Chapter 495: I Never Trick My Friends (1)
Despite his feelings, there was no running away from a debt to the Xia Family.
With the rules established, they naturally needed to follow the rules. Just look at how even Hong Tan was prepared to sell the research center.
Su Yu said nothing else. After assigning everyone their respective tasks, he proceeded to work on his plans.
...
He completely ignored the Foreign Students Faculty.
However, the foreign students did not stop.
Not long after Xia Qing's fight with Zhu Hong, someone else from the Foreign Students Faculty challenged the ranking. This time, that person did not claim to be Su Yu's friend. Nevertheless, a single character student was challenged and beaten up quite badly.
But with the previous example set by Xia Qing, everyone assumed that this foreign student was also Su Yu's friend.
This was a rather smart plan.
As their opening move, Xia Qing made the purpose of her fight clear.
For the second move, they no longer needed to say anything, or it would look like they were being too deliberate. And since the single character faction was their target both times, it became obvious to the masses that they were acting on behalf of Su Yu.
The truly smart ones naturally knew the truth, but the clueless ones would believe everything they were seeing.
...
Mental Tempering Garden.
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to do anything about the Foreign Students Faculty. That was not an issue for him. As for his loss of reputation...that was something that would be resolved very soon.
His current priority was to get his research center up and running before producing a method to fuse acupoints faster.
Special zone.
Su Yu knocked on a certain door unhesitatingly. The door swung open, revealing Wu Lan behind it. Before she could speak, Su Yu said, "I am here to invite you to the Source Soul Research Center. Do not believe whatever rumor you hear. I don't even know those foreign students, while both of us are old friends. Are you going to trust those outsiders instead of an old friend like me?"
Wu Lan stared at Su Yu in stupefaction.
Su Yu said, "My research center is in dire need of high-end talents. I remember that during the Nanyuan exam, you had taken first place for the culture test with 33 mastered languages..."
Slowly, the stupefied expression of Wu Lan turned into a smug expression.
Yes. She had taken first place in the culture test.
"That was because not all the languages I knew were tested. In truth, I already knew 36 languages back then!"
Wu Lan looked proud. Su Yu was nothing. In terms of language, Su Yu was basically her little brother. She was over 100 marks ahead of him in the culture test!
Su Yu smiled, "That was why I called you a high-end talent. Over the months, you must have mastered even more languages, right?"
"Yeah." Wu Lan proudly said, "I am very talented and my memory is excellent. After reaching the Mental Tempering Stage, my learning speed has increased even further. Now, I have mastered 52 languages."
The Mental Tempering Stage was indeed capable of increasing one's learning speed. Even someone as busy as Su Yu had pushed the number of mastered languages to 38 after half a year. Prior to that, he had only mastered 22 languages.
Thus, Wu Lan's feat really wasn't too special in comparison, but that was only because she had to split her focus to her cultivation instead of focusing on languages like during her time as a secondary school student.
"Incredible!" Su Yu said, "The research center requires a talented individual like you. We are sincerely inviting you to join. We also have other talented members. For example, Hu Qiusheng. He has mastered 77 languages and read over 1,000 cultivation manuals. We have Jiang Mu who has read over 10,000 volumes of different historical records. We also have Xia Huyou, an expert on the myriad races..."
Su Yu then asked, "Are you interested? Do you know what we're researching? Have you heard of the source soul acupoint?"
Su Yu's eyes lit up as he said, "The moment we discover the location of this acupoint, all our names will be etched in the annals of history. People like us will be forever remembered by all humanity."
Wu Lan stared at him blankly. After a long while, she asked, "C-can I join?"
"Yes." Su Yu flashed a gentle smile and said, "I am in great need of talented individuals, especially high-end talents like you. Join us! We will work together for the future of humanity!"
"..."
Staring at Su Yu, Wu Lan suddenly felt like there was a bright halo around Su Yu.
No, she wasn't hallucinating.
He seemed to be...really shining?
Wu Lan stared blankly as Su Yu maintained his gentle smile while leaking some of his pure source qi to make his entire body shine. With the setting sun as the backdrop, he looked incredibly majestic.
"Wu Lan, once again, I am inviting you to join us. Are you willing to join?"
Wu Lan hesitated slightly before saying, "But...what is my task there?"
Su Yu solemnly said, "You will become the leader of the Breakthrough Team! Under your leadership, the Breakthrough Team will be in charge of overcoming the difficulties we will encounter during our research. People like my senior sister will be working under you!"
"Senior Sister Wu Jia...working under me?"
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded and seriously said, "I am giving you this position because I know how responsible a person you are. I also know that you're a hardworking person. You once worked on jobs involving the research and derivation of new cultivation methods, so you actually have prior experience in this aspect."
"Of course."
Wu Lan nodded. That was actually true. Once again, a smug expression appeared on her face. Su Yu was right. She was indeed experienced in this aspect.
So she was going to lead the Breakthrough Team? Generally, only the most incredible of researchers could hold such a position. Was she even qualified for it?
A tiny bit of worry seeped into her mind as she asked, "What is the difficulty we are currently facing?"
Note her choice of words. She was already using the word "we".
Su Yu turned excited. It would seem like she had agreed.
Of course, he wouldn't let his emotions show. Instead, he said, "Our first difficulty is a small inconvenience. We need to make a catalog of the various racial abilities and foundation cultivation methods of the myriad races. We need to give a simple description of the racial abilities and cultivation methods of each race listed in this catalog.
"This won't be too difficult. We can gather some information from the library, along with a summary of these races, their abilities, and their cultivation methods. But the library does not have enough information.
"We need a more complete database with proper classification of all races, their abilities, and their cultivation methods. This will be a massive undertaking. The human race has never stopped collecting information about the myriad races, but previously, our classification has always been based on the strength of the races instead of their abilities and cultivation methods."
Su Yu shook his head, "This is an illogical way of doing things."
Wu Lan blanked out. How was that illogical? Wasn't that the easiest way for everyone to learn more about these races?
Su Yu explained, "We are researching the cultivation methods, characters, acupoints, and apertures of the myriad races. Different topics of research will require different classifications. Thus, we need to reorganize the information available to us. This is a very important task. And it is now yours. Can you do it?"
Su Yu added, "We need it to be done as quickly as possible. And we need our database to be as complete as possible. The other sources of information are still too lacking for us. With the sheer number of races in existence, gathering and organizing all this information would be very troublesome. Even so, I still need this to be done quickly."
Wu Lan started to feel pressured. She hurriedly asked, "When do you need the task to be completed?"
"It's better if it can be done within one week." Su Yu solemnly said, "And this is only the start. If we mess it up at the start, we will only be faced with even more difficulties in the future. I do not wish to get stuck doing the same research for decades without any result. I wish to get some results as early as possible."
Wu Lan felt even more pressure. Gathering and organizing the information of thousands of races in one week into new classifications. That was...too difficult. Sure enough, being the leader of the Breakthrough Team was no easy job.
Wu Lan solemnly asked, "Can you recruit more helpers?"
Su Yu shook his head, "Wu Lan, this research concerns the secrets of humanity. Don't take this lightly just because we are mere youngsters. We can only allow those we trust to take part in our research. People like you. People like me. As for the other people in the academy...I don't know who I can trust."
Su Yu said, "Therefore, only I, you, my senior sister, and Hu Qiusheng will join hands for this task. We will help you, so you don't need to feel too pressured."
Wu Lan nodded, but she still felt greatly pressured.
True. This was top secret. They couldn't let just anyone know about it.
Su Yu said, "I need to make something else clear. Our research center is currently very poor. We lack the starting fund. Thus, we are all paying out of our pockets to start this project. I am in charge of purchasing a defensive formation worth tens of thousands of merit points for the research center.
"Teacher Zhao Ming is in charge of purchasing some devices and research materials for the research center. That won't be cheap, either. Hu Qiusheng and Jiang Mu are in charge of purchasing a large amount of cultivation manuals, books, diagrams, and so on to build up the research center's library..."
Su Yu sighed, "If you wish to join, you need to contribute as well. I have ordered copies of many books at the library. A payment of 300 merit points is required. If you're willing to join, you may pay for that..."
"300 merit points?" Wu Lan blinked before nodding, "Sure. The start is always the hardest, no matter what you do. I understand this."
"Thanks!" Su Yu said, "Every contribution will be recorded. I will repay all of you when the time comes. You don't need to feel embarrassed about that. A debt is meant to be paid. Or perhaps I can allow all of you to have priority over our research results. Everything you have contributed today can be used to claim our future results and benefits."
Wu Lan nodded and said nothing else. 300 merit points...that wasn't a small sum of money, but it wasn't too big either. She was rich enough to afford that.
"Let's not waste time. Wu Lan, I still need to take care of something else. Do you want to start immediately? Can you go to the library and pay up before returning with the copied books?"
"Now?"
Wu Lan looked at the sky. It was getting dark. She had yet to have her dinner.