116: Chapter 116 Senior, your toy is terrifying!

Su Bai listened to the voice message Researcher Yun Zhi had sent from beginning to end.

Abyss Soul-Eater Wood marrow extract, combined with Tier 9 crystal core fragment powder, using nano-scale formless spirit sand as the interface layer. When these three materials are mixed in a liquid state, a flow-sensing membrane only a few molecules thick forms at the contact surface. The moment the membrane senses a change in the direction of Mental Power, the molecular arrangement flips itself—one impedance value in the forward direction, and it immediately switches to another in the reverse.

"In other words, low impedance in the forward direction, and low impedance in the reverse direction as well."

Su Bai muttered to himself, scribbling a few lines on his draft paper. The bidirectional mass-energy conversion problem that had stumped him all night had been solved at its root by this scheme from Researcher Yun Zhi. He opened the Truth Sanctuary forum and typed a reply under his previous question post.

[Problem solved. Many thanks to everyone.]

Send.

Imperial Capital, Truth Sanctuary. Core Materials Research Institute.

Qi Yuan was sitting with his legs crossed, drinking tea, when his peripheral vision caught a forum notification popping up on his screen. He put down his cup and leaned forward—he had seen Su Bai's post earlier; the question about bidirectional mass-energy conversion was quite tricky, and even he couldn't think of a perfect solution at the time. How long had it been? Solved?

He scrolled down the screen.

The post contained only a solitary "Problem solved," with no technical details whatsoever. Qi Yuan stared at this line of text for several seconds, but ultimately unable to suppress his curiosity, he quickly typed a reply.

[Little Friend Su, allow this old man to ask—how on earth did you break the barrier of the bidirectional channel? The reverse impedance of the Soul-Eater marrow core is an ironclad law of materials science; I have studied it for the better part of my life and haven't been able to budge it in the slightest. You suddenly claiming to have solved it in the middle of the night has truly hooked this old man's soul!]

After typing that, he added another line.

[If it is not classified, I humbly request that you enlighten me.]

Send.

Qi Yuan leaned back, tapping his fingers on the desk. Of course, he knew who Su Bai was—the founder of the Magical Girl system, a direct disciple of Li Qingyue, and a Tier 1 Rainbow Card Creator. He had analyzed the livestream of Chu Yin destroying a star with a single shot frame by frame a few days ago; the residual causality of that pink beam of light was still sitting in his analysis report. For a Tier 2 Card Creator to cause that kind of commotion, his talent was genuine.

But bidirectional mass-energy conversion was the domain of materials science. To be able to solve a problem so casually while crossing disciplines to this extent was no longer something that could be explained by mere talent.

Qi Yuan picked up his teacup and took a large gulp.

His phone vibrated.

[It's nothing classified.] Su Bai's reply popped up on the screen, [A master helped me organize my thoughts just now. The core logic is to use nano-scale formless spirit sand as an interface layer during the liquid mixing stage of the Soul-Eater marrow core extract and the crystal core fragment powder. The three materials generate a molecular-level flow-sensing membrane at the contact surface; the membrane layer automatically recognizes the direction of Mental Power and switches impedance values between the forward and reverse directions.]

[The Abyss Soul-Eater marrow core and the Tier 9 crystal core fragments have a magical repulsion reaction at room temperature, but the interface effect of the nano formless spirit sand can convert the repulsion energy into kinetic energy to drive the membrane to flip. Simply put, it makes two materials that were originally mutually exclusive push each other along on the membrane layer.]

The teacup in Qi Yuan's hand slipped.

Clatter. Broken porcelain shards splattered everywhere. The scalding spiritual tea splashed onto his old cloth shoes, but he didn't even notice.

A researcher from the neighboring workstation poked their head over: "Old Qi?"

Qi Yuan didn't hear.

His Mental Power was crazily simulating the words Su Bai had just said within his sea of consciousness.

The Abyss Soul-Eater marrow core and Tier 9 crystal core fragments having a magical repulsion reaction at room temperature was content from the first chapter of textbooks. The first reaction of materials scholars worldwide when encountering these two materials was to find a way to eliminate the repulsion—adding stabilizers, lowering the temperature, changing the proportions. No one had ever thought of utilizing the repulsion energy in reverse.

Putting two mutually exclusive materials together, letting them push each other, and using this pushing force to drive the membrane layer to flip.

This wasn't improving an existing framework; this was building a new layer on top of the existing one!

A genius, what a genius!

Qi Yuan had lived for so many years, served as a materials master for who knows how many years, and participated in the development of base materials for countless Tier 9 SSS-grade cards. He thought he had walked every path that could be walked in materials science.

Now, a Tier 2 Card Creator was telling him: the road isn't meant to be walked; the road is meant to be flown!

"Old Qi? Old Qi, are you alright?" The assistant beside him was already pulling out a first-aid card.

Qi Yuan slowly sat back in his chair. He placed his hands back on the keyboard, his fingertips trembling slightly. He took a deep breath first, then typed out a long paragraph with a flurry of clacking.

[Little Friend Su! This interface membrane logic you just mentioned, this reverse thinking of extracting driving energy from repulsion reactions—I have been in the field of materials science for the better part of my life and have never seen such a path architecture that is so unconventional yet perfectly seamless! May I ask who this expert who proposed the plan is? I know all the registered researchers at the Sanctuary Materials Institute; someone capable of coming up with a concept of this level should not be unknown!]

Su Bai's reply popped up quickly.

[Her name is Researcher Yun Zhi. She's from the Materials Institute; you should be able to find her in the Sanctuary internal directory.]

Qi Yuan immediately switched out of the forum page and opened the Sanctuary internal directory. He searched for Researcher Yun Zhi, and sure enough, he found her!

—Senior Researcher at the Core Materials Research Institute, Tier 7. She had just submitted a draft paper on energy loss control in Space Folding circuits last month, and the reviewer column was still empty.

He stared at the profile picture for two seconds—an ID photo of a young woman with slightly dark circles under her eyes, looking like the type who stays up late all year round.

How could this person have such talent in card creation and yet be unknown?

It was truly inexcusable.

Thinking of this, Qi Yuan clicked to add her as a friend. Postscript: [Researcher Yun Zhi, I am Qi Yuan. Regarding the flow-sensing membrane concept you proposed, I have a few questions I would like to ask.]

About ten seconds later, the other party accepted.

Qi Yuan didn't even notice that the corners of his mouth had stretched to his ears.

He switched back to the forum page, and his ten fingers typed out a paragraph on the keyboard that was like a completely different person from before.

[Little Friend Su is truly a peerless genius of our Dragon Kingdom's card creation world! Creating a Rainbow Card at Tier 1, breaking the ironclad laws of materials science at Tier 2, and casually solving the bidirectional channel problem that has plagued this old man for the better part of his life! Little Friend Su, if you don't mind this old man acting arrogant due to his seniority, I would like to organize your hypothesis on the flow-sensing membrane into an article and submit it to the journal—I wonder if Little Friend Su would agree? The paper's authorship will definitely list Little Friend Su as the first author!]

After sending this, Qi Yuan felt it wasn't enough and added another line.

[It is enough for this old man to be the corresponding author! Enough!]

Su Bai was hunched over the card creation table, sweeping the eleventh piece of exploded material into the trash can.

His phone vibrated. He glanced at Qi Yuan's long string of replies, which were so dense with exclamation marks that it was dizzying.

"Why does this guy talk like he's on stimulants?"

Kyubey poked its head out from the shelf, its tail brushing against his earlobe: [Venerable Qi Yuan used a total of seven exclamation marks. That's five more than before.]

"...Why are you counting that?"

[To help you assess the other party's emotional intensity. Judging by the density of the exclamation marks, he is probably even more excited now than when Chu Yin transforms.]

Su Bai flipped the phone over and typed a few words casually.

[Old Qi is too kind; the solution wasn't provided by me, so there is no need to list my name. If you want to publish the paper, you can find Researcher Yun Zhi; she is the founder of this theory.]

Send.

The phone vibrated again. This time it wasn't a forum notification—it was a private chat from Researcher Yun Zhi.

[Researcher Yun Zhi]: [Su Bai!! Venerable Qi Yuan just added me as a friend!! He asked me if I could send him a copy of the experimental data on the flow-sensing membrane; he said he wanted to collaborate on a paper with me, list my name as a co-author, and even called me Teacher Yun Zhi—what exactly did you say to him on the forum just now?!]

Su Bai typed two words.

[Nothing much.]

[Researcher Yun Zhi]: [If it was nothing, would he call me Teacher?! Last year, a Tier 8 researcher from our institute asked him to review a paper and was scolded by him from beginning to end; he didn't even spare the abstract!!]

[Su Bai]: [Probably in a good mood.]

[Researcher Yun Zhi]: [In a good mood at two in the morning?!]

Before Su Bai could reply, Researcher Yun Zhi's next message had already popped up.

[Researcher Yun Zhi]: [Forget it, never mind. I'm driving and will be there in ten minutes; I've brought all the data! The three sets of proportion schemes are all in the incubator; we'll talk in detail when I arrive—by the way, do you think we should publish the paper? Regarding Old Qi.]

[Su Bai]: [Of course you can; having the Sanctuary list you as the first author, the benefits will slowly... Besides, this kind of question shouldn't be asked to me; you should know better than I do!]

[Researcher Yun Zhi]: [Makes sense!]

Then the profile picture went gray.

At this very moment. Truth Sanctuary Core Materials Research Institute.

Qi Yuan stared at the "Yes" sent by Researcher Yun Zhi and was immediately overjoyed.

Of course, he was benefiting from a junior this time, but for Researcher Yun Zhi, the benefits were also astonishing. Not to mention the massive amount of resources, Qi Yuan could also help her completely fill in the experimental data that hadn't been completed, and this was where the theory truly needed to consume money; it wasn't something an ordinary person could handle.

"A paper in this direction might allow me to create a new card... There are indeed too many geniuses buried within the Sanctuary. However, for Su Bai to be able to find such talent, this kid... Haha, it really is geniuses attracting each other; as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together!"

Qi Yuan leaned back in his chair, looking at the various concepts Su Bai had proposed on the forum, and suddenly let out a low chuckle that he couldn't control himself.

There was an indescribable flavor in that laughter—like someone who had been lonely in a certain field for the better part of his life, finally confirming that there truly existed in this world a genius he could never catch up to.

At the same age, he didn't even know what these questions Su Bai was asking were! Yet Su Bai could constantly inquire on the forum and keep discussing with others; the younger generation is truly to be feared.

The young researcher beside him finally couldn't help but lean over to take a look at the screen. Then, they felt terrible.

"Old Qi, you just called him... a peerless genius? He's only Tier 2. His forum level is only level two—"

"Level doesn't matter."

Qi Yuan picked up his newly replaced teacup and took a large gulp, his fingers typing the paper outline rapidly on the keyboard, "You help me call out all the Abyss Soul-Eater marrow cores in the laboratory's No. 3 cold storage. Yes, all of them. Also, that batch of unopened Tier 9 crystal core fragment powder, go to the materials warehouse and get fifty grams."

"Fifty grams?!"

"If it's not enough, add more."

The young researcher silently turned to get the materials.

Qi Yuan took another gulp of tea and suddenly remembered one thing. He had just scolded a certain Card Creator who "made a heart-exploding card for the War Emperor's daughter" to the point of being bloody-headed on the phone yesterday; could that also count as offending some genius with whimsical ideas?

No, how could someone with that kind of shitty concept compare to a top-tier genius like Su Bai? Impossible, impossible.

Qi Yuan's fingers paused.

"...Forget it. I'll apologize to War Emperor Wei Potian another day. I don't have time now."

He continued to write furiously.