Chapter 544: Chief Researcher of the Tang Sect

Li Lie was instantly blinded by intense silver light, closing his eyes; when he opened them again, he found he had arrived at a completely unfamiliar place.

This is a spacious underground space where various large machines emit a humming sound; people in white coats rush back and forth, exchanging words, while many sit at desks, intently fiddling with soul tool components.

Li Lie couldn't help but stare.

"This, this is..."

As a high-ranking official of the Star Net Empire, he could naturally tell that this was a soul tool research institute.

Yet this soul tool research institute, whether in size or facility advancement, completely surpassed his imagination; for a moment he was like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden, unable to stop looking around, curiously examining these soul tool facilities.

Seeing him like that, Tang Wulin helplessly reminded:

"Hey, I suggest you don't just look around randomly like that, or else if you get into trouble later, don't blame me for not warning you beforehand."

Li Lie stared blankly, then suddenly reacted.

"Tang Sect?"

"Hmm."

Tang Wulin lightly nodded.

This is where Huo Yutong currently works.

After three years of study, she has learned most of the core soul tool concepts of this era; she is now the Chief Researcher of the Tang Sect, leading several important research projects.

Although Tang Wulin doesn't know much about soul tools, once he saw a research draft Huo Yutong had placed on the table, the design drawn on it emanated a terrifying killing intent just by looking at it, making even Tang Wulin feel a slight shudder.

If Tang Wulin guessed correctly, she is probably conducting very important research.

He didn't ask her what she was researching, knowing her; if she could casually talk about it, she would surely tell him voluntarily, but since she didn't, it meant this was confidential research not to be spoken of casually.

If he really asked her, she would certainly tell him, but that might worsen Huo Yutong's evaluation, so he ultimately chose not to ask.

He grabbed a passing researcher and asked, "Where is Yutong now?"

"Ah, Dragon King."

The researcher was startled, but upon seeing that the one who grabbed him was Tang Wulin, he relaxed and said, "If it's the Director, he's currently in the third room on the left down that hallway."

Saying that, he pointed forward to a nearby corner.

"Okay, thanks."

Tang Wulin let go of him, gestured to Li Lie, and said:

"Alright, let's go."

While saying that, he stepped forward.

Just then, the researcher who had just given him directions suddenly called out to him again.

"Ah, wait a moment, Dragon King."

He scratched the corner of his mouth, his gaze somewhat evasive, and said:

"That… the Vice Director is also in that room, conducting research together with the Director; as far as I know, due to the research being blocked these past two days, her mood hasn't been great… please prepare yourself mentally."

"……Okay, thanks for the reminder."

Tang Wulin's mood instantly grew much heavier.

As for that researcher's mentioned Vice Director, he truly had no good impression of her.

Bringing Li Lie to the door of the room the researcher had mentioned, Tang Wulin raised his hand and knocked.

From inside came Huo Yutong's voice.

"Who is it?"

Tang Wulin smiled and replied, "It's me."

"Ah! Wulin!"

Huo Yutong's voice instantly turned joyful; the door flew open, a petite figure lunged into his embrace, rubbing against his chest, she lifted her head and asked:

"Wulin, why did you come to see me? Although I'm happy, it's work hours now."

"Because he has urgent business with us, I directly brought him here."

Tang Wulin helplessly pointed to Li Lie beside him; seeing him, Huo Yutong's body stiffened for a moment, then she released her hold on Tang Wulin's hand, coughed lightly twice, and gave Li Lie a gentle smile.

"Hello, what's happened in the Star Net Empire?"

Truly a married couple—their first reactions are exactly the same.

Li Lie silently complained in his heart, meanwhile deciding to completely drive that scene from his mind and forget it entirely.

He nodded and said:

"Hmm, it's about the Green Skull Organization; we've found their headquarters……"

Next, he and Huo Yutong explained the situation.

While they were talking, Tang Wulin glanced toward the interior.

A woman in a suit with neat, wine-red short hair stared coldly at him; upon making eye contact, she slightly raised the corners of her eyes in a provocative manner, her expression full of displeasure.

"What are you here for?"

Tang Wulin wordlessly pointed at Li Lie, who was explaining the situation to Huo Yutong.

"Isn't he already speaking? Just listen to him."

The woman's face instantly turned ferocious; she sprang up from her seat, stepped before Tang Wulin, and said displeasedly:

"My earlier words weren't a question but a challenge; how dare you, you jerk, interrupt our research again?"

Tang Wulin helplessly said:

"Ling Zichen, Yutong isn't just the Tang Sect's Chief Researcher; she also has other things to do—you can't keep her confined to the Tang Sect."

"Hah, you don't know how amazing her talent in the soul tool field is; with her, we can develop more powerful soul tools faster, thereby changing the whole structure of human society!"

The more she spoke, the more excited she became, her speech speeding up.

"Honestly, if she spent the time she uses to be with you on soul tool research instead, she would surely become the greatest soul tool master and mecha master in history; such a fine talent ruined by you—if only you didn't exist!"

By the end, her tone was already filled with deep disgust.

"Ling Zichen!"

Interrupting her rapid-fire speech was not Tang Wulin, who was being attacked by her, but Huo Yutong, who had been listening to Li Lie explain the situation. She said to Ling Zichen discontentedly:

"Apologize to Wulin!"

"But I..."

"If you don't apologize, I'll quit this experiment right now!"

"Sorry!"

Upon hearing Huo Yutong say she would quit the experiment, Ling Zichen's face did a complete 180, and she bowed deeply to Tang Wulin.

"These past two days, the research has been hitting setbacks, I'm not in a good mood, please forgive me."

"It's fine, I didn't take it to heart."

Tang Wulin gave a bitter smile.

After three years, he had long since figured out the temperament of Deputy Director Ling.

She is a true research maniac; according to a offhand comment Tang Wulin once overheard from a researcher, if she ever got a boyfriend, that boyfriend's biggest rival would surely be soul conductor shells.

At first, Tang Wulin actually regarded her as a female version of Xuan Ziwen, but as they spent more time together, he realized he was mistaken—the gap between the two is truly not ordinary.

First, in terms of research direction, Xuan Ziwen is actually a purer enthusiast of soul conductor technology; he's interested in novel and unusual things, not particularly fixated on any specific direction.

Tang Wulin heard from Huo Yutong that the high-altitude detection-type soul conductor devices that once gave the three original Douluo kingdoms a headache in the Ri Yue Di Guo had Xuan Ziwen's contribution, and the technology installed in humanoid soul conductors also bears his fingerprints.

Moreover, after coming to Tang Sect, Xuan Ziwen developed many types of soul conductor shells for the sect, helped Tang Wulin design a ninth-rank alchemy furnace, and even researched the Linked Soul Conductor; he can be said to be nearly a jack-of-all-trades.

But unlike him, Ling Zichen is a bomb specialist; her greatest hobby is making bigger bombs, so rather than saying she is a soul conductor technology researcher like Xuan Ziwen, Tang Wulin sometimes feels the term terrorist fits her better.

Moreover, their personalities differ greatly as well.

Although Xuan Ziwen is a research maniac who pays no heed to outside affairs, he actually understands basic social etiquette; he knows exactly what attitude to use with whom, and will bow when appropriate. His personality is merely that of a normal person with obsessive hobbies; at least in Tang Wulin's interactions with him, he puts on no airs and is very easygoing.

But Ling Zichen is completely different; just for daring to speak to him like that, Tang Wulin honestly admits he admires her.

Doesn't she realize that if he wanted, a single thought could kill her?

Tang Wulin knows this answer in his heart; she knows it too.

But even knowing that, she still does it.

So in Tang Wulin's heart, she is unlike Xuan Ziwen's kind of obsessive enthusiast; she goes further—she's a lunatic.

That is, only because Tang Wulin has a good temper can he tolerate her personality; if someone with a slightly more volatile temper, a top-tier powerhouse, were here, they might well start fighting her.

And worse still, even if they fought her, ordinary people couldn't defeat her.

Ling Zichen herself is actually just an ordinary person without any soul power; let alone an Honored Douluo-level expert, even a mere Soul King could kill her ten thousand times over in raw combat ability.

But the problem is, while she is an ordinary person, she also has another identity: she is a god-level mecha master.

A typical god-level mecha master, even without relying on soul master abilities, can at least reach Honored Douluo-level combat power, and her god-level mecha is far superior to that of an ordinary person, at least comparable to a Super Douluo.

Tang Wulin once tested her combat power; her maximum output can even release an attack equivalent in power to a ninth-rank fixed soul conductor shell.

This is truly astonishing, considering that the power of a ninth-rank fixed soul conductor shell equals an all-out strike from an Extreme Douluo, and not just any Extreme Douluo but a quasi-god-level Extreme Douluo.

Although being able to unleash such an attack doesn't mean she possesses quasi-god-level combat power, it does mean that even among Super Douluo, she ranks as one of the most troublesome.

At least in Tang Wulin's understanding, there are hardly any who could reliably defeat her below the Extreme Douluo level.

This also shows how advanced Tang Sect's technology has become.

Enabling an ordinary person to possess this level of combat power, even if the cost is high, already carries epoch-making significance.

Li Lie on the side was already dumbfounded.

"Who is this girl, so fierce? She actually dares to speak to a Dragon King Douluo like that."

Three years have passed, and Tang Wulin's position as the new top ranker of the continent has gradually stabilized.

The main reason is that he hasn't deliberately concealed his whereabouts, so many people know he is constantly fighting Evil Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent and terror organization Green Skulls on the Star Net.

In these operations, his fighting figure is occasionally recorded; those who have seen the videos have gained a new understanding of his combat power.

For the vast majority of ordinary people who will never in their lives come into contact with a Soul Sage, Tang Wulin's battle footage, even without him going all out, is astonishingly impressive.

They never imagined that a soul master cultivating to the extreme could possess such terrifying power; Tang Wulin, who dispatches enemies with casual ease, looks as mighty as a deity descending to the mortal realm.

And Li Lie, as a diplomat of the Star Net Empire, has come into contact with many powerful soul masters, and he himself is actually an Honored Douluo-level expert, so he understands all the more just how unfathomably deep Tang Wulin's strength is.

Faced with Tang Wulin, even if you gave him ten guts, he absolutely would not dare to speak like Ling Zichen does.

Could it be that this person is some hidden expert of Tang Sect? Li Lie couldn't make a judgment, so he chose to stay silent.

In such clashes of big shots, someone like him, a small fry, is better off not interjecting.

Tang Wulin said to Huo Yutong: "In short, just as you just heard, the Green Skulls' lair has been found; let's go to the Star Net Continent for a trip, how about that?"

"No problem."

Faced with Tang Wulin, Huo Yutong was not as stern as when facing Ling Zichen; her face bore a pleased, grinning expression, unable to contain her joy.

She is the one who understands best what eradicating the Green Skulls means for Tang Wulin; the reward for the first trial of the Dragon God Nine Trials was given to Tang Wulin as a second soul core, awakening his Dragon God power, and even when using his Martial Soul True Body he can reach true god level; by that logic, the reward for the second Dragon God trial is something to look forward to.

Moreover, even if no rewards were given, if Tang Wulin reabsorbed the dragon bones of the Seven Dragon Kings once more, his own strength would gain a tremendous leap; at least according to Huo Yutong's perception, he is now far stronger than he was three years ago, so if he were to face Yun Ming again now, he probably wouldn't even need to use the Dragon God True Body to easily crush Yun Ming, and if he could truly gather all the dragon bones again, even without rewards he would likely be able to maintain a normal god-level combat power.

Such good news naturally should be pursued as quickly as possible; Tang Sect's research and such can be put on hold for now.

"Wuu wuu wuu..."

Seeing Huo Yutong answer so readily, Ling Zichen let out a low, unwilling moan.

Without Huo Yutong, the progress of the experiment would slow down considerably.

As Tang Wulin was about to leave with Huo Yutong, Ling Zichen suddenly had a flash of inspiration and shouted:

"Wait a moment!"

"Huh?"

Tang Wulin turned his head, looking at her doubtfully.

What's wrong?

Ling Zichen felt a bit embarrassed, but still said firmly:

I'll go too.

(End of chapter)