After the New Miserly Kingdom fleet returned home, Reid truly enjoyed a carefree week as emperor.
Political affairs were handled effortlessly by Une and Mina, while military matters were focused solely on training for the time being. Noin was busy, but Reid was not.
The only thing Reid needed to oversee was the settlement of the crew from the Archangel.
He granted everyone the freedom to leave the ship, as long as they didn't venture beyond the military jurisdiction of the base where the Archangel was docked.
As for Bargiruel, Reid took her alone to Canberra and settled her near Murrue's new home, making it clear he had no intention of letting her return to the Atlantic Federation.
Bargiruel naturally protested vehemently—she had no desire to defect.
However, negotiations between the New Miserly Kingdom and the Atlantic Federation were soon concluded. The Atlantic Federation had no intention of severing ties with the New Miserly Kingdom over the Archangel; they simply wanted the ship back.
They willingly abandoned the crew, especially since Muruta Azrael—a member of the Archangel—had died. Though he was killed by a Coordinator while being transferred to the rear, the wrath of the Azrael family was not something to provoke. Taking it out on the lower-ranking soldiers was far easier.
With most of the Atlantic Federation's military leadership, who had strongly supported Blue Cosmos, wiped out by Genesis' radiance, the current high command was far less extreme. They even privately proposed leaving the Archangel's crew in the New Miserly Kingdom and sending their families over as well.
Reid wasn't naive—if the Atlantic Federation military was truly this generous, there would undoubtedly be spies among those families.
So, he played along. He agreed to return the Archangel but demanded that the Atlantic Federation send all the families over first.
The Atlantic Federation military eagerly complied, delivering everyone to the New Miserly Kingdom within two days.
Reid honored the agreement and returned the Archangel. However, he only kept Bargiruel's parents in the New Miserly Kingdom, while the rest of the Archangel's crew and their families were sent to Orb.
Given Reid's influence in Orb, accommodating a few hundred people was a trivial matter. After all, Orb had suffered devastating losses in the war, and its population had sharply declined. Even knowing some of the newcomers were likely Atlantic Federation spies, Orb gladly accepted them.
As for Bargiruel, after reuniting with her parents and realizing the Atlantic Federation had abandoned her, she stopped resisting and dutifully joined the New Miserly Kingdom, quickly rising to a high-ranking military position.
However, she remained hesitant about submitting to Reid. But Reid didn't mind—Bargiruel was already within his grasp, and he could take his time winning her over. After all, being a scoundrel was a habit—once you started, there was no turning back. His three wives were still quite tolerant of Bargiruel.
Yet, after a week of leisure, Une finally tracked Reid down. She pointed out that being the only idle person in the entire nation wasn't appropriate and assigned him a task: figure out how to identify all the spies in the country so they could be dealt with in one fell swoop.
Then Une handed Reid a document detailing thousands of recorded espionage activities from the expedition to PLANT's homeland up to the present. Particularly in the week since Reid's return, spies from various nations had been investigating the anomalies Reid had created during the Second Battle of Yakin Due.
This was only what Une's counterintelligence department could uncover. No one knew just how many spies were currently active in Australia.
After reviewing the document, Reid admitted he knew nothing about catching spies, but he did have some skill in "separating the pure from the impure." However, the anomalies he had caused during the Second Battle of Yakin Due needed at least a superficially plausible explanation—otherwise, trouble would follow if certain parties started manipulating public opinion. For now, they could add some bait to the mix and kill two birds with one stone.
Reid and Une then discussed in detail the plan to release papers on Minovsky Particles and psycho-induction, along with related technological applications, to lure out the spies.
Two days later, a groundbreaking paper on Psycho-Conductivity was published, shaking the Earth Sphere. Titled Theoretical Research on Converting Tactile Signals into Mental Signals via a Novel Particle, its author was the renowned Psycho-Conductivity expert, Dr. Elvira Hill.
Thanks to the system's arrangements, Elvira Hill had previously published the initial theory of the Mental Link System in the Cosmic Era universe. Though the theory had not gained scientific recognition, her academic credentials were still respected.
Most crucially, the New Miserly Kingdom's Academy of Sciences announced an experimental product alongside the paper—a headband-sized Psycho-Induction Device.
This device allowed disabled individuals to control mechanical limbs using a new type of particle, even restoring a sense of touch (a fusion of Psycommu System theory and Psycho-Link conduction theory).
It was worth noting that neural induction technology in the Cosmic Era universe was still limited to physical and biological connections, relying on simulated human electrical signals for operation.
Not only were the surgical costs for such prosthetics absurdly high, but they also caused immense physical pain during the initial adaptation period.
Worse, these prosthetics struggled to simulate human tactile feedback, forcing users to rely on pressure alone to gauge force.
The system introduced by the New Miserly Kingdom's Academy of Sciences, however, required no neural connection to the body. Users only needed to wear the headband—even the cheapest, most rudimentary prosthetic would suffice.
At most, the prosthetic hand might need minor modifications for flexibility and additional sensors, but the overall cost was low enough for ordinary families to afford.
Unfortunately, the headband was a decoy Reid had specially crafted to mislead. It incorporated Psycho-Conductive Materials used in the Lambda Driver, and the stored Minovsky Particles were only there to misdirect research.
Thus, the headband could never be truly commercialized. Reid intended for spies to eventually steal it, triggering a massive espionage free-for-all in Australia.
After all, the raw materials for Lambda Driver Psycho-Conductive Materials didn't exist in the Cosmic Era universe, and artificial synthesis was impossible. Even if stolen, no meaningful research could be conducted—only leading researchers down a dead-end path.
Of course, a single Psycho-Conduction headband alone couldn't spark an espionage war. It was merely the opening move. And in her paper, Elvira Hill never specified what the "novel particle" actually was.
However, on the very next day after the publication of "Theoretical Research on Converting Tactile Signals into Mental Signals," Reid Isaac released a paper primarily authored by Tem Ray under his own name, titled "Analysis of Human Mental Influence on Minovsky Particles."
Yes, Reid didn't shamelessly rename the Minovsky Particles as Isaac Particles but published it under its original name.
To be honest, when this paper was first released, the scientific community was utterly baffled, mainly because no one had any idea what Minovsky Particles were.
Although Reid had never published any scientific papers before, his expertise in mechanical engineering had long been recognized by the industry. Thus, he wasn't immediately subjected to widespread criticism from the scientific community. Everyone decided to carefully review Reid's paper before passing judgment.
But the results weren't promising. The entire theory of the paper was based on the existence of Minovsky Particles, and without knowing what they were, it was impossible to verify the paper's validity.
Fortunately, on the third day, Dr. Tem Ray published a paper titled "Overview of Minovsky Particles."
In this paper, he outright fabricated a scientist from the last century, Dr. Minovsky, claiming to have rediscovered his experimental notes and reproduced a particle that had been detected during a nuclear test but couldn't be replicated with the technology of that time. He named it the Minovsky Particle.
The paper detailed how Minovsky Particles possess nearly zero rest mass, can carry positive or negative charges, and under specific conditions, form a regularly arranged cubic lattice structure.
It also explained that positively and negatively charged Minovsky Particles could combine to form Mega Particles.
Specifically, Minovsky Particles generated in a particle accelerator form a cubic lattice structure through the arrangement of T Force (T Force).
This cubic lattice structure is then compressed by a powerful force field (named the I-Field), causing the Minovsky Particles to "retreat." The positive and negative Minovsky Particles fuse, becoming Mega Particles. During this process, the cubic lattice structure shrinks, and the mass of the Minovsky Particles increases beyond their surface. As the Minovsky Particles fuse, a portion of their mass is annihilated and converted into energy.
(The above section is sourced from Baidu Baike. The author found it headache-inducing—recognizing every word but understanding none of it.)
After this paper was released, the scientific community across Earth's sphere was completely stunned. Now, the three papers published by the New Miserly Kingdom were connected.
Moreover, military forces worldwide quickly confirmed that Minovsky Particles were the very interference particles the New Miserly Kingdom had been using, and they held terrifying military value.
However, Dr. Tem Ray's "Overview of Minovsky Particles" made no mention of how Minovsky Particles could be produced. The only clue was their properties, which vaguely suggested a connection to nuclear reactions.
So, on the same night the third paper was published, Reid deliberately leaked information that an interference device containing Minovsky Particles had been stolen from the port of Melbourne.
From that night until the early hours of the next morning, Melbourne's underground factions erupted into chaos. Everyone made their move—not just the four major powers of Earth's sphere, but even smaller nations tried to play the game of "the snipe and the clam fighting while the fisherman profits."
Everyone knew that Minovsky Particles could very well be the catalyst for the next major technological breakthrough. Even remote minor nations no longer feared the four major powers of the Earth Sphere, as long as they had personnel in Australia. All mobilized to seize this jammer containing a large quantity of Minovsky Particles.
Among them were even spies from Orb. It didn't take a genius to guess—these spies definitely weren't sent by Cagalli, who currently had no real control over Orb. It was likely the work of one of the other three of Orb's original Five Noble Families.
However, Reid didn't send anyone to suppress the chaos, because the ones emerging now were at most low-level spies. The real big fish hadn't surfaced yet. This Minovsky Particle jammer was merely bait to lure them out.
So Reid also sent people to join the fray, observing and recording all the factions involved in the scramble, preparing to settle accounts one by one after the jammer was smuggled out of the country.
Of course, this Minovsky Particle jammer had actually been tampered with—its Minovsky Particle content was extremely low. The nation that successfully seized it would undoubtedly cry foul upon discovering they'd gotten a counterfeit product.
But the amount of Minovsky Particles stored inside was still enough for functional experiments. As long as no one wasted them, it would practically confirm the authenticity of all three papers released by the New Miserly Kingdom.
Thus, one week after the Melbourne incident, when the New Miserly Kingdom had already purged most of the shallowly embedded spies in eastern Australia—
After the Atlantic Federation, which had seized the Minovsky Particle jammer, experienced multiple internal spy wars, a feasibility report on Minovsky Particles was stolen by the Eurasian Federation.
But unable to escape the Atlantic Federation or covertly transmit the information to the Eurasian Federation, the spy—for reasons unknown—decided to publicly release the report to the entire populace using the Atlantic Federation's still-recovering civilian wired network.
The Atlantic Federation's counterintelligence never expected the Eurasian spy to pull such a stunt. By the time they realized, it was too late. The report spread like wildfire among the public, and spies worldwide embedded in the Atlantic Federation likely all got wind of it.
Now, the military value of Minovsky Particles was out in the open. Nations rapidly launched their own research efforts, while the leaders of the Earth Sphere's four major powers seized the opportunity of Earth Alliance-PLANT negotiations to visit the New Miserly Kingdom.
Yet after arriving, these leaders barely engaged in proper talks. Instead, they spent every day pulling Reid, Ange, and Une into discussions, their words circling one thing: a desire to collaborate with the New Miserly Kingdom on Minovsky Particle research.
The four powers all declared they would provide funding, land, personnel, and equipment—so long as the subsequent research results were shared between both parties.
To these collaboration offers, Reid naturally refused, citing that Minovsky Particle production technology was a military secret. However, he did let the four leaders experience the psychoframe headband, giving them the sensation of having a third arm.
After the leaders of the four major powers had their trial run, no one questioned the anomalies Reid had caused during the Second Battle of Yakin Due. Everyone simply assumed it was some application of Minovsky Particles. Reid's status as a human was preserved.
Of course, afterward, the big fish Reid was trying to catch also surfaced. For the sake of Minovsky Particle research data, the entirely indigenous scientific community of the New Miserly Kingdom's Academy of Sciences—along with their family members—were subjected to various forms of harassment by spies, including but not limited to bribery and kidnapping.
The outcome was predictable: the indigenous people's lips remained sealed. Even torture and drugs couldn't pry them open.
In the end, the elite spies carrying out these missions—along with the deeply embedded former residents of the Oceania Union who had been aiding them—were all exposed.
This time, Reid showed no mercy. Every exposed spy and collaborator was captured on sight, and those who resisted were shot dead on the spot as suspected state secret thieves.
After a nationwide crackdown, the deep-cover spies from various countries were effectively purged, and the attacks on the New Miserly Kingdom's Academy of Sciences finally ceased. Even if any remnants remained, they went completely underground, ceasing all further operations.
Of course, the Earth Sphere's scientific community did not halt its research on Minovsky Particles.
In a short time, requests for Minovsky Particle samples from laboratories across Earth flooded the New Miserly Kingdom like snowflakes.
For those labs following proper channels, Reid didn't outright reject them. Instead, he selected a few and traded Minovsky Particle samples for some of their technological advancements.
Once laboratories from the Earth Sphere's four major powers obtained Minovsky Particle samples, the great nations quieted down, turning inward to focus on their research. For a time, the entire Earth Sphere enjoyed an unusual peace.
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