Chapter 76: Grace Is Very Angry

It was not until evening that this delightful field research came to an end.

On the way back, Jack chattered on, “Those wolf-like creatures tasted pretty good. That pitch-black one was fierce—I bet it would taste even better, but it got away!”

“I’ve told you before, the wolf-like creatures are called Viperwolves, and the particularly ferocious one is a Deathbeast,” Ma Jun replied. “If I remember correctly, we were the ones being chased by the Deathbeast—it didn’t just run off! Its hide is so tough that our bullets barely scratched it!”

“Oh, then next time we’ll need to bring stronger weapons!” Jack said hopefully. “By the way, are those spinning creatures tasty? They looked a bit disgusting to me.”

“Not bad, actually. The meat is a bit like shark—quite good!” Ma Jun recalled.

This time, their outing had turned from a scientific expedition into a hunting trip, with Jack thoroughly led astray by Ma Jun—though not in a bad way; he simply became entirely focused on food.

Back at the base, Ma Jun exited the link pod and found his avatar body. He had the staff move all the collected plants and creatures into his room.

Grace had just returned from her stroll outside. When she saw what Ma Jun had gathered, she frowned in exasperation. “Mr. Ma Jun, are you sure you’re doing scientific research? None of these creatures will help your work!”

“Oh, is that so?” Ma Jun shrugged. “Since it’s scientific research, you have to make bold hypotheses! I remember your team is supposed to assist me, right? Analyze the components and properties of these samples for me. Also, I’ll give you some of the ingredients for Life One—combine them with what I’ve collected and see how they react!”

“Fine, fine,” Grace replied, clearly displeased. “I’ll share the results with you, and you’ll see for yourself how pointless this is!”

Annoyed and headstrong, she gathered her team after dinner and set to work that very night, determined to let the facts speak for themselves and force Ma Jun to admit his mistake and keep quiet.

She worked late into the night, but the task was manageable since she already had records on most of the samples Ma Jun collected. All she needed was to run comparative analyses.

However, when Grace, research report in hand and brimming with righteous fury, went looking for Ma Jun, the staff told her he had already gone out.

“I can’t see any sign that he’s a real scientist! He must have just gotten lucky with Life One. Why would the heavens give such a heroic achievement to someone like him? I heard he went hunting and had a picnic with that marine yesterday!”

Grace was fuming. She had once thought Ma Jun was a great scientist and had hoped to get to know him better, but after only a short acquaintance, she realized they were nothing alike—and that he seemed to be treating Pandora as a vacation spot.

In the main control room of the base, inside a lavish office, Parker slumped over his desk, idly spinning a piece of superconducting ore.

“Those damned blue-skinned monkeys—primitives, no civilization, yet they’re sitting on magnificent mineral riches!”

“Parker!”

“What?” Parker sat up with a start. “You scared me! What is it, Grace? Shouldn’t you be wandering through the forest, enlightening those adorable Na’vi?”

“What are you talking about?” Grace frowned and tossed her tablet to Parker. “Take a look—this new guy, Ma Jun, he’s not a sincere scientist at all! This is Pandora, not a hunting ground. Besides, the plants here are fundamentally incompatible with the components of his Life One!”

Parker picked up the tablet and scrolled through the data as if reading an alien script. “So?”

“He's completely unnecessary!” Grace exclaimed. “You should find a way to get rid of him—let him go back to Earth and enjoy the profits from Life One! Stop interfering with my research!”

“Oh?” Parker replied indifferently. “And what have your research results achieved? Just made our relationship with the Na’vi worse? Headquarters has ordered me to ensure you cooperate with Mr. Ma Jun, so it’s out of my hands.”

At the mention of this, Grace’s eyes reddened. She had spent over a decade building relationships with the Na’vi, teaching their children, only for mercenaries to massacre many of them, and for her to lose those children forever.

“I’ll never work with him again!” Grace declared, turning on her heel.

Parker shrugged at her retreating back and gave a scornful little laugh. He sat down again, glancing idly at the report in his hands.

Suddenly, Parker’s eyes lit up as he reached the end of the report.

“According to all available data, the flora of Pandora and that of Earth are completely different systems—there is no way to combine them!”

“In other words, Life One has no potential for further upgrades—at least, Pandora can offer no answers.”

Parker drummed his fingers on the desk for a long time, then bundled up all the reports, opened his computer, and began working quickly.

On Earth, in company headquarters, President Stark lounged in his office, contentedly chewing on Life One and laughing heartily at a soap opera.

Suddenly, a notification flashed in the lower left corner of his screen. Annoyed, Stark turned off the show. “A message from Pandora? Must be urgent.”

He opened the message and grew increasingly serious as he read through the files.

At length, he lit a cigarette. “If I recall, Ma Jun is an orphan?”

He picked up his phone and dialed. “Hi, this is Stark. Mr. Dawson? Long time no see. Junma Technology has been growing at an incredible pace these past years—Life One is basically universal now. You must be raking in the profit!”

“Oh, we’re all making a killing,” Dawson replied. “Especially Ma Jun. That ordinary guy is now one of the world’s richest men.”

“Of course, he’s quite something,” Stark chuckled. “Think about it: Life One sells seventy million units a day, and Junma Technology nets over a billion in profit daily!”

“It’s like printing money. If not for governments and the big companies taking their cut, they’d earn even more,” Dawson said with a hint of regret.

“Got some free time? I hear there are new arrivals on Pink Street on Mars,” Stark said.

“Of course!”

Back on Pandora, Ma Jun and Jack lay low in a shallow depression, eyeing a large willow-like tree ahead. Its drooping branches were thick and tinged with a pale pink hue.

“I hear this is where the Na’vi pray? There’s an even larger, more important one called the Tree of Souls, right?” Jack whispered.

“I want to collect a few samples,” Ma Jun said.

“But there are two Na’vi over there—they’ll surely try to stop us.”

“It’s just a few samples—a leaf or two. We’re in Na’vi bodies; they won’t care,” Ma Jun replied easily.