Chapter 286: You Cover Me in Shit, I’ll Drop You in a Cesspool [Part 1]
When there’s one, there’s two. Not long after the second base was built, another group had requested to move in and settle nearby.
The geography of Neo’s base was simply too good; it remained a safe place even after suffering a couple of natural and unnatural disasters. Of course, the real reason Cillin’s group attracted many people’s attention was because of their overall capabilities. It didn’t take a genius to look at the bullets they used to hunt the white mice, their equipment and their configuration to know that they had technology on their side.
No one had arrived on this planet with any good technology. One could even say that they were thrown back to stone age. It was why Cillin’s group stood out among all others.
Robbing them was out of the question. It was impossible to defeat Cillin’s group at their current state, ambush or not.
Most people had formed temporary groups, but there were some who were still drifting in and out of the area. After scouting out the situation at Cillin’s place,they all expressed their intention to join them.
The more people they gathered, the harder it was for the wild animals to set foot on this “settlement”. Everyone who was “invited” to this test that no one could make head or tails of had plenty of blood on their hands, so grouping would only increase their chances of survival. The reason they hadn’t done so from the beginning was because the person that could win their trust and build a group around them hadn’t shown up yet. Now that Cillin and his group had emerged as the clear leader of the zone, everyone was willing to show some sincerity and join them.
There were a lot of Black Viper members in this place. They all had a skill of their own, and they provided a lot of resources and materials the base urgently needed to better itself. As the main person-in-charge, Cillin ran everywhere with Hei Dou to construct the defensive facilities.
No group could survive without skill and talent, so Cillin gathered all the skilful people together and assigned them tasks that complemented their skills well. In just three days, another two secondary bases were created in this settlement. Both bases’ systems and constructions were completed together by Cillin and Hei Dou. There were people who was suspicious of Cillin’s identity and goal, but even they had to admit that his ability to militarize them was impressive.
Most of the newcomers respected Cillin the way a citizen of the empire would respect a member of the RAS; a high-skill individual. Many people found it difficult to believe the rumor that Cillin had killed twelve white mice in one shot, and some had even tried to challenge him to a spar. However, these challengers quickly had their senses knocked back into their heads. “Can’t you see that Cillin is busy?!” Base construction of course took first priority, the spars could always take place at a later time.
Neo was technically the owner of the base, but somehow Cillin became the one who called the shots. Everyone in Black Viper knew Neo to be an incredibly difficult maniac, and no one was willing to waste their breath on him when Cillin could do the same and actually change his mind. On the other side, the candidates much preferred to talk with their “own kind”; people who were kidnapped and forced to participate in this test against their will, which was an understandable reaction. Not everyone had the ability to accept the Black Viper at a moment’s notice, especially considering that most people’s impression were corrupted by the views spread by the empire. In fact, if Guan Feng and Gu Changan hadn’t told Cillin not to treat Black Viper the same way he treated them before, he would probably be watching the Black Viper members closely just like the others.
Hei Dou wiped the sweat on her forehead. She was directing Tu Ba and the others to carry some items to their designated locations. When the scanner in her hand displayed a satisfactory result, she did an OK gesture to signify a job well done.
The combat personnel provided labor, while the technicians provided skill and ingenuity.
“We’re roughly done. Three out of four bases are fully constructed, and the base for the group that just joined today is in construction right now,” Hei Dou reported to Cillin.
Cillin looked at the completed data and nodded. “Let’s take a break. If we can’t finish it today, we can put it off until tomorrow. I’m going to check up on Neo.” Cillin gestured to Tu Ba to stay alert, and he went into Neo’s base—the heart of this settlement—once he received an affirmative reply.
Neo was currently analyzing the efficacy of some drugs, and he didn’t notice Cillin’s arrival at all. The man could spare almost no attention for anything when he was performing experiments.
Cillin was the only other person who had access to Neo’s laboratory. In fact, Neo was the one who gave the permission himself. It was because he thought that Cillin was the only one smarter than a chimpanzee in this whole place.
Cillin asked after looking at the results on the screen, “Have you created the drug?”
Neo turned around in surprise, but he quickly went back to work when he saw that it was just Cillin. “Yes, but it’s a little unstable and needs to be improved. Otherwise, its effects are somewhat limited.”
There was a deep frown on Neo’s face while he was speaking. There were a lot of people who were scheming to use his base as of late, but he wasn’t in the mood to entertain or bicker with those chimpanzees right now. Cillin had produced a plan some time ago, and right now he was in the thick of it.
Neo didn’t like researching the white mice. In his opinion it was nothing more but recycled waste, and his weird and twisted point of view made him incredibly disdainful toward it. However, his curiosity was piqued after getting to know the white mice, and he was eager and raring to start when Cillin had proposed an experiment to him. He even boasted that he could finish Cillin’s request in three days at most.
But contrary to expectations, he hadn’t succeeded even though three days had passed. The drug was created, but its effect had failed to reach the theorized levels. In the eyes of an extremely strict person like Neo, it was nothing more but a failure.
The harder the setback, the greater the comeback. Neo was one-track minded when work was involved. If he didn’t succeed in one thing, he would set aside everything and work on it until it did.
“Is the molecular formula still the same as in theory?” Cillin asked. He had been busy militarizing the new bases after he passed he proposal to Neo. He had no time to check on its progress and results until now.
Neo brought up the drug’s protein structure and pointed at three places. He said, “These are the unstable spots; the protein folding couldn’t produce the desired effects.” He then brought up another diagram and continued, “I’ve made a couple of changes since and stabilized two of the spots—all verified and everything—but the last one is still a no-go.”
Cillin and Neo worked the whole night using the analysis results, the sequence and the level four structure of the active biomacromolecules, and finally they were able to come up with a stable theoretical molecular structure that they went on to create and verify. This finalized molecular structure was much more stable than the previous ones, and the drug’s effects met both Cillin and Neo’s expectations.
“It’s finally done!” said Neo while making lab records. It was a habit of his.
Cillin created the drug with a fabricator next to Neo before saying, “Don’t forget to rest after you’re finished recording.”
Neo hadn’t slept for over three days, and he disliked taking adrenaline or nutrient shots to keep his system running. He had eaten irregularly for the past few days, and his complexion was clearly sickly. The only reason he looked better now was because the relief and joy of having completed an experiment was pouring out of him like a waterfall.
“I know that. You don’t have to remind me that. Oh right, don’t let anyone come in and disturb me unless absolutely necessary!”
“Got it.”
Cillin pocketed the drug and walked out of the base. Then, he let his gaze wander before stopping at a certain dumb cat playing with a feather Orville shedded.
“Come here, Wheeze!”
Wheeze held the devastated feather in its mouth and ran toward Cillin. Then, it climbed up his shoulder and planted it on top of Cillin’s hair.
“Haha, you look like an idiot Cillin!”
Cillin flicked the feather away from his head and gave its whiskers a pool. “The drug is complete. It’s time to take out some mice.”
Wheeze’s eyes brightened immediately. It bored to death, so the change of pace was very welcomed.