Chapter 39: Radium!

There was no movement inside the house.

“Be careful. The person in there is not to be trifled with,” Ji Kaicheng said, his face etched with worry.

Chu Xiao waved it off, unbothered, and continued shouting into the house.

“I’ve come to see you about something. You don’t even need to guess—it’s surely about the King of the Underworld! It’s a matter of life and death for the Nine Provinces! Now you hide away inside, refusing to step out and contribute. I won’t force you!”

“But from this day forward, the Nine Provinces will have nothing to do with you—not a single cent!” Chu Xiao’s voice was cold as he flung out his ultimatum and turned to leave.

Ji Kaicheng gazed at Chu Xiao with admiration in his eyes.

Just then, a clear female voice sounded behind them. “Come in.”

Chu Xiao was startled—it was a woman’s voice. He had always assumed from the name that it was a man!

He turned and saw a mysterious woman shrouded entirely in black cloth. The icy aura around her seemed to warn others: this was no ordinary person.

Yet her cold eyes were unmistakably human.

“Alright,” Chu Xiao said, and he and Ji Kaicheng entered together.

Inside, the room was utterly unlike the outside—a marvel of technology, suffused with AI and artificial intelligence.

The dominant color was a pale gray-white.

“Careful!” came the warning.

Chu Xiao barely had time to react as a strange spherical object rushed toward him; his first instinct was to duck. To his surprise, it elongated as it came, but Chu Xiao, relying on the agility honed during his previous lifetime in the apocalypse, darted behind Hua Bo.

The object stopped and then charged at Ji Kaicheng. For a trained soldier like Ji Kaicheng, it was nothing.

Chu Xiao suddenly understood the earlier reactions of the commander and Ji Kaicheng.

“Hua Bo! This is not the time for games! How can you be in the mood for this now?” Chu Xiao shouted, disappointed and frustrated by her antics despite her talent.

Hua Bo was nonchalant, unfazed by his rebuke.

“There is! So, what do you want?” Her tone was icy, as if she were a snow maiden untouched by worldly concerns.

“Hua Bo, I came to see you because…” Chu Xiao began, only to be interrupted.

“Don’t call me ‘Doctor’—it sounds awful. Just call me Hua Bo!” She had endured it long enough and finally voiced her discomfort.

Chu Xiao took a deep breath, reminding himself that geniuses often had their quirks.

He continued, “I came to see you about the King of the Underworld. We need to create a weapon to fight him.”

“What does that have to do with me? I’m a geologist. When you built the base, you didn’t call me. When you built fortresses, you didn’t call me. Now, when it’s time to make weapons, you finally come to me!” Hua Bo was angry—she’d waited so long to be asked, barely able to contain her eagerness to help, but no one had sought her out, and she was too shy to volunteer.

“Please believe in yourself. We need someone with deep knowledge of mineral trace elements, someone familiar with over three thousand types, who can help us collect and build a weapon to defeat the King of the Underworld!”

Chu Xiao’s words pleased Hua Bo. She wasn’t lacking in mineral extraction knowledge; on this planet alone, she could identify over two thousand types.

“Fine! But I have conditions!” Though she appeared cold, inside she had long yearned to contribute to the nation.

“What conditions?” Chu Xiao asked, surprised by the sudden shift in her attitude.

“I want to participate in weapon research. Also, I must be involved in the construction of the base and fortresses!” Hua Bo believed that as a citizen of the Nine Provinces, she should take part.

She could survive the chaos, but what was the point if the nation was gone?

“Very well!” How could Chu Xiao refuse her requests? He was delighted.

“I have over two thousand here. The rest can be extracted as needed. Move them all out first—see what you need,” Hua Bo said, pressing a button.

An entire wall of reagents slid out from within, dazzling and radiant.

Anyone who saw it would be astounded.

Each sample contained only a few milliliters, housed in tiny test tubes, their colors crystal-clear and beautiful.

“Take anything you want, but be careful! Many of these are highly radioactive! Don’t break them!” Hua Bo cautioned.

Chu Xiao nodded, and together with Ji Kaicheng, loaded everything onto the vehicle.

As they prepared to drive off, Hua Bo herself entered the car, unconcerned by the others’ stares.

Ji Kaicheng sighed and drove away.

The trio went directly to the armory, handing over the trace elements to Ren Boyuan.

“So many! Thank you so much!” Ren Boyuan was overjoyed. “This will save us a lot of extraction time!”

“Don’t mention it. It’s only right,” Hua Bo said with a wave.

This time, Ren Boyuan noticed the beautiful woman beside Chu Xiao. He’d always been absorbed in his research, rarely paying attention to the outside world.

“Alright!” Ren Boyuan said, immediately heading for the laboratory.

But Hua Bo grabbed his arm.

“Wait! Let me join you!” Before Ren Boyuan could ask why, she continued: “You must be wondering, but please hear me out.”

“Alright,” Ren Boyuan replied, sensing that the woman before him was extraordinary, so he listened patiently.

Hua Bo nodded in satisfaction. “With so many samples, how long will it take you to test them all? Let me help. Aren’t you looking for the one with the greatest energy?”

“These were all extracted by me. I know which ones have high energy and which are low. That will speed things up!”

“Besides, time is pressing—we can’t afford to wait!” Hua Bo spoke honestly, though part of her motivation was to join the ‘National Production Movement.’

Ren Boyuan nodded without hesitation and led Hua Bo inside.

Chu Xiao’s instincts told him that within three days, they would have the answer as to which element was most suitable.

He trusted in their expertise.

Sure enough!

Three days later, Chu Xiao received good news—

It worked! It worked!

It was radium! Radium!

Chu Xiao rushed to the armory, where he was greeted by a titanium alloy steel plate at least twenty centimeters thick.

A hole, about twenty centimeters in diameter, had been blasted through the middle.

There were traces of an explosion as well.