Obstruction and Opposition

Three days later, in the afternoon, Mo Yuan was hunched over the workbench in his room.

A draft of a half-finished manual lay spread across the desktop.

He had already finished writing the explanations for the basics of magic arrays and was currently drawing a schematic of the core structure for the second module.

For instance, he was drawing an arc-shaped resonance circuit about ten centimeters long. But just as his pen tip passed the midpoint, the door was suddenly shoved open.

The door slammed heavily against the wall. Fortunately, Mo Yuan's hand did not tremble, and the pen came to a steady stop.

"Mo Yuan!"

Gu Yuan's voice no longer had its usual unhurried lilt. Instead, it was noticeably tense.

His footsteps moved quickly from the doorway to the workbench. Only then did Mo Yuan set down his pen and look up at him.

Gu Yuan's collar was slightly wrinkled, as if his coat had been tugged by the wind on the way over. His expression was not pleasant.

Seeing him in such a fluster, Mo Yuan abandoned his intention to curse him out.

"Something happened!"

Mo Yuan capped his pen and leaned back in his chair. "Sit down and talk. Don't rush."

Gu Yuan took a deep breath and sat in the chair beside him. He folded his hands over his knees, paused for two seconds, then said, "Huo Yuan's side has hit a snag. He formally submitted the project application at the Academic Affairs Council. He originally thought that with the finished product and test reports laid out on the table, moving it forward would be a straightforward matter. But several people suddenly came out in direct opposition at the meeting, and they had even prepared rebuttal materials in advance. An entire set of documents argued that 'this technology lacks the feasibility for industrialization,' 'the samples may contain an element of luck,' and 'a longer verification period is needed,' among other things."

Mo Yuan's expression did not change. He gestured for Gu Yuan to continue.

Gu Yuan went on, "And it's not just an internal matter at the Academy of Sciences. People outside are also spreading information unfavorable to you, questioning the authenticity of your Level-9 Soul Engineer assessment and claiming that the Mecha Engineer Association may have engaged in favoritism and fraud. Yesterday, two media outlets were already making inquiries about your assessment records through internal channels. Nothing has been published publicly yet, but someone is clearly pushing this from behind the scenes. The direction of public opinion isn't right."

After finishing, Gu Yuan leaned back in his chair and exhaled. A deep furrow formed between his brows.

Mo Yuan was silent for a while, then reached for the Soul Guidance Communicator in the corner of the workbench and dialed Huo Yuan's number from the screen.

The call was answered after only two rings.

"Mo Yuan?" Huo Yuan's voice came through the communicator. It was noticeably deeper than when they had last met, carrying an unmistakable layer of fatigue. "You received the news too? Gu Yuan told you?"

"Yes," Mo Yuan said. "But I want to hear your side of it."

There was silence on the other end for several seconds. Then Huo Yuan's voice sounded again, more dispirited than before. "The problem is on my end. I promised to push this project forward as quickly as possible, but I underestimated how quickly those people on the Academic Affairs Council would react. They had already met privately before the meeting, and someone leaked the information in advance. There may be someone inside the Academy of Sciences who has connections with people outside. In any case, the impact of your technology is greater than I expected. Most likely, someone doesn't want it to be implemented so smoothly."

His tone gradually grew more agitated. "Those people brought some so-called 'reliability analysis' cobbled together from who knows where and kept repeating at the meeting that 'the time frame is too short,' 'the sample size is insufficient,' and 'the conditions for industrialization are not mature.' It was all nonsense! To put it plainly, they have projects of their own waiting for funding and are afraid this project will squeeze out their entire budget once it gets started! Stuck in their ways! Bound by convention! I told you there was a reason the Academy of Sciences keeps getting less and less efficient!"

Good grief, who would have thought Minister Huo was such a passionate man...

Huo Yuan's words had already begun to get somewhat out of hand.

Mo Yuan waited until he finished, remained silent for two seconds, then spoke. "Senior."

He called him "Senior," not "Minister Huo."

Huo Yuan's breathing paused, as if the form of address had pulled him back to his senses.

"How long has the project application been shelved?"

Huo Yuan steadied his tone and returned to his normal speaking pace. "The Academic Affairs Council voted to 'temporarily suspend advancement and reconsider after supplementary materials are submitted.' If we follow the standard procedures, we have to wait for the 'expert group' they appoint to complete a new feasibility assessment before it can be brought before the council again. Conservatively speaking, that will take three to six months."

Three to six months.

Mo Yuan nodded slightly. In the Federation's administrative system, that was already considered fast. But for the window between a technology's creation and its implementation, being stalled for half a year meant giving the opposition enough time to build a much more thorough line of defense.

"Can you give me the names of the people currently opposed?" Mo Yuan asked.

Huo Yuan said, "Fourteen people spoke against it at the meeting. I also noted down another two or three who didn't speak but voted against it. Actually, even if you hadn't asked, I was planning to send you this information so you could be prepared."

"I want it now," Mo Yuan said. "Just send the list to my communicator."

Huo Yuan hummed from the other end. "You'll have it within two minutes." He paused, then added, "Mo Yuan, I didn't handle this well. I thought the test data would be enough to force it through, but I didn't expect them to prepare so much in advance."

"The test data is sound, and the problem isn't on your end either." Mo Yuan's tone remained even. "There's no need to take it too much to heart."

The communicator was quiet for a while. Then Huo Yuan's voice came through again, slightly deeper than before, but his anger had already subsided. "I've sent you the list. If there's anything you need me to do, just say the word."

"All right."

Mo Yuan ended the call and lowered his hand, placing the communicator on the desk.

Then he turned his head and glanced at Gu Yuan, who was watching him with an inquiring look.

Mo Yuan opened the information list that had just arrived on the communicator's screen and read through it line by line.

Names, departments, positions—he quickly cross-referenced them in his mind with the files he had seen when he infiltrated the Federation's system three days earlier. He found that at least two of them had indirect ties to the Xu family's industrial network he had uncovered before.

Just as he had expected, the Xu family really was behind this.

He did not say it aloud. After all, there was no need to let more people know about it yet.

"You should go back for now." Mo Yuan turned off the communicator's screen and picked up his pen again. "I know about this."

Watching him pick up the pen again, Gu Yuan hesitated for a moment. "You're not worried?"

"Worrying won't help." Mo Yuan's pen tip touched the paper again and continued along the half-drawn arc-shaped resonance circuit without pause. "I'll deal with this myself."

He finished the arc, lifted his pen, and examined the overall effect before adding, "Besides, I already know who did it."

Gu Yuan watched him silently for several seconds. In the end, he did not ask anything else. He merely rose and walked toward the door.

When he reached the doorway, he stopped and turned his head. "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing for now." Mo Yuan was already drawing the next line. "Just keep the outside public opinion surrounding the association under control. I'll handle the rest myself."

Gu Yuan nodded and gently closed the door.

The room fell quiet once more. Only the faintest rustling of the pen moving across the paper could be heard.