The silver metal block was perfectly fine until it collided with the ground. Xia Lei refused to accept its outcome no matter what. The term ‘give up’ was never in his dictionary.
Leaving Li Youdun’s laboratory to his own underground one, Xia Lei had made sure to bring along the broken sample chunks and the scientist’s report.
The laboratory was still under the watchful eyes of the Special Forces but no one had dared to enter. The mysterious ancient alloy was an existence that none would dare to approach.
The underground establishment was devoid of any sound. The suffocating silence only had lights to accompany it. Despite the illumination, the combination of the two was medically eerie.
Pulling out the armour set, the patch on the helmet was still as prominent as ever. Xia Lei extracted it and replaced it with the new material provided by Li Youdun. Following that, he began to observe it closely.
Admittedly, the scientist did an amazing job. His replica looked exactly the same as the original silver metal, bearing pinpoint similarity on its colour and weight. After all, Li Youdun had replicated it using its original atomic arrangement and structure.
But that begged the question. Why was the new material so fragile?
Observing for a while, Xia Lei was tempted to use his X-ray vision. However, this temptation was pushed away as soon as it was manifested. He hadn’t fully recovered. If the man decided to use his ability again, he might find himself unconscious once again.
He flipped through Li Youdun’s report.
“Eh?” A particular passage piqued his curiosity. “Li Youdun and Elder Fan had done physical tests on the new material. Its strength and endurance were recorded as high. Certain degrees of impact and extrusion were unable to dent it at all. Why was it as fragile as glass when it slipped from my hands?”
Xia Lei continued to read it. He soon came to a realization that from Li Youdun’s report alone, this new material was indeed the best material for fighter jets and aerospace equipment. Not only was it feather-light, but it also had the strength and endurance that surpassed alloys. Its main advantage was its ability to fully absorb electromagnetic waves from radars. Using this on drones or fighter jets would fully eliminate the need for special paints!
However, everything written on the report was deemed invalid after its shattering.
Failure was a failure. It was a reality that beautiful numerical data could not alter.
Done with Li Youdun’s report, Xia Lei tossed it aside and brought a fire axe near the armour. There was a brief moment of hesitation before Xia Lei lifted his axe and hacked at the breastplate.
Clang! A muted noise rang out and red sparks flew all around the room. The armour bounced against the bench from the impact, causing the axe to sway backwards from its resultant force.
There was no visible damage on the breastplate. Its surface was as smooth as ever. But now, there was a row of curls on the axe!
Xia Lei pondered deeply, “Based on what the prehistoric chosen one had described, he had relied heavily on this armour to fight against Zhu Xuanyue. It took multiple battles with her before this armour finally broke. There’s no need to picture how strong Zhu Xuanyue was. She was an invincible entity. But even she needed multiple intense battles to be able to destroy the armour. This armour is also an unbeatable existence. However, it doesn’t make sense for the new material produced by Li Youdun and Elder Fan that followed its original form closely to be utterly fragile. Why did it break just from a mere fall? Both of them had even run physical tests that proved their incredible durability. Li Youdun’s methodologies were also listed in the report. What exactly went wrong?”
Without the aforementioned physical tests, fragility could be immediately tied to an error in the atomic structure. But things were different. The numbers and data that returned from the physical test were brilliant. How could it all change just after some time?
“Wait… When we analyzed the silver metal back then, Li Youdun did mention seeing something he had never seen nor heard before. Could it be lacking the mysterious mineral powder? Do they play a stabilizing role in the silver metal?” Sorting his thoughts, Xia Lei seemed to have arrived at the root of the problem.
After a while, Xia Lei returned to the new material and silver metal. He inhaled sharply and activated his X-ray vision. This time, there was no longer any discomfort. His body had passed its recovery period.
He let his X-ray vision lock the two materials presented and began to slowly ease his mind into it. In the process, he intensified his X-ray vision bit by bit until it entered the insides of the metal block. There, he switched to the microscopic mode. Presented to him was a vast field of atoms that were as large as fists due to the magnification. Despite that, all he could see was a complete three-dimensional image. It showed the full atomic arrangement within the two materials.
The overall structure was the same.
Xia Lei felt like he was forced into a dead-end by his discovery. He could see the atomic structure but not its components. If the ‘stabilizing’ agent was not found, all the replicated new materials would be nothing but trash!
“I wonder if I can approach it this way…” Xia Lei abruptly shut his voluntary mind, allowing his brain to be on autopilot. In that split second, his brain went into a new super mode once again.
The energy exertion to use this mode was gigantic, but it was worth a try.
Under this super mode, anything brought into his mind would be dissected and analyzed by millions of ‘researchers’. They were even able to create a replica in his mind.
Just like with the drone, Xia Lei’s brain cells became his most powerful ‘researchers’, ripping apart at the image and studying it carefully. The combined effort of more than millions of ‘researchers’ was nothing like the world has ever seen!
Figures and atomic structures seized and flooded his mind mercilessly, finally allowing him to see what he had failed to notice. Its components!
His brain had even made the effort to conclude its true components that even Li Youdun had failed to analyze! In those few minutes, his brain was able to present to him a terrifyingly complete silver metal atomic structure!
Its component had included charcoal, the most common naturally occurring carbon element. There was also tantalum, a rare metal that was an irreplaceable and precious material for the development of the electronics industry and space technology. Other than that, there was tungsten. Combining tungsten with carbon elements would produce the hardest metal in the world, which was tungsten gold.
Lastly, an unprecedented component announced its appearance in Xia Lei’s mind.
It was not some kind of rare metal but it was something that did not exist in this realm. It was the glimmering and shining mineral powder-like material dwelling within the brains of Zhu Xuanyue and himself!
Those were the true stabilizers of the silver metal!
Now that all components were revealed, his brain began to simulate the silver metal’s reproduction. All the elements were mushed together, his mind adding in the mineral powder into it as a final step. It felt like the material was a secret ingredient. If it was added at the right time, the material would be peerless. Without it, it would be nothing but scrap!
As expected, a similar silver metal was birthed inside of his brain. It was the same one as the ones on the armour and not the sad excuse that broke from a fall.
Xia Lei blinked his eyes open, his knees immediately giving away. Thankfully, he had managed to stop his brain from pushing it further. If he had missed the timing, he would most definitely be knocked out cold in the underground laboratory.
Xia Lei lay on the ground silently, allowing his body and energy to recover. As he waited, he began to think about a new problem. “It’s a surprise to learn that its key ingredient was the mineral powder. But what exactly is that thing? It’s something Zhu Xuanyue needs to resurrect and I have it in my brain as well. She needs to rely on feeding on brains, which would mean that she eats souls to balance out the exertion of the mysterious energy. Could it be that humans are just a kind of mineral to Zhu Xuanyue? Or is Earth just a farm to her and her kind? If her kind needs such materials to survive, would that mean that her civilization was built around this mysterious substance?”
Were those questions even valid? Did those really exist?
Xia Lei had no answers, but he could not suppress such thoughts. The wild thoughts wrapped his heart in terror and anxiety.
It took an hour before Xia Lei decided to stop laying around. This time, he took away the mysterious silver metal and used his X-ray vision only on Li Youdun’s replica. His super mode was entered once again to allow detailed inspection and simulation.
He finally called it quits after a while. Xia Lei’s body swayed, almost slumping to the ground. He quickly clung onto a workbench to break his fall. At this point, his body and mind were insanely exhausted after continuous abuse. Despite the discomfort, Xia Lei had a smile on his lips. The man had already found a solution to an obstacle Li Youdun and Fan Yiming were stuck on.
Now, all he needed to do was to incorporate one new element into its composition to obtain an invincible durable material that imitated the original silver metal. The element was common enough too, being just metallic calcium.
As long as he was faithful to the composition chart, production process and technical aspects presented to him in his brain, Thunder Horse Organization would be able to obtain material that had a comprehensive performance of thirty percent of that of the mysterious silver metal.
Though it was just a small percentage, it was bound to be the perfect material for the world’s best fighter jets and aerospace equipment!
Xia Lei began to work on its composition list and noted down particulars about its production process. But as soon as he jotted down the last line, Xia Lei immediately lit it on fire. What he had obtained was possibly a trigger to a material revolution. Writing it down on a piece of paper and handing it to Li Youdun was not the safest choice. Xia Lei trusted Li Youdun. But Li Youdun, on the other hand, had no power to protect this secret!