The bold black words flashed in the air and were deeply engraved in everyone’s minds. Soon after, the shattered conference room repaired itself as if nothing had happened.
The research scholars returned to their chairs and sat down.
Similarly, everyone was deep in thought and wore a different expression after the incident.
Everyone had different opinions about it.
For Lu Kuan, who was gentle and would rather not compete with others, Su Mo’s domineering words helped him break through the uncertain thoughts about his future.
Meanwhile, someone like Su Deben was not really concerned about the results and believed that humanity would eventually conquer the world. Su Mo had comforted him that they were at the forefront of the same journey.
His words had different effects on them.
Su Mo was not an expert on human nature, but he knew that he had done all he could in great detail.
The rest was up to them to digest.
Su Mo sat on the sofa in the garage and observed the still motionless brain box. He was not in a hurry and patiently flipped through the lists in his hand.
The survival points he had acquired yesterday reported by the daily system announcement were approximately 1000 points.
The total survival points he had accumulated was merely 6910 points, which was the cost of one person’s mark fusion.
Therefore, after forcibly fusing a mark with Lu Kuan, the remaining mark for the villagers could only be selected from someone who had passed the detection test for all anchor points.
Su Mo swiped through the name list that consisted of the names of 119 villagers.
After a while, Su Mo had decided on the qualities of the person who would receive the mark.
First of all, putting aside ability, the person who would sneak into Freedom City must have a good character and not be a rigid person.
Therefore, the personality score should be at least 80 points or above, and the person should have the label of being “cheerful and talkative” to meet his first condition.
The second was loyalty.
The virtual reality equipment was not just a piece of simulation equipment, but it was also advanced monitoring and analysis equipment.
During a person’s training time in the simulated environment, each person’s behavior would be analyzed, and data would be predicted. Although it may not be 100% accurate, there was always more than 70% accuracy.
It was like when Wei Yan had a rebellious attitude and was destined to rebel against him. According to the personality analysis, the device could also calculate a person’s loyalty in the face of temptation.
The last quality was one that Su Mo saw great importance in and filtered the name list to those who scored above 95 points.
The third quality was ability!
Su Mo considered and filtered the candidates that had good business or good marketing skills, and as long as they had skills related to business, they were listed as potential candidates.
Su Mo ultimately settled on three potential candidates after some time filtering the names.
None of the three candidates were S-level talents in the territory, and there was even one that was B-rank, but they all satisfied the conditions he had been looking for in the candidate.
The first person had previous work experience as an executive in the middle-ranked management of a well-known media company. He was A-level talent within the basin, had strong social skills, and was able to quickly open up opportunities in an unfamiliar circle, turning passivity into activity.
At the same time, he had a uniquely personal insight in terms of finance. Although he did not compare to the other two, he had no problem dealing with typical transactions.
The second person was a salesman in the healthcare product industry and an A-level talent who was very good at selling products. He had a mouth of honey that could convince anyone.
He had already established a trading group among the villagers from scratch and often held exchange events for hundreds of people within a short time in the basin.
Lastly, the third candidate was unlike the previous two who had worked in big corporations. His abilities were not as outstanding, and he had the lowest talent level of a B grade.
However, his professionalism and subsequent evaluation made Su Mo consider him a final candidate.
He was a former deputy director of the human resources management department who turned into a head game planner for an unknown gaming company.
In the doomsday wasteland, the entertainment of playing cards and mahjong was already a thing of the past, let alone playing games.
After opening their eyes to a new day, the main priority in the wasteland was to either eat or work.
At night, after wearing themselves out through the day, all that was left on their minds was the fear of the impending disaster. No one had the mood or time to think about entertainment and enjoyment.
Therefore, as a game planner, his skills were utterly useless.
He was allowed to join the basin through the screening because of his previous experience in the human resources management department and he had good leadership skills.
In terms of skills, each of them would be able to help in the Fire Exchange in Freedom City.
Su Mo knew that he could not choose the person based on data alone, so he walked out of the shelter toward the village to speak to Chen Shen. After exchanging a few words, Su Mo returned to the shelter with confidence.
“Su Mo, can I really fuse with a mark?”
As soon as Su Mo returned to the shelter, Lu Kuan, who controlled the robot, greeted him nervously.
“Haha, are you still worried?
“Yes, you can head back now. Let’s do it right away!”
Lu Kuan was able to calm down after getting rid of his inner demons.
However, he deeply understood the consequences of rushing something without the assistance of high-precision equipment and lots of preparation after being a scientific scholar for years.
Lu Kuan gritted his teeth and disconnected the control of the robot after hearing Su Mo’s reassurance. His consciousness returned to the brain box at the speed of light.
At the same time, all the other people gathered in the conference room, witnessing everything through the screen, clenched the things in their hands.
“Shelter leader, will…will he succeed?
Zhuo Junfan swallowed a mouthful of saliva after watching Su Mo’s hands and feet move directly toward the machine and throw it to the ground.
“I’m not sure. It does look… quite reliable!”
Su Mo glanced at the lid of the machine that had opened because he had accidentally used too much force. He picked up the lid and threw it aside indifferently.
Ai Jianfeng also swallowed his saliva after touching the slightly chilled back of his head.
It was completely different from being cautious and nervous about making a mistake. They saw something completely different in Su Mo.
It was forceful… miracles?
“Are you ready? I’m about to start!”
Su Mo lifted the lid of the brain box and prompted the slime to separate, revealing the brain inside. Su Mo voice’s was like thunder booming to the brain box.
Subconsciously, Lu Kuan, who was sitting in the middle of the crowd, shivered a little. It confirmed that he had responded to the outside world because his brain twitched as if sending out a signal that he was ready.
“Wait, I haven’t…”
Before Lu Kuan could finish speaking, Su Mo, who was holding the mark, had already pressed his hands down on the 100-inch screen.
His casual operation was without any preparation and left no one the time to react.
“Argh!”
Hearing that Lu Kuan, who was sitting in the center, let out a scream, the others were startled and looked at him.
Compared to his usual self, the indifference on Lu Kuan’s face had disappeared and was replaced with a face full of pain like someone had detained him.
He screamed out as if tortured by someone and those present were frightened.
“Is the fusion of the mark really painful?”
“Shelter leader… shouldn’t it only take a while?”
Lu Kuan’s reaction was terrifying. Ai Jianfeng subconsciously took a step back, seeing that Su Mo had let go of the machine.
However, after stepping back, Ai Jianfeng saw Lu Kuan’s expression from a different angle.
The real pain would destroy one’s ability to process reality in an instant.
Even a man of steel would burst into tears in such pain.
This had nothing to do with human will but it was an inevitable reaction to pain.
However, Lu Kuan’s expression seemed to be relaxed despite his screaming. No matter how he looked at it…
“Hey! Hey! Lu Kuan! Lu Kuan! You’ve already fused. Stop howling!”
He patted Lu Kuan’s shoulder abruptly and the latter shivered in shock, stopping his unconscious shouting.
Then, for the first time, Lu Kuan saw something on the screen that was embedded in his brain… It was a mark!
“Did…did I succeed?”
Lu Kuan was not embarrassed when everyone glanced at him with an undisguised look of “contempt” on their faces. He was excited and attempted to try out the mark.
Seconds later, his figure disappeared from the conference room.
At this moment, Su Mo took out the second mark and fused the mark as how Yan Xiaqing had taught him.
The first mark for Lu Kuan utilized the system’s power, and the process was smooth.
The second mark for Ai Jianfeng had the same anchor points, and he did not encounter any problems during fusion.
The marks were the same cracked version, and there was no difference in the functions. Naturally, they did not have to worry about the risk of system exposure.
“Wai! Don’t rush it! I’ll transfer the templates.”
The mark that was purchased in Freedom City did not have many templates stored in it yet.
Although most of them were level two function templates, they were highly suitable for their current situation.
Su Mo turned around and activated the power of Stealing the Day, Changing the Light instantly, successfully transferring them into human bodies.
At the same time, the two people who were still in the brain box could feel the template in the brain box and received a reminder from the mark.
[Notice: It is detected that high-level mark possessor Harl wants to gift you a template: Enhanced Transformation (Level 2). Do you accept?]
[Notice: It is detected that high-level mark possessor Harl wants to gift you a template: Skilled Craftsman (Level 2). Do you accept?]
Su Mo did not dare to take risks in the first template transfer.
The template given to Lu Kuan was Enhanced Transformation, while the gift to Ai Jianfeng was Skilled Craftsman, which was a branch of transforming people in the Light Empire.
They were also humans who would have different genetic sequences, but they had the lesser risks.
“Accept!”
The two were very curious and excitedly accepted the template transfer as this was the first time they had seen technology beyond their knowledge.
Then, without further explanation, the two performed a series of operations, and a magical scene happened!
The two brains that were still within the brain box began to withdraw miraculously, and the artificial slime nerves linked to the slime quickly retracted.
The brains were raised in the air by an invisible force.
The next moment, a familiar black ray flashed in front of them. When the ray had cleared, two people who had successfully regained their physical bodies stood firmly on the ground.
“Incredible! This is incredible! Is something like this possible? This is unbelievable!
“I never expected that there would come a day where I regained my body!”
He raised his hand and felt the sense of touch that he had lost.
He raised his head and looked at the bright world that came into his view.
The scent of the fresh earth and a touch of grassy scent lingered in his nose.
The sound of human voices, the wind, and the various sounds that passed through his ears.
Their reactions were similar to a player who had a single-core Pentium for more than ten years and then suddenly replaced his computer with an eight-core or sixteen-core 12th generation Intel.
The extreme difference could be felt in the comparison.
The two shed tears of joy almost simultaneously.
They seemed to have gone insane. They staggered and fell, but when the pain spread through their bodies, they would get up unknowingly and continue to run toward the distance.
Their pain represented hope.
Their madness represented a new life!
Even if they used to be high-ranking scholars in the eyes of countless people, at this moment, they were happy as children.
“It’s amazing. I haven’t seen them so excited in a long time!”
Su Deben connected to the robot silently and walked toward Su Mo, standing at the main door, full of emotion.
Su Mo saw the relief on the robot’s face as he turned toward Su Deben.
“The last time everyone was so excited was the success of the development of this brain box device which gave everyone the hope of living again. Who would have thought this hope would become a prison, trapping us firmly inside?
“I’m really honored and pleased right now. When you came here with the cracked map, everyone unanimously voted to let you in and gave you similar treatment and testings.
“It turns out that us old men have good eyes for people indeed! Hahaha!!!”
Su Deben muttered to himself as he called the past and watched the two running widely.
His tone was sentimental as he talked about everyone’s high-spirited moments in the past, and then he spoke about the various conflicts everyone had during their deep sleep.
“Su Mo, do you know that the people who entered the brain box together were not only a few of us. At that time, 70 people on the list were eligible to participate in the deep sleep…
“But just like today, not everyone had the opportunity, and the few of us were the ones who had passed the selection in the end.
“We watched as some could not accept fate and took their own lives. Some went crazy, while some chose to escape.
“We know better than anyone how hard it is to go against fate!”
“They must’ve been unlucky!” Su Mo shrugged.
“Yeah. They weren’t lucky enough to survive till fate arrived!” Su Deben was stunned but came back to his senses, nodding silently to Su Mo’s statement.
Intelligent individuals never explain their words.
They both laughed simultaneously after exchanging words, and their tone was full of relaxation and expectation for their future.
“Su Mo! I won’t go against you anymore. Give me the next spot next time!
“During this time, I’ve thoroughly studied our enemies around the basin. It’s time for us to show our fangs!
“Our situation will only become more passive if we keep waiting. After this winter, I want everyone in the New World to know that we humans are the overlords who cannot be underestimated!”
“Great!” Su Mo answered after seeing Su Deben’s ambitions.
Su Mo did not hesitate to encourage him after thinking about the rapidly expanding dwarves and the potential thousands of enemies surrounding them.
According to the rules of the New World, the enemy’s declining progress equaled development on their side.
The basin would have fewer difficult enemies in the future if they could stifle the opponent’s development.
At the same time, the magical technology that the dwarves possessed might be able to bring progress to the basin.
This was a situation that Su Mo would love to see happen.
Now that the topic had been mentioned, the two were not secretive about it and began to sit in the garage, discussing their strategies carefully.
After a long while, when Lu Kuan and Ai Jianfeng had returned, the discussion of war had already come to an end.
“Shelter leader, we’ve brought them. Should we begin?”
Chen Shen estimated the time and brought the three candidates that were on the list to the shelter’s main door.
Along the way, he watched the new “strangers” with various thoughts. After a while, he finally withdrew the envious look on his face.
“Come in! Everyone has already gathered. Let’s begin the interview now!”
Hearing Su Mo’s voice, the four figures entered the shelter nervously.
Chen Shen was fine, but the other three were evidently flustered.
They glanced across the garage that was filled with all kinds of machines and panted heavily.
They anxiously grabbed the corners of their clothes and tried to calm their inner uneasiness and excitement.
This was a chance that they should seize to achieve a higher position that was unimaginable in the age of civilization.
However, from past experiences, they knew that in a three-candidate interview, elimination could happen in seconds.
“Hey, don’t be nervous. Everyone here is from the same territory. Come, have some drinks!”
Lu Kuan, who had transformed into a human form, had quickly gotten accustomed to his identity.
He picked up the tray on the table, placed a few glasses of water, and walked toward them with a smile.
“Wait… are you… Lu Kuan?”
“It’s me! Oh yes, this is the first time we’ve met! Let’s get along!”
Lu Kuan had already returned to his gentle demeanor as he passed a glass of water to Chen Shen.
He was elegant, and you could see a “monstrous confidence” that was not there before!
The candidates each took a glass of water and were in a better state. They were less nervous, and their faces gradually relaxed.
“I called you here today because I need an… assistant. The general job scoop is…”
Su Mo quickly described the general situation of the Fire exchange and clarified the existing resources.
Su Mo did not explain the whole picture but being chosen as candidates, these three were not fools. They quickly understood their place and responsibilities in seconds.
“Before the trial, you each have a chance to state your advantages, and of course, you can say whatever you want to.”
Su Mo was fascinated by being an interviewer for the first time and took a sip of water after speaking.
Although the three candidates were experienced professionals, when faced with a beginner who did not play by the rules, they were stunned before they could react.
“I can open up the relationship between the top ten exchanges, acquire large resources, and expand the exchange significantly within three months.”
The first A-level talent answered, and Su Mo nodded.
“I will be able to launch an exclusive product within a month and achieve a monopoly. The Fire Exchange will be one of the top three within three months.”
The second A-level talent did not fall behind and answered full of self-confidence.
When it came to the third candidate, the B-level talent with messy hair glanced at the two strong opponents beside him, then turned to Su Mo and the other interviewers.
He was flustered as he slowly opened his mouth.
“Um. This… I can make all the ordinary residents of Freedom City spend all their free money to recharge at our exchange, ah… that is, a popular term would be, let them top up as much as possible…”
He was highly unpredictable.
The game planner’s fun answer had Su Mo delighted even if he had mentally prepared himself.
