Chapter 1003: First Inklings of Doubt

It was a red magazine with an omniscient eye printed on the cover, and around the eye were written the words "Scientific Eye" in the languages of the four pillars.

All of the scientists in the academic world knew that circulation for this magazine was very limited, but it represented the peak of scientific journalism, and all articles published on the magazine were definitely worthy of close attention.

On this occasion, the headline on the cover was: "Does the New Energy Resource Truly Exist?"

The author of the article was none other than Archimedes.

Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon seeing this before opening the magazine to read the article.

"A new energy resource is an eternal pursuit for the world, both in the mortal realm and the underworld. During the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource press conference held a week ago, we were fortunate enough to have witnessed the foundation for the future. However, after the conference, I couldn't help but ask myself: 'did we really see the foundation of the future?'. Perhaps many of you will wonder what there is to doubt given that we've already been presented with a decisive prototype unit. However, all true scientists know that on the path to pursuing knowledge, there are two factors that determine how far a scientist will go. The first factor is their wealth of knowledge. Only with sufficient foundational knowledge will one be able to do great things. The second factor is logic."

"This is quite well-written," Qin Ye remarked. "Did someone else write this in his stead?"

Zu Chongzhi shook his head in response. "As one of the founding fathers of many fields of science in the world, Mr. Archimedes would have no trouble writing something like this. In fact, he's always one of the chief editors of the Scientific Eye."

"I see," Qin Ye sighed in a forlorn manner.

Archimedes was indeed a brilliant mind, but given their respective stances, his brilliance made him a troublesome adversary to the Cathayan Underworld.

Given the opportunity, he wouldn't mind stomping this pioneer of the past deep into the dirt.

He continued reading.

"There are no concrete parameters to describe the logic of a scholar, but all top-tier scientists should be aware that when producing an invention, the first step is to think. One's wealth of knowledge determines the depth of their thinking, and after that comes the development of logic. Why is something happening? Why isn't something happening? What determines whether something happens or not? All of the questions that arise during the process of invention can only be answered through a sound logical framework and extensive experimentation. During the Cathayan Underworld's press conference, I saw a type of logic, namely flawed logic. I don't understand why the Cathayan Underworld held the press conference in the fashion that it did. According to normal logic, once a decisive prototype was developed, the sequence of the report should've been very simple and smooth. However, what all of the scientists at the press conference saw was an incomplete first segment. Mr. Röntgen and Mr. Blackett pointed out some fundamental flaws with that first segment of the presentation, but they didn't receive any convincing answers. This shouldn't be how a press conference is held if there is already a viable prototype in existence."

Is he finally about to get to the point? Qin Ye calmly flipped over the page. Archimedes's article was very long, but he had enough patience to read it to the end.

"Right as I was wondering about what stage the Cathayan Underworld had reached in its research and development and whether they required assistance from us, the events that unfolded next further deepened my suspicions. The first segment of the presentation had just concluded, and they attributed everything to King Yanluo's Seal. However, they then suddenly began to talk about the new energy resource's future outlook in the second segment! My first thought was that they were trying to distract and deceive everyone, but out of respect for science, I continued listening. The second segment was dedicated to the investors, and it was quite a lengthy segment, but they read out the entire thing, even though it was completely unsuitable for the situation at the time. As for the third segment, there wasn't even a verbal presentation, all they did was bring out the new energy resource unit! At the time, I was stunned, but also perplexed. What kind of mindset and logic could've led to such a bemusing sequence of presentation? If they had a prototype, then they should've brought it out to begin with instead of wasting everyone's time. Were they trying to make a fool out of all of the scientists in attendance? After pondering this matter further, I decided that this wasn't the case. There were some clear holes in the first segment of the presentation, and that made the situation even more perplexing. Why is it that an inventor is unable to explain their own invention? This made me think that the sequence of the presentation had never been settled on to begin with. It felt as if they had moved on to the second part as a spur-of-the-moment decision in order to avoid the holes in the first part from being scrutinized any further. In the end, it seemed like they had been forced to bring out a prototype. However, if the prototype were genuine, then why would there have been holes in the first segment of their presentation? I thought about this for a very long time, and in the end, a harrowing possibility sprang into my mind. What if there are some elements of falsehood in both the prototype and the entire press conference? That would perfectly explain the abnormalities in the press conference! Please note that this is only a theory of mine that is not supported by any evidence. What is further compounding my doubts are the existence of things unique to the Cathayan Underworld, such as King Yanluo's seal and a being above the Yama-King level. We can speculate all we want about what these things are capable of, but no one knows exactly what they can do aside from the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo. Also, even the prototype presented at the end wasn't made available for close inspection to any of the scientists! Of course, I'm sure the Cathayan Underworld wouldn't deceive the entire underworld over something like this. Otherwise, all of the international patents would be shut off to them. The reputation of a scam artist isn't something that one of the four pillars should carry. ln any case, the way to discern the truth is very simple. The United Underworlds Scientific Research Committee will be keeping a close eye on the monthly and quarterly reports issued by the Cathayan Underworld surrounding the new energy resource. We warmly embrace every piece of new technology, but we definitely won't let any liars and charlatans get away with deceiving everyone."

Including the attached images, this article was a full three pages in length.

"This wasn't written by Archimedes himself," Qin Ye said in a calm voice as he closed the magazine. "He approved of the publication of the article, but it had to have been written by a foreign affairs official of the Argosian Underworld. The article seems to be quite mild, but a lot of ambiguous wording is used, as well as a lot of inducive vocabulary, which leads me to believe that this wasn't written by him."

"Regardless of whether it was written by him, what do we do now, Your Excellency?" Lu Ban asked in a concerned manner.

"We ignore it," Qin Ye replied with tightly furrowed brows. "We don't have time to be addressing speculation from the outside world. Back when I decided to move on to the second part of the presentation prematurely, I asked you if you were willing to put your reputation on the line."

Lu Ban smiled as he replied, "And my answer remains the same, I'm not afraid to have my name dragged through the mud."

Deng Ruifeng didn't say anything, but he was filled with genuine admiration toward Lu Ban and Zu Chongzhi.

In terms of professionalism, they were perhaps superior to these ancient scholars, but if the same decision were left to him, then he would have to think about it for at least a day or two before making his choice.

He had also witnessed Qin Ye's possession of Lu Ban, and this meant that their communication had been extremely brief. Lu Ban had agreed to do this without a second thought, and this wasn't just going to be a slight dent on his reputation.

At the very least, they wouldn't be able to produce reports concurrent with their perceived progress for the next two to three years, and no one knew exactly how long it would take for them to catch up.

During that time, he was going to be known as a disgrace and a charlatan to the entire academic world!

Prior to this, he had thought that either Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, or he would've been more fit to act as team leader, but that thought had completely faded now.

With great power came great responsibility, and he was glad that he was being shielded from such a massive responsibility.

"Rest assured, I will repay you handsomely for the faith you've placed in me," Qin Ye vowed in a serious manner. "We'll take a break for three days, following which the Resurgence Team will be officially founded!"

Is it finally about to begin?

Deng Ruifeng repressed the tumultuous emotions in his heart as he asked, "May I ask what the specific location is going to be?"

Originally, the Resurgence Team had been tasked with deciding on a location, but in the end, Qin Ye had changed his mind and taken on this task himself.

"The location will be Outer Mongolia," he replied with a smile. "The fourth and sixth departments of Yin Construction are all situated there. The Yin Mountains of the underworld are different from those of the mortal realm as it's a mountain range naturally formed by the weather. General Zhao has already reinforced it three times, so it'll be able to withstand all of the experiments run during the development of the new energy resource."

Both Deng Ruifeng and Lu Ban were quite taken aback to hear this.

Qin Ye wasn't perfect, and in their eyes, there were many areas where he was lacking, particularly in his administrative decision-making.

An example of this was how he had left Outer Mongolia completely untouched after conquering it.

All he had done was mark it as territory of the Cathayan Underworld and established a trade route to the region. Aside from that, he didn't even send a new governor there, nor replaced any of the officials at any level. As a result, Outer Mongolia only really belonged to the Cathayan Underworld on an in-name basis.

Wang Chenghao said, "Your Excellency, the name of the current death god of Inner Mongolia is Chivu Adam Sokhor, an evil ghost from Outer Mongolia. Following the demise of Mongke Tengri, he was fortunate enough to have absorbed most of the power of worship, thereby becoming a new death god. During the past few years, he's already submitted around a dozen subjugation applications and made it very clear that he's willing to accept any arrangement our Cathayan Underworld has for him. On top of that, he's made efforts to soothe the unease that's been brewing in Outer Mongolia, and during these past few years, Outer Mongolia's GDP hasn't dropped by much. Would you like to see a record of his political achievements?"

Qin Ye shook his head in response as he took a sip of tea. "Is the GDP of Outer Mongolia going straight into our treasury?"

"Yes."

Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response. "Looks like he's a smart man. You don't need to concern yourself with this, Su Daji has already gone to Outer Mongolia. Bring Chivu's personal file to me tonight, I don't need to see it right now."

He then turned to the two scholars and declared, "In 10 days, all of Outer Mongolia's netherworldly citizens will be vacated and be absorbed into the Cathayan Underworld. All of Outer Mongolia will be deserted, and the entire Yin Mountains will be your research and development institute."

Deng Ruifeng drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.

He wasn't stunned by the gesture that Qin Ye was making. Instead, he was stunned by the realization of why Qin Ye had left Outer Mongolia completely untouched for so many years.

Even though Mongke Tengri had passed away, there had to be some loyal followers of his left behind, and Qin Ye wanted to see if these followers were going to do anything. If they were to step out of line, then the outcome was certainly not going to be pretty for them.

At the same time, the Yin Mountains had been Qin Ye's true objective all along!

The Yin Mountains were a natural border between Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, the former of which was a vast desert, and Deng Ruifeng was extremely familiar with deserts as they were natural nuclear testing sites!

The threat of nuclear radiation meant that nuclear weapons couldn't be tested in normal areas. For example, in the mortal realm, the first atomic bomb that had been detonated at Lop Nor had exploded on the Gobi Desert at 3 PM on the 16th of October, 1964.

This meant that following the conclusion of the new energy resource's development, they were going to take advantage of the natural location and the foundation forged by the new energy resource to develop nuclear weapons as the next step!