The main reason Tian Yuan Territory was so famous was that it had led the entire New Continent through three terrifying technological explosions.

The energy stone engine of the first explosion had directly changed how everyone on the wasteland traveled, expanding the area humans could settle and cross by orders of magnitude.

At the same time, once those large war machines were backed by energy stone engines, they erupted with terrifying combat power.

In only about three years they had inflicted heavy casualties on the alien races and stripped them of the capital to keep fighting.

The regenerative medicine of the second explosion had overcome humanity’s greatest weakness and given everyone the chance to be born anew.

As long as one paid enough points, even missing arms or legs could be rebuilt, and they worked no worse than the originals.

Most exaggerated of all, if you could afford it, those new bodies could even be modified to gain a series of strange abilities.

The distanceless energy of the third explosion had completely overcome energy loss in transmission.

Although it brought little improvement on the personal level,

the most direct result was that household electricity prices dropped sharply, to less than a tenth of what they had been.

“Since Boss Su knows, that makes it simple,” Zhou Yue smiled. “Before each of those three explosions, the omen was always the Academy of Sciences collecting all kinds of materials in bulk for experiments.”

“People even joke that they wish they could donate every material to the Academy and keep it in a permanent state of explosion!”

“So that’s how it is.” Su Mo raised a brow and understood at once.

If things were really as Zhou Yue described, then a small order naturally counted for nothing.

After all, if it meant one more explosion, it would benefit the whole of humanity.

Even if some people’s interests were sacrificed, under such a climate not a single voice would be raised.

“Then if I want to buy buffer alloy now, do I have to buy it from a researcher inside?”

“Yes,” Zhou Yue confirmed, then shook his head.

“But it isn’t restricted that tightly. If Boss Su wants buffer alloy, there are actually three roads you can take.”

“First, find a researcher you know and have him spare a little from his own quota. As long as the amount isn’t large, there usually won’t be any problem.”

“Second, take the Academy of Sciences’s examination. Once you reach a passing level and clear the review, you can obtain the qualification of an external researcher. With research qualification, you can naturally apply for some material quotas yourself. High-grade materials may be scarce, but this grade-one buffer alloy is definitely no problem.”

“Third, the Academy of Sciences puts out bids for time-consuming, laborious hard problems, or for questions of research approach. If you can answer those, you also earn reward points. With those points, you can exchange for alloy without spending trade points at all.”

“Acquaintances, exams, points.” He had not expected there to be more than one path to the materials. Su Mo was rather surprised.

“Can someone my age still take the exam?”

Zhou Yue nodded. “Yes. External researcher posts are open to people over twenty-four. But if Boss Su wants to sit it, you’ll have to wait for the next round. That’s around early August, about two months from now.”

“And the hard problems?”

“Those are simple. Once you reach the Academy gate you’ll see a huge open-air bulletin board. What’s posted on it are questions set by all sorts of different researchers.”

“If Boss Su is confident he can solve one, just take that problem’s slip and tell the gate guard, and you’ll soon get to see the researcher himself.”

“But be warned, Boss Su, some researchers have very eccentric temperaments. If you approach them without really having solved their problem, I’m afraid...”

He pointed at the escort squad patrolling along the roadside, and Zhou Yue’s expression said everything without a word.

“What about finding an acquaintance? Roughly how much would that cost?”

“It starts from this number.” Freeing one hand, Zhou Yue held up a figure.

“Five thousand?”

“How could it be? There’s not much risk in this, but there’s still a chance of exposure. Even a junior researcher wouldn’t look twice at that little money.”

Zhou Yue shook his head.

“Hiss... so it’s fifty thousand?” That outrageous price left Su Mo speechless for a moment. He could only feel that this trade-point system was a tumor, stretching the gap between rich and poor to a level hard to imagine.

In Qingguo Territory, an ordinary family of three working a whole year earned no more than about ten trade points.

Even counting the territory’s own currency,

the goods earned over a full year, converted into points, would not exceed fifty at most.

But now, just to ask a researcher for a favor, the favor fee alone was fifty thousand points, equal to a hundred households working for a year.

Outrageous!

“Boss Su, if you’re looking for someone, I happen to know a researcher at the Academy of Sciences. He’s only a reserve, but getting a bit of material isn’t a problem.”

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