Chapter 49: Definitely Next Time

Chapter 49: Definitely Next Time

Seeing Jiang Ju finally nod in agreement, Xiong Yan offered her another sweet incentive: "Furthermore, starting today, you will serve as one of the reviewers for Tianwen, with authorization to read more classified research papers."

"Me? A reviewer? Reviewing all the papers submitted to Tianwen by the research personnel? Wonderful! This sounds like a great job, but am I capable of handling it?"

"You must have faith in yourself. Your current scientific caliber is of the absolute top tier, and you are a true polymath. Your transcendent research proficiency is also among the finest in the world. If even you are not qualified to be a reviewer, who else could possibly be?"

Watching Jiang Ju push the door open and leave, Xiong Yan grinned widely: Go ahead, grind away, let the competition begin!

Merely four top professors, and after studying for a full year, only Jiang Ju had produced research results on par with the national fortune, while the other three had achieved nothing?

Who was he trying to kid?

A moment later, upon learning that Jiang Ju had become a reviewer, Bai Mo instinctively licked his lips. He always felt a profound destiny linking him to the position of reviewer.

It seemed it was time to show some of his true capabilities! Bai Mo thought to himself silently.

Not only Bai Mo, but Lu Zhou, Ji Zhen, and Guan Ming also intended to unveil their genuine abilities. They could no longer hold back or conceal their talents. Didn't they see that even Jiang Ju had become a reviewer?

Consequently, the researchers soon discovered that Lu Zhou and the others had suddenly thrown themselves into an intense frenzy of work, becoming even more diligent than before. Even Guan Ming, who was notorious for slacking off, had stopped idling around this time.

And thus, they descended into a state of sweet torment!

While playing supporting roles and assisting in the research, they reaped a wealth of new knowledge, but the process was simply too exhausting! The toll on their mental and physical energy was immense!

The entire research institute had been swept up in a relentless wave of competition sparked by a single reviewer position, allowing Xiong Yan to comfortably sit back, drink tea, and slack off in broad daylight.

After a few days of this fierce competition, everyone received a notification from Xiong Yan: Today marks the day the first illusory realm transitions from illusion into reality. Those interested may observe the process on-site.

January 5th.

The time had already reached 11:30 PM. This time, Xiong Yan and Chu Xuan did not remain in their office; instead, they headed straight to the open-air stadium.

Outside was an athletic running track, while the interior held a football field. The running track was surrounded by rows of seats, upon which a large number of researchers were already seated.

Nearby, at least triple-digit numbers of surveillance cameras had been temporarily installed, and a vast array of advanced instruments had been fully set up.

At midnight, with a blink of an eye, Xiong Yan found himself once again in Peace Town. Chu Xuan had given the town a new name, Peace, which naturally extended to the illusory realm itself, making it known as Peace Town.

And now, it was the final ten days of Peace Town's existence.

Ten days later (which equated to a mere instant in reality), Peace Town would transform from illusion into reality and cease to exist entirely!

Peace Town was neither too large nor too small, measuring ten kilometers by ten kilometers with a total area of one hundred square kilometers. Many counties in the Great Xia Dynasty possessed areas of only a few hundred square kilometers.

Yet, the population of Peace Town was far too sparse!

In the very beginning, there were only a little over three thousand people.

"By now, the entire town must have over six thousand residents, right?" Xiong Yan flicked his fishing rod and asked directly.

"Six thousand five hundred and thirty-two. The more native inhabitants there are, the more research personnel can be accommodated. Naturally, the more, the better."

While speaking, Chu Xuan lifted his fishing rod, and a fish was already hooked onto the line, causing Xiong Yan to stare in wide-eyed astonishment.

How long had it been?

Two minutes?

A fish every two minutes, are you serious?

"Actually, having a larger population isn't always better. Of course, I don't mean right now; I am referring to the future."

"Explain."

"An illusory realm is, after all, merely an illusory realm, not a true, living world. Therefore, the energy contained within an illusory realm is finite."

"You recruited workers in the name of Master Chu, offering extremely generous terms that attracted many commoners from nearby towns and villages. Then, through various methods, you ultimately managed to keep them here."

"The effect has certainly been magnificent, directly doubling the number of trainees in the first batch from three hundred to six hundred. But we must be mindful of this moving forward."

"Go on." While nodding, Chu Xuan successfully caught yet another fish.

"The energy within an illusory realm is limited. If we evolve a larger population, the naturally occurring heavenly treasures and spiritual resources generated within the realm will naturally decrease."

"Moreover, when an illusory realm transitions from illusion to reality, the Realm Master has the option to directly materialize certain people or objects from the realm into the real world."

"Furthermore, stop trying to exploit bugs in the illusory realm. If you exploit bugs too many times, the realm will simply collapse."

"Peace Town is not large; it cannot possess a plane consciousness, nor does it have any Dao Ancestor or Heavenly Emperor who has merged with the Dao, not even a single person who has comprehended the Heavenly Heart and Will. If you keep exploiting these loopholes, I suspect it really will collapse!"

At this point, Xiong Yan looked left and right, and after confirming that no one else was nearby, he whispered in a low voice: "Zixing's experiments haven't made any major progress for three consecutive months."

What was Huang Zixing's innate talent?

It was the ability to touch a seed and instantly perceive the state of that seed when it reached its peak of growth.

In theory, making good use of this talent for breeding would undoubtedly be foolproof.

And Huang Zixing had indeed acted accordingly!

Yet, ever since he cultivated new seeds three months ago, the overall data had shown no significant improvement whatsoever.

Logically speaking, this should have been impossible!

Even identical seeds, once planted in the soil and grown into new rice plants, would produce varying yields due to a myriad of external factors.

"Up to now, Zixing has cultivated two generations of rice on a large scale."

"Ordinary rice in the outside world has a spiritual energy adaptability rating of one standard unit. The first-generation rice cultivated by Zixing has an adaptability of two standard units, and the second-generation rice has an adaptability of three standard units."

"After that, he began indoor, soilless cultivation."

Time was insufficient, and the external environment did not permit a third large-scale planting in the natural world.

"As a result, three months ago, the new seeds produced by his experiments stopped improving altogether. His final result remained stuck at five standard units of spiritual energy adaptability."

"Very well, I understand. Definitely next time," Chu Xuan replied calmly.

Watching Chu Xuan catch a fish for the third time in a short span, Xiong Yan said with a sincere expression: "Would you like to come and be a reviewer? Nowadays, the number of scholars submitting papers increases every day, and the quality of the submissions varies wildly. I can't handle it all by myself."

Hearing this, Chu Xuan instinctively scratched the back of his head: "No problem, at worst I'll just pull a few more all-nighters."

Just as Xiong Yan and Chu Xuan were fishing and resting, Huang Zixing quietly walked into the greenhouse.

The glass required for the greenhouse had been manually melted from sand by the engineering professors, and all other necessary materials had also been crafted by their own hands.

Due to limited conditions, the greenhouse was not very large, and the number of fruits and vegetables planted inside was extremely scarce, though the variety was quite broad.

Every single plant had been personally selected by Huang Zixing and then meticulously tended to by other scholars majoring in agronomy.

In the words of a certain anonymous agronomy Ph.D.: I don't even take care of my own son with as much dedication as I tend to these plants!