Upon thinking of that metal sphere, he decided to take action, and Lu Yuan emptied out the lizard meat from his Storage Space.
He soaked roughly one ton of loin meat in water, giving it a simple wash — perhaps due to some idealistic element, the flesh and blood of Extraordinary Life decay much slower than ordinary food. And the flow of time in his Storage Space was slow, possessing preservative abilities; fresh was always more delicious than dried.
"Old Wolf, watch the house, don't run around."
"I'll be right back."
Returning to Fire Lizard Canyon, he found only a skeleton remaining; in just seven short days, all the flesh and organs of the fire lizard had been gnawed away by wild animals.
Only a swarm of flies buzzing around the bones was left.
Above the rocks in the vicinity, there were still traces of battle, blood splattered all over the ground.
Nature was just that cruel, no matter how mighty you were in life, once you died you were nothing... Whatever toxins there were, after diluting, there would always be animals that could handle it.
Lu Yuan sighed lightly, not bothering with the pile of remains.
Instead, he entered the Lizard Cave and put the large sphere into his Storage Space.
On his way home, he still wanted to search for some medical supplies to help Old Wolf recover from his wounds more quickly, or to use in case he fell ill himself.
But his luck wasn't great, he found nothing.
Medical supplies remaining up to this point were truly too scarce.
He only picked some mushrooms and some herbs by the roadside, and also discovered a plant resembling chili peppers.
[Mao Tou Ghost Umbrella, a mushroom likely non-toxic, tasting like chicken legs.]
[Salvia, used medicinally with the root containing tanshinone, a tonic for promoting circulation, with effects such as dispersing stasis, promoting regeneration, invigorating blood, and regulating menstruation.]
[A plant suspected to be chili pepper, spicy taste, non-toxic, not liked by many animals. The spiciness level is about 4000 Scoville units.]
Seeing these finger-sized green fruits, Lu Yuan's face broke into a satisfied smile.
"Great stuff, now I've got the seasoning for stir-frying lizard meat!"
"Let's go back and try out the metal sphere, see if I can contact humans!"
...
...
...
Safe Zone, the first branch of human civilization, Yunhai City, Supernatural Research Center.
The original information exchange meeting was scheduled for about an hour.
But now, due to an unexpected incident, it had to be extended for some time.
After the initial shock, many bright minds thought of some potential explanations.
"Firstly, the creature is indeed a human who, for some reason, has strayed from the Safe Zone."
"He just happened to find another civilization's 'Civilization Management Device'... that is, the Meida Civilization, and he couldn't wait to contact us..."
"But the communicator on his end is broken, the screen doesn't light up at all, and there is no sound. As a result, he has no idea that he has already made contact."
Okay, how slim are the chances of that happening?
Can one really survive on the Pangu Continent alone?
And the ratio of the passage of time outside compared to the Safe Zone is 100:1!
One day in the Safe Zone, a hundred days in the outside world!
Even the most top-notch special forces would have difficulty living alone in Earth's primitive forests for 100 days!
Also, why does the Meida Civilization have such metal spheres too?
Does every civilization have one?
But regardless, it's indeed a somewhat reasonable explanation.
The leader of Yunhai City, Li Chunhong, rubbed his temples fretfully.
He always felt that his nerves had become abnormally thick, and any inexplicable event had become acceptable to him—this was just a single day, no, the dawn of the second day's transformation!
Perhaps, everyone was changing at the fastest rate possible.
Without change, there would be no chance of survival!
"Oh, there's another reason, all the civilizations out there, they have human-like appearances."
"Could the languages they speak be languages from Earth? Like Chinese, English, or Arabic? Did we just happen to encounter one that speaks Chinese?"
It was indeed possible.
After all, the emergence of Pangu Continent was unknown...
Many extraterrestrial civilizations had been part of the selection, none of which had ever been seen before.
It could be that all the civilizations were just parallel worlds of Earth?
It turned out the leaders of the major cities were still considering whether to destroy the "Civilization Management Device."
Now that a human-like image had suddenly emerged, after careful consideration, they decided not to destroy it for now.
After all, the future held the possibility of establishing contact, and any bit of valid information was a treasure to humans, as it could directly increase the chances of survival.
Because the situations in each city were chaotic, and the leaders of each city had much to do, after coming to this conclusion, the meeting ended inconclusively, and everyone agreed to share information again once new intelligence was gained.
But the tumultuous undercurrents in private affected many, many things.
...
As the communication links were cut off, Professor Zhang Hui said with a worried expression , "Ladies and gentlemen, we've checked the facial recognition data; we can confirm it's a young man from Yunhai City named Lu Yuan."
"Should we disclose this to the international... err, to all the various civilized branches?"
"I think it's better not to disclose it," a senior leader in his sixties said after a pause, "Even if he really is a person from our Yunhai City, wouldn't it be a bit too conspicuous to reveal this?"
Li Chunhong said, "Even if we don't disclose it, other cities will still suspect in private that he is from our Yunhai City, or at least from our Great Dong Country."
"Besides, each city is separated by ten thousand kilometers, and before leaving the Safe Zone, we can only make phone calls. So what if we are a bit conspicuous?"
An elder comrade's wrinkled face creased further, "Do you mean… to disclose it publicly?"
Li Chunhong's voice dropped, "This is actually a significant political bargaining chip..."
Information was very valuable.
Don't look at the first information exchange meeting of the 17 cities as if it were all amiable and harmonious.
But remember, information, as a valuable asset, couldn't be shared for free for extended periods.
If I develop supernatural technology and you don't, would I just share it with you without compensation?
One would know it's impossible just by thinking with one's toes!
In the end, it would definitely evolve into one-on-one private transactions between two cities.
And this "Lu Yuan", who had escaped the Safe Zone and entered the Pangu Continent, was a bargaining chip of significant weight...
At least, it could make the other cities view Yunhai City with a sense of mystery.
During the transactions, the other cities would concede slightly, hence Yunhai City would maintain a long-term advantageous position.
The old leader, who had practiced restraint all his life, fell into silence, admitting that what Li Chunhong said made some sense...
In the current situation, keeping a low profile didn't mean much, while the value of being open was greater.
And the weight of the words "fellow humans" was considerable, but not enough.
Yunhai City could only trust other human cities to a limited extent and couldn't afford to give everything unreservedly.
Other cities most likely felt the same.
The 17 cities had become 17 different civilizations, and no one knew whether competition would arise in the future.
"A prisoner's dilemma..." the old leader sighed softly.