Chapter 51: The Letter of Appointment

Chapter 51: Letter of Appointment

"Chu Xuan, Director of the Administrative Bureau—ever since the spiritual Qi was revived, I have never seen him sleep a single peaceful night!"

"He is either pulling an all-nighter or on his way to pull one. At most, he catches a brief moment of rest by closing his eyes while I cultivate, or takes a quick nap in the car on his way to deliver a report somewhere."

"At any other time, have you ever seen him sleep? Look at how thick his hair used to be, how great its quality was—and now? He’s even starting to go bald!"

"Do you know?"

"Ever since the Research Institute and the Administrative Bureau were established nearly forty days ago, do you have any idea how many people have wanted to transfer to our department? How many have pulled strings, called in favors, and reached out to friends just to get in?"

"And the result? He blocked every single one of them!"

"Do you know how many people across the entire country are dreaming of getting in right now? How many are dreaming of being among the first batch of trainees?"

"Fine, let's leave Chu Xuan aside and talk about your peers!"

"Look at Jiang Ju. She has always claimed she wanted to slack off, take a break, and even stage a rebellion. She said that whenever she had free time in the future, she would return to her hometown in grand and magnificent style, bask in the glory, and put on a majestic display."

"And the result? In the span of a single year, she went through twelve different teachers! Every single one of her teachers was more formidable than the last, yet she absorbed and mastered every single bit of knowledge they had to offer!"

"As for Lu Zhou, whenever you see him, he's basically reading academic papers—either reading papers or on his way to read them. Among all of you, he has read the most papers."

"You must remember, among all of you, Lu Zhou and Lou Cheng are the youngest. Those younger than you are persevering, those older than you are working hard, and yet here you are telling me you can't muster up any drive?"

"Besides, the illusory realm manifesting into reality—is that something I decided? Is that something Chu Xuan could decide? Is that something humanity could decide?"

"The fate of your friends was decided by the Earth itself. If you genuinely want to save them, then cultivate diligently. Who knows, perhaps one day in the future, when your strength is formidable enough, you can fish them straight out of the past timeline..."

"As for now, I think you've just been reading too few papers and eating too well, to the point where your mind is wandering and conjuring up wild thoughts!"

After receiving a severe dressing down from Xiong Yan, Ning Fan also started to think that perhaps he had indeed been idle and overfed. However, little did he know that the moment he left, Xiong Yan summoned Chu Xuan.

"Keep a close eye on him. In case he really develops psychological issues, guide him in time. For some people, animals are even more important than humans; they are true confidants of the heart. Just in case he really can't get over it, you'll need to counsel him."

...

While Ning Fan was bidding farewell to his animal friends, and Xiong Yan and Chu Xuan were fishing by the river, Lu Yu and Wu Bei were saying their goodbyes to old acquaintances in the illusory realm and sharing one final meal.

Meanwhile, the scenery enthusiasts and squirrel faction members were taking one last tour of Ping'an Town!

With a blink of an eye, as their consciousness returned once more to the plaza, a brilliant array of colorful rainbows suddenly bloomed across the sky.

A massive surge of spiritual Qi erupted outward.

Those who had long since received warnings immediately sat cross-legged amidst the spiritual tide, diligently breathing in and out to refine their Qi. The researchers participating in the first and second batches of studies also sat on the outer perimeter of the athletic field, regulating their breath and practicing Qi refinement.

And Xiong Yan's body finally underwent a visible, physical transformation!

Previously, his appearance was that of a withered, elderly grandfather!

Everything that came with old age, he had it all—wrinkles, age spots, and skin that was creased and devoid of luster...

At this very moment, however, his complexion could only be described as rosy, radiant, and glowing with health!

The cultivation realm of the Twelve Regular Meridians reaching perfection, at the exact moment it fully manifested into reality, converted into pure vital energy and surged into his body.

The direct manifestation of this was that Xiong Yan had begun to reverse his aging!

His appearance transformed from an eighty-year-old grandpa into a vigorous, prime-of-life middle-aged man!

In an instant, white hair turned raven black!

The rejuvenation of youth, which only existed in myths and legends, took place right before everyone's eyes today. In that fleeting moment, it ignited the yearning and desire for the extraordinary in countless hearts!

So much so that behind the surveillance cameras, many think-tank experts instinctively reached for their rapid-acting heart relief pills and swallowed one.

"It's expanded! It really expanded!"

"Look at that section over there—a piece of land suddenly appeared out of nowhere. There aren't even any weeds on it; it's purely flat ground, and what's more, it's black soil! Such pure black soil is rare to come by nowadays, even up in the Northeast."

"Pinching this black soil in your hand, it feels greasy with richness. This is genuine, high-quality earth and mud fit for farming!"

"Let me taste a bit!"

"This feeling—no problem at all, you can definitely farm on this!"

"I haven't seen such authentic black soil since the Northeast, which was still completely undeveloped more than thirty years ago!"

A large group of elderly veterans studied the newly emerged black soil, while several geographers and physicists engaged in a heated debate.

"What is the principle behind this? Could it be that in that exact split second, the entire Earth suddenly gained an extra ten thousand square meters of surface area? Then what would the change in mass be?"

"Don't look at me, I have no idea!"

"Aren't you a geographer? How can you not even know this?"

"I'm not a supercomputer, and I haven't been monitoring the changes deep within the earth's crust. Who knows if this is just a surface-level change, or if everything from the surface down to the deep layers has shifted? What if subterranean earth welled up for reasons we don't yet understand?"

"That's right. Just because fifteen mu of land suddenly appeared on the surface doesn't mean we can simply assume the Earth's mass has increased."

"Yet, with humanity's current level of technology, measuring the mass of the Earth cannot be done with kilogram-level precision anyway! Besides, for a tiny patch of land like this, even if there were a change in mass, it wouldn't be enough to alter physical constants!"

"Fool!"

"So inflexible. I genuinely wonder how you even managed to get in here."

"Have you ever heard of the CNKI database?"

"You're underestimating me way too much. I'm not that Zhai fellow..."

"Alright, now I'm starting to believe that your brain really just failed to process things for a second, rather than you joking with us."

"Yeah, at first I thought you were deliberately acting like that just to mask your nervousness."

Half an hour later, everyone gathered in the large conference room.

Chu Xuan retrieved a projector and cast the newly issued letters of appointment onto the blackboard:

Comrade Xiong Yan is hereby appointed as the President of the Great Xia Special Affairs Research Institute.

Comrade Chu Xuan is hereby appointed as the Minister of the Great Xia Special Affairs Management Department.

The two letters of appointment were projected onto the blackboard, written clearly in bold black and white.

Although Xiong Yan and Chu Xuan said nothing, everyone understood everything instantly, and they eagerly began to celebrate for the two of them.

"Splendid!" Peng Peng exclaimed as he took the initiative to stand up, stretching out his hands to clap vigorously.

"Wonderful!"

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!