Chapter 55: Contingency Plan
"What do you think?" Chen Sen asked, patting Liang Zhen Dao.
"We don't know anything about their abilities, what's there to say?"
"True, with no intel on them, it's hard to predict."
"Do you think that Chen Fangqing has a Life Field?" Liang Zhen Dao countered.
"If she does, Yue Yu will have a tough fight. But it's just a spar, winning or losing doesn't matter too much. Even losing can be considered gaining some experience."
"As long as we don't get unlucky and run into *that* person, who'd knock them senseless in two punches, leaving them with psychological trauma." Liang Zhen Dao hinted.
"You brat, you just *had* to bring that up, didn't you!" Chen Sen recalled the earlier incident.
"Calm down. Instead of getting worked up, why not put your brain to better use? The Martial Edict was only written a few months ago. If you dedicated a few months to studying it, you might even come up with something good. Then you wouldn't have to wait every day for those hundred-character chapters to update." Liang Zhen Dao said with a laugh.
"Looks like you have a lot of grievances about the update speed too. To see the Martial Edict's updates as quickly as possible every day, I even registered a VIP account and set up update notifications. In the comment section, people are constantly 'smashing votes' begging for more chapters, but unfortunately, the author has never shown up."
"What insider news?" Chen Sen asked, puzzled.
"You know, the author of the Martial Edict, who exactly is 'Mo Li Hua Lei'?"
"Hasn't the author's identity been sealed off by the higher-ups?" Chen Sen said.
"It's *because* it's been sealed off that I'm asking if you have any insider news, you blockhead!" Liang Zhen Dao said, seizing the opportunity to lightly slap Chen Sen's head. After several days of getting acquainted, the captains of the Dao Academy had formed a few small cliques, and Liang Zhen Dao and Chen Sen clearly belonged to the kind who became friends after a good spat.
"I'm not some VIP or noble, how would I know all these intricate ins and outs?"
"Forget it, no point talking about this with you. It's boring. Let's just keep watching them." Liang Zhen Dao shifted his attention back to the combat training ground.
"You're the one who brought it up, and you're also the scoundrel who says it's boring." Chen Sen chuckled, cursing good-naturedly.
"Captain Bai, I didn't expect such immense progress from you after not seeing you for two months." Hidden in a corner, Bai Mo was suddenly addressed by Wen Jian.
"You are... Wen Jian?"
"Yes, I met you once, Captain Bai, two months ago."
"My apologies, my prosopagnosia is quite severe, so it took me a moment to recall. Is there something you need?" He remained expressionless.
"I wanted to discuss some matters regarding cultivation with you."
"Specifically, what aspect?"
"It's about what to do after completing Spirit Energy conversion. I believe Captain Bai, you've also been considering this. After all, so far, there haven't been any 'bottlenecks' or 'thresholds' discovered in this Spirit Energy conversion step; it's purely a matter of time. To my knowledge, Chen Bo, who is ahead, is already close to the seventh level of the Spirit Animation Stage and is expected to complete Spirit Energy conversion within the year." Wen Jian said earnestly.
"General Zhang sent you to ask me, didn't he?"
"Yes, but not entirely because of him. I also genuinely want to know what comes after completing Spirit Energy conversion. However, it was indeed General Zhang who prompted me to seek you out."
"To be honest, I'm not sure what the next step is either. Spirit Energy conversion isn't actually a smooth path all the way through. You'll understand what I mean in a while; I'm currently stuck as well."
"Thank you."
"Nothing to thank me for. I'm just telling you something that everyone will know in a couple of months anyway. By the way, do you know about the Contribution Points plan?"
"Most people within the system are aware of it. Is Captain Bai interested in this as well?"
"You could say that. Do you have any news you can share?"
"I hear it's been under discussion for quite some time, but the detailed regulations have mostly been finalized now. It's expected to be officially announced within the next two or three days. Scientists from the Spirit Energy Research Institute who've achieved results previously will also be awarded additional Contribution Points as a form of commendation."
"What do you think of this system?" Bai Mo pressed on.
"Hard to say, it's all just hearsay right now. What do you think, Captain Bai?"
Bai Mo remained silent.
Seeing that the other party had no intention of answering, Wen Jian took the hint, ended the conversation, and turned to leave.
After his conversation with Bai Mo ended, he walked to a restroom stall and dialed Zhang Jin Qu's number.
"Reporting, General Zhang, mission complete."
"Xiao Jian, there's no need for such formalities between us. So, what did Bai Mo say?"
"According to his description, there's a bottleneck after the Spirit Energy conversion stage, and he's currently stuck there. To be honest, I don't understand why you, General, would have me ask Mr. Bai about these issues. While his cultivation progress is quite fast, surely his theoretical research can't compare to that of the researchers in the Spirit Energy Research Institute, can it?"
"Xiao Jian, you know too little about Bai Mo. He possesses both fortune and talent, and he dares to innovate."
"Key concepts like Spirit Qi, Spirit Stones, and Life Fields were all initially proposed by him. The very first idea for the Contribution Points system was also his, submitted to the higher-ups. As for his work at the Dao Academy, it's more like a leisure activity for him..."
"According to our usual methods, if we want to know something, we should just take action and demand it, shouldn't we? Once the 'overall situation takes precedence' card is played, everything falls into place naturally." Wen Jian asked, puzzled.
"Is it worth it?" Zhang Jin Qu grew serious.
"Using relatives to threaten someone is something our military cannot stoop to, it makes us lose face. What's more, Bai Mo has no family, no close friends to speak of that we could even trace. That's the most terrifying part: it means he has no scruples."
"If we were to use force to apprehend an Ability User like him, do you know what kind of price we would have to pay? I'm not clear on his true combat power.
Taking Chen Bo as an example, according to previous test data, simply with his heating field activated, ordinary soldiers, even low to mid-tier Ability Users, would be nothing but cannon fodder, no matter how many were sent in.
Three-hundred-degree air is enough to create a death zone. Moreover, his heating can directly affect the inside of a human body; protective suits would be useless."
"Although we can't use large-scale destructive weapons in urban areas, we can use snipers to eliminate them from a distance." Wen Jian analyzed in a rigid, methodical manner, completely oblivious to the fact that he himself was an Ability User.
"The average handgun bullet travels at roughly the speed of sound, while a sniper rifle bullet travels at twice the speed of sound. In previous tests, Chen Bo's maximum speed had already broken into triple digits, reaching one hundred and ten meters per second."
"His heating field's kill radius is approximately eighty meters, meaning that to deal with him, our gunmen would have to attack from at least a hundred meters away, or they'd be cooked before they even got close."
"Xiao Jian, you also know that movement speed and reflexes go hand in hand. This means his reflexes are already quick enough to dodge sniper rifle bullets, let alone other firearms which wouldn't be able to harm him at all."
"So, to deal with them, we can only use missiles?" Wen Jian reached this conclusion.
"You could say that. If no stronger Ability User intervenes, live capture is virtually impossible. After all, our weapons excel at destruction, and only living people can provide intelligence. A dead person is just that – dead, with no value whatsoever. That's why I said those three words: 'not worth it.'"
"Everything you're thinking of, the staff advisory group has already considered all of it, and they've made contingency plans for every possible scenario. You need to study these more, and accumulate more experience."
"Thank you for your guidance, General!"
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