I Don't Agree to the Terms

As for the collected samples, naturally, it fell to the research assistants to properly place them.

"Marina seems to be hiding something. Do you know?" the dean stopped Richard, his tone carrying a tinge of confusion.

"Who knows, women are all like that," Richard said, indifferent, not caring about such things; what he was thinking about was how to monetize the Quantum Channel of the parallel universe for fame and fortune, securing his livelihood for the latter half of his life.

"Oh? It seems you do know something; shall we talk about it?" the dean knew that aside from Marina being familiar with Quantum Channel technology, Richard was too.

Although it was said that Marina was the lead, Richard knew as well, having been involved in most of the research.

As opposed to Marina who knew nothing, Richard instantly understood what the dean wanted.

"Of course, we could talk for a long time," Richard knew that the dean, representing the parliamentary powers behind him, wanted to secure ample benefits.

And for him, naturally, it was about handing over the technology and then moving abroad to live like a wealthy gentleman.

Today he would hand it over because that's where the benefit lay; if the Prime Minister were to come tomorrow, the value would significantly decrease.

Thus, Richard did not hesitate to monetize it directly.

"That's wonderful; I also have a bottle of fine wine," the dean was quite satisfied with Richard's response—a sensible person, unlike Marina who seemed not to have caught on or was perhaps pretending to be confused.

...

Cancer Universe. Shanhai had reached this cancerous planet connected to another universe; all cancerous life forms around were trembling in fear of Shanhai's arrival.

Shanhai had not come alone; he was surrounded by a throng of cancerous life forms that had submitted to him, the smallest of which was the size of a planet.

"You did well. Remember, stabilize these visitors from the strange world, let them root in you, and if something goes wrong, not dying will be a punishment."

Shanhai, through his retrospect vision, quickly reviewed the entire discovery process and gleaned quite a bit of information from it.

"It's a Western-style empire; from a technological perspective, it has not reached interstellar civilization but its level of civilization greatly surpasses the original human civilization of this world."

"The next is energy, a kind known as Ghost Energy."

Ghost Energy, this unique energy, was something Shanhai had heard of before. The only difference was that in every world where Ghost Energy served as the energy source, they weren't the same thing; the energy forms and properties varied—some derived from dark matter, and others were spiritual energy.

As for what the Ghost Energy in that opposite universe was, Shanhai also made some guesses through the channel sustained by combustive elements.

That was what he needed: the concept of death, meaning, in that opposite universe, the concept of death manifested as a form of energy.

Therefore, the cancerous life forms were not targeting Marina and Richard specifically but the Ghost Energy they carried and the channel itself.

Tainted with the aura of death, they were naturally subject to the malice and hostility of the cancerous life forms.

If the cancerous planet had not been warned by Shanhai, it might have acted immediately, and Shanhai's efforts would have been wasted.

"It looks like I'll have to find a way to infiltrate that other world."

Shanhai was also very envious of this technological knowledge. Perhaps the success of their parallel universe Quantum Channel involved interference from the "First Epoch," but their advanced technological level could not be denied.

The value of Cancer Universe was actually not that much, for the Long-Sleep Giants he created had already begun harvesting all the benefits. Waiting here was just like lying down and deducting the laws of life through the Vermilion Bird.

Why derive it here when he could go to that other universe and potentially gain much more?

"It's just that I don't know whether these two are official personnel. If they are, then things would be much easier; just report it, and basically, no official powers could ignore the benefits of a brand-new planetary interest."

Thus, Shanhai was not worried about them giving up but rather concerned about when they would come over.

In case he had to prepare for one or two years, wouldn't Gu Shanhai be just idling away his time?

However, this possibility was quite slim; the main forces might not arrive so early, but the vanguard would definitely come in advance to explore.

"If the flow rate of time is one-to-one, new personnel should arrive within three days."

"So we have to give them enough of a welcome."

Gu Shanhai looked at the situation on this cancerous planet; there were not enough small cancerous lifeforms, and he needed to summon some from other planets.

With a sweep of his hand, he snatched all the small cancerous lifeforms from the numerous cancerous planets around him and threw them all into it.

As for the benefits, well, there was no need to worry. The mere words "immortality" were enough to drive the opposite universe crazy.

Yes, even the people from the opposite universe, when they entered this cancerous universe, could enjoy the treatment of immortality.

So, regardless of resources, the higher-ups of the opposite universe would not give up on uncovering the secrets of immortality.

As for using Ghost Energy to kill cancerous lifeforms? That was downright laughable. Ghost Energy was merely a manifestation of the death concept in the opposite universe, not the true concept of death. At most, it was specially effective against cancerous lifeforms but could not truly kill them.

Currently, there was only one way to kill cancerous lifeforms, which was to lure them into the universe that possessed the concept of death, and then eliminate them completely there.

"Is this some kind of house swap?" Gu Shanhai couldn't help but feel both amused and helpless when looking at these data.

The idea was good, but the possibility of realization was almost nil.

The cancerous lifeforms were Gu Shanhai's private commodities, used to extract breakthrough materials and as raw materials for the Vermilion Bird; it was impossible to just send them over to be slaughtered.

And the other side was even less likely to give up everything. Even if the higher-ups wanted to come to the cancerous universe to enjoy immortality while holding power, the common folk were not willing.

Ordinary people would go mad living in the cancerous universe, as such a terrifying and bizarre environment was not something a normal person could endure.

Moreover, if the number of deaths was too frequent, they would be eroded by immortality, transforming their entire being into various monstrous forms and even causing mental torment.

Thus, their most likely course of action would be to conduct research to ensure immortality in their original universe while eliminating all side effects, with Gu Shanhai's universe serving as their colony.

That was the optimal solution.

So, forget about switching homes. If anyone really lost their senses, Gu Shanhai would give them a wake-up call.

"What if, in the opposite universe, devoid of the concept of life and filled with death, blending the two would improve the flavor?"

Gu Shanhai suddenly thought of this.

A universe with only life and a universe with only death—stacking these two seemed pretty good.

"It's just that I don't have the means to extract the relevant concepts."

"Luckily, there's still a chance. I could totally collect raw materials in the cancerous universe and then process and breakthrough in the opposite universe, conveniently snatching the concept of life."

Feeling that since he had come this far, Gu Shanhai thought he might as well exploit it thoroughly; otherwise, it would be such a waste.

"Wondering if the taste will become weird." Gu Shanhai hesitated upon thinking this far.

After all, his ultimate goal was to devour both worlds as his nourishment. Surely he had to consider the taste upon ingesting them.

"Forget it, let it be weird. It's not like it's inedible; I'll just gulp it down without chewing when the time comes."

Gu Shanhai quickly dismissed this moment of hesitation. He had eaten bizarre culinary creations before; how much worse could it be, especially since the two worlds complemented each other? It definitely wouldn't be bad.