However, just as Codename B's bell-like laughter still echoed in the air, her body suddenly went limp without warning. She slumped sideways, as if all her strength had drained away, like a puppet whose strings had been cut and soul extracted.
"Hey! Pretty big sister!"
Jorah was startled by this sudden turn of events and instinctively reached out to help.
But the man named Simon moved faster, and more skillfully. He seemed utterly accustomed to this. He simply extended a strong arm, steadily supporting the woman's falling body, then gently cradled her frail, delicate waist with his other hand, allowing her to rest securely in his embrace like a sleeping infant.
"Is she… is she always like this? Just… just passes out?" Jorah asked, still somewhat shaken, looking at Codename B's face, which, though pale, still held a faint smile at the corner of her lips.
"She's like this every time she peers into the future," Simon replied succinctly. He was a man of few words, his voice low and hoarse, completely unlike Jorah's chattering style. But the information he revealed stunned Jorah.
"Peer… peer into the future?"
Jorah pondered for a long time before something seemed to click in his mind, and the connection finally "snapped" into place.
"Wait! She just said I 'would have good fortune in the future,' so that means… I'm really going to be lucky in the future, right?!" Jorah's eyes instantly lit up again, his face filled with excitement and anticipation.
However, Simon offered no further answer to his question. He simply held the sleeping woman in his arms, turned, and moved away from this "loud," noisy young man, as he perceived him.
Just then, the excitedly "shopping" researchers finally returned, albeit belatedly.
Each of their faces beamed with an uncontrollable excitement, as if they had discovered a new continent. Their backpacks and hands were laden with all sorts of strangely shaped, multi-colored items: special minerals shimmering with faint light, mutated biological tissues encased in culture fluid and still subtly wriggling, and even a few oddly shaped, clearly not man-made, mutated plant samples.
It was evident that they had reaped a considerable harvest from their visit to the trading post.
"It's practically a steal!" Even Sarah, the botanist who usually had a quiet presence but always a gentle demeanor, couldn't hide her excitement. She pushed up her glasses, her voice attempting to remain steady, but the slight tremor betrayed her inner thrill. "The people selling these things have no idea what they're worth! They're just selling them as useless, odd 'decorations'!"
"Yes!" Alan immediately chimed in, equally excited. He carefully cradled a petri dish containing a few unusual plant fragments, his eyes gleaming. "The tissue activity of these mutated plants is incredibly high! With the right culture medium, we can completely cultivate full plants again! This is invaluable to our research!"
And Enzo, Alan's colleague, the "jacked rabbit" female researcher they hadn't seen much of, showed her pragmatic side, which was quite a contrast to her appearance. She single-handedly carried several heavy bags, yet they seemed light in her strong, toned forearms.
The bags were mostly filled with rolls of fabric, needles and thread, and other practical daily necessities.
"I think buying finished clothes is too wasteful," Enzo explained matter-of-factly to the group. "I know a bit of sewing. Buying these fabrics and making them ourselves, we can make several pieces. It's more cost-effective."
Elara looked at this highly contrasting female scientist, secretly impressed.
In fact, during those few days of rest, these researchers, at their repeated requests, had been allowed to participate in several small-scale operations, escorted by Zephyr and his team, to clear out ordinary undead around the villa. As highly inquisitive scientists, they naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity to collect crystal cores firsthand and study undead mutations. So, now, each of them had, more or less, accumulated a small "private stash."
On the other side, the soldiers maintained their high level of vigilance and sense of duty.
Kane held a seemingly ordinary dagger he had acquired from the trading post, but he remained constantly by the side of the still-unconscious Aurelia, like a silent guardian, warily observing everything around them. He hadn't gone out "treasure hunting" with the researchers.
And the accompanying military doctor sat alone in a corner, idly whittling a wooden stick he had picked up from somewhere. But by his side, there was a small bag of white sugar he had just obtained from the trading post. It seemed he had also gone out, though it was unclear what he planned to do with the sugar.
"Aurelia… she hasn't woken up yet?" Elara asked softly, walking over to Kane and looking at the still-sleeping blond woman.
"Not yet," the military doctor looked up, answering Elara's question. His expression also seemed a bit downcast. "But don't worry too much. Her vital signs are basically stable. That Jorah kid's healing ability is very effective. I estimate she should wake up in another day or two."
After speaking, he lowered his head again and continued whittling the wooden stick, seemingly preoccupied with something.