The Item Is in Hand

Reunited with family after many years, there was naturally a long catch-up.

Guo Hao looked at his parents gently, a warm current surging in his heart.
The family chatted for a long time.
His mother kept saying Guo Hao had grown thinner, her eyes filled with heartache.
His father sat quietly by his side, his eyes full of concern, occasionally asking about what he had gone through over the years.

After he had spent three or four days with his family, the Aerospace Bureau finally called.
"Alright, I understand."
After listening to the staff member from the Aerospace Bureau, Guo Hao's expression remained unchanged.
"What is it?"
His mother asked curiously from beside him.
"It's nothing."
Guo Hao smiled, looking at his parents.
Regarding the matter of aliens, Shen Luoyan had the clearance to know because she was a researcher, or perhaps she already knew.
But his parents were different. The matter of the Cassi Empire on Earth was top secret; they did not have the clearance to know, even though they were Guo Hao's parents.
After all, if this matter were leaked, it would certainly cause a massive uproar worldwide.
As for Guo Hao's trip to an alien planet, he couldn't hide it from Father Guo and Mother Guo, so he could only say:
"The Aerospace Bureau has some matters to attend to. I need to go back and take a look."
"What could be so important?"
Mother Guo was slightly dissatisfied.
"My son went to work on an alien planet, faced life and death, and only returned after four or five years. You've only been back for a few days, so why can't you even get a single day off! Next time I see your leaders, I must have a serious word with them!"
Hearing the resentment in his mother's voice, Guo Hao felt a bit awkward.
He couldn't exactly say that all of this was his own decision.
"Alright, Mom, don't complain. I want to eat your stir-fried beef with water spinach. I'll head out first!"
"Okay!"
Hearing Guo Hao's words, a smile immediately appeared on his mother's face.
What parents needed most, in truth, was the care of their children.

After saying goodbye, Guo Hao left the house.
Getting into the car driven by Xu Yuan, he quickly arrived at the aerospace center's office.
His chief secretary was hosting Ge Mu and the Captain, who were sitting on the sofa nearby.
Several guards accompanied them.
After all, Ge Mu and the Captain looked very bizarre, their appearances vastly different from humans, and they looked highly threatening. Therefore, when they appeared, they were mostly accompanied by guards from the Security Bureau.

Guo Hao's appearance drew everyone's eyes.
The chief secretary clearly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stood up to yield his seat to Guo Hao.
Ge Mu and the Captain also stood up, showing their respect for Guo Hao.
Only after Guo Hao sat down on the sofa did everyone slowly sit back down.

Looking at the Captain and Ge Mu before him, a hint of teasing appeared in Guo Hao's eyes.
"You two are truly overenthusiastic. I've been busy outside for nearly five years and have just returned. Before I could even spend five days with my family, you two rushed over. How interesting!"
Hearing Guo Hao's words, a trace of embarrassment appeared on the faces of Ge Mu and the Captain.
"This is our fault," Ge Mu spoke up before Guo Hao could continue. "We also want to quickly confirm the matter of the supreme treasure. If we can confirm that the supreme treasure is in hand, we can report this good news to His Highness. You see..."
With that, Ge Mu and the Captain both looked at Guo Hao expectantly. The chief secretary and the people from the Security Bureau beside them also looked at Guo Hao with glittering eyes.
They were waiting for Guo Hao's order. As long as Guo Hao gave the command, no matter what it was, they would do it immediately!

Guo Hao sat in his seat with a mysterious smile, looking at the Captain and Ge Mu.
Ge Mu and the Captain felt entirely uncomfortable under Guo Hao's gaze.
After a long while, Guo Hao said unhurriedly:
"The item... is in my possession!"

Hearing Guo Hao's words, Ge Mu and the Captain glanced at each other, intense excitement showing in their eyes.
What they feared most was Guo Hao saying he hadn't obtained the supreme treasure; that would be a massive trouble.
After all, His Highness had wasted too much manpower, material resources, and financial wealth to obtain this item. Furthermore, this was a tribute to be presented to His Majesty the Emperor in a few years.
If it failed, starting the preparations all over again would put them far behind others.
The trouble would be even greater.
But now, Guo Hao said he had obtained it!
Then the matter became very simple—it was merely a question of benefits.
What benefits would His Highness use to acquire this from Guo Hao's hands!
Everything has a price!

Guo Hao's gaze was calm; he hadn't lied to the two before him.
Although that component had originally been absorbed by the System, because that item itself no longer had any energy, it was essentially just an empty shell.
Manufacturing this item was actually not highly difficult.
Guo Hao had asked the System, and the System's price was to use one random lottery draw to synthesize an empty System component.
It would be 99% identical to the original.
A 99% similarity was more than enough!
After all, the Tianjing Empire had studied the supreme treasure for tens of millions of years without producing any results, unable to create a second supreme treasure.
Let alone 99%, they couldn't even analyze 50% of it.
Even if the Cassi Empire had a slightly higher understanding of the supreme treasure and a slightly higher level of technology, it would take them at least several hundred years to detect any anomaly.
Moreover, this toy had been in the Tianjing Empire for 90 million years; who knew if something had gone wrong with it?
Who knew how they had studied it?
In any case, studying the supreme treasure was a top-level secret even in the Tianjing Empire.
With the tiny intelligence network Ge Mu and the Captain had built previously, they had absolutely no way of accessing this kind of secret.

Indeed, Guo Hao was banking on the fact that they didn't know.
With this empty shell of the supreme treasure, he was definitely going to extort a hefty sum from the Cassi Empire.
The Star-Shattering Cannon technology had to be obtained!
Next, there were some nuclear materials that Earth lacked. Some of the nuclear technologies Guo Hao had obtained from the Tianjing Empire required many materials that Earth simply could not produce.
Some were produced in the Star Abyss, some appeared in certain cosmic danger zones, or in asteroid belts.
Therefore, Guo Hao absolutely had to tear a large chunk of flesh off the Cassi Empire.
This would yield far more profit than a single random lottery draw from the System.

"Whatever conditions or requests you have, please speak! We will definitely satisfy you!" the Captain said, looking at Guo Hao somewhat impatiently.
"You two do not have the qualifications to negotiate these things with me yet. I will give you three days to notify Shi Yu. At the same time, determine what price you are prepared to pay to obtain this item from my hands. After all, to obtain this toy, I abandoned everything I acquired in the Tianjing Empire. Including my position as a Level 9 researcher and my post as the Director of the Tianjing Research Institute. Go analyze how much those are worth!"
Guo Hao smiled, looking at the Captain and Ge Mu beside him.