Chapter 352 Dark Spirit Rice
In every sense of the word, this enormously costly funeral was a success. Perhaps describing a funeral as "successful" seems rather odd, but if one views it as a beautifully packaged marketing campaign designed to achieve a specific objective, then there’s no issue.
Through this funeral, the upper echelons of the Huaxia Federation successfully marketed the concept of an alien threat to the entire world, while simultaneously redirecting much of the domestic public's hatred towards them. Afterward, revenge killings decreased by more than fifty percent, and public enthusiasm for space expeditions grew increasingly fervent.
Concurrently, the Youth Alliance leveraged this funeral to gather an astronomical amount of aspiration energy, which could also be considered a success.
"Are you trying to continuously incite racial hatred against aliens among the populace, and pursue a path of space conquest?" A year later, during a routine meeting at Ziliu Sea, Chen Bo was questioned about this matter.
During that year, the societal discourse, under intentional guidance, had shifted towards a direction that some found alarming.
Chen Bo, hailing from the military, had always been dedicated to elevating the social status of soldiers, with most of his core subordinates being military officers. Now, actively guiding the nation down such a path, it inevitably led to various other conjectures.
"The entire solar system is our enemy. If we don't expand outwards, we're simply waiting for death." He instructed his secretary to distribute the classified documents in hand to everyone present.
"Probes sent to Mars and Mercury have already confirmed the presence of life, or even traces of rudimentary civilizations, on them. While the results for the more distant planets are not yet in, it's highly probable they're no exception. Regarding this matter, I've temporarily issued a gag order, and I hope you will all adhere to it. There's no need to cause further unrest in a society that has just begun to stabilize."
"These planets also have Spirit Qi?" Upon hearing about alien life, some immediately grew restless, their minds stirring, calculating how much profit they could extract from it.
After Bai Mo disappeared, the influence of the Spirit Energy Research Institute was considerably suppressed within the Huaxia Federation, and a number of technical bureaucrats who had overstepped their bounds were purged.
Having successfully entered the Chemosynthesis stage, Chen Bo, who had further suppressed others, took advantage of this period to exercise his power with even greater boldness and resolve.
The original 'three pillars' that governed Huaxia had now become a single dominant power, with the other two factions forced to band together to resist.
"How effective was the first harvest of Dark Spirit Rice?" After outlining the broad strategic decisions, Chen Bo looked towards Zheng Feng, the Director of the Agricultural Technology Department, who was seated quite far back.
The declining Spirit Qi levels were also a severe problem. On one hand, they needed to continuously expand into space for new sources, and on the other, they had to implement conservation methods. Cultivating the Dark Spirit Rice, recovered from the Tianqing experimental site, was one such solution.
"Its principle is quite simple: it uses its highly developed root system to decompose the Spirit Energy-infused parts of various Spirit Beast corpses, re-converting them into the ambient Spirit Qi of heaven and earth."
"At the same time, Dark Spirit Rice can also absorb various forms of energy, storing that energy within its seeds. Based on their quality, this batch of spirit grain has been categorized into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow..."
Owing to someone's initial mischievous whim, all spirit materials, based on their effectiveness and value, were categorized in Huaxia into four major ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Within each major rank, there were three sub-grades: Upper, Middle, and Lower, making a total of twelve levels.
This time, Zheng Feng also followed the relevant evaluation rules to classify the spirit grain.
"As for the origin of the name 'Dark Spirit Rice,' we believe it's because when grown in sufficient quantities, it can absorb most of the surrounding sunlight, causing the nearby environment to noticeably darken..."
He spoke voluminously about topics related to his professional field, completely disregarding the occasion and ignoring the slightly impatient expressions of those in front of him.
"To make a long story short, just report the effects; that's enough. We've already read about the principles in the report." Finally, Chen Bo interrupted him. People so absorbed in their research fields easily go on endlessly about related matters.
"Yes, sir!" After Chen Bo's reminder, he finally remembered that this wasn't a lecture hall for his experimental reports, but the true heart of the Huaxia Federation—the Ziliu Sea Council Chamber.
"The Spirit Qi levels in the vicinity have indeed seen a relatively significant rebound, but since we lack any instruments capable of quantitatively measuring Spirit Qi concentration, we can only rely on human perception." When he mentioned this, Zheng Feng felt a little disheartened. Spirit Qi, this elusive phantom, could never be observed by instruments.
"However, the rice from the Dark Spirit Rice plants, through our trials, has various excellent medicinal effects. A very small number of Heaven-grade spirit rice grains can even, to some extent, optimize the efficiency of Spirit Energy utilization within your bodies... Even the least effective Yellow-grade spirit rice can slightly enhance the physical constitution of ordinary people."
"I've also brought some samples..." Zheng Feng reverted to his old habit and began to speak incessantly. But this time, no one showed impatience. Each person with vested interests appeared contemplative.
Half an hour later, a small bowl was delivered from logistics for each person, divided into four compartments, each containing only a mouthful of white rice. White steam rose from the surface of the rice, clearly having just been cooked and brought over.
Even from a distance, a peculiar, refreshing aroma had already permeated the entire conference room. The attendees, who had become somewhat numb after the long meeting, were all instantly reinvigorated.
As for the possibility of poisoning... the logistics team wasn't to be trifled with. Moreover, it was utterly impossible to poison over twenty Fifth-tier powerhouses present. When it came to matters closely related to their lives, most of them would have a profound and mysterious premonition.
"Good."
"Very good."
...
A chorus of unanimous praise.
"What do you estimate the yield of Heaven-grade spirit rice can reach?"
"Right, that's the key."
After seeing sufficient benefits, they immediately began to show concern for this aspect.
If Heaven-grade spirit rice could be mass-produced, that would be excellent news for everyone present. However, if the yield was very low, its significance to these individuals would be greatly diminished. Each of them held high positions and wielded immense power, so acquiring Heaven-grade spirit materials was not a difficult task for them.
"The grade of the spirit rice actually depends on the quality of the corpses used as fertilizer..." Seeing everyone's eager gazes, Zheng Feng poured a bucket of cold water on them.
"As expected..."
"I knew it wouldn't be that good. Energy is conserved. Without high-tier demon beasts or Sea Race members as 'flower fertilizer,' Heaven-grade spirit rice certainly wouldn't grow."
"How long do you estimate it will take to roll out Dark Spirit Rice cultivation nationwide? I'm referring to cultivating Yellow-grade spirit rice." What Chen Bo was considering at this moment was something much more far-reaching.
"Finally returned..." In the experimental fields of the Agricultural Technology Department, an extremely blurry white figure appeared in the center of the field, yet the monitoring instruments on site detected no anomalies and raised no alarms.
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