Chapter 8: First Encounter

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In the next moment, Shen An felt embarrassed. What was she feeling guilty about? She had only come to deliver...

Tears rolled down, one drop followed by another, silently and scalding hot, dripping onto Shen An's already damp trouser hem. The burning sensation made her hesitate, unsure of what she was feeling and why she had agreed to deliver the insects in the first place.

Was it all for that balanced scooter?

Sigh, she had bent over backward for a little benefit.

This person clearly had issues. Otherwise, how could a normal person let such important insects escape?

"You've really mistaken me for someone else. Wake up, look carefully..." Shen An tried to support the young man and was prepared to leave as quickly as possible. After all, the mission from the Command Center was only to deliver the insects, and she had already accomplished that, right?

However, as soon as Shen An made a move, a crash occurred, and everything on the table fell over. The partially consumed alcohol in the bottles and other miscellaneous items scattered all over the floor, making the already chaotic cabin even messier.

With great effort, Shen An managed to move the person to the edge of the bed. The man remained silent throughout, and his flushed face, excessive body heat, and the scattered bottles on the floor indicated that he had drunk too much.

Drunk was good; maybe he wouldn't remember such an awkward situation.

Shen An didn't know how to comfort him, so she let him hold onto her leg. She didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, the man released his grip. His eyes remained shut, and his hot breath suggested unease, pain, and exhaustion.

Relieved, Shen An carefully withdrew her trapped leg and prepared to leave.

However, as she reached the doorway, she hesitated.

The insects were living creatures and valuable. At the very least, she should report the situation to the Command Center, right?

Thinking this, Shen An went to fiddle with the screen on the table. The screen was partially damaged, but fortunately, a functional part remained. Shen An dialed the symbol for the Command Center.

Immediately, the atmosphere in the Command Center grew tense. Qin Yan contemplated repeatedly, and after extreme concentration, he finally issued an order to connect the call.

"Hello, this is the Command Center." The voice of the staff member came through, but it sounded slightly different from usual.

Instantly, the chaotic state of Room 87's cabin appeared on the screen in the Command Center.

The staff members gasped. This...

"The insects have been delivered, and the task is completed." Shen An raised the portable feeding box in her hand to show it to them. It was better this way; they could witness her putting it down. If something happened later, it wouldn't be her responsibility. Shen An also meant something else by doing this. She wanted the Command Center to know the situation in Room 87.

As Shen An was about to leave with the feeding box, the voice from the Command Center came again.

"Raiser No. 86, please wait."

Shen An was taken aback, looking at the half-damaged screen. Although she couldn't see the staff member's face clearly, she could tell they were panicking.

The staff member glanced at Qin Yan, unsure of what to do. Qin Yan immediately wrote two words on a piece of paper: "clean up."

The staff member understood immediately. Of course, they had already used that excuse once, but it was a familiar tactic.

"Raiser No. 86, hello. Due to a thunderstorm, our unmanned drone cannot reach the location. However, the situation in Room 87 is quite dire. The Command Center is very worried. Could you please help tidy up the room?"

"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry." Without much thought, Shen An said. This trip had already delayed her quite a bit, and she still had to catch up on the missed schoolwork. Besides, if the person had already woken up, they could clean up themselves.

"We... we will provide a corresponding reward, two bottles of attribute potions, how does that sound?" The staff member saw Shen An about to leave and immediately offered.

Shen An was slightly taken aback. The attribute potions the staff member mentioned cost 3000 each, which meant two bottles were worth 6000. For her...

Shen An stopped, turned around, and smiled. She did need the money. 

"The reward is secondary. Mainly, as fellow interns, we should help each other. Can the attribute potions be converted into currency and deposited into my card?"

"Of course," the staff member responded promptly.

"Okay, don't worry. I'll tidy up and then leave." Shen An took swift action and quickly used a large garbage bag to clean up all the mess. She stored the feeding boxes, whether intact or damaged, into the wall. After a while, the room was back to its original state.

Shen An also put the young man's scattered clothes into a suitcase. Another suitcase in the room remained untouched. Shen An naturally didn't touch it and simply put the two suitcases away. She then struggled to move the young man onto the bed.

She had to be worthy of the 6000 yuan reward!

As for the insects, the Command Center had a new request, asking Shen An to temporarily take them back and deliver them tomorrow. Considering the money involved, Shen An reluctantly accepted it. She returned with her portable feeding box.

The round trip took Shen An four hours, and she hadn't even had breakfast yet. By 10:30 am, she finally returned to her aerial cabin and ordered a boxed meal.

Then she began measuring Strawberry's data.

As it turned out, Shen An's improvised insect massage method was indeed very effective.

Name: Silver Moon Leopard Phoenix Butterfly Larva

Nickname: Strawberry (198237420)

Growth Cycle: 16 days

Stage: Larva

Attributes: Water - 36

Fire - 3

Gold - 0

Wood - 7

Earth - 0

Strawberry's attributes had increased by 4 points, with water attributes increasing by 2 points. However, one thing was peculiar: although there were four attribute values, only the increase in water attributes was mentioned in the Raising Manual.

Shen An could only speculate that the water attribute value was the most important, as clouds formed depending on it.

She also measured the attributes of the insect she had picked up.

Name: Silver Moon Leopard Phoenix Butterfly Larva

Nickname: 198237421

Growth Cycle: 16 days

Stage: Larva

Attributes: Water - 20

Fire - 0

Gold - 3

Wood - 0

Earth - 3

Shen An's evaluation: Steady growth, but it seemed that both insects had only reached the minimum standard for most insects.

When the boxed meal arrived, Shen An had already decided to contact the Command Center after eating to explain the situation. She didn't contact them immediately when she returned because the raiser in Room 87 seemed to be just drunk. Perhaps he was going through a low point and occasionally indulging, and Shen An could understand that. So she decided to give him some time, perhaps until he woke up from his drunken state.

This way, even if the staff went there, she had at least given him time to sober up.

However, this also meant that she hadn't completed her task of delivering the insects. Would they take back the balanced scooter?

Shen An decided to give up her plan to rest at noon. Instead, she opened the map and carefully studied the distribution of insect food materials in Area 86, making a reasonable plan.

"Did you bring it back?" Even before Shen An could make a call, the food delivery robot noticed the portable feeding box she had brought back. It even watched the insect from Room 87 crawling around the control table.

In the Command Center of Area 112, the people anxiously waited for Shen An's return. When they saw the scene through the screen, they were dumbfounded.

"Should we contact them and ask?" What was going on? Did something happen in Room 87? But judging from the situation, it didn't seem like anything serious had occurred.

The staff member was about to open the communication when Qin Yan stopped him. Qin Yan had a more profound realization. Room 87 was undoubtedly facing an unusual situation. Did they not want the insects anymore? Or did something happen to the raiser?

If something indeed happened to the raiser, they were already aware of it, and that would be troublesome. However, the Second Room had succeeded, and the Second Room and the First Room had never been on good terms. Naturally, they would be pleased to get rid of this individual.

So, the smartest thing to do was to pretend they knew nothing.

"Inform everyone that due to the impact of the thunderstorm, the communication system is undergoing maintenance, and communication with the Command Center will be closed for 24 hours. The Wind Area Shop and meal ordering system will remain open. All trainees are requested to stay in their respective areas and focus on their raising work. In case of an emergency, you can use the emergency button on the control table."

After broadcasting the message three times, the buttons for communication with the Command Center on the control table dimmed.

Shen An was taken aback. Communication had been cut off? How was she supposed to report the situation now?

Unwilling to give up, Shen An tried pressing the communication button again, but she only heard busy signals.

What about the insect from Room 87? Should she go back and deliver it again? Well, at least she managed to keep the balanced scooter.

"Leader, what about the isolation net after Room 83?" They were supposed to fix the isolation net today before dark, but now with this situation...

"Stop for now," Qin Yan said, almost forgetting about it.

Shen An followed her plan, studying the map and then focusing on solving exercises. Shen An wasn't in the habit of checking her phone, mainly because she was an ordinary high school student on Earth. Shen An's mother bought her a cheap phone for about 200 yuan, mainly for making calls. She couldn't use it for anything else. Even when she needed to check homework assignments, she had to borrow her classmates' phones.

Besides, Shen An didn't want to waste her precious time on her phone.

Shen An knew that she wasn't a naturally talented student, capable of playing throughout the semester and effortlessly ranking first in exams. The scores she achieved were the result of hard work, often grinding through problems and becoming familiar with the material.

Just as Shen An was focused on solving problems, her phone made a "ding dong" sound, receiving a strange notification.

Shen An looked up, guessing that it was a message from the Command Center since communication was interrupted. She glanced at her phone.

Notification: You have received a friend request.

Shen An looked at her phone and clicked on the notification.

Shen An: I'm Lin Jiasheng from Class 9 of Grade 1. Please add me as a friend.

Shen An hesitated for a moment. She knew she could add friends on this messaging app, but she wasn't really interested in anything other than studying.

However, Lin Jiasheng was from the same school as her and was also brought to the new world. Shen An's impression of Lin Jiasheng was that he had decent grades and occasionally managed to squeeze into the top 30 in the grade.

But after some thought, Shen An still accepted the friend request. After all, they were from the same school, and she could discuss the raising of insects with Lin Jiasheng if they encountered any problems.

Shen An wasn't very familiar with the new messaging app, but it was similar to others she had used before. The phone was powerful, but the operations were not complicated. In a short while, Shen An had figured it out and opened the conversation box.

"Hello, Lin Jiasheng. I'm Shen An."

Shen An sent a message.

On the other side, Lin Jiasheng had been waiting by his phone the entire time. When he received Shen An's message, a flicker of joy appeared on his face, but in the next moment, he took a few deep breaths, trying to remain calm.

Finally, he had someone to talk to in this unfamiliar place. He had barely slept all day, feeling both excited and uneasy.

He had been constantly monitoring the attributes of the insects raised by the group of raisers. He was afraid that his carelessness or lack of effort might prevent him from becoming an outstanding raiser.

So, apart from chatting with everyone in the chat room, he also found many raising strategy messages on the website. At that time, he was full of confidence.

However, he discovered that in just one day, the attributes of the top-ranked insects had rapidly surpassed his. Even the insect raised by the 12th ranked Zhong Han had moved up to the 9th position. His own insect had fallen to around the 15th rank, making him feel disheartened.

The competition in raising insects was much fiercer than he had imagined.

Lin Jiasheng felt restless. During his moments of unease, he thought of Shen An, the top-performing student. She must have a different perspective.

Lin Jiasheng had tried to contact Zhong Han and Liu Siyan, but they completely ignored him.

In this situation, Shen An was the only one who accepted his friend request.

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