Chapter 1592: A Decision
Ning looked at the woman, holding onto the magnet, with great fear and hope in her eyes. He looked at the man behind him, greatly worried about everything, not wanting to go to prison for what he did.
Ning looked at the magnet the woman was holding and asked, “What exactly are you people using the Spark on in this place? Where is it all being spent?”
“In making stuff,” the woman said. “Whatever stuff we can make. There are a lot of things required for various experiments that we need to do, so we make what we need.”
Ning cocked his head a little in thought. “You used the Spark meant for the city by just making stuff?” he asked.
“Not just making stuff, no,” the woman said. “We needed it for our own safety as well. We need Cultivators on hand to either grow food for us or help us heal from any injuries we come upon. I myself hurt my finger badly recently by letting two magnets get too close to each other while my thumb was still holding onto one.”
Ning nodded. “And how long has this been going for?” he asked.
The woman seemed hopeful. Seeing Ning question them so much was a good thing as he wasn’t going to thoughtlessly report them to his superior.
There was a chance.
“We’re trying to understand the truth of our world here. There are things in this world that happen for a reason. There are rules to everything. We’re trying to find those rules and improve our own lives that way.”
“I see,” Ning said. “Those are good intentions. How successful are you though?”
The woman hesitated a bit. “Not that successful,” she said. “These past few months have been the most successful we have become thanks to the Military being in such a stir after so many events happened.”
“We managed to sneak away a portion of the Spark given to make this city and use it for ourselves.”
Ning looked around. “Have you used all the Spark then?” he asked.
“Spark? No, we have a lot remaining still,” the woman answered.
“Then the request?” Ning asked, turning around to look at the old man.
“That was for the city. We need more Spark to continue our work and complete the city soon.”
“Oh!” Ning said. “How much of the Spark is left still?”
The woman thought for a bit. “About half of what we were given. So about a ton,” she said.
“Give that ton back to them,” Ning said. “I will confirm to my superiors that you need a ton or so more to complete. That should be enough to finish working on the city, right?”
The old man hesitated a little but nodded in the end. “That will be enough,” he said.
The woman got sad. “Does that mean we won’t be able to work on our experiments? We can’t continue learning anything?” she asked.
“No, you can continue that too,” Ning said. “I do not know how much more you need to keep on doing what you’re doing, but I can see the vision, and I will help you. Continue and I shall provide.”
The woman gave a small smile. “Thank you,” she said, clearly only glad to not be caught. She did not believe Ning could do anything at all.
“I will leave for now and come back tomorrow with the Spark. I want to learn more about everything at that time,” he said. He didn’t have the time for that today.
If he spent any time longer in this place, he wouldn’t be able to report to Redaime in time from his office.
“Okay,” the woman said. “Maybe you will help your superiors know that what we are doing is what our people need. Haha, maybe not.”
Ning could see the sadness on her face. She fully believed that she wouldn’t be able to continue what she was doing moving forward.
It seemed she truly loved science and wanted to learn more.
Ning walked out of the room and looked at the hallway that continued deeper. “There are more people in here?” he asked.
“There are about 18 people in total that are working in here,” the old man explained. “Do you wish to meet them too?”
“No, I’ll meet them all tomorrow,” he said. “I do have a question though. How come none of the soldiers outside notice you sneaking in here? You have to open a literal hole in the wall to come through, and you even have the light crystals inside here.”
“Huh? Oh! That’s because this place was created as a storage area first. We keep the Spark and the lights in here and take it out as it is needed. So the soldiers never realized that we were actually trying to pursue science in this place.”
“Oh! So the Spark is in this place, huh?” Ning said. “Speaking of which, how did so many scientists come to be in this place? Is there something special about this place?”
“Word of mouth, I assume. I am a man who pursued science while I was young too. My father owned the company that I currently run, which made enough money that I didn’t have to work. I could spend all my time on science.”
“However, when my father passed away, I had to take on his responsibilities, and science just became a distant past to me. I never thought I would get back to it, but a few months ago, one of my friends from the past complained about the Military cutting even more funding to research and development. When I heard that he could no longer do any work without any Spark, I… had the stupid idea of letting him borrow a bit of what I was using.”
“And that is the Spark that you took from the stash meant for the city, huh?” he asked.
The man nodded slowly. ‘Honestly, it was only meant to help a friend of mine, and soon enough more learned about this and came, and I couldn’t say no. Before I knew it, we had an entire secret organization working.”
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