Scientific Research Must Be Down-to-Earth, But Cheating Is Also Permissible

Six hours after the battle ended, Xiang Qian boarded a plane back home. He had taken a military transport on the way over to save time and bypass the tedious application process for flight clearance, but the return trip allowed for a much more relaxed schedule. Not wanting to endure the abysmal comfort of a transport plane again, Xiang Qian preferred to wait two extra hours for his private jet to arrive.

In truth, Xiang Qian didn't want to return home so soon. Although it was the Spear Bureau that had captured Temugin, the arrest took place on Tajikistan soil, which necessitated a formal handover procedure. After all, the Spear Bureau was not S.H.I.E.L.D. from across the Pacific, nor were they the CIA; they prided themselves on doing things by the book, with proper decorum, and were incapable of the kind of arrogant, sloppy behavior seen elsewhere. Xiang Qian had intended to stay until the handover was set in stone, but the Weather Witch had forcefully hustled him onto the plane.

"I'll oversee Temugin's situation personally, and I'll make sure he's brought back no matter what," the Weather Witch said, leaving no room for argument. "You get your ass back home immediately. The higher-ups already know you participated in the combat yourself; the Director is so terrified he won't even answer his phone. If you don't return, he's going to jump off a building."

Xiang Qian wanted to point out that, knowing the Director's temperament, even if he were truly planning to jump, he would have secretly prepared a safety cushion at the bottom beforehand. However, after hesitating, he didn't dare push his luck and obediently boarded the plane. At the very least, he could trust the Weather Witch's promise regarding Temugin and the Mandarin.

Also returning was Vector, who was in charge of intelligence synthesis for the special task force; she needed to return to headquarters to deliver a preliminary mission report. Several task force members who had sustained minor injuries during the battle were also on board. The two teams operating at the command post, including Saber and Vector, had come out unscathed, and even the clerical and intelligence staff had been well-protected. However, the members who had followed the Weather Witch to support the allied forces had suffered several injuries while saving others, though fortunately, none were critical.

The cabin was quiet. While those injured members were bold and courageous on the battlefield, this was their first time on a private jet. Seeing the understated luxury of the cabin, they couldn't help but feel as awkward as country bumpkins in the big city. When the sweet, charming flight attendants brought over food and drinks, the group of men became even more timid and uncomfortable. Their pathetic display made the only other female passenger and comrade, Vector, roll her eyes.

Xiang Qian lay on the long sofa in the small lounge, closing his eyes to doze. The moment his eyes shut, his consciousness merged once again into the cosmic void deep within his mind.

This time, Xiang Qian didn't go to absorb energy or visit the Memory Planet; instead, he appeared in an asteroid belt. This belt orbited a red dwarf star slowly, the asteroids varying in shape and, judging by their appearance and color, composed of different elemental materials.

Xiang Qian scanned the entire belt, silently filtering through them in his mind, until he finally selected an asteroid with a crystalline luster and descended onto it. A moment later, as Xiang Qian's will drove it, the surface of the asteroid began to vibrate and decompose. The originally uneven ground began to reshape; loose soil gradually condensed, and jagged rocks were polished smooth by an invisible force.

When everything finally came to a halt, the asteroid, primarily structured of crystals, had been transformed into a capsule shape roughly resembling a cylinder.

Xiang Qian began to carve lines into the ground. The lines were carved deep; by human standards, their width and depth were no less than tunnels on highways or railways, yet relative to the volume of the asteroid, they appeared incredibly delicate.

The lines gradually increased, their paths growing more complex as they covered the surface of the celestial body. When the entire surface was blanketed in lines, Xiang Qian flew off the asteroid and looked down from above. Countless lines intersected to form a complex, obscure pattern.

Xiang Qian gave a light wave, and a bubble—a common sight on the Memory Planet—floated into his hand. The bubble recorded only one thing: the gemstone ring seized from Temugin. Unlike the real ring, this replica on the Memory Planet was luminous. The energy lines Xiang Qian had glimpsed on the inner wall of the gem were clearly visible, corresponding one-to-one with the lines carved into the asteroid.

The energy field from the inner wall of the gem had been perfectly replicated onto the asteroid.

Confirming everything was correct, Xiang Qian waved his hand, and the asteroid suddenly broke away from the belt, flying toward the distant red dwarf. Xiang Qian controlled the asteroid to hover in an orbit close to the star's surface, while simultaneously protecting its structure from being destroyed by the red dwarf's gravity. Dense stellar radiation surged toward the asteroid like a storm. As this violent energy touched the surface, a powerful force field manifested out of thin air, constraining all forms of energy into the lines on the ground.

Watching the previously empty lines begin to glow with a fiery red light, as if magma were flowing through them, Xiang Qian knew his hypothesis was correct: the lines on the inner wall of the gem indeed formed a special energy force field. The red dwarf's radiation provided the initial push to set the field in motion, and once active, the field absorbed and stored that radiation, waiting to be triggered.

This was the operating principle of the gem—a method of energy utilization entirely different from Earth's technological system.

The ruby glowed brightly, becoming dazzling in a very short time, before exploding into a pile of dust from the inside out under Xiang Qian's gaze. Yet, Xiang Qian knew his attempt had succeeded. The replication of the energy force field was flawless; the explosion occurred because the asteroid's material differed from the ruby—perhaps it couldn't withstand the energy, or perhaps the ruby itself had an energy-overload protection design.

This method of absorbing and storing existing natural energy to be triggered later was far more efficient than the solar, wind, or tidal energy currently in use. Theoretically, there were designs that could be mentioned in the same breath as this force field—Xiang Qian recalled a famous theoretical design in human history: the Dyson Sphere. Only, the gem's energy force field was simpler and more practical.

Perhaps I can conduct further tests in the lab. Finding suitable load-bearing materials is actually the easy part; researching the underlying principles is the real challenge, Xiang Qian mused silently.

This Soul Universe had formed when Xiang Qian was six years old, and to this day, he still couldn't fathom the nature of its existence. Although it existed within his soul, it operated according to the same laws as reality. But one thing had been clear to him since he first encountered natural science: in terms of scientific research, this universe was a massive cheat code.

Absorbing and converting cosmic energy to strengthen himself? Constructing Memory Planets to gain extraordinary recall? If he stopped at such superficial uses, it would be a complete waste. For Xiang Qian, the greatest practical significance of this universe was that it was a test site with absolutely no restrictions.

No time limits, no material limits, no energy limits—he didn't even have to worry about safety regulations!

Take the field of new materials, where the Five Elements Laboratory had its most fruitful research results. Every mature new material in the world today involved incredibly complex processing techniques; they often required dozens or hundreds of steps, each with hundreds of variables. A slight fluctuation in temperature or a minor change in pressure within the reaction furnace would directly affect the material's performance. The development of every new material inevitably involved thousands of repetitive tests, consuming massive resources without any guarantee of the expected results.

But for Xiang Qian, what did resource consumption matter? Was the resource of an entire planet not enough for his experiments?

Need high temperature and pressure? He could place it in the core of a large planet—was that hot and pressurized enough?

By adjusting the planetary environment, Xiang Qian could perfectly mimic various real-world experimental conditions—though conditions that couldn't be achieved in reality were meaningless to replicate. At the same time, he could design thousands of experimental schemes under different conditions for the same material simultaneously. While researchers in reality had to wait tediously for results, in the world of the soul, Xiang Qian only needed a single thought to fast-forward the experimental process to its conclusion.

Outsiders always marveled at the efficiency and productivity of the Five Elements Laboratory in scientific research, yet no one ever knew that for many of the breakthroughs achieved in the lab, the majority of the testing had already been completed in Xiang Qian's soul world. All Xiang Qian had to do was guide the experimental process toward the only correct path at the appropriate time.