boyutpedia Chapter 156 Taihang Mountains
Chapter 156 Taihang Mountains
The next morning, Li Chenglong bid farewell to Yunlan and instructed Li Xue and Han Xiaoling to take good care of Yunlan before driving away with Erica. Alice stayed at the Dawn Building to teach Yunlan and the others more about central computers. The two didn't talk much in the car, because although the first half of the road from Dawn City to the Taihang Mountains had been explored by the Dawn Army, the second half was still unknown, so it was unclear how long the 200-plus kilometers would take.
Erica showed Li Chenglong the bracelet on her right arm, which bore the number 20. Li Chenglong was curious about the meaning of this number. Erica explained, "This is the number of times I can use spatial teleportation. Like you, I have a psionic space, divided into a natural area and a storage area, but my space doesn't have a crystal factory. The biggest problem is that I can't use spatial skills. To be able to travel through space, my father gave me a spatial teleportation device that allows me to move over extremely long distances. However, I only have 20 uses left."
Li Chenglong then asked, "Can these uses be replenished?" Erica shook her head: "No, this device will be destroyed after its uses are exhausted, unless a new one can be manufactured. But only my father and sister know how to manufacture it, so there's no way to do it now." After a while, Erica said excitedly, "I discovered that you've already redeemed many devices from its built-in spatial system through the main control computer. That's quite impressive. Back then, our father used spatial technology to seal many things inside to train my sister and me. You know, even Dawn City should have originally belonged to me?"
Seeing Li Chenglong's surprised expression, Erica smiled and said, "According to our father's wishes, my sister and I were to receive a city upon reaching adulthood and then manage it. Whoever manages it well will have the chance to inherit his position first. Later, after I came to Earth, I simply gave it to you through the Dragon Spirit, since you need it more. You should know that our planet Merar is about the same size as your Earth, but we only have 10 billion people. Of those 10 billion people, 4 million are people with various superpowers, which are what you call superhumans and awakened individuals."
Li Chenglong said with some envy, "With such a small population, your natural environment must be excellent." Erica replied with some pride, "That's for sure. Moreover, our technology is very advanced, so we basically don't pollute the planet. However, there's a reason for our small population: our planet has a very low birth rate, especially among those with superpowers and awakened individuals. Although they have long lifespans, they generally only have one child. My father had two daughters, my sister and me, which was already quite remarkable. So, I was very surprised when I learned that Yunlan was pregnant. I'll let you in on a secret: it's a boy."
Li Chenglong was somewhat shocked, but he wasn't particularly concerned about the child's gender. After thinking for a moment, he felt something was off: "This doesn't make sense. The birth rate among superpowered individuals is so low, how come you make up 40% of the total population?" Erica replied, "That's because of our Merar alien genes. Ordinary people there can also give birth to children with superpowers, and children born to superpowered individuals will definitely have superpowers as well." Li Chenglong nodded; that made sense now.
Erica said somewhat sadly, "It's a pity that although we have 4 million superpowered individuals, our planet has always been at peace. Although our technology is advanced, we haven't developed much military technology. In addition, most of our superpowered individuals are support-type or only know some simple attack skills. Under the sudden invasion of the alien alliance, the result was predictable. Originally, my sister and I didn't have much combat ability. Later, when our planet Meral was about to be completely conquered, a potion concocted by our planet's most powerful priest, mixed with a super potion made by our planet's latest microcomputer technology, was used to upgrade my sister and me to SS-level Seraph Awakeners and S-level Six-Winged Angel Awakeners. Unfortunately, there were only four of these. After giving two to you and Yunlan, there were none left."
After Erica finished speaking, she looked ahead and said, "It feels like it'll be a long time. I want to sleep for a while. You can continue driving. By the way, generally, spatial abilities or storage spaces are due to the spatial technology inherent in the microcomputer system. That's why, out of so many ability users and awakened individuals in Dawn City, only a handful have obtained storage spaces. Storage spaces in natural areas are called psionic spaces, and those without are simply storage spaces."
She paused, then continued, "Another problem is that even if the microcomputer system inside the body activates the storage space, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll learn the ability to travel through space like you. We don't understand why. As for the skills they unleash, most of them fall into the category of superpowers or magic, which aren't really related to technology." After saying that, Erica lay down in the back seat of the car to rest. Because it had snowed a few days ago, the roads were difficult to drive on, and Li Chenglong was driving very slowly.
They had only traveled a little over 90 kilometers that morning. The roads ahead were unexplored and uncleared by the Dawn Army, so they were sure to be very difficult to navigate, and they would also have to pass through some tunnels. Li Chenglong woke Erica up and asked if she wanted something to eat. When the topic of food came up, Erica suddenly seemed to remember something: "Oh right, if you have any ripe psionic apples, could you share one with me? We don't really have any on our planet Merar. I need to do some research on them. Although our planet has many medicines and fruits and vegetables that can increase the experience points of superpowered individuals, we don't have anything that can directly turn someone into a superpowered person."
Li Chenglong smiled and said, "I have a few right now, but I've been busy lately and haven't been able to distribute them yet. Here, take them." He then handed two to Erica. Erica was quite surprised to see the large, red psionic apples that emitted a faint glow. She looked at them for a long time before putting them into her psionic space.
They parked the car in an abandoned village, and Erica took out a lot of food from her psionic ring, most of which Li Chenglong had never seen before. Erica introduced them one by one; most were products of the planet Merar. There was one fruit that Li Chenglong particularly liked, which Erica called the "Flame Fruit." It was said that it could only grow better in a psionic space; if placed on a planet like Merar with its energy coverage, it could grow, but it wouldn't bear much fruit, and if placed on Earth, it would probably wither away.
The Flame Fruit is about the size of a regular kiwi, entirely fiery red with flame-like patterns, hence its name. Li Chenglong tried a bite; it was sweet with a hint of tartness, rich in aroma and juicy, its texture more like a grape. The seed was tiny, about the size of a soybean. What surprised him even more was that the Flame Fruit could restore his spiritual energy; just one fruit restored more than dozens of orange crystals. Erica, seeing Li Chenglong's satisfied expression, smiled and said, "I have dozens of Flame Trees in my spiritual energy space. Would you like to transplant a few over?"
Li Chenglong was overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly. Later, Erica gave him ten Flame Trees, explaining that each tree could bear at least two hundred fruits, though the fruiting cycle was rather long; even in the natural areas of the psionic space, it took two months for the fruit to ripen. Besides this, Erica also took several tens of tons of refined Dawn Rice and over a hundred bottles of wine brewed from Flame Fruit from her own psionic space's storage area and gave them to him. Li Chenglong's own Dawn Rice, which he had grown in his psionic space, was also nearing maturity. He estimated it would yield at least 50 tons, and even after accounting for the seeds and losses from refining the Dawn Rice, he could still produce over 30 tons of Dawn Rice.
Due to continuous snowfall and the already impassable roads in the post-apocalyptic world, the two decided to abandon their car trip in the afternoon and hurried towards the Taihang Mountains. However, judging from the road conditions, reaching their destination today seemed extremely difficult. At 6 PM, because it got dark exceptionally early and was now almost completely dark, with snow still falling, Li Chenglong suggested finding a place to rest for the night and setting off again the next morning. Erica readily agreed.
They found an apartment building in an abandoned neighborhood, cleaned it up, and decided to rest there. That evening, Erica gave Li Chenglong several dozen ripe Flame Fruits to take back to Yunlan. Li Chenglong then took out the gas stove, connected it to the stove in the house, and cooked three or four dishes, as well as steaming some Dawn Rice, all because of the limited space. After eating, neither of them took a shower, just quickly washed up, and then went to their respective rooms to rest.
The next morning, the two set off for their destination and finally arrived around noon. However, they didn't find the level 10 leopard. Erica carefully sensed its location and then, with Li Chenglong, stealthily approached it.