"It's a pity I'm still too weak right now, both in terms of influence and strength. Conducting experiments is easy, but concealing them would be practically impossible. I have no trustworthy subordinates who could ensure secrecy in such experiments, and my strength is far from enough to quell the clamor of the masses. It's better to wait until I have the necessary leverage before cooperating with those above me."
With that thought, Bai Mo placed the hard drive into his safe, locking it together with his cultivation records.
In the time that followed, Bai Mo began writing a detailed report on the Spirit Stone candle formula. Resigned to the fact that it couldn't be kept secret anyway, he also took the opportunity to thoroughly introduce the Spirit Stone itself.
"I can't shake the feeling this is going to be big news," Bai Mo muttered to himself.
After spending an hour writing the report, Bai Mo contacted Chen Xi.
"Hello, Miss Chen."
"Mr. Bai Mo, is there something you need?"
"Regarding those candles, I've prepared a detailed report. When would you be free to pick it up?"
"Would tomorrow morning work?" Chen Xi seemed a bit eager.
"Yes, where should we arrange the handover?"
"10 AM, still at the Xing Yu Cafe?"
"Okay, goodbye."
"Goodbye, thank you for your trouble."
"No problem."
No sooner had Bai Mo hung up than another call came in. Bai Mo checked the caller ID and saw it was his mentor, Zhao Jiasen.
"What's wrong, Mentor?"
"Xiao Mo, I've made a major discovery! Hurry over to the Spirit Energy Research Institute to take a look and help me out." Zhao Jiasen's voice sounded quite urgent. Bai Mo was also curious what major discovery his mentor had made to pull him in to help at past eight in the evening.
"Yes, okay, I'll be right there."
"The security here at the institute is extremely strict; no one from outside can get in. Among my students, only you have the access pass. Hurry over here."
"Alright!"
It was past eight in the evening, and after considerable effort, he finally found a bus to the institute. Trouble-averse Bai Mo began contemplating buying a car on the bus, as encountering unexpected incidents like this without one was quite inconvenient.
"Good thing he didn't call me at midnight, or I'd really have to rely on scaling walls and leaping across rooftops to get there."
After this incident, Bai Mo decided that after handling the handover the next morning, he would go buy a car. In his opinion, the large sum of money he had received was meant to make life easier.
As for a house, there was no need to buy one. His parents had left him a house in the suburbs back then, which could be lived in again after a bit of tidying up. Bai Mo had too many secrets on him, and keeping them in the dorm wasn't very safe, even though living in the dorm was convenient for going to the laboratory.
Having passed the evening rush hour, he arrived at the Spirit Energy Research Institute without much traffic.
Bai Mo presented a credential, which had been delivered to him along with his bank card, to the guards standing sentry on both sides of the institute's entrance for inspection.
After half a minute, the guard scanned him a few times with a detector. After confirming he was safe, they let him through.
Upon reaching Zhao Jiasen's materials laboratory, he knocked on the door from outside.
"Xiao Mo? Come right in."
Hearing Zhao Jiasen's words, Bai Mo pushed open the door and entered the laboratory.
"Mentor, what major discovery have you made? Still busy at this late hour," Bai Mo asked.
"This is an epoch-making discovery! I found that Spirit Qi can actually replenish its quantity by absorbing high-energy radiation from radioactive materials!" Zhao Jiasen exclaimed excitedly. "It was only in the past few days that I discovered a problem: the radioactive material samples stored in the materials laboratory, their radioactivity was actually decreasing at a slow rate."
"At first, I thought it was normal half-life decay, but for the next few days, I specifically observed them closely and found that the rate of decrease was far too fast compared to normal decay. Then I conducted various tests, and only then did I finally confirm this fact."
"Mentor, you wouldn't have called me over this late just to tell me the news, would you? What do you need help with?"
"Of course! Since the radiation from radioactive materials is slowly assimilated by Spirit Qi, do other forms of energy have similar properties? Would they diminish within the Spirit Qi? There are too many types of energy; I can't verify them all by myself. Security here is also extremely stringent, and those who haven't been approved simply cannot enter, so I'll have to rely on you for a lot of the work."
"Understood. Do we have an experimental outline yet?" Bai Mo asked.
"Let's start now. These past few days, I've only been observing the radioactive materials; I don't have a detailed plan yet."
Bai Mo and Zhao Jiasen continued to work until late into the night, and simply slept in the laboratory's lounge.
The next day, Bai Mo woke up on the sofa in the lounge.
"Good thing I set an alarm, otherwise I would have been late for the handover with Chen Xi. After the cafe, I'll pick up a car, then come back to the lab."
Carrying the document bag, Bai Mo left the institute.
"Nine fifty-five, timed it perfectly." Having escaped the morning rush hour traffic, he arrived at the appointed Xing Yu Cafe.
Once again, right at the entrance, he was warmly greeted by the server and escorted into a private room.
"Good morning, Miss Chen."
"Good morning, Mr. Bai Mo."
"I've brought the materials. Please take a look first."
"Mm." Chen Xi took the document Bai Mo handed her and began to flip through it.
"I didn't expect such immense conflicts of interest to be hidden behind these candles, Mr. Bai Mo. Do you realize that once this report is submitted, the entire world will be affected by it? The main topic of the World Ability User Cooperation Conference a month from now would also change because of this report."
"I know, but what of it? The entire world has organized tens of thousands of researchers to study Spirit Qi. The discovery of the Spirit Stone's function is merely a matter of time. What difference does it make if it's discovered sooner or later? What difference does it make to me if conflicts erupt sooner or later?"
"I'll submit the report to those above, exactly as it is. It's their headache anyway. The Contribution Point system you proposed earlier has already caused them to be deadlocked for a long time over profit distribution. I wonder if bringing them even bigger news this time will make those old fogeys faint from anger." Chen Xi covered her mouth and chuckled, her words showing little respect for them.
"Anything else?"
"That should be all."
"Contact me if anything comes up. Goodbye."
"Take care."
"He really leaves quickly..." Leaving Chen Xi to murmur to herself in the private room.
After leaving the cafe, Bai Mo began walking towards the car dealership.
Upon entering the 4S dealership, Bai Mo, to save time, directly used his divine sense to scan all the car models in the entire showroom. He picked an Audi that looked reasonably pleasing to his eye, then walked towards the sales manager.
"Is this car in stock?"
The sales manager looked at the person opposite him, who appeared to be a student and wasn't dressed like a rich person, so he didn't pay him much heed. However, he also didn't display a look of disdain, because he couldn't be sure if the person opposite was a rich second-generation heir just trying to be low-key while showing off. There had been instances of his colleagues getting burned before, so he simply adopted a business-like demeanor.
"Please take a seat here for a moment; I'll check with the warehouse." The manager gestured for Bai Mo to sit on the side.