Chapter 1028: Decisive Blow

His entire body was trembling as he stared at Qin Ye, and his head was gently shaking from side to side in a completely unconscious gesture of disbelief. Qin Ye had only delivered a very short address, but he knew that it was a decisive blow.

"Are you alright, Mr. Archimedes?" Qin Ye asked with a concerned expression. "Isn't there a vote on the proposed sanctions that still has to be held? Are you not going to continue holding the vote?"

All of the swear words in Archimedes's vocabulary had welled up in his heart, and he wanted nothing more than to pounce onto this devious bastard and bite him to death!

He finally understood why Qin Ye had been so calm throughout this entire conference. Despite his youth, this King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld had managed to look even further ahead than he had.

What excuse had he used to unite all of the scientists to impose sanctions on the Cathayan Underworld?

He claimed that this was all for the sake of science and having their names go down in history. He knew the mindset of a scientist far too well, so he knew exactly what strings to pull to tempt them.

However, Qin Ye was a step ahead of him. He had used this tactic for thousands of years, and it had worked every time. As such, he had taken it for granted that this tactic would continue to work without fail.

Thus, that led to him overlooking something.

Why was it that the scientists were so eager to heed his call? Was it really because they respected him as one of the founding fathers of mathematics and physics?

No...

Looking back now, he suddenly realized that this was a historical problem!

After arriving in the underworld, scientists from the mortal realm simply couldn't make much progress in the field of Yin runology during a short span of several centuries, and they certainly weren't doing well in the field of underworld physics that stemmed from Yin runology. Without any scientific products, they would have no patents, and without any patents, they would have no money.

In order to allow scientists to live comfortable lives in the underworld, the underworld had devised new patent regulations, stating that all of their patents from the mortal realm remained effective in the underworld until they were willing to return to the cycle of reincarnation, and that 100% of profits derived from these patents would go to their owners.

However, were patents from the mortal realm really applicable in the underworld?

There were some applications, but they were so rare that most scientists couldn't even earn five-figure yearly salaries from their patents. Without money, how were they supposed to fund their own research?

As such, scientists were extremely poor. Upon hearing about the favorable patent regulations in the underworld, Qin Ye had thought that all leading scientists were quite wealthy, but after his conversation with Volta and Faraday, he suddenly realized that scientists were extremely impoverished!

Archimedes was also only just arriving at this realization, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably. He realized that he had already discarded his identity as a scientist long ago. He had more money than he could ever spend, so of course he wasn't going to care about the financial situations of other scientists. In reality, their struggling finances was the reason why these scientists had heeded his call time and time again and were willing to exert pressure upon the Cathayan Underworld at his behest!

You want to talk to me about the pure and noble pursuit of science? Without money, how am I supposed to pursue anything? Do you know how much money colliders cost?! I can't pursue shit without money!!

The development of the new energy resource was going to act as a foundation for higher-level electricity-like energy resources, thereby revitalizing the entire scientific world and making all of their patents applicable again!

At this point, Aristotle had also realized what was happening, and he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "At the end of the day, they had to side with us for the sake of money!"

Their failure to recognize this meant that their defeat was now sealed.

Qin Ye had already promised these scientists exorbitant sums of money issued once every five years, and he was making the patent usage rights for the new energy resource accessible for free to all of them as well!

What a cunning bastard!!

They cast a despairing gaze toward all of the scientists present. The netherfire in their eyes had already sprung up to two meters in height, and their eyes were filled with excitement and gratitude.

It was clear that the final outcome of the power struggle had already been decided.

They had painstakingly planned for this conference for so long, yet Qin Ye had been able to completely thwart them with just a short address.

They hadn't even just been thwarted, they had been completely slaughtered! It was a one-sided beating that left them wanting nothing more than to flee the scene in humiliation.

The most painful thing for them was that they still had to finish what they had started and oversee the vote to impose sanctions on the Cathayan Underworld.

Essentially, they had to step onto the main stage and slap themselves in the face!

My god!! I don't want to live anymore!!

Archimedes didn't say anything as he vanished on the spot as a gust of Yin wind. Having already made a complete fool out of himself during the conference in Nara, he couldn't bear to be humiliated here again, especially not in front of these scientists who looked up to him and treated him with respect.

As a result, Aristotle was left on his own, and he was completely rooted to the spot!

Motherfucker!! Aristotle, you old fuck!! Get back here right now! Are you giving this opportunity for humiliation to me? Well, I don't need it! You can do the honors!

However, he had no choice but to steel himself and face the music.

After cursing Archimedes 10,000 times in his heart, he stepped onto the main stage with a steely expression. He repressed the urge to hurl a torrent of abuse at Qin Ye as he called for silence.

Everyone did fall silent as he instructed, but he could sense that everyone was simply waiting for him to get this pointless segment done and over with so they could move on.

"Please cast your votes now. Three, two one, the sanctions will not be imposed. This conference is hereby over."

The entire process lasted no more than five seconds, and it was nothing more than a joke.

As soon as his voice trailed off, Aristotle instantly vanished on the spot, not even bothering to say something like "I look forward to meeting you all again next time".

He was simply far too embarrassed to say any longer. Not a single hand had been raised in approval of the sanctions!

Instead, all of the scientists had been looking up at him with derisive sneers, and their expression said: "do you think we're stupid?"

Their derisive eyes were like bullets pelting Aristotle's entire body, and throughout the several thousand years of his existence, he had never been humiliated like this before!

After declaring the conclusion of the conference, he returned straight to his own room. As for what happened next, he didn't care.

If I get involved in this again, I'm a fucking pig!

Qin Ye was seated on his chair, looking around at the empty main stage. His opposition had been so comprehensively beaten that he didn't even feel like gloating anymore.

As soon as he realized exactly what all of the scientists wanted, he knew that his victory was assured.

However...

He swept his gaze around the conference hall with a faint smile on his face. This conference still wasn't truly over yet.

All of the scientists had already stood up and were gathered around him like a pack of wolves staring at a piece of delectable meat, and they couldn't help but converge toward him.

They wanted to get closer, but they didn't dare to. They wanted to speak to him, but they didn't dare to do that, either.

Qin Ye's declaration had struck them right in their impoverished souls!

"There's no need to be so tense and formal," Qin Ye said with a smile. "At the end of the day, this energy conference is an event held for the sake of communication, and words are needed for communication. If you have anything you don't understand, feel free to ask and I'd be happy to answer all of your questions."

The academic world was going to welcome a renaissance following the completion of the new energy resource, and by making this gesture, Qin Ye was telling the rest of the world that he was an accommodating and reasonable ruler, unlike that barbaric bully that was his predecessor!

"Yanluo Qin!" A Yin spirit wearing noble attire from ancient Europa made his way through the sea of Yin spirits gathered around Qin Ye, then said in a voice that was trembling with excitement, "I have some questions, and I hope that you may be so generous as to provide some answers for me."

What a nice and polite man! Why weren't you this amicable and civilized from the very beginning? Isn't it nice to be speaking to one another respectfully like this?

Qin Ye snapped his fingers, and his chair swiveled around so that he was facing Franklin. A smile then appeared on his face as he said, "Go right ahead, Mr. Franklin, I would be happy to answer your questions."

Franklin had been one step away from joining Qin Ye's opposing faction, yet at this moment, he was facing Qin Ye with an incredibly fawning smile on his face.

Franklin felt as if there were a scorching walnut in his throat, making his throat feel both hot and swollen as he made his way over to Qin Ye's side and said in a sycophantic voice, "I wanted to ask if you were serious about the 0.00000001%."

This was the question that all of the scientists present wanted to ask!

"Of course," Qin Ye replied in a serious voice as his smile faded. "I would never make a joke about something important like this. The past rulers of the Cathayan Underworld have never gone back on their word, and I plan to do the same. This proposal will enter the archives of the Coalition of Underworlds through the World Energy Resource Research Organization. This is an internal affair of the Cathayan Underworld. It is our patent, and we reserve full autonomy on who we decide to grant the usage rights of the patents to, no one else has any right to intervene on this matter."

Everyone fell silent once again.

However, on this occasion, they had fallen silent because they didn't know what to say. There were too many things that they wanted to say, and all of it was getting stuck in their throats, preventing them from saying anything.

However, in summary, this was what they wanted to say:

You are our father!! Please fund my future endeavors, daddy!!

"0.00000001%..." Rontgen's throat was feeling absolutely parched, and there were stars dancing in front of his eyes. "In the mortal realm, the total sum of crude oil traded in the past five years worldwide was fifty trillion dollars... 0.00000001% of that would be... would be..."

His mind had gone completely blank.

He had been blindsided by a freight train of elation that had completely run him over!

"Five million... That equates to five million per five years!" a scientist who excelled in mathematics exclaimed in a trembling voice.

This wasn't a significant sum for them back in the mortal realm, but having been impoverished for so long in the underworld, this was an absolute godsend!

"That's not all, everyone!" Faraday felt as if he were about to pass out as he yelled, "Don't forget that we're referring to crude oil here!"

Veins suddenly began to bulge on his neck as he spoke, and his eyes had turned completely bloodshot.

The scientists faltered momentarily to process what he had just said, immediately following which a thunderous commotion rang out!

"He's right! Those figures only apply to crude oil!"

"My god! In that case, how much are we actually going to receive per five years?!"

"I didn't think this day would ever come!"

Without an energy resource, there was no way for them to apply for projects with the death gods of their respective national governments.

However, they were going to have their own money now!

Indeed, those figures only applied to crude oil, and netherworldly citizens had no need for crude oil, but what about electricity-like energy resources?

All of the nations across the entire underworld were frantically trying to improve the quality of life of their netherworldly citizens in fear that they would rise up in revolt.

The emergence of an electricity-like energy resource would entail that countless recreational products would arise, including televisions, phones, movies, you name it!

Who would find the underworld boring then? Who would be lamenting their own quality of life then?

Once the new energy resource became released to the entire world, how much would 0.00000001% of the profits equate to?