After cultivating, another wave of hunger washed over him. After wolfing down a meal, his interest in his awakened ability grew even deeper.
Previously, because the ability's duration was severely limited by his physical stamina, Bai Mo rarely used it. Most of the time, he would fantasize about how to play with his abilities in his mind, much like when he used to read web novels and imagine how he would develop all sorts of powers.
The only difference was that before, he could only write code on paper with no chance of ever running it; now, he wrote code on paper, and then, when the computer had a free moment, it could truly execute.
However, today his curiosity was piqued. He was determined to thoroughly test this enjoyable ability, even if it meant overdrawing his stamina and could only be used for a total of one minute.
After a period of diligent cultivation, his vision continued to skyrocket towards superhuman levels.
Now, even without activating his ability, he could discern people's expressions within 500 meters under unobstructed conditions.
This time, he resolved to further test the various limits of his X-ray vision ability.
He reined in his scattered thoughts and began to concentrate, trying to perceive further. But unfortunately, the range of his "X-ray vision" was only about a 30-meter radius. Beyond that 30-meter range, anything he "saw" became distorted, blurry, and warped.
Next, he used the remaining duration of his ability to test the limits of its precision.
He stared at his hand, focusing his attention on the surface of his skin, mentally pushing harder and harder until he could exert no more effort. He then discovered that if he gave it his all, he could barely perceive down to the cellular level, vaguely seeing the outlines of cells. However, he was still unable to see what was inside the cells.
After fully exerting his ability to the point of physical exhaustion, he collapsed directly onto his bed.
When he awoke, he felt even more refreshed, but his heightened senses seemed to intensify the hunger gnawing at his stomach. It was as if a valve in his body had been opened after his uninhibited use of his abilities the previous day.
For the next two days, Bai Mo found his body had suddenly become a bottomless pit. No matter how much he ate, he would feel hungry again within two hours.
This also brought back a problem that had previously been alleviated—he had to constantly run to the restroom, as matter, after all, must be conserved.
Under these troublesome circumstances, he had no choice but to buy more food to fill his "void."
Naturally, plagued by such a major inconvenience, he could only call the lab and feign illness to conceal the truth.
Worried about arousing suspicion, he only bought enough food for an ordinary person's month of consumption at the supermarket. Any more, and his increasingly sensitive and suspicious mind would deem it unsafe.
After a round of calculations, he concluded that an average person's monthly food intake was roughly equivalent to his own three-day intake.
As the area around the university was quite desolate, with no other convenient food sources besides the campus supermarket, he opted for online shopping.
After buying enough high-energy food for 10 days' worth of normal consumption from seven or eight different online stores, he chose to have the deliveries spread out over three or four days to avoid suspicion from fellow residents in the same building.
While he hadn't yet reached the point of being paranoid to the extent of "there are always treacherous subjects who want to harm me," he still didn't want to risk any secrets being discovered.
He had arranged to meet Professor Zhao that afternoon at 3 PM, but he hadn't anticipated his body behaving this way. Still, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go.
Fortunately, it was already early November, and the weather had turned much cooler. He simply put on the coat with the most pockets from his wardrobe, stuffed each pocket full of compressed biscuits, and then, gripping a one-liter bottle of water, he headed out towards the laboratory.
"Bai Mo, still haven't recovered from your cold?" Lin Hai, his desk-mate, who was just leaving the lab as Bai Mo entered, asked.
"Thanks for your concern, Lin Hai. I'm fine now, just need to dress warmly."
"Take care!"
"You too, see ya."
Bai Mo sat down at his desk, glanced at the time—two fifty. He quickly unscrewed his water bottle, gnawed on a pack of compressed biscuits, wiped his mouth, and feigned nonchalance.
Zhao Jiasen was always very punctual. At two fifty-eight, less than half a minute after Bai Mo had wiped his mouth, he stepped through the laboratory door.
As soon as Zhao Jiasen entered, he walked straight towards Bai Mo's seat.
"Xiao Mo, how's the experiment coming along?" Zhao Jiasen, who had received the experimental report a few days prior and had even conducted some verifying experiments in his spare time, confirming Bai Mo's claims, still asked knowingly, seemingly wanting to hear the good news from Bai Mo himself.
"Good afternoon, Professor. According to the experimental results, adding a small amount of the sample powder during steel smelting can significantly increase the hardness of the resulting steel. Preliminary tests show that adding 20 grams of the sample powder per ton of raw iron ore yields the optimal effect, with the final product achieving a Mohs hardness of 10, comparable to diamond."
"As for the sample's effects on other industrial materials, due to the insufficient quantity of the sample, no further tests were conducted. The detailed experimental test results were sent to your email in the form of an experimental report three days ago," he continued, explaining with a straight face.
"Excellent work! I knew this unknown material had to be special. We've finally lifted a corner of its veil. The discovery of such an excellent additive will undoubtedly greatly advance our nation's materials industry. Xiao Mo, your discovery is indispensable; it has also brought honor to our lab. I won't omit your contributions when I write the report."
Zhao Jiasen verbally began to shift the credit to himself. However, seeing no signs of dissatisfaction from Bai Mo, he secretly thought Bai Mo was quite perceptive and decided to compensate him in other ways.
"The lack of samples is a minor issue. I recall seeing quite a bit of this material at the base of the volcano in Hawaii. You can go there to conduct an investigation. How about this: I'll approve a month of on-site research for you. Head to Hawaii, and on one hand, collect enough samples for a series of subsequent experiments, and on the other, search for similar minerals."
"Regarding the budget, I'll allocate a sum from my research funds. Any expenses you incur during your local investigation can be deducted from it."
"My mentor is really going all out to claim this achievement for himself, directly sending me to Hawaii for a month-long 'vacation.' I bet by the time I return, his paper will already be published, and his 'great achievements' will be plastered all over the newspapers. So, this money is probably meant as hush money, but it's not even his own; it's just national research funding. Being generous at the expense of others, he naturally gives freely, and money probably doesn't mean much to him anyway. After all, he's nearly 70, with nowhere much to splurge large sums." A thought quickly flashed through Bai Mo's mind.
"Furthermore, this money also ties me down. If I expose the truth after he publishes his paper, this money will likely become evidence of me defrauding research funds, and then I'll be ruined. Truly the old fox of the research world, preparing on both fronts, watertight. But it doesn't matter anyway. I have no intention of becoming famous. No amount of fame can compare to quietly cultivating and growing stronger."
Bai Mo then agreed to Zhao Jiasen's arrangement without hesitation, "Professor, when should I depart?"
"Once you've sorted out your visa and gathered all the necessary equipment, you can depart. I'll have my assistant transfer the money to a new account tomorrow. Just provide an expense report to the finance department when you return. I have other matters to attend to, so contact me if you have any further questions."
With that, Zhao Jiasen hurried away, seemingly in quite a good mood.
"Why such a rush to publish? It's not like anyone's competing with you," Bai Mo muttered to himself, a smile still on his face.
After gnawing on another pack of compressed biscuits, he continued to request sick leave from the lab, and incidentally informed them of Zhao Jiasen's arrangements, indicating that he would be away for quite some time.
Once everything was settled, Bai Mo quickly slipped back to his dorm. After all, with his current appetite, lingering in crowded places would easily draw unwanted attention.
For the next week, Bai Mo mostly holed up in his dorm, aside from the time spent getting his visa. Finally, on the eighth day, Bai Mo noticed that his food consumption had significantly decreased, returning to normal levels. Curious, he used his X-ray vision to look at his own skin and discovered that, following his eyeballs, some strange tissues had also appeared beneath his skin.
"What are these strange tissues?" He began to let his imagination run wild again. "After these tissues appeared, my food demands dropped. Could it be that the purpose of these tissues is to absorb energy? If they're on the surface of the skin, then their function should be to absorb free-floating energy from the air. It's a good thing these tissues don't have chlorophyll, or else I'd be absorbing solar energy like a plant and turning all green, which would be game over; I'd definitely be captured and sliced up."
"Still, these newly grown tissues appeared just in time, right before I left for Hawaii, saving me a lot of trouble and eliminating the risk of exposure."
"My mentor's connections seem quite solid... To make me disappear from Huaxia as quickly as possible, he actually pulled strings to fast-track my process." Bai Mo, who received his visa in less than ten days, grumbled to himself a few more times.
Before departing, he conducted a detailed test of all his current abilities.
First, there was his initial enhanced vision: when fully concentrated and without using his X-ray vision, he could discern human expressions within 1000 meters.
Next was the X-ray vision that appeared later: its effective range was about fifty meters, and its resolution had also improved to a certain extent. He could clearly perceive the outlines of cells, and although he still couldn't see what was inside them, it was a significant step forward compared to his previous, very blurry perception.
Of course, his body's superhuman transformation didn't make him lose his vigilance. He was still merely flesh and blood. A pistol bullet, even a graze, could cause him minor injury, let alone various machine guns, sniper rifles, or missiles. He was still a long way from his self-preservation goal of shrugging off nuclear bombs.
Over the next few days, he packed his luggage, along with all the experimental equipment he would need for his Hawaii expedition. Carrying the bank card sent by Zhao Jiasen's assistant, he embarked on his journey to Hawaii.
According to Zhao Jiasen's original intention, this month was for Bai Mo to spend a day or two collecting stones, then use the remaining time to vacation in Hawaii, and return to work after Zhao Jiasen had processed the acquired results and the matter was a done deal.