so he strolled over to the core cultivation chamber managed by Li Muzi, preparing to inspect the recent production situation.

As soon as he stepped into the cultivation chamber, a dense aura rushed towards him; taking a breath made his whole body feel comfortable.

After this month of large-scale adjustments and Zhou An's system ability upgrades, this place had long undergone earth-shaking changes.

The large areas of epic grade crops had been completely eliminated; now, in the cultivation chamber, a full eighty percent of the area had been replaced with legendary grade crops emitting colorful halos.

Looking around, in the vast four-thousand-square-meter planting area, four types of top-tier crops were neatly divided into plots:

The blood crystal spirit wheat, crystal clear like rubies; the wind spirit berry, emitting miniature cyclones; the Star Spirit Marrow Rice, with every grain as brilliant as the stars; and the Glow Jade Dew Fruit, as gentle and moist as jade.

And in the very center of this legendary grade crop area, there was a special five-hundred-square-meter core zone.

What was planted there were all Moon-Glitter Grade heaven-defying spirit plants that Zhou An had upgraded with his own hands! All of them emitted a sacred, bright light.

Zhou An stood by the ridge, watching Li Muzi, who was controlling drones in the field for precise pest control, and instinctively calculated the terrifying profits of this farm in his mind.

"According to the current planting density, an average of about ten crops can be planted per square meter."

"In the four-thousand-square-meter legendary grade planting area, with the four crops divided equally, that totals forty thousand legendary grade spirit plants. According to Muzi's previous report, legendary grade crops like the blood crystal spirit wheat can stably produce one jin per plant each day. Just in this legendary grade area alone, the daily net production is a staggering forty thousand jin!"

"And that five-hundred-square-meter Moon-Glitter Grade area, although the growth cycle is longer and each plant only produces one jin every three days, with a total of five thousand plants, it can still provide nearly sixteen hundred jin of Moon-Glitter Grade treasures every day!"

"Boss, how do you have time to come over?"

Li Muzi, wearing a capable waterproof work suit, wiped the fine sweat from her forehead. Seeing Zhou An standing on the ridge in a daze, she immediately put down the holographic control board in her hand and walked up with a gentle smile.

"I was idle, so I came to check on your situation."

Zhou An came back to his senses and praised with a smile: "Well done, this yield is really a bit scary."

Hearing the Boss's praise, a glimmer of proud joy flashed in Li Muzi's eyes, and then she handed Zhou An a Glow Jade Dew Fruit that had just been picked.

Zhou An took the fruit and took a bite. The sweet juice instantly burst in his mouth, turning into pure energy that merged into his limbs and bones.

"By the way, Old Zhang's daily production capacity is soaring, can your raw materials keep up?"

Zhou An asked while eating the fruit, "How is the planting situation in those two mobile factories converted from LV3 transport ships outside?"

Mentioning the factories outside, Li Muzi adjusted her glasses and reported rigorously: "The raw materials are fully supplied; after all, our internal production of four thousand five hundred square meters is already terrifying."

"As for those two warship farms taken over by the Winged Tribe brothers outside..." Li Muzi paused and explained.

"The area there is indeed much larger than ours, with a full ten thousand square meters of planting space. However, since it is a temporary conversion of a warship, the soil activity, aura concentration, and temperature control conditions are far inferior to our system's built-in cultivation chamber, so the crop growth cycle there will be much longer."

"But fortunately, there is enough manpower, and those one hundred and fifty Winged Tribe brothers work hard. After a month of cultivation, the first batch of crops in the outer farm has finally started to mature on a large scale in the last few days."

Li Muzi opened the holographic data board, showing the harvest situation outside: "It's just that because our reserve of [legendary grade] crop seeds is insufficient, we cannot cover the entire ten thousand square meters at once. So currently, in the outer farm, the legendary grade and epic grade crops are about half and half. But even so, the raw materials provided daily are enough to keep Uncle Zhang's processing assembly line running around the clock."

After inspecting the basic crop planting area, Zhou An followed Li Muzi to the deepest part of the cultivation chamber—the five-hundred-square-meter medicinal plant area.

This was the only source of high-tier medicines for the Cloud Top Fortress, and also the source of confidence for Shen Xingyue to constantly create medical miracles.

As soon as he stepped into this area, the aura concentration in the air had even condensed into a faint mist. The medicinal plants here were rare, each starting at legendary grade. And in the core array of the medicinal garden, several Moon-Glitter Grade divine objects emitting astonishing fluctuations were quietly rooted.

"Boss, these four Moon-Glitter Grade medicinal plants are currently in a very stable growth state."

Li Muzi pointed to the plants emitting various divine lights and reported, familiar with them like counting family treasures:

The Moon-Soul Bone-Sculpting Flower is pure white like the moon and is the core main material for refining limb regeneration and genetic remodeling agents.

The Thunder-Tribulation Sun-Flame Grass has fine golden arcs jumping on its leaves, containing domineering yang energy, used to forcibly stimulate the heart activity of those near death.

The Frost-Condensing Lotus grows in a special ultra-cold petri dish and can instantly freeze the spiritual energy runaway of severely injured personnel, protecting brain neurons.

The Soul-Returning Vine is dark purple all over, very rare, and mainly used to repair soul and consciousness trauma.

"These Moon-Glitter Grade treasures, although the collection interval is relatively long, taking several months to extract the medicinal essence once, fortunately, we are currently basically self-sufficient within the fortress."

Li Muzi adjusted her glasses.

"We haven't experienced any large-scale casualties recently, so there is still plenty of stock in the storage space, enough to cope with emergencies."

Zhou An nodded with satisfaction. This five-hundred-square-meter medicinal garden was his biggest asset for survival in this dangerous Cangyun Airspace.

After seeing the medicinal garden, Zhou An remembered the exotic beast meat that changed patterns every day on the dining table, and asked casually: "How is the livestock industry doing lately? I remember they were all placed on the first floor of the fortress, right?"

"Yes, Boss, you will know when you go and see."

Li Muzi gave a wry smile and took Zhou An by elevator to the first floor.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a burst of noisy beast roars and poultry calls rushed towards them.

The entire five-thousand-square-meter wide space was scientifically divided into several large free-range areas.

Looking around, the massive Gale Horned Bulls were leisurely ruminating, the Rock-Wool Spirit Sheep covered in thick, rock-like wool were jumping on the artificial mountain, the Water Jade Ducks with feathers like jade were swimming in the pool, and herds of plump Scaled-Skin Fragrant Pigs and the hot-tempered Explosive Flame Chickens were running on the grass.

The entire pasture was well-managed by Li Muzi, and there wasn't even the slightest strange odor.

However, Zhou An keenly discovered a problem—it was simply too crowded here. Even in a few dim corners, quite a few Horned Bulls and Fragrant Pigs were engaging in frequent mating and reproduction without any restraint.

"This breeding speed... isn't it a bit exaggerated?"

Zhou An raised an eyebrow.

"This is all thanks to Xingyue."

Li Muzi explained helplessly.

"A while ago, she felt that the output of exotic beast meat couldn't keep up with our consumption rate, so she directly prepared a batch of genetic catalysts mixed into the feed, forcibly changing the breeding cycle and ovulation speed of these exotic beasts. Now they are giving birth too much and too fast; this five-thousand-square-meter space is severely overloaded."

"The space is indeed not enough."

Zhou An rubbed his chin.

"So yesterday I took the liberty of contacting Ivy."

Li Muzi was reliable and forward-thinking.

"I asked her to see if the White Feather Guild could free up another warship with a large hold space to be converted specifically for our outer grazing field."

"Well done, that's thoughtful."

Zhou An couldn't help but give a thumbs up, then laughed at himself a bit embarrassedly.

"As a boss, I've really completely turned into a hands-off manager who just waits to eat and die."

"It is our duty to share your burdens."

Li Muzi smiled gently, then called up the current meat production data:

"Under Xingyue's genetic catalysis and top-tier feed, the growth and meat production cycles of the cows, sheep, and pigs have now been significantly shortened to one month. Every month when they reach adulthood and are ready for slaughter:

Each Gale Horned Bull can produce one thousand jin of top-tier clean meat, plus high-tier by-products such as horns and hides. About eighty can be slaughtered each month.

Each Scaled-Skin Fragrant Pig produces five hundred jin of meat, with one hundred slaughtered monthly.

Each Rock-Wool Spirit Sheep produces one hundred jin of meat, with two hundred slaughtered monthly."

Zhou An quickly went over the data in his mind. Each month, just these three types of main livestock could provide nearly one hundred and fifty thousand jin of top-tier exotic beast meat! Once the outer warship pasture was implemented, this number would see a terrifying surge.

"It seems that expanding the space is the top priority."

Zhou An looked at Li Muzi and asked with concern, "Once the outer warship pasture is built, you definitely won't be able to manage running back and forth. Do you need me to have the White Feather Guild recruit a new batch of assistants to help you manage the pasture?"

"Not for now."

Li Muzi shook her head, a glimmer of a smile flashing in her eyes.

"Recently, while arranging work for those one hundred and fifty Winged Tribe members, I unexpectedly discovered that several young Winged Tribe warriors have quite good talent in plant affinity and animal domestication."

Li Muzi adjusted her glasses, clearly having already made long-term plans: "I plan to pick them out individually and train them personally by my side. Once the warship pasture is ready, they can directly take up their posts to share the pressure for me, and it will also save a sum of additional recruitment labor costs."