I Have a Cleanliness Obsession...

Another hour passed before Mo Yuan finally finished drawing the section in his hands. He put away the draft and casually went over the other names on the list again.

There were actually quite a few names he had never paid attention to. Even if he had seen them before, he probably would not have bothered to remember them. After all, he was not their parents—why should he remember their names?

But now, he had remembered these few names. That might not necessarily be a good thing.

After spending a few more minutes, he pulled up the information on everyone on the list.

Sure enough, these researchers, who seemed to have nothing to do with one another, ultimately all pointed to one person—Xu Rongzhi.

Or rather, they all pointed to the various companies of the Xu family. These researchers had either cooperated with companies belonging to the Xu family, received funding from them, or even had the surname Xu themselves!

Seriously, did they take him for an idiot? With such an obvious connection, did they really think he would not notice?

At that moment, Mo Yuan felt as though his intelligence had been insulted.

Doing bad things was one matter, but was it not a little too conspicuous to have someone with an identity written plainly on their face handle it?

Mo Yuan felt utterly bored. It was like painstakingly finding resources, only to discover after downloading them that they were something as childish as Calabash Brothers. His interest vanished in an instant.

"Forget it. I was originally planning to have some fun with you vermin, but you all turned out like this..."

Mo Yuan exhaled a long breath of stale air and slammed his right hand heavily onto the table. "You really don't know your place until you've been beaten hard enough. I was wondering how the Federation's technology could possibly develop with a bunch of idiots like you who can't even handle underhanded tactics!"

Having reached that conclusion, he no longer wanted to think about it. He stretched lazily, and Jin Ling leaped from the corner of the table onto his shoulder, patting his ear with its forepaw.

"Let's go," Mo Yuan said. "Come out with your master and take care of something."

He did not notify Gu Yuan. Instead, he left the Mecha Engineer Association directly through the side entrance.

When he reached the street, there was temporarily no one around, and the surroundings were exceptionally quiet.

Mo Yuan stretched out his hand. Pale blue radiance flashed through the air, and a blue-painted motorcycle appeared in front of him.

It was a one-to-one replica of Heavy Bunny—Noncombat Version.

Mo Yuan did not need it for combat at the moment, anyway.

He drove for more than half an hour.

The main roads of Mingdu Northern District grew wider and wider. The high-rises gradually became sparse, while large stretches of greenery and walls began appearing on both sides of the road.

Behind the walls stood groves of tall trees, their crowns revealing gray-brown branches in the cold wind of late winter.

This area could already be considered the outskirts. Transportation was not particularly convenient, so it was generally the sort of place that large family estates chose to occupy.

Mo Yuan's speed grew faster and faster, but he did not care in the slightest.

After all, no one here would come to revoke his driver's license. Of course, he did not have one to revoke in the first place.

Finally, the motorcycle swung into a magnificent drift and stopped in front of a wrought-iron gate.

Two rows of neatly trimmed holly stood on either side of the gate. Through the gap between the bars, a stone path could be seen winding deep into the courtyard. At the end of the path, a large pale-gray residence was faintly visible.

A small brass plaque hung beside the iron gate. It bore only a line of address numbers, with no surname or official designation.

A guard in a black uniform stood inside the small pavilion beside the gate. When he saw a child ride up on a motorcycle and stop, he froze for a moment before pushing open the gate and walking out.

"Little friend, this is a private residence. You must have come to the wrong place, right?"

Mo Yuan turned his head and glanced at the guard, his tone entirely lacking in courtesy. "I'm not in the wrong place. I'm here to see Xu Rongzhi. Just tell him Mo Yuan has come to visit."

The guard froze. The expression on his face shifted from confusion to wariness.

He looked over the short child in front of him, dressed in an ordinary jacket, seemingly trying to determine whether he was some young master who had wandered away from home.

But Mo Yuan's calm and certain expression did not look like that of someone who had gotten lost.

"Do you have an appointment? If not—"

"I don't have an appointment." Mo Yuan interrupted him directly. "Just go report it."

The guard was momentarily left speechless. He felt that something was wrong, but he could not figure out who the visitor really was.

While he was hesitating, Mo Yuan had already stopped looking at him.

He turned back toward the wrought-iron gate and cleared his throat.

Then he did something the guard had never expected.

A visible ripple of pale blue Soul Power spread outward from Mo Yuan as its center, like a stone tossed into water.

The instant the ripple touched the surrounding air, his voice was amplified several times over in a manner far beyond an ordinary "shout." It spread clearly to every corner within a kilometer, as though he were speaking directly beside each person's ear.

"Xu Rongzhi—"

The moment those three words left his mouth, the guard felt a buzz in his eardrums and involuntarily retreated half a step.

"—I'm Mo Yuan. Since you sent someone to invite me once, I came on my own today. Come out and have a talk!"

When his voice faded, the Soul Power ripples dispersed, and the surroundings returned to silence.

Only a few startled birds circled above the distant treetops.

The guard's face changed color. Without a word, he turned and dashed back into the gatehouse to press the communicator.

Mo Yuan stood quietly in front of the gate, waiting. He did not look anxious in the slightest.

About a minute later, a burst of footsteps came from inside.

The iron gate was pushed open from within, and a young man in a dark gray formal suit walked out. He had regular features and a simply shaped metal insignia pinned to his collar—the exact face Mo Yuan had seen in the profile photograph.

Xu Rongzhi.

His steps were steady, and his expression was unhurried. When he saw Mo Yuan, a hint of scrutiny appeared in his eyes, but it was quickly pressed down into complete calm.

A butler-like man around fifty followed behind him. Farther back, deep mechanical sounds came from inside the wall. More than twenty standard Mechas with silver paint rose into the air from behind the estate's main building and hovered about thirty meters above the grounds. The Soul Guidance Ray ports beneath their hulls tilted slightly downward, covering the area in front of the gate.

"Mr. Mo Yuan." Xu Rongzhi's voice was calm and unhurried. It sounded different from the cold, hard outline of his face in the profile photograph—in reality, he sounded more like a businessman accustomed to speaking slowly. "I didn't expect you to visit in this manner. But since you're here, that saves me the trouble of sending someone to invite you again. Please come in?"

Mo Yuan did not move.

"There's no need for pleasantries," he said. "I came to ask you one thing face-to-face: what exactly are you trying to accomplish with all this?"

Xu Rongzhi's face still held that emotionless calm. He looked at Mo Yuan as though chewing over the information in his words.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean." He looked puzzled.

"Heh. There's no need to pretend you're confused. It's beneath you."

"All right. My thoughts are actually very simple." After a moment, Xu Rongzhi spoke again. "The technology you possess involves rare-metal synthesis, while I have spent three years exploring this field. I've invested a great deal and hit plenty of walls. As soon as there was movement on your side, I naturally wanted to make contact as soon as possible. As for what happened with the Academy of Sciences..." He paused. "That wasn't something I authorized. But those people did what they did because they were connected to my Xu family."

"So you knew about it, but you didn't stop them?"

"This isn't a slave society anymore, Mr. Mo Yuan. They're merely partners of mine. I can't control what they do." Xu Rongzhi spoke with an expression of 'sincerity.' "However, I believe that if your technology is tied directly to the Academy of Sciences, the future production channels for your technology will most likely be incorporated into the Federation's unified planning. Private capital will only be qualified to provide raw materials, not to participate in allocation. But if this project took another route, it would presumably proceed much more smoothly—for example, by finding a partner who doesn't need to go through lengthy administrative procedures."

Mo Yuan smiled.

He understood.

Xu Rongzhi's meaning was actually very simple.

He was telling Mo Yuan that as long as he cooperated with the Xu family, he could advance his project smoothly and even obtain greater benefits.

However...

"You've got quite the scheme," Mo Yuan said. "But you've made one mistake."

"What mistake? I'd be glad to hear it."

"First, I'm not short on time, and I'm not short on patience." Mo Yuan's speech was not fast, but every word was clear and forceful. "However, compared to dealing with certain people who overestimate themselves while being utterly stupid, I'd much rather conduct some meaningful research. So I advise you to withdraw certain disgraceful methods as soon as possible. Otherwise, you'd better start worrying about your safety."

Xu Rongzhi's brow moved slightly.

"What if I don't?"

"I'll say it again: I have a cleanliness obsession. I can't stand idiots, fools, or morons. When I see them, I want them dead—"

Mo Yuan looked at Xu Rongzhi across from him and spoke coldly. "But I also value my own life. So, you idiot, fool, and moron, please go die!"