Qin Ye immediately sprang to his feet upon hearing this.
In this instant, the excitement in his heart was like scorching flames, erupting all the way up to the top of his head. His Yin energy surged out of his body uncontrollably, sending Secretary Jiang flying into the wall like a ragdoll, but neither Qin Ye nor Secretary Jiang himself paid nay heed to that. Right as Qin Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and regain control over his own turbulent Yin energy, Secretary Jiang asked, “Your Excellency, should we further increase the security measures in the Yin Mountains?”
Qin Ye nodded in response as he waved a dismissive hand, upon which Secretary Jiang immediately departed. After that, Qin Ye turned to the researcher and asked, “When did it happen?”
“10 minutes ago!” The researcher wanted to stand up, but his legs felt like jelly. Right as he gritted his teeth and prepared to try and stand up again, a hand was offered to him.
He grabbed onto the hand in an unsteady manner to haul himself to his feet, then immediately collapsed onto a chair. “Thank you, Yanluo Qin.”
“Skip the formalities and tell me what I want to hear!” Qin Ye said in an urgent voice. “Are you certain we’ve discovered the proton Yin rune? Which layer of the Yin rune wheel does it belong to?”
The researcher replied in a trembling voice, “It belongs to the third layer, and it’s number is 423153. Please give it a name, Yanluo Qin!”
Even though it had already been assigned a number, it was far too significant to go without a name!
Qin Ye didn’t reply. Instead, he had already transformed into a gust of Yin wind that was blowing directly toward the main laboratory.
It could be clearly seen that security had already been tightened throughout the entire research center.
Qian Duolai had reacted very quickly, and rows of Yin soldiers were stationed at all of the major gates, while a series of stone contraptions had been set up. The closer Qin Ye got to the main laboratory, the more Yin soldiers he found standing in his way, and only after revealing himself to the Yin soldiers was he granted free passage.
As Qin Ye approached the laboratory, his excitement grew further and further. A dull thump rang out as the door was flung open by his Yin wind, and in the next instant, he had already appeared in the main laboratory, which was surrounded by countless Yin soldiers.
However, no one even spared a glance at him.
All of the scientists and assistants had their attention focused entirely on the reinforced glass window at the very center of the laboratory, and all of the scientists were looking on with trembling fingers and glowing eyes.
No one wanted to say anything to break the silence. Qin Ye made his way over to them quietly, and Zu Chongzhi was the first one to see him. However, right as he was about to speak, Qin Ye shook his head and pointed at the glass window before casting his gaze toward it as well.
Inside it was a black object with a rugged and bumpy surface. This was the compass rock, which contained the electron Yin rune.
At this moment, a cluster of fine Yin runes was gently revolving around it in all directions.
It was like a golden sea of stars orbiting around a black asteroid. These Yin runes were of a very rudimentary level, perhaps only normally used by Netherworld Operatives and Soul Hunters, but these mundane Yin runes were the key to ushering in a new era!
“This is an experiment being conducted in a vacuum,” Zu Chongzhi explained in a low voice. “Electricity can still be generated in a vacuum, and such an environment is more forgiving on the apparatus. If the experiment works under these conditions, it’ll definitely also work under normal conditions!”
“Have you still not completed the experiment?”
Zu Chongzhi shook his head in response. “During the past three years, we’ve tried almost all of the Yin runes in existence. The electron Yin rune contained within the compass rock has been named ‘Kui’, and there are only three Yin runes that can react with Kui. For the first two Yin runes, the reactions weren’t strong enough. We could only sense the emergence of the electricity. For example, if we place our hand onto the material, we would be struck by a slight numbing sensation, but we couldn’t even see arcs of electricity appear, which told us that those Yin runes weren’t suitable for generating a high power energy resource. However, during this experiment, we were able to create visible arcs of energy!”
He took a deep breath before continuing, “There’s a very good chance that we’ll be able to succeed this time. If we fail, we’ll most likely have to spend another two years searching for candidates from the first and second layers of Yin runes, and I don’t want to have to do that. After all, there are far too many Yin runes in the first and second layers, over two times the number of Yin runes in the third to the ninth layers combined, so we are very much hoping that this Yin rune will work.”
No one said anything after that.
Speaking would be a gesture of disrespect to such a holy and significant moment.
Five seconds passed by, then 10 seconds, then 20… Right as Qin Ye was beginning to grow a little agitated, a dazzling spark suddenly erupted out of one of the Yin runes around the compass rock.
A string of gasps immediately rang out, and it took all of the scientists’ willpower to stop themselves from yelling out loud. They continued to stare at the glass window, not even daring to blink, and that spark was like the first torch in the dark corridor leading to the new era.
Immediately thereafter, the spark quickly spread through the surrounding area, creating a sea of electricity with the countless Yin runes around it!
The sound of sizzling and zapping rang out incessantly while chips were flying off the surface of the compass rock one after another! The electricity continued to zap and sparkle, illuminating all of the excited faces outside the glass window.
All of the Yin runes around the piece of compass rock had been lit up by that single spar, creating a sea of blue light within the span of less than 20 seconds. The light was so radiant that the entire laboratory had been illuminated to be as bright as day, and all of the scientists were on the verge of bursting into tears.
In fact, if they had any tears, all of them would already be sobbing with joy at this point.
Finally, all of the Yin runes began to glow like a dazzling blue river. This was a very brief moment, but it was breathtakingly beautiful and eternally unforgettable.
This was a spark! An electricity-like energy resource!
“We did it…” Zu Chongzhi’s voice was trembling so much that one could barely even tell what he was saying. He rushed over involuntarily to the glass window and reached out with a trembling hand, as if he wanted to touch the resplendent sea of blue light beyond the glass, and he repeated over and over again in a sobbing voice, “We did it… We did it…”
“WE DID IT!!!” One of the scientists was finally unable to repress their excitement any longer as they yelled with all their might.
“Yes!!! We did it! We succeeded!”
“Haha, we finally did it!”
“It’s been three whole years, but it was well worth the wait!!”
“We’ve opened the door to the new era! We’ve created history! Hahahaha!”
“We’re the best!! Hahaha!!”
A string of thunderous cheers instantly rang out, and all of the emotions that had been repressed thus far were pouring out like a volcanic eruption!
Lu Ban jumped up like a child before throwing his arms around Xu Chengyang, and the two of them slammed their fists into each other’s backs with all their might as if they were trying to kill each other! They simply didn’t know what to do with themselves, and the netherfire in their eyes was burning like torches!
“We did it, Old Man Lu! We lived up to everyone’s hopes and expectations!” Xu Chengyang yelled in a sobbing voice.
Lu Ban was no more composed than Xu Chengyang was, and he replied, “That’s right!! We are the first nation in the world to have discovered a new energy resource!! This research center is the most spectacular one in the world!!”
Many of the other researchers and assistants were also celebrating with reckless abandon, while others had collapsed to the ground and were yelling with all their might to express their joy and vent the countless frustrations they had suffered during the past three years.
Ghosts didn’t have tears, but they were very much capable of feeling joy.
For over 1,000 consecutive days, they had been confined in this pressure cooker, seeing the same people and doing the same things day after day after day…
They had endured this hellish environment in the hope of reaching the light at the end of the tunnel, and now the light had finally appeared, and it was illuminating all of them from the inside and the outside.
Qin Ye nodded with a myriad of emotions in his eyes as he silently departed from the laboratory.
Qian Duolai was standing right at the entrance, and he immediately asked, “How did it go, Your Excellency?”
“It was a success!” Tears had welled up in Qin Ye’s eyes as he said in an emotional voice, “Let them do whatever they want. Once they’re finished here, give them a week’s holiday and bring the best recreation and cuisines possible to the Yin Mountains Research Center. They deserve the best that our nation has to offer.”
They had endured countless failures, confined in this underground laboratory for over 1,000 days, all for the sake of finding a single Yin rune amid a vast sea of possibilities. No one had raised any complaints, and out of all of the original researchers, not even a single one had backed out!
With a team like this at its disposal, the Cathayan Underworld had a bright future ahead!
“We hold the key to becoming the premier powerhouse in the world in our hands!” He licked his own lips as he made his way back to his office.
He walked instead of flying, and it was as if he wanted to see every single inch of this research center more clearly and firmly etch it into his own mind.
“My scientists have worked so hard, I have to reciprocate them by working just as hard!” He gently skimmed his fingers along the wall and paid no heed to the bowing underworld emissaries around him as he fell into deep thought.
He had to make sure that this new energy had the biggest impact on the world stage possible!
………………………………………………….
After returning to his office, an image capture crystal containing footage from this experiment was quickly brought to him, allowing him to experience that monumental moment once again.
Behind the reinforced glass window, a burst of light suddenly erupted before quickly being snuffed out again, but following the fading of the light, the compass rock at the very center had been transformed into voidsilver!
A series of data had also been placed on his desk, and he didn’t understand any of it, but a researcher soon arrived in his office to explain all of the data to him in detail. After a long while, right as he was listening intently to the explanations being provided by the researcher, the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out.
Secretary Jiang made his way into the room with tightly furrowed brows. “Your Excellency, the five architects would like to see you.”
“Invite them in right away!” Qin Ye immediately instructed. “Didn’t I tell you that they can come and see me whenever they want?”
Secretary Jiang seemed to be rather hesitant to speak, but in the end, he gritted his teeth as he said, “They received your order for them to take a rest, but they’ve refused…”
Before he had a chance to finish, the five architects had already made their way into the room. “Secretary Jiang is not to blame, Yanluo Qin.”
The group was led by Lu Ban, followed by Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Deng Ruifeng. The five of them had already calmed down at this point, but there was still a residual gleam of excitement in their eyes.
“Take a seat and have some tea,” Qin Ye said with a smile, and the five architects didn’t refuse the offer. Even now, their chests were still heaving violently, and they had so much they wanted to say to Qin Ye, but none of them could muster up a single word.
After a long silence, Lu Ban finally cupped his fist in a salute as he said in a trembling voice, “I’m glad we lived up to what was expected of us.”
“I knew you would get the job done.” Qin Ye made his way over to Lu Ban before holding onto his hands, then pulled the hands of the other architects together as well. “Perhaps the Cathayan Underworld struggled with physics and Yin runology in the past, but from now on, you are the world’s best physicists and Yin runologists!”
During this research and development process, all of the researchers had come into contact with countless Yin runes!
Not only were these scientists the pioneers of the new energy resource, they were also going to be the foundation for the Cathayan Underworld’s education industry!
Following the conclusion of their research in several years, the education industry of the Cathayan Underworld would be fully established as well!
“Your Excellency, this isn’t what we came here to talk about.” Even now, Pang Hai’s voice was still trembling as he said with a serious expression, “We don’t need any rest! We want to begin the next stage of research and development right away! We’ve already discovered the electron and proton Yin runes, and according to the model of Xu Fu’s energy resource, all we need to do is to find the final membrane, and the new energy resource will be complete! The door to the new era is already halfway open to us, and it’ll only take one more small push to get it fully open! We can’t rest at a time like this!”
