Personal Disciple

"You have a point."

Zhang Lingxue thought it over. She truly had not considered the effects of the nighttime environment on the Dark Butterfly.

Recalling the Dark Butterfly's traits, most of which were tied to the night, a flicker of delight appeared in Zhang Lingxue's eyes.

Bringing Ye Bai here had indeed been the right choice.

Ye Bai had merely glanced over the materials, yet he had already opened up an entirely new line of thought.

This gave Zhang Lingxue more than enough inspiration.

"The information you provided is very useful, Ye Bai. Following your line of thought, the environment has an enormous impact on Chameleon Silkworms. This is a major discovery."

"As it happens, I still have one last set of evolution materials. I can use it to verify whether your idea is correct."

Every pet beast required different evolution materials, and researchers had to conduct all sorts of studies and hundreds of experiments before they could possibly formulate them.

Yet the Eye of Insight could directly see the materials required for evolution. It was like starting straight in Rome.

Zhang Lingxue immediately became more energized. She stepped into the Chameleon Silkworm colony and selected the Chameleon Silkworm Ye Bai had seen with the Eye of Insight—the one capable of evolving into a Dark Butterfly.

"The Chameleon Silkworms here were all tested at great expense long ago. I know every single one of them like the back of my hand."

"All the Chameleon Silkworms here were hatched by me personally."

"Every one of them has its own name."

"Even after they evolved into Gray Poison Moths, I never abandoned them."

"Through my research, I extracted a useful active substance from the scale powder of Gray Poison Moths. It can be used to treat immune diseases."

"This research has not yet entered the clinical stage. Once it succeeds, Gray Poison Moths will transform from pet beasts feared by everyone into pet beasts capable of producing life-saving medicine."

Zhang Lingxue spoke from the bottom of her heart. She was striving for the progress of all humanity.

The Chameleon Silkworm in her arms wriggled against her, seeming deeply dependent on Zhang Lingxue.

"Little Ten, I'll need your cooperation for the experiment today."

That was this Chameleon Silkworm's name.

"Come on. I'll take you to transform into a new form."

Zhang Lingxue led Ye Bai to her core laboratory.

There, Ye Bai saw all kinds of cutting-edge equipment, much of which even the school laboratory did not possess.

"All the equipment here comes from the Imperial Capital Research Institute."

"Oh, there's one more thing. I need to ask for your opinion."

At that moment, Zhang Lingxue cleared her throat and said in an extremely formal tone, "Ye Bai, are you willing to become my Personal Disciple?"

Zhang Lingxue extended an olive branch to Ye Bai.

She had observed him for a long time. Ye Bai was low-key yet substantial, good material for research. After awakening a research talent like Eidetic Memory, and with such meticulous powers of observation, he was a fine candidate.

Ye Bai was slightly stunned. Was she coming on this strong right from the start?

Did she trust his character that much?

Zhang Lingxue seemed to understand Ye Bai's surprise and explained, "Ye Bai, I've been observing you since your first year of high school. You're calm, able to handle anything with composure. You're excellent material for scientific research."

"Just from the materials I handed you, you were able to discover that the environment has an extremely far-reaching effect on Chameleon Silkworms. It shows that you are attentive and able to unravel the threads and strip away the cocoon."

"Besides, you rank first every semester, which proves you aren't too stupid."

"You risked your life under sniper fire to save Li Weiyang, preserving an important talent for the Yan Country Alliance. That speaks for your character."

"And most importantly, your background is spotless. I don't have much of a background myself, and I happen to need a Personal Disciple."

At that point, Ye Bai extended his hand. "Teacher, please guide me from now on."

She smiled. He was a tactful little fellow. Their hands touched lightly, then quickly separated.

She casually entered the Personal Disciple information into the Yan Country Alliance system and had Ye Bai confirm it on the spot. Only after seeing that the verification had succeeded did Zhang Lingxue let out a sigh of relief.

In the Yan Country Alliance, Personal Disciples had to be officially registered and uploaded into the Yan Country Alliance system.

"Don't worry. Our information is confidential. When others look up your records, they'll only see that you have taken a teacher. They won't be able to see whom you took as your teacher."

"These are the operating manuals for the laboratory instruments. My requirements aren't high. It will be enough if you can learn them within three days."

She pointed at the operating manuals piled up like a small mountain and spoke to Ye Bai with a calm expression.

Ye Bai walked over and began flipping through them rapidly.

Countless words flooded into Ye Bai's mind and arranged themselves at high speed. By the time he finished the last manual, he had completely mastered the operating methods of every piece of equipment.

"How is it? Give it a try. Learning it within three days will be enough."

Ye Bai shook his head. "Teacher, I don't need three days. I've already learned it."

Seeing Zhang Lingxue's astonished expression, Ye Bai smiled. He had successfully pulled one back.

"Fine. If your words are that big, your skills had better keep pace."

"Then start this Grinding and Pulverizing Machine and crush this Dark Iron Ore. I need it ground down to the nanometer level."

"And extract the Dark Iron from it."

Zhang Lingxue pointed at the glossy black ore, the size of a fist and understatedly luxurious.

Dark Iron Ore was a dark-element ore. The Dark Iron contained within was one of the primary materials for promoting the evolution of dark-element pet beasts.

However, purification was extremely difficult. Dark Iron Ore was incredibly hard, and grinding it into nanometer-scale particles required high-precision grinding equipment.

Separating and purifying nanometer-scale Dark Iron was also a problem. Ore and Dark Iron were mixed together and difficult to purify, while the purity of Dark Iron was related to the success rate of pet beast evolution.

But none of this posed any problem for Ye Bai. He already knew every step of operating the equipment.

He carefully inspected the grinding apparatus. After confirming that the safety mechanisms were in order, he replaced the drill bit with that of the Impact Drill.

Then, he used the Mechanical Hook to lift the Dark Iron Ore.

The Dark Iron Ore looked only fist-sized, but it had an enormous density and was certainly not light.

This fist-sized piece of Dark Iron Ore actually weighed fifty jin.

Ye Bai first had to break the Dark Iron Ore down into smaller pieces, smashing it apart for an initial round of crushing.

He carefully observed the size of the Dark Iron Ore and used a white pen to draw circles where he intended to drill.

After positioning the Dark Iron Ore, Ye Bai activated the Crushing and Grinding Device.

The Impact Drill chugged a few times along the circles Ye Bai had drawn. The Dark Iron Ore cracked at once, splitting into several pieces.

Zhang Lingxue watched from the side as Ye Bai manipulated the equipment with remarkable proficiency. Like an old hand, he purified the Dark Iron Ore until it finally became a finished product the size of a thumbnail.

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