Chapter 1002: The Seed of Doubt

"That's impossible!" Rntgen immediately countered. "If that's true, then their actions would lead to the Cathayan Underworld being denounced by the entire world! Even one of the four pillars wouldn't be able to handle such severe consequences! Don't forget that we have the power to deny them access to our patents!"

A hint of temptation crept into Archimedes's voice as he said, "Perhaps this would've been impossible in the past, but what about now? How many nations are displeased with the Cathayan Underworld's return to the center of the international political stage? Why are they allowed to simply come back and take back their original position after a century-long absence? How many nations are dreaming of taking the Cathayan Underworld's spot for themselves? In this situation, they need to prove themselves, and what better way to do that than to release a new energy resource? If they could pull this off, the Cathayan Underworld would return straight to the top of the world! Do you think the third King Yanluo would be willing to concede inferiority to his predecessors?"

Rntgen's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he offered no response. He bent down to pick up the dropped cigar, then snuffed it out in his ashtray before taking a seat again as he smiled and said, "That pure speculation, and it's not enough to prove that the Cathayan Underworld's press conference was a hoax. After all, everyone saw the prototype powered by the new energy resource."

"Are you sure you saw it?" Archimedes stood up and slowly made his way behind Rntgen before gently resting his hands on Rntgen's shoulders. "Why is it that I recall that those Yin soldiers prevented everyone from getting a good look at the unit? Did you really see it?"

He leaned down beside Rntgen, and his long white hair pooled down like a waterfall as he asked, "Did you get to touch it? Are you sure it was real?"

Rntgen heaved a faint sigh. "Senior Archimedes, the academic world is independent because it has no intention of interfering with any nation's political affairs, regardless of whether it's the four pillars or any other underworld."

"No, no, no, Mr. Rntgen, I have no intention of forcing to you involve yourself in political affairs. Instead, I'm approaching this from a purely academic perspective and asking the most basic questions."

Rntgen turned to look straight in Archimides's eyes. "Are you really still a scholar?"

Archimedes replied with a smile, "I always have been and always will be. If there's a problem with the prototype unit they presented at the end, then that would explain the illogical procession of the Cathayan Underworld's press conference, would it not?"

Rntgen fell silent upon hearing this.

After a long while, he finally said, "But this is only a guess, and you have no evidence to back up your assumption. Even though the unit was far away, we could still see it clearly, and the light that it was emitting really was powered by an energy resource rather than Yin energy. These two things are fundamentally different, and no one, not even death gods, can use Yin energy to generate the same type of light as that from an energy resource. That would go against the laws of the world."

Archimedes heaved a faint sigh in response. "Mr. Rntgen, you have been one of the leading scientists in the underworld for the past century, have you not paid any attention to worldly affairs? A death god may not be able to do this, but what about a being above the death god level with King Yanluo's seal to assist them? There are many things in this world that only the Cathayan Underworld has, my friend..."

The room fell silent again.

Only after a full three minutes had passed did Rntgen ask in a hesitant voice, "What is your point?"

"I have no other intention than to issue you a friendly reminder," Archimedes said as a serious look appeared on his face. "I also want to see the emergence of a new energy resource, but we can't accept a fake new energy resource used to deceive the rest of the world for political power! If they dare to do this, they will be a disgrace to the entire academic world and will be abandoned by the entire underworld! If something isn't real, it won't be able to withstand the test of time. We have always held the United Underworlds Scientific Research Conventions, and as always, we will be rigorously scrutinizing the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld. If the new energy resource is fake, then the contents of their reports will definitely be severely lacking in substance, and many things will also begin to rise to the surface!"

Silence descended upon the room again.

Several seconds later, Rntgen said, "I'm sure you're aware that we've established committees for each region."

Archimedes smiled and replied, "I'm aware of that. If I'm not mistaken, you're a part of the Wisdom Scale Committee, one of the largest of those committees. In addition to that, given your accolades in the field of physics, you are worthy of acting as chairman of the committee."

Rntgen nodded and said, "I'll notify my committee of this. Also, we'll be holding in-depth discussions of the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld, and we're counting on you to examine the reports as well. However, I can only represent myself here when I say that your arguments on this matter do have some merit."

Archimedes smiled in response before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

Rntgen lit another cigar, and after a long while, the door to his cabin was opened, following which several middle-aged men strode into the room. "What did he come to see you for? He may be one of the founding fathers of mathematics, physics, and even astrology, which makes him worthy of our respect, but he no longer belongs in our circle."

Instead of answering the question, Rntgen set down his cigar as he replied, "From now on, we'll be closely monitoring all of the academic reports released by the Cathayan Underworld in relation to the Zhu Rong plan and the new energy resource."

The group of scholars exchanged a few glances, but didn't ask why. Instead, they merely shrugged in response. "Alright, if that's what you want. Truth be told, I came to see you for the exact same reason. For some reason, we just received a message from the Chapel of Truth and the Omnipotent Hall not long ago, requesting us to pay close attention to the subsequent reports released by the Cathayan Underworld on the new energy resource..."

Rntgen faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face, and he heaved a faint sigh before casting his gaze out the window at the rippling waves and bright, blue sky.

"Everyone claims to be pure scientists, but who can actually prevent themselves from being tainted by worldly affairs?"

"Are there any reports of any of the top consortiums making investments?"

"No."

"What about the scholars? Have any of them applied to assist in the research and development of the new energy resource."

"I'm... afraid not."

In the King Yanluo's office, Qin Ye was quickly reading through a stack of files while Wang Chenghao was answering his questions.

It had already been 20 days since the Great Revelation Debate, and the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld had already sprung into action. Firstly, Zhao Yun was using his Yin energy to search for brilliant minds in the fields of physics, chemistry, and mathematics from all over the nation. After that was an initial selection process that lasted around half a month, running day and night without rest. At the same time, the logistics department was gathering resources from all over the nation, the most important of which were the 7,842 types of ore, each of which was being sent in 10-kilogram batches to Everburn from all parts of the Cathayan Underworld.

Everyone knew that the new administration was up to something, but nothing had been revealed. Only the insiders knew what was going on, and the entire Cathayan Underworld was extremely busy at work.

Setting aside the low-level Emissaries of Hell, even Qin Ye, the King Yanluo himself, was being buried under documents and files every single day, giving him no free time to do anything else.

Upon hearing Wang Chenghao's response, Qin Ye raised an eyebrow as he set down his pen. Several seconds later, he continued approving documents as he asked in a calm voice, "What about the three major research institutes? Have they asked about our progress?"

"No..."

Qin Ye heaved a long sigh before setting down his pen again, then massaged his own pulsing temples as he turned to Wang Chenghao before asking, "What about the golden ship from the Abbasid Consortium? Surely that's arrived, right?"

"It has," Wang Chenghao replied. "10 days ago, it was docked outside the Array of the Nine Gods, and it's currently docked at Ashmound Port. Would you like to take a look at it?"

Qin Ye shook his head before standing up to do some stretches. As he did so, a string of cracks rang out from his joints, and he suddenly said, "Let me ask you a question. Why is it that our press conference was such a resounding success, and we even managed to bring out a prototype powered by the new energy resource, but everyone seems to have become disinterested in the project? Isn't that counterintuitive?"

Indeed, the entire world's attitude toward the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource seemed to have completely cooled down, even though there had been such intense interest in it during the press conference itself.

A serious look appeared on Wang Chenghao's face as he replied, "It's because they don't trust us."

"Correct." Qin Ye turned around and cast his gaze out the window toward Everburn. The North Yin Pavilion was the tallest building in the city, and from his vantage point, he could see the thriving city that Everburn had transformed into during the past few years, filled with antiquated buildings of all sizes and descriptions.

"So why don't they trust us?"

"Because someone is intentionally arousing their suspicions." Before Wang Chenghao had a chance to reply, the door was opened, and Lu Ban and Deng Ruifeng made their way into the room with exhausted expressions. Qin Ye gestured for them to take a seat, and they didn't refuse as they practically collapsed onto their chairs.

Lu Ban's eyes were a little bloodshot, and the netherfire within them had dimmed significantly. He had to see every single one of the members of the Resurgence Team in person in order to assess their skills and abilities. All Yin spirits who were deemed to have suitable skills for the project and were willing to participate had been transported to Everburn by Zhao Yun, and the selection process had been extremely grueling for Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi, as well as the three professors.

Deng Ruifeng was utterly exhausted as he sat in his chair and handed a stack of documents over to Wang Chenghao.

Wang Chenghao passed the documents over to Qin Ye, who immediately began to inspect them.

This was a spreadsheet containing the names of all of the Resurgence Team's members!

This selection process had originally been planned to take a month, but it had been completely several days ahead of schedule. It had to be said that when it came to work ethic, the early scientists of Cathay were inferior to no one!

The odds had always been against them, so they were always having to work extra hard to catch up with the rest of the world.

Deng Ruifeng picked up the teacup Wang Chenghao had offered to him before downing its contents in one go. This was one of the most expensive teas in the underworld, yet it tasted no different from water to him at this moment in time. After gulping down the cup of tea, he seemed to have been slightly reinvigorated as he said, "There are a total of 1,200 Yin spirits. The five of us will be the only decision-makers, and below us are 12 supervisors overseeing different parts of the project. Below them are the specific groups responsible for different duties such as calculation, experimentation, purification, etc. That comes to a total of over 800 Yin spirits, among which 97 are group leaders, and the rest are the support staff."

"You don't need to worry about the support staff," Qin Ye said as he scanned his gaze rapidly over the documents. "I'll take care of that myself. If you want anything, just say the word, and it'll be guaranteed to be sent to you within an hour."

Their backs were against the wall, and the level of urgency had to be at an all-time high. If anyone were to delay the progress of the project with tardiness or incompetence, then he wouldn't mind severely punishing them in order to set an example for everyone else.

"Good." Lu Ban heaved a sigh of relief before continuing where Deng Ruifeng had left off. "All of the team leaders are academicians, while the supervisors are roughly equivalent in skills and abilities with the Changjiang Scholars of the mortal realm. As for the individual group leaders, they're all roughly at professor level, and all of the group members mostly consist of university lecturers or individuals who had worked long stints in the relevant industries, such as researchers in the mortal realm's chemical plants. We handpicked every single one of them, so you can be assured that they'll be up to the task."

Qin Ye closed the list of names as a chill ran down his spine.

Is it finally all about to begin?

They were finally going to embark on the journey to complete this project, which was going to shape the entire world, and the scorching anticipation and sense of achievement made him feel as if his soul were about to be set alight!

"You just said someone is intentionally arousing suspicions, what did you mean by that?" Qin Ye asked as he picked up his teacup.

"Please take a look at this," Lu Ban replied as he pulled out a folded magazine before handing it to Qin Ye.

It was the "Scientific Eye", and this edition was released 10 days ago.