Starting from the Planetary Governor

Gu Hang likewise could only sigh.

He patted Martins on the shoulder and said, "I hope everything goes smoothly."

Gu Hang meant it sincerely. He truly hoped that all three seeds for the Phoenix Battle Group would succeed.

Building a battle group wasn't something Gu Hang was ready to tackle yet; he'd let the star warriors handle it among themselves. Three more star warriors, then another three... As long as it was just a matter of tens or dozens, it wouldn't shake Gu Hang's authority.

Considering the current sorry state of the Phoenix, reaching that level was a long way off.

In fact, without Gu Hang's external help, they might never achieve it.

However, things often don't go as one wishes.

Just a week later, Gu Hang received news from Martins.

The first surgery failed; in the following days, two more pieces of bad news came in quick succession.

When Gu Hang visited the Phoenix Monastery, which now had a semblance of scale, he couldn't meet Commander Matins.

According to Priest Rizzo, Martins Salas had locked himself in the prayer room and hadn't come out for a long time, nor did he allow anyone to disturb him.

To be honest, seeing Martins like this, Gu Hang also felt a pang of compassion.

Every time Gu Hang called upon the fallen Phoenix, they responded without fail, and each time they fought desperately—with nearly half of them perishing.

They had truly lived up to their name, something Gu Hang had to admit.

Because of this, he got the surgery equipment repaired, new ones purchased; power swords and Terminator Armor bought...

However, he still felt guilty, especially about the matter of offering one hundred points of grace for a seed.

But now wasn't the time to bring that out.

As for when it would be the right time... to be honest, Gu Hang didn't know.

Despite his compassion and guilt, Gu Hang couldn't risk bringing out the genetic seeds only to be reported to the Tribunal right afterward.

Reporting to the Tribunal depended on the status of the reporter. Random accusations against a governor couldn't prompt an investigation; even if the Tribunal expanded a hundredfold, they would be too busy to handle it all.

But if a commander made such an accusation, it was entirely different; the weight of the charge would be significant.

He had to be certain of his absolute safety after revealing the seeds, otherwise, he wouldn't do it.

Privately was another matter.

However, Gu Hang noticed something else.

Priest Rizzo's demeanor seemed off.

Gu Hang turned and stared at Rizzo for a while.

Rizzo looked back and asked, "What's the matter?"

Gu Hang said, "I find it strange, Your Reverence, that you seem very calm, not saddened?"

He indeed found it odd.

Martins was in such agony he didn't want to see anyone and had locked himself in the prayer room; the other two members of the battle group were grief-stricken, aimless, at a loss, and in despair...their numb expressions could hardly hide these emotions.

But Priest Rizzo seemed very calm, with no noticeable change in his interaction with Gu Hang from before.

Now, hearing Gu Hang's question, Rizzo even revealed a trace of a smile: "Whether the surgery succeeds or fails, it is the Divine Emperor's will. We should learn to accept it."

"Yes, of course," Gu Hang responded, then asked further, "But are you not worried about the future of the Phoenix Battle Group?"

The smile on Priest Rizzo's face became more defined. Looking at Gu Hang, he said seriously, "The fate of the battle group does not rest on the success of these three surgeries but on you, Governor.

Gu Hang frowned deeply.

```

This charlatan's demeanor made him quite uncomfortable.

He spoke cautiously, "Your Excellency, Priest, I don't understand what you mean."

At this point, Rizzo didn't directly answer Gu Hang's question but simply stated, "The Divine Emperor will decide everything."

...

When Gu Hang left the Phoenix Monastery, he was full of confusion.

The old priest's attitude really made him somewhat entangled.

He seemed to know something.

But it was not suitable to dwell on this matter, thinking would be pointless, he didn't even have enough manpower to monitor these superhuman warriors, he could only ask the staff who entered the Phoenix Monastery to pay more attention and report back.

The Phoenix Monastery was right next to Weixing City, since having come this far, Gu Hang took the opportunity to inspect Weixing City, his last stop being the Secret Research Institute, overseen by Wu Jiarong.

The items bought from the Beautiful Lady were for either the Phoenix Battle Group or the research institute.

Gu Hang initially wanted to see how the Research Institute was doing with the technologies they had acquired, but as soon as they met, Wu Jiarong took the opportunity to complain bitterly.

This sister from the Sect of Mechanics was quite dissatisfied with Governor Gu's exploitation of her.

Previously, she didn't dare show such an attitude, for fear that after knowing the governor's grand secret, her already mysterious and uncertain life would abruptly end.

But with prolonged contact, she found that the governor was actually quite easy to get along with. As long as she did her job well, the governor was generally not too harsh.

So she gradually dared to express her thoughts.

Gu Hang was pleased with this.

It was acceptable for his subordinates to fear him, but Gu Hang did not wish it to go overboard. Loyalty should come from respect, not from fear. This is not to say that fear cannot breed loyalty, but fear, along with loyalty, can also bring hatred, which can quickly turn into betrayal.

Respect, admiration, trust... these are much better.

Gu Hang hoped his subordinates could dare to express their needs clearly to him; perhaps that would be better.

However, what Wu Jiarong said this time still made Gu Hang a little embarrassed.

"You can't keep piling one research project after another on me; I don't even have a moment to research the Black Box to improve my own skills," she said.

Wu Jiarong's words were not just a complaint, but also pointed out a very practical issue.

"With all kinds of scientific research projects squeezed in here, many projects are unrelated to one another. I'm not being lazy or complaining about the workload, but with this scattered approach and not enough scientific staff, it's impossible to complete all these tasks. I know these technologies are important in your plans, not trivial matters that you can easily dismiss.

That means you cannot accept that many of these things will remain indefinitely queued, with no idea how far into the future they'll be scheduled..."

"Hmm..." Gu Hang nodded his head.

He admitted that Wu Jiarong was right.

"But what's your suggestion?" he asked.

"My suggestion is that, under your command, there must be more people capable of scientific research. I know, under the conditions on Rage Owl Star, it's difficult to find many such people. But the more challenging it is, the more we need to prepare in advance, just like you established Wind-Extinguishing Zhongsi Academy, you also need a Technical Academy," she replied.

"Of course, that's possible," said Gu Hang, "that's already part of my plan, but... Wu Jiarong, are you interested, do you have the time, to serve as a professor at this academy?"

Wu Jiarong sighed helplessly and said, "If this is an order from you, Governor, of course I have no problem. But, you also need to bear a consequence: if I dedicate half my time to teaching students, then the time required to complete all research projects will be doubled."

That was the trade-off.

Would you hasten the research projects or assign someone to teach in a school?

The former, although not rapid, was the most effective at the moment.

The technology to synthesize starch needed optimization; the effectiveness of the new production line couldn't compare to the one dismantled from the starship; the 'high energy' in high-energy batteries was a misnomer as it couldn't even sustain laser gun firing, let alone be used by rapid attack crafts, which foreclosed the laser guns from reaching their full potential, forcing the Wind Falcon to use far more valuable energy crystals as fuel, resulting in a tremendous waste.

Not to mention, there was a pile of technologies that needed to be reverse-engineered: hydroponic farms, water purification equipment, spirit gas collection equipment, exoskeleton production lines...

Without Wu Jiarong, who had effectively reached the level of a Mechanical Priest, all these projects would grind to a halt.

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