Chapter 224: The Consequences of Piracy
As for the true culprit of the disaster still being at large, everyone eventually agreed on a unified statement, providing an official explanation in the post-war public report.
To corroborate Chen Bo's earlier assertion, the already vanquished Sa Qia Si Ji was assigned the crime of being one of the main perpetrators of the nuclear bomb incident. At the same time, the public was informed that there was another primary culprit still lurking beneath the sea. After all, dead men tell no tales, so adding more charges wouldn't matter.
Only the few individuals responsible for the on-site handover knew the truth hidden behind the scenes. Given that it involved the demise of hundreds of Unmelting Realm ability users, even Chen Bo didn't want to bear the responsibility of misleading the public.
Without the guidance of hatred, it would have been impossible for so many ability users to truly fight to the death against the enemy.
Thus, the truth was ultimately concealed within a half-true, half-false announcement.
Three months quickly passed. During this period, three more individuals within the entire Huaxia Federation chose to press forward, embarking on this perilous path of breakthrough.
Hong Si, the deputy director of the Special Combat Department, was completely incinerated during his breakthrough, dying in the process. The massive explosion caused by his runaway power directly shaved off a third of a nearly 400-meter-high hill in the outskirts of Tianqing.
Wen Jian, the director of the Special Combat Department's Logistics Department, successfully broke through at the cost of half a leg, becoming the third publicly known person in Huaxia to enter the Xuanhua Stage.
With the success of the third individual's breakthrough, Ye Zi faced even greater pressure. Governing by strength was an unending race. She had originally planned to attempt her breakthrough half a year later, but the eager anticipation from her subordinates and the covetous gaze of her political rivals forced her to take this step earlier.
After three months of research, the Spirit Art of Heavenly Earth Lock, which was powerful enough to sway the balance of victory, was finally transformed by Bai Mo into a general Spirit Art. Unfortunately, at this stage, it was only effective against ability users of lower tiers than himself, making it a mere trifle for him.
It consumed a large amount of Spirit Energy, yet could only seal one ability of an ability user weaker than himself. It was less efficient than simply slapping them dead with a single palm strike.
Standing at a higher vantage point, his designs for foundational cultivation methods became even more insightful and far-reaching. During this time, Bai Mo compiled several cultivation documents regarding the Spirit Animation Stage and the Life Field Stage. He then casually uploaded them, along with the cultivation method for Heavenly Earth Lock, to the Contribution Point System.
The current Contribution Point System had become relatively strict in controlling piracy. The Huaxia Federation had hired a large number of curse-type ability users from various regions at high salaries to "process" every valuable piece of information.
Every user who purchased the genuine version was required to declare an oath before being able to access the data.
According to the oath, users were only allowed to use the purchased data for personal use. Without sufficient decryption authority, they were forbidden from sharing or communicating its contents with any user who had not purchased the data. Otherwise, any losses incurred would be compensated through various "accidents" appearing over a future period of time.
It was precisely the threat of these unpredictable accidents that caused the previously rampant piracy to almost disappear without a trace. However, with policies come countermeasures, and under the immense allure of exorbitant profits, some individuals still walked the fine line, engaging in this business.
The masterminds would pay a small sum to hire a large number of people in need of money to work together, allowing them to share the bad luck, thereby achieving the effect of maximizing profits with the minimum cost.
But even so, with the unreasonable threat of accidents to one's life, only one in ten people truly chose to persist in piracy. There were so many lucrative gray businesses; there was no need to get tangled in a profession that could cost one's life at any moment.
Increasing the probability of being hit by a car, bitten by a dog, losing one's wallet, or being struck by falling objects from high places could indeed be seen as a true manifestation of reaping what you sow.
"How great is the possibility of developing a cultivation scripture that everyone can truly cultivate?" Bai Mo, who was reading a book, suddenly received such an email.
"Here are some of my thoughts..." Xia Ningyi had compiled her ideas into a document.
Two years ago, when Bai Mo went to the underground black market to purchase Spirit Hubs from Ji Xuan, Ji Xuan had originally intended to introduce him to the researcher Xia Ningyi, who would perform the Spirit Hub surgery for him. However, due to various unforeseen circumstances, the two never met, and instead became like-minded individuals who occasionally exchanged ideas via email.
"But you also need to consider, if everyone starts cultivating using Spirit Qi, will there be enough Spirit Qi on Earth? According to statistical reports, the highest average Spirit Qi level ever recorded was on the day the tsunami disaster occurred."
"From that day onwards, the Spirit Qi concentration level has never increased again. We estimate that it has temporarily reached an equilibrium."
"Although strong radiation has been proven to be rapidly converted into Spirit Energy in a Spirit Qi environment, and subsequently combine into Spirit Qi, this is still a drop in the bucket for the infinite demand that billions of people cultivating would bring."
Bai Mo actually supported the general direction of universal cultivation. The larger the base of minds, the more brilliant and talented individuals would contribute their thoughts, which could better promote the development of cultivation civilization.
But the first problem to solve was the quantity of Spirit Qi. If the Spirit Qi era turned into an age of declining magic, the loss would be immense.
Not long after the Spirit River Autumn, humanity had already begun to consider whether Spirit Qi existed on extraterrestrial planets like the Moon and Mars.
However, the bombing of nuclear weapons and the tsunami dealt an unprecedented blow to scientific research in various countries. A large number of scientific researchers in several core cities died, and countless financial resources were diverted to post-disaster reconstruction and war preparations, causing space exploration to remain suspended.
Only recently, after experiencing several turbulences, did Huaxia begin to restart its lunar landing program, planning to send an exploration team within two years to investigate the situation on the Moon.
A small number of powerful ability users capable of surviving in a vacuum environment would be invited to participate in this lunar exploration program.
"But that's not a reason not to research this matter. I am committed to establishing a more equitable world. Your previously published 'Ten Thousand Phantoms Sutra' was an excellent start, giving everyone the possibility of cultivation," she quickly replied in her email.
"The cultivation of the 'Ten Thousand Phantoms Sutra' essentially doesn't require Spirit Qi, so similar problems won't arise."
"However, once the balance between Spirit Qi production and consumption is broken, it could even ultimately lead to an age of declining magic. According to my previous research, Spirit Qi concentration has a huge impact on the advancement speed for the Spirit Animation Stage and Life Field Stage levels, but for the Unmelting Realm and Xuanhua Stage above them, I don't have enough data to draw conclusions," Bai Mo immediately replied.
"We, these first-generation ability users, can reach the peak of the Life Field Stage simply by natural growth, without any active cultivation, under this concentration of Spirit Qi."
"But once the Spirit Qi concentration drops, I don't believe such benefits will still exist. The total cultivating population is definitely increasing, and sooner or later, output will exceed consumption."
"Even if we don't consider others, we should prepare for a rainy day and develop a corresponding strategy for low Spirit Qi concentration environments," Xia Ningyi wrote in the email.
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