Chapter 481.1: This Is Your 'Punishment'

Oasis No.8.

Li Ke, who had just gone to bed in the palace, suddenly received a communication request.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“What? We got a tissue sample from the Mother Body?!”

The moment he heard that, his drowsiness vanished instantly.

Due to distance and endurance constraints, the communications drone could only stay over Oasis No.8 for 20 minutes.

He had to keep it brief.

“Who has the sample?”

The person on the other end of the channel continued, “It’s in the hands of the Signal Squad. They used emergency measures to send a message to the nearest signal tower in the Wandering Swamp. But during the operation, they lost their mobile communications base station, so the Investigation Department currently can’t contact them.”

Researchers placed extreme importance on intellectual property ownership, not just for honor, but also because it impacted their promotions.

When the Investigation Department’s Containment Unit was assigned to a specific mission, they were required to report only to their immediate superior. Reporting over someone’s head or leaking intelligence to unrelated project teams was strictly forbidden.

That was both a rule and a taboo.

But there was one exception.

If a field team lost direct contact with their superior, under the priority preservation principle, they could report critical intel to the next level that could receive it, who would then relay it upward.

Everything the Signal Squad did was completely within Academy regulations.

However, the problem was that the intelligence, which should have been escalated layer by layer up to the Chief Technology Officer, had likely spread to every researcher with any influence, meaning everyone probably knew about that Mother Body.

That spelled trouble for Li Ke, who had discovered it first.

Especially since the test tube wasn’t in his possession, many researchers would likely try to negotiate with the Signal Squad for it.

It would be ridiculously easy to bribe a few field Prospectors.

Just slap their names on a few papers or publish some results under their name... No field operative could resist the temptation of becoming a Researcher.

And for apprentices already at Researcher level, things weren’t much harder. Promotion opportunities were as plentiful in the Research Department as money in the Enterprise.

Li Ke tapped his knee lightly, frowning and muttering under his breath, “An operation? I told them to follow those people! Who authorized this action?!”

The man on the other end replied helplessly, “According to them, they followed the New Alliance at a five kilometer distance and held position... They then got ambushed by the New Alliance and Enterprise reinforcements.”

Li Ke barked angrily, “They had drones! How could they possibly be ambushed?!”

A hesitant voice replied through the channel, “Well... I don’t know either. But according to them, they fought off the attackers, rescued their captured teammates, stole a truck and fragments of the Mother Body tissue from the New Alliance, and successfully escaped.”

Li Ke closed his eyes in deep thought, then said slowly, “Alright, I understand.”

“What about this matter...”

“We’ll deal with it when they get back.”

He wouldn’t mind spending three 10,000 point research papers and a D-class achievement to buy the sample from them, as compensation for their losses.

But if they didn’t know their place...

He’d simply assign them to an A or S-class ruin excavation mission...

In the Academy, where there was no currency, points were everything.

Assessment points, also registered as KP determined rank, while reward points, GP, could be exchanged for consumer goods, research gear, or investments into exploration teams.

Completing assessments was the top priority of any Researcher each year.

No matter if they were A-class or C-class, only by meeting one’s KPI could one secure enough or even surplus funding, or rather, GP for the next year and generate sufficient KP to remain in one’s current position.

Promotion, however, couldn’t rely on Assessment Points alone, that line stretched longer than a monkey’s lifespan. To prove they deserved more resources and intel, researchers had to deliver research results.

Take D-class Prospectors for example, the most numerous members.

According to Academy rules, E and D-class Prospectors needed to pass at least one professional exam and be nominated by a C-class or higher Researcher to gain full Researcher status.

Each C-class Researcher could only take on three students at a time, and couldn’t accept new ones until those reached C-class themselves.

Promotion to the C-class without resources took five to ten years at best.

The original intent behind the rule was to ensure mentors focused on a few students, but since no mentor who had already taken on three would accept more, most C-class Researchers became extremely selective.

If not chosen, a D-class Prospector’s only path was to independently publish a D-class achievement under their name.

That rule wasn’t too bad when it was first enacted, there were plenty of ruins and opportunities in the Wasteland.

But now, with most ruins already excavated, trying to find an unregistered D-class technology based on old maps or data was nearly impossible.

Like a video game where the last achievement just won’t unlock. It wasn’t rare, just elusive.

And for a Prospector with no resources or background to independently develop a new D-class technology? It was nearly impossible.

Otherwise, the title of an Academy’s Researcher would’ve already inflated like money in the Enterprise.

Still, for Researchers with labs and teams, earning KP and sub-D-class achievements wasn’t hard.

After over 100 years, those who understood the system had developed foolproof methods for producing KP and low-class results.

That included splitting one technique into many sub-technologies that each qualified as D-class, or making minor tweaks to existing technology to yield multiple useful but low-utility variants.

And beyond that, the Foreign Affaris and Internal Departments also created achievement standards completely unrelated to research.

For instance, a certain B-class Researcher was currently handling a war mediation project.

Even if it failed to meet expectations, as long as it stayed above a minimum threshold, it still counted as a C-class achievement.

D-class outcomes could be mass-produced. Even E, F, and G-class technologies had scalable methods. However, a C-class result was still worth the effort for a B-class Researcher.

If, by chance, it surpassed expectations, they might even be granted status in the B-class instantly!

With enough credentials or family backing, or both, they might even rise to A-class.

A-class meant joining the Academy’s core leadership circle. Even the Chief Technology Officer who served under Dr. Conclusion was only S-class.

That was exactly why the B-class researcher who discovered Little Feather's mutated form was reluctant to give it up, yet hesitant to abandon their ongoing mission.

Chu Guang didn’t know the name of the B-class researcher who dispatched the Signal Squad, nor what scheme they were planning.

He only pieced the situation together from his experience as a game designer, the movement logs of the Reindeer tracked vehicle, a confession from an E-class female Prospector, intelligence the atmosphere team gathered during their journey, and information on the Golden Lizard Kingdom’s royal family.

First, some mid-to-high-ranking Academy member went to Oasis No.8, probably to mediate the war in Sunset Province as ordered by the top brass.

According to observers, there were rumors during the Great Rift Valley crisis that the Academy was dissatisfied with the Great Rift Valley’s inaction over the nuclear detonation incident, and Origin City had simply said it wasn’t their business.