Chapter 210: Pseudo-Taboo Item

Everyone was stunned.

A decisive battle against Dusk?

Cao Ye’s gaze swept over every face in the room.

“If Dusk dies, there will be nothing stopping Prince Qilin from achieving his own apotheosis. Of course, he wouldn’t be a Supreme God for long. Because humanity, asleep and unable to eat or drink, would perish within a few days. Prince Qilin is no fool. If he dared to challenge Dusk, he must have been confident.”

He paused, rapping his knuckles on the tabletop.

“And the facts prove it. The Investigators who returned from Dream Island all said that Dusk was in very poor condition after the battle. I want to ask you all right now: if we didn’t have Dusk, if Dusk were dead, could you resolve this anomaly? Has all the money the country pays you gone to the dogs?”

As Cao Ye rapped on the table, he was also putting pressure on them.

The Investigators needed to be pushed hard to summon their resolve to fight and their courage to die trying.

The air in the conference room grew even colder.

Everyone’s expression soured.

Prince Qilin… injured Dusk?

An administrator suddenly sneered, shooting a sideways glance at the Investigators across from him.

“The administrative department handles the Anomaly Investigation Bureau’s external relations, and we do so in an orderly fashion. As for funding, besides requesting it from our superiors, we’ve also launched many profitable projects. We in the administrative department have pulled our weight.”

He paused, his tone growing more scathing.

“But you, the investigation department, you let Dusk fight for you, get injured for you? To put it bluntly, Dusk is suspected to be the Human Emperor. And what is the Human Emperor? The Guardian God of the Human World! The Guardian of the Xia Kingdom’s fate! You don’t protect the Human Emperor, but instead let him risk life and limb for you?”

He folded his arms, a mocking smile on his lips.

“How about this: we cut your salaries in half and use the money to recruit more capable Investigators. Or better yet, just give it all to Dusk.”

Cao Ye frowned, a flash of displeasure in his eyes.

The conflict between administrators and Investigators was long-standing, a result he was actually happy to see.

Administrators had the authority to communicate with all levels of society, while Investigators held immense authority in handling cases. If the two departments were as thick as thieves, it might not be a good thing for society.

Checks and balances were the key to stability.

However… this administrator, who was utterly obsessed with Dusk, had taken things a bit too far.

Conflict between administrators and Investigators was acceptable, but if it devolved into “face-slapping”—a personal vendetta born from a dispute over positions—it would be difficult for the two departments to cooperate.

“SLAP!”

A crisp sound echoed.

Cao Ye looked over in astonishment.

An Investigator had slapped himself across the face, leaving a red mark.

He gritted his teeth, forcing the words out.

“Ever since Dusk appeared and created that wall, the pressure on us to resolve anomalies has lessened considerably. I admit, with less pressure, I’ve grown complacent. Starting tonight, I will intensify my own training and that of my subordinates. I won’t be dead weight!”

The other Investigators quickly followed suit, making their own declarations.

“Starting tonight, we’ll definitely intensify our training!”

“I’ll lead a team and dig three feet deep to find Prince Qilin!”

“We will hunt down all the minions of Taiping Dao and annihilate them!”

The administrator who had been so sarcastic was stunned for a moment, then he suddenly stood up.

“Since everyone is so fired up, I’ll bite the bullet and announce something. Starting next month, the mission budget for all Investigators will be increased by another five percent!”

Cao Ye blinked, finding it hard to believe.

A five percent increase in the mission budget wasn’t a huge deal in itself.

The Anomaly Administration Bureau burned through money in too many ways, and the administrators had their own methods of finding funds.

That money was strictly controlled through multiple layers of oversight; no one could touch it. It could only be used for R&D, mission investigations, and salary payments.

To make it easier for them to raise funds, Cao Ye had given them official approval to divert a portion of the money into a slush fund for their own discretionary use.

The money for the Investigators’ budget increase was coming from that very slush fund.

Normally, after that “face-slapping” remark earlier, the two departments would have been at each other’s throats.

But today… why were they so surprisingly harmonious?

‘Oh… it’s because they all worship Dusk.’

Worshipping Dusk made perfect sense for both the administrative and investigation departments.

The administrators held themselves in high regard, placing immense value on their authority and status, which transcended that of ordinary government departments. They were much like the arrogant scholars of ancient times.

And Dusk? He was the suspected Human Emperor—not some barbarian like Lucifer, but the true leader of the Xia Kingdom’s Extraordinary World. The two words “Human Emperor” struck a deep chord within them, touching upon their innermost aspirations.

The Investigators were all Warriors, and they worshipped the War God.

And Dusk was precisely such a savior, possessing immense Divine Power and delivering them from suffering.

Cao Ye had never expected that the constant infighting within the Anomaly Administration Bureau would take such a strange turn because of Dusk.

‘This… should be a good thing, right?’

His gaze shifted to a middle-aged man in a white lab coat.

“Doctor, is there anything you’d like to say?”

The man in the white coat stood up, his face full of shame.

“I really… don’t know what to say. Our research has hit a bottleneck.”

Cao Ye’s pupils contracted.

“A bottleneck? That’s good news. Doctor, please tell us all about this bottleneck. It might be the reassurance we all need.”

Everyone was taken aback.

Reassurance? What kind of reassurance?

This doctor was the director of the Anomaly Research Institute. The administrators’ eyes suddenly widened. ‘Could it be… that they’ve made a breakthrough on *that* matter?’

There was one thing everyone understood without needing to say it.

No matter how agile the Investigators were, or how cunning the administrators were in their calculations, they all had to admit that they were merely mortals.

Can a mortal’s money defeat Extraordinary Creatures?

Can a mortal’s social status command Extraordinary Creatures?

Can a mortal’s firearms and fighting skills kill Extraordinary Creatures?

No.

There was a chasm between them.

When faced with anomalies, they could only gamble with their lives and luck for a sliver of hope.

Over the past year, especially in the last six months since Cao Ye took charge, the funding the administrators had poured into the Anomaly Research Institute was like a flowing river—an astronomical sum.

From these clues, they had speculated and suspected…

Was the Anomaly Research Institute secretly developing a trump card that would allow humanity to fight back against Extraordinary Creatures?

The man in the white coat glanced at Cao Ye, hesitating.

“Am I allowed to speak about it?”

Cao Ye nodded.

“Go ahead. I said we need some reassurance tonight.”

The man in the white coat organized his thoughts.

“For years, the Anomaly Research Institute has been trying to replicate Taboo Items. We want to create Taboo Items that have no side effects and that we can perfectly control.”

At these words, the Investigators’ eyes went wide.

Perfectly controlled Taboo Items?

The administrators exchanged a look. ‘So it’s true.’

The man in the white coat sighed.

“Unfortunately, it’s very difficult. But we have made some progress. First, let me explain the four differences between Taboo Items and ordinary objects.”

He held up his first finger.

“First, Taboo Items are incredibly durable. They can’t be damaged in the slightest, whether in an environment of negative two hundred degrees or four trillion degrees Celsius. This is something we can imitate. We use a ‘particle exchanger’ to arrange carbon atoms with the strongest chemical bonds into a perfect three-dimensional lattice—no crystal faces, no seams. We make countless carbon nanotubes directly weld together at the atomic level as they grow, forming a single ‘supermolecule’…”

Cao Ye’s brow furrowed.

‘What the hell is he talking about? I don’t understand any of this.’

“Get to the point.”

The man in the white coat said sheepishly,

“In short, we can create a substance harder than diamond. I call it ‘Spirit Stone’. Ahem… we haven’t tested it. The durability of a Spirit Stone might not match that of a Taboo Item, but it’s definitely the closest substance in the world we have right now.”

He held up his second finger.

“Second, Taboo Items possess miraculous powers. By learning from Prince Bright Lamp, we can engrave Rune patterns onto the Spirit Stones. If Spiritual Power is injected, this Spirit Stone weapon will gain Supernatural Power.”

Cao Ye raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve already gotten this far? Then what’s your bottleneck?”

The man in the white coat gave a bitter smile.

“The bottleneck lies in the last two characteristics I’m about to describe.”

He held up his third finger.

“The third characteristic of a Taboo Item is that it possesses miraculous Spiritual Qi and a lingering will. Our pseudo-Taboo Items have no Spiritual Qi, so the Rune arrays engraved on them are completely useless.”

He held up his fourth finger.

“The fourth characteristic is that Taboo Items have a very strange energy. Prince Bright Lamp says it’s the lingering will of the gods and demons who used them. As for Spiritual Qi, give me another twenty years, and maybe I can find a substitute. But this lingering will… there’s no way for us to replicate that.”

Cao Ye frowned in thought.

The man in the white coat added,

“Compared to true Taboo Items, our pseudo-Taboo Items are too crude. We can’t create things with terrifying power like the Five Emperors Poison Coin, the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse, or the Mother-Child Black Coffin. But as long as they’re supported by Spiritual Qi, summoning flames or releasing lightning shouldn’t be a problem. Also, to take full advantage of the Spirit Stone’s hardness, it’s best to shape the pseudo-Taboo Items into swords or blades.”

He suddenly thought of something and waved his hands frantically.

“And don’t even think about asking me to make things like handguns. First, the difficulty is too high. Second, Spirit Stone bullets would be an extravagant waste, and completely pointless. A single small dagger would cost close to ten million to make.”

Cao Ye’s frown deepened as he listened.

“So, do you even consider these Taboo Items?”

The man in the white coat shook his head honestly.

“No. I call these weapons ‘Spiritual Artifacts,’ which is why I call the material used to make them ‘Spirit Stones’.”

Cao Ye’s frown grew deeper and deeper.

The man in the white coat quickly said,

“The good news is that our Spiritual Artifacts can be mass-produced! And… with those Rune and spiritual arrays, they can harm Extraordinary Creatures.”