Gao Neng successfully walked out of the isolation pod.

He truly felt invincible. He could clearly see a red, planet-like magnetic core within his sea of consciousness.

And orbiting this red magnetic core were skies full of golden stars.

Those golden stars were his hidden talents.

Gao Neng could now establish a connection between the red magnetic core and every single star. He didn’t know what other people’s seas of consciousness looked like, but he was certain his was extremely powerful.

Insanely powerful!

Unreasonably powerful!

Just that powerful!

But he was a bit baffled. How did the perfectly fine egg-shaped isolation pod end up like this? Did it explode? Where’s the shell? Uh... Is that the shell hanging from the ceiling?

Gao Neng couldn’t remember what had happened at all.

But he did know one thing: using this egg-shaped isolation pod cost a hundred thousand per session.

So...

He couldn’t be the one to take the fall for this!

"Lieutenant Chen, where are you, Lieutenant Chen? The quality of this isolation pod is terrible! It nearly blew me to bits! The Military Department has to compensate me for my emotional distress! A hundred thousand! At least a hundred thousand! The kind where I won’t leave until you pay up!" Gao Neng immediately shouted.

"..."

Outside the glass partition, a stunned silence fell.

Just then, Chen Bai snapped out of his daze. The moment Gao Neng’s shouts reached his ears, he was instantly dumbfounded all over again.

’Compensation?’

’This punk actually wants *me* to compensate *him*? And he’s fucking demanding a hundred thousand?!’

He couldn’t take it anymore!

’Don’t you have a goddamn clue in your head why the pod exploded? This is an isolation pod that costs over ten million, and you have the audacity to play the victim and demand money from me?’

’I have to teach this punk a lesson.’

’Make him understand the authority of the Military Department!’

Just as he was about to make a move, a plaintive voice sounded from beside him.

"The quality of this isolation pod really is subpar. It couldn’t even handle a fifty-fold injection. Sigh... Those people at the R&D division are a real bunch of incompetents!"

"Dr. Lan?" Chen Bai’s clenched fist immediately loosened. ’What’s going on? This isn’t how I expected this to play out.’

’Has Dr. Lan lost her mind?’

’Shouldn’t she be flying into a rage and chewing out Gao Neng for destroying the pod?’

"Yes, the quality is far too poor!"

"He should be compensated. This money must be paid!"

"Yes, yes, yes, Dr. Lan is absolutely right! The quality of this pod is terrible. It has absolutely nothing to do with our operation. It’s those people in the R&D division who are incompetent!"

Hearing this, the other researchers immediately began nodding in unison.

"Lieutenant Chen, what do you think?" Dr. Lan asked, looking at Chen Bai.

"???" Chen Bai stared blankly at Dr. Lan, then at the researchers beside her.

In an instant, he seemed to understand.

’These are a bunch of fucking masters of passing the buck?!’

A ten-million-dollar isolation pod had been blown up. Someone had to take the fall.

But who would it be?

Gao Neng was out of the question—he had no money.

And it looked like these researchers weren’t about to, either.

So, the blame...

"How despicable! For the R&D division to place an isolation pod of such poor quality in our Military Department... Dr. Lan, tell me how to handle this. I’ll follow your lead!" Chen Bai made a swift decision, his face a mask of fury.

"Hehe, Lieutenant Chen truly has sharp eyes. My proposal is this: our research institute will file a protest, and the Military Department will mediate. We’ll have the R&D division compensate us with another isolation pod... no, two isolation pods. What do you think, Lieutenant Chen?" Dr. Lan adjusted her glasses.

"Only make them compensate us with two? Dr. Lan, you’re such a... good person!" Chen Bai’s mouth twitched.

"Sigh, we all work for the Alliance. ’Where it’s possible to let someone off, one should.’ We can’t just seize on a minor fault and refuse to let go, can we? Alright, this is how we’ll handle it. We’ll write the report. Sorry to trouble you, Lieutenant Chen." Dr. Lan gave a calm smile, then arranged for the researchers to start writing.

"Not at all, not at all. It’s all about unity and mutual support." Chen Bai wasn’t someone who didn’t know how to play along. It was just that he felt he had inexplicably been led down a very unusual path.

And just then...

Inside the glass partition, Gao Neng continued to shout.

"Compensation! For my emotional distress! If not a hundred thousand, then at least fifty thousand! If I don’t get fifty thousand, I’m really not leaving!"

’Fifty thousand... that doesn’t seem like too much,’ Chen Bai calculated silently.

"Absolutely not! After such a major incident, how could we only compensate him with fifty thousand? Student Gao Neng might not know the severity of this matter, but don’t we? A hundred thousand means a hundred thousand, not a single cent less! Our research institute cannot afford to leave any room for gossip!" Dr. Lan declared righteously. Then, she turned to a researcher. "Add a line to the report. Say that we spent two hundred thousand Alliance Coins to settle this incident!"

"Understood." The researcher nodded immediately.

"..." What could Chen Bai say?

He could only say that Dr. Lan was truly worthy of being a senior researcher at the institute. That level of awareness... he couldn’t catch up to it even if he was riding a steam engine.

...

Inside the glass partition.

As Gao Neng was shouting, he heard a system notification.

"DING! Congratulations, Host, for completing ’The Man in Control of the Situation.’ You have received one Middle-Level Treasure Chest."

"Huh? Completed? Open it!"

"BEEP. The unlucky Host has finally had a change of fortune. The Host will receive one opportunity for ’Skill Evolution,’ which can be used to evolve and upgrade a current skill!"

"Skill Evolution? Not a Soul Tempering Pill? I want a Soul Tempering Pill!" Gao Neng really wanted to yell ’Bad review!’, but Chen Bai had already walked in.

Gao Neng immediately straightened his back.

If things went as expected, he guessed Chen Bai would definitely demand he compensate for the damages. But he had no money...

The barefooted aren’t afraid of those who wear shoes.

’I don’t have money. What can you do to me?’

"The isolation pod’s destruction was indeed due to a quality issue. We’ve discussed the matter of compensation, and as you requested, we will compensate you with one hundred thousand Alliance Coins. There is one condition, however: do not speak of this matter to anyone else, to avoid damaging the reputation of the R&D division!" Chen Bai said with a dark expression.

Gao Neng was astonished.

’They’re really paying me?’

’He was just talking big. How could something this good actually happen?’

’What does this mean?’

’It means the isolation pod’s quality really was the problem. It wasn’t that he blew it up, it’s that he asked for too little...’

"A hundred thousand isn’t enough. It has to be two hundred thousand! I’m not leaving without two hundred thousand!" Gao Neng immediately changed his tune.

"It’s a hundred thousand... take it or leave it!" Chen Bai’s face grew even darker. He was genuinely furious. If he didn’t know about the relationship between Gao Neng and Shen Ning’Er, he would have smacked this punk dead.

’Profiting from a disaster and still acting innocent!’

’But people with powerful backing...’

He couldn’t afford to offend them. He’d just have to endure it.

"What a loss..." Gao Neng’s heart ached. If he had known, he would have asked for two hundred thousand from the start. Now he was short a hundred thousand. His heart was bleeding.

"..." Chen Bai was about to lose it.

’You blew up a ten-million-dollar isolation pod, made a hundred thousand Alliance Coins off of it, and now you’re telling me you took a loss? A loss my ass!’

"By the way, what’s the date today?" Gao Neng didn’t dwell on it. Although he still felt he’d definitely lost out this time, he knew when to quit while he was ahead. He’d just have to find a chance to score bigger later.

"September 8th," Chen Bai replied without hiding anything.

"Oh... September 8th, huh? That means I was in there for two... wait, did you say today is September 8th?! I haven’t even filled out my college applications yet!" Gao Neng nodded, but he quickly realized something was wrong. September 8th... universities would have already started, right?

"Major Shen filled them out for you." The thought made Chen Bai’s ass hurt.

"She filled them out for me? Which Military University did she pick? Southwest? Or Jiangbei... Both of those are pretty good. I was planning to apply to them!"

"See for yourself." Chen Bai couldn’t be bothered to explain, simply tossing the acceptance letter to Gao Neng.

Gao Neng reached out and caught it.

A few large, glittering golden words were printed on it.

"Eastern Capital United Military Academy!"

"Eastern Capital Military Academy? One of the four great military academies?!" Gao Neng couldn’t just not believe it; he flat-out refused to. He remembered that the Eastern Capital Military Academy didn’t have any admission slots for the Forgotten Land.

When it came to the four great military academies, only the Southern Alliance Military Academy had half a slot, and that was it.

And he had actually gotten into Eastern Capital Military Academy?

Gao Neng quickly opened the acceptance letter. The two words "Gao Neng" told him it was all real. He had really been accepted into the Eastern Capital Military Academy.

"Surprised? Unexpected?" Watching Gao Neng’s reaction, Chen Bai finally felt a sense of accomplishment.

"The start date on here is... September 3rd?" Gao Neng ignored Chen Bai, because he had discovered an even more serious problem.

He had missed the registration date for the start of the school year.

How was he supposed to deal with this?

"So, you should get ready now and come with me to the City of Hope immediately!" Chen Bai reminded him kindly, before thinking of something else. "Oh, right, Major Shen’s message was that if your mother is willing to go, she can come along too."

"What about the hundred thousand Alliance Coins you mentioned earlier?"

"You want it now?"

"Of course!"

"Fine, I’ll go get it for you."

"Thanks, Lao Bai. Also, help me tell Shen Ning’Er something: I, Gao Neng, earn money through my own abilities. I don’t need to live off her!" After speaking, Gao Neng placed a hand on the wrecked isolation pod.

HUMMM!

The isolation pod trembled.

Then, a stream of ink-black Iron Energy Elements gushed out.

"Reverse extraction?! Directly extracting Iron Energy from an alloy!" Chen Bai’s expression changed instantly. Extracting Iron Energy from ore was easy, but extracting it from an alloy was much, much harder.

The reason was simple: it was a reverse extraction!

Extracting Iron Energy from ore and then turning it into true iron material via the Energy Refining Technique was known as forward extraction, a process that wasn’t too difficult to accomplish.

But converting refined iron material back into Iron Energy Elements...

...was extremely difficult.

Not only had Gao Neng achieved this, but he was doing it from an alloy, meaning he was separating the iron element from the alloy during the extraction process.

Chen Bai could actually do this too.

But the amount he could extract was extremely limited...

But Gao Neng?

Under his palm, great torrents of Iron Energy were gushing out like a fountain, almost instantly sucking the alloy completely clean of its iron elements.

"The City of Hope... is really about to welcome a monster! A fifty-fold energy injection... just how powerful has that punk’s ’magnetic core’ become?!"