My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 261

The Imperial Advisor shook her head. She sat down at a roadside restaurant, ordered a bowl of spicy and sour noodles to prepare for her upcoming journey, and continued to ponder...

(Besides that... he also eliminated the insects from the Ursus National Council, who had an unclear relationship with the Emperor of the Ursus Empire... Was he bred? Hmph, that makes sense. If the abilities of such a talent could be passed on to their children, the Great Yan Dynasty would probably have already sent a certain princess there... Ah, already sent her there.)

The Imperial Advisor almost forgot that Princess Wei Qing had already been punished for the trouble she caused... Oh well, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for the Great Yan Dynasty. Even if Duke Green weren't dead, he'd probably be dealt with by the Ursus authorities...

This is probably a good thing for the child: after all, judging from the rumors and intelligence outside, Duke Yang Hao is undoubtedly a loyal and devoted man. He is one of the few men in the Great Yan Kingdom who would actively launch a war that would be highly profitable but offer no benefit to himself in order to avenge his deceased wife.

Sigh! If that's the case, Wei Qing will probably be snubbed when she goes there. That gentleman would probably rather look at his deceased wife's portrait than share a room with her. It's up to her to try!

Recalling how adorable Wei Qing was when she was just a little girl, calling him "Grandma" every day, the Grand Preceptor felt a pang of pity. But what could he do? As a member of the royal family, one had to find a balance between personal preferences and national interests... But then again...

(...Something strange seems to have happened four years ago? I don't know exactly what happened back then, and that mysterious device...)

Four years ago, the Imperial Advisor discovered an unusual phenomenon, as if something wanted to use the abundant energy in the world to "transfer" over.

To avoid trouble and to prevent his beloved wooden house from being destroyed, the Imperial Advisor directly threw the energy westward to disturb it, along with the faint human figures—to minimize the trouble for his own home.

Even so, a magical object still managed to fall into his house through the crack.

That was a touch-screen device that had been called a "communicator" in recent years... The Grand Master didn't understand its purpose, but it seemed to be able to be turned off, so the Grand Master simply sealed it away, leaving only one interface to use as an unlimited energy source.

To be honest, the "artificial life" she's been researching only functions properly because of that energy. No matter what she does, she just can't create life in the true sense of the word.

(I should go back later and take it with me at all times.)

The Imperial Advisor shook her head. After the waiter brought over a bowl of noodles glistening with red oil, she stopped thinking and began to enjoy life.

Chapter 205

.......

Do not know why.

Mr. Yang Hao felt that he did not enjoy his dinner very much.

"..."

"..."

Although everyone was gathered together, Yang Hao still noticed something strange about the others...

For example, when eating, Margarita would always secretly and shyly look at him, and when he looked back, she would panic and lower her head to eat in silence.

For example, Miss Karina didn't sleep well; she lay on the table, listlessly staring at the little cards in her hand while eating.

For example, although Ms. Northumber was still drinking blood, the stark contrast between the boredom on her face and the longing she felt as she looked at her own neck was striking.

For example...

"...Monica?"

"No, it's nothing. Please enjoy your meal, gentlemen."

"Oh..."

For example, the fact that her head maid had been looking at her with a meaningful gaze and was even smiling subtly...

Um, that one? Monica?

Did you... discover it again?

Yang Hao felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. To be honest, if Monica really had "discovered" something again... then he could understand why she was looking at him with such a strange expression.

But—it shouldn't be that bad, right? I've calculated that Monica will definitely go back to Ursus this afternoon...

"...Oh, right—is Yang Hao free tonight?"

"Oh? Oh—I have time. What's up, Margarita?"

Just as Yang Hao was lost in thought, Margarita suddenly looked up at him timidly and spoke. She seemed to want to ask Yang Hao for a favor... but perhaps because those favors would cause a lot of trouble for everyone, she hesitated for a moment and didn't speak, only saying that she wanted Yang Hao to accompany her for a walk, nothing more.

Yang Hao understood Margarita's implication... it was something like "something she wanted to tell him alone"... but—if they were going out for a walk, where would they like to go?

There's not much to see around here... although the skewers at Kazdel's food street were pretty good when I was wandering around with Therese. But they probably aren't open yet, right?

And it's late at night...that's pretty dangerous, isn't it? So, Margarita, if you really just want to tell me something, how about we go to the rooftop?

After pondering for a moment, Mr. Yang Hao smiled and agreed to Margarita's request. Then, while eating, he addressed everyone:

"We have nothing to do until next week, so we can just continue with our work as scheduled. The only issue is that our stay in Kazdel may be extended considerably."

"Huh?" Miss Karina blinked blankly, then leaned on the table, looking up slightly at Yang Hao: "Mr. Yang Hao? What do you mean by 'staying'?"

"Because Kazdel can't take over 20 mobile districts at once, we have to wait until they take over all the districts before we can leave—if we calculate the time, we probably won't be able to go back until around March next year."

"March...but in March, Her Majesty...and what about Yan Kingdom..."

"I'll take care of it then. You just need to focus on your research and work."

"Yes..."

Karina is fine now. But then, Head Maid Monica frowned:

She seemed quite unhappy that Lord Yang Hao had to stay longer, but more than that...

"Lord Yang Hao, did you say anything to Lord Kosichev and Her Majesty Ekaterina?"

"Ah, I'm planning to tell them tonight..."

“I see…” The head maid scrutinized Yang Hao with her deep gaze, then turned to look at Lady Norsen, who seemed somewhat puzzled upon hearing Her Majesty Ekaterina’s name. “Well then, I’ll go back and inform the two ladies first—but, Lord Yang Hao? Are you sure… the delay is only necessary because of the trading district, right? That princess didn’t ask you for anything?”

"...Yes. I didn't ask for anything."

"Then I understand."

Monica left.

Yang Hao remained seated, cold sweat pouring down his face, anxiously wondering, "Could Monica be starting to doubt my innocent relationship with Princess Theresa? This is truly unfair! Although I was indeed a little close to her sister, it shouldn't be enough to make her doubt my relationship with her, right?"

Honestly, suspecting Theresa would be more plausible than this! Sigh!

Mr. Yang Hao felt bitterly worried about what he would encounter next.

On the other hand... because they had witnessed too many things firsthand, and even secretly tried to "touch" the forbidden fruit...

Suddenly I understood why my teacher was so obsessed with it, and even realized that the smell on my teacher was related to those things...

Although Margaret harbored resentment towards Professor Norson, her focus was more on these things—things she had never considered but which should genuinely improve her relationship with Yang Hao...

(Or, when I go out with him tonight, should I try...try? Try...?)

The little bat was still a little conflicted—but a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger! Since her teacher had already secretly done this kind of thing behind her back, why couldn't she, her childhood sweetheart, do the same?

Not grown up yet? So what! Margarita is going all out today!

She really didn't want to continue feeling so depressed and lost... and she felt she had to talk to her teacher...

Sharing Yang Hao with her... that's not impossible... but... but... but... but... but...

(At the very least, the teacher should have taught me those things...) She turned her head to look at her teacher. Noticing what looked like bite marks on the skin of the exposed arm of her teacher's dress, her lips twitched: (Ugh... This is so unfair! Why didn't the teacher tell me beforehand...)

...

The little bat still couldn't understand the thrill between adults: the thrill of doing immoral things behind the little bat's back was the second culprit that made Ms. Northumbers sink deeper and deeper.

But then again...

Tonight is exactly the time Yang Hao plans to contact Kosich and the others.

Chapter 206

......

7pm on July 16rd.

Duke Kosichä personally carried Green to the Oripathy Research Center, because Lady Kal'tsit seemed to have presented them with extremely important results—but those results were classified, so for the time being, they could only be inspected by a few important high-ranking officials who were staying in the territory.

With Her Majesty Catherine's belly growing increasingly large, her travels should be avoided as much as possible. Ms. Sonia is completely clueless about scientific research, even though the weapons she uses are products of advanced technology. As for Hela, forget about it; expecting a child to help her inspect her work would be suicidal for Koschche.

Green is still in the form of a rag doll, therefore...

...So, all things considered, the only one who could be here is Kosicheal, right? After a brief handover of her duties to His Majesty, she led her guards to the entrance of the Oripathy Research Center. But before she could even step inside, the sight of a swaying Wendigo scholar emerging from within made her pause in surprise.

That was Mr. Großwazel—but for some reason he'd lost weight. Even by Wendigo standards, he was far too thin.

"—Good afternoon, Lord Koschei." Mr. Grovazel greeted Lord Koschei listlessly, then stepped aside to make way for him, waiting respectfully for Lord Koschei to go first.

"...Good afternoon, Grovazel. What's this?" However, Kosichelle didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. She simply looked at the Wendigo scholar from her territory with confusion, trying to figure out what had happened to him.

"...No, it's nothing...it's just that my father has been pushing me a bit lately..."

"Alright. Lady Kal'tsit is inside, right?"

"Yes. She's waiting for you. But Lord Koschche, are you sure..."

"Then I'll go in. You can go ahead."

Mr. Grovazel knows Duke Kosichell's true identity and is a member of Yang Hao's [Cabinet]. But the problem is... that Lady Kal'tsit doesn't know.

Therefore... will this be a rather troublesome negotiation...?

Upon entering the first floor of the laboratory, Kosichrie sighed softly. She thought to herself, if only Kal'tsit knew her true identity like her husband did. But it seemed troublesome nonetheless.

Sigh... I have to reintroduce myself, so I'll have to use Lorelei's name.

Kosic found it a bit troublesome... while Green thought it was quite practical:

"Lord Kosichä? That's fine then. Yang Hao doesn't seem like someone who would be interested in that Kal'tsit..."

“But I always felt that she was interested in our husbands.”

[Perhaps you're being too sensitive, Mr. Koschke? It's impossible, really. Mr. Yang Hao is good, but everyone has their own tastes, right? Besides, how could a researcher like her possibly have feelings for him...?]

"...I used to think so too, Your Majesty... Sigh. Anyway, that's all—Green, tell me what you find out later. Yeah, that's all."

【good...】

In short, feeling inexplicably uneasy... Kosichrie carried the rag doll to the second floor of the research institute, where she met Ms. Kal'tsit, who was already prepared.

Lady Kal'tsit clearly didn't realize that this snake-tailed Koschich was actually the cat-tailed Koschich she had seen before... but she still treated this "Duke Koschich" with the respect due to her new superior.

"...Greetings, Duke Kosichä." Lady Kal'tsit frowned at the Duke Kosichä, who had a snake tail and was clutching a doll modeled after the previous Duke. "Please sit. This is my latest work report—but Lady Kosichä, may I ask if you really..."

“You can call me Miss Lorelei, or Ms. Kal'tsit. Actually, I’m here on behalf of Mr. Yang Hao to inspect his recent work progress.” Kosich's lips twitched, almost unconsciously blurting out his pet name for Yang Hao. “In short, please give a brief report on some key points.”

"...yes."

It seems Lady Kal'tsit doesn't quite approve of the [new] Duke Kosichä—in fact, it's not just Kal'tsit, but the people in the territory are the same... Sigh!

This would take years to rebuild her popularity. Kosichrie sighed softly to herself. Then, she sat down on the sofa and began to listen attentively to Ms. Kal'tsit's report.

......

In reality, Ms. Kal'tsit's report wasn't much—but each piece was crucial. However, given the current circumstances, she simply couldn't produce any more results and could only present the research data.

First, there's the report on the spoils of war from Colombia regarding Uranium-235—Ms. Kal'tsit used the safest chemical protection equipment to conduct a comprehensive inspection of those dangerous items. She has successfully removed the Originium crystal embedded in the enrichment rod. As for the remaining whole Uranium-235 enrichment rod, Ms. Kal'tsit believes it is an energy source that presents both danger and benefits for humanity at present.

“As long as there are safe NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) protection facilities, and power generation areas are planned separately away from densely populated residential areas, then a single enrichment rod can provide us with a large amount of electricity—and most importantly, compared to Originium, its risks are not that great. Only a very small number of professional operators might suffer health damage from the radiation in the event of an accident,” she explained. “But compared to the risk of secondary infection from Oripathy, it's nothing. The only trouble is that we need to further update our medical technology based on the radiation hazards posed by this new mineral…”

"Medical technology?"

"Yes. Our medical technology regarding radiation is still in the exploratory stage. But prevention with this new type of ore is easier than with Originium."

"But I heard that if it's placed in one spot, it will continuously emit radiation to the surrounding area?"

"That's true. But based on my current understanding of the [production], there's simply no way we could just dump this mineral on the street—it requires precise machine processing to transform the ore into these concentrated rods... Columbia only [mines] them, not manufactures them. So while it is indeed a new energy alternative to Originium,... we can only draw theoretical conclusions."

Because we have no idea where it originated, nor whether our current technology can replicate it—the worst outcome would be a Lateran-made "gun." They still haven't figured out the actual function of the "trigger," and we might be in the same boat.

"I understand. So, what else?"

"...In addition to that, there is the progress of research on mineral defects."

Ms. Kal'tsit nodded, and with a sense of foreboding in Kosichrie, she began to discuss the progress of the research on a specific treatment for Oripathy [with Mr. Yang Hao's support]...

With Mr. Yang Hao's support. Kal'tsit emphasized this sentence.

Chapter 207

Compared to the "new energy" which may require decades of research before it can be barely put into practical use, research on Oripathy is undoubtedly booming, at least from Kal'tsit's perspective.

"...Even if the entire Ursus were to dedicate resources to researching those uranium-235, it would take at least 50 years before they could be put into practical use. What I mentioned before were just theoretical data. To make them truly practical, we would need to continue research for a long time, or directly rely on the help of that [Research Slot]. Moreover, we would need to establish a new school of thought and train new talent for research—but as for Oripathy, I have already achieved remarkable results in developing a special treatment."