In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

"vomit……"

A few dry heaves broke the silence following the end of the war.

Zhao Tian squatted next to a mutated wild boar that only had half a body left, almost vomiting up all his bile.

I felt pretty cool punching someone in the head when my adrenaline was pumping, but now that I've come to my senses, looking at the red and white mess on the ground, the stench is so strong it's making my head spin.

"Stop throwing up, you're wasting water."

Su Ran's voice came coldly.

He was tossing a grayish-white crystal that he had just dug out into his hand.

He walked to the corpse of a huge mutated beast, stepped on its hideous head with his military boots, and precisely stabbed the dagger into the crevice of the occipital bone at the back of its head.

"Make sure you see where I'm going to cut."

Su Ran pointed to the dissection point with the tip of her scalpel, "Three inches below the occipital bone, this is the energy convergence point."

With a flick of the wrist, a pry and a lift.

A crystal core, about the size of a walnut and shimmering with a pale blue glow, rolled out.

Su Ran held the amber crystal high and waved it in the sunlight.

"Ordinary zombies don't necessarily produce crystal cores; focus on the larger ones. The more outrageous the mutation, the more attention they need to receive."

He walked over to Zhao Tian and pointed to the huge wild boar head next to him.

"This beast was at least a peak first-tier cultivator in life; its brain must have been quite something. Go, open it up."

Zhao Tian's face turned deathly pale. Looking at the pool of red and white paste that had just spilled onto the ground, his legs trembled. "Advisor Su, should I go dig it up?"

"What? Should I go instead?"

Su Ran glared at him and said coldly.

Zhao Tian swallowed hard and had no choice but to bite the bullet and move closer.

As a result, his hands shook so badly he had Parkinson's disease, and he spent ages poking at the pig's head with the saber without even cutting a single layer of skin.

Su Ran didn't even dare to look at him, and turned to look at Ye Xiao, who was wiping the blood off the blade not far away.

"Ye Xiao, you start."

"Okay!"

Ye Xiao felt no psychological burden whatsoever.

In his eyes, this battlefield was not a battlefield of carnage, but an amusement park.

He gripped the dark red Tang sword in his backhand and walked to the mutated wild boar carcass, which was the size of a tank.

The blade pierced precisely into the crevice of the occipital bone at the back of the head with a flick of the wrist.

"Click."

The sound of bones breaking was crisp and pleasant.

Ye Xiao reached into the sticky brain tissue and stirred it around a couple of times. Soon, his fingers touched a hard object.

"Got it!"

He beamed with delight and pulled out a pale blue crystal core the size of a pigeon egg.

This crystal core was clearly of better quality than the one in Su Ran's hand, and there was even a faint energy halo around it.

"Brother Su! There seems to be an energy reaction on this."

Ye Xiao wiped the blood off the crystal core on his training uniform and held it up to his eyes to examine it closely.

"It's not 'seems like,' it's 'it is,'" Su Ran said.

Ye Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed after hearing this. "Is this thing edible?"

Upon hearing this, several special forces trainees who were suppressing their nausea nearly fainted from fright.

Brother, that's something from a zombie's brain!

How hungry are you?

"It's edible."

Su Ran activated the full-channel communication, her voice instantly turning cold, "But this only applies to Awakened Ones."

"Listen up, everyone! Although the crystal core contains enormous energy, if ordinary people swallow it directly, the violent impurities and zombie virus inside will instantly destroy your genetic chain."

Su Ran paused for a moment and made an explosion gesture.

"Bang."

"You will become those mindless zombie kings who only know how to kill, or you will explode and die, beyond even the gods' help."

"Remember my words."

Su Ran tossed the crystal core back into the plate, making a crisp clinking sound.

"Those who want to die, feel free to stuff it in your mouth, I won't stop you. Those who don't want to die, you'd better collect it obediently!"

"This is an ironclad rule!"

The soldiers around them looked at each other in bewilderment, but Su's words were military orders.

"Damn it, let's do it!"

Wang Meng gritted his teeth, grabbed his dagger, and charged at the nearest corpse. "Even zombies can't kill me, how can I be disgusted to death by this thing?"

With someone taking the lead, the rest is simple.

Human beings have a boundless capacity for adaptation, especially when fear is transformed into benefit.

"Bai Lu, Ye Xiao, Mo Yun, the three of you listen to me."

Su Ran cut off the public channel and only brought in three awakened individuals, his tone becoming serious.

"Awakened individuals can not only recover quickly by absorbing crystal cores of the corresponding attribute, but also enhance their superpower strength, and even... break through the genetic lock and achieve a second advancement."

Wow!

At this point, the awakened individuals could no longer sit still, and their eyes lit up instantly.

Can it make you stronger?

In this world overrun by monsters, strength is the greatest sense of security!

"Remember! Don't eat just anything!"

Su Ran warned, "Choose crystal cores that match your own attributes. Collect the crystal cores first, and I'll tell you about them separately when we get back."

Bai Lu thought the knife was too slow, so she used telekinesis to crush the zombie's head from a distance and retrieve the goods.

Mo Yun was even more ruthless, using his corrosive ability to melt skulls with frightening efficiency.

Only Ye Xiao was still struggling to slash with his knife.

"Damn! These two are cheaters!"

Ye Xiao cursed and swore, but his hands moved even faster.

Moments later, a series of knocking and cracking sounds rang out on the battlefield.

Suddenly, a bizarre scene unfolded on the battlefield.

What should have been a poignant scene of cleaning up the battlefield and burying the dead was transformed into a massive "treasure hunt."

Despite their nausea, the soldiers and trainees pulled loot from the corpses, some even cheering excitedly when they found a large crystal core.

"It's sold! Mine is red!"

"Haha! This one's bigger than a walnut! It's definitely worth a lot of money!"

Fear? It doesn't exist.

……

"Comrade Su Ran!"

Li Guodong arrived hastily with a team of fully armed guards.

The old director's boots were covered in black mud, clearly from running all the way here.

Seeing the scene of "brain surgery" all over the ground, Li Guodong was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered and walked up to Su Ran.

"The casualty count for this operation is in: 28 lightly wounded, 3 seriously wounded, and no fatalities. This is a miracle."

Li Guodong's voice trembled with excitement as he said, "The commander saw your performance in the command room and said 'good' three times."

"This is just the beginning of the battle."

Su Ran casually tossed the light blue, first-tier high-grade crystal core to Li Guodong.

Li Guodong hurriedly caught it, finding it cold and heavy in his hands: "What is this?"

"Crystal nucleus".

Su Ran pointed to the mountain of corpses, his eyes burning with fervor, "This is the key to unlocking the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

Li Guodong was taken aback: "The Fourth Industrial Revolution?"

"That's right."

Su Ran said, "People in the previous life discovered it by risking their lives."

Before he could finish asking, Su Ran pointed to the sky above.

"Why can our 'Luan Bird' space carrier only stay in its nest? Because the nuclear fusion engine cannot be miniaturized, and the energy consumption is too great."

Why can't the electromagnetic gun on the Type 99A tank fire in rapid succession? Because the energy storage device is too heavy and the charging time is too slow.

Su Ran's voice gradually rose, and several officers around her unconsciously gathered around.

"But this thing can solve everything."

Su Ran pointed at the crystal core in Li Guodong's hand, emphasizing each word:

"High density, pollution-free, and with strong instantaneous explosive power. As long as the technology is in place, we can send the 'Luan Bird' soaring into the sky!"

boom!

These words were like a depth charge, exploding in everyone's minds.

"A phoenix ascending to the heavens?!"

These words struck Li Guodong like a thunderbolt.

Li Guodong gripped the crystal core tightly, his knuckles turning white, and his breathing became rapid.

That is a pain in the hearts of the people of Daxia, and it is also their greatest regret at present.

A giant beast with only a skeleton but no heart.

Su Ran didn't explain further, turned around and strode towards the base laboratory.

"Let's go see Academician Chen."