The atmosphere in the conference room of the complex building was as heavy as the mud at the bottom of a lake. The eleven representatives of the management committee were like eleven statues, staggering in the mud.
Luo Ling was turning a ballpoint pen in her hand. Through the transparent pen body, she could vaguely see that there was not much black ink left. It seemed to be telling the same fact over and over again: that world was getting farther and farther away from them.
"We can't do anything!" The only person speaking in the room was the technology team leader Qiu Wenhan. After not seeing him for a few days, Luo Ling discovered that his hair looked like white land after a fire, with only a few sparse strands left. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have been re-plowed, and the ravines became deeper. "This is not about rebuilding the technology and industrial system, but about creating a new one! Starting from every formula, every theorem, climbing up from the ditch at the bottom of the mountain step by step, how can this be fast?"
"But the blast furnace is almost completed, and you are telling me that there is a problem with the basic theory of steelmaking?" Industrial team leader Meng Guoqiang asked loudly.
"We are making rapid progress. The oxygen blowing problem has been solved, and we are just a little short of desulfurization." Qiu Wenhan stretched out his little finger, pinched a small section on the top and said, "I tell you, this is science. Sometimes, if you are a little unlucky, you need more time."
"Huh, the little progress you made so far is just the experience provided by Farrell from our team, right?"
"Okay, Lao Meng, you also know the difficulties faced by the technology team. Everyone has seen them working overtime day and night these days." Guo Qian tried to smooth things over.
"Principal, I'm not saying anything bad about them. They were the ones who made the promise at the beginning, and now they're the ones who are falling short. If you had said it earlier, I wouldn't have built two more brick kilns, glass workshops, etc."
"Meng has his reasons for being anxious." The speaker was Chu Ying, the business team leader. "The products we are trading now are mostly raw materials and primary processed products. We have almost sold all the inventory we brought from Earth. We must make more flagship products as soon as possible. It won't do to just rely on some colorful glass bottles and a few pieces of soap made from wood ash."
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Qiu Wenhan gritted his teeth and slammed the table, "Half a month, in another half a month I will definitely show you the first pot of molten steel!"
"Old Qiu, don't get excited. We have no ulterior motives. We are all doing this for official business. Alas, I think our luck is a little bad." Bai Yicheng said quickly.
"We are already quite lucky. The rules of the microscopic world have changed, but our bodies and the houses around us did not completely collapse the moment we came into this world. This is already a miracle!" said Qiu Wenhan.
"Teacher Qiu, what does this mean?" Luo Ling suddenly asked.
Qiu Wenhan glanced at Luo Ling with some confusion, as if he was a little surprised that she didn't understand what he meant, but he immediately realized that this was a chance for him to explain to everyone, and he said, "Our bodies are made up of various compounds, and our bodies are undergoing chemical reactions all the time. If their properties in this world are different from ours, how can we stand here instead of being scattered into a pool of meat paste or exploding into a ball of fire? These questions have been tormenting our members of the technology team. Do you know how many white hairs we have grown in these days?!"
"Teacher Qiu, take a breath and speak slowly." Luo Ling said softly, "Do you have any guesses about this phenomenon?"
Qiu Wenhan took a few deep breaths and said, "We have a young man here named Mao Kai who has put forward a guess. He believes that there is a kind of particle that is prevalent in this world and interferes with all chemical reactions, but this interference is gradual and slow. It takes a long time for the matter from our world to be gradually assimilated by this particle. This explains the problem with our body and why we can't even make black powder, but the bullets we brought can still be used here."
"So, he thinks that after a period of time, there will be problems with the propellant of our existing bullets?" Luo Ling keenly discovered the crux of the problem.
"This... this is just speculation." Qiu Wenhan said.
"This may not be speculation." Wang Jiyuan, who had not participated in the discussion, said, "According to statistics from our guard battalion, there have been several duds in the past two weeks."
The expressions of most people present changed drastically. Modern weapons were the foundation of their existence, but now this reliance has become unreliable. This is shockingly bad news for everyone...
After the meeting, everyone walked out of the conference room with a bit more sadness on their faces. Luo Ling quickly walked a few steps to catch up with the intelligence team leader Zhou Xiaoren who was walking away with his head down, and stood in front of him, whispering, "Team Leader Zhou, do you have time now?"
Zhou Xiaoren raised his eyebrows, glanced at Luo Ling, nodded slightly, and then followed Luo Ling into an office on the same floor.
After Zhou Xiaoren walked into the room, Luo Ling locked the door from the inside.
Zhou Xiaoren sat down at a desk, and Luo Ling stood opposite him with her arms folded across her chest, waiting for the other party to speak.
Zhou Xiaoren touched his chin, thought for a while and said, "I have started to investigate what you told me. There is no clear result, most of it is just hearsay."
"There is an undercurrent in the resettlement camp, that's for sure. Both Crete and those religious lunatics have proved this. And Hawke and Lorenzo, these two must be doing something secretly." Luo Ling said.
"My people spent a lot of effort to follow Hawke and Lorenzo, but found that these two people are just sociable and dissatisfied. Hawke is a poor nobleman with no skills, who only knows how to brag every day. Lorenzo knows some magic tricks. My people even tried it themselves, and they are not much better than magic. They are just for fun. They are trying to connect with some people to protest their treatment, but so what? We can naturally deal with them when the time comes. I'm afraid your kid is thinking too much."
"Krete is no longer a child. I think he knows what he is facing." Luo Ling said, "And how do you explain the mark Lorenzo drew on him? Morey believes that it is a formation for spying on intelligence."
"This doesn't mean there's some conspiracy behind this. We're keeping a close eye on them. These people can't cause any trouble." Zhou Xiaoren stroked his sparse hair and shook his head. "What do they have? Strength? We have magicians and fighting masters, and they're just ordinary people. Training? Lao Wang's team uses the PLA's system, and they can't even line up and report numbers, right? Weapons? They have hoes, and we have rifles. If there's a real fight, won't they be courting death?"
"Team Leader Zhou, the problem is that the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. We don't know what these people's purpose is! It's not only a head-on conflict that will pose a threat to us." Luo Ling retorted.
"Even if these people want to fight for something, what they want is just a little more salary and more rest, right? Could it be that they want to take over the magpie's nest?"
Luo Ling had unknowingly lowered her arms and put her hands on her waist. "Team Leader Zhou, there are more than 4,000 people in the camp. Even if only one-tenth of them are mobilized, it will be a scene you don't want to see. What's more, there is a high probability that someone from outside will support them. These people would try to spy on Crete, which means that the school itself is also their target."
Zhou Xiaoren sighed and said, "Xiao Luo, if you are really worried, then drive Hawke, Lorenzo, and the little boy named Crete out, or lock them up. If it is inconvenient for you to do it, I will do it for you."
Luo Ling shook her head firmly and said, "These people are not the key to the problem. The current situation is that there is a bomb buried in the school. If it doesn't explode today, it will explode tomorrow. We must find this bomb and completely dismantle it!"
After a while, the two walked out of the office and left separately. Zhou Xiaoren walked down the stairs leisurely, while Luo Ling did not leave directly. Instead, she stood at the end of the corridor, leaning on the windowsill with both hands, overlooking the school from above.
The campus at this time is completely different from when it first came into this world.
The walls were raised and thickened, the watchtowers were everywhere, the newly built simple houses, and the various smoking stoves in the workshops. It was full of chaos, but also full of vitality. Every time Luo Ling watched these changes happening, she felt a sense of security in her heart.
However, it would be naive to think that all of this will happen and exist naturally.
Unconsciously, she suddenly realized that the world outside the window became blurry, and then she found that half a centimeter of thin ice had accumulated on the window frame and glass. This was the overflow of spiritual power, and it was also the projection of her anger in this world.
Looking through the icicles that were still extending, the campus became fragmented, which seemed to foreshadow a bad ending. Luo Ling hated this association, she waved her hand, and the crystal icicles retreated like a tide, and the windowsill returned to its original appearance.
She coughed a few times and felt a bloody smell seeping out of her throat. At this time, the glass window made a "crack" sound, and a piece of glass in the lower left corner of the window could not withstand the rapid temperature change and cracked...
Luo Ling gently touched the gap that divided the campus into two halves with her fingertips and sighed.
The meeting just now ended unpleasantly. Whether it was her request to strengthen monitoring or to form an action team, the other party simply agreed. But when it came to the details, there were all kinds of promises and excuses. Although she had fully expressed her dissatisfaction, the other party was still like a piece of taffy, leaving her with nowhere to push.
She recalled Zhou Xiaoren's performance, the subtle expressions on his face and the tone of his voice, and she was still unsure whether he was too incompetent or too arrogant, or had some other purpose. But no matter which reason it was, he obviously underestimated the people in this world and the possible threats.
Arrogant people may not always have a bad ending, but you must first have the capital to be arrogant.
"You've just crawled out of the situation of being a lost dog, and you've become so arrogant?" Luo Ling tapped the glass a few times with her fingers, talking to herself.