Chapter 122 - Acting as the Go Between
“That’s great!” Meng Chao sighed in relief. “Just now, I mentioned that I have super great healing abilities, and I wasn’t lying. It’s because of this talent that I was chosen by the Old Fire Relayer and joined a lot of experimental cultivation methods. It helped me stand out despite being from a key high school in the region and become one of the top fifty in the city.
“After I read your articles about cultivating with branch meridians, I was very interested in them, so I went to ask for guidance from the Old Fire Relayer, and from him, I heard high praises about the project.
“The Old Fire Relayer believes that as the monsters evolve and mutate, reducing openings will be more important than increasing one’s attack power. Cultivating branch meridians will definitely become the main form of cultivation in the future, so Project 1024 has a brilliant future.
“Coincidentally, I was at the point of my life where I had to fill in my application form for university, so the Old Fire Relayer suggested that I join Agricultural University’s martial arts course and enter your camp.
“That’s the truth of it. If you don’t believe me, you can ask for verification from Professor Ning. I got to know him through the Old Fire Relayer.”
Gu Jianbo’s expression changed.
“So, Zong Ye’s efforts weren’t wasted. Zhou Tianrui and the others’ sacrifices weren’t in vain either. There are plenty of powerful people out there who are paying attention to Project 1024!”
He slowly tightened his fists.
When Meng Chao saw this, he quickly said, “Big Brother Bo, does that mean you’ll let me join Project 1024?”
Gu Jianbo thought about it for a while, then said hesitantly, “Meng Chao, thank you for the brand new train of thought you brought me, but reactivating a project isn’t that simple. The key is resources.
“Previously, I was alone, and I could cultivate based on the old path. I had these machines, and after getting some money, I could somewhat keep the project going.
“But if we’re going to walk down a new path, I need to change a lot of the cultivation equipment, add a few new medical cabins and modify them into cultivation cabins, and make a lot of medicine. If we’re going to submerge ourselves in medicinal fluid, we’ll need at least ten or twenty times more fluid than the amount we drink.
“We don’t know the correct formula, so we’ll have to keep trying. We can only use a tub of medicinal fluid once, so if it fails, it was all useless. With this sort of consumption rate, the cost for the experiment will rise ten times compared to the past. How am I supposed to get that much money and resources?
“Of course I can make a report to the department and apply to relaunch Project 1024, but there’s a lot of complicated procedures in this.
“Dean Zong Yue is a generous and tolerant person, and he won’t stop the development of brand new cultivation methods and fighting styles just because he practices the Beast Soul Style. Besides, Project 1024 is Zong Ye’s blood, sweat, and tears. He should know about what I have been doing over the past few years. He might not support it, but he won’t stop it.
“The problem is, the martial arts course is not a place where the dean has full authority. If we want to relaunch an old project that has come to a halt for a few years, it’ll be even more troublesome than trying to apply for a new project. I have to apply for a budget review meeting and state the importance of relaunching the project and its success rate to the lecturers in the martial arts course. Then, I’ll need to get more than half of the lecturers to agree with me. I will also have to explain how I’m going to use the money.
“You must understand that Agricultural University is Monster University. The martial arts course’s specialty is the Beast Soul Style. Its most popular project over the last few years has been Ms. Li’s beast soul fusion technology. She spends more than thirty percent of the course’s money and resources, and now, she’s at the critical stage where she’s about to get results. This year and next year, most of the resources will definitely be given to her.
“If we apply for the relaunching of our project now, the lecturers will be evaluating it for a few months and arguing over the budget for a few more . By then, more than a year would have gone by. Even if we really manage to get it through, since I’m just a four-star superhuman, I will only get a little money.
“I can wait for it. After all, I’ve managed to get through so many years already, but you’re at the golden period after just becoming a superhuman. You’re at the stage where your realm and fighting power will increase the fastest. You can’t wait that long.
“Let’s do it this way. I will apply for the relaunching of the programme based on the procedures. As for you, go and look for Ms. Li now. Then next year, or the year after next, I’ll get the money and will rebuild the lab.
“I’ll talk to Ms. Li after that and ask you to come over to help. I won’t be slowing you down, and you won’t miss out on the newest development of Project 1024 either. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone.”
Meng Chao thought about it.
Soon after he failed his national college examination in his previous life, the Monster War became more intense in all aspects. Dragon City lost a few battles, and countless soldiers were lost. Many of the powerful elites died because of it.
He could not wait until next year or the year after that.
He could not wait even a second longer.
“Big Brother Bo, if we can get enough resources and sponsors, we can immediately relaunch the project, and the university won’t stop us, right?” Meng Chao asked with sparkling eyes.
“Due to the unique nature of cultivation, many of the lecturers have their own private projects. They pay for it out of their own pockets or accept sponsors from organizations outside the university.
“As long as they do not get themselves involved in any perverse experiments that are crimes against humanity, the university will not stop them. After all, if they succeed, the university will also share the glory.
“But do you have a way to get enough investments? I don’t have any methods. A few years ago, while I was still handsome, I could get some investments from female entrepreneurs. Over the past two years, though, the project did not make any progress, and I’ve become like this. Ah… let’s not talk about this anymore.”
He waved his hand, unable to bear thinking about the past.
Ma Hong’s expression changed. “Big Brother Bo, so, when you went to harass those rich women, it was to get money for your project?”
“What did you think I was doing?” Gu Jianbo asked gloomily.
“Big Brother Bo, you’ve worked hard over the past few years!” When Meng Chao heard this, his eyes teared up. “Trust me. The time is right now, and even heaven will be helping you. The time for the birth of a brand new martial art is here. Senior Zong Ye will definitely be guiding us forward from heaven to seize the victory!”
Meng Chao did not delay matters. He immediately contacted Ning Shewo.
Elder Ning was in the resource course.
To take revenge on the monsters for the accident they caused during the national college exam, the Red Dragon Army had been conducting a series of military operations at the perimeters of Dragon City.
The Supernatural Tower also summoned quite a few superhuman squads to attack the monster nests, as if they were surgeons cutting up a human body to operate them.
They gathered a pile of monster carcasses and noticed a lot of mutated monsters they had never seen before. They also had complicated structures.
Normal harvesters could not deal with them, so the superhumans could only toss these monsters into preservatives and put them in cold storages before delivering them to Monster University.
The resource course lecturers and students from Agricultural University worked diligently day and night.
Before the new students could settle down, they were made to be assistants. The staff could not be bothered about who was skilled or unskilled anymore, so the new students got to learn while harvesting.
Meng Chao and Gu Jianbo went straight to the resource course to search for Ning Shewo in order to explain the situation with Project 1024.
Ning Shewo had been working together with Agricultural University for around twenty years, so he had heard about Zong Ye before.
He listened to Meng Chao talk about it quietly, and he lamented the fact that even heaven was jealous of Zong Ye’s talent, which was why he died, but he was also full of emotions when he heard about Gu Jianbo’s perseverance and how he had worked quietly over the years.
“Mr. Gu, while you were still a student, we were acquainted. At that time, I had a deep impression of you. Don’t belittle yourself and say that you’re far from Zong Ye. In my eyes, you’re equals. It’s just that your personalities are like ice and fire, and you’re two completely different beings.”
Ning Shewo thought for a moment and said, “Since my young friend and the Old Fire Relayer regard Zong Ye and your project so highly, I will definitely do my best to help you. After all, without the Old Fire Relayer’s selfless help, I wouldn’t have been reborn.”
He put a monster organ in preservatives and used sanitizer to wash away the blood on his hands. Then, he tapped his numb waist.
“I don’t have much of anything, but I can still get some monster materials and gene medicine for you, as long as it’s within the scope of my authority. You came at a good time too. Right now, the resource course has all sorts of monster carcasses, and it won’t be a huge problem for us to make some adjustments to deliver materials to share with another course.
“But I have a condition.”
Ning Shewo suddenly winked at Meng Chao.
Gu Jianbo looked at him in a troubled manner. “Professor Ning, you know that I’m in charge of the martial arts course’s refresher course . I don’t have a lot of monster coins in my hands.”
“I don’t want monster coins. I just want Meng Chao.” Ning Shewo pointed at the busy sight of the people harvesting ingredients. “You saw it. The war has increased in intensity, and in just a short moment, our spoils of war have increased ten times. It’s a good thing that we have a lot of resources, but with the people we have right now, we can’t harvest everything. The clumsy new students can’t do anything either. They only cause trouble.
“My young friend, if you’re free, why don’t you come and help us in the resource course?
“Recently, they’ve shipped a lot of strange new species over. The experienced lecturers from the resource course and I have been working day and night, but if we had an assistant with good skills, our harvesting and research efficiency would increase several times.”
In other words, as long as Meng Chao agreed to come every day to be a harvesting and lecture assistant for two hours in the resource course, Ning Shewo would use his authority to give them the resources Project 1024 required.
After Meng Chao helped harvest a mutated monster, the experienced lecturers in the resource course gasped in amazement at the skills of this new martial arts course student. They thought that the martial arts course had just gotten themselves a great deal.
Meng Chao did not intend to set harvesting aside, anyway. After all, it was a golden supporter course. Naturally, he agreed to it.
Once they settled the problem with experimental materials, Meng Caho contacted Yan Feirou and Yan Organization.
“After one strengthens branch meridians, a brand new fighting model that focuses on delivering chain attacks nonstop will come to be. If that’s the case, since Ripple Force focuses on endurance and has long-lasting momentum, its importance will greatly increase. There’s a possibility that it might become the strongest force execution method!”
Meng Chao’s words the truth he knew all too well.
Yan Organization paid a lot of attention to what he said. Yan Hengbo himself spent a whole day to investigate the related articles and the experimental data.
In the end, they gave Meng Chao and Gu Jianbo a sponsorship that was much higher than what they expected.
But they had a condition: Gu Jianbo and Meng Chao had to ensure that Ripple Force would fit perfectly with Project 1024.
It would be best if they came up with a brand new fighting model that was based on the characteristics of Ripple Force.
Of course, Yan Organization would provide technological support, including the most modern cultivation machines and the core data of Ripple Force.
After all, Yan Organization always had the ambition of breaking into the market of high-end martial arts.
It was just that they knew that Ripple Force’s foundation was in the low-end and middle-tier market. If they made changes recklessly, it might get hard for them to keep themselves afloat and they might end up destroying everything.
Project 1024 gave them hope. The potential profit hidden in the project was enough for them to try putting in a lot of money into it.
Meng Chao was not surprised to get Yan Organization’s investment, but he did not expect that Luo Hai and Master Luo Wu, who supported him, would take the initiative to look for him as well.