Chapter 144: Treasure in the City
"Where?! In our camp?!"
The Mage was so excited he couldn't sit still, almost knocking over his water cup.
"Are you familiar with Oasis City?" Lu Yuan didn't answer directly.
"Not particularly, but I know some basic information."
"That's enough. Then you should know that there's a very peculiar reservoir in the city; it has no external water supply, yet it never dries up."
"Could it be—"
Lu Yuan nodded.
It's so easy to communicate with smart people.
"I've long suspected this is achieved by controlling gravity, or more precisely, by controlling air quality. Oasis City likely created a mass effect field above the reservoir, increasing the mass of all gas molecules within it, including water vapor, making them heavier and unable to rise due to thermal convection. The result is that water vapor falls back into the water shortly after leaving the surface, naturally preventing it from drying up."
"That's a possibility." The Mage fell into thought. "But is there any evidence to prove this conjecture?"
"No direct evidence, only indirect evidence."
Lu Yuan said.
"Ye Xing felt something was off the first time he drove into the city for reconnaissance.
"He couldn't explain what was wrong at the time, but now that I think about it, it might have been due to uneven gravity along the route, causing slight dizziness.
"Later, Ye Xing and Caoyuan discovered some high-power equipment hidden in the Oasis City temple. I think that should be what we're looking for."
The Mage suddenly understood.
In the past few days, after logging off, he had crammed Cangyuan Future Technology's discovered "Brief History of Oasis City" and learned that during the apocalypse over 300 years ago, a group of survivors, led by the "Captain," arrived here by spaceship and subsequently built the city.
"So, this anti-evaporation equipment was very likely dismantled from that golden age spaceship. It might even be directly modified from a kinetic energy shield, meaning a kinetic energy shield covers the sky above the reservoir! I see!"
"It should be a similar principle."
Lu Yuan nodded.
This shield was probably set to a very low power, which is why it could be maintained for over three hundred years without interfering with daily aircraft takeoffs and landings, or Ye Xing and Caoyuan's parachuting.
"If our conjecture is proven, and zero element can indeed amplify the mass of objects, then it means it can 'spew' energy from an unknown plane. Besides aerospace applications, it also has prospects for energy and weaponization."
Lu Yuan continued.
And this is definitely a technology that leads the entire Star Alliance!
Although the cost of a zero element-burning gravity power plant might be high, limiting its application prospects, weapons are a different story.
Lu Yuan's mind was already envisioning various close-combat gravity hammers and gravity bombs.
Just imagine a hammer smashing down with the might of a hundred-ton king, or an entire squad of enemies stepping on gravity landmines, being crushed motionless by high gravity, or even directly flattened into a pool of blood. Tsk, tsk, what a sight—
Players would definitely be thrilled by these violent gadgets.
From this perspective, Oasis City even had a bit of a "coveted treasure brings trouble" feel to it.
It made even upright gentlemen drool!
The sun rose again, shining on Oasis City.
Barry woke up.
Sigh... I still fell asleep!
He looked to the side and saw his younger sister, who was supposed to be on watch during the first half of the night, sleeping soundly in the upper bunk. But... where was his mother in the lower bunk?
As he wondered, Barry smelled the aroma of food wafting through the air.
Upon smelling this scent, he immediately fell into a daze.
This was clearly his mother's cooking, and she hadn't cooked since she fell seriously ill, at least four months ago.
So, it was indeed a dream...
After all, he had dreamt of similar scenes before.
Barry had also dreamt that his mother was well, and his father, whose face was somewhat blurry, had returned from transporting goods outside the city. Lord Mayor Cole suddenly had a change of heart, and the reservoir was opened to all citizens for a day, so the family happily went to the lake to learn how to fish—
Heh...
Since he had realized it was a dream, it meant the dream was about to end.
Barry got up and went outside.
"Awake? Must be hungry, right? Don't worry, dinner will be ready soon."
The morning light streamed into the room from the high window, outlining his mother's silhouette.
It was a dream after all! Her movements, her voice, they were exactly like when she wasn't sick!
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
Barry remained silent. He knew that any extra word at this moment could make the dream end prematurely.
Even in a dream, please let me taste Mom's homemade food one more time.
From now on, I'm afraid we can only meet in dreams.
"Mom?!"
His little sister was indeed woken up by the delicious smell in the dream, which was truly her style.
But something was a bit strange. Why was she so surprised?
In previous dreams like this, shouldn't his sister have been like the silly girl she used to be, not knowing or remembering that their mother had been sick?
"Our little glutton is hungry too?" His mother turned around, her face a bit weak, but her smile was gentle and bright. "Wait for Mom a little longer, it'll be ready soon!"
"Mom, you—you—did the medicine work?"
Medicine?
Wait a minute...
Ah!!! The quantity!
A huge ringing in his ears struck, and Barry's brain first went blank, then slowly regained the ability to think.
Last night's experiences flashed back before his eyes.
The shocking scenes in the Cangyuan Future Technology screening room, the beautiful lady introducing the special medicine,
Bringing the mysterious merchant home, borrowing money from neighbors, buying 10 capsules, his sister's suspicion, and feeding the medicine to his mother with his sister.
Oh my God! This wasn't a dream!
Barry felt his legs go weak. The sudden, incredibly unreal euphoria almost knocked him out.
By the time he fully grasped what had happened, his vision was already blurry.
"Waaahhh!!!"
The Oasis City residential area was crowded, and the soundproofing was poor. When neighbors heard the wailing from another house, they all put down what they were doing and knocked on each other's doors to ask.
"What's going on, so early in the morning?"
"Who's crying?"
"Sounds like a man and a woman?"
"It should be Barry's house. On my way home from work just now, I heard crying that seemed to come from their place."
"Oh dear... that's it then. Barry's mom probably didn't make it through last night."
"It must be. There are no adults left in their house. Let's go help."
"Let's go!"
Along the way, more and more eager neighbors gathered. Finally, over twenty people, men, women, old and young, pushed open the door, only to see a completely unexpected scene.
Barry's mom stood in the room as if nothing had happened, her face beaming with a happy and gentle smile. In contrast, her two children were kneeling on the ground, hugging their mother and crying uncontrollably, gasping for breath.
"Oh my God, Barry's mom, you—is your illness cured?!"
"Yes, much better..." Barry's mother spoke softly, as if it wasn't cancer but a cold that had gotten better. "When I woke up this morning, I was very hungry. I ate some dry food and drank some water, and then I suddenly felt quite energetic, so I tried to get up and do some work."
Everyone was greatly astonished.
Are you kidding me?!
"But—how did you get better? Weren't you already—in the late stage?"
"It's all thanks to my brother," his little sister sobbed. "My mom took the new medicine my brother bought last night, and then she got better."
"Ah!? What medicine?"
More than twenty pairs of eyes all turned to Barry.
But Barry was actually very nervous at this moment. His little sister was still young and didn't have much guard against others, but he instinctively had a premonition that the city's higher-ups wouldn't look kindly upon this medicine.
What if they couldn't buy it later?
Although his mother looked better, according to the beautiful female scientist in the video, it would take 4 to 7 days to completely clear the cancer cells from her body, and then she would need to take it for 10 full days for consolidation.
The special medicine could only be taken once a day, no more, otherwise it could lead to the patient's collapse and even endanger their life—
What if the neighbors couldn't buy the medicine then, and only knew that their family had it, then...
"It's alright, tell everyone," his mother said softly to him.
"It's a special medicine transported from outside, produced by Tianren Corporation of Cangyuan Future Technology," Barry took a deep breath and told everyone. "Since last night, someone has been selling it privately."
"Oh! I've heard of Cangyuan!" Someone among the neighbors responded. "They were doing promotions in the screening room last night. Did you contact the seller there?"
"Yes—"
"Where is that seller now? Will he go to the screening room again?"
"He didn't say, and I forgot to ask at the time—"
"Ah?? This... Tsk!"
"Fellow villagers!"
Just then, Ye Xing appeared in the alley outside, like rain in due season.
"Someone seems to need me. Do you want to buy special medicine?"
"Yes! That's him!" Barry pointed to Ye Xing.