144: Chapter 144 Taking Stock of the Gains

Wang Zhenshan left.

His footsteps were heavy, carrying a sense of irrepressible excitement and agitation.

Chen Xi could understand.

The weight of this telegram from Yanan was no less than that of a massive victory on the front lines.

He lowered his head and looked once more at the telegram in his hand, which was somewhat wrinkled from being passed around repeatedly.

The handwriting on it was printed with the simplest ink, and some parts were even blurry.

But the words "Vice Chairman Zhou" and "Comrade Chen Xi" seemed to carry a strange power, appearing incomparably clear.

(Comrade...)

Chen Xi chewed on the word in his heart.

He remembered that outside Jinling City, the young Company Commander Li Zhen had reached out to him amidst the sky-filling flames, a sincere smile on his face.

He remembered the Soldiers in this simple base, their clothes ragged but their eyes clear.

He remembered the young faces in the literacy classes, using branches to learn to write their own names stroke by stroke in the sand.

A warm current surged from the bottom of his heart once more.

It was different from the burning passion of fighting side by side with Comrades at the Sihang Warehouse.

It was also different from the cold determination, filled with anger and killing intent, that he felt in Nanjing.

This was a deeper, weightier feeling, something closer to a sense of "belonging."

He carefully folded the telegram and placed it against his chest, inside his clothes.

Wang Zhenshan had arranged the quietest room in the base for him.

A hard bed made of a door plank, a table with a missing leg—that was all.

But it was cleaned very thoroughly.

Outside the window were the rhythmic chants of the Soldiers as they trained.

In the distance, the sounds of children laughing and playing drifted from the village.

It was full of the breath of life and vitality.

Chen Xi lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

He needed rest.

He also needed to take stock of the "harvest" brought by this near-death trip to Jinling.

His consciousness sank into the system space.

The cold, familiar mechanical prompt sounded in his mind.

[Jinling Dungeon series missions completed...]

[Mission 1: Jinling Spark Project - Grade A Rescue List. Completion: 100%.]

[Mission 2: Operation Phoenix - Gather Evidence. Completion: 120% (Over-fulfilled).]

[Comprehensive Rating: Perfect.]

[Mission settlement in progress...]

Lines of data flashed through Chen Xi's consciousness like a waterfall.

Finally, all the images froze on the "Audience emotion points" column.

Chen Xi's consciousness even stalled for a moment.

The number in that column had grown to an extent that could not be counted with normal units.

A string of "9s" at the end of the panel flickered wildly, like a broken counter.

The system gave a more intuitive prompt.

[Due to triggering a global-scale collective emotional resonance (sadness, anger, admiration, moving) within a single historical event, the emotion point acquisition coefficient has been temporarily adjusted to the maximum value.]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the special title: Imprint of the Times.]

[Title Effect: Unknown.]

Immediately after, another prompt popped up.

[Detected that the player's accumulated emotion points and mission completion have reached the standard...]

[System authority increased...]

[Current Authority Level: Tier 3.]

[system mall has been updated.]

Chen Xi ignored the vaguely described title.

His entire attention was drawn to the refreshed system mall.

Tier 3 authority.

This meant he would obtain more powerful "toys," enough to fundamentally change the form of a local war.

He opened the mall interface.

Several brand-new items, disguised even more cleverly, lay quietly in the list.

The first was a brass-cased [hand-crank film projector] that looked very aged.

Clunky and old, it looked like a discarded product from the last century.

But when Chen Xi's thoughts touched its description, his heart skipped a beat.

[Item Name: hand-crank film projector.]

[Real Function: Miniature Multi-functional Holographic Projector.]

[Function Description: No power supply required; charged via hand-cranking. Can read video data built into the system or recorded by the player, projecting high-fidelity holographic 3D images. Image range, clarity, and sound effects are all adjustable. Comes with a "Memory Editing" function to edit recorded videos.]

(This thing...)

A thought instantly flashed through Chen Xi's mind.

He remembered the young Soldiers in the Eighth Route Army base in the Taihang Mountains, listening intently to the instructor's stories under the kerosene lamps.

He remembered the yearning in their eyes—pure and without a trace of impurity—for a future where "everyone has food to eat and everyone has books to read."

If...

If they were allowed to see it with their own eyes?

To see the 2026 National Day military parade.

To see the images of Dongfeng Missiles being erected and J-20s whistling past.

To see just how prosperous and powerful that future they were protecting with their lives and blood actually was.

What kind of earth-shattering inspiration would that bring to their morale and their convictions?

Chen Xi suppressed the excitement in his heart and looked at the second item.

[Item Name: super fertilizer.]

This was an even more inconspicuous-looking item, just an ordinary bag wrapped in kraft paper with the words "Bumper Harvest Brand" printed on it.

[Real Function: Soil Heavy Metal Neutralizer and Nutrient Reconstructor (One-time use).]

[Function Description: Contains hundreds of millions of nano-scale ecological robots. After spreading into the soil, it can automatically neutralize harmful heavy metals in the soil within twenty-four hours, decomposing and reorganizing the soil structure to transform barren land into top-tier fertile black soil rich in various trace elements. Effective range: One square kilometer.]

Chen Xi's breath hitched.

He remembered the barren land he had seen in the bases behind enemy lines, where even weeds didn't grow well.

He remembered the Soldiers' meals, which were always dark, coarse grain porridge.

Food.

This was the sharpest blade hanging over the heads of all the bases behind enemy lines.

And this "fertilizer" could fundamentally solve this problem!

This thing was more precious than ten thousand rifles or a hundred thousand rounds of ammunition!

His gaze fell on the last and most expensive item.

It was a very bulky-looking [advanced welding torch] from the Industrial Revolution era.

[Real Function: Atomic-level 3D Printing Pen.]

[Function Description: Built-in miniature nuclear fusion energy core; can capture required elements directly from the air to perform material reorganization and printing at the atomic level. Can print any non-supernatural alloys and parts existing in the system database. Printing precision: 0.001 mm.]

Chen Xi's head buzzed.

Year 2026, "Great Wall" Command Center.

When Chen Xi's system mall interface was synchronized to the main screen.

The entire Command Center fell into a long, deathly silence.

A few seconds later.

"My God..."

An elderly, white-haired expert responsible for agriculture stared fixedly at the description of the "super fertilizer," trembling all over with excitement.

"Black soil... renewable black soil... this... this is a miracle! This is a miracle! The food problem is solved! Completely solved!"

Beside him, the chief engineer from the military industry department sat down in his chair as if struck by lightning.

His eyes were glued to that "advanced welding torch."

He muttered to himself in a dreamlike voice.

"Atomic-level printing... 0.001 mm precision..."

"Gun barrels... high-precision rifling... bearings... engine turbine blades..."

He suddenly stood up and rushed to the screen like a madman, pressing both hands against the cold glass, his eyes filled with unbelievable wild joy and tears.

“Director Long! Director Long! We... we can build jet engines in 1938!”

Old Long did not speak.

He just quietly looked at the three "toys" on the screen that were enough to change the global landscape.

He then glanced at the synchronized footage of the young man lying motionless on the door plank bed.

In his eyes was an incomparably complex emotion.

There was relief and excitement, but more than that, there was a heavy, mountain-like sense of responsibility and heartache.

In the system space.

Chen Xi's consciousness exited the mall.

He did not feel wild joy like the experts in the Command Center.

His heart was perfectly calm.

He was just calmly matching these newly obtained, god-like weapons with the reality of the base in his mind, one by one.

(The fertilizer can let the brothers eat white flour buns.)

(The welding torch can ensure the guns from the arsenal are no longer just fire sticks.)

(The movie projector can let everyone see what the future they are protecting looks like.)

These were no longer cold items.

They were heavy hopes that protected life.

He slowly withdrew from the system space.

Consciousness returned to his body.

Outside the window, the rhythmic chants of the Soldiers' drills remained magnificent.

He opened his eyes and took out that thin telegram from Yanan from his chest again.

His gaze became incomparably clear and firm.

Taihang, here I come.