Chapter 703: Did You Need Something From Me?
Everyone present laughed, and Wan Tingfang didn't mind, earnestly sharing his troubles instead. "Don't you all have this problem? When the moment comes, you don't know which item to use, or your hand speed is too slow, and before you can even pull out your item, someone's already at your doorstep."
"So evolution and upgrading are both indispensable. Speed and strength are the prerequisites for using items and traits." Shi Youzhi glanced at Xu Huo. "I see your evolution rate hasn't changed much. Have you hit a bottleneck?"
Evolution agents weren't something you could just drink to skyrocket your evolution rate. As the evolution rate increased and the amount of medication used grew, the time needed to digest the agent lengthened, and the agent's effectiveness decreased. At that point, using more agent was useless.
"Pretty much," Xu Huo said. "Digesting the evolution agent is a bit slow. Taking it at longer intervals isn't a big deal."
Shi Youzhi nodded. "That's right."
Wan Tingfang slapped her forehead. "I never thought about the drug resistance issue. I thought the higher the evolution rate, the more agent you needed, and the effect of a single dose just gradually decreased!"
"It's not that serious," Cai Xiangxiang said. "As long as your body doesn't have problems."
Wan Tingfang looked at her in horror. "Does taking too much medicine have side effects?"
Cai Xiangxiang said helplessly, "Even drinking too much water can cause problems for your body. Taking agent like water is definitely not safe."
Wan Tingfang laughed heartily. "I'd love to take agent like water, but unfortunately, I'm poor."
"But speaking of which, if the train can't transport large weapons, how do transactions between zones work?" She paused, then added, "I mean things like arms smuggling."
The people from the Orbital Supply Department weren't shy about this topic. Ai Jia, who had just come in from outside, said, "Crossing space isn't exclusive to the game. Many zones with higher evolution can do it too, just not as conveniently and safely as the Dimension Train."
"The best way for players to achieve spatial jumps is by using items. But these items are expensive, scarce, and basically single-use. And that's just for individual players."
"So, large-scale spatial crossing requires both technological and financial support."
"That must be something only the leading wormhole point zones can do," Wan Tingfang said with a sigh. "I hope I can afford a spatial jump item someday. Even if nothing else, being able to escape to another space is tempting enough."
"Don't you think so, Brother Xu? Brother Xu?"
Xu Huo's face was expressionless. "There are plenty of high-level players in the game. Where there's demand, there's supply. If spending some money could give you an extra life, I believe many players would find a way to get one. It's for sale, but not in large quantities. Besides the high price, there must be other reasons."
Outer zone players used this kind of item to enter the 014 zone's real space from instance spaces. Judging by the numbers, at least this type of item wasn't extremely rare.
"Items like these spatial ones have quite a few restrictions," Cai Xiangxiang said. "Usage time, range of effect, and the number of people are all very strict. It's definitely not the kind of thing that lets players go to whatever space they want."
She chuckled lightly. "Not as good as a ticket."
She Ping pushed another cart of ore in from outside. "Less talking, finish early and get off work early."
The group got busy again. By the time they finished, it was almost dark, but the streets were brightly lit everywhere. Shi Youzhi invited his team members to dinner, and they all went into the bustling downtown area.
"Eat as much as you want," Shi Youzhi said. "Consider it my treat. What kind of alcohol do you all want?"
Zone 011 had two types of alcohol: one was made with ordinary techniques, like grain alcohol, and the other was processed with agents. Drinking the latter left no hangover and was considered a type of mental pleasure product, especially popular with women.
Cai Xiangxiang and Wan Tingfang both chose the second type. She Ping and the others took the first. Shi Youzhi didn't seem to like agent-processed alcohol much.
"Didn't the captain come from another wormhole point?" Wan Tingfang asked curiously. "This kind of alcohol should have been popularized earlier, right? I've heard that in some zones, grain alcohol has completely disappeared."
"Good things are liked everywhere." Shi Youzhi took a sip. "In my hometown, this is still a high-end consumer good."
"What's the captain's hometown like?" Wan Tingfang was curious. "Like Zone 011?"
"You'll find out later. Eat, eat." Shi Youzhi brushed it off with a chuckle.
The rest of the time was pleasant enough. They didn't talk about anything else. Wan Tingfang gave Xu Huo a rundown of the missions he'd missed, and the other team members occasionally chimed in, teaching him quite a bit about handling sudden track incidents.
However, the main job for a team like Shi Youzhi's was maintenance, with occasional cleanup duties. If the train encountered a major incident, other departments would step in.
Overall, the Orbital Supply Department wasn't a particularly high-risk job.
After dinner, they parted ways. Wan Tingfang hitched a ride with Xu Huo for a bit and said, half-drunk, "I think there's definitely something wrong with agent-processed stuff. Otherwise, the captain and the others wouldn't refuse to drink it."
Xu Huo glanced at her. "The agent itself isn't necessarily safe either. Evolution agents are the same."
Wan Tingfang was stunned for a moment. "Aren't evolution agents supposed to accelerate a player's evolution?"
"You could try stopping the evolution agent," Xu Huo said. "You might experience a time delay due to the increased evolution rate, but after stopping the agent for a while, a player's body will show signs of decay."
This was easy to notice in the early stages of a player's evolution, but once they passed the initial review, most players could scrounge up some agent. Those who couldn't even get their hands on agent wouldn't survive a few instances. And those who survived instances would eventually never lack for agent. To increase their strength, the dosage and frequency of agent use only increased, making them oblivious to the side effects of evolution agents.
But as long as they consistently took a fixed amount of evolution agent, the problem wasn't that big.
"Anyway, it's not like we're short on evolution agent." Wan Tingfang scratched her head. "Maybe this situation will improve in the future."
"Get some rest early." Xu Huo didn't say more. The aftereffects of evolution couldn't be completely eliminated with agents. That much was clear from V. Fan Xiao and Lawrence Li.
After they parted, Xu Huo returned directly to the castle. He didn't expect to have a guest waiting for him so late.
"Dr. Deng." He smiled.
Dr. Deng was a medical expert Xu Huo had brought out of the Deep Blue Laboratory instance. This man was a fanatical worshiper of Dr. Wu, who had developed the Perfect Evolution Potion. He was also skilled at disguise and would pretend to "accidentally" leak certain information to get players to kidnap him, thereby achieving his goal of directly accessing Dr. Wu's related materials.
The reason he had followed Xu Huo was to find a new target. On the way to Zone 011, he had even "hinted" at Lawrence Li, but unfortunately, Lawrence Li hadn't taken the bait.
Upon arriving in Zone 011, Dr. Deng quickly got a job at Rongxin, fully demonstrating the fact that talented people can find employment anywhere.
"Did you need something from me?"