Project Assignment

In this life, enough! Just a few simple words. Yet they carried unparalleled nonchalance and pride, leaving Chen Zhengze, Pan Yongnian, and the others profoundly moved. After regaining their senses, Pan Yongnian looked at this hero with ever-growing reverence. Indeed... For people of Sun Guozhu and Qi Yuanyou’s generation, the ordinary mortal body of seven spiritual roots was instead a form of validation. Before this, although Sun Guozhu and the others had always held fast to the idea of a single spark, limited by the form of technological civilization, they could not prove this idea correct on the material level. But now, with the completion of the spiritual root test, this cross-realm Spirit-Testing Platform, in another field, proved their thoughts were absolutely correct! Their lifelong pursuit was correct! A mortal body could also hold up the heavens! ... A moment passed. The short-tempered old Academician Xu Xiujie glanced at Sun Guozhu, broke the silence first, walked to the Spirit-Testing Platform, and placed his hand on it. Then he tilted his head, glanced at the platform’s base, and said in a flat tone: “Two layers. Six spiritual roots.” Immediately after, another old Academician strode forward to test his aptitude, also six spiritual roots. The others followed one after another, and Chen Zhengze announced the results one by one. “Academician Xiangzhou, seven spiritual roots.” “Doctor Zou Yue, six spiritual roots.” “Academician Fu Bingyi, five spiritual roots.” “Academician Ma Heng, seven spiritual roots.” Pan Yongnian was in the middle, slightly toward the back of the sequence. When his turn came, he naturally placed his hand on it. Chen Zhengze glanced at him. “Academician Pan, two layers, six spiritual roots.” To be honest. If it had been half an hour ago, Pan Yongnian knew his aptitude was six spiritual roots, and he would probably have felt some regret and disappointment. But now, after Old Sun’s words, he suddenly felt… Six spiritual roots didn’t seem so disappointing after all. At least for now. Not to mention achievements in the real world; even in cultivation-related research, his own performance far exceeded the “output” expected of six spiritual roots. ... More than ten minutes later. Chen Zhengze stood before everyone again and reported: “Including myself and seven staff members, 34 people participated in the spiritual root test on site. The current results are as follows.” “Seven spiritual roots: 20 people; six spiritual roots: 9; five spiritual roots: 5; four spiritual roots or better: 0.” Chen Zhengze paused slightly when mentioning five spiritual roots, because he himself was one of the five with five spiritual roots. Not that he felt superior—mainly, as a human-shaped self-propelled announcement machine who had tested the highest aptitude, he felt somewhat restrained. “You’ve worked hard, Zhengze,” Sun Guozhu said. Though nearly a hundred years old, he still had a sharp mind. “This proportion is broadly consistent with the data Comrade Lin Yi provided, but it’s best to have as many samples as possible.” “Here’s what we’ll do: later, test the aptitude of the comrades in the base garrison, and select the hundred with the best aptitude to await Awakening.” Chen Zhengze saluted. “Received!” According to the organization’s plan, within the next three months, Dawn Base would host at least 40 top research teams, with the total number of researchers tentatively set between 1,000 and 2,000. To maintain base security and confidentiality, the state naturally equipped a sufficiently powerful guard force. This force drew two main units from the Fourteenth Army Corps after it was split years ago, as well as some direct lineages from the Three Fierce Heroic Lions and East China Sharp Blade, with loyalty and combat power both pushed to the limit. As for the Awakening that Sun Guozhu mentioned, it related to those cultivation techniques Lin Yi sent back—namely the white beads and books first extracted. These beads contain various cultivation techniques, but most require divine sense to examine their specific contents. And this ability, divine sense, only arises when a cultivator formally enters Qi Refining. The only exception is the non-entering-the-realm cultivation technique required for the Awakening stage, “Tide Art.” Its carrier is a paper book that can be read normally with the naked eye. However, the bilingual translation involved in “Tide Art” is still underway and needs some time; with Lin Yi’s assistance this step shouldn’t be difficult and should be resolved within two or three days. Besides that, the Awakening stage also requires a low-grade medicinal pill called Primordial Origin Pill. Generally speaking, the higher the aptitude, the fewer Primordial Origin Pills consumed. For five spiritual roots, from comprehending the rules to finally breaking through to Qi Refining, consumption starts at eighty pills and goes up. For six spiritual roots, which are worse, even several hundred pills might not succeed in Awakening. But Lin Yi sent back few Primordial Origin Pills this time, barely two bottles in total. Therefore Dawn Base could only conduct aptitude screening for now, waiting until Lin Yi finishes purchasing supplies in Jiuwu City before proceeding to the next step. After arranging the aptitude testing related matters, Sun Guozhu looked again at the Academicians gathered before him, cleared his throat, and began assigning research projects: “Among the materials Comrade Lin Yi sent back, those of the Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beast make up the majority, and relatively speaking they are the samples we can best afford to lose.” “So my idea is this: Academician Junfeng, Comrade Xiao Du, Comrade Ji Fan, and Xiao Gong—you four each take twenty kilograms of flesh-and-blood samples and conduct research from the cellular and molecular angles.” “Comrade Wang An and Comrade Shi Jiacheng will lead teams respectively to analyze the organs and bones of the Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beast. What do you think?” The several Academicians named by Sun Guozhu glanced at each other and simultaneously stepped forward: “No problem.” According to preliminary statistics from the inventory process, the Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beast materials Lin Yi sent back this time total nearly 8.7 tons, with flesh and blood weighing over 5 tons, belonging to the category of samples with the largest volume and mass. The four Academicians each take twenty kilograms, accounting for less than one-sixtieth of the total. Even if they are all consumed in experiments, it won’t leave future experiments without materials—though judging by the rabbits’ personalities, there will surely be heartache… Next Sun Guozhu exchanged opinions with Wang Yaoping again and set the research teams for the remaining sample groups. For example, the short-tempered old Academician Xu Xiujie was arranged to be responsible for researching a Dharma artifact that externally resembles a lamp base. That lamp base’s full name is Pure Nine-Lotus Treasure Lamp; it inherently has the effect of dispelling delusions and driving away evil, and when encountering enemies it can be thrown remotely and actively return, and if it strikes a vital point it will even light up to indicate. In a sense, it is somewhat like Xu Xiujie. It is also a Dharma artifact that blends arcane principle and physics, and comes with a critical-hit effect. A few minutes later. After most research projects were assigned, Sun Guozhu looked again at Pan Yongnian and said: “Xiao Pan, your team members are still monitoring data at the transmigration point, so you’re short-handed for now.” “So we plan to make you a temporary partner with Academician Ma Heng, attempting to analyze spirit stones from the angles of quantum information and energy. What do you think?” “Old Sun, I obey the organization’s decision,” Pan Yongnian said. As a top expert, he understood the importance of a team, so he turned to Ma Heng and smiled: “Academician Ma, this time I’ll be tagging along with you.” “Ai ai ai, Academician Pan, that’s going too far,” Ma Heng said modestly, cupping his hands toward him with no superior attitude whatsoever: “You’ve been in contact with Comrade Lin Yi longer and understand cultivation more deeply; it’s I who should ask you for guidance.” Afterward the two paused, glanced at each other, and couldn’t help laughing. “All right, all right, Academician Pan,” Ma Heng said after a moment. He shook his head, stopped laughing, and told Pan Yongnian: “Neither of us is the type to flatter others, so let’s not do any mutual flattery here. If we keep being polite, I’ll get goosebumps.” “In short, just one sentence: we’ll do our best this time, exchange ideas promptly, and strive to crack the hardest nut, spirit stones!” After Ma Heng said this, across from him, Pan Yongnian’s smile became much more sincere. Then Pan Yongnian pondered for a moment and actively extended his hand toward Ma Heng: “Then let’s give it our all!” Seeing this, Ma Heng was stunned for a moment, then immediately took a deep breath, extended his right hand, and shook hands heavily with Pan Yongnian: “Give it our all!”