Han Xiao said calmly, "I just want some compensation."

"You sold the blueprints to arms dealers, isn't that enough compensation?" The research and development minister couldn't help but sneer.

Han Xiao glanced at him and said, "If you hadn't snatched my blueprints, I could have earned this money normally. It was originally my due, so how can you call that compensation? If you had bought them from me, I might have sold them to the bureau, but did you even discuss it with me?"

The research and development minister opened his mouth but was speechless.

Gu Hui said in a deep voice, "State your conditions."

Han Xiao pretended to ponder for a while, and then said, "I hope something like this won't happen again in the future."

"Very reasonable."

In any case, Han Xiao's orders were for the Thirteenth Bureau's agents, so in the end, they were being used by them. The only difference was whether they were mass-produced or not, so there was no reason to refuse. Moreover, if this happened again, perhaps the valuable blueprints would be "leaked" to other countries.

The only one dissatisfied with this decision was the research and development minister, but under the gazes of Old Gao and Gu Hui, the research and development minister could only reluctantly agree.

"And then…" Han Xiao touched his chin, as if on a whim, and said, "I want to take a look at the advanced knowledge of the Mechanic class."

Old Gao frowned, staring at Han Xiao without speaking, wondering if this was a spur-of-the-moment idea or if Han Xiao had planned it all along.

The advanced knowledge of the Mechanic class was a secret of Xinglong. Only those with Level 5 authority or above were qualified to access it (for players, it required a [Respected] relationship). The Six Nations and Germination Organization had different advanced knowledge, which they used to cultivate loyal and reliable direct descendants. If it were leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Han Xiao's face was calm, but in reality, his heart was about to jump out of his throat as he nervously awaited Old Gao's answer.

This was related to his advancement mission. Whether he won or lost depended on this. If he failed, his growth rate would be greatly affected!

"Why do you want to see the advanced knowledge?"

"I'm curious."

Okay, that was a very good and powerful reason. Old Gao had no temper.

The tense silence lasted for five minutes before Old Gao made a decision. He took a deep look at Han Xiao and slowly said, "Alright, I agree."

Han Xiao relaxed and suppressed the joy in his heart, nodding lightly, displaying an unyielding and selfless attitude, almost calling a stag a horse and confusing the real with the fake.

Although he needed to rely on the Thirteenth Bureau, the Thirteenth Bureau also needed to rely on his intelligence. The two were in a fragile balance, and as long as that foundation didn't change, some minor conflicts could be resolved peacefully.

Just then, the research and development minister suddenly spoke.

"Wait a minute! Advanced knowledge can only be opened to Level 5 personnel. This is against the rules."

Han Xiao's mouth twitched. He was about to succeed, but someone jumped out to interfere, like someone was about to open the floodgates but was suddenly ordered to stop. He felt uncomfortable and stared at the research and development minister with ill intentions, determined that if he dared to stop him, he would find a night to put him in a sack and beat him up.

"Then what's your opinion?" Gu Hui's tone was unfriendly.

The research and development minister belonged to the hard-line faction and couldn't stand the Thirteenth Bureau compromising with an intelligence informant in his eyes. Regardless of Han Xiao's purpose in wanting to browse the advanced knowledge, he didn't want Han Xiao to get his wish. Moreover, Han Xiao had framed him with the crime of reselling arms. He was hoping to get back at him, so he said to Old Gao in a deep voice, "The rules and regulations cannot be abandoned. You only agreed to this request in your personal capacity, without the vote of other committee members. I believe they may not agree with your decision."

Old Gao smiled noncommittally, his eyes gleaming, "Are you threatening me?"

"I wouldn't dare," the research and development minister lowered his head, but didn't budge an inch.

The high-level of Xinglong's intelligence agency had two tiers. The first tier was the thirteen ministers and deputy directors of the Thirteenth Bureau, who were in charge of daily duties. The higher level of leadership was the seven-member committee, including Director Gu Hui, whose members were all high-ranking officials with real power in the military and political circles. The committee was directly responsible to the existence at the very top of Dragon Horn.

Old Gao and Gu Hui were both members of the committee and belonged to the conservative faction of leadership, while the research and development minister's hard-line faction also had backers on the committee, which was why he dared to challenge Old Gao at this time.

"Since I'm here, I can fully represent the committee," Old Gao said lightly, his tone betraying no emotion.

The research and development minister gritted his teeth, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him. "Then I have only one suggestion: limit the viewing time of the advanced knowledge. We can't allow unqualified people to browse freely. I suggest the time limit be half an hour."

Old Gao and Gu Hui exchanged glances. This proposal was reliable. Anyway, Han Xiao only said he wanted to "take a look," so they just needed to satisfy his curiosity.

"Then limit it to one hour," Gu Hui decided.

The research and development minister immediately felt refreshed. Those advanced knowledge were profound and mysterious. One hour might not even be enough to read one-third of a subject. Even if Han Xiao wanted to learn, he wouldn't have enough time, and any ulterior motives would be nipped in the bud. He felt that he had successfully disgusted Han Xiao and was smug.

Han Xiao looked indifferent, but laughed silently in his heart.

"One hour? As long as I invest potential points, I can learn it in one minute."

The more smug the research and development minister was at this time, the more Han Xiao wanted to laugh. He hurriedly suppressed the laughter back into his stomach, pursing his lips to avoid laughing out loud unconsciously.

Make a fortune in silence, be low-key, be low-key…

…

Advanced knowledge was heavily encrypted, using a random key mode, generating hundreds of forty-eight-bit passwords per second, almost eliminating the possibility of being hacked from the network.

The content of the advanced knowledge was restricted to being unchangeable and unmovable. Only a few fixed mainframes could access it.

Following Gu Hui down to the bottom floor of the headquarters in the elevator, the elevator doors opened, and before them was a bright metal corridor, leading directly to the mainframe room. A monitor and metal detector were placed every ten meters, monitoring twenty-four hours a day. Infrared networks covered the corridor, and it was always on alert. There were no guards here. Behind the metal plates on the wall were hidden a large number of remotely controlled machine guns, which could react within 0.3 seconds once an intruder was discovered.

The defense was tight, and there was almost no possibility of sneaking in.

"How much did this corridor cost?"

"Several hundred million, I guess," Gu Hui said calmly as he accompanied him.

Han Xiao curled his lips. I'm not envious at all.

The mainframe was Xinglong's most advanced computer. The total amount of content it processed in one second could cause a home computer to crash. It was Xinglong's fortress and position in cyber warfare, preserving countless state secrets, and advanced knowledge was only one of them.

Han Xiao secretly estimated that even if he upgraded the [Basic Virtual Electronic Technology] of the manipulation branch to the top level, he might not be able to break through the mainframe's network firewall. Oh, the name [Basic Virtual Electronic Technology] was a bit playful, but it was actually network technology and programming technology.

After walking for five minutes, the metal corridor came to an end, and a spacious spherical room came into view. A seemingly suspended passage led to the center of the spherical room, where there was a rectangular screen, as well as a keyboard and mouse. This was the mainframe's operating system. Looking around, the walls of the spherical room were made of extremely strong transparent explosion-proof glass. Behind the glass were countless tangled wire networks, hardware modules, and chip arrays, flashing various colors of light at high frequencies. The spherical room was a huge computer room.

This sci-fi scene couldn't move Han Xiao, after all, he was someone who had seen the grand scene of cosmic star wars, and had been directly hit by asteroid-level annihilation cannons hundreds or thousands of times. Although he died with honor, what he was concerned about at this time was another key issue.

"The air here is so smelly and stuffy. Don't you usually ventilate?"

Gu Hui's eyelids twitched. Why is your focus so strange? Shouldn't you be marveling at how strict our defenses are?

Gu Hui adjusted his mentality and said, "That's the mainframe. I've already asked the back office to unlock the reading permissions for advanced knowledge. You have no right to browse other secrets. We're monitoring the situation of the mainframe in real time. Although this sentence is a bit superfluous, according to the rules, I still have to say… don't play tricks."

Got it, I won't play tricks, I'll play dirty tricks.

Han Xiao nodded and stood in front of the mainframe. He pressed enter, and a search input appeared on the screen. He typed "advanced knowledge" and several options immediately appeared.

"Advanced Esper Class: Tier 2 Gene Chain - Energy Level Enhancement"

"Advanced Esper Class: Tier 2 Gene Chain - Manipulation Enhancement"

"Advanced Martial Arts Class: Detached Fluctuation"

"Advanced Martial Arts Class: Flash Qi"

ps: Thank you to Rotten Halberd, Tao Ming Gui, Laugh at Me for Being Crazy, Fen Long, 16341918, Fengzi Says, Bubbling Senior Brother, and Cold to Pluto for the rewards!