Chapter 1081: Space Exploration (1)

Qin Ye hadn't told the 12 envoys what was happening. He had only requested their presence without any forewarning, and this was a test in itself, one that would examine whether the 12 envoys were capable of adapting with the changing times.

He gently stroked the Harken, which was wagging its tail with a pleased expression, and after several seconds of silence, he said, "As I'm sure you're all aware, the new energy resource has already emerged. In the wake of the imminent industrial revolution, the world is about to undergo a massive change. However, the times are always advancing, and we can only maintain a temporary lead with the new energy resource. In order to continue to lead the rest of the world, we must always maintain a technological advantage. Hence, I have a question for all of you: given the current state of the world, where should we turn to? The sky or the sea?"

He leaned back in his chair, then picked up his teacup as he prompted, "Please feel free to give your opinions, everyone."

His declaration was met by complete silence.

After the silence had worn on for close to 20 seconds, Zhou Yu finally sensed that something was wrong. He cast a furtive glance toward the other envoys, only to find that they were also communicating with one another in silence with their eyes.

He lowered his head as he twiddled his thumbs in an absentminded manner. This was a habitual gesture of his whenever he was in deep thought.

The test had already begun!

Under normal circumstances, there was no place for them to speak during a meeting like this, which had the purpose of deciding the nation's future strategy. After all, they had been absent from the political sphere for too long. However, the brains trust, which was supposed to be speaking at a time like this, wasn't saying anything, and Qin Ye wasn't asking for any input from them, either, so it was clear that he wanted to hear what the 12 envoys had to say.

What exactly does he want to hear? Is he testing to see whether we still harbor ambitions in politics? Alternatively, is he trying to see whether we're still keeping an eye on international and domestic affairs despite our five-year absence from politics? Does he want to examine how sensitive we are to the current situation? Is he trying to see whether our thinking is able to keep up with the ever-evolving times?

The new energy resource was about to sweep through the entire world, and this was an unprecedented crossroads for the Cathayan Underworld. Perhaps this was why they had been invited to attend this meeting!

With that in mind, Zhou Yu was just about to speak when Gao Changgong's voice rang out before him. "Perhaps it's impudent for me to speak now, but I would like to offer my opinion."

All of the 12 envoys were extremely renowned figures in history, and seeing as Zhou Yu was able to catch on to what was happening, there was no reason why the others wouldn't be able to as well.

If this were a video game, then the average rating of the governors, administrative commissioners, and procurators under Qin Ye's command would be around 70, while the 12 envoys were at least going to be rated above 90.

Qin Ye smiled as he gave an encouraging nod, and Gao Changgong continued, "I think that developing internally is the safe and steady path, while developing outward is less conventional. However, if we can successfully develop outward, then our Cathayan Underworld will be able to maintain its lead over the rest of the world for at least 1,000 years!"

No one raised any objections to this, and Gao Changgong continued, "Our Yanluo Qin was able to unite the nation and make its voice heard on the world stage in the span of less than 20 years, and that's already an exceptional achievement. However, the three pillars aren't just going to give up and allow our Cathayan Underworld to rise to dominance."

"We all experienced that era, and we all know that their military prowess and research and development abilities are at the top of the world. The new Hell hasn't been established for a very long time, and our GDP is still incomparable to that of the three pillars. They have a foundation built up over thousands of years to work with, while we had to start from scratch. If I'm not mistaken, our GDP for last year was six trillion, and for the past five years, we've maintained a rate of annual GDP growth of around 18%. In contrast, our neighbor, the Hindustani Underworld, which is also one of the four pillars, had a GDP of 35 trillion last year."

Even though the brains trust were already familiar with these figures, their eyelids still twitched slightly upon hearing this.

These figures were truly damning to the Cathayan Underworld.

"During the thousands of years of the three pillars' development, countless Yin spirits have chosen not to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and their industries have already reached the very pinnacle of what was possible during the feudal era. This is a massive disparity caused by the differences in our populations, and under these circumstances, even if we can maintain a rate of growth in excess of 20% per year, it would still take us 200 to 300 years to catch up. On top of that, this rapid rate of growth is only made possible by this industrial revolution and technological boom."

He heaved a faint sigh before continuing, "Under these circumstances, it's certainly far from easy for us to develop space exploration projects. In contrast, developing the sea is different. Yin spirits don't need to breathe, and high water pressures will only result in a decrease in speed, but aren't lethal. As such, Yin spirits are extremely well-equipped to be conducting work on the seabed. All we have to do is develop materials that can withstand high pressures so that our dive boats can enter the deep sea. At the same time, these materials can also be considered for the construction of spacecrafts. I'm not saying that we should scrap the idea of space exploration altogether. On the contrary, I think this is a necessary path to take, but not one that we should pursue now. Instead, we should focus on establishing some simpler industries so that we can slowly accumulate a strong foundation and skilled personnel. If our attempts to delve into space exploration fail, or it ends up taking too long, our advantage will completely disappear!"

As his voice trailed off, he turned toward Qin Ye with a rather uneasy expression.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Qin Ye didn't say anything. As Gao Changgong was speaking, he had sensed that something wasn't quite right, but he wasn't able to immediately put his finger on exactly what was wrong.

This was a very strange feeling.

However, this wasn't the time to be considering something like that, and he set that train of thought aside as he began to applaud. A round of applause instantly rang out throughout the entire hall.

Several seconds later, the applause subsided, and Qin Ye took a sip of his tea, then said, "That was very sound analysis, but I don't think we need to be quite so cautious. Our current situation is much like when Cathay was first established as a nation in the mortal realm. In fact, our situation is slightly better in comparison. However, we don't have much time to waste. The new energy resource is our only chance to make a resurgence, and we need to use this period of time to develop the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and the artificial satellite of the underworld. Perhaps you could say that I'm being too ambitious, but in my opinion, developing the sea won't be enough for us to stamp our authority on the rest of the world. What do you think, Director Zhang?"

Zhang Ting was an elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair, and he was wearing a Mao suit and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. He gently adjusted his glasses as he said, "I agree. On the surface, it looks like the difference between developing toward the sea or developing toward outer space is that the former is the safer option, while the latter presents more of a risk. However, I must remind everyone not to overlook one thing, and that is our power. Indeed, if we were to develop toward the sea, then perhaps we would be the first nation to develop seabed excavation and construction equipment. However, once we begin digging up resources from the sea, the entire world will gather to share the spoils. Given the current state of our Cathayan Underworld, we can't ensure that we'll be able to secure sufficient benefits from deep-sea excavation.”

Shi Xiangyang nodded as he chimed in, "Once we develop deep-sea excavation technology, we'll have no choice but to release it to the world unless we want to instigate a world war. Even if we manage to hold the majority of the patents, the battle for the sea will be a cruel and ruthless affair. In order to secure the largest amount of resources possible from the sea, all of the underworlds will be sure to deploy their naval fleets. The other three pillars all have formidable fleets, but what do we have? All we have is the Kraken mothership, and at the very most, that can only ensure that we'll be able to occupy a single area of the sea. In that case, what about the other areas? Even if we are the ones to develop deep-sea excavation technology, the other underworlds will be able to claim larger regions of the sea than we'll be able to, and that is simply an unfavorable deal for us in the end."

All of the underworld emissaries present nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

Thus, the entire hall fell silent again. In reality, it wasn't up to the 12 envoys to decide whether the Cathayan Underworld developed toward the sea or toward outer space. With their current statuses, they didn't even have the right to participate in a meeting as important as this one.

Their input was only a catalyst to begin the conversation, leading into the questions that Qin Ye truly wanted to ask.

With that in mind, he took a deep breath to repress his own excitement and anticipation, then said, "If we do decide to pursue space exploration, what do you all think the spacecrafts of the underworld will look like? We're only speaking on hypothetical terms here, so you can suggest anything you want, even things like floating cities and flying mountains, I'm open to all ideas here."

The 12 envoys exchanged a few glances with one another, and several seconds later, Yu Qian stood up as he said, "All of the underworld's arts are formed by the inscription of Yin runes. When inscribed onto an object, all Yin runes will bestow upon that object the corresponding ability. For example, if we engrave a Skyglide Art array onto an airship, then it'll be capable of flight, and it has nothing to do with the airship's design. This is the biggest difference between the mortal realm and the underworld! We don't need to dedicate any effort to researching airships, nor do we care about their outward appearance. All we need to do is perfect the arts required to make the airship fly!"

Qin Ye abruptly looked up and cast a meaningful gaze toward Yu Qian upon hearing this. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so in the end and merely nodded, indicating for Yu Qian to continue.

This was an answer that he had completely failed to envision!

Right at this moment, Chang Yuchun chimed in, "Another area of consideration is that if we want to explore outer space, we'll have to think about asteroids and other threats present in the environment of space. Thus, our airships must be extremely resolute, so certain structurally bolstering arts should also be developed."

"Also, we need to be able to adjust and control the airship's flight speed!" Zhou Yu was also getting involved in the conversation. "Arts like the Skyglide Art can only allow an airship to fly, but are unable to determine its flight speed. Hence, we must develop speed-related arts as well. On top of that, those arts must be controlled by Yin rune experts, and taking into account the fact that even Yin spirits will experience mental fatigue from working for extended periods of time, each spacecraft will need to have at least two to three Yin rune experts onboard."

"We also need to think about weapons!" Ma Fubo said. "If we encounter any Yin beasts in outer space, we need to have the option to be able to attack them if we're unable to get away... Your Excellency, is there something wrong?"

Qin Ye had raised a hand, and everyone quickly fell silent upon seeing this.

He didn't say anything. Instead, he gently drummed his fingers against the surface of the table as he stared at his own teacup in an absentminded manner.

He cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun and the Harken, and both of them seemed to be just as perplexed as he was.

This wasn't the type of response that Qin Ye had been expecting to hear.

Qin Ye had asked everyone to talk about their ideas of what spacecrafts could be like, and logically speaking, shouldn't their first reaction have been to ask whether space truly existed for the underworld?

Judging from what everyone had just said, it seemed that the existence of space was already a foregone conclusion, which meant that all of them were already aware of the existence of space!

He finally understood why he had felt like something was amiss earlier. Whether space existed was something that even Zhao Yun and the Harken didn't know about, and he only confirmed its existence after consulting the second King Yanluo, so how did the 12 envoys know about this?

"You know that space exists? And you even know that there are Yin beasts in space?" he asked as he watched the 12 envoys with tightly furrowed brows.

Judging from the reactions of Qin Ye and Zhao Yun, Yang Jiye immediately understood what was going on, and he explained, "Please forgive us for our oversight, Your Excellency. The fact of the matter is that all of us 12 envoys know about the existence of space."

"How do you know about this?" The Harken finally spoke, and its authoritative voice rang out across the entire hall like rumbling thunder, striking all of the other underworld emissaries in the hall with a sense of asphyxiation. "Why is it that all of you know about this, but I don't?"

Yang Jiye and Yu Qian immediately stood up before extending respectful bows. "Please forgive us and allow us the chance to explain."

"Go ahead."

Yang Jiye continued, "On the 20th of July, 1969, the human race stepped onto the moon for the very first time. This event didn't create much of a stir in the underworld. However, half a year later, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa of the new continent arrived outside our Cathayan Underworld's Array of the Nine Gods, and at the time, they were met by the second King Yanluo. Their meeting took place in the Great Viet, which was once the vassal state under Gao Changgong."

The three Yama-Kings immediately turned their attention toward Gao Changgong upon hearing this, and he shuddered as he instantly rose to his feet before extending a respectful bow. "It's true, I was present at the time as well. During the meeting, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa described some... unfathomable things, and it was from them that we learned that this world doesn't actually consist of only three realms!"