Chapter 168 : Chapter 168
Chapter 168
"I'm interested in the materials—" Bai Xuechao shook the papers in his hand, his delicate face's expression unchanged, still calm, "but I'm not interested in destroying them. Isn't there a saying, 'cherish the fruits of others' labor'?"
He added, "Especially when they are such important fruits."
Only this last sentence was he serious about.
The few pages of materials he had just seen were design drawings and experimental records for various special ability-related items. Because they all required special ability energy to be driven, Yuan Lan had tried many kinds of materials for the wires that transmitted the special ability energy. He flipped through several pages, and they were all experimental data for materials. Yuan Lan had also analyzed the pros and cons of each material and summarized the top three most useful ones.
Currently, there were very few special ability-related items on the "market," and none of them were driven by special ability energy. For example, the electromagnetic wave special ability value detector, which was most commonly used by special ability users, used electrical energy.
The Dark Organization had given up on this type of research from the very beginning because it required a lot of time and effort, just like when humans first discovered electricity and then made a series of inventions and creations. However, the return on such a large investment was not necessarily satisfactory because there were not enough special ability users yet, and the market was too small.
In fact, the number of people awakening their special abilities each year, as tallied by the Dark Organization through various means, was gradually increasing. Especially last year, it could be said that the number had skyrocketed.
He had once discussed with Jiang Yunyi that they both felt this was a trend, and in the next few years, the number of special ability users awakening each year would likely increase more and more.
So, at the first executive meeting after the New Year this year, Jiang Yunyi had proposed that Songhe Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Dark Organization, should add a department to research special ability items. But the old leader had directly rejected it on the grounds that there were not many special ability users, and even if the number was increasing every year, it was not a lot. How could it compare to the number of ordinary people? It was not cost-effective to invest a large amount of money for a small number of special ability users.
And the materials he had just seen could be said to cover exactly the areas where the old leader felt a lot of money was being spent. It omitted almost all the preparatory work for researching special ability items, it was practically spoon-feeding. In addition, Yuan Lan had analyzed the pros and cons, which could be used directly, and different materials could be selected for different uses.
"I'm so happy that Little Xuechao praised them as important achievements." Yuan Lan smiled so much that his eyes half-closed, seeming very pleased, yet he said, "But, do you really not want to try?"
Bai Xuechao immediately replied, "No, I would feel bad if I destroyed these materials, even if they're not the fruits of my labor."
In fact, he had even thought of how to destroy them.
After all, he had said that he would screw over the Apocalypse Society in a big way.
Although Yuan Lan could restore these materials from memory, the sudden increase in workload would not make anyone happy, and Yuan Lan had also said it would be very troublesome.
"I see, Little Xuechao's values are quite easy to understand." Yuan Lan smiled again and turned back to continue his work.
Bai Xuechao didn't feel anything about Yuan Lan's words.
Anyway, he was just talking nonsense, and he guessed Yuan Lan didn't fully believe him either.
However, he did think for a moment that if it were Yuan Lan who got his hands on someone's important materials, he would probably destroy them in front of that person, making them watch helplessly as the precious fruits of their labor turned into waste, while Yuan Lan would just watch their pain with a smile.
Yes, that should be it.
In comparison, he seemed much kinder.
Bai Xuechao continued to look at the materials.
He committed every page he read to memory, but because he was still running a fever and his head was not very comfortable, and because there were a lot of documents on Yuan Lan's desk, remembering everything was a huge amount of work. Therefore, he only memorized some important content and conclusions.
As he picked up the next stack of materials, he suddenly thought—
Wait, why did he have to memorize it himself?
"Xiao 6, Xiao 6," Bai Xuechao called out in his mind.
Xiao 6 was engrossed in watching a video in the background. Hearing the two consecutive calls, it subconsciously responded, "Eh, I'm here."
It was just the instinct of an artificial intelligence.
Bai Xuechao said, "Check, what was on the second page of the stack of materials I just flipped through?"
"Oh, okay." Xiao 6 didn't ask Bai Xuechao why he didn't just flip through the materials again, it just obediently went to check.
Bai Xuechao waited for about ten seconds and heard Xiao 6 say, "It's the experimental record of using copper as a conductor for transmitting special ability energy."
Xiao 6's check was correct, consistent with what Bai Xuechao had memorized. Of course, as a system, it couldn't be wrong.
Bai Xuechao said, "Show me."
"Ah, this..." Xiao 6's tone sounded very hesitant. It explained, "Activity logs and replays are not allowed to be shown to the Host according to the rules, only the system can see them."
Bai Xuechao thought for a moment and asked, "Will there be a punishment?"
He still hadn't fully figured out the scope of the system's rules.
Xiao 6 would be detected by the main system and fined for spoilers, but it said it couldn't show him works from the high-dimensional world, including when he logged into the comic website, the covers of all comics except for this one would be mosaic. But Xiao 6 could secretly show him videos from the high-dimensional world.
"Wuwu, there is, and this one is more serious." Xiao 6 trusted Bai Xuechao so much now that it told him everything. "The activity log and replay are omniscient perspectives. Bai Guzi also uses these two functions to create comics, so you can imagine how valuable they are. Viewing them requires permission, but as my host, you can share my permissions, so theoretically, as long as I share this function with you, you can see them."
Xiao 6 continued, "This can only be seen by the author and the system. Although you can see it by sharing my permissions, you are viewing it as a third-party individual and will be detected by the system program built into me when I was manufactured. Then the main system will punish me."
"The first time is a yellow card warning, and all permissions are locked for a week; the second time is a red card warning, and all permissions are locked for a month. The third time is a direct termination of work, and I will be forcibly recalled." Xiao 6 added, "If all permissions are locked, I can only talk to you, and all system functions will be unusable, and I won't even be able to view the outline."
This locking of all permissions was quite troublesome.
Bai Xuechao had no choice but to give up.
But he thought of another way: "Can you take a screenshot?"
"Eh, I can," Xiao 6 said.
What Xiao 6 didn't dare to say was that it had actually been secretly taking screenshots for a long time.
The system's screenshots would be stored in the system album, which meant it could take them with it after the work was over, so it had saved three, four, five, six, seven, eight...
At first, it just wanted to take a few beautiful pictures. After all, Bai Xuechao's face, oh no, the face randomly generated for him by the simulated world was too beautiful. It took screenshots with the mentality of taking a few nice photos for commemoration and appreciation.
But Bai Xuechao was the most special host it had ever encountered, although it had only been bound to 10 hosts including this time.
But it felt that it would never meet a host like Bai Xuechao again in the future.
So, it took more "photos" and screenshots this time, so that when it went to work in other simulated worlds in the future, it could take them out one day and reminisce for a while longer.
"Can you show me the screenshots?" Bai Xuechao asked.
"This is okay," Xiao 6 said.
After all, it could even display memes in front of Bai Xuechao.
In fact, this function was originally designed to let the system command the host, such as displaying a map, but Xiao 6 used it to display tears, hearts, memes...
#What can a system that doesn't do its job properly do#
"Alright." Bai Xuechao held the new stack of materials in front of him and told Xiao 6, "Take a screenshot of each page, and I'll ask you to see them after I get back to the organization."
Xiao 6 said, "Okay!"
Next, Bai Xuechao flipped through the materials at a rate of one page every two or three seconds. He basically just glanced at the content, got a general idea, and then flipped to the next page.
It was much faster with Xiao 6 taking screenshots. He quickly finished one stack and picked up the next.
He didn't restrain the sound when he was flipping, so after finishing the second stack, Yuan Lan spoke up.
"Little Xuechao," Yuan Lan, holding a black crystal in his hand, turned to look at him, a smiling expression on his face, but with curiosity and inquiry deep in his eyes, "do you read things so quickly?"
"Yes, I do read things quickly," Bai Xuechao said. "But I didn't look carefully just now, I just glanced at them and moved on."
A look of understanding appeared in Yuan Lan's eyes, and his face still wore a smiling expression: "The black bracelet you're wearing is called an X-bracelet. The information about it is under the leftmost stack."
It seemed that Yuan Lan thought he was looking for information about the black bracelet.
"I know," Bai Xuechao was like a contrarian, "But I just want to glance at each one, can't I?"
Yuan Lan made a 'please' gesture: "Of course you can."
Bai Xuechao didn't care whether Yuan Lan had turned around or not. He continued in the same state of looking for two or three seconds, understanding what was written on the page, and then moving on to the next.
Yuan Lan deliberately observed Bai Xuechao for a while, observing his eye movements.
He determined that Bai Xuechao was indeed just quickly scanning the general content before turning the page, not doing anything else.
Yuan Lan stroked the black crystal in his hand, lost in thought.
He remembered that although Bai Xuechao's page-turning speed was fast at the beginning, it was still normal. He was a very fast reader. Then he paused for a while, and the next time he heard the sound of page-turning, it was as fast as it was now, as if he was looking for something and skipping pages that weren't what he was looking for. That's why he had told him where the information about the X-bracelet was.
But now it seemed that he wasn't looking for something, but more like he was quickly scanning through all his materials to see what they contained.
Yuan Lan was very interested in what Bai Xuechao was thinking, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he turned around and continued to fiddle with the black crystal in his hand in front of the instrument.
Bai Xuechao glanced up at his back during a break between page flips.
Yuan Lan had a tall and slender figure. His broad shoulders made the waist cinched by the black leather belt look very narrow, and below were his long legs. At this moment, his posture was somewhat casual, with the balls of his feet on the ground and one leg slightly bent, standing in front of an instrument.
Since Yuan Lan was not directly in front of Bai Xuechao, but slightly to the side, Bai Xuechao could see that he was placing the black crystal under the instrument.
Bai Xuechao's page-turning action paused, his gaze falling on Yuan Lan's hand holding the black crystal.
This black crystal was the material used to make the bracelet he was wearing.
When Yuan Lan came into contact with it, was he, like him, in a state where it was difficult to use his special ability? Or perhaps, because the version was constantly being updated, he might not be able to use his special ability at all?
Bai Xuechao asked Xiao 6, "If I wanted to kill Yuan Lan right now, what would you think?"
"Huh?" Xiao 6 was completely shocked, "Huh??"
Because the sound of Bai Xuechao flipping pages, which occurred every few seconds, had stopped, Yuan Lan, propping himself up with one hand on the table, turned to look at him: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just looking at you," Bai Xuechao said.
He said to Xiao 6, who was frantically telling him not to be impulsive and begging him not to mess around in his mind, "I was joking."
Not to mention that Yuan Lan wouldn't hold on to the black crystal, even if he did, his physical strength and power would be a problem, and it was really uncertain who would come out on top.
Xiao 6 let out a long sigh of relief: "Oh my god, you scared me!"
It truly believed that Bai Xuechao could kill Yuan Lan.