137: Section 137

"The specific principles are complex and can't be explained clearly in a short time."

Mark continued to ask: "Besides the shielding system, you also have a way to hide your presence, which can also block the Phage Beasts' perception."

"You're talking about Returning to Origin." Bai Yuekui glanced at Ulaanbaatar.

He explained: "The state of Returning to Origin is achieved by sealing off one's own life source essence fluctuations, making us temporarily 'invisible' to the Phage Beasts' perception. To achieve this, long-term training is required. Just the first step of controlling emotions takes most people a long time to achieve. If you want to learn Returning to Origin, you must be mentally prepared for a long process!"

"What about stimulating potential?"

Stimulating Source Essence Potential was explained by Xia Tianlai: "Research on life source essence had a certain foundation even in the old world era. The old world technology preserved by your Lighthouse should also include research on life source essence."

"We all know that emotions make our life source essence easier for Phage Beasts to detect, but emotions also generate Willpower, which prompts the brain to produce a unique bio-electromagnetic field. When the intensity reaches a certain level, it can cause the life source essence to enter a turbulent state, thereby allowing us to stimulate the hidden energy of the human body."

"This process will be extremely painful. If one can persevere, the protein parts in the genes that are never involved in coding will be activated, allowing us to obtain special abilities."

Everyone else was confused; only Jing Yuan asked: "Is the activation of a Supernatural Ability random?"

Chapter 140: Entering Dragon Bone Village

Xia Tianlai continued to explain: "In the history of biological evolution, organisms evolved various abilities to cope with different environments. In the inheritance from generation to generation, some genes were hidden and not expressed."

"And what we do is simply allow these non-expressed genes to be expressed again. As for the abilities after activation, they are completely random."

Jing Yuan continued to ask: "After stimulating potential, will the abilities continue to get stronger?"

"When you gradually master these abilities, you will naturally continue to get stronger."

Jing Yuan shook his head and asked: "I mean, for an Ability User who has stimulated their potential, is there an upper limit to their power?"

"Of course there's an upper limit!" Bai Yuekui said, "Nothing grows without end!"

Jing Yuan fell into silence.

Bai Yuekui looked at Mark and said: "The shielding system, Returning to Origin, and Awakened Practitioners—these are what we rely on to live on The Surface. Since you want to cooperate, we will naturally share these results with you."

"Thank you very much!"

"However..." Bai Yuekui said, "Our Dragon Bone Village only has a few hundred people, and our production system can only support the survival of a few hundred. But your Lighthouse has tens of thousands. Your lifestyle relies on collecting supplies from The Surface, but if you stay here for a long time, you won't be able to continue collecting supplies."

The few people from the Lighthouse fell silent.

Jing Nan looked at Mark and said: "To maintain the lives of tens of thousands of people, the required supplies are enormous. If we don't collect supplies around the world in the old way, this area cannot provide what we need for survival."

Mark looked at Bai Yuekui and said: "We can do like the old world, reclaim land and farm here to be self-sufficient."

Xia Tianlai shook his head and said: "Although we have a shielding system, it's not foolproof. There are times when the shielding system fails, and at that time, Phage Beasts will still break into this area."

Ulaanbaatar also said: "The grassland and this base you see now are just our frontline for dealing with the ecology. The village where we actually live is hidden under a large mountain. This way, we can be protected even if the shielding tower fails. If you want to build a similar village, there aren't enough conditions nearby to build a village that can accommodate ten thousand people."

Bai Yuekui continued: "These are the difficulties we currently face. Of course, I'm just raising the problems; everyone can think of a way to solve them together. As for letting the Lighthouse people learn Returning to Origin and stimulating Source Essence Potential, we can start immediately." She looked at Mark and said, "The supplies you collected from that spaceship last time should last you for a year! You still have half a year to find a solution!"

"Why half a year?" Erica, sitting in the back, asked in confusion.

Jing Nan answered her directly: "Because we can't wait until the supplies are used up to look for more! And even with half a year left, it's not certain we can find the supplies needed for the next half year."

Bai Yuekui looked at the crowd opposite her, "So many people from the Lighthouse coming to the village will inevitably have a huge impact on our lives. Have you considered these issues?"

"I have a proposal," Jing Yuan said. "For now, let's keep the Lighthouse hovering near the Survival Base. Most of the people on the Lighthouse will continue to live according to their original rhythm. However, I hope you can send someone to the Lighthouse to teach us the method of Returning to Origin."

Bai Yuekui looked at Ulaanbaatar, "Xiao Deng, what do you think?"

"As long as the Boss says it's okay, it's okay!"

Bai Yuekui looked at Mark, "We can send people to the Lighthouse to teach you the Guiyuan Heart Method."

"Also!" Jing Yuan continued, "A small number of us will come to The Surface, and we hope you can help this group stimulate their potential. If we can successfully stimulate their potential, we will use this group as a foundation to organize teams to continue collecting supplies outside."

Bai Yuekui looked at Xia Tianlai, "Tianlai, I'll leave the matter of stimulating potential to you."

"No problem."

Jing Yuan looked at Bai Yuekui and the others, "Of course, our ultimate goal is still to deal with the mana ecology. As long as the ecology isn't destroyed, we will never have peace. So finally, I hope Boss Bai can share your research on the ecology with us."

Everyone looked at Bai Yuekui. Solving the ecology was the ultimate goal of all mankind and the core bond that united everyone.

"I've been studying the ecology since the day the disaster began. If you want to join the research, of course, I welcome you." Bai Yuekui looked at the Lighthouse people with a serious gaze, "But I must remind you to be fully prepared mentally. Our research on the ecology has never been a smooth path, let alone plain sailing. There are too many unknown secrets hidden in the mana ecology. In the past process of fighting the ecology, we have paid an extraordinary price, even irreparable sacrifices. And such sacrifices may be even more frequent in the future!"

Mark looked at his own people and then stated his position: "We are not afraid of sacrifice."

"Good!" Bai Yuekui stood up and reached out her hand to Mark, "The cooperation between our Dragon Bone Village and the Lighthouse officially begins!"

Mark also stood up and shook hands with Bai Yuekui.

After the discussion ended, Bai Yuekui led Mark and his party into Dragon Bone Village.

The group drove to a large gate embedded in the mountain.

Dragon Bone Village was inside a mountain. After entering through the gate, the vehicle continued forward and soon reached a supply station.

Further ahead, they saw a mountain village that looked like a paradise.

In the distance where they could see, there was a patch of farmland underground.

Jing Nan pointed at those farmlands and asked: "Is that for growing crops?"

"Yes," Bai Yuekui introduced, "This is our underground planting farm. At the top of the mountain, there is also a folding composite agricultural area. These are our main sources of food."

During the conversation, they passed through a mining area.

"You guys even mine?" Jing Yuan was also quite curious.

"These are Marrow Crystals, the main material used for the shielding towers."

"Then if we take Marrow Crystals, can we also set up a shielding device on the Lighthouse?"

"No!" Bai Yuekui directly denied, "The shielding system has another critical core. Without this core, even if you have the equipment, it's useless."

"So that's how it is."

Soon they entered the village.

This place was like a village from the old world, with independent houses for every household, shops, vendors, and even people hawking their wares.

When the people in the village saw Bai Yuekui walking over, they all greeted her warmly: "Boss Bai!"

"Boss Bai, would you like to try the new products from our shop?"

"Boss Bai! More newcomers? Quite a lot this time!"

Hearing what everyone said to Bai Yuekui, Mark asked in confusion: "They don't seem surprised by our arrival!"

"Of course. The surviving humans now, besides us and the Lighthouse, have other settlements. Our Dragon Bone Village also takes in outsiders, and some of them are from outside."

"There are other surviving settlements?" The Lighthouse people were all very surprised.

After all, in the world view of the Lighthouse people, they were the only humans left in the world.

Bai Yuekui still said in a flat tone: "This world is much wider than you imagine. Beneath the ground of this continent, besides Dragon Bone Village, there are three other major settlements. They all have unique ways to evade the Phage Beasts' tracking."

Chapter 141: Seeing Elon Again

Bai Yuekui took the Lighthouse group to visit Dragon Bone Village.

Although this was just a village, to the people from the Lighthouse, it was no different from a paradise.

Whether it was the living environment or the people's mental outlook, it was different.

Most of the people in Dragon Bone Village seemed very friendly.

A short-haired girl in a red skirt ran over, looked at Bai Yuekui, and said: "Boss Bai, why are there so many newcomers this time?"

"They are from the Lighthouse."

"Lighthouse?" The red-clothed girl looked at everyone and smiled: "Hello! We'll all be partners from now on!"

A bald man next to the girl said with a look of displeasure: "So many more mouths to feed, I wonder how much food they'll eat."

Some welcomed them, and some did not.

However, Bai Yuekui didn't say anything to the bald man and continued to lead the group to visit the village.

Bai Yuekui led the group to some shops.

Jing Yuan looked at those shops—barbershops, clothing stores, restaurants, and even games and discs. It indeed had the shadow of the old world.

"We have our own currency system in the village. But I can temporarily open some bartering channels for you, and you can exchange for items according to your needs."

Jing Nan walked ahead and said to Bai Yuekui: "Since it's a cooperation, it should be based on the principle of mutual benefit. The things we have on the Lighthouse can also be shared with you."

Bai Yuekui smiled slightly, "The Lighthouse has preserved a large amount of old world technology, which we also need. Our composite farm needs engineers and agricultural technicians. An agricultural scientist came down from your Lighthouse before, and has been helping us improve agricultural yields recently."

"You mean Tara!"

"Yes."

Hearing Tara's name, Mark immediately asked: "Then do you know a man named Elon?"

Bai Yuekui nodded, "They are together."

"That's great! Teacher Elon is fine!"

"Can you take us to see him?"

The group of Wasteland Hunters was very excited.