As Chen Mo's voice fell, he suddenly felt a mysterious and unfathomable force spreading from within him, forming something like a magical grasping hand.
The hand was intangible—unseen and untouchable—but undeniably real.
It extended from inside Chen Mo and wrapped around the main power cable of the generator. The electric meter, which had just been spinning wildly, halted instantly. Even the surrounding lights began to flicker.
The electricity generated by the generator cluster was being completely absorbed by Chen Mo.
It was incredible.
He could clearly sense the system absorbing energy, as if it were overloaded, surging toward him. Yet his body felt no different from before—no change in sensation.
But the energy progress bar started moving steadily.
0.3%
0.4%
0.5%
…
Every few minutes, the number would tick upward.
Chen Mo was overjoyed. This was exponentially faster than passive energy absorption!
Natural energy absorption could only gain 0.1% per day.
Now, with active charging, he was gaining 0.1% roughly every five minutes.
That meant he could gain 1.2% per hour.
To fully charge the "Reach into Movies" ability, he only needed about 83–84 hours. If he charged continuously for 24 hours a day, it would take just three and a half days.
Insane.
This was a massive win.
He'd soon be able to extract another item from a movie.
But… what should he bring out next? It had to be a piece of technology close to real-world science, but also highly useful to him.
[Iron Man – Nanotech Armor], [Super God Academy – Godmaking Tech],
[Terminator – Liquid Robot & Time Travel Tech],
[Limitless – NZT Formula],
[Lucy – CPH4 Formula]…
Movie after movie flashed through Chen Mo's mind. The more he thought, the more excited he got.
I need to think carefully.
What should I extract next?
He silently gave himself a task: besides studying, he had to watch more sci-fi films. Only with a deep enough knowledge base could he make the best possible choice.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye…
Five hours had passed.
The "Reach into Movies" ability had charged up to 6.3%.
Chen Mo had maintained the same posture for hours, and his body felt a bit stiff. He gently shook his head, bones cracking audibly.
Although he was enjoying the thrill of charging, he knew it was time to stop.
He had spent long enough inside the generator room.
And he still hadn't confirmed whether the external security team could be trusted. Staying inside too long might arouse suspicion and bring unnecessary trouble.
Moreover, the mysterious black-clad men and the Xuanwu Division were still investigating the blackout incident. At such a sensitive time, it was best not to appear out of the ordinary.
Chen Mo shook his head again, calming himself and acting like nothing had happened.
After mentally preparing himself, he slowly opened the door.
Looking ahead, he spotted Zhao Qiang patrolling about a hundred meters away. Zhao Qiang was smoking a cigarette, sitting with his back to the generator room. He never glanced toward it, simply keeping quiet watch over the area with no signs of curiosity.
That detail greatly satisfied Chen Mo.
As long as Zhao Qiang could stay in line, keep his mouth shut about what he shouldn't know, and follow orders—then once he passed his evaluation, Chen Mo would consider grooming him to be head of security at the future research base. A solid first team member.
When Zhao Qiang saw Chen Mo emerge, he immediately crushed his cigarette and walked quickly over.
"Boss," Zhao Qiang said flatly as he reached him.
"Yeah. Get a car and take me back," Chen Mo said casually, not bothering to explain what he'd been doing in the generator room—and Zhao Qiang didn't ask either.
"Understood."
Zhao Qiang nodded, then personally drove a pickup truck to take Chen Mo back.
Naturally, he had already removed his sidearm.
Firearms were banned throughout Jiuzhou, except in key areas like nuclear power plants with special permits. Ammunition was also strictly regulated.
There was no way he could carry his weapon out of the plant.
Chen Mo sat in the back seat, watching the scenery blur past as the vehicle left the desolate wilderness and entered the outskirts of Haicheng City.
A wave of emotions surged in his heart.
Before coming to the power plant, he had just been an ordinary college student.
But now, after acquiring the plant, a high-tech research center was about to be born. His identity had completely changed.
The aura of a future bigshot was already taking shape.
He was one step closer to his goal.
There was so much to do now. First: find time every day to come to the plant and charge up. Second: get Black Domain Tech to turn a profit—fast—and make 50 billion. Third: build the Black Domain Research Base. Fourth: move Red Queen's mainframe to the power plant—it would be far safer there than in a rented apartment. Fifth: watch at least one sci-fi film a day, to think about what to extract next. Sixth: study nuclear energy, and figure out how to restart the reactor. Seventh…
Well, as for the seventh?
Not yet decided.
Even completing these would already be impressive.
By the time he got back to Qingmu University, it was already evening.
He had taken a day off, originally planning to head straight back to his apartment. But just then, his phone rang. The caller ID showed a nickname: [Tian Tian].
"Hello? Miss Tian, is something wrong?"
Although Tian Tian was now the general manager of Black Domain Technology, Chen Mo still habitually called her "teacher."
"The Xuanwu Division is doing routine questioning about the blackout. The new homeroom teacher couldn't reach you, so I called. You need to come back to campus right away," Tian Tian said directly, her voice tinged with exhaustion—clearly, she'd had a busy day with the company.
Thump!
Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat. His hair stood on end, adrenaline surged—he was startled. But he quickly regained his composure.
"What does the blackout have to do with me? Why would the Xuanwu Division single me out?" he asked, trying to probe discreetly.
"Don't overthink it. The Xuanwu Division traced all the electrical energy surges back to your dorm building. They suspect some sort of tech beyond this era may have appeared there. So they're questioning every student in the building. Just answer honestly."
Hearing that, Chen Mo let out a sigh of relief. So it wasn't just him—they were questioning everyone in the building.
As long as they weren't targeting him specifically, there was nothing to worry about.
His greatest advantage right now was staying hidden.
The Xuanwu Division and those mysterious black-clad individuals didn't even know what they were looking for. Without that, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Chen Mo didn't believe they could find anything.