Chapter 43: Fortune Favors the Bold

“I remembered…”

Following behind Wei De and Lu Kai, Chen Chong quickly searched through his memories. Then he recalled that within the Ultimate Infinite Qigong, besides the step-by-step arduous cultivation , there seemed to be another method to assist cultivation and quickly reach the Current Push stage:

Electrotherapy!

The so-called Electrotherapy was using electrical equipment to generate a current of a certain intensity. After connecting to the current, the cultivator would simultaneously circulate their Ultimate Qigong, allowing them to convert and absorb this current, making it their own, and rapidly strengthening their Ultimate True Qi. It achieved twice the result with half the effort, or even several times the cultivation effect!

But this Electrotherapy method was also extremely dangerous. The cultivator had to possess a tenacious will and a certain foundation in Qigong. Otherwise, the current’s stimulation would make it impossible to control the flow of True Qi within the body, leading to Qi deviation. And once Qi deviation occurred, minor cases meant severe injury and paralysis, and severe cases meant instant death.

At the same time, this method also required relatively precise equipment and personnel to strictly control the voltage, current intensity, and output time. Otherwise, if the voltage was too high, or the time current passed through the body was too long, exceeding the cultivator’s tolerance limit, the cultivator’s nerves throughout the body would be destroyed, their heart would be paralyzed, and their brain would directly die. It could be described as extremely perilous!

Yesterday, during cultivation, Chen Chong had focused all his attention on sensing Qi and condensing True Qi, nearly overlooking this Electrotherapy, which was both so miraculous and so dangerous. It was precisely the Power Station Wei De had mentioned that gave Chen Chong this flash of inspiration now.

“Fortune favors the bold!”

Walking on the road, Chen Chong’s heart surged, and an uncontrollable restlessness stirred within him:

“Although Electrotherapy is dangerous, it allows a cultivator to advance by leaps and bounds in a short time, and what I lack most is time! The Power Station… this is an opportunity, worth trying!”

Chen Chong had an adventurous spirit in his bones. Plus, what he lacked most right now was time. If he cultivated normally step by step, without any miracle, he was afraid he couldn’t achieve any breakthrough growth in a short period.

But now, the territory actually had a Power Station, along with the miraculous and dangerous Electrotherapy, and his own mental will, as solid as a boulder. The combination of these three undoubtedly gave him the potential to advance by leaps and bounds!

Moreover, apart from this, during the painful bio-electric current stimulation experiments he was forced to endure at the base, Chen Chong had discovered that the Main God in his mind seemed able to absorb the current passing through his body and transform it into the miraculous energy known as Materialization Power. In other words, if Chen Chong could replicate this state of his body being connected to a power source, he would have another way to actively increase his Materialization Power!

Accelerate cultivation with Electrotherapy, and simultaneously absorb current to increase Materialization Power, killing two birds with one stone! Those three ordinary words, Power Station, now held extraordinary significance for Chen Chong.

Although he wished he could go to the Crimson Territory’s Power Station right now, Chen Chong still quickly controlled his excited emotions. He asked indirect questions, gathering a lot of information about the Power Station from the guides, Wei De and Lu Kai.

Firstly, the Power Station in the territory was a thermal power station with only five generators, burning coal to produce electricity. Most of the generators had been dug up and pieced together from former city ruins. The entire station’s scale was very small, and its power generation wasn’t large. The vast majority of the electricity was supplied to the other factories in the territory and the Blood General’s manor. Other survivors, unless they were in the factories, had almost no access to such a luxurious source of energy as electricity.

Next was the situation within the territory. Chen Chong learned that although the Crimson Territory was small, it could be described as small but complete. Fields for growing grain crops, an iron-smelting plant, a weapons factory for making native guns, blades, bows, and crossbows, a chemical plant for salt, rubber, and gunpowder explosives, an underground mine, the Power Station, and a greenhouse for artificially cultivating Spiritual Fruits… and so on, everything was readily available.

However, all of this was solely the private property of the Blood General. And every survivor in the entire Crimson Territory was working for him, risking their lives for him, and even the Awakeners were no exception.

…

With a plan for his next step already in mind, passing through low houses and muddy roads, Chen Chong, led by Wei De and Lu Kai, had arrived in front of a short building guarded by other lackeys.

“Captain Gu, who manages material distribution, is inside the building.”

Wei De and Lu Kai gestured with their pursed lips from a distance. Chen Chong sized it up and walked over alone.

The two tall and thin lackeys guarding the short building’s entrance were bored out of their minds when they spotted Chen Chong walking towards them. Carefully identifying the tattered prison uniform on him and realizing he was an unfamiliar face they had never seen before, they immediately shouted curses:

“Kid, halt!”

“Who are you with? What are you running here for? You want a whipping? Scram further away!”

Chen Chong shot them a sideways glare and bluntly pulled rank, showing no politeness: “I have the General’s special permission. I’m here to collect my material quota. Are you two courting death?”

Hearing the Blood General’s name, the two lackeys flinched their necks and instantly backed down. Right after, a man as thin as a rake, with a face as pale as a corpse, walked out upon hearing the noise. He briefly sized up Chen Chong and let out a hoarse voice:

“You must be Chen Chong? I’m the material manager, Gu Jun. The General sent someone to tell me about you. Come in.”

This person… was also an Awakener.

The moment this person appeared, ripples faintly stirred deep in Chen Chong’s heart. He quickly sensed that this person was different from ordinary people and realized the other was also an Awakener. However, Chen Chong only had a vague sense, and for the moment, it was hard to judge the other’s strength.

But since the other could hold such an important position managing materials under the Blood General, he had to be the Blood General’s absolute confidant and was likely controlled by the Blood General’s Bloodline Gu as well.

“Tie Shan, Yin Hu, and this Gu Jun… just how many Awakeners are there in the entire Crimson Territory?”

This thought flashed through his mind, and Chen Chong answered impassively: “Thank you for your trouble, Captain Gu.”

Ignoring the resentful looks from the two guard lackeys at the door, Chen Chong followed Gu Jun into the building.

…

A moment later, Chen Chong walked out. At the same time, he was carrying a large leather bundle in his hand, his gaze somewhat contemplative.

He hadn’t encountered any trouble. This Gu Jun seemed unwilling to talk to him much. After pressing his fingerprint onto a list and waiting for a moment, he smoothly received the so-called captain-level material quota promised by the Blood General.

Inside the bundle was a pile of fist-sized, pale red fruits, a large chunk of air-dried meat weighing around ten catties, a few dry flatbreads, four taels of salt, a small bottle of alcohol, several packets of medicinal powder for stopping bleeding and reducing inflammation, a pair of leather boots, and a set of clothes sewn from the fur of some unknown animal, and so on.

And among them, what Chen Chong considered the most important were those dozen or so fruits the size of a child’s fist—the Spiritual Fruits capable of enhancing an Awakener’s Life Field!