Yang Bo browsed the batteries online. The cheapest graphene batteries cost a few dozen Credit Points, while the most expensive nuclear-powered ones ran into the hundreds of thousands or even millions. Nuclear-powered batteries were used for Mechas.
Yang Bo bought a graphene battery for over a thousand Credit Points, featuring adjustable voltage.
An hour later, the battery was delivered downstairs. Since he lived in a private community where delivery drones were prohibited from entering, they could only drop packages at the main gate. The property management staff then brought it to the ground floor of his building.
The battery was a rectangular block, twenty centimeters long, fifteen centimeters wide, and twelve centimeters high. It was completely black, with the positive and negative terminals hidden as recessed sockets. This single battery held roughly 5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Yang Bo found two forks. He first jammed one fork into the positive terminal. In an instant, he knew his guess was right. He felt a current of heat flowing from his hand into his body.
It felt just like soaking in a scalding hot bathhouse on Earth, as if every single cell was buzzing with excitement.
Twenty minutes later, the battery's charge had dropped by twenty percent. Yang Bo stopped only when his body started to ache.
After putting the battery away, he dove straight into bed and fell asleep instantly, overwhelmed by a deep sense of exhaustion.
The next morning, Yang Bo woke up brimming with Power. However, he was incredibly hungry and hurriedly chugged two cartons of milk.
Yang Bo guessed, "Could it be that the electrical stimulation enhanced my physique?
"I wonder if there's a black market in this world. It would be great if I could get a live electric eel. I'll deal with this after work this afternoon.
"Since this E-level training involves real physical entities, could other training modules or similar things also involve real entities?
"Maybe I can play some Mecha games when I get back tonight? Piloting a Mecha requires high hand speed."
As he washed up and made breakfast, numerous ideas popped into his head.
As for why Yang Bo didn't ask Liu Zhijie about this, it was because everyone's Genetic Evolution abilities were kept strictly confidential. Unless one joined the military or another large faction, they would never have the chance to access such information. Even then, learning about the abilities of similar Genetic Evolvers could only serve as a reference. Since everyone's genetics were different, activating different genetic sequences in various combinations would result in completely different abilities. He had already learned this from the internet.
Of course, he couldn't rule out the possibility that certain organizations were monopolizing this kind of information. If someone were to ask why? It was the exact same reason why Weapons of mass destruction on Earth were monopolized by major powers. These major factions hoarded this information simply out of fear that others might obtain it. If you wanted access to the information, you had to join them. This was what people commonly called a class monopoly!
Liu Zhijie had also mentioned that everyone underwent genetic testing at birth, and those with the best innate talents were reserved by the military long in advance.
Yang Bo then checked the news from the previous night. He saw the report regarding the C-level Genetic Evolver who died in the accident involving his bus. The police had officially declared it an accident.
Yang Bo frowned deeply. He had a strong premonition that the man had been coming after him. Moreover, he was certain the man had died at his hands—otherwise, how could he have acquired the Mecha Pilot ability? However, Yang Bo still wasn't sure exactly how he had managed to kill him.
Today, Yang Bo decided to take a taxi. It was self-driving; all he had to do was get in and state his destination.
Back when Yang Bo lived in government housing, he hadn't been allowed to take taxis. He hadn't even been permitted to enter certain high-end shopping malls. Doing so would draw public criticism, with people complaining that someone living on Federation welfare could somehow afford a taxi ride.
Of course, compared to Earth—where a large portion of people living in low-rent housing drove luxury cars—this world was relatively fair.
Upon arriving at the company, he first checked the available tasks. Yang Bo tried to pick ones related to gardens, hoping for some unexpected gains. Unfortunately, garden-cleaning jobs were in extremely high demand. This was because if pests like mice, venomous spiders, or other critters outside the scope of standard services were found in a garden, the employer had to pay extra.
Yang Bo's authorization level was at the very bottom. If a high-level and a low-level employee tried to accept the same order simultaneously, the high-level employee would secure the task, leaving the low-level one with nothing.
"Cleaning a swimming pool." Since there were no garden tasks available, he figured he might as well go for the highest-paying one.
After accepting the task, Yang Bo went to collect his equipment. This time, there was quite a lot of gear. It included various Potions and a wide array of devices. The company even dispatched a dedicated vehicle for the job. Upon arriving at the location, he unloaded the equipment outside the main gate. Surprisingly, the people here used an internal combustion engine vehicle to transport the tools to the poolside.
Even though Yang Bo had already seen the pool's dimensions on the task details, seeing it in person still gave him a massive shock. It was a gargantuan swimming pool covering at least two thousand square meters. Its style resembled a natural puddle found in Earth's streams, shaped like a giant water droplet.
After putting on his Protective Suit, he first scattered the disinfectant Potion into the pool. Then, he set up the water-pumping equipment. Since the water was full of moss and impurities, various filtration devices were required. The filtered water could simply be discharged into the adjacent forest.
Directly facing the pool was a three-story villa. Through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, the interior layout was clearly visible. People could be seen walking around inside, and highly abstract pieces of Art hung on the walls.
"I wonder which celebrity lives here," Yang Bo muttered to himself.
Once the disinfectant had been given enough time to work, he activated the pumping equipment and inspected the filtration facilities. The pump was driven by a rather primitive electric motor. It was battery-powered and lacked any smart Control System—just a simple panel of buttons.
Yang Bo then picked up a water gun to power-wash the pool. He washed and pumped the water simultaneously. After that, he had to use a cleaning device that looked a lot like a lawnmower, except it was battery-powered and featured a brush head on the front.
Once the scrubbing was done, he rinsed it out once, sprayed a special sanitizing fluid over the surface, gave it one final wash, and finally began refilling the pool with water.
This amount of manual labor was like child's play to Yang Bo, considering his past life. He packed the used filter cartridges and other disposable items into a garbage bag, officially completing the task. The butler carefully inspected his work before Yang Bo took his leave.
He had successfully earned 1,200 Credit Points. Truth be told, this kind of simple physical labor brought in money surprisingly fast—even higher than the income of an average Genetic Evolver. Then again, it made sense. Most residents grew up in welfare institutes and were used to living a lazy, pig-like lifestyle. Who among them would actually want to come out and work?
With today's order finished, Yang Bo couldn't wait to get back and farm electric eels. He still had three attempts left for the E-level simulation training.
He noticed that the D-level training required 10,000 points. Moreover, choosing a specific simulation target for the assessment cost an additional 3,000 points.
"By those calculations, it's still more cost-effective to farm the E-level. In the E-level, farming one electric eel gives a +1. I got lucky yesterday and encountered three electric eels at once. Even if a genetically polluted beast spawns in the D-level, it might only give a +2 at most. Yet, the points required for the D-level assessment are three times higher than the E-level." Yang Bo crunched the numbers carefully and felt that the D-level wasn't worth the cost.
"Whatever, I'll farm Electric Energy Control first." After a brief moment of consideration, Yang Bo put on the Virtual Helmet. The death of the C-level Geneticist had left him feeling extremely insecure.