Chapter 2322: Infected

Ye Zhongming and Xia Lei both looked at Sister Hong with questioning eyes.

"Two things. One, I'm showing you something."

"Two, after I'm done talking, you can speak."

The two of them held back their laughter at Red Sister's words and turned their attention to the large box.

But before the two researchers could open it, Le Dayuan squeezed his slightly plump frame through the doorway.

"Hey, we said we'd come together—why did you go ahead?" Le Dayuan seemed to be complaining, but his tone was anything but—there was even a hint of cheekiness, which spoke volumes about his place in the household.

"You're slow."

Liu Zhenghong's reason was unbeatable.

Le Dayuan thought to himself—sure, I'm a bit plump, but isn't that normal for a married man? And I'm eight-star—slow?

Ignoring her husband, Liu Zhenghong opened the box, revealing an object very similar to a circuit board.

"Old Le and I worked on this together." Liu Zhenghong pointed at the object.

Ye Zhongming and Xia Lei exchanged glances—surely this circuit board looked more like Le Dayuan's handiwork? What did it have to do with life genetics?

Seeing their expressions, Liu Zhenghong let out a humph through her nose, then pressed a spot beside the circuit board. From the gaps between the board and the box's edges, as well as from some hollow areas on the board itself, countless white, fleshy tendrils rose up.

They looked just like... enoki mushrooms.

Liu Zhenghong looked smug, clearly pleased with the change in Ye Zhongming's and Xia Lei's expressions.

Then, as these "enoki mushrooms" grew a bit longer, transparent bubbles began to emerge from their caps, quickly forming a large bubble crown above the circuit board.

"Try hitting it with about thirty percent of your strength." Liu Zhenghong said to Ye Zhongming with confidence.

"Thirty percent?" Ye Zhongming confirmed, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he pointed a finger at the bubble crown. With a pop, the crown shattered, a wisp of smoke rose from the circuit board, and all the enoki mushrooms drooped their caps.

The room was filled with awkward silence.

"Well... that one doesn't count." Liu Zhenghong coughed twice, then slapped Le Dayuan. "Hurry up and check it!"

Master Le quickly flipped the circuit board over, then magically produced one tool after another from his spatial storage, repairing as he muttered to himself: "Good, good—only the power supply and energy unit are damaged. I have spares. Just replace them."

After Le Dayuan finished his part, Liu Zhenghong, who had stepped out briefly, returned with a finely crafted cultivation box. Using tools, she extracted some material from it, then her eyes began to flicker rapidly as she activated her ability, her hands moving at a blur.

To an outsider, it looked like trembling, because the movements she was making were so subtle—each one requiring microscopic precision. Countless such motions strung together created the illusion of quivering.

After a few minutes, Liu Zhenghong stopped, set down her tools, and picked up a syringe, injecting a dark red liquid into over fifteen different spots.

"Alright, this time it should work. Little Ye, you... actually, Xia Lei, you try—thirty percent strength."

Liu Zhenghong and Le Dayuan both inspected the repaired device, then had Xia Lei attack.

Xia Lei didn't hesitate. She struck the newly formed bubble crown with a thirty-percent-strength punch. The crown wobbled twice but didn't break.

"I've found the reason—the lifeforms in the Desert Secret Realm contain a very special element. This element corresponds to certain factors within the boundary, so the host body never triggers any reaction from the boundary regardless of what it does. Outsiders like us don't have this element, so naturally we're recognized as foreign and blocked from everything."

Ye Zhongming's eyes lit up—he hadn't expected such good news before leaving.

"This element is just a substance attached to the cells. Strictly speaking, it's not part of the lifeform itself—more like... bacteria?"

Liu Zhenghong explained.

"And the odd thing is, this cell-attached substance disappears when the Desert Secret Realm lifeform dies. Note—disappears, not dies along with it. Death always leaves traces, but this leaves none. Also, even if the lifeform doesn't die, once it leaves the Desert Secret Realm, this substance gradually metabolizes out of the body—the host remains alive, but the substance is gone."

Red Sister was clearly fascinated by this microscopic lifeform, as if she'd discovered a new continent.

"This metabolism is bidirectional." Liu Zhenghong looked at Ye Zhongming. "Little Ye, do you know what bidirectional means?"

Without waiting for Ye Zhongming to answer, she continued: "The Desert Secret Realm lifeforms we brought back—whether natives or parasites—all carried this element, but once they came here, it gradually faded from their bodies. Conversely, when our people enter the Desert Secret Realm, their bodies also generate this element!"

This news genuinely shook Ye Zhongming and Xia Lei.

After spending enough time in the Desert Secret Realm, humans could also develop this substance?

"Yes. That means, even if we do nothing, just by waiting long enough, those boundaries will stop working on us!"

Liu Zhenghong laughed, then sobered slightly. "The only catch is the timing. The bidirectional metabolism rates are different—or rather, the rate of generation and the rate of decay are different. The element in Desert Secret Realm lifeforms fades within days in our world, but for our people to generate enough of the element to freely cross the boundaries may take a year or more. The microbe's growth might speed up or slow down at certain stages, so I can only give an estimate."

Ye Zhongming nodded. This was already excellent progress—but then his gaze fell on the circuit board that had produced the bubble crown.

"This little gadget is something I made." Liu Zhenghong chuckled. "Teaching you the principles and manufacturing method won't help—you can't get this Desert Secret Realm element up there. We'll have to send it to you from here. I heard you've built a base for Cloud Peak on the Star-Eye Clan's side? This could serve as an excellent defensive supplement."

"In short, it's a boundary-imitating device I made by combining that extracted element with our Cloud Peak mechanical technology. The good news is, once you take it up there, as long as the attack doesn't exceed its defensive limit, it's virtually impenetrable. The downside is, it requires the element to remain stable, so it consumes that element over time."

"So the Desert Secret Realm is very important to us!"

Ye Zhongming understood, but after a moment's thought, he suddenly asked, "Does that mean we still haven't fully understood what the boundaries actually are—we've only found a way to bypass them? And... if we generate that element in our bodies, wouldn't that mean we're... infected?"