Upon entering this area, the environment becomes noticeably different.
The entire Fenghua Residential Complex is built against the mountain, and the green areas are no longer wild mountains, but large gardens.
From the sound, the air humidity, and even the lighting that hasn't been fully revealed yet, traces of meticulous design are visible everywhere, a stark contrast to the cramped conditions of public dormitories.
The sheer cost of maintaining this natural landscape, so diametrically opposed to the planet's environment, is evident.
Wen Jing wasn't the only one moving in the middle of the night; several of the top ten students in the first year arrived earlier by taxi, and the ten villas allocated to the first-year students welcomed their new owners.
Du Ran, who was recruited into the Student Council's Operations Department, was one of them.
At the foot of the mountain, Du Ran, after touring around his new dormitory, excitedly admired the view from the balcony of a villa.
It's not that there aren't houses in the Red Earth Academy with environments comparable to Fenghua Residential Complex, but those were bought with their own money.
Being able to stay here isn't a matter of whether it's free or not; it's a symbol of status and wealth.
As a student in the fall semester, achieving tenth place in this grade ranking is truly remarkable.
As Du Ran admired the view, he soon saw a figure of light running past in the distance, heading towards the mountaintop.
That fleeting sense of pride vanished instantly...
Not only him, but the other students in the top ten from the spring semester felt the same way when they saw this, especially since they were eliminated by Wen Jing in the last round of the ranking competition.
The overall environment of Fenghua Residential Complex is already very good, with beautiful scenery every ten steps on the way up the mountain. However, the arrangement of the villa locations clearly demonstrates a hierarchy of disdain.
Like a pyramid, the mountainside is area B, and the foot of the mountain is area C, with villas occupying smaller areas and being relatively more densely packed.
The First in the Grade can reside in Zone A, which encompasses the mountaintop and most of the mountainside. There are only four such zones, each occupying one of the four sides of the mountain.
Wen Jing arrived at his villa, No. 4 in Area A. Standing by the roadside outside the gate, he could see all the villas below at a glance.
Hmm... it has a really great atmosphere.
After glancing at it, Wen Jing turned and walked towards the outer gate of the villa.
As soon as you get close, your identity is automatically recognized, and as the door opens, a virtual metal robot dressed in a butler's uniform is projected next to you.
"Welcome, Master. This is my initial appearance. If you are not satisfied, you can change it to your preferred look."
Wen Jing looked over and saw that the smart terminal automatically listed a row of interchangeable appearances for the butler. These appearances could be changed to human form, with different templates for age and gender. The butler could also customize her face. The first one listed was her Gaia appearance.
"Never mind, let's just stick with the initial design."
Robots are robots; Wen Jing doesn't like to give them human-like appearances.
Using Gaia's image as a robot butler is even stranger... it would give her the illusion of constantly facing a spiritual lecturer.
As you approach the villa, you'll find it's fully equipped with everything you need.
It even has a kitchen, which is rare in houses of this era, so you can cook your own meals as long as you have the ingredients. There's also a beautiful large swimming pool in the back.
However, what pleased Wen Jing the most about the entire villa was that the basement was a private training ground.
The materials inside can withstand a certain intensity of energy impact, and it is also equipped with a gravity chamber and other equipment.
*
The next day, Wen Jing woke up alone in her eight-meter-wide bed.
After drinking a bottle of nutrient solution, she walked out of the villa while clearing the messages in her inbox, still carrying the table from yesterday on her back.
There are downsides to living here, though, as it's quite a distance to get out of the complex.
However, the entire residential area is located in the central area of the college, making it convenient to go to other places.
Wen Jing's inbox was overflowing with contracts from various groups on Red Earth Star, including one or two from Azure Jade Star Group.
Naturally, the benefits offered in the contract also skyrocketed, with her salary being five or six times higher than before. The highest annual salary in one contract was almost equivalent to a small fortune.
After filtering out all the contract contents, what remained were some messages expressing an intention to acquire the Wilderness Weapon in her possession.
After thinking it over, Wen Jing gave a unified reply:
[If I don't sell now, I can try looking for a secondhand one later.]
Soon, she received many readily agreed responses, as the other party seemed to believe that Wilderness Weapon did not depreciate.
She looked at the thin bronze shard in her mind and thought, "It's hard to say..."
Then Wen Jing brought the table to the research institute.
Last night she messaged Dean Bai about the Wilderness Weapon, and he asked her to come over at this time to review it again.
As soon as I arrived at the research institute, I saw Xie Ming.
Salted fish
She turned over and stood with her hands on her hips, pointing and gesturing at Dean Bai, while the usually domineering Dean Bai scratched his head with a clearly guilty expression.
"You dare to give away these Wilderness Weapon, whose nature you haven't even fully understood, as prizes to your students?"
Wen Jing was embarrassed.
She was thinking yesterday that Dean Bai seemed carefree but was actually very reliable; it turns out she was just overthinking it...
Chapter 62
Upon hearing that Wen Jing had arrived, Dean Bai immediately turned around, revealing a pleading expression.
Wen Jing approached, carrying the table.
Sure enough, Xie Ming's attention was immediately drawn to the white table that was corroded by verdigris.
"The molecular structure has changed..."
He stared at the patina on it and immediately took it to the instrument next to him for testing.
After receiving confirmation, Xie Ming's expression turned serious.
"The material properties have completely changed. All the discolored parts have turned into a highly oxidized tin-copper alloy. This is no small feat; how come we didn't notice it before?"
Dean Bai could only stammer, "Although I've never used it to fight people, I did use it to fight Wilderness Beast before, and I really didn't notice any problems at the time..."
"What kind of substance does Wen Jing use to attack?" Xie Ming pressed.
She nodded quickly. "Yes, it has. I've used it to cut Ancient Wilderness trees, and no such change occurred."
At this point, Dean Bai looked puzzled. She had indeed tested it, and the bronze slab did not show this change at that time.
Xie Ming pondered, "We must retest everything from scratch."
Soon, the three of them conducted a systematic test on this Wilderness Weapon.
Wen Jing used the bronze piece to attack the white mouse, plant, mineral, and water respectively. The results were consistent with what Dean Bai had said: it behaved like a ranged weapon that could be controlled by energy.
Furthermore, it possesses the basic strength expected of a Wilderness Weapon, and no signs of patina appeared on its surface when attacking these objects.
"See? I told you so!" As the test progressed, Dean Bai gradually straightened his back.
She truly completed the normal testing process for Wilderness Weapon, since the normal usage environment for Wilderness Weapon is definitely within the Ancient Wilderness exploration.
"These natural materials don't cause this change, so if that's the case... the next step is synthetic materials."
Xie Ming's eyes lit up, clearly showing interest, and he began to show Wen Jing various artificial materials.
Strong acid and strong alkali solutions could not damage the bronze sheet in the slightest, but after attacking three representative basic artificial materials—glass, steel, and plastic—the materials all underwent the same change as the white desk, becoming stained with verdigris.
As a result, a small amount of material was lost from the surface of the bronze sheet.
However, Wen Jing was mentally prepared for this in order to thoroughly test the capabilities of the Wilderness Weapon.
"It can now be basically confirmed that when this Wilderness Weapon attacks artificially synthesized materials, it alters their molecular structure, turning them into a highly oxidized tin-copper alloy... well, it doesn't possess the characteristics of Wilderness Weapon; it's just an ordinary tin-copper alloy."
"And it only applies to solids, not liquids."
Xie Ming stared intently at the experimental materials that had undergone changes under the influence of the Wilderness Weapon, his gaze filled with inquiry. "But... why did these materials change to different degrees when the same energy intensity and attack angle were used? And why were there micrograms of material lost from the Wilderness Weapon each time?"
The data for the three materials were arranged in order.
Based on the degree of verdigris infiltration, glass is most affected, followed by steel, and plastic is least affected. The damage to these three materials is completely opposite, meaning that attacks on plastic by Wilderness Weapon result in the greatest damage and the worst effect.
However, the damage they caused combined was not as great as when Wen Jing destroyed the desk yesterday.
"But whether you consider material hardness and strength or molecular structure and size, it shouldn't be arranged like this." Xie Ming was completely baffled.
If we consider hardness, steel is number one; if we consider molecular structure, plastic is number one, but the molecular size of steel is much smaller than that of glass, so it can't possibly be in between the two.
Just as they were preparing to test several more materials, Wen Jing, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Could this difference in wear and tear be based on the gap between the different eras in which the materials were used?"
Upon hearing this, both men in the room turned to look at her.
Wen Jing scratched his head. "Uh, I was just saying..."
"That makes sense!" Dean Bai clapped his hands.
"That makes perfect sense!" Xie Ming's eyes lit up, and he suddenly realized something. "That's right, the difference in time... if we consider the time these three materials were invented... that's indeed the case. How did you come up with that?!"
Faced with the two people's astonishment, Wen Jing's lips twitched, and he could only say, "I just thought this Wilderness Weapon looked very ancient."
How did you come up with that idea?
It would be strange if she couldn't think of that.
Because historical records from before the Star Calendar are limited, for people of this era, "wild Wilderness Weapon " are simply " Wilderness Weapon," far exceeding the concept that they belong to a particular era of civilization.
Unlike Wen Jing, when she saw the bronze fragments, her first thought wasn't that they were Wilderness Weapon, but rather that they were relics.
Thus, the concept of time lag naturally arises.
Now that she had confirmed that the bronze pieces only had the 'consumption and infection' properties on artificial materials, and considering Xie Ming's previous mention of the various classifications of the Ancient Wilderness ruins, she quickly came to this conclusion.