wuxianovels18 Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82: A New Path for Developing the Mother Crystal
The moment Wang Longcheng finished saying that, the middle-aged male and female researchers, along with Jiang Linlin, all turned deathly pale at once.
Pale enough to be frightening.
Inside, every one of them was furiously cursing Wang Longcheng.
What exactly was he planning to do by preparing that?
The female researcher forced an extremely awkward smile.
“Well... Deputy Commanding Officer Wang, is that really necessary?”
As she spoke, she stared fixedly at Wang Longcheng.
But Wang Longcheng did not even glance at her.
Instead, he simply smiled at the two old professors.
The moment he heard that, Professor Tong’s interest was instantly piqued.
“Haha! Of course that’s something we absolutely must see!”
Commissioner Lu also frowned slightly as he glanced at the female researcher.
He seemed puzzled that she could ask such an amateurish question.
Since Wang Longcheng already knew to let them review the mission record, they not only needed to watch it, they needed to watch it from the very beginning of the mission. If possible, they would rather examine it with magnifying glasses.
Because what they studied was surveying and energy resources.
The environment around the Mother Crystal, the terrain, the kind of place it inhabited, the types of monsters it devoured— all of it had to be analyzed frame by frame.
At that moment, Wang Longcheng added, “This Mother Crystal survived inside the mountain and controlled monsters to carve out a massive crystal cavern!”
“There was no signal in there, so ordinarily we would never have had the chance to record the interior.”
“But thanks to the soldier who personally dug the Mother Crystal out of the mountain, he managed to record the awe-inspiring crystal space inside the mountain while in a near-death situation, and then brought back the Mother Crystal.”
“At this very moment, he is also resting near the Mother Crystal supervision area, waiting at any time to answer the scholars’ questions.”
Those few sentences made Professors He and Tong overjoyed.
They could not wait even a moment longer.
They urged Wang Longcheng to lead the way immediately.
They truly had countless questions they wanted to ask Li Mu.
And they were even more eager to see that crystal space for themselves.
As the group departed, the middle-aged male and female researchers, along with Jiang Linlin, fell behind.
All three of them looked ashen and dazed.
Jiang Linlin in particular felt her breathing grow rapid at the mere thought that Commissioner Lu and the others were about to see the mistaken judgment she had made during the mission.
Of course, because of a certain twisted sense of jealousy, the thought that Wang Yinhuan’s professional and precise survey results would also be seen by Commissioner Lu and the others made her feel so miserable that even the roots of her hair seemed to ache.
If Wang Yinhuan were to enter Commissioner Lu’s field of vision because of this, and then make her way into the research institute...
Jiang Linlin did not dare think about it.
From the bottom of her heart, she simply did not want to see Wang Yinhuan do well.
Wang Longcheng’s thinking, on the other hand, was very simple.
He only wanted to secure proper merit for his subordinate and his daughter.
Li Mu had risked life and limb while bringing his daughter back alive, so Wang Longcheng had to maximize the value of that merit and make it visible to even more important people.
As for striking a blow against those three pieces of trash along the way, that was just a bonus.
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang Qing’s expression was not looking very good either.
Naturally, his composure was far stronger than that of the other three.
But the fact that Zhang Kang had not won any major merit in this mission still left him somewhat frustrated.
Fortunately, Zhang Kang had not made any major mistakes either, so the merit he ought to receive would still be his.
The group arrived at the Mother Crystal supervision area.
First, they studied the Mother Crystal itself for a while.
After that, the two old professors grabbed Li Mu and asked him a great many detailed questions.
Finally, they all watched the video record of the mission execution together.
Originally, Jiang Linlin and the other two were still clinging to one last bit of hope.
As long as the video did not include the Command Room footage, they could barely accept it.
But they had not expected Wang Longcheng to be ruthless enough to include the Command Room footage as well.
When Commissioner Lu saw that the middle-aged pair and Jiang Linlin had not only failed to contribute anything in this mission, but had even nearly forced the survey mission to be abandoned, his face went dark as he looked at them.
The Pearl Military District had specifically prepared this video material.
It clearly carried an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, practically amounting to a formal complaint.
And yet Commissioner Lu could not say a word about it, much less blame the Pearl Military District.
Because the arrogance and overbearing attitude those three had displayed on screen—
even daring to rebuke the dignified Commanding Officer of an entire military district—
was simply outrageous.
Our research institute earned its reputation through generations of painstaking academic work.
The military district’s leaders respect the research institute.
And this is how you squander that reputation?
It was beyond intolerable.
The moment they saw Commissioner Lu standing there with his thick brows tightly furrowed and his face dark as water, the middle-aged pair and Jiang Linlin knew that the sky had fallen.
...
That night, Li Mu rode back to the Military Residential District directly in Wang Longcheng’s car.
Earlier that day, Yang Suying and Yang Yourong’s family had already completed the move and officially settled into the Military Residential District.
Under Bai Tiewei’s arrangements, the two families were having dinner together that evening.
After all, Bai Tiewei had said before that when Yang Suying’s family moved in, she had to host a housewarming meal for them.
However, given the Wang family’s higher status, it would not have been appropriate to make Wang Longcheng’s family simply squeeze in at Li Mu’s place for a casual meal.
So the so-called housewarming was only symbolic and had been changed into dinner at the Wang residence instead.
At the evening banquet in the Wang family’s living room, the chef and housemaids kept bringing out dishes one after another, while Wang Longcheng even brought out a treasured bottle of fine liquor he had kept for many years.
Bai Tiewei, meanwhile, arranged everyone’s seating.
The arrangement was rather interesting.
At the seat of honor sat Wang Longcheng. To his left sat Bai Tiewei, and beside her in order were Yang Suying, Yang Yourong, and Chen Jinshi.
To Wang Longcheng’s right sat Li Mu, and beside him in order were Wang Yinhuan, Chen Jiaqi, and Chen Jiafeng.
The stated reason was that the adults sat on one side and the children on the other.
Once seated, Chen Jiafeng was already raring to go, his eyes shining at the sight of the table full of delicacies from land and sea.
He was just waiting for a signal from the adults before he dug in without ceremony.
Chen Jiaqi, on the other hand, was very fond of Wang Yinhuan and chatted with her happily.
Most of what she said was simply praise for how pretty her older sister was.
Once most of the dishes had been served, Bai Tiewei smiled and said to the barely restrained Chen Jiafeng, “The dishes are basically all here now, so let’s eat. This is our family dinner. Eat whatever you like, and don’t be shy.”
Delight flashed in Chen Jiafeng’s eyes, and he immediately looked toward his mother.
Only after receiving Yang Yourong’s confirming look did he say thank you and begin reaching for the food.
And with that, the meal began.
Yang Suying was the first to raise her wine cup toward Bai Tiewei and Wang Longcheng.
“Thanks to the care of Commander Wang and Commissioner Bai, please allow me to offer this first cup to the two of you.”
After all, they had only met twice so far. The other side might say not to stand on ceremony, but they could not truly behave too casually.
Wang Longcheng immediately smiled.
“Sister Yang, now that we’re all seated at the family table, you really mustn’t keep acting like such an outsider.”
“You’re older than both of us. From now on, if you call me little brother and call her little sister, only then will our hearts not be chilled.”
Wang Longcheng spoke with complete sincerity.
Only then did Yang Suying truly understand in her heart that the two of them genuinely put on no airs at all.
Bai Tiewei also raised her cup.
“If anyone should offer the first toast, it should be me.”
“First, because of your joyous move into the new home.”
“Second, because in the Abyss today, if Li Mu hadn’t protected her, then no matter who else it had been,”
“my daughter’s little life would already have been forfeit, let alone earning any merit.”
“So this cup, I offer to your whole family.”
At that moment, Chen Jinshi gave an awkward laugh.
“That won’t do. If anyone is to toast, then I ought to toast the two of you as well.”
Yang Yourong joined in too. “Come, come, it’s all in the wine!”
Everyone immediately burst into laughter and raised their cups together. In the end, it was impossible to tell who was toasting whom, but the atmosphere instantly became much warmer.
It really did begin to feel somewhat like a true family dinner.
While they were drinking and eating, Yang Suying asked Bai Tiewei what sort of mission Li Mu and the others had carried out that day.
Bai Tiewei knew the rough outline, so she began explaining.
At the same time, Yang Suying kept glancing toward Wang Yinhuan, who was seated beside Li Mu.
For some reason, the more she looked at her, the more pleasing she found her.
Not only was the girl beautiful, her temperament was gentle and graceful, and her smile was calm and soft.
Especially when she smiled and her cheeks turned rosy red, she looked adorable.
And as a mother, Yang Suying noticed with careful eyes that although Wang Yinhuan had been chatting with Chen Jiaqi the whole time, her gaze still drifted toward Li Mu from time to time.
Whenever she saw Li Mu talking animatedly with Wang Longcheng instead, there was always a faint trace of disappointment in Wang Yinhuan’s eyes.
But when she saw that Li Mu had finished his wine and also emptied the tea in his cup, wang Yinhuan casually and quietly nudged her own teacup in front of him.
Yang Suying noticed that tiny gesture, and so did Bai Tiewei.
The corners of Bai Tiewei’s lips slowly curved upward. She could no longer suppress it.
Li Mu himself, however, had not noticed such matters of young affection at all.
He was listening with full concentration to what Wang Longcheng was saying.
Wang Longcheng said, “The most important next step is development. Once the Living Crystals are put into manufacturing, the first effect will be a major increase in the production of Premium-grade weapons in our military district.”
“Whether in terms of overall military strength or recruitment, the benefits will be enormous.”
“Our military district does not have its own energy-metal military-industrial enterprise.”
“We can only continue relying on outside companies for contract manufacturing.”
“Nearly seventy percent of the energy-metal industry in our military district is controlled by a single contract military-industrial enterprise.”
“My view is that eggs should not all be placed in one basket.”
“If we hand the Living Crystals over to them as well, then one company will dominate everything.”
“Not only will that make them even harder to control, but reduced competition will also make them complacent.”
“So we have to consider letting a new steel enterprise take over the development of the Mother Crystal.”
“I’ve looked over some rough data, and in the past two years, the Zhang Group’s metal industry seems to have developed quite well.”
“Aren’t you rather close with that young master from the Zhang Group? What’s your view on this?”