"The Crucible..."
Li Wen muttered something.
"It sounds pretty high-end. What exactly does the project involve? Tell me about it."
"It's just an ordinary stove, um, ordinary."
Li Wen didn't say anything, just stared at Xu Le for a while with narrowed eyes.
After being stared at by Li Wen for a while, Xu Le knew that if he didn't come up with something tangible, Li Wen would not approve the resources.
After all, the implementation of the furnace project is not just a matter of money. Reliable researchers, a huge and safe site, and even the stationing of some troops are all necessary.
At this point, Xu Le handed Li Wen a plan that he and Xia Libo had just come up with in the past few days.
Secretary Liu wanted to take it, but Xu Le did not let go. It was obvious that he didn't even want Secretary Liu to know about this.
While Secretary Liu was frowning, Li Wen had already walked over.
"Give it to me."
"Yes." Secretary Liu nodded and stepped back.
Li Wen took over Xu Le's plan himself. When he saw that the content of the project was about the release, combustion, and utilization of ancient sound energy, he suddenly closed the plan.
"You're pretty courageous, aren't you?"
Xu Le lowered his head and tilted slightly to the side.
"good."
Li Wen glanced at Secretary Liu next to him and waved.
"Go and do something else."
"Understood." Secretary Liu walked out of the door calmly. He would not refuse Li Wen's order.
When Li Wen and Xu Le were the only ones left in the office, Li Wen reopened the document submitted by Xu Le.
"It's good to be able to come up with such an idea and have a specific plan. At least you didn't become blindly arrogant because of your previous success and remained vigilant enough."
Is this a compliment? It still feels like a bit of criticism. Xu Le unconsciously poured himself a glass of water, then rubbed the glass back and forth a few times.
"Secretary Liu is certainly different from Uncle Li. I don't know him well."
"I don't think you know much about me." Li Wen smiled.
"Indeed, but your positions are different. Uncle Li is in a position where he no longer needs to interfere with me to gain benefits, but Secretary Liu can't do that, so we need to be treated differently." Xu Le said truthfully.
After hearing Xu Le's words, Li Wen was not angry, but nodded with satisfaction.
"It's really good that you think this way. In fact, most of the time, the people who don't wish you well are the people around you."
"Uh? Why do you say that?"
Hearing Xu Le's question, Li Wen's eyes gradually became blurred, as if he was recalling something from the past.
“No one cultivates barren fields, but once cultivated, people fight for them. They dislike you for being poor and fear you for being rich. They hate you for having something and laugh at you for not having it. Sometimes, even your parents will not sincerely bless you.
So if you want to succeed, you have to understand that when you do anything, when you want to make it public, it’s best to do it when the results have already blossomed.”
Listening to Li Wen's words, Xu Le nodded as if he understood.
"knew."
"I will try to get you a piece of land. Do you have any good ideas?"
"I don't have any ideas. I'll go wherever Uncle Li arranges me to go. As long as Uncle Li can take care of me, that's all."
"Don't you really consider your future development?"
Xu Le raised his head and said with a righteous look:
"I am doing this all for Zion, not for personal gain."
"That's very nice of you to say. Say a few more words."
"I don't know how to design, manufacture, or research and develop. I only have a passion for making Zion even greater..."
"Alright, alright, I'm getting goosebumps now. I'll transfer the funding and basic research personnel to you."
Li Wen waved his hand to stop Xu Le from continuing. He didn't expect Xu Le to be so shameless.
Seeing that Li Wen was about to give in, Xu Le quickly asked:
"Uncle Li, it would be better if we get some more troops or something, otherwise I won't be able to defend the place if something goes wrong..."
"I don't think these are what you want." Li Wen said expressionlessly.
"Huh? What?" Xu Le expressed his confusion.
"You want me to die." Li Wen said again.
"This, really doesn't exist."
"Okay, go back and wait for notification."
"clear."
Secretary Liu came back slowly after Xu Le left, with a new cup of tea prepared for Li Wen.
"Why don't you ask about the project just now?" Li Wen suddenly said to Secretary Liu.
"The Minister will tell me if necessary."
"Oh, can't you guess it?" Li Wen said with a smile.
Secretary Liu pondered for a while, then walked up to Li Wen in a serious manner:
"It's too dangerous, Minister. If you fail or a major accident happens, the news will definitely leak out. Then the Red Moon Temple will definitely send people to interfere, and you will be pushed out..."
“But it is undeniable that this so-called furnace is also very profitable and may be able to break the monopoly of the Red Moon Temple.” Li Wen narrowed his eyes.
"Why does the Minister trust Xu Le so much?"
"Trust? That guy is full of tricks except for his belly button swallow and skin swallow. Who dares to trust him?"
"Then why ..."
"Maybe he's very brave."
"What's the meaning?"
"Courage is the most precious quality of human beings, nothing else. When he dares to stand against the Son of Gu Yinduo, it doesn't matter what secrets he has."
…
In the evening, many white lanterns have been hung in Zion to commemorate those who died in the Black Tide Battle.
The originally scheduled performance by the Zion Art Troupe has been completely cancelled, and replaced by a few slightly boring singing programs.
The projection project was arranged, but Wang Man, who was sitting on the rooftop, was not happy at all.
Of course, she didn't go to the rooftop to jump off the building or anything like that. She was a very optimistic person and she came here just because she could see more clearly.
Wang Man had a few bottles of juice next to her. She originally wanted to buy beer, but after thinking about it, she decided not to.
"Are you unhappy?" a female voice asked softly. It was Wang Man's leader, Sha.
"The show has been cancelled, they are all dead, a year's hard work has gone to waste, how can Sister Sha be happy?"
Wang Man's expression was a little bitter, but her bitterness seemed to be more than just the setbacks in her career, and Sha also noticed this.
So, she hugged Wang Man into her arms and comforted her:
"Dark times are something that everyone goes through, and we can only become stronger for it."
"Sister Sha is right." Wang Man also hugged the person who had always been like an older sister to her.
"You said last time that the flowers in Jiming Temple have bloomed, so where is the person you are waiting for? Is he not with you?"
"He already has a girlfriend..." Wang Man's expression was a little depressed, but when Sha's gaze was out of reach, there was a glimmer of something strange in Wang Man's eyes.
"He's not the same person as you... Well, I didn't expect this to happen. What's his name?"
"His name is Xu Le." Wang Man whispered.
Sha didn't notice Wang Man's look. After comforting Wang Man for a while, she asked again:
"Have you and Xu Le been playmates since childhood? What kind of person is he? If you don't mind, you can tell me about him."
Wang Man narrowed her eyes, as if recalling the happy things in her childhood, and after a while she said:
"Yes, Brother Xu Le and I have been playmates since childhood..."
Wang Man began to slowly recount Xu Le's past, saying that after he went to the lighthouse, his personality changed drastically and he became a warlock.
"Although your story is brief, it is indeed full of twists and turns. It might be his loss that he didn't stay with you."
"Haha, thank you Sister Sha for comforting me."
"Okay, then you should have a good rest. I still have to go back and work overtime..."
"Sister Sha, take care."
Watching Sha leave, Wang Man slowly clenched her fists, and her eyes gradually shone.
The light here is not just a look, but real white light.
"Perhaps it's just like what Xu Le said, there are very few people in this world who are sincere. Most people have their own purposes, and Sister Sha is the same..."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.
In the city center of Zion, Xu Le and Ding Ke sat in the center of Zion People's Square, looking a little bored.
The food in front of him had been eaten up by Ding Ke, and even half of the Happy Fat House Water had been drunk.
As for why the dog is not here, it is mainly because the dog needs to be on duty today.
This is certainly true of civil servants responsible for security.
While everyone is enjoying holidays and annual meetings, someone has to be responsible for the safety of the city.
After eating and drinking his fill, Ding Ke was already lying in Xu Le's arms, making meowing sounds continuously.
"There are so many lights in every house, but it's a pity that there is no place for us."
Meow! ~
"But it will be available soon."
With Ding Ke, Xu Le waited until Ai Li got off work and it was already past 12 o'clock.
Ai Li accompanied Xu Le to have a good and expensive meal at a roadside stall, which cost them up to 11 yuan.
It is quite strange to be able to eat so much at a roadside stall.
After dinner, Rewi Alley sent Xu Le home...
Xu Le felt very strange, but there was nothing he could do. It really didn't make sense for a sorcerer to send a warrior home.
…
In the days that followed, a lot happened in Zion.
The first was the outer area of Area 3 in the southernmost part, where Zion law enforcers carried out anti-pornography and anti-illegal publication work for about a week.
Almost all the nightclubs here were cleared out within a week, no matter who is behind you or what your background and energy are in Zion.
Some of them even involved parliamentary interests, and they were all cleared out in a very short time.
Beneath the apparent calm, undercurrents were surging in the city of Zion. Many people knew that this was a force gathered by Li Wen, but they did not know why a veteran like Li Wen would offend so many people.
This was inconsistent with his usual style of being absolutely neutral.
However, what is certain is that Li Wen has decided to clean up the perimeter of Area 3.
The three-year parliamentary election will be held soon. Three members of parliament will step down and three new members will take office. Therefore, no one wants to offend Li Wen, who looks a little crazy at this time.
After all, no one in Zion can ignore someone who can intervene in, or even directly decide on, Zion Progressive's research and development projects and funding materials.
On the third day after the cleaning work.
A very strange factory project was launched in Area No. 3.
Guangming Soap Factory
It sounds very strange to use Guangming to approve a soap factory project, especially the decoration of the sign at the entrance of the factory, which looks like the Jiangnan Leather Factory of a certain era, very tasteless.
And what happened next was even stranger.
There was actually a cordon set up around this soap factory, and what was even more outrageous was that there were Zion law enforcers laying mines here.
This was something that should never have been allowed, but this soap factory did it openly.
And also set up signs around the factory.
There is a mine ahead, please don't die.
Some people who wanted to come and test the waters twitched their lips after seeing this slogan. How could anyone do this
Some people thought it was fake. The dense barbed wire, minefields, and guards who didn't look like mercenaries all discouraged those who came to test the waters.
This is not the most outrageous thing, there are even more outrageous situations.
That is, the city gate area connected to the Guangming Soap Factory was renovated. Part of the factory site was connected to the city gate, but the specific buildings were extended underground, and no one knew what was underground.
In short, the construction of the factory started in full swing since then.
…
"Why is it called Guangming Soap Factory, which is such an ugly name?" Xia Libo asked.
"This is not the name I chose." Xu Le was also helpless.
"Who started that?"
"It's Mr. Li Wen..."
"..." Xia Libo also fell silent. He could understand Li Wen's idea of keeping a low profile here, but with the scale of the factory now, could it really remain low-key
"Xu Le."
"Um?"
"I didn't expect you to be so powerful that you could actually find Li Wen's ship. What is your relationship with him?"
"Uh, there doesn't seem to be any relationship between him and me." Xu Le thought about it carefully and realized that there was indeed no relationship between him and Li Wen.
On the contrary, because of Li Qingcheng's existence, the relationship between the two is actually quite awkward when you talk about it in detail.
However, Li Wen's help and support to him were real. If we have to talk about the relationship between the two, they are both practical.
A practical person is not just a doer. He also needs to be tactful while doing things. This is what Bai Jing taught him.
After all, not everyone in this world plays by the rules.
"It's okay to help you like this? You're not his illegitimate child, are you?"
"Bullshit, you are slandering me?"
Seeing Xu Le getting angry, Xia Libo immediately changed the subject.
"How big do you think the main body of a furnace should be?"
"About this big?" Xu Le gritted his teeth and gestured a distance of about 3-4 meters, then lowered his head with an evasive look.
The nature of a poor student has been fully exposed!
After Xia Libo asked, he regretted it. As he and Xu Le got to know each other better, he had some understanding of Xu Le's academic level.
Noob. The ultimate noob.
Xia Libo's evaluation of Xu Le is that he is not as good as the gatekeeper of Zion Progressive.
There is certainly no problem in letting Xu Le come up with ideas, but it is best not to pay attention to him when it comes to implementation.
"Xu Le, tell me the truth, what major did you study before?"
"Law, philosophy, humanities, I'm good at all of them, and I can also tell stories." Xu Le said gloomily.
"All right."
Xia Libo turned his head and looked at other people. There were more than just Xu Le and Xia Libo present. In addition to the people in their department, Li Wen had sent many R&D personnel over.
Although they are called basic personnel, there are actually many experts among them.
Xia Libo asked these R&D personnel:
"Everyone, what practical layout do you think is needed to build a furnace? Please put forward your own ideas and plans as much as possible."
The researchers below were silent for a moment, and then they put forward their ideas one after another.
"We need a rotating kinetic energy guide device, which requires some physics personnel."
"I can." Someone raised his hand immediately.
Then someone continued to suggest:
"We need to direct the turbine..."
"The location of the mental energy device needs to be determined and guided. It cannot be done in a fixed position, otherwise the monsters will attack the device..."
"The final Ancient Sound Multi-Energy Decomposition Chamber needs to maintain absolute stability and not explode. This is the most important thing."
A group of researchers put forward their own theoretical ideas, and the design of the furnace was changed again and again.
In the end, Xia Libo drew a huge monster with a diameter of 151 meters and a height of 13 meters.
When Xia Libo found Xu Le with the blueprints, Xu Le once again lamented the gap between himself and these high-tech talents.
If you don’t know how to do it, you don’t know how to do it. It doesn’t mean that just because you come up with a theory, you can practice it yourself.
"Do you have anything else to add?" Xia Libo asked.
Xu Le looked at Xia Libo's serious expression and gave up the idea of making a joke to lighten the mood.
He pointed to the center of the furnace and said:
"Leave me a piece of land in the middle."
"In the middle? That's the core of the ancient sound decomposition. What are you going to do?"
"I think we can plant a tree on it and decorate it."
Xia Libo: …