Preparation

July 10th, 9:00 PM.

"Whew, this Five Hearts Towards Heaven method is way too hard. It's been ten days, and I still haven't sensed any cosmic energy." Qin Mu felt a bit helpless.

"The gap between people is just too huge!" Qin Mu remembered that Luo Feng had sensed cosmic energy on the very night he started cultivating.

Not forcing himself to try again, Qin Mu stood up and moved around the living room a bit.

After eating something, Qin Mu returned to the computer desk and turned on the computer.

These past few days, aside from practicing the Five Hearts Towards Heaven method, Qin Mu hadn't been idle. On the contrary, he had become even busier.

He had been preparing for his entry into the Wilderness Zone all this time, and there was so much to do.

He planned to go into the wilderness alone, and he definitely couldn't rely on walking on two legs, so Qin Mu found a driving school and got his driver's license.

With his status as a Pre-warrior and enough money thrown in, the driving school guaranteed he'd get his license in 20 days.

Besides learning to drive, Qin Mu also used Uncle Qing's connections to find a shooting club to practice marksmanship.

Although thermal weapons dealt very little damage to high-level monsters, they were still quite effective against low-level ones.

Generally, Beast Soldier-level monsters couldn't withstand thermal weapon attacks. Qin Mu planned to enter the wilderness, but he wouldn't go too far, so he likely wouldn't encounter high-level monsters.

Spending some time practicing with thermal weapons was definitely the right call.

Over these ten days, Qin Mu went to the Limit Martial Arts School every morning for training and sparring with advanced students. In the afternoon, he practiced driving for two hours and shooting for two hours.

In the evening, he cultivated Gene Energy using the Five Hearts Towards Heaven method.

Unfortunately, after ten days, his driving and shooting had made rapid progress.

But the Five Hearts Towards Heaven method had yielded nothing.

He opened the HR Alliance platform and entered his identity information.

This was a very special platform that only warriors could log into.

The HR Alliance, also called the Underground Alliance by warriors, was an alliance formed by the world's top super-conglomerates and super-families. It controlled over half of the global economy and had infiltrated every industry.

Three days ago, Qin Mu's Pre-warrior information had been entered into his ID card, allowing him to log into the HR Alliance platform, though his permissions were very low.

As one of the most powerful forces on Earth, the HR Alliance platform was rich with information.

After three days, Qin Mu had gained some understanding of the platform. Using the information on it, he had preliminarily planned his route out of the city and the supplies he needed to buy and prepare.

"To enter the wilderness, I can take a train to Jiangnan Base City, then use an HR Alliance train to reach the military's supply base."

"The military patrols around the supply base and clears out any monsters they encounter."

"So, within fifty li of the base is basically a safe zone, with few monsters. Beyond a hundred li is monster territory, where you run into them everywhere."

"The Zerg Hatchery Base I chose is best located between fifty and a hundred li from the military base."

"In that range, there aren't many monsters, and most are just Primary Beast Soldiers. Even Intermediate Beast Soldiers are rare. It's relatively safe and convenient for the hatchery to expand outward after hatching."

"After days of repeated comparisons and confirmations, this spot is pretty suitable for breeding a Zerg base."

Qin Mu marked a point on a map. It was a villa district from before the Great Catastrophe.

The villa district was about seventy li from the military base. Part of the road was badly damaged, making vehicle travel inconvenient, so the military rarely patrolled there.

The location had good geography. Every villa had a basement and a garage, making it easy to hide the Mother Nest.

Considering the many flying beasts in the sky and satellite surveillance, Qin Mu's initial plan was to hatch the nest inside a villa, using the building as cover to avoid the sight of monsters and prevent satellites from snapping photos.

As he was thinking, his phone suddenly let out a soft chime.

"Ding."

Qin Mu picked up his phone. There was a message on it.

"[**Bank], Dear Qin Mu, your loan has been approved. 3,000,000 yuan has been successfully credited to your account. Please withdraw and use it in time, and repay on schedule."

Qin Mu opened his mobile banking app. Sure enough, 3,000,000 yuan had arrived.

"The money's finally here. I can buy everything now."

A satisfied smile appeared on Qin Mu's face.

That's right. After passing the Pre-warrior assessment, Qin Mu had gone straight to apply for a loan. With his Pre-warrior status and a property under his name, he easily borrowed 3,000,000 yuan from the bank.

If his plan succeeded and he returned safely from the wilderness, paying back the 3,000,000 would be easy. If he didn't make it back, then it wouldn't matter anyway.

With this 3,000,000, things would be much easier.

There was a lot Qin Mu needed to prepare for entering the wilderness.

The essentials included a Po Jun Series Spear, a Combat Suit, a Communication Watch, a Combat Backpack, medicine, food, a light truck for travel, an Off-road Motorcycle for emergency escapes, and a batch of spare thermal weapons.

Besides these, he also needed to buy a large amount of meat to feed the Worker Bugs and accumulate energy.

The 3,000,000 seemed like a lot, but if he really spent freely, it wouldn't go far.

Qin Mu opened the weapons and equipment page on the HR Alliance platform. Aside from various cold weapons, there were also plenty of thermal weapons.

"Po Jun Spear 2nd Series, A1 Model Price: 100,000 Huaxia Coins"

"Po Jun Spear 2nd Series, A2 Model Price: 500,000 Huaxia Coins"

"Po Jun Spear 2nd Series, A3 Model Price: 1,000,000 Huaxia Coins"

"Po Jun Spear 2nd Series, A5 Model Price: 6,000,000 Huaxia Coins"

"Po Jun Spear 2nd Series, A6 Model Price: 20,000,000 Huaxia Coins"

"So expensive!"

Qin Mu smacked his lips. Three hundred thousand wasn't even enough to buy a decent weapon.

"I'll just go with the A2 model. Most of the destination targets are Primary Beast Soldier-level monsters, with a few Mid Monsters. An A2-level weapon will be sufficient."

Qin Mu was well aware that with his current strength, even dealing with Primary Beast Soldier-level monsters was a stretch. As for Mid-level Beast Soldiers, if he ran into one, he'd have to run.

"Combat Suit—just enough to defend against Primary Beast Soldier-level monsters. As for the backpack and Communication Watch, I'll buy the cheapest ones. They're just for show anyway."

Picking and choosing, Qin Mu selected some necessities. Even going with the cheapest options, it still cost nearly a million.

He had actually browsed these items many times before, just waiting for the loan money to come through.

"Then there's the big expense: an Off-road Pickup Truck for travel, an Off-road Motorcycle for emergencies, plus thermal weapons and enough ammunition."

"The Off-road Pickup Truck can't be too heavy—Worker Bugs need to be able to lift it. If it gets stuck, I have to be able to get it out."

"The cheapest Off-road Pickup Truck that meets the requirements costs 500,000. But it comes with a mounted machine gun and 5,000 rounds of ammo. When you think about it, that's not too expensive, right?"

With the Off-road Pickup Truck's speed, he could easily outrun most Beast Soldier-level monsters. This was Qin Mu's biggest safety guarantee when entering the wilderness, so he couldn't afford to be careless.

"One Off-road Motorcycle for emergency escapes—100,000."

"One rifle with 3,000 rounds, one Quad Rocket Launcher with sixteen rounds, one box of Landmines, Binoculars, Night Vision Goggles, some grenades, medicine, Military Rations, etc.—total cost 500,000."

After these days of training, Qin Mu could now handle most thermal weapons. Of course, "handle" just meant he could use them—accuracy was another matter entirely.

Unless absolutely necessary, Qin Mu wouldn't use these thermal weapons.

Because monsters in the wilderness were very sensitive to thermal weapons. Once used, they would easily attract a large number of monsters.

Of course, when it came to saving his life at a critical moment, he wouldn't care about that.

Among all these weapons and equipment, the most practical might be that box of Landmines.

Because when the insect nest hatched, it took three hours, and during hatching, the nest couldn't move. If discovered by monsters, he'd have no choice but to fight for his life.

With that box of Landmines, safety was greatly improved.

Among the thermal weapons, the most powerful was the Quad Rocket Launcher. It could easily kill Primary and Mid-level Beast Soldier monsters and heavily wound High-level Beast Soldiers. It was Qin Mu's trump card.

Ordinary weapons and equipment could be delivered directly to his home, but the Off-road Pickup Truck and thermal weapons could only be sent to the military camp.

With a few light clicks, 2.1 million was gone.

Qin Mu let out a soft breath. He had basically bought everything he needed.

As for the remaining money, aside from a little for basic expenses, all of it would be used to buy meat.

The energy provided by that meat would be enough for the Worker Bug to accumulate enough to evolve into an insect nest, with some left over for hatching more Worker Bugs.

"Prepare for a few more days. At the latest, by the 20th, even if I haven't learned the Five Hearts Towards Heaven Method, I'll still have to set out."

Qin Mu thought to himself.

Because successfully cultivating Gene Energy for the first time would greatly boost his strength, it would be best if he could succeed. If not, there was nothing he could do about it.

But at the latest, by the 20th, Qin Mu had to set out. Any later, and time would be too tight. He also needed to leave some buffer time.