Exploration Mission

A crisp notification sound came from the speaker in the room, Xiang Kun knew that Alice was reminding him that she had completed her task.

Back inside, Xiang Kun sat down at the computer. "Tell me your thoughts."

Alice's voice rang out. "I have two points to make..."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Kun couldn't help but grin, thinking to himself, "Last time it was also two points. Does Alice always summarizing two points?"

Alice, of course, was unaware of his thoughts, and continued without pausing, "First, the mutated spider's charging method is not optimal; it can be optimized to find a more stable charging method."

"Secondly, we can create corresponding equipment based on the principles of flight to provide assistance."

After listening, Xiang Kun nodded slightly; he had actually considered both of these points.

The first point is that the mutated spider can use the changes in the electric field during lightning to recharge because it was born and grew in the wild, and evolved and mutated in the wild. Therefore, the most convenient way for it to "recharge" is to take advantage of the environment during lightning.

But Xiang Kun is a human being, and the invention and use of electricity is the most crucial reason why human technology has been able to develop to this level.

In human society, as long as you have money, you can obtain a large amount of stable, pure, safe, and continuous electrical energy, which is a condition that Mutated Creature spiders do not have.

Xiang Kun believes that after experiencing the "recharging" state a few more times, understanding the ability model obtained from the mutated spider's blood, and refining his cognitive model of "atmospheric electric field" and "Electric Flight," he should be able to find a more efficient, convenient, and safe training and guidance method to evolve this ability.

As for Alice's second point, it is also about the advantages that human "vampires" have over other Mutated Creature.

Other Mutated Creature evolve certain abilities, but they simply use those abilities, at most extending and enhancing them by utilizing objective things in nature. But humans are able to actively create and use tools, better utilize and enhance their own abilities, and even create abilities out of thin air.

Alice's idea was to have Xiang Kun create corresponding auxiliary equipment based on the specific mode of "Electric Flight" to help him better achieve his flight and control goals.

However, Xiang Kun's previous thoughts were as follows: for relatively complex devices, firstly, he did not have the conditions to make them at the moment, and secondly, if they contained electronic components, they would be easily affected by the "orb of light"; while simple devices, such as parachutes or simplified versions of hang gliders, were not very meaningful, firstly, they were not easy to carry, and secondly, they did not provide a qualitative improvement.

After all, for Xiang Kun, flight itself was not the answer he wanted to obtain; otherwise, given the various conditions of human society today, he would have plenty of ways to go to heaven.

He wants to master the ability of "Electric Flight," which is the ability to fly freely without equipment restrictions, and the other applications that can be derived from mastering this ability.

However, Xiang Kun was already very satisfied that Alice was able to put forward these two points; at least her "direction of thought" was still correct.

Xiang Kun's phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw it was Chang Bin, reminding him to pick up Zi Cheng from the airport together tomorrow.

Yes, Zicheng is coming again.

Chang Bin and Wang Han's wedding date has been set, and there's less than a month left.

Chang Bin has already selected three groomsmen: Xiang Kun, Zi Cheng, and one of his high school classmates. Zi Cheng is coming over to have his wedding suits ordered and get his measurements taken—a perk Chang Bin is offering to his groomsmen.

Of course, it was also an excuse for everyone to get together again, giving Zicheng a reason to ask for leave from the company and his father.

After a brief chat with Chang Bin, even just through WeChat text messages, Xiang Kun could clearly sense the anxiety his old friend was conveying.

He knew there were many reasons for this anxiety, some of which he could guess, and some of which he didn't know. But through his analysis of Chang Bin and Wang Han's cognitive models, he knew that it wasn't a big problem. They both knew how to try their best to consider each other's feelings and were both people with high emotional and intellectual intelligence. They could definitely handle any difficulties.

That's how relationships between men and women work; if both are willing to compromise and make sacrifices, the relationship can last.

Xiang Kun recalled the information she had received in the group chat with Tang Baona and the other two: of the three bridesmaids Wang Han had chosen, the Tang sisters, Tang Baoting and Tang Baona, occupied two spots, and the remaining spot was a classmate of hers and Tang Baoting from middle school.

It's perfectly normal for Tang Baoting to be a bridesmaid. She and Wang Han are classmates, friends, and besties. Although Tang Baona has known Wang Han since childhood because of her older sister and they often played together, it's unlikely that she would be chosen as a bridesmaid. Xiang Kun easily deduced that a major reason Wang Han chose Tang Baona as a bridesmaid was probably because she was part of Chang Bin's groomsmen—it was a way of trying to bring them together.

Xiang Kun checked WeChat again, looking at the unread messages in WeChat groups that he hadn't checked before.

In the "Youlong Teases Rabbits" group chat, which consisted of him, You Meng and his wife, and Tang Baona, You Meng had just sent two messages a dozen minutes earlier:

"Xiang Kun, did you manipulate this? Our video is going viral again!"

"When will you release the sequel? You said you didn't want to work with that team anymore, so how are we going to film the sequel?"

It's trending again?

Xiang Kun was a little puzzled, so he opened Bilibili and saw that the videos posted by the ID "Youlong Teases Rabbits" had seen a significant increase in views, coins, and comments.

Could it be that another popular content creator used their video as material to make a viral parody video? Or has Tang Baona promoted their content in some way again?

But after scanning through the comments, Xiang Kun realized that the attention was coming from other sources.

He searched on Weibo and found a lot of discussions and several topics.

The most discussed topic is "#What is the relationship between the bald chef and Chef Youlong?#".

Some people compared the kitchen background in the two-minute video posted by "Youlong Teases Rabbits" with the background in the previous video of Xiang Kun cooking rabbit meat, and determined that the two videos were filmed in the same kitchen.

So netizens started discussing the relationship between the bald chef who Dianping and made bamboo rat meat with acrobatic movements, and "Chef Youlong," who recently became popular for a short video of him cooking rabbit meat. After posting that video, Xiang Kun and his team didn't credit You Meng by name or give him any "stage name," so everyone naturally referred to him by the ID "Youlong Teases Rabbits," calling the protagonist of the video "Chef Youlong," which was intentional on their part.

Based on the content of the "bald chef's" video, some netizens speculated that what he said was meant for "Chef Youlong," so the video was very likely produced by the "bald chef" behind the scenes.

Some netizens from Tongshi Town recognized You Meng, directly stating the name and location of You Meng's shop, and expressed their intention to try it and even livestream the experience.

Originally Xiang Kun had told You Meng and the others not to renovate the kitchen, but to continue filming in the same background as the video Xiang Kun previously "leaked," with the aim of creating related hype.

His original plan was to release two or three videos, and after the "Youlong Teases Rabbits" video gained some popularity and attention, he would then create related topics to connect the two popular videos. So he hasn't started building momentum online yet.

Unexpectedly, some netizens had already done what he wanted to do. It is likely due to Tang Baona's "assistance" in promoting the video, which led to its unexpected spread. This also allowed netizens who had previously dug into Xiang Kun's videos for comparison to see the similar background, thus creating a new topic.

Netizens hoping to visit "Youlong Restaurant" will surely be disappointed, as You Meng has temporarily closed the restaurant to learn the rabbit dishes Xiang Kun taught him and practice the scripts for the second and third videos.

During this period, very few people have bothered to find the address of "Youlong Restaurant" to try it out, so it's not a big deal to be turned away.

Xiang Kun's plan was to wait until the second and third videos were released and the topic was further hyped up before revealing the location of their store in a big way to attract enough attention and diners, and even have a few live streamers do a few tasting sessions.

If you can satisfy the first few groups of diners and generate enough positive feedback to create enough buzz, then everything else will be easy.

Xiang Kun was quite confident in his rabbit recipes, which had been adjusted to suit the tastes of the locals in Tongshi Town. You Meng had also run a restaurant for several years, so as long as the ingredients were good, the taste would be guaranteed once he was skilled at cooking.

Of course, relying solely on those few dishes to create a "huge boom" in the first few days would be difficult unless all the customers were bribed. But Xiang Kun already had a plan, and was 80% confident that he could make every customer who entered the restaurant and tasted the rabbit meat genuinely feel that it was delicious and a delicacy.

Xiang Kun thought for a while and then gave Alice a few more tasks, asking her to start familiarizing herself with the operational process of online trolls. She might not be needed this time, but once she became familiar with the relevant models and developed her own skills, with the necessary preparation and resources, she might be useful in other situations in the future.

For example, when unwanted information circulates online but cannot be completely deleted, guiding public discussion may be the best way to reduce its impact.

At the same time, in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone.

A team of more than 20 people was setting up camp on a cleared area. Most of them were men, and the few women also appeared to have dark skin and were not wearing makeup. They were all focused on their own tasks, either keeping watch and vigilantly observing their surroundings, checking their equipment, recording data, classifying samples collected along the way, or taking the time to rest and eat.

A rugged-looking, dark-skinned, middle-aged man with a mustache was on the edge of the camp, talking on the phone with a device.

The device screen displayed the scene on his side, which was being transmitted in real time to the other side via a communication satellite connected to a drone overhead.

"Mr. Liang, we have arrived at the location where the wild boar carcass was found. Starting tomorrow, we will begin the search according to the area and order you marked."

The middle-aged man spoke to the other side in a reporting tone.

The voice on the other end carried a strange, grating sound, "Team Leader Li, when searching, pay attention to any unusual traces on the ground, trees, and rocks around you."

"Yes, Mr. Liang." The middle-aged man said, then hesitated for a moment and asked, "Mr. Liang, do you have any more information about the creature we are tracking?"

"No," Mr. Liang said in that strange voice from the other side. "You only need to observe and collect information. Even if you do see any strange creatures, you don't need to take any action. Your safety is the top priority."

"How can we know if what we're seeing is a 'strange' creature?"

"I will naturally remind you when I see it." After saying this, Mr. Liang did not respond, and the brief communication ended.

The middle-aged man, referred to as "Team Leader Li," let out a soft sigh, his expression somewhat helpless.

This feeling of not knowing why you're doing something is truly unpleasant.

He knew that the department he belonged to, which the company had secretly established with huge investments, seemed to be researching some special kind of organism, but he didn't know exactly what kind of organism it was or how it was special.

Their department has several related laboratories, a large number of dedicated researchers, and several field teams operating around the world. He vaguely heard colleagues from other teams mention that they had "captured" some special creature, but no one knew exactly what that creature looked like.

Although they had all signed confidentiality agreements, knowing they couldn't inquire about things outside their authorized scope—otherwise they would lose their huge bonuses and might face fines and lawsuits—the more mysterious something was, the more curious they became, especially in situations that resembled plots from science fiction movies.

This time, their team set off fully equipped, with eight researchers from the lab coming to assist them, to explore the Qinling Uninhabited Zone. Team Leader Li felt both worried and excited.

He knew about the news that the three anchors surnamed Xue had died in this area a while ago, and he also knew that before they were sent here, the wild boar carcass that Host Xue had filmed had been sent to their headquarters laboratory, where detailed test results were obtained.

Clearly, the fact that they were sent here proves that the test results were problematic.

But he didn't know the specifics of the problem or what was wrong. On the way there, he had tried to strike up a conversation with the researchers in the group to try and find out what they were thinking. However, the female PhD in charge of the research team was very strict, and none of the researchers dared to mention anything unrelated to the mission, not even their own full names.

However, Team Leader Li speculated that, given the company's practices, these researchers probably didn't know everything.

As Team Leader Li lay down in his sleeping bag to rest, he couldn't help but recall the video of the dead wild boar that he had seen before, filmed by Host Xue, and wondered what creature had caused the small wounds on the boar's body.

He wasn't worried about their team's safety. Although their team wasn't equipped with any firearms, they weren't without equipment to deal with various wild animals. Moreover, the company provided them with a variety of high-tech portable security devices, including multiple drones that used night vision and infrared modes to detect their surroundings. They could also communicate with headquarters in real time through communication drones overhead, which gave them a strong sense of security.