The movement brought about by the upgrade was much smaller than the intense earthquakes caused by Iron Rock Mountain and other several other resource points.

The tremors lasted for about half a minute before reaching a complete stop.

Su Mo saw the four newly upgraded resource attributes after opening the resource panel.

[Mineral Resource (Copper Ore)… Level 2]

[Mineral state: Complete, no mining commenced yet, in an exuberant state.]

[Mining value: Two stars (Peak: Two and a half stars)]

[Special ability:]

High purity: There are minimal impurities in the copper ore and it can be refined into good quality raw material.

Conductivity: Conductors made from refined copper ore have the chance to increase their conductivity.

[Mining difficulty:] Medium-Very high

[Remaining reserves:] 2,000,000 tons

…

[Food Resource (Carp)-Level 1]

[Resource Status: Poor (Carp reserves have been harvested by more than 10% within a short period, reducing the fertility of the remaining carp.)]

[Mining value: One star (Peak: One and a half stars)]

[Special ability:]

Development (Carp maturity time -25% under a suitable and comfortable environment.)

Fierce fighting (This group of carp is in the process of forming schools, and a large-scale battle will occur among the carp for a short time. The survivor of the battle will eventually become ???)

[Remaining reserves: 1608 (mature, 964 males and 644 females)]

…

[Water Resource (Freshwater Lake)… Level 1]

[Resource status: Upgrading (The freshwater lake has acquired a certain degree of self-upgrade ability because of its special ability.) ]

[Mining value: Half a star (Peak: ???)]

[Special ability:]

Purity (The freshwater lake can purify itself and it is acknowledged as meeting the standard for potable water by default before the pollution level exceeds the upper limit of purification.)

Upgrade (The freshwater lake has acquired the ability to absorb nutrients and improve itself. Please explore the specific effects on your own.)

[Remaining reserves: 65 meters (length) x 35 meters (width) x 9 meters (height) (Water weight: 19935 tons)]

…

[Land Resource (Fruit Tree Mountain)… Level 2]

[Resource status: Peach tree, persimmon tree, apple tree, hawthorn tree, cherry tree]

[Mining value: Two and a half stars (Peak: Three stars)]

[Mining difficulty: None]

[Special ability:]

Natural (The aroma of the fruits grown on Fruit Tree Mountain is increased by 20%, the nutrient content is increased by 15%, and the production is reduced by 10%.)

High nutrition (The mountain will automatically absorb the nutrients from the land and return them to the land, achieving a high nutrition concentration.)

Lightning strikes (Fruit Tree Mountain will naturally attract lightning strikes. Please do not stay near the mountain during thunderstorms. Note: The lightning strikes will not cause any damage on impact to the plants, nor will they cause mountain fires. There will be a certain degree of bonus according to the magnitude of the lightning strike. You may do your own research regarding the details on your own.)

[Remaining reserves: 36%]

…

The upgrades were not as significant as the ones for Iron Rock Mountain.

After opening the resource interface and inspecting it for a bit, Su Mo understood the rules behind the territory upgrades.

It was unclear whether it was because there were too many plants absorbing nutrients on Fruit Tree Mountain. Two points were invested, but the upgraded attributes were less significant than Iron Rock Mountain’s attributes.

As for the freshwater lake, only 0.2 points were invested, yet it had already acquired a practical special ability.

According to these upgrades, the lake had unlimited potential. It would upgrade simultaneously as the territory’s value increased.

On the other hand, the copper ore and carp schools were average.

The former’s ability could increase the grade of a conductor by a certain probability.

The latter would have a battle and then give birth to something unpredictable???

These two attributes could not be put into production immediately at this stage.

“It seems that investing territory points will randomly upgrade the resources according to their prior attributes.

“It’s possible to receive a high-quality attribute by luck if you have high character points, but it’s also possible to invest eight to ten territory points yet get an attribute that you won’t be able to use for now.

“However, as long as I continue this upward trend, then I won’t have to worry about not being able to utilize these attributes in the future!”

Su Mo was able to accept the inconsistency in the rules very quickly.

He had already adjusted his mentality by the time he walked down the long, winding mountain road and reached the foot of the mountain. He was no longer worried or had any more thoughts on the matter.

He did not interrupt the villagers cheering and celebrating in the village as though they had received a gift from the gods.

He secretly sneaked inside the shelter from the back.

“Yes! Su Mo, you’re back!

“Hahaha! I knew you’d be fine! Pay up! Pay up!”

As soon as Su Mo entered the shelter, Lu Kuan did not even wait for him to take off his clothes.

Lu Kuan, who was sitting in the corner of the garage meddling with an instrument in front of him, immediately turned toward Su Mo. He laughed out loud after confirming that Su Mo had returned.

Meanwhile, Su Mo’s eyes were fixed on something.

He noticed that the brain box connected to the back of the robot twitched, and it was visibly stimulated by Lu Kuan’s words.

“Lu Kuan, don’t tell me you guys made a bet?”

Lu Kuan was taken aback for a moment before he replied in surprise, “D*mn it, Su Mo! You’re a half-immortal now to be able to see through everything.”

“These b*stards aren’t even in charge of any scientific research projects now, yet they keep trying to take over the body. I had no choice but to make a bet with them.

“So we had to guess when you’d return. Whoever guessed correctly will be in control of the body for the next seven days.

“I’m just too smart!”

Lu Kuan waved his hand like a feather fan and posed with a face full of pride.

A thought came to mind in the next second, and he hurriedly said, “By the way! I have almost finished the research on the solar panel power recovery device. Although its current power generation is not the best, there won’t be a problem with supplying general lighting throughout our village.

“It’s a pity that the resources we brought back from the base are limited. I’ve only managed to put together five boards with what we had. We’ll be in trouble if they break.”

Lu Kuan shrugged with a concerned look on his face as he pointed to the five iron plates, which were being tested, piled together in the corner.

Solar power generation technology was not considered high-tech in modern society.

For a top scientist like Lu Kuan, making necessary improvements to increase the power supply capacity and reduce the probability of damage was a piece of cake.

However, even with his skills, it would still be impossible to achieve anything without the necessary resources.

To produce a solar panel, they needed tempered glass, current controlling equipment, optoelectronic semiconductor sheets, monolithic solar cells, crystalline silicon, and many other materials.

The basin territory was poor and they could not gather any of the items. The only supplies they had were brought back from the previous expedition to the expeditionary base.

It was nearly impossible to achieve mass production!

“Do we have a serious lack of resources?” Su Mo asked with concern.

“It’s not that we have a serious lack, but more accurately, we literally have nothing at all.” Lu Kuan nodded.

“And to be honest, these resources are also scarce to find on Earth. Just think about whether you’ve seen a village, country, or even a city with large amounts of such complicated materials?”

“I’ve also learned about the Earth’s situation in your universe over the past few days. You should wonder why the speed of technological development was so slow before civilization was modernized, before global air travel was established, and before resources could be shared throughout the Earth.

“The reason was because of the scarcity of resources.”

Lu Kuan was straight to the point and pointed out the major problem that the basin was facing right now.

He continued to explain.

“A good way of putting our current situation is ‘self-development’, but to put it in a bad way, we’re isolated… like a country in lockdown!

“Even if we have the blueprints for sixth-generation fighter aircraft and seventh-generation aircraft, it’ll be impossible for us to produce them without connecting and trading with other territories. It won’t be worth even a bag of food to sell them.

“I suggest we set up a scouting team to scavenge the outskirts of the basin so that other territories won’t suppress us.”

“No! No, it’s too risky!”

Su Mo immediately rejected Lu Kuan’s risky proposal. The former noticed the latter’s anxious yet hesitant-to-speak expression, so he quickly patted the back of his own head and explained.

“Lu Kuan, don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean we should give up on this idea completely, but I might have a better alternative.”

“Huh?” Lu Kuan was taken aback.

“I’ve also considered the things you just mentioned. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of scarce resources, and it would take us forever to assemble everything we need if we rely on only ourselves.

“Thus, I’ve been researching how to build a bridge between us and the outside world.

“I’ve finally gathered some useful information. Go ahead and open up the virtual reality and invite everyone. I’ll brief you guys more about it!”

After speaking to Chen Shen, Li Hu, and the others, he also had to share the plan with Lu Kuan.

Su Mo did not feel annoyed about it but instead entered the conference room with great patience. Then, he started to explain his plans.

Moore’s experiment would need the participation of all parties.

Only by dispelling the mark would it become possible to change their current situation.

Su Mo explained in full detail when he first arrived in the Demon clan territory, the things that he experienced along the way, and finally the unusual social structure of the Demon clan.

The scientific specialists had completely different opinions from Chen Shen and the others.

“If our virtual reality is used to deceive the other party’s neural perception, then it’s an effect similar to hypnosis. But this mark completely changes the molecular structure of the creature. It even changes the creature’s shape.

“That’s something that technology can’t ever achieve. Whether it’s a hundred years, no, even given a thousand years, it is simply unachievable!”

Zhuo Junfan, the biologist, was the first to state his opinion.

The others nodded in agreement and confirmed the attributes of the mark as he spoke.

“Indeed, this is something that technology can never accomplish. You can understand it as something that’s mixed with the power of gods!

“That makes complete sense if that’s the case!”

Zhuo Junfan slammed his hands on the table and stood up. He waved his hands in the air, and a blackboard slowly appeared.

Following that, he picked up a slightly illusionary piece of chalk, and a series of formulas and hypotheses began to emerge on the blackboard.

“We aren’t sure of the principle behind the marks for the time being, but we don’t need to ponder it. After all, we’re merely the users and not the creator.

“What’s left for us to think about is how to decipher the ownership of the imprint. That means we’ll have to focus on the biometric authentication system built into the mark.

“Since Moore mentioned that he can gain power from the things he eats, I’m making a bold guess that there might be a power inside him that is capable of destroying the outer firewall.”

Several common biometric authentication systems were listed on the board.

From the simplest biological authentications such as fingerprints, iris tracking, and facial recognition, to more advanced methods such as DNA information analysis, biomass reaction tracing, brain waves, and so on.

The initially quiet conference room began to fill with discussion and chatter, like a vegetable market.

Slowly, as the discussion grew longer, the methods listed on the blackboard were erased one after another through the process of elimination, leaving only a few methods left.

“So the majority is leaning toward genetic certification?”

Zhuo Junfan nodded and replied as the representative of the group, “Biological genes represent more than just simple DNA sequences, nor are they merely the body’s molecular structures. The authentication method also involves analyzing the chaotic quantum response in our human brains.”

“Similarly, we think that not every creature is eligible to receive a mark even if the firewall is broken.

“First of all, the creature that receives a mark must be able to withstand the power of this god. Otherwise, considering the internal structure of human bones, it’d be impossible for the body to maintain stability. The body would be completely torn apart if any deformation occurs.

“Secondly, assuming that we’re to be able to destroy and reduce the requirements to receive a mark, the basic structure of the deformed creature must also somewhat conform to the internal body structure of humans. It cannot create a situation where a man can become a lizard or dinosaur, or else the residual genetic sequences will instantly destroy the body, resulting in irreversible damage.

“Thirdly, we’ll need a lot of data from experiments to understand the signals released to the outside world each time a transformation occurs. Our hypothesis can only be proven with the support of experimental data.”

Two hypotheses were proposed, followed by one request.

The rigorous thinking and structured execution impressed Su Mo as he nodded his head repeatedly.

“Very good. We shouldn’t delay any further since we’ve already developed a plan. We will start the first round of tests tomorrow morning.

“I’ll be able to solve the issue with the data experiments. I’ve already used other means to decipher their marks. When the time comes you can just capture my signals!”

The authority stacks had reduced the transformation effect’s cooldown from seven days to one day.

Su Mo had already transformed twice since yesterday. He chose to take the safe route, just in case, because he was left with only one transformation chance.

As for the mark’s transformation chances, each chance could be bought for ten contribution points. He had already bought 500 transformation chances before he left the territory, which was definitely enough for him to use for a while.

Everyone else nodded along with the scheduled timing and started to go into further details about their rules and regulations.

After seeing that everything in the conference room was on the right track, Su Mo’s vision returned back to the shelter with a flash of divine light and a faint sense of dizziness.

However, he found that it was no longer Lu Kuan who controlled the robot’s body. Instead, it was the one who had sat with him in a daze earlier…

Su Deben!

“Hey, Uncle Su! It’s rare to see you looking so sentimental. You can tell me if you’ve got something on your mind. It’s just you and me in the shelter. You can tell me anything you want.”

At their current stage, every day was extremely important and had to be utilized well.

After getting up early and eating, Su Chan used her ability to communicate with animals to bring Oreo, the yaks, and the sheep out for a walk to expand the scale of farming.

Big Spark and Small Spark helped the villagers to reclaim their agricultural land and increase the fertility of the soil.

As for the capable Moore, he had recently joined Li Hu’s security patrol and spent the whole day wandering around the border of the basin. He was eager to catch an intruder.

Therefore, only the robot was left in the shelter until dark.

“Su Mo, they didn’t come out today and left this difficult question to me. You know…I, Su Deben, am a prideful person…

“These b*stards are really…”

With a contorted expression on his face, Su Deben covered it and said helplessly, “If this mark is so magical…then we…”

The meaning of Su Deben’s words was obvious as he pointed to the beating brain in the brain bow and to the villagers who were working hard outside.

The mark could not only help the villagers evolve into different humanoid forms, allowing them to possess special abilities and then sneak into the Demon clan or other tribes to become spies.

It could also allow these consciousnesses living inside the brain box to come to “life” and escape the brain box to feel the beauty of being inside a human body again!

This was a better way to accommodate them than making robotic bodies.

It was also the best chance for the…

The resurrection of many talents!