A Necromancer Summoning a Type 055? What the Heck?

And the good habit of watching cartoons at a set time every evening.

Last time, the altar beacon Chen Mo had sent, seemingly out of nowhere, had triggered a response from Xia State's air defense system. Fighter jets, missiles, and air-raid sirens had taken turns filling the skies above Chang'an City. There was no way to hide such a frightening spectacle.

As Eastern Xia's leadership held emergency consultations and racked their brains over how to explain the sudden "supernatural event," Mr. Big Goldie, across the ocean, ever a step ahead and never one to speak without making a sensational claim, had already beaten them to it. On his social media account with hundreds of millions of followers, he had declared smugly:

"Look! Our great Bald Sea Eagle gave the Eastern Xia people a little shock with a superweapon ahead of its time! Clearly, they were no less panicked than lizards startled in the desert!"

"I'll make White Eagle great again! MAGA!"

The moment he said it, the global media erupted!

Although everyone on Earth knew the president's speaking style was... well, not always rigorous or reliable, the image of Bald Sea Eagle as a long-established and formidable military power remained deeply etched in the minds of Blue Star's nations.

If anyone really could make Eastern Xia look so "embarrassed," then, on the surface at least, the most likely candidate really was Big Goldie and the White Eagle Empire behind him.

The core advisers in Xia State's strategic planning department quickly met and grudgingly spent quite some time analyzing public opinion. In the end, they reached a reluctant conclusion: "Well, there's no way to explain it anyway. This saves us from desperately making up excuses to cover up the truth. If you like taking the blame, go ahead and carry it for now."

As for whether it would cost them face?

The strategists knew perfectly well: of two evils, choose the lesser. Right now, keeping the core secrets of the Star Gate and Wanderer was a hundred times more important than winning a temporary advantage in the court of public opinion!

After Xia State adopted an attitude of neither confirming nor denying anything and changing the subject whenever it came up, intelligence agencies around the world swarmed toward Bald Sea Eagle like vultures that had caught the scent of blood, nearly driving Eagle State's intelligence departments to tears with anger.

Wouldn't we know whether we had a "superweapon" or not?

All for the sake of claiming win after win, he had no shame and no decency at all!

Of course, Eastern Xia had lost face, so a strategic counterbalance was indispensable. Donghuang Tianshu promptly embarked on a series of intensive overseas visits, while the Eastern Xia military supported the effort by organizing several large-scale exercises with troops and live ammunition in selected waters.

On one hand, this drew the attention of certain unwilling countries and organizations away from Xia State's capital and toward the southeast. On the other, it used a tangible show of muscle to offset, to some extent, the potential adverse effects of the "air-raid siren incident" and announce to the world: Eastern Xia was as steady as Mount Tai.

Now, all the grievances, the long wait, and the meticulous preparations had finally yielded their first results-the first batch of items from the mysterious otherworld had arrived in Eastern Xia!

Chapter 33: A Delivery from the Stars

Director Lin Xiangdong felt as though he was busy enough to fly. After working nonstop for more than thirty hours without sleep or rest, he had finally sorted the basic tasks into some semblance of order.

First were the arrangements for the expert team's recommendations.

The "original script," personally adjusted by the Stargazing team, presented the experts with a background story: an important individual from another country on Blue Star possessed intelligence and supplies of great value to Eastern Xia.

Xia State had now contacted this mysterious foreign guest through a covert channel. However, the man suffered from a serious form of schizophrenia involving delusions and often imagined himself as the protagonist of a movie or game world.

To communicate with him successfully, Xia State's liaisons had been forced to play along with the important foreign guest and create a great many fictional settings. The Cihang experts' task was to provide logically rigorous ways to make those settings work.

The central task at this stage was to provide an appropriate, feasible solution to a specific predicament in the magical world the foreign guest was currently imagining, along with solid theoretical support.

Xia State needed to use this ingenious approach to strengthen its bond with the mysterious foreign guest and earn his goodwill and trust.

"The more realistic, the better!"

"Time is short and the task is demanding. We hope everyone can put forward sound recommendations as soon as possible!"

The elite members of the planning expert team looked at the assignment and its attachments, their expressions varied and colorful.

Watching the two Stargazing team leaders leave together, a young expert couldn't help grumbling, "What kind of bizarre story is this? Imagining himself in a game world? If he's got that much time on his hands, why doesn't he go play some Big Monkey?"

"All right, let's finish the analysis first. We're not the only team. Don't let the others outdo us-that would be embarrassing."

An expert with a strong background in linguistics pushed up his glasses. "I find something a little odd. The wording in this document doesn't read like native Sea Eagle Script. It seems more like it was translated into the script from Longship Federation Language or some other standardized language."

"I don't believe a word they said. Could some young master have suddenly decided to write a novel and asked us to work out the setting for him..."

"Come off it. Who could get a national-level think tank to work on a novel's setting? A child of the plane?"

In the end, the team leader settled the matter. "Quit guessing. Get to work!"

Over on the technical research team's side, the workload was even greater.

Chen Mo had sent a wide assortment of materials. Although they weighed only a few kilograms in total, there were more than thirty individual items. He had clearly put considerable effort into it.

Just sorting them and conducting basic hazardous-materials tests took the technical team nearly two hours. Next, they had to send the items to laboratories of different levels.

The animal and plant specimens, along with that so-called Heart of the Magic Tree, were sent by dedicated vehicle to the Eastern Xia National Biological Laboratory in Chang'an Prefecture.

The weapon fragments, ores, and metals went to the Eastern Xia Institute of Materials Science.

The basic data package on the Starry world went to the Eastern Xia Academy of Astrophysics.

Several herbal medicines said to be from the Starry Continent, along with the "valuable healing item" in the exquisite bag, went to the Xia State Academy of Medical Sciences' Drug Research Center.

As for the set of gold, silver, and copper coins, those went to the Eastern Xia State Central Bank. The mint could quickly produce some and give them an aged look while it was at it.

They had just finished "sorting the otherworldly trash" when the planning experts' first draft of recommendations came out. The Stargazing team had to hurry to review it, select the parts worth recommending, compile and include them, and then make a show of sending them to the translation team to be translated into Sea Eagle Script.

While these people were rushed off their feet, the preliminary research results for the various materials began coming in.

According to the compiled reports, the basic elemental composition of most of the animal, plant, and material samples was consistent with that of Blue Star, but some molecular structures or forms of existence showed certain differences, arousing keen interest at the research institutes.

Unable to reveal the source because of strict confidentiality requirements, the institutes all said they needed time for more in-depth research.

The Drug Research Center had not yet provided feedback, because the testing process was much more complicated. Most of the herbs had undergone preliminary analysis, but they still needed to be checked for other special effects or side effects.

As for that "valuable healing item," it was causing an uproar at that very moment.

At the First Affiliated Hospital of the Eastern Xia Academy of Medical Sciences, Academician Li Yunhai had just stepped away from the operating table after a six-hour surgery. He was quite tired and, after downing two bottles of oral solution, was about to rest for a while when a figure came charging from the stairwell like a whirlwind, barely stopping short of crashing into him.

It was Professor Li's last disciple, Lu Xiaoming, a straightforward young fellow whose senior brothers and sisters joked in private that "when the professor took his last disciple and closed the door, he didn't close it properly, and the kid got his head caught in it."

The youngster apparently hadn't been able to wait for the elevator and had run all the way up the stairs to the operating room on the ninth floor. Now his chest was heaving, his face was flushed, and he pointed down the corridor while gasping for breath. His lips trembled, but he couldn't squeeze out a complete word.

Professor Li Yunhai's heart sank. He instinctively grabbed his stethoscope. "Which bed? What happened to the patient?"

Lu Xiaoming shook his head. "No... no patient... It's, it's the lab... laboratory..."

"There's been an accident in the laboratory?!" Professor Li's voice rose sharply.

Seeing this, the circulating nurse beside them quickly handed over a clean surgical towel and pressed a cup of water into Lu Xiaoming's hand. "Have some water and catch your breath before you talk! Professor Li just came out of surgery. Don't go startling him and making trouble for him!"

Lu Xiaoming gulped down a few mouthfuls of water and finally caught his breath, though his voice still trembled. "It's, it's confidential, Pro... Professor! I need to tell you in private!"

Li Yunhai frowned and went into his office, shutting out the curious gazes around them. He solemnly admonished his disciple.

"This is a hospital, and you're a doctor. Except when saving a life, you should remain calm at all times. Don't cause patients unnecessary panic!"

"Can't you be a little more composed?"

"Go on!"

Lu Xiaoming nodded vigorously and stammered, "Teacher, the laboratory just received a batch of special medicines! One was a solid block, sealed separately... We ran preliminary pharmacological pathway tests..."

Li Yunhai shook his head helplessly, rather unimpressed by the fuss his disciple was making, but he still held out his hand. "Did you bring the data? Can its pathway activation effect match AP3790?"

Lu Xiaoming excitedly pulled out his phone and opened a screenshot of the data with trembling fingers. "I couldn't talk outside... Look... look at this data! The effect is... simply... simply a miracle!"

"It's... it's stronger than AP3790 by... who knows how many times! We repeated it... three times, and the results were the same!"

On the phone screen, complex data curves soared in an almost perfect formation.

Professor Li took the phone and scanned every data point on the screen. The fatigue vanished from his face in an instant, replaced by an almost frozen intensity of focus.

"Clack-clang!"

The phone's owner casually tossed it aside without a trace of concern, its back cover popping off on impact. Academician Li Yunhai, nearly sixty years old, burst through the door like a streak of white lightning and sprinted down the operating-area corridor without looking back, the hem of his white coat flapping in the air.

A doctor carrying a sample box staggered as the old man brushed past, nearly dropping the box. He was about to curse when he suddenly couldn't help rubbing his eyes.

The old man departed like the wind, leaving behind only a group of dumbstruck medical staff whose jaws had nearly hit the floor.

Chapter 34: The Amazing Drug X

After entering the inner corridor of the Academy of Medical Sciences' Drug Research Center, Professor Li immediately spotted the heavily armed guards outside Laboratory Nine.

An unusual stir filled the research center. Many researchers crowded into the shadows of the distant corridor, craning their necks and whispering about Laboratory Nine, their eyes full of confusion and curiosity.

As soon as Professor Li appeared, the crowd parted like waves cleaved by a Water-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast. They greeted him one after another: "Teacher," "Professor," "Director," and "Academician Li."

Their curiosity only grew about the laboratory, which had been sealed off entirely, and the incident that had brought the institute's big boss here.

The guards checked his identity and let him through. A few minutes later, after he had undergone rigorous washing, disinfection, and changing procedures, the isolation door opened, and Academician Li Yunhai entered Laboratory Nine.

A fresh fragrance wafted toward him, lifting the professor's spirits.

He tugged at his slightly curled gloves, walked steadily to the sampling table, and gazed at the small white block, lustrous as jade.

Wu Mingzhe, the head of Laboratory Nine and Academician Li's third disciple, handed him the complete laboratory records. His voice trembled slightly. "The material came from a military partner laboratory. They said it was a batch of medicines and commissioned us to conduct comprehensive performance tests."

"There were six kinds in total. Tests showed that five were conventional plant-based products for stopping bleeding and fighting bacteria. All measured parameters were within normal ranges. The original plants are unknown; we recorded them for further observation."

"We've temporarily named this last block Drug X. As soon as we opened the outer wrapping, it was clearly unusual."

"We took a trace sample and used a high-throughput confocal microscope, a high-content imaging cell workstation, fluorescent probe tracing, a micropore-array time-resolved immunoassay analyzer, and a real-time in situ metabolomics analyzer to conduct the most comprehensive cross-analysis."

"The results... overturned everything we knew!"

"Professor, the biological samples were almost instantly 'ignited' after contact with the drug's components! Look here." He pointed to a high-resolution image in the records. "The mitochondria and cell telomeres, after only about 1.5 seconds of contact with the drug, underwent a functional reversal beyond the measurable range, as though they'd been fully charged! Their activity shot up!"

"All the observational data, biological indicators, and instrument readings... all point to one incredible fact: this substance can fully stimulate cell activity and repair damaged tissue in an extremely short time!"

"Ingredients? Unknown! Mode of action? Unknown! Mechanism? Completely unknown!"

"I urgently halted the subsequent expanded trials."

Wu Mingzhe's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. "I don't know how much the military has in stock, but judging by the extreme level of secrecy they're maintaining... there can't be much of it. I even suspect this is the only specimen, discovered by accident."

"Professor, for a drug of this caliber, if its performance is consistent, every milligram could save a life at a critical moment! Or take the work of analyzing its components one step further."

"I didn't dare waste it!"

"Right decision!" Academician Li snapped the notebook shut, closed his eyes, and spent several dozen seconds recalling the information. He turned back to the little block of medicine, hesitated, and instructed:

"Take another trace sample! Reproduce experiments one, two, and five immediately! Be quick! Be precise! Do them yourself!"

Throughout the experiment, the veteran academician could hardly bear to blink. Once all the parameters had been tested, Professor Li Yunhai studied the data, enough to set anyone's blood racing, and pondered for a long while. Then he entered the office attached to the laboratory and placed an internal call.

Li Yunhai was an academician of the Eastern Xia Academy of Natural Sciences. Given the importance Xia State placed on high-level scientific and technical personnel like him, he could, in theory, request contact with any Eastern Xia leader he wished.

After a long, anxious wait, the office staff passed Academician Li's request to communicate on to Steward Cangming.

"Leader Simu, it's me, Li Yunhai."

"Here's the situation. The military has just sent a drug in for testing. Based on the results, I believe it is highly likely to have an effect on Vice President Liu's condition."

"The military has strict confidentiality controls, and Vice President Liu's treatment plan does not permit the use of drugs with unknown ingredients. But I feel I need to try, so I can only make this request to you!"