Chapter 133: Opportunity

Huang Ze’s proposal was not quickly approved during the meeting. After all, an artificial sun is an extremely dangerous and delicate piece of equipment; using it to refine a divine artifact could potentially pose severe safety risks.

Therefore, Academician Ding suggested waiting until he could return to consult with the relevant technical experts for a feasibility study before providing Huang Ze with an answer.

Upon reflection, Huang Ze realized this was indeed the logical approach.

Although the Xia Kingdom had made some progress in controlled nuclear fusion—having successfully achieved repeatable plasma operations at 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds, and 160 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds—these results were obtained under highly rigorous experimental conditions. Any slight error could lead to a catastrophic failure. Since a divine artifact is graced with the word "divine," it naturally possesses supernatural properties. No one dared to guarantee that tossing such an item into a tokamak device wouldn't trigger an earth-shattering explosion.

Thus, the Golden Bow narrowly escaped being sent to the furnace for reconstruction.

***

"Academician Ding, how is the war between the Silver Moon Elves and the Night Elves progressing?"

After the video conference concluded, Huang Ze could not help but ask. "Previously, the Goddess of Night asked me to act as muscle for the Night Elves, and I agreed. But now that the leadership wants me to prioritize safety and not take unnecessary risks... what should I do?"

"That is indeed a difficult problem," Academician Ding pondered for a moment. "The war between the Silver Moon Elves and the Night Elves is currently in a state of intense stalemate. The overall strength of the Night Elves is significantly weaker than that of the Silver Moon Elves, and they are clearly at a disadvantage."

"So, if you were to join the fray, Huang, you would likely face significant challenges, perhaps even danger. Naturally, that makes us quite uneasy."

"But since I gave my word to the Goddess of Night, it wouldn't be right to break a promise to Her..."

"This Goddess likely possesses knowledge of many deep secrets, and Her attitude toward you and our Xia Kingdom has been quite positive and friendly. She is likely an ally worth winning over, so it is essential that we maintain a good relationship with Her."

"What if I go talk to Her and see if I can get some guarantees, or perhaps some sort of trump card to ensure my survival?"

Huang Ze suggested, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, Academician Ding, have you all decided what to ask the Goddess of Night for that final question?"

The Goddess of Night had previously stated she would answer three questions from the Black Dragon. Huang Ze had used two of them, saving the last opportunity for Academician Ding and his team, hoping that the collective intelligence of the experts could yield a more important and valuable question.

"No... not yet." Academician Ding sighed. "Huang, there are simply too many unsolved mysteries in this world. Even if we had a hundred or a thousand chances to ask, it wouldn't be enough."

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences has held many meetings to discuss this, trying to identify the most valuable question. The more we discuss, the more we realize that every question is significant and every question holds value."

"The physics group wants to know how to achieve stable controlled nuclear fusion, how to perform spatial jumps to return to Earth, and how to mass-produce antimatter."

"The researchers in mathematics are extremely curious about the Goddess of Night's mathematical capabilities. They want to know if we could use the question to solve problems like the Riemann Hypothesis. After all, only with a breakthrough in mathematics can other disciplines see better development."

"The magic research group wants to know the essence and laws of magic elements and whether there is a way to break the lock on the microscopic realm."

"The biology group wants to know the essence of deities and whether there is any way to create a god of our own in the Xia Kingdom."

"In the end, after much debate, we couldn't reach a consensus. So, it seems this question will have to be reserved for now."

"I see..." Huang Ze was at a loss for words. Although it is said that deities are omnipotent, he had a strong, inexplicable intuition that if he were to ask the Goddess of Night to solve a mathematical problem like the Riemann Hypothesis, she might lose her temper on the spot.

***

Huang Ze did not rush to contact the Goddess of Night privately. Instead, he found his dedicated charging station and settled in to recharge.

Although his current dragon body had begun to transition toward nuclear power—capable of digesting three to five hundred grams of nuclear fuel daily—he still needed to supplement it with a massive amount of electrical energy to maintain his bodily equilibrium.

"I increasingly feel like I'm becoming less of a dragon," Huang Ze thought, chewing on gold in boredom.

It was the end of the month, and according to their agreement, he had to pay his heart its "salary"—a payment amounting to dozens of kilograms of gold.

There was no helping it; the state had decided to purchase vast quantities of the Black Dragon's golden dragon blood, often requiring thousands of portions at a time. The fact that Huang Ze only paid his heart less than a hundred kilograms of gold a month could already be considered heartless to the extreme.

"Damn it, this installment plan has to stop. The demand for golden dragon blood will only grow, and the heart's income will keep increasing. If this snowballs, what will happen?"

Huang Ze suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. Installment payments incurred interest, and the rate was not low—0.05% daily, which added up to over 18% annually.

Huang Ze felt it was necessary to renegotiate with his heart. He hoped to appeal to its reason and logic (or physical force) and convince it to consider the bigger picture, suggesting it voluntarily hand over the excess gold to the brain for redistribution.

Yes, in the form of a tax. Golden dragon blood was clearly a monopoly industry with exorbitant profits, so imposing a heavy tax—a 90% VAT, for instance—wasn't unreasonable at all.

His heart was furious at the brain's transparent attempt to create a pretext for this, and it refused to yield. Huang Ze tried every trick in the book, but nothing could make it submit.

Only then did Huang Ze realize he had touched upon its bottom line.

Gold was likely the essential fuel for his heart's operation and growth. By squeezing it so hard, he was naturally provoking its ire.

With no other choice, Huang Ze could only settle for the next best thing—or rather, give up entirely. He wondered if he could push the installment period even further, ideally deferring every payment for a thousand years.

As the little red dragon once said: the past is not me, the future is not me... let my future self deal with the troubles of today!

Huang Ze thought to himself, feeling rather devious.

Unexpectedly, his heart agreed to this proposal quite readily.