Seized by the System

After Fang Ning read the news, he recognized more clearly the importance of the all-purpose bacteria. So, he immediately gave Ren Ruofeng a phone call to acquire the relevant information.

“Oh, the Venerable One wants the instruction manual for the all-purpose bacteria? Okay, I’ll have them send a copy over to you right away.” Ren Ruofeng heard his request and agreed without any hesitation.

“Aren’t you being a little too hasty? This isn’t like your usual manner of doing things at all… Whenever you encounter a problem, don’t you try your very best to just stall the matter, even if it meant finding difficulties where there are none?” Sir System observed in surprise.

“What are you talking about?” For a moment, Fang Ning was at a loss for words. “Sages of the past have said that it’s better for men to wait for their equipment than for the equipment to wait for men. Since this item is so well-received while the timing, geographical and social conditions are favorable to us, of course we should give this a bigger priority and make suitable preparation work. After all, this is an item that can greatly improve the production capacity of our arcane realm.”

“This is indeed a rare sight. Mr. Rich Boss, I’m starting to see you in a different light now,” Sir System said honestly.

“You flatter me,” Fang Ning feigned indifference.

Ren Ruofeng was very efficient, especially since he had received favors from him before, he was still using other people’s land for beta-testing…

Twenty minutes later, a copy of the “All-purpose Bacteria Programming Interface and Usage Precaution Manual” file was sent over via the internet.

The document capacity was quite large, amounting up to a 3G network.

When Fang Ning saw the size of the document, he knew that there would be video attachments inside.

As expected, after decompressing it, aside from a PDF file that contained tens of megabytes, the rest were all relevant video descriptions.

Fang Ning opened the PDF file and began to browse through it carefully.

The first function was “Organic Synthesis”.

The text description outlined the conditions required by the bacteria to carry out organic synthesis.

At least the condition of low-level lighting, which was similar to moonlight or starlight, was needed for the bacteria to function.

Under strong lighting, this bacteria would still be able to function as usual such as the midday direct sunlight or high-intensity artificial daylight.

The temperature range required for its survival was between 30 degrees below zero to 70 degrees above zero. However, the optimum temperature for its activity was at around 20 degrees.

Regarding its acidity and alkaline resistance, as long as the pH value was no higher than 12 and no lower than 3, it would be able to function as normal. The best pH value was naturally a neutral solution.

After Fang Ning had roughly finished reading the text description, he quickly clicked on the related local video link.

When the video began to play, a greenhouse appeared in the scene.

A staff wearing full-body protection was holding a glass petri dish while standing in the greenhouse.

Inside the petri dish, there was only a thin layer of water.

He took a test tube and injected a drop of blue-colored liquid into the petri dish.

At this moment, a video narration appeared. “This is the switch to activate the ‘Organic Synthesis Function’ of the all-purpose bacteria.”

A few minutes later, the entire petri dish started to turn green.

Then, the staff proceeded to pour the liquid inside the petri dish onto the ground of the greenhouse.

The interior of the greenhouse was illuminated by artificial daylight.

Another few minutes had passed, and the ground that was originally dark brown in color had become a shade of green all over as if it was covered by a layer of green furry blanket.

“Now that the all-purpose bacteria has been cultivated, it will begin to transform into an organic matter. We can set a method for extracting the organic matter. It can be in the form of ordinary fruits that familiar to humans, or it can be in liquid form which will be more convenient for industrial extraction. This method of producing organic matter will completely change the agricultural production practices of humans that have been used for thousands of years,” said the narrator.

At this point, Fang Ning habitually dragged the video to fast-forward it directly to its final 30 minutes.

Sure enough, strawberry-shaped fruits began to appear on the green blanket on the ground. If it was not described as the product of a bacteria, consumers would probably see this as a naturally-grown, unpolluted organic food item.

However, this should probably also count as an unpolluted organic food item. After all, no chemical fertilizers and pesticides had been used, so it should not contain any heavy metal residues…

“In order to mass produce organic matters, as long as sufficient light energy, carbon dioxide and water are provided, with the bacteria’s production rate, it could achieve up to a twenty percent conversion rate if placed under the best conditions. This means that in the synthesis formula for organic matter, every five portions of corresponding resources can be used to synthesize one portion of organic matter. This rate far surpasses the current conversion rates for all existing agricultural products, which was at least a hundred times above the latter and perhaps even more than a few thousandfolds,” the narrator went on.

Fang Ning knew that this was not an exaggeration. He had seen the production process of wheat many times, from planting to harvest.

Even if the weather is good, with no pests or diseases, the wheat harvested by the farmers would only contribute to a small part of the whole crop.

That was why the selection of seeds became very important. Those wheat ears that were large and grain-bearing were considered as the good seeds because it could focus more on the organic matter in the fruit-bearing parts that humans could use.

He continued to fast-forward the video file, finishing it in one go. Then, he realized that the functions of this all-purpose bacteria were indeed as all-encompassing as its name suggested.

It could treat most types of waste, absorb atmospheric pollutants, and solid pollutants. It could even be used in the production process of the mining industry to extract metals and minerals.

“Its functions are too perfect. I keep getting the feeling that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme…” Fang Ning started to worry the moment he had finished watching it.

There were many lessons as such in human history. For example, the invention of penicillin, chemical fertilizers, DDT, freon… This list could go on forever.

Of course, one should not just choose not to eat for fear of choking. Instead, it should be used with certain limitations and not be abused.

The functions and perfection level of this all-purpose bacteria were way beyond most technological inventions — this was what worried Fang Ning the most.

Could there be defects and side effects to it at all?

The manual did not address this, but it only pointed out some precautions for use.

Even if this was a god’s creation and an artifact, it could not be taken as something that was too perfect.

One should remember that these gods themselves had managed to destroy the Upper Realm, and now they might harm the Earth and the universe…

Fang Ning quickly raised this question to Ren Ruofeng.

“Uh, I’ve directed this question to those IT personnel too. They said that this creation is indeed perfect without flaws. Even if there were any flaws, only a god can detect them, so they haven’t been able to notice anything bad about it at all,” Ren Ruofeng said helplessly.

“Haven’t you asked those two masters about this?” Fang Ning asked.

“I have and they mentioned that there was a major flaw in it, but they’ve already remedied it. When I asked what flaw it was, they only said that the secrets of heaven must not be revealed and it cannot be known by others.” Ren Ruofeng sounded like he wanted to punch someone very badly…

Having heard such mysterious words to describe scientific research, if it was not for the fact that he was less powerful than those two monks, he would have beaten them to a pulp.

“Is that so? Then I guess there’s no way of finding out.” Since Fang Ning knew of Zhi Nan’s background information, he could roughly understand why the person said something like this.

It was because they had consumed their Heavenly Destiny to produce this item, and since it was not entirely a technological invention, it would make sense that some parts of it were inexplicable.

Another question suddenly occurred to him. “Have you guys tested to see how this bacteria performed in an environment without vitality production?”

Ren Ruofeng was impressed by this question. “The Venerable One has touched on the key point even though there wasn’t any mention of this in the manual at all. The truth is that when this bacteria is activated, it needs to be in an environment that has vitality.”

“As expected, I knew it would turn out like this. Okay, send me some samples. I’ll find someone to study it and find out what this major flaw actually is,” Fang Ning instructed.

“Understood,” Ren Ruofeng happily agreed. While it could be withheld from others, it should be given to this great god.

…

An hour later, Zue Feng used his flying sword to deliver the sample of the all-purpose bacteria to the farm villa.

Fang Ning exchanged a few pleasantries with him before sending him off before he turned around and went straight to Morality City.

What he said about studying the major flaw was just an excuse for him to obtain the sample in advance.

After finishing what he wanted to accomplish, he could then find the monk and ask him what that major flaw really was.

Fang Ning believed that Monk Zhi Nan would tell him about it, even if he would not tell it to anyone else.

After all, Vigilante A was a true hero and a good person with a strong character…

The Scientific Academy for Vitality at Morality City.

In the director’s office, Fang Ning took the all-purpose bacteria sample as well as all the information he had gone through earlier and handed them over to Yellow Dog.

“Xue Ba, the focus of your next phase of work will be to study this all-purpose bacteria and discover all its functions in advance. You must be careful to isolate it and do not leak it. Before Ren Ruofeng and his people complete their beta-testing, don’t use it on a large scale,” Fang Ning repeatedly instructed him.

Yellow Dog looked through the information curiously and immediately guaranteed, “Yes, master, I’ll complete this mission as soon as possible.”

“Very well. Is there anything else you’d like to report?” Fang Ning asked casually.

“There is one thing, master.” Yellow Dog was clearly too involved in research work to that extent that his emotional intelligence was decreasing. He did not notice that his master was just asking out of politeness. Hence, he innocently replied, “After Black Robe’s Red Queen Computational Center was moved away, the calculation service was discontinued. This has caused a lot of inconveniences when doing research…”

“Uh, right. I was just going to see them. I’ll bring this up on your behalf as well,” Fang Ning took a moment to reply, and then he nodded at him.

“Thank you, master.”

Between a man and a dog, not many pleasantries could be exchanged. So, they simply went their separate their ways.

“Since Black Robe has become a monk, that Red Queen Computational Center should be of no more use to him now. Might as well get him to sell it to us…” Sir System took the opportunity to suggest.

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m sensing something suspicious about this. Black Robe might’ve become a monk, but he has never mentioned anything about all the core assets he used to own. There must be something going on here,” Fang Ning said grimly.

“What can it be?”

“This guy must be trying to trick us!” Fang Ning concluded.

“What kind of trickery could he be playing at?” Sir System asked anxiously.

“Achieving his aims by underhanded means, making concessions in order to gain advantages…” Fang Ning said coldly.

If Yellow Dog did not remind him of it, this thought would never have occurred to him. When he thought about it now, there had to be some problem with this.

Those two guys were definitely false monks