Mystery Paradise: Wishing Power Demon
Chapter 419 - 417: Development Blueprint

Chapter 419: Chapter 417: Development Blueprint

Compared to Zhang Zhiyuan and the others, the new players entering the game were the real "game players". They only had one task, to eliminate as many enemies as possible within the set time, or to be eliminated by the enemies themselves. If the player was still alive after the designated time had ended, they would receive a "mission prompt" to return to the starting point and autonomously retrieve their bodies.

This also helped to prevent players from gathering too much unnecessary intelligence.

Once they had cleared the roads and found relics of the New Continent or places worth settling, Chaoyang would instruct Shi Yin to disperse the mist and bring the territory under the control of the Paradise Sect. It had been over half a year since the City of Defense incident, and behind Magnificent Castle, the Paradise Sect had successively established four new settlements: the original Durey Ring, the newly built Oasis Town, and two small outposts rebuilt from the ruins, Moon Island Station and Western River Station.

This time, players participating in the global trial were attacking a new area to the east of Shoujiang Station, tentatively named Eastern River Station.

As for the population of these towns and outposts, it was mainly made up of pioneers who had migrated from other cities in the New Continent, Old Continent immigrants affected by the war, and Haiwei Tribe persuaded by Haiqi.

Although Chaoyang had decided to further develop the New Continent, he did not focus on the already established frontier cities. The reason was straightforward: the interests in those places were already solidified, and unless he could start over like with Magnificent Castle, it would be difficult for the Paradise Sect to take control of the cities’ grassroots in a short time. Secondly, the frontier cities were mainly located by the sea, convenient for transport, but they had only explored the surface of the New Continent.

According to Mist God, the cities most affected by the Evil God were deep inland, and to unearth their secrets, one must advance towards the areas where the mist was thickest.

Since this step had to be taken sooner or later, they might as well start this way.

Therefore, city construction, population management, and resource allocation all had to be handled by the Paradise Sect themselves.

Of course... In order to secure official support for the national version of Paradise, Chaoyang also reached some new cooperation agreements with the Integrated Defense Control Center, such as allowing the military to enter the uninhabited Misty Zone to test some newly developed weapons. The numerous mist creatures became the best test targets for these cutting-edge weapons.

"Knock, knock."

Xue Quan tapped on the door before entering Chaoyang’s study.

"The interim results of the new energy research have come down from above." He delivered a thick report as usual, "Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

Given the efficiency of the Integrated Defense Control Center, this research had been the most time-consuming yet.

"The bad," Chaoyang said without hesitation.

Talking with Xue Quan did not affect the progress of the Paradise game; he "saw" some players already entering the ruins of the new city, and before long, Paradise would gain another exploration outpost.

"We’ve tried every possible method, still, we couldn’t find a way to observe this energy," Xue Quan said with a wry smile, "You may not know, but in their efforts to figure out what exactly it is, quite a few experts have gone grey. They all believe it is a discovery in an entirely new field, but the frustration is that they lack the mathematical tools to describe it. It’s as if a blind man is standing in front of a mountain of gold. These findings are theoretically top secret and cannot be shown to the world through publications, but the experts complained to me that even if they could publish, they wouldn’t know where to begin."

"So the bad news is that you still know nothing about it?"

"In terms of principles, yes," he replied candidly, "People can’t relate what they can’t observe, so current research results are all based on assumptions and engineering applications."

"And the good news?" Chaoyang offered Xue Quan a cup of tea, "Sit down before you go on."

Now, their relationship was more like that of partners who had been working together for a long time.

"Thank you." Xue Quan accepted the teacup, "The good news is that the research institute has managed to identify some patterns that allow this energy to be used in more complex machinery, or rather, we have been able to make some machinery that is compatible with this energy. You can take a look at the second part of the report, which briefly and concisely outlines the research process and design ideas."

Chaoyang turned to the corresponding section according to Xue Quan’s directions... Indeed, there wasn’t a single formula or number found in these contents, all written in words, which was quite rare in reports of other scientific achievements. The first point confirmed by the research institute is that these seemingly sinister brain glass jars were, in fact, quite sophisticated in technology. The casings weren’t made of glass but a kind of transparent ceramic, and the metal seals at each end were extremely tight, ensuring the contents would not leak for hundreds of years. Even on Earth, this level of craftsmanship would surpass that of ninety percent of nations.

Secondly, they speculated that this energy was a kind of wave that could not yet be observed. Lacking methods of observation, naturally, they also couldn’t use techniques like lattice diffraction to verify this hypothesis. It was referred to as a "wave" because it did indeed not require bundle connections; as long as a receiver was present, energy could be supplied automatically.

The receivers came in a variety of forms, like the "light fixtures" in the metal warehouse that could shine, the "lock mechanisms" that kept doors in each compartment closed automatically, and so on... The core parts of these were mainly made of Glowing Stone, which could achieve more complex functions when matched with each other. The research institute had now managed to replicate these base components and used them to create a "Fire Control Computer".

Of course, that wasn’t a real computer, as there wasn’t a single electron tube in the components, but it indeed could achieve the input-feedback functionality of locating moving targets and aligning mechanical devices with them.

This meant that even without electrical energy, the mechanical manufacturing capabilities of the Paradise Sect could be substantially improved, representing a entirely new breakthrough direction.

Watching Chaoyang carefully review the report, Xue Quan quietly took a sip of tea.

In truth, something in the report was concealed: the "Faith Power" hypothesis proposed by the research institute. A group of researchers led by Professor Wang Shengli believed that this wave-like energy could be the same thing as the Faith Power sought by Paradise, and the source of faith stemmed from individual humans, which is why the jars contained living brains.

Xue Quan was aware if Chaoyang’s abilities were unique to him, then there was undoubtedly a hidden danger. At the same time, the top brass didn’t want him to know the Integrated Defense Control Center had acquired information on "Wu Wang," hence they couldn’t include the term Faith Power in the report, to avoid arousing Chaoyang’s suspicion. Ideally, by unraveling the secrets of Faith Power, beings other than "Wu Wang" could also use this power, achieving strategic balance.

But that was quite difficult.

He had also indirectly inquired Chaoyang several times, concluding that the latter could not discern anything unusual about these jars. If even Paradise, which utilized Faith Power, couldn’t detect its existence, for others to master this power was akin to fishing the moon from the water.