Landing 500 Years Early, I Became a God by Digging for Treasures 55

Chapter 55: Did Lu Yuan Die?

Everyone hurriedly finished breakfast and rushed to the laboratory.

Zhang Hui, the head administrator, with dark circles under his eyes from a sleepless night of excitement, greeted them, “Good morning, everyone.”

“Don’t just study peaches and rice; the mutated weeds and trees also have research value… Let’s divide the research topics and assign personnel.”

“Who wants to study that big peach tree?”

Almost everyone raised their hands.

“Rice?”

About half the people raised their hands.

Zhang Hui chuckled inwardly. Who wouldn’t want to study the projects most likely to yield quick results?

Well, he also wanted to study the peach tree. “Ahem, everyone, there are no Nobel Prizes anymore.”

“All our research results belong to Yunhai City, to the collective.”

“So, I have to be the bad guy and directly assign researchers.”

He selected several authoritative professors to divide up the major research topics, especially medicine and food, which were currently paramount.

Everyone cooperated, relatively speaking… even if they are studying transcendent plants, it’s better than other cities having nothing to research.

After assigning the work, Zhang Hui casually asked, “How is Lu Yuan doing? Are you still monitoring him?”

Lu Yuan hadn’t completely gone insane; he merely used the large sphere as a clock and didn’t try to contact human civilization constantly.

He placed the metal sphere in a room piled high with garbage.

The camera could only capture gold, silver, and various miscellaneous rubbish.

The researchers could hardly glean more useful information.

Under these circumstances, the PhDs stopped monitoring, leaving it to the lower-level master’s students.

“It seems to be winter over there; there’s been a heavy snowfall,” a young female student raised her hand, “Judging from the freezing speed, it’s at least -20 degrees Celsius, with high humidity.”

For those in the safe zone, Lu Yuan had already experienced summer, autumn, and winter in just three days.

It was truly astonishing.

Frankly, most people probably wouldn’t survive that long.

“It’s really tough… Thankfully, he made a thick leather coat,” Zhang Hui shook his head, sighing, “Let’s hope he can safely get through the winter. Even if he doesn’t have more information, it’s good that he’s alive.”

“Professor Zhang, he hasn’t been home for days,” the female student said softly, seeming a little embarrassed, “His wolfdog keeps running out, seeming very anxious.”

“But it hasn’t brought its master back.”

“Lu Yuan still hasn’t returned… Though not much time has passed here, I estimate that it’s been a week since he went missing over there.”

The meeting room instantly fell silent from its previous buzz, only the sound of everyone’s breathing and racing hearts could be heard.

Sweat beaded on Zhang Hui’s forehead.

Missing for over a week in a -20-degree Celsius environment? What does that mean?

Frozen solid, definitely!

Not just him, but a chill ran down the spine of everyone who knew.

In that icy wasteland, missing for more than a week, believing Lu Yuan was still alive was self-deception.

Zhang Hui hurried to the room with the metal sphere.

The screen remained motionless; at first glance, it looked like just a garbage room.

Gold, silver, steel, and various metal scraps were piled together with a large amount of firewood—a rather luxurious and high-class garbage dump.

It had to be admitted that even in most current human cities, gold and silver still held value—as long as humanity didn’t think the world would end tomorrow, the value of gold remained firm.

Could the large amount of gold Lu Yuan possessed cause a price collapse?

“The image hasn’t moved for a very long time,” the female student said nervously in front of so many bigwigs.

“Luckily, we can see the snow outside; otherwise, I would have thought the machine had crashed…”

“Lu Yuan would come to this room at least once a day, averaging about three times, but he hasn’t been here once this week.”

Everyone fell silent, staring at the screen for a few minutes before starting to mourn.

Yunhai City’s achievement of this milestone reward was thanks to Lu Yuan’s contribution.

Otherwise, even if they completed the milestone, their ranking would have dropped significantly.

They might even have been pushed out of the top 100,000, receiving no reward.

At that moment, a communication request from another civilization came in.

“Professor?”

“Answer it.”

“Professor Zhang, Mr. Lu from Yunhai City, who has been away for a long time, hasn’t appeared… I wonder what happened?” Dongjin City’s spokesperson said straightforwardly.

Standing beside him was Dongjin City’s current Emperor.

He had wide cheekbones, a pointed chin, and a relatively flat face; he looked like an ordinary person.

The old man’s eyes drooped, whether from listlessness or being a political puppet.

Zhang Hui knew these people were secretly rejoicing, but he remained polite on the surface, “Unfortunately, I don’t know the specifics.”

“I presume that he has his own reasons and confidence to venture out in the depths of winter.”

“Alas, he hasn’t been home for so many days. Humanity’s first explorer may have already passed away… We must prepare ourselves for that possibility,” said the spokesperson from the third branch of humanity, Old Derry.

This person, named Di Mo, was a gray-haired elderly man of average build, usually dressed in traditional ethnic clothing, a highly respected leader of the third branch.

“Friends, we must rely on ourselves to explore the Pangu Continent from now on.”

“I hope everyone will share any information they discover. This will effectively improve our chances of survival.”

Zhang Hui frowned.

The subtext of this statement was that Lu Yuan from their side had indeed made many contributions, and everyone was disappointed.

But from now on, Yunhai City would no longer be a unique entity; they would exchange information as equals.

He sighed softly; politics was indeed cold and cruel.

Of course, their request wasn’t unreasonable.

Lu Yuan is dead; what right does Yunhai City have to act as the leader of humanity?

“It’s truly… regrettable that this gentleman perished on the Pangu Continent,” leaders from many cities sent their condolences.

“In the icy wilderness, ten days without returning, even Eskimos couldn’t withstand it.”

“May his soul return to God’s embrace, Amen…”

How much sincerity there was, no one could tell.

After all, humans are diverse. Even within human civilization, national characteristics vary, but everyone put on a good show.

(End of Chapter)

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