Chapter 449
Zheng Fa opened the document and stared at it for a while before looking up, unsure how to respond. He simply handed the file to the curious old man beside him, Bai Laotou.
Bai Laotou examined the document for a long time, and after a while, he looked at Team Leader Yang with a strange expression.
"So, what you're saying is that Zheng Fa can choose anyone he wants, make a list, and these people... have to retire on the spot? Oh no, I mean, be retired?"
Team Leader Yang explained, "Director Zheng, this is the least controversial approach, and it attracts the least attention from the outside world."
"We're taking full advantage of the retirement home’s reputation; outsiders won’t know what Hongshan is really doing."
"This way, the trouble we attract will be minimized."
This plan... actually aligned quite well with Zheng Fa's previous character.
He was someone who disliked trouble and valued the atmosphere of the retirement home—he didn’t care much about confidentiality, but he also didn’t like drawing too much attention, which could lead to all sorts of scrutiny. He preferred to keep the retirement home free of unnecessary distractions.
Yang and the others had crafted this proposal with his personality in mind.
Seeing Zheng Fa silent, Yang seemed to misunderstand and said, "If Director Zheng thinks this isn’t low-key enough, we could always arrange for them to... die..."
"…"
"Just kidding! Just kidding!" Yang quickly waved his hands, "It’s more like a top-secret project from before, going incognito, no external communication, and then restoring their identities later!"
Bai Laotou's expression twisted a bit:
Whether this method was good or not was debatable, but he had heard of... some people involved in tasks that could truly affect the fate of the nation.
The problem was, Yang was suggesting that Zheng Fa could just pick anyone, and whoever he pointed at would... die...
Not even asking Zheng Fa what he intended to do...
The resources and the sincerity being offered were even more terrifying.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment but still refused, "That’s unnecessary. I just want some peace and quiet, not to that extent."
He then looked at the second proposal and couldn’t help but laugh: "The Immortal Cultivation Research Institute plan..."
From the name alone, Zheng Fa understood its meaning. Upon opening it, he found it was indeed as he expected:
"Graduate studies, then cultivate immortality?" Bai Laotou chuckled, "Immortal Cultivation graduate students?"
Team Leader Yang explained, "Director Zheng, if you want personnel, the most crucial need is for researchers."
"In the first proposal, we considered directly recruiting the top scientific talents in the country to come to Hongshan."
"The second proposal is different; we’re worried you might want to train newcomers, but they can’t be too inexperienced. At least they should have received a relatively high-quality university education..."
"Director Zheng, just tell me how many people you need. I can find the best scholars and the highest quality candidates for you!"
Zheng Fa exchanged a glance with Bai Laotou, both feeling that Yang and her team had thought this through quite well.
"Let’s go with a dual approach... As for newcomers, let’s not mention them for now; we need to arrange for some experts in certain fields as soon as possible."
Right now, Zheng Fa was most concerned about the research on the Nine Turns Golden Elixir method.
Yang took the two proposals and looked at Zheng Fa, suddenly sighing.
"What’s wrong?"
Yang smiled and said, "I was just thinking, perhaps from now on, the entire education system—no, the entire research system—will be changed by this retirement home..."
Before Zheng Fa could respond, Yang continued, "Do you know how many people have asked in the past two years about how to join the retirement home...?"
At this point, Yang’s expression turned a bit strange: "What if we change the name of the retirement home? Otherwise, calling the highest institution of learning a retirement home doesn’t sound very appealing..."
"After all... who wouldn’t want to cultivate immortality?"
Watching Yang hurriedly descend the mountain, Bai Laotou suddenly glanced over at Tang Lingwu in the pavilion. She was feeding the fish, her small hands sprinkling fish food, causing the large, plump fish in the pond to jostle and compete fiercely, some even leaping out of the water, seemingly showing off.
The pond water was churning, no longer clear as before, but it appeared exceptionally vibrant.
Bai Laotou felt a moment of daze, suddenly sensing that today’s fish pond resembled tomorrow’s world.
...
The expansion of the retirement home would take some time.
Zheng Fa wasn’t just waiting idly; he had created a Dan Ding— or rather, he had refined a Dan Ding using the spiritual material particles generated within his body.
To produce spiritual materials in the modern world, one had to rely on the Golden Elixir.
To create a Golden Elixir, Zheng Fa himself needed to form one, which was not very feasible; at least, he hadn’t heard of a Double Yellow Dan in the Xuanwei realm.
So, he could only adopt the idea of external elixirs, which required a Dan Ding.
Thus, this thing could be called the mother machine of modern immortal cultivation industry.
With the Dan Ding completed, Zheng Fa wasted no time and directly used it to refine a Shenxiao External Dan.
Currently, refining the Shenxiao External Dan posed little challenge for him, but Zheng Fa still felt a twinge of regret as he looked at the external dan:
After all, the true mother machine of the immortal path was himself.
Whether it was the Dan Ding or the external dan, both consumed the spiritual material particles within his body, or rather, drained his Tiangang and Dizhaqi.
Fortunately, his Tiangang and Dizhaqi were a hundred times greater than those of others, so this level of consumption wasn’t too significant.
The problem was that it couldn’t continue like this indefinitely.
From what he could see, the Golden Elixir could only transform one type of spiritual material into another, so in the modern world, spiritual materials could only come from Zheng Fa himself...
If one were to calculate it, the spiritual energy was also emitted by him—he was practically nurturing the immortal path of this world.
The current issue was that if he wanted to further develop the retirement home, he would likely need to find a way to transform ordinary materials into spiritual materials.
As the external dan was completed, Bai Laotou and the others gathered around.
They looked at the Shenxiao External Dan floating in the air, filled with both curiosity and reverence.
"This is the external dan?"
Bai Laotou's face was full of curiosity, and he reached out his hand, seemingly wanting to touch it.
Zheng Fa nodded and smiled, "You could also say it’s a controllable nuclear reactor."
Bai Laotou quickly withdrew his hand, suddenly hesitant to even touch it after hearing that name.
"It’s not that unstable."
Tang Lingwu chimed in with a smile, "With spiritual energy and spiritual materials ready, we just need those clever minds now..."
But Bai Laotou recalled Yang’s words: "I don’t know if the research system will change, but I do know... some people’s fates are about to change!"
...
Half a month later, Cheng Yun hurriedly picked up a middle-aged man from the airport. The man was nearly fifty, with a weathered face. When he stepped off the plane, he stood among the crowd, looking utterly bewildered.
"Boss!"
Cheng Yun waved at him. The man turned at the sound, and upon seeing Cheng Yun, he seemed to come alive.
He got into the passenger seat and sighed, "I was just preparing for a ignition experiment the day before yesterday, and yesterday I found out the research group was disbanded!"
"The higher-ups said this project is no longer happening!"
As he spoke, he clenched his right fist and slammed it against the seat beneath him, clearly upset by the sudden turn of events.
"How much money did we spend? How much time? How many people?"
He continued to grumble, while Cheng Yun quietly pursed his lips.
This middle-aged man, surnamed Wang, had been his doctoral advisor, and they had a great relationship. Cheng Yun’s subsequent work had all benefited from this mentor’s influence.
Professor Wang was a prominent figure in the field of nuclear physics, having led a nuclear engineering project for many years.
This project had indeed cost a lot of money, not to mention the researchers involved.
But ever since Zheng Fa’s external dan was completed, this direction had effectively become obsolete—not that it was impossible, but it was no longer necessary.
At least, the national funding would no longer be invested heavily in this area.
In the country, apart from the higher-ups, no one else had the capability to initiate such a project. For scientists like Professor Wang, funding for their field would likely be limited in the future.
It was precisely for this reason that Cheng Yun had recommended him to Zheng Fa.
The expansion of the retirement home was quite large this time, and due to the unusual circumstances, Yang and her team didn’t have time to explain everything in detail.
People near the capital had heard some insider information.
But Professor Wang had been conducting research in the northwest and was the type to be oblivious to outside affairs, so he naturally didn’t understand.
"Boss..."
Cheng Yun wanted to explain something.
"Ah, I’m preparing to go abroad..."
"…"
Cheng Yun looked at Professor Wang and saw his eyes were a bit red. He smiled at Cheng Yun and said, "I couldn’t sleep all night. Coincidentally, I had a foreign university inviting me to be a visiting scholar..."
"I don’t know what the higher-ups want from me, but I’ve made up my mind—not doing it! Now that I’ve seen you, I’m going abroad to clear my head."
Hearing his tone, he seemed somewhat despondent.
"Boss, nuclear fusion has been achieved!"
"…"
Professor Wang was taken aback, staring wide-eyed at Cheng Yun.
"Achieved?"
"Achieved!"
Cheng Yun nodded vigorously.
"…." Professor Wang closed his eyes, and after a long moment, he opened them again, "Could you say that again?"
From his expression, it seemed he thought he was hallucinating due to lack of sleep.
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