The completion of the water diversion project meant a significant improvement in the key aspects of life on Qiming.
According to the established rules, this was the perfect time to hold the second Qiming general assembly.
Chen Mu specially prepared an oval-shaped conference table for this occasion.
Chairs were already available, but they used to be nothing more than crude benches, to be exact, just plastic stools. However, this time, Chen Mu put some effort into making chairs with backrests for everyone.
Though they still looked a bit ugly, at least it was clear they were chairs.
In addition, name tags with twelve names were placed in front of each person.
Miss Du Jiajia, who acted as the master of ceremonies and logistics support, also served everyone a cup of tea. Of course, it was just plain water, slightly warmed, and not even boiled.
In this simple yet solemn meeting, Madam Dong Junwei, the Chief Decision Officer of Qiming, delivered the opening speech. She first affirmed the achievements everyone had made in the past seven days. The water diversion project was a monumental feat in contemporary times and would undoubtedly be recorded in the annals of human history in the new era.
Subsequently, she looked to the future, expressing her confidence and giving encouragement to everyone present.
Although her speech was short, her words were sincere and powerful.
After she finished, the attendees applauded collectively to show their gratitude.
Next, each person took turns to speak according to their rank.
The content was similar, mainly sharing their thoughts on life since the apocalypse, comparing their previous panic and despair with the preciousness of the current days. They expressed their gratitude to the organization and their expectations for their future life and work.
Everything was formal and serious, except for when Wei Dalei burst into laughter during his speech.
Nevertheless, ceremonial matters, though lacking practical utility, could provide significant solace to people's minds. Just like how He Ying needed her daily morning exercises to remind herself of the meaning of living, this kind of meeting could help everyone return to a more normal life rhythm and alleviate the sense of despair brought about by the apocalypse.
The meeting was brief.
The actual discussions were not extensive, mainly revolving around the feasibility plan for sealing the door gaps.
Of course, this plan had already been discussed and settled between Tang Jing and Chen Mu long before. It was mostly a procedural requirement for everyone to discuss it together.
After the meeting, everyone dispersed.
Because they had been working continuously for seven days before, today was considered a day off, and everyone rested.
Chen Mu still followed his own pace, gradually increasing his training every day to keep up with the growth of his psychic power.
During the noon break, Chang Junyan approached with a somewhat excited expression, sounding a bit boastful. "Chen Mu, I feel that my ability has become stronger."
"Oh?"
Chen Mu had originally planned to take a nap, but upon hearing this, he became interested.
During the initial period, he and Tang Jing had specifically discussed Zhu Hao's and Chang Junyan's abilities.
From their intuition, it was hard to believe that there could be such a huge gap in awakened abilities among people.
He and Tang Jing were both convinced that Zhu Hao and Chang Junyan's abilities must have some specific purpose, but it had not been discovered yet, or perhaps their abilities were not strong enough to undergo a qualitative change.
But as days passed by, these two guys made no progress.
Even though Chen Mu had selflessly shared all his insights about training psychic abilities with them, it still seemed to be in vain.
He and Tang Jing began to wonder if some abilities were simply meant for amusement.
Therefore, when Chang Junyan came to him looking all mysterious, Chen Mu was mentally shaken, feeling even more excited than witnessing his own psychic power growth."In what aspect do you feel stronger?"
"Before, I could only have one pimple-like growth on my body, right?"
"Yes."
"Now I can have three!" Chang Junyan couldn't hide the excitement on his face.
"..."
Chen Mu was left speechless on the spot.
Can you be more serious, bro? Can we approach this problem using human emotions?
Afraid that he might have missed something, he asked for confirmation, "When you say three, do you mean..."
"I mean three pimples," Chang Junyan replied.
"Do they all itch?" Chen Mu asked again.
"Yes, they itch, even more than before. But scratching them feels more satisfying. Now I can scratch all day without getting tired."
"Is that all?" Chen Mu felt a bit exhausted.
"Far from it!" Chang Junyan wore an expression as if saying, "You have no idea," and continued with a smile, "Now each pimple has grown much bigger, but the most crucial thing is..."
At this point, he paused playfully.
Chen Mu was excited, thinking there must be something different!
However, it became apparent that he had gotten excited too soon.
Chang Junyan went on, "Now I can eliminate the pimples that grow on my body."
Chen Mu looked stunned.
"Is that it?"
"Yes," Chang Junyan replied cheerfully.
"Nothing else special about it?"
"Isn't that special enough? I can make them disappear now. Before, I wasn't even sure if this counted as a psychic ability. Maybe it was just a coincidence that I happened to think about it and then got a pimple. But now it's confirmed. After all, being able to remove a pimple, it's definitely not something an ordinary person can do."
After hearing this, Chen Mu didn't know what to say for a moment.
Indeed, it could be considered progress.
But what's the point?
It's just that there are more places to scratch now, and it feels more satisfying when scratching. Besides, when you don't want to scratch, you can eliminate the pimples.
Still, it serves no practical purpose.
Looking at Chang Junyan again, he saw this guy raising his arm, creating one, two, or three pimples on it, then eliminating them, and then they would reappear—sometimes lined up in a row, sometimes forming a triangle. Occasionally, he'd scratch them a couple of times, clearly enjoying himself.
Chen Mu was speechless.
But sometimes, he thought that maintaining such a carefree attitude in this environment might actually be an advantage. After all, most people were fragile, and when their abilities couldn't fulfill their desires, it would be a very painful thing.
"Wait a minute."Suddenly, Chen Mu caught on to something and asked, "You just said you can scratch all day without getting tired?"
"Well, I might have exaggerated a bit," Chang Junyan said sheepishly.
"No," Chen Mu waved his hand, "What I mean is, don't you scratch your skin until it breaks?"
"Breaks?" Chang Junyan looked puzzled for a moment, then pondered for a while. "I really haven't thought about that. It seems I've never scratched hard enough to break the skin."
He said that and then vigorously scratched the three pimples that had just formed into a triangle.
However, there were no wounds on his skin other than the redness and swelling of the pimples themselves, and the marks from his fingernails rubbing against them. There wasn't even a trace of blood.
This was obviously illogical.
After being bitten by mosquitoes, many people couldn't help but scratch until they broke the skin, leading to inflammation, pus formation, healing, scabbing, and a complete process.
"Oh my god!"
Chen Mu jumped up suddenly. "I might have some idea now."
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