Chapter 347: Harvest
"Mr. Xiao, please." In front of the Xiao family mansion, several individuals in the black uniforms of the Special Combat Department spoke with their characteristic blank expressions.
These people held a document bearing over twenty signatures, waiting quietly outside the door for a response from within.
In their hearts, they felt a degree of trepidation. As a group who hadn't fared particularly well within the organization, they had been dispatched to undertake this perilous assignment: traveling to various locations to apprehend Ability Users who had committed murders during the recent riots.
Should they encounter resistance, they could easily become martyrs. While others would avenge them later, the dead could not be brought back to life. At this very moment, their only true protection was their official status, which was, in essence, nothing more than a tiger's skin – a facade of power.
"I understand." Dressed in white, Xiao Yan chose not to resist. He packed a simple bag, then walked outside, carrying an unidentified crystal he had found.
During the riots, he had killed hundreds of people who tried to storm his house. Now, he was one of the key targets of concern, and the amnesty order specifically addressed individuals like him. Since the authorities had chosen to let things slide, he wasn't about to turn hostile.
"Our apologies; we are merely acting on orders." The black-clad figures adopted a remarkably humble stance, fearing to provoke the man behind them. Xiao Yan, implicitly recognized as the strongest below the Fifth Tier, was not someone these minor figures could disrespect, even in his current situation.
"It's nothing serious, no punishment involved. I'm just going to clear out some beasts. I'll be back soon, wait for me," he said to Xiao Xun, who was secretly weeping, before he left.
To avoid further alienating and provoking a rebellion among superhumans, individuals in Xiao Yan's situation were all granted amnesty, permitted to atone for their murders by killing members of the Sea Race. For if all were truly to be prosecuted for intentional homicide according to the law, not many would willingly offer their necks to the blade, and the Huaxia Federation would likely face another protracted civil war.
"Mm," he nodded, then gestured for the driver in front to drive away.
Within days of Bai Mo's disappearance, various factions had already eagerly moved into this experimental facility – a space nearly the size of a city, yet previously belonging solely to one individual.
On one hand, all the central equipment for the virtual reality system had been installed in this location, and to maintain and control the system, a large contingent of technical personnel had to be dispatched.
Previously, Bai Mo had handled all maintenance himself, possessing enough avatars to manage such tasks. But others didn't have so many avatars to spare for such a place, so now an entire team of over a hundred people was assigned to the responsibility.
On the other hand, many within the Spirit Energy Research Institute had set their sights on the experimental environment and the potentially hidden research achievements inside, eager to claim a share.
"How much have we gained?" a researcher in charge of inventory asked his colleague.
"This is actually an alien base, isn't it? It's truly unimaginable, the things inside are too crazy!" a young man wearing square-framed glasses exclaimed excitedly.
"Say something useful." The inventory specialist, having clearly encountered many such excited young people in recent days, remained calm.
"The system's database contains a material called Mithril, which possesses extraordinary spirit energy guiding capabilities. It would have miraculous effects if used in our institute's Spirit Energy Mecha development project."
"Does the database mention the specific technology?" He picked up his notebook, ready to record.
"No, but according to an X-ray diffraction pattern left behind, we speculate it might involve precise, atomic-level manipulation to adjust the metallic crystal lattice structure of silver atoms. There's also a small, twenty-gram sample in the vacuum storage unit."
"Just this alone makes our trip worthwhile."
"Not only that, there are several unknown fragments in the material room, very similar in structure to Mithril. We even have people who participated in the war back then who recognized them as parts of the alien spaceship. Taking them back will definitely be of great use."
The Sarcasky incident had shocked the entire world back then. Countless people had regretted that it ultimately self-detonated, taking its massive "Destiny Transcendent" with it in a form of annihilation, thus depriving humanity of any chance to acquire alien technology.
Yet, no one had imagined that now, within this vast underground laboratory, several pockmarked fragments would be discovered, along with new materials likely developed from studying those very remnants.
"With these things, those of us in materials research can secure more funding." Hearing this, the inventory specialist's expression finally showed a slight change.
They all knew clearly that the money Huaxia allocated to this single individual each year was almost equivalent to the entire budget of the Spirit Energy Research Institute. Now, with his disappearance, the Huaxia Federation's fiscal budget had suddenly gained hundreds of billions in pure revenue.
This couldn't help but ignite a fierce competition among them, for the stakes involved were immense. Every person who had embarked on the path of transcendence knew just how significant money was in cultivation.
Many believed that it was precisely the vast wealth generated by the Contribution Points system that had propelled Bai Mo, originally from an ordinary background, to an unprecedented level.
Within the institute, many harbored the ambition of becoming the next Bai Mo, possessing nearly infinite power without shouldering too many obligations. However, the Central Government of Huaxia was clearly unwilling to see another such monster emerge, one that would stick in their throats like a fishbone.
The creation of the experimental facility was merely a unique existence that emerged during a special period, a compromise with the Tianqing government.
Although the Spirit Energy Research Institute was a colossus with an annual budget in the hundreds of billions, it was actually composed of hundreds, even thousands, of smaller groups researching different fields, and the competition for funding among them was fierce.
No matter how much money was allocated, it was like pouring water onto a desert – it vanished without a trace.
On one hand, the sheer variety of research projects were truly exorbitant, each one a bottomless pit devouring gold like a colossal beast. On the other, some individuals were illicitly enriching themselves, using public funds for private gain, diverting budgets to purchase cultivation resources. This had largely become an unspoken, common practice.
Such occurrences were difficult to avoid in any department. Even if everyone knew it wasn't right, no one would dare challenge the interests of all. Scientists themselves were, after all, just people, and most hoped to live better lives.
Similar conversations were taking place in other groups as well.
"From the database, we found a plant called Dark Spirit Rice, and we've obtained seed samples from the cold storage area. If what it says is true, this thing might be able to slow down the rate of spirit qi decline," a researcher excitedly told the inventory specialist.
Every living being could perceive the existence of spirit qi, and to some extent, sense changes in its concentration. Yet, for the past decade, it had been like a ghost, never once captured by any machine. All attempts at instrumental analysis had failed, leaving them no choice but to treat it as a black box to be developed.
And what every single person could feel most deeply was this: over the past few years, the concentration of spirit qi had been slowly but steadily declining!.
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