Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 51: A Little Understanding of Source Energy

About 1.5 kilometers away from Hongfulou, there is an ordinary street-side hotel called "Yuelai".

In the cramped standard room, the curtains were tightly closed, letting in only a little dim light.

Zhang Hao and his girlfriend Xiao Xi huddled together on the bed against the wall, their eyes vacant, muttering something under their breath.

Zhang Hao is a college student from the neighboring city of Xuetong. After surviving his final exams, he excitedly ran to Helu City to see his girlfriend with the few hundred yuan he had saved up through frugality.

Xiao Xi is a student at a local university. The two are deeply in love and want to be together every day. In order to stay a few more days, they chose this affordable little hotel.

Yesterday at noon, after the two had been enjoying a tender moment together, they were discussing going out to find a nice restaurant to treat themselves when disaster struck without warning.

The loud noises, terrifying roars, and human screams outside the window instantly shattered the idyllic atmosphere.

They locked the door in terror, and soon, chilling screams, running sounds, and the frantic scratching of something sharp came from the hallway outside.

Not long after, they received a text message from the authorities. Following their instructions, they frantically used chairs, bedside tables, and suitcases in the room to brace the door shut.

During this time, Zhang Hao desperately called and sent WeChat messages to his parents, and fortunately he was able to get through. His mother's anxious voice reassured him a little, but soon the signal became extremely unstable and eventually dropped completely.

The last WeChat message from his father was, "You stay hidden! Don't come out! We're hiding at home, we're fine!"

There has been no further news since.

Xiao Xi's situation was similar. Her family lived in the old city. The last message her parents sent was that they had also hidden themselves well, and that the doors and windows had been blocked. They told her to take good care of herself.

Despair and worry overwhelmed the two of them like a tidal wave.

This was just an ordinary discounted room with no food supplies. After a day and a night, hunger and thirst began to torment them.

Although they immediately filled the kettle and glasses with tap water after receiving the alert text message, and with the water in the bathroom sink and the toilet tank, they were not dying of thirst for the time being, but the burning hunger in their stomachs could not be relieved.

"Haohao, I remember now, there seems to be a box of popping candy in my bag," Xiaoxi's voice was weak and hoarse, with a sob in it, "I bought it earlier... I just bought it because I'm so hungry and my stomach hurts. Let's just eat a little bit, okay?"

"Why did you suddenly think of buying that? Isn't that for kids?" Zhang Hao asked, a little puzzled. But he didn't think much of it, because his throat was also dry and sore, and his stomach was protesting madly.

Now, upon suddenly hearing that there was another box of candy, that box of candy suddenly exuded an incredibly tempting magic.

However, he still hugged his girlfriend tightly and shook his head, "Xiao Xi, just bear with it a little longer, it's only the first day. The authorities said to conserve our energy and wait for rescue. We still have water, drinking more water will help us through the hunger."

He paused, looking at his girlfriend's pale and haggard face, feeling heartbroken, and softly added, "If... if you're really too hungry to stand, then... eat a few, it'll help you get some sugar. But it's best... best to wait a little longer."

Looking at her boyfriend's equally weak and tired face, Xiaoxi felt a pang of sadness, and tears almost welled up in her eyes again.

She was silent for a few seconds, then finally shook her head and buried her face in Zhang Hao's chest: "You're right, we need to save. If we really have to go out and find food ourselves, this box of candy might be our last bit of strength."

As the two huddled together, barely managing to ward off hunger and despair with their body heat and words.
"Boom, boom, boom."

A clear and restrained knocking sound suddenly came from outside the blocked door.

The two of them sprang up like startled rabbits, their hearts leaping into their throats. They instinctively gripped each other's hands, staring intently at the door in terror.

What was that banging on the door a few times just now?

Immediately afterwards, a calm and clear young male voice came from behind the door. The voice was not loud, but it was extremely penetrating.

"Hey you inside, can you hear me? I've already cleared out the scattered monsters outside."

Zhang Hao and Xiao Xi suddenly looked at each other, both seeing unbelievable ecstasy and shock in each other's eyes.

someone!

Someone was knocking on the door just now, and they even cleared out the monsters?!
"Someone's here! Someone can hear us, we're coming to open the door right now."

Zhang Hao was so excited that he trembled all over. He quickly responded loudly and jumped up to move the heavy object blocking the doorway.

The voice outside continued: "I have a mission and won't stay. You have about half an hour to come out and search for food, then hurry back. Keep an eye out, and if you hear any large group passing by, try to come out and join them once you've confirmed it's safe."

After speaking, the voice paused for a moment, as if to confirm that the person inside had heard it, and then the footsteps gradually faded away.
-
After leaving the small hotel where the college students were staying, Lin Yi continued to move efficiently through the desolate city ruins.

The pale blue light screen of the portable energy detector was his most reliable field of vision, accurately marking the location of the scattered Abyss Wolves. Every flash of the cold light from the Abyss Spear meant the end of an Abyss Wolf.

While clearing out the Abyss Wolves along the way, Lin Yi also lent a helping hand to the trapped survivors, giving them more time to catch their breath and hope of holding out for rescue. As time passed, the closer he got to the old city, the denser and more conspicuous the signs of human resistance became.

The walls riddled with bullet holes, the charred craters left by explosions, and the makeshift roadblocks hastily erected with sandbags, abandoned vehicles, and furniture wreckage silently testify to the fierce battle that once took place.

After traveling a while longer, Lin Yi clearly sensed that he was about to enter a "safe zone" controlled by the authorities.

Or, to put it another way, the outer perimeter of the "nest gap area".

Because he had already seen a vast but crude defensive perimeter.

This is not a neat city wall, but a circular lifeline painstakingly constructed using all available materials, relying on existing streets, buildings and terrain.

Abandoned buses and coaches were dragged sideways, lined up end to end, forming a discontinuous base for the wall. Machine gun nests made of sandbags were scattered on top of it, while blast barriers, barbed wire, and roughly welded steel plates and scaffolding from the construction site filled the gaps.

Several armored vehicles painted in armed police camouflage were parked near key points of the defense line. Soldiers in camouflage uniforms were rushing past carrying ammunition boxes, and someone was banging on the armored vehicles with a wrench, seemingly repairing something. The clanging of metal was particularly jarring in the quiet city.

Inside the defensive line, on a makeshift watchtower, a sentry held binoculars, his body ramrod straight, his gaze sweeping the distance like a hawk's, occasionally raising his hand to speak quickly into the walkie-talkie.

This is the outer defense line of the Helu City settlement. It is more solid and more "vibrant" than any temporary shelter he remembered from his previous life.

The main roads near the settlements were forcibly cleared out as a "lifeline" connecting the outside world to the settlements.

The road was bustling with traffic, resembling a battlefield.

A heavily modified bulldozer, covered in mud and dark red stains, led the way, followed by wheeled armored vehicles and military trucks, rumbling out of the defensive line. The truck beds were packed with soldiers and volunteers with resolute faces, gripping their rifles tightly.

Other trucks returned exhausted, their cargo holds filled with newly rescued survivors, their faces filled with fear and confusion, or with valuable supplies they had salvaged.

Lin Yi took a deep breath, dearmed the Flowing Cloud Light Armor, restored it to its belt form, and shrunk and retracted the Rift Abyss Spear. He then straightened his slightly disheveled collar and walked towards the entrance of the defensive line.

At this moment, apart from a little dust and inconspicuous dark stains on his clothes, he looked like an ordinary student who had luckily escaped from a dangerous area. However, his eyes were too calm, making him somewhat out of place among the bewildered crowd around him.

This is a checkpoint consisting of two buses and sandbags.

"Stop! Go register over there first!"

A young man wearing a volunteer armband and looking exhausted shouted, pointing to a registration point not far away.

The registration point was very simple, with a desk, a registration book and an empty bottle of mineral water on it, and a staff member was busy making records.

Three or four people are in line.

Lin Yi did as instructed and soon it was his turn.

"Name, age, original address, are you injured? Do you have any special skills? Medical, engineering, welding, etc. are all fine." The staff member didn't look up much, his voice was slightly hoarse, but he spoke very quickly.

"Lin Yi, 18 years old, original address Minghua Street, Xicheng District, uninjured, skills... well, does that count as having some knowledge of source energy?" Lin Yi answered calmly.

???

"Source energy?"

The clerk holding the pen suddenly paused, almost instinctively raising his head. His bloodshot eyes scrutinized Lin Yi's face, a look of surprise and uncertainty on his face.

"Yuan Neng... wait, you just said your name is Lin Yi?"

"You...you're Lin Yi from Hongfulou in that video?"

Lin Yi knew that his video had already been distributed among officials and survivors, so he wasn't surprised that the staff member recognized him.

"It's me. Could you help me meet with the senior management of the settlement? I have something important to report."

He nodded, took out the brand-new ID card with the official seal from his pocket, and handed it over.

The registration staff member hesitated for a moment before taking the document, then opened it and was immediately taken aback.

Major Lin Yi, Special Technical Staff Officer of the General Staff Department!

The bright red seal struck his somewhat muddled brain, which was already foggy from overwork, like a bolt of lightning.

(End of this chapter)