Chapter 23 Regional Quest (Part One)

Watching Xue Feifei frowning as she repeatedly tapped her communicator, Kong Zhe offered no explanation. Instead, he asked her seriously, “Who exactly are you?”

“Huh?” Xue Feifei glanced at him, puffing her cheeks in mild annoyance. “Didn’t I tell you already? My name is Xue Feifei. I’m a scientist.”

Kong Zhe couldn’t help but shake his head. Of course he knew what a scientist was, but she was no ordinary scientist. Judging by her displayed talents, even calling her a genius fell short; he’d truly underestimated her before.

Logically, someone as impressive as her shouldn’t have been obscure after the apocalypse began. Yet, in his past life over three years, Kong Zhe had never heard of her. The most probable explanation was that she died early, right at the start of the apocalypse.

He then recalled the fishman from earlier. If he hadn’t been there today, Xue Feifei would have certainly been devoured by that creature at the door.

“All this technology must cost a fortune. Are you actually wealthy?” He looked around the room, filled with high-tech creations. Even as an outsider, he could tell the cost of manufacturing all this was astronomical. If she sold these inventions, she’d make a massive fortune. Yet, from her words, it was clear she’d never revealed them to the outside world.

“Money?” Xue Feifei pondered for a moment. “I’ve never really paid attention to that. I don’t spend much—just enough to buy materials and order takeout.” She tapped a few times on her tablet, continuing, “Hang on, let me check. Last I looked was June of last year. I remember having over fifty million in my account back then, but I’ve bought quite a few instruments since then… Huh, why does it look like there’s even more now?”

Kong Zhe had approached as she spoke. Glancing at the number on her tablet, he felt his eye twitch. A little more? That’s an extra zero, for heaven’s sake! Yet she spoke so lightly of it.

Truly, comparison is the thief of joy. He, an office worker, braved wind and rain daily, endured his boss’s scolding, and barely earned enough to make ends meet. She, however, holed up at home and her assets could buy his company a hundred times over.

Kong Zhe managed a wry smile and asked, “But you didn’t sell your inventions. So where did you get all this money?”

“I don’t need to sell my inventions. Just sharing bits of my research and patenting them is enough,” Xue Feifei replied as if it were obvious. “Besides, there are all sorts of international organizations—Wolf, Fields, Turing, and others I’ve never heard of. They send money regularly, calling it prize money. Oh, and last year, some academician from the Academy of Sciences called to ask me to collect a Nobel Prize.”

Wolf? Turing Award? These were world-renowned scientific honors, and she spoke of them so casually—and even mentioned the Nobel.

To this day, no one from Huaxia had ever won a Nobel in natural sciences! Kong Zhe swallowed hard. “A-and then?”

“I told him to wire the money directly to my account, but he said no. Insisted I attend some press conference and collect the award in person overseas. I thought it was too much trouble, so I just declined,” Xue Feifei said matter-of-factly.

“You turned it down?” Kong Zhe finally couldn’t hold back and shouted, “Are you out of your mind? That’s the Nobel Prize! And you let it go just because it was inconvenient?”

“Huh? Why do you sound just like that old man? He said the same thing and called me crazy, so I blocked him. You’re the ones who are crazy! I don’t need money—why should I go all that way for an award?” she frowned, clearly displeased.

Is money really the issue here?

Good heavens, what a rare specimen she was!

Kong Zhe was at a loss for words, clutching his forehead with a long sigh.

Forget it. People like him could never comprehend the minds of such geniuses.

Beep—

At that moment, a short alert sounded, and the large machine in the center of the room ceased its work. A compartment slid out from the side, shrouded in thick mist. From Kong Zhe’s angle, he could make out the silhouette of a blade inside.

“Your weapon is ready.” Xue Feifei snorted, her tone indifferent, still bearing a grudge over his earlier outburst.

Kong Zhe paused, then approached the machine. He reached for the knife, hesitating as his hand neared the hilt.

This blade had just come out of the machine. Despite the device’s silent exterior, he knew the past ten minutes had been a flurry of violent chemical reactions inside. By rights, the blade should be scorching hot.

“Don’t worry, it’s been cooled with coolant. You can pick it up directly,” Xue Feifei interjected, as if reading his mind.

Reassured, Kong Zhe grasped the hilt and lifted the knife for inspection.

Just as she’d said, the blade wasn’t hot at all—if anything, it felt cool to the touch.

The knife was made of more than ordinary materials, weighing more than twice a typical sword. Thankfully, Kong Zhe was now awakened, and such weight was nothing to him.

The blade’s tip gleamed with a cold, chilling light—clearly razor-sharp. The silver blade shone with a mirror finish, reflecting Kong Zhe’s image. The hilt was wrapped in gold and silver filaments, making the weapon look exquisite—exactly as he’d designed it.

Although it wasn’t a magical artifact, it was certainly top-tier among cold weapons.

Kong Zhe nodded in satisfaction. This was far superior to the crude broadsword he’d made earlier.

“Stay here and keep quiet,” he instructed, heading straight out the door.

Xue Feifei seemed about to say something, but he was already gone.

…

Thanks to his knowledge of monster distribution from his previous life, Kong Zhe didn’t need to be overly cautious this time. He headed straight to the door of a room on the fifth floor, took a deep breath, bent his knees, and, in a flash, charged at the five kobolds inside like an agile leopard.

He leaped past the first four kobolds without pausing. Before they could react, he closed in on the kobold shaman at the back, twisted his wrist, and struck the shaman’s head hard with the flat of his blade.

Even a level-three monster couldn’t withstand a full-force blow from someone with twelve points in strength. The kobold shaman howled in agony, stunned and temporarily incapacitated.

“Holy Persuasion.”

Seizing the moment while the shaman was rigid and unable to resist, Kong Zhe used his skill. This time, he only felt a slight ripple in his mind, and the persuasion succeeded.

With the shaman on his side, the rest was easy. Together, they quickly dispatched the remaining four ordinary kobolds. Having fo