"Come home early today!"
"Don't work overtime until midnight again. You still think you're a young man?"
In Jing City, inside the residential compound for academicians and their families.
Amid his wife's complaints, Wang Zhiwen straightened his clothes.
He turned a deaf ear to her nagging.
He gave a few absentminded replies, his thoughts already in the laboratory.
That morning, the moment he saw the message saying that Lu Li had sent back artifact-refining residue, he could no longer sit still.
Artifact-refining residue, in a sense,
represented the industrial technology of the immortal cultivation world!
For a man who had spent his whole life working with technology, it held an irresistible attraction.
All he wanted now was to get to Group 749's underground base.
He hurried out, and a dedicated car was already waiting downstairs. It sped all the way to the National Security building.
After passing through layer upon layer of security checks, Wang Zhiwen took a dedicated elevator straight down to the thirty-seventh basement level.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, he strode toward the laboratory.
"Elder Wang, you're here!"
A young researcher excitedly handed him a fresh analysis report.
The personnel on duty the previous night had stayed up analyzing the samples and compiling it.
"Preliminary tests show that 3.7 percent of the components in this artifact residue have a structure similar to azure gold spirit ore."
"But their molecular arrangements are completely disordered, and their spiritual power signatures have nearly vanished."
Wang Zhiwen took the report, his brows knitted tightly.
"In other words, these materials suffered irreversible damage during artifact refinement..."
"Not necessarily irreversible!"
An excited voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone turned to see Zhang Yi, a PhD specializing in microphysics, running over with shining eyes.
"Elder Wang, since the molecular structures of these materials have merely been disrupted and lost their activity, rather than being completely destroyed..."
"Why don't we... try using a particle collider to 'awaken' them?"
He excitedly drew a diagram on his tablet.
"It's like rebuilding a scattered pile of blocks."
"By precisely controlling the energy and angle of particle bombardment, perhaps..."
"We can rearrange these disordered molecules back into their original, stable structures!"
"Even if we can't, they might undergo another mutation!"
The entire laboratory fell silent for an instant, then erupted into heated discussion.
"It's theoretically feasible!"
"If we can restore the materials' original properties..."
Wang Zhiwen took a deep breath.
His eyes shone as he looked at the pile of pitch-black artifact-refining residue.
"If we succeed, this will be humanity's first time 'repairing' immortal cultivation materials through technological means!"
Wang Zhiwen's words sent the entire laboratory into an uproar.
The researchers crowded around,
all talking at once about the breakthroughs that might come from awakening the artifact-refining residue.
Professor Li, a materials science expert, was the first to speak.
"If we really can restore these materials' original properties, we'll have a batch of ready-made raw materials for artifact refinement!"
"Even if there isn't much, it'll be enough for us to study their physical properties!"
"And that's not all,"
another researcher added excitedly. "These materials were forged at high temperatures, so their internal structures may have undergone wondrous changes. They might even display entirely new properties, such as better spiritual power conductivity, or..."
"Or develop a memory effect!"
Zhang Yi chimed in excitedly. "Like shape-memory alloys, they could return to their original form under specific conditions."
"This could have revolutionary applications in our research into immortal cultivation artifact-refining techniques!"
The more everyone talked, the more excited they became, and Wang Zhiwen's eyes sparkled with excitement as well.
He cleared his throat and summed it up:
"Comrades, what does this mean? It means we may have found a unique path to artifact refinement through technology!"
"As for Comrade Lu Li, if this technology matures..."
"In the future, he could even recycle artifact-refining waste in the immortal cultivation world, greatly reducing the cost of cultivation!"
"And for the nation,"
Wang Zhiwen's voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"This will be an excellent opportunity for us to overtake others on the bend in immortal cultivation materials science!"
"Once we succeed, we'll be able to use technological methods to mass-produce special materials that are rare even in the immortal cultivation world!"
"And lay a solid foundation for industrialized artifact refinement in the future!"
An even louder chorus of excited cries rang out in the laboratory.
Everyone present knew about the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan.
They also knew about Lu Li's current objectives.
Naturally, they understood how much promise this seemingly useless pile of artifact-refining residue held.
It was very possible... that it contained the key to changing the balance of power in two worlds.
Wang Zhiwen wasted no more time and immediately gave the order.
"Everyone! Prepare for the experiment immediately!"
"Treat the sample materials with care! Conduct the experiments in batches and groups, and make sure every experimental result is optimally adjusted before conducting a second experiment!"
"Yes! We guarantee we'll complete the task!"
"..."
Everyone answered in a roar and hurried off to prepare.
In the immortal cultivation world, this slag might be unwanted garbage.
But in the eyes of these researchers, it was the most precious experimental material on all of Blue Star.
They didn't dare waste even the slightest bit.
After carefully weighing each piece of residue, they meticulously divided them by weight into a hundred experimental reference groups.
Naturally, they couldn't start with physical experiments right away.
The members of the computer team quickly built models based on the analysis reports on the residue.
They set up virtual tests and gradually adjusted the parameters and optimized the results.
Simulation experiments ran again and again on the quantum computer.
The results of each experiment were evaluated, then optimized and adjusted once more.
Failure, failure, failure, failure...
One failure, one adjustment.
One adjustment, one failure.
Until, several days later.
Late at night, the only sound in the 749 base was the low hum of the quantum computer.
Li Ming, the researcher on duty, rubbed his dry, tired eyes and was about to get up and make a cup of coffee.
The instant he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a change on the screen out of the corner of his eye and froze.
"Just now... was that just now..."
"Could it be..."
"Whoosh!"
He dashed back to the console and, trembling, replayed the experimental record he had just missed.
The 38,962nd simulation experiment played from the beginning on the screen.
The virtual particle collider fired a high-energy particle beam at a specific angle, striking the molecular structure of the simulated residue with pinpoint accuracy.
Then, under the beam's bombardment, the previously chaotic molecular structure in the image began to slowly reorganize.
When the thirty-seventh particle beam struck the core area precisely...
Those dim molecules suddenly seemed to have been infused with life!
They actually began to emit a faint fluorescent glow!
Although the light was weak, it was clearly visible in the simulated environment. This meant that some property of the material had been successfully awakened!
"Did... did it succeed?"
"Energy output stable at a trillion volts, angle of incidence adjusted to seventeen degrees..."
Li Ming murmured the parameters, his eyes fixed on the screen.
He seemed unable to believe his eyes.
Only after checking three more times did he finally snatch up the secure telephone in excitement:
"Elder Wang! The simulation experiment succeeded! The residue has been awakened!"