Under One Person, Engage in Black Technology

Chapter 182 Earning

Chairman Zhao's reply was not cryptic; on the contrary, it was simple, easy to understand, and straightforward. Therefore, the two young men beside him breathed a sigh of relief and began to answer directly.

Seeing that Xu Si did not intend to speak first, Ren Fei did not mind. She simply changed her posture to make it easier to speak and then said directly, "I don't have much information here, but... my 'estimate' should be accurate enough."

"Based on behavioral speculation, that... 'Harmony Factor' will probably antagonize us, if he really wants to."

Upon hearing this, Xu Si's eyelids twitched slightly. He then took out a box of Furongwang cigarettes from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter.

He slumped his cheeks, took a deep drag, and felt the effects of the smoke rush to his brain. He then blurted out, "Over here..."

"The intelligence is about the same, perhaps even more detailed. He wants to protect Ma Xianhong and also wants to continue using the Body Cultivation Furnace to treat those... patients suffering from intractable diseases."

"We can't exactly say he's planning to do something bad, can we?"

At this point, Xu Si glanced at Zhao Dong's expressionless face and added, "He also gave himself a reason: his special ability, the one that can create things out of thin air, can now directly transform into that cultivation furnace."

"According to him, the company is ultimately after the furnaces, and now that he can also manufacture furnaces, it's a case of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold, and if the rabbit dies, the fox will grieve.'"

At this point, Xu Si couldn't help but scratch his hair, saying with a very strange expression, "He also told us to hurry up and get started, so he must be very confident. If we force our way in, the result might be... very ugly."

"However... fortunately, these people on the front lines have all seen him before, so even if he used something out of the ordinary, they shouldn't be too surprised."

"Of course, this might be bad news..."

After listening, Chairman Zhao first nodded, then rested his chin on his hands and began to think.

After five or six minutes, Ren Fei tapped the table lightly and then said, "If possible, we should put Biyou Village aside for now and discuss it later. We can also use a lighter approach when speaking to the outside world."

"After all, the old Celestial Master's side is also quite powerful, and even has a greater influence."

"After that, as long as Ma Xianhong cooperates and stops converting other people, we can tolerate him."

Upon hearing this, Chairman Zhao showed no interest in commenting, but instead looked at Xu Si.

Xu Si naturally felt Zhao Dong's questioning gaze. He finished his cigarette in one gulp, then exhaled, shaking his head as he said, "That Ma Xianhong is mostly impervious to both soft and hard tactics. Even now, with just Chu Lan handing over Chen Duo, they can't persuade him..."

"The matter concerning the Body Cultivation Furnace is Biyou Village's greatest asset, so how could they possibly be persuaded to give up?"

After listening to what the two men said, Chairman Zhao remained silent for a while, then seemed to suddenly remember something and asked Xu Si, "By the way, Xiao Si, you just said... Liu Ke told us to hurry up and make a move, right?"

Seeing Xu Si nod, Chairman Zhao frowned again and began to think.

Half an hour later, he tapped the table, and when the two regional leaders turned their attention to him, he said, "I understand. Let's keep the plan for Biyou Village unchanged. The current decision is actually very good, and it just so happens that it doesn't need to be changed."

Seeing the two young men beside him looking puzzled, he explained directly, "They told us to hurry up and make a move, so of course we have to listen."

"The reason is... if we don't take action, it will probably be difficult for him to accomplish what he wants to do in Biyou Village."

------

Just as Liu Ke himself said, his initial purpose in coming to Biyou Village was to see who was the person who could create such strange creations as the Devouring Pouch and the Flower.

When he met the 'manufacturer' of these two items, his purpose naturally changed accordingly, evolving into recruiting manpower, namely—Ma Xianhong.

It's not that Lao Ma's intelligence, creativity, or talent are so outstanding that Liu Ke would ignore so many elite scholars in the 'internal research' and specifically come to him to 'join the team'.

Rather, he felt that Lao Ma had something special that was worth recruiting, namely his unique skill – [Divine Refinement].

Of course, thanks to Village Chief Ma's generous promotion, this unique skill is no longer truly "unique".

If we compare conventional technological methods and related technological developments to an obstacle course race...

In this long race, the "extraordinary people research" based on the wisdom of the "extraordinary people group" over thousands of years is like a pair of shoes that can help make a "super jump".

While a brief "super jump" may have a negative impact on overall running speed and distance, it does allow runners to "jump" high enough to overcome slopes that would otherwise be difficult to "surpass" or "cross," thus achieving a kind of "overtaking on a curve."

Based on this idea, Ma Xianhong, who has mastered one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, [Divine Refinement], naturally represents the most outstanding research achievement of 'extraordinary people' in this world over thousands of years, and is the perfect assistant candidate in Liu Ke's 'plan'.

Of course, in reality, Liu Ke has also mastered the [Divine Craftsmanship].

However, human strength is ultimately finite, and energy has its limits. Even if he learns things quickly and has the added advantage of being a superhuman, he still cannot squeeze in research on superhuman magical artifacts and divine mechanisms into his already packed "research" schedule.

Therefore, the addition of Ma Xianhong, the legitimate successor of the "Divine Craftsmanship," is of paramount importance. On a smaller scale, it's about bringing glory to the nation; on a larger scale, it's about leading the way in civilization.

It's worth mentioning that in this small Biyou Village, Ma Xianhong wasn't the only one who could be considered a 'talent'. Liu Ke also observed several other people worth taking along, such as Qiu Rang and Zhuge Qing.

If we were to say where these two are inferior to Ma Xianhong, we could only say that Qiu Rang is inferior in talent, while the latter has an inexplicable aversion to the [Divine Craftsmanship Hundred Refinements] technique.

But none of that matters. As long as they're willing to join, they're all 'good comrades'.

……

Now that the people you want to recruit have been identified, the next step is to take action, which is precisely the 'difficulty'.

Liu Ke was a semi-engineer in his previous life, and had never been a boss or worked in human resources. As for the job of 'recruiting', he had never done it before.

Therefore, he was actually completely clueless about how to recruit Lao Ma.

Although he's now a "big shot" in the world, it doesn't revolve around him alone. Everyone has their own ambitions, so how can people just bow down to him like in novels and stories? So, he's been thinking about what to do these days.
Sure enough, after thinking about it for a few days, he actually found a direction that could be considered a rough idea.

In Liu Ke's relatively short cultural and academic career, the two books that can serve as references for his "recruiting in the Jianghu" behavior are probably "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin".

The "recruitment" tactics in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be roughly categorized into those of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu. Among them, Liu Bei mainly relied on his noble lineage and his righteous cause of restoring the Han Dynasty. In addition, he also relied on the more important brotherhood and benevolence.

Cao Cao, on the other hand, was known for his meritocratic approach to governance, his control over the emperor, and his unique personal charisma. Of course, Cao Cao waged countless wars throughout his life and won many battles; in fact, he was even more adept at recruiting generals from prison.

As for Sun Quan... Liu Ke doesn't know much about him. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," he doesn't give a very good impression. He only inherited the legacy of his father and brother, and it seems that he didn't do anything that could be called recruiting.

As for "Water Margin", Liu Ke read through the whole book and only learned one thing about the methods of recruiting people: "making money".

The word "earn" is actually quite ingenious. Whether you say it's a scheme, a debt of gratitude, or a deception or coercion, it ultimately refers to the inertia of "you have to come whether you want to or not."

After considering his own situation and reviewing two classic works, Liu Ke came to a conclusion.

Now that he has the backing of the nation, he carries a certain sense of righteousness, and his relationship with Old Ma, after several "heart-to-heart talks," is fairly good. However, ultimately, a suitable opportunity is lacking to formalize him from the village chief of a strange village into an assistant…

After all, given the current values ​​and atmosphere of the "Outcast" community, talking to Lao Ma about "serving the country" or "revitalizing the nation through science and technology" would likely be met with disdain, even if the opportunities and benefits were good.

Although this statement may sound unpleasant, it is actually not difficult to accept.

Just like Zhao Fangxu, the chairman of the All-Knowing Group, who claims to have "high" awareness, what he really reflects is not how high his position is, but rather that the awareness of the other extraordinary people besides him is... not very high, or even low.

Let alone the distinction between good and evil, even within the entire network of connections, countless people join simply for a salary or to make a living.

Of course, while a straightforward recruitment approach may not be very effective, it doesn't mean that Liu Ke's recruitment efforts were entirely without merit.

In his view, if Biyou Village were in dire straits and the cultivation furnace were also in trouble, and he, Liu, showed up to help, wouldn't that spark a conversation about recruitment and provide an entry point for recruitment?

And look at Old Ma again. You can tell at a glance that he is a grateful and honest man. After this process, he will most likely feel that he owes Liu a great favor. In addition, in order to study the furnace in peace and protect the villagers, he will most likely consider joining Liu Ke's team.

So, Liu Ke was actually waiting, waiting for someone from the company to make a move.

He was too embarrassed to use the methods of "breaking down doors and destroying houses" and tricking people into joining Liangshan in *Water Margin*. But the matter still needed to be done, so he might as well go with the flow and let the "company," this professional in the world of the supernatural, handle it, anyway...

Even if you come from nowhere, you will do it.

……

The meeting was brief and quick, completed in one go. Within half an hour of the meeting ending, the instructions had reached everyone on the front lines, and Liu Ke naturally received the message as well.

That afternoon, Liu Ke couldn't resist taking a stroll and going to see Village Chief Ma again. He had been eating and dressing for free for almost two weeks, but now that it was time to act, he had to wait, and he felt a little guilty.

When he arrived at Old Ma's 'workshop', the other party was holding a refined hammer, tapping and hammering on the body-refining furnace, adding modules to it, and trying to verify the completeness of the module's functions.

clang! clang!
After knocking twice, Old Ma stopped and turned to Liu Ke, asking, "Why are you here? This furnace probably won't be fully installed until tonight."

Liu Ke scratched his head and said, "I had to come and see it, after all, this is the first 'furnace' I've ever participated in exploring... it's very special."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong raised his eyebrows and said, "It seems you've already grasped the basics."

"How did you choose?"

Liu Ke blinked, staring at the patterns carved on the outside of the cultivation furnace, and replied as he looked, "I've learned a little of both, so I guess you could say I'm making progress in tandem."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong's eyes widened slightly, and he said, "He's talented; I wasn't wrong about him."

Liu Ke shrugged, not answering the question, but turning to ask, "You... mainly study those external techniques, so you want to use the furnace to cure your brain?"

Seeing that Ma Xianhong did not deny it, he continued to ask, "Why don't you try refining that part of the Upper Elixir Spirit Zhou?"

After hearing this, Ma Xianhong simply said, "I've tried it too, but..."

"The effect is very poor, or even non-existent."

"My essence, energy, and spirit have indeed become stronger from the upper elixir and have gradually undergone different degrees of transformation, but that is all."

At this point, Ma Xianhong's eyes dimmed slightly as he said, "Memory... it's a feeling that can't be 'forged,' you should understand what I mean."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ke found it very strange and asked, "Phantom limb sensation? That can't be right, can it? The organ that controls memory, how could it not manifest in the brain? How could you not be able to cultivate it?"

"Something's not quite right; it just doesn't sound right."

Ma Xianhong did not deny this statement, and then squinted his eyes and said, "This is why I have placed all my hopes for curing my illness on the 'Cultivation Furnace'."

At this point, his expression seemed to relax considerably, and he said, "Brother Qing's explanation of the inner vision a few days ago truly enlightened me. Perhaps this is the key I have been searching for."

Liu Ke nodded and said, "According to... the theory of [Divine Refinement], it is indeed possible. Use it as needed. Since the inner world is a person's spiritual world, embedding the pattern array into the relevant modules of the inner world will inevitably have an impact on the spirit and memory."

"However, compared to directly refining the key parts of the body, it's still slower in terms of progress..."

"I'm afraid you'll only be able to recover your memories once you've cultivated into a legendary immortal."

Upon hearing this assessment, Ma Xianhong didn't say anything, but simply smiled and said, "Perhaps, but what can we do?"

(End of this chapter)