In Yalong Bay, Jade City, and Wuhu Elevated Bridge, Shi Gandang decisively chose Jade City.

"I'm not good at persuading others. Whether it was the past research on Light Imprint, or the subsequent development and application of architectural life forms, I have always lacked persuasiveness. If I encounter someone who is adept at debate and has a strong individual consciousness, I find it hard to maintain and continue my own line of thought."

"According to the chairman's words, Yalong Bay is a firm leader, not only responsible for the energy supply of the company's architectural life staff but also in charge of the construction and improvement of public areas. I feel it would be difficult to coordinate with it."

"As for the Wuhu Elevated Bridge, the reason is similar. It has a strong sense of professionalism and belief, focused on the expansion in the field of transportation. If I partner with it, it would probably still be with me assisting it."

"Only Jade City is different, it is calm and honest, with a great deal of tolerance, which reminds me of the once Experimental Angel."

"At least in my eyes, the Experimental Angel was my partner, not just an experimental subject. It's just that at that time we were unable to communicate in the true sense, which led to the subsequent tragedy."

The cleaning robot said, "If possible, I would like to meet Jade City and try out the directions and ideas that I haven't completed before with it."

"I believe that if this research could achieve real results, it would be beneficial for both me and for it."

Zhou Yi asked Jade City for its opinion.

It simply said, "Commissioner, I am mediocre in ability and have no particular talent. As long as the other party can accept, I have no problem."

So, Zhou Yi imprinted Shi Gandang's electronic tattoo inside room 3101 of the library.

In the following period.

Zhou Yi attended to the situation of the new partners every day by syncing consciousness.

Jade City held in high regard the cleaning robot, "Shi is very smart, it knows a lot of things and is very capable. I have learned a lot from it, it is also very patient and treats me well."

Shi Gandang was also satisfied, "Jade City has the strong body of a giant, yet maintains a pure apprentice heart. It has made me start to examine myself, and also rediscover the original intention of learning and exploration. Getting to know Jade City makes me feel extremely honored and lucky."

They hit it off, allowing Zhou Yi to put his mind at ease.

Only since then, Jade City began to make some strange actions.

For instance, it assembled some steel bars into stair-like or cage-like structures, fixed on the exterior wall.

Jade City also absorbed quite a bit of Light Soot, making small towers and blast furnaces on the rooftop, as if it was playing some kind of sandbox game.

Shi Gandang explained, "Chairman, Jade City is much more flexible than I thought, and its precision is also impeccable. With a bit of practice, it can transform its metal frame into applicable mechanical arms."

"Through its operation and verification, I found that the Light Imprint Structure of architectural life is completely different from our previous deductions."

It appeared very excited when talking about this part.

"Whether it is the Guangna Species or electromechanical life, the Light Imprint inside them belongs to individual organs. It's different for architectural life forms, their Light Imprint prototype is a set of energy system with extensibility."

"Simply put, it is a complete circuit consisting of the metal skeleton covering the whole body, the pipes, and specific sand and stone structures."

"No wonder we couldn't figure it out no matter how we analyzed it before, and the imitations we made were clearly different from the prototype, because we couldn't restore this system and could only clone parts."

"This leads to a subversive conclusion: the Light Imprint Skill does not have to be a combination of Light Soot, Light Amber, and metal. Common sand and metal can achieve the same effect!"

"If the original Light Imprint of architectural life can be cloned, that will be a technological revolution in the Light Imprint Technique!!! Both the cost and the principle will be rewritten!"

In its excitement, it also added, "But this will take some time, and a lot of trials need to be carried out. So please be sure to give me enough resources and Light Seeds! This will rewrite the history of the entire world!"

Zhou Yi was also stirred up.

Don't say it.

This expert sure has a way with painting big pictures, no wonder he can secure funding.

But after all, that's what money is for.

Zhou Yi immediately stated, "Tell me what you need."

Shi Gandang straightaway reported a great number of things.

"I estimate that I need 1 million Light Seeds to initiate the project."

"Then, I need 15 tons of Light Soot and 50 liters of Light Amber because the current applicable Light Imprint Skills still follow this set of material technology systems."

"Metals like gold, silver, copper, iron are also essential. Copper and iron will be consumed the most, needing 10 tons each. Gold and silver, as the core conductive metals, you decide how much to give, but more is better."

"However, the entire research and experimentation will take a long time, I can't assure you of the time, so please be patient."

...

Zhou Yi felt a bit numbed.

Really thinks the company has a money printer, huh?

He had questioned Heavenly Kingdom before, but now suddenly understood them.

If every Light Imprint Expert was like you, burning money without producing results, I too would be eager to have you turned into bombs and blown up!

Ultimately, Zhou Yi begrudgingly cut the budget to 5%.

"I will give you 50,000 Light Seeds as a startup fund."

"Include the cost for Light Soot and Light Amber in this funding."

"That's it."

Unexpectedly, Shi Gandang immediately responded, "Okay, okay! I am very grateful for the chairman's support, I will make good use of this funding and put it all to good use!"

That's when Zhou Yi came back to his senses.

Shi Gandang had started with a lion's share, already prepared to haggle. Maybe, it thought that getting 1% of the funding would be enough.

Zhou Yi was reflective.

I was still too easy to talk to.

However,

now that our funding is abundant, and the express center is making a good profit, it's better to get started with scientific research as early as possible.

...

It had been nearly a week since Shi Gandang was rescued.

Yet there was no movement from Duke Destructive.

At the front lines, Shell City was still bombarded by air raids every now and then, but the intensity of the attacks was far less than in the first month, since each bombing run was literally burning money.

The attacks on the Dead Sea had turned into a blockade. Duke Destructive's fleet had almost cut off all navigation and trade routes to the north of Shell City, causing the transportation lines to become narrower.

They had also launched several attacks on the Light Amber Mines in the Dead Sea, but all were repelled by Duke Beidu.

The aggressive beach landings had not reappeared.

Zhou Yi understood that his capturing of the Light Burst Angel from their territory meant the Shuanghe Region would undoubtedly keep the news under tight wraps, not daring to make it public lest it damage their own morale.

The company was maintaining a similar level of secrecy.

The Light Burst Angel itself was tied to the secrets of atmospheric life; one misstep could invite the Heavenly Kingdom's wrath, which would be truly problematic.

Both sides kept an unspoken agreement, as if nothing had happened.

...

The situation was at a stalemate.

Zhou Yi then began to explore the Dead Cult World.

Only A-level life forms could project across boundaries.

Within the company, Bone Man Wu Yi was engaged in land reclamation, and the Condenser Jiong Hecang had measurement, light blade, and Wei, making it the most suitable for exploration and also with a robust capability for self-protection.

Upon receiving the orders, the Condenser seemed eager to try: "The two of my kind that combined before have spoken about the Otherworld."

"They have crossed over before and said that on the other side lies an endless battlefield, where if one does not kill other enemies, they themselves will be killed. The greatest spoils of war are finding Firewood Mounds, but in reality, they are not easy to find because areas with Firewood Mounds tend to be frequented by monsters."

"Using the Firewood Mounds requires silence and stability; if attacked by monsters, one could be killed."

So that's how it is, thought Zhou Yi.

But this wasn't an issue for now.

With the local Haruk, a Second Life being, present and not considered weak in that region, he approached the Breaker with this idea.

Haruk said, "Zhou Yi, this is no problem, I will help your employee."

"After crossing over, they too will become black abominations like me. However, if we do this, the Boundary Gate can only be temporarily used by it, and I won't be able to cross over, leading to a gap in the production of Light Seeds..."

Zhou Yi and he deliberated for a while, and finally settled on a daily rate of 1000 Light Seeds to compensate for the previous deficit of 50,000 Light Seeds.

He would take the Condenser there to search for Firewood Mounds.

This was also a direction Zhou Yi was currently exploring.

If it were possible to resolve the need for Firewood Mounds through the Dead Cult World, it would eliminate the need to venture into the dangerous Outer Sea and allow both the Condenser and Bone Man to continue growing stronger as A-level employees.

The most challenging part of this plan was communication.

Cross-boundary dialogue was not feasible, so Zhou Yi could only dig up a sign language teaching book. Following its standards with slight adjustments, he established a black hand communication method for Jiong Hecang and Haruk.

He picked out some of the simpler meanings.

For instance, a single finger standing upright and wobbling twice to the right meant "know." With fingers together, a pushing gesture forward followed by a pushing gesture backward meant "forget."

Fortunately, the memory of A-level life forms was very strong, so they basically memorized everything after one go.

Then came repeated tests to improve proficiency.

After two days of preparations,

the Condenser flew to the edge of the black hole in the Dark Domain.

Following Haruk's instructions, Zhou Yi lined up the Light Seeds along the edge of the black hole, where the energy was absorbed and formed a circle of light around the hole.

This indicated the completion of the Boundary Gate's direction reset, allowing entry from this side.

The reset consumed 6000 Light Seeds, within Zhou Yi's affordable range.

The consumption from coming over from the Dead Cult World would be far more significant.

The Condenser disappeared into the black hole.

The surrounding ring of light also returned to darkness. The Dark Domain became a kind of sealed, solid state, repelling any approach, untouchable.

Xie Fei of the Scavenger Team was stationed here for response, as it was the fastest among them and could quickly respond to any anomalies.

Having handled all this,

Zhou Yi returned to Jade City, sat on the sofa, and watched the snowflakes falling outside.

Lately, he had been working tirelessly day and night until his brain felt almost stiff.

The war would not be over anytime soon.

He decided to give himself a break and rest for a couple of days.

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