Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 324 The Strange New Abilities of Old Elm

Zhai Da returned to the Shenzhou Mansion with a small section of white root.

Little Wood was flipping through a book, a huge math tome entirely in English. Zhai Da could understand every single word, but when put together, he could only make out the profound content of "cannibalism."

The cover roughly translates to "Convex Functions and Non-Convex Functions".

"what is this?"

“At a previous academic conference, a professor from Shandong University talked about a field that I found very interesting, and perhaps it can be combined with my previous ‘matrix tracking tool’.”

Zhai Da felt that the discussion could end there, as it would be impolite to ask any more questions.

It's disrespectful to yourself.

Speaking of which, the topics that Little Wood is interested in all have rather unique names! One minute it's sensitivity, the next it's whether it's erect or not.

There was still plenty of time before dinner, so the kitchen wasn't open yet. Today, Xiao Mutou was going to make beef stew. Large chunks of bright red beef were placed on the cutting board, with blood still dripping from them.

Zhai Da thought of the old tree roots in his pocket.
So he changed his clothes and, under the pretext of "preparing the ingredients in advance," entered the kitchen.

I found the mortar and pestle for pounding garlic in the cupboard and put some of the white roots into it.

He was very familiar with this stuff when feeding the old elm tree, and he had also fed it to some small animals for research purposes, including the bark, leaves, and roots.

Nothing special about it.

Because the [Execution of Old Elm] originally had a system note: its special effect only applies to itself, and its fruit, branches, leaves, and seeds have no effect.

The system also added a playful comment: "At least for now."

But this newly developed capability has clearly broken this limitation.

The white roots were tender and juicy, somewhat like houttuynia cordata. After being slightly crushed, a little juice oozed out. Zhai Da took out a syringe without a needle from his pocket. He had just taken it from the [Retro Workbench], which he had stuffed with many things that could be called tools.

Five milliliters of juice were extracted. Because it was not filtered, it was somewhat cloudy and yellowish, a bit like sugarcane juice. According to the system, this juice can make the nerves and muscles of the wound "slowly move to heal and stop bleeding."

Of course, if planted upright, it will "wriggle wildly to destroy and bleed."
Both abilities have an area-of-effect bonus, but the special effect extends to the root sap, which is probably related to the fact that he fed him a large number of earthworms and aloe vera.

Logically, the effects of juice should be time-limited; it's impossible for it to remain effective after three to five years. Furthermore, there should be a dosage issue. Would 0.001 ml be effective? Wouldn't it be effective simply by evaporating into the air? Clearly, that's illogical.

The mechanism of action is also unclear; it's unclear whether it relies entirely on the system's "I think" effect, or whether there's some special substance involved.
Everything was uncertain, so Zhai Da wanted to conduct an experiment.

He felt uneasy about anything related to Lao Yu, including this stone mortar and pestle used for pounding garlic; he wasn't going to want it for even a moment.
How about we try slashing Xiao Hei?

Ultimately feeling it was too heartless, Zhai Da turned to look at the piece of beef. According to Xiao Mutou's personality, he would probably buy fresh meat.

It's a bit abstract, but I'll give it a try. It's better than cutting myself and then applying the juice.

Zhai Da cut off a large piece of beef, which looked quite fresh based on its texture, and then dripped a few drops onto it.

Let's get closer and observe the changes.

No change
Well, it's completely necrotic. Nerves die within two hours of being removed from the body, while muscles take a little longer, possibly two or three times longer at low temperatures. But no matter how you look at it, this piece of beef is still dead meat.

The cows have probably all been reincarnated.

However, just as Zhai Da was about to pack up and leave it at that, the fibers on the surface of the beef suddenly twitched.

The eerie scene made Zhai Da's eyelids twitch.

This is actually possible?!

An outrageous thought popped into my head: what if one day he's about to die, say, a hundred years from now?

He burned the old elm tree before leaving!

Come with me, lest we leave behind a legacy of disaster for a thousand years.

After the first twitch, a second one followed. A piece of beef on the cutting board began to twitch at a low frequency. He had seen this scene in short videos in his previous life; it usually happened right after slaughter.
The muscles seemed to be trying to contract in the direction of "rupture," but the cut piece of beef was clearly "ruptured" everywhere, and the twitching force was insufficient to form a cohesive mass. The closest it came was a vague resemblance to a shrimp, curling into an imprecise "meatball," but it still failed.

So weird.

After jumping for about three minutes, he completely lost his "motivation" and fell silent again.

Zhai Da exhaled a breath of stale air.

If we think about it from a materialistic perspective, it seems that there is some substance in the juice that can cause a reaction in the muscles and nerves.
Even to some extent, the muscles and nerves that have died.
It might require some research, but his biology level is still at the level of an A in the subject level test before the college entrance examination. He hasn't studied it at all since entering university, so he probably won't be up to the task.

Fortunately, he didn't have to do everything himself, and Zhai Da thought of Liu Hanlin, a biology genius.
However, the other party is a level three member, so we need to conduct further assessments and get to know them again after the research institute is officially operational.

------

The short few days passed in the blink of an eye, and the May Day holiday arrived as scheduled.

A girl, filled with trepidation, traveled 3,000 kilometers from Shenzhen to Harbin.

Li Haili straightened her clothes and walked outside.

As an ordinary girl whose looks are only average and whose only advantage is her height, even if she dresses up carefully, she is not particularly eye-catching at the airport.

At most, after graduating from high school, I cut off my bangs, and after studying in Shenzhen, I upgraded my fashion sense a bit and gained some youthful energy.

Li Haili looked around and finally spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. After walking over, she said, "I almost didn't recognize you."

Dressed in a very business-like manner, with a turtleneck sweater and a light jacket, Wu Yue smiled and said, "It's alright. After all, I didn't go to university, and starting work inevitably brings about some changes."

Actually, he's just average-looking, but men are judged by their aura, and in that respect, the only Angkor in Harbin has undoubtedly cultivated it.

Appears reserved, efficient, and sophisticated.
Wu Yue looked down at herself. It was just her usual style, but she still felt a little insecure and said, "Is it something that looks strange?"

Li Haili: "It's fine."

"Ahem, um, are Lu Wei and I now invisible?"

Zhai Da, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

Your eyes are practically drooling!

Wu Yue and Li Haili then realized what was happening and awkwardly glanced around.

Zhai Da looked at the two of them; their youthful innocence seemed to emanate for miles around.

All I can say is that no matter if you're Angkor, Vietnamese, or Indian, when you meet someone special, especially someone who's also your "high school classmate," you have to lower your emotional intelligence to a level befitting their 20 years of age.

Maturity comes from oneself, while immaturity often stems from others.

Actually, it's quite good. He always hoped that Wu Yue's love life could be more normal and ordinary.

The two had been chatting online since after the Spring Festival. He naturally didn't monitor them, but occasionally Wu Yue would come to Zhai Da because she didn't know how to reply.

The two seemed to be compatible, but it was still a long way from establishing a relationship.

Zhai Da couldn't help but sigh to himself: This is youth.
He was different; he turned to Little Wooden Head and said, "Give me a kiss!"

Without hesitation, Lu Wei leaned forward and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

I could clearly feel the two people on the other end freeze for a moment.

Zhai Da hugged Lu Wei, secretly thinking to himself: You have youthful innocence, I have sweet and tender sweetness.

Are you trying to make me eat dog food?
Bounce!

(End of this chapter)