Ling Cage: Twelve Talismans? I have everything I need.

Chapter 213 Ling Cage Part 1 (6)

Mai Duo heard Yang Chen say that it was good that the life essence was still there.

She then went along with it, saying, "Well, Boss Bai and his team have been researching the life essence iteration system. Perhaps... we might meet again someday in the future."

Her eyes were filled with longing.

Upon hearing this, Yang Chen said confidently, "Yes, it won't be long."

"Uh-huh."

Maido took it as a consolation and didn't think much of it. She continued to act as a guide, leading Yang Chen and Hong Kou on a general tour of the remaining areas of Dragon Bone Village.

After walking around the area, it was almost dusk.

Maido rubbed her rumbling stomach, then remembered something important and clapped her hands: "Ah! I've been so busy showing you around that you must not have eaten yet, right? Come on, come on, I'll take you to a restaurant!"

"Don't worry, it's on me!"

Hongkou was indeed hungry, and nodded with a smile: "Then I won't be polite, Maido."

Yang Chen naturally had no objections.

The three arrived at the restaurant in the village called "Rice is Steel".

Looking at that familiar sign, Yang Chen couldn't help but smile knowingly.

Maido was the first to push open the restaurant door, and the lively sounds and aromas of food wafted out.

Her gaze swept across the room and she immediately spotted a familiar figure sitting by the second-floor railing.

"Brother!" Maiduo called out.

Sitting on the second floor was Ulan Haisang, who had a shiny bald head and a burly build, and was eating something with his head down.

Hearing his sister's voice, he looked up, waved, and then his gaze fell on Yang Chen and Hong Kou, who were following behind Mai Duo.

After the three of them went up to the second floor, Hai Sang put down his chopsticks, looked Yang Chen up and down, and said in a not-so-polite tone, "Mai Duo, are these the two outsiders that were being talked about in the village today?"

He turned his gaze to Yang Chen: "You two had better not come to the village to freeload."

"Brother! What are you saying!" Mai Duo frowned immediately and kicked Hai Sang's shin in dissatisfaction. "Yang Chen and Sister Hong Kou were allowed to stay by Boss Bai! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tell Dad!"

Hai Sang winced as his sister kicked him, but seemed somewhat helpless against her threats, muttering, "I'm just thinking of the village..."

Mai Duo ignored him and turned to Yang Chen and Hong Kou apologetically, saying, "Don't take it too seriously. My brother is just like that. He speaks his mind directly, but he's not a bad person. He's easy to talk to once you get to know him."

Watching the interaction between the brother and sister, Yang Chen seemed to see the shadow of Hai Sang and Mai Duo in his own world, only this Hai Sang seemed to be more... straightforward.

He shook his head, his tone calm: "It's okay, I don't mind."

He then said to Hongkou beside him, "You eat here first, I'll go check on Yuekui."

Hongkou nodded obediently: "Okay, boss."

Unlike Yang Chen, who wouldn't starve even if she didn't eat for a long time, she was a genuinely ordinary person.

Seeing that Yang Chen was about to leave, Mai Duo assumed that he was still angry about her brother's words, and immediately glared at Hai Sang again.

"It's all your fault!"

Hai Sang caught his sister's gaze, touched his bald head, and seemed to realize that what he had just said might not have been appropriate, but he was too embarrassed to apologize immediately, so he could only continue eating in silence.

Yang Chen smiled at Mai Duo and Hong Kou to indicate that he wasn't really angry, then turned and left the restaurant alone, heading towards Bai Yue Kui's research institute.

Watching Yang Chen's departing figure, Mai Duo angrily stomped on Hai Sang's foot again.

"Ouch! Why did you step on me again!" Hai Sang cried out in pain.

"Look at you! You've made Yang Chen leave in anger!" Mai Duo said, hands on her hips, her little face full of resentment.

Hai Sang: "...How was I supposed to know he was so easily offended?"

Hongkou, watching the brother and sister, couldn't help but laugh and quickly smoothed things over: "Alright, alright, Maiduo, the boss really isn't hungry, and he's not angry. Shall we order something first? I'm really looking forward to the food here."

Upon hearing Hongkou's words, Maiduo's attention was diverted, and she temporarily let go of her mute brother, enthusiastically starting to introduce the local specialties to Hongkou.

"Wait, that's not right." Maiduo realized what she meant and looked at Hongkou, "Why are you calling him boss?"

Hongkou was speechless: "Ah, this."

Bai Yuekui remained seated at the control panel, the screen displaying detailed information from the ASH database on cutting-edge technologies such as gene weapons, new gravity body design blueprints, and the principles of magnetic field interference devices.

Bai Yuekui frowned slightly, his eyes focused but somewhat tired.

These achievements are indeed powerful, each a weapon against the Mana ecosystem, but given the current conditions of Dragonbone Village...

It lacks a basic industrial chain, has no stable supply of raw materials, and even has a shortage of decent precision processing equipment.

Trying to replicate it is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Bai Yuekui rubbed his temples and looked away from the screen.

She looked at the ASH projection floating beside her and asked, "All the achievements you made in that world... were made by connecting to that peaceful Hisakawa City and leveraging its industrial base?"

ASH's projection flickered slightly as it calmly replied, "Not entirely. Many of these technologies were developed within our own Mana ecosystem..."

Before she could finish speaking, Yang Chen walked in and interrupted her.

"Yue Kui, are you hungry? It's already afternoon."

Yang Chen's gaze fell on Bai Yuekui's slightly tired face.

Bai Yuekui looked up at the sound and saw that it was Yang Chen. His eyes flickered.

She glanced at the exciting technological blueprints on the screen and let out a soft breath.

She stood up and said to Ash, "Ash, I'm going to eat first, I'll continue watching later."

“Okay, Moon Queen,” ASH replied, the data on the screen stopped, and the projection turned off.

Bai Yuekui straightened his clothes, looked at Yang Chen, and his tone seemed to have softened slightly compared to his previous aloofness: "Let's go."

She didn't continue her unfinished conversation with Ash, but instead walked towards the cave entrance first.

The long hours of focused reading and thinking did indeed take a toll on her both mentally and physically, making it necessary to replenish her energy.

Yang Chen thought Bai Yuekui would go back to her own residence to get something simple to eat, but to his surprise, she kept walking and headed straight for the "Rice is Steel" restaurant.

Seeing the familiar sign ahead, Yang Chen quickened his pace to walk alongside her, asking with some surprise, "Aren't you going home to cook for yourself?"

Bai Yuekui didn't stop walking. She glanced at him sideways, her eyes filled with a hint of doubt: "What do you mean, cook for yourself?"

After saying that, she didn't say anything more and went straight in through the door.

Yang Chen paused for a moment, then followed.

The restaurant was still bustling. Maiduo and Hongkou's table already had several dishes on the table, and they were eating and chatting.

When they saw Bai Yuekui and Yang Chen enter one after the other, Mai Duo and Hai Sang were clearly stunned. They looked at Bai Yuekui and then at Yang Chen following behind, their expressions somewhat subtle.

Maiduo looked at Hongkou: "Sister Hongkou, is Yang Chen really someone Boss Bai knows?"

Hongkou nodded: "Yes, didn't I just say that they are quite familiar with each other?"

"How familiar are you?"

"Well, I'm very familiar with it."

Bai Yuekui walked straight to an empty table and sat down.

A shop assistant immediately approached with a small notebook: "Mr. Bai, what would you like to eat today?"

Bai Yuekui was clearly a regular customer. Her gaze swept across the menu in her mind as she fluently ordered: "One Mushroom Stew, one Lonely Stew, and one Mushroom Life Alone." After ordering, she seemed to remember someone sitting next to her, glancing up at Yang Chen who had just sat down opposite her, and asked:
"What do you want to eat?"

Yang Chen's lips twitched slightly as he listened to the string of dishes she recited, each one exuding an air of loneliness and isolation.

He took the menu from the clerk and glanced at it, discovering that it actually contained these strangely named dishes, the main ingredients of which were various edible fungi.

He suppressed the urge to complain, handed the menu back to the clerk, and simply said, "I'll just have a bowl of noodles."

"Okay! Mr. Bai, please wait a moment, it'll be right there!" The clerk quickly wrote it down.

After the staff left, a brief silence fell over the table.

Bai Yuekui glanced at Yang Chen sitting opposite him, then subtly glanced towards the second floor.

With her excellent hearing, Maido and Hongkou's not-so-quiet conversation naturally and clearly reached her ears.

She turned her gaze away and looked at Yang Chen: "I will explain to everyone about you tomorrow."

Yang Chen raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and asked curiously, "How do you plan to explain this?"

Bai Yuekui seemed to have already thought it through, and answered without hesitation: "Just say you are an old acquaintance of mine."

Yang Chen was not surprised by this answer; he nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's fine too."

He paused, looking at Bai Yuekui's profile, which appeared softer under the restaurant lights than in the research institute, and added half-jokingly, "However, the word 'old acquaintance' sounds a bit distant."

Bai Yuekui looked up at him and said, "Otherwise what?"

"She's the one who had the experience with you, not me."

After saying that, Bai Yuekui turned her gaze toward the kitchen, seemingly more concerned about when her "Gugu Dandan" would be served.

Seeing her like this, Yang Chen didn't continue the topic.

Soon, a slightly plump middle-aged woman wearing an apron came over with a tray and deftly placed three plates of mushroom dishes of different shapes and a bowl of steaming noodles on the table.

"Boss Bai, your dishes are all ready."

Looking at the familiar face, Yang Chen blurted out instinctively, "Thanks, Xiao Yuan."

Upon hearing this, the smile on the face of the woman known as "Little Yuan" vanished instantly. She glanced at Yang Chen and said, "You have no manners." Then she went back to the kitchen.

Yang Chen: "."

Bai Yuekui didn't care about this little incident at all.

Her attention was completely drawn to the food in front of her.

She picked up a bamboo skewer with perfectly grilled mushrooms glistening with oil, took a bite without hesitation, and began to chew.

He nodded contentedly as he ate.

Yang Chen watched her eat one bite after another, completely satisfied, and then he lowered his head and started eating his own bowl of noodles.

The two ate in silence until they finished their food.

Bai Yuekui picked up a tissue and wiped his mouth, while Yang Chen also put down his chopsticks; the noodle soup in his bowl was almost gone.

"How's your understanding going?" Yang Chen asked.

Bai Yuekui naturally understood what he meant.

However, the information contained in the ASH database is vast, and a few hours is not even the tip of the iceberg.

She answered calmly, "Part of it. It concerns the weapons and equipment you're developing."

Yang Chen nodded, indicating his understanding.

He pondered for a moment: "Where is the life essence of the village stored? I want to go and see."

“Maido showed me around before, but she didn’t take me to the storage tanks.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Yuekui paused almost imperceptibly in the act of wiping his mouth.

The Soul Storage Jar is the most core and precious item in Dragon Bone Village, containing thousands upon thousands of life essences.

But thinking about the information Yang Chen and Ash brought, and the special relationship between the two in that parallel world...

She looked up at Yang Chen, and after only a moment's consideration, Bai Yuekui lowered her instinctive guard.

She nodded slightly and pointed in a direction: "It's on the east side of the village. There are guards at the entrance; I'll inform them."

She didn't ask Yang Chen why he wanted to go, nor did she offer any further instructions.

Yang Chen was somewhat surprised by her straightforwardness, then smiled and said, "Okay, thanks."

Bai Yuekui didn't say anything more. He stood up, signaled the clerk to put the bill on the tab, and then walked out of the restaurant first, seemingly preparing to return to the research institute to continue studying those materials.

Yang Chen also got up and followed. The two parted ways at the restaurant entrance, one heading east and the other towards the research institute.

Following the direction indicated by Bai Yuekui, Yang Chen quickly arrived at the entrance of a cave on the east side of the village.

The two fully armed guards had obviously been notified. When they saw Yang Chen, they did not stop him, but silently made way for him.

Yang Chen stepped into the cave, and the interior space was much more spacious than he had imagined.

In the center of the cave was a pond, its water deep and faintly shimmering with a blue luster.

Yang Chen could clearly sense the rich life essence emanating from the depths of the pool, which they had carefully preserved in a special soul-storing jar beneath the pond.

His gaze swept across the cave, which appeared quite empty except for the Source Projector.

He searched carefully, and his brows gradually furrowed.

The human body 3D printing equipment he had envisioned was not there.

“There’s no printing equipment…” Yang Chen muttered to himself, “Looks like I’ll have to go to the Heluo Ruins again.”

He stood by the pond, gazing at the deep, dark water.

After a moment, he composed himself, took one last look at the waiting pond, and turned to leave the cave.

The guard remained silent as he watched him leave.

Just as Yang Chen left the storage cave, Bai Yuekui in the research institute was also immersed in another amazing technology demonstrated by ASH.

On the screen, an image is playing: under the operation of 3D printing equipment, a complete human body is being "printed" into shape, with bones, muscles, blood vessels, skin... being built layer by layer.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Chen appeared on the screen, guiding a life essence and slowly injecting it into the newly formed body.

As the life essence was fully integrated, the body's chest began to rise and fall slightly, its eyelids trembled, and finally it slowly opened its eyes.

"This...this is the Life Source Iteration System?" Bai Yuekui unconsciously leaned forward slightly, his usually calm eyes filled with disbelief.

She had tried, but failed; the life essence was simply incompatible with the new body after being re-injected.

It's just having a clear mind, but nothing more.

"How did you do that?"

Bai Yuekui yearned for such technology, but seeing these steps, she realized they were completely consistent with the process she was currently researching.

But why didn't the people in the video undergo any changes?
"ASH?"

ASH naturally understood Bai Yuekui's doubts and explained, "We haven't successfully developed life iteration yet; we can only achieve reshaping by relying on Yang Chen."

(End of this chapter)