Hearing his aide’s concern, Jing Shu offered a faint smile. "They have the Sea Eagle Country’s support and have been researching for over half a month longer than the Lvzhi Country. If they had nothing to show for it, they’d have no way to answer to the Sea Eagle Country."
The aide’s brow remained furrowed. In his opinion, it was perfectly normal for research to make no progress in just half a month.
"Of course, there’s no need to worry about it," Jing Shu continued. "Once the data is recovered, we’ll know exactly what it’s worth."
The aide nodded. "That’s true."
"Captain, we’ve spotted a shark attacking one of our speedboats!"
One of his men rushed over, shouting the report.
With a hint of resignation, Jing Shu immediately got up and followed the man outside.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Even before they got close to the speedboat, they could hear the thud of heavy impacts.
The speedboat was being rocked by the force of the blows.
Without any hesitation, Jing Shu leaped onto the speedboat and released his Mental Energy to interfere with the shark underwater.
The agitated shark reacted even more violently, ramming the speedboat twice more before swimming off into the depths. Meanwhile, Jing Shu collapsed to the side, his face pale.
"Captain, are you all right?" one of his men asked with concern.
Jing Shu waved a hand dismissively. "The shark should be gone for now. Help me back."
"Yes, sir!" The man immediately moved to support Jing Shu.
Seeing the weakened Jing Shu being helped aboard the main ship, the aide rushed over to meet him. "Captain, what happened?"
"I overexerted my Mental Energy. I’ll be fine after some rest," Jing Shu replied weakly.
The aide nodded, took over supporting Jing Shu, and escorted him to his room.
"Spread the news that I’m in a weakened state. Don’t be too obvious about it."
The moment they entered the room, Jing Shu suddenly straightened up, full of vigor.
The aide froze for a second, then immediately understood Jing Shu’s intent.
"Captain, are you trying to test the other captains?"
Jing Shu nodded, his tone icy. "Have our own men get ready. If any of them make a move, show no mercy."
"Understood!" the aide replied before turning and leaving.
With his level of Mental Energy, Jing Shu could have easily driven off the relatively small shark. Instead, he deliberately made it look like an even fight, as if he had completely exhausted himself.
Jing Shu knew this ploy might not yield any results. The other captains probably weren’t fools... but what if one of them was?
Time slowly passed. By noon, Jing Shu hadn’t detected any unusual movements from the other captains. Instead, he received news that the experimental data had been recovered.
"Captain, good news! All the lab data has been recovered, including their email correspondence with the Sea Eagle Country! It’s all been restored!" The aide’s voice was filled with delight. "Their research was a continuation of the Lvzhi Country’s experiments, and they’ve actually made some real progress!"
Jing Shu was overjoyed at the news. "Excellent! This means we can ask for more supplies!"
The aide nodded in agreement.
Jing Shu asked casually, "Are the other captains behaving themselves?"
The aide nodded slightly. "We haven’t detected any unusual activity."
"That’s fine. There’ll be other chances," Jing Shu said with a slight smile. "I’ll look over the data first, then I’ll contact the Aircraft Carrier Base to sound them out."
The aide nodded. "All the recovered data has been sent to your computer."
"Good." Jing Shu opened his computer and began to browse through the files.
He broke into a smile when he saw an email from Park Yiye, the president of the Han Jin Association, to General Mike of the Sea Eagle Country.
Jing Shu took a screenshot of the email and sent it directly to Ji Yizhi.
Upon receiving the screenshot, Ji Yizhi immediately had his translators interpret its contents.
He was completely stunned when he saw the translated content of the email.
"The success rate is as high as ten percent!" Ji Yizhi’s eyes widened.
The Evolution Potion developed by the Lvzhi Country had a success rate of less than one percent. This was an increase of more than tenfold!
This was more than enough to prove their research was headed in the right direction.
Though shocked, Ji Yizhi didn’t respond to Jing Shu immediately. If he appeared too eager, the other party would likely use it as an opportunity to hike up the price.
He sent the information directly to the captains’ group chat.
"So the Han Jin Association really is just a lapdog for the Sea Eagle Country. They inherited the research progress from the Feixiang Aircraft Carrier and continued it. Based on their emails, they may have actually found the right research direction," Ji Yizhi added.
Seeing the email screenshot, Wang Jun was also pleasantly surprised. "Excellent. What are Dawn Base’s demands?"
"He hasn’t said yet. He just sent me this screenshot," Ji Yizhi said, shaking his head. "He’s probably trying to show how valuable the data they have is. I’m guessing he wants a good price for it."
Wang Jun nodded. "Then ask him. Let’s see just how big their appetite is."
"Right, I’ll ask him in a bit." Ji Yizhi nodded, then turned and asked with a smile, "Captain Long, are you still unwilling to get involved?"
Long Zhan shook his head again. "I’m not participating. A ten-percent success rate is no different from less than one percent in my book. I won’t gamble the lives of my soldiers on a ten-percent chance."
"But at the very least, this proves their research is on the right track. Aren’t you even a little tempted?" Ji Yizhi asked, surprised.
Previously, Long Zhan had refused to participate because the value of the Han Jin Association’s research data was unknown. But now, even knowing its value, he was still choosing to stay out.

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