Yama Rising

None of the five board members said anything.

After a long while, Carlangus finally broke the silence. "Alright, you can go now. Make sure not to disclose this information to anyone else."

The luxurious doors were gently shut, and the room fell into complete silence. Only after three full minutes had passed did Carlangus speak again. "How long will it take before the three pillars hear about this?"

"They most likely already know," Birlocks replied with a faint sigh. "No international organization aside from the World Energy Resource Research Organization is overseen by underworld emissaries from first-rate underworlds or above, but that doesn't mean that they can't plant informants in these international organizations."

"Then there's no need to hide anything," Father Reynold said as he cast his gaze toward the giant wooden crate at the center of the room. "Let's think about how to take care of these things."

This was a lavish room with a colored glass mosaic at the back very commonly seen in religious settings. Intricately crafted statues of the Holy Father and the Holy Mother were situated in the gaps between the windows, and at the center of the room was the wooden crate, while the desks of the five board members were situated around it, so there was no way any of them could not see the pesky wooden crate.

The five board members were all wearing white cardinal hats and white priest robes with golden edges. Furthermore, all of them appeared to be quite advanced in age, looking to be at least 70 to 80 years old, and they had all been renowned cardinals from different nations at some point in history.

It had already been close to 1,000 years since they entered the underworld, but they had never seen anything this bizarre!

"Even the most significant patent booms in history can't even begin to compare with this," one of the judges mused. "Back when the Cathayan Underworld applied for its gunpowder-related patents, they had submitted 241 patents in 50 years, and that was already almost unheard of, but now..."

His eyelids were twitching as he stared at the wooden crate, wondering if the Cathayan Underworld was playing a prank on them.

All patents were manifestations of accumulated knowledge, so was that supposed to mean that they had gathered enough knowledge for over 4,000 patents in just 10 years? Was that supposed to be a joke? Had they already reached a higher tier of civilization than the rest of the world?

The wooden crate was like a massive rock weighing down on all of their chests. Finally, Carlangus curled a finger, and one file after another flew out of the wooden crate before opening up before him.

In the instant that his gaze settled onto the contents of these files, his pupils abruptly contracted, and his facial hair began to tremble slightly. He looked at the files, then back at the wooden crate, and his mouth gaped open wider and wider with astonishment. "How is this possible..."

Before the other board members had a chance to react, he gently pressed a hand down onto his desk, and all of the files in the wooden crate flew up into mid-air before forming a row in front of him for inspection.

Carlangus's gaze passed over one file after another in silence, but his silence wasn't a calm one. After seeing just a few files, his body had clearly tensed up, and after looking through around 20 to 30 of the files, he was already standing up slightly from his seat with his mouth gaped open in disbelief. His lips were moving as if he wanted to say something, but he was unable to muster up even a single word.

His reaction naturally attracted the attention of all of the other board members.

They had seen countless strange and exotic patents during the past few centuries, but never had they seen their director lose their composure like this in response to any past patent application!

After a long while, Carlangus seemed to have finally awakened from a dream. He heaved a long sigh before covering his eyes with one hand, while waving his other hand through the air, sending all of the files fluttering toward the other four board members like butterflies. "Take a look. All of the patents being applied for here are the same type of patent."

The files quickly arrived in front of the four board members, yet after only a brief inspection, the two judges, who had already served for hundreds of years, instantly sprang to their feet with astonished expressions.

These were all applications for book patents!

To put it more accurately, these were all patent applications for literary classics!

The underworld was different from the mortal realm in that all literary classics had classics patents due to the fact that almost all of their authors were living in the underworld.

If it were only literary classics, then they wouldn't have been all that surprised. All of the literary classics had already been archived in the GIPO, and anyone who had referenced them, translated them, or printed them had to submit all related details to the GIPO. However, the patent applications in front of them were indeed for literary classics, but not for translations or reprints. Instead, these were film scripts!

They were film scripts based on the literary classics!

Furthermore, these film scripts weren't for stageplays. Instead, they were clearly stated to be things like "The Dream of Red Mansions Television Series Film Script Classics Patent", "Journey to the West Movie Film Script Classics Patent", and "Three Kingdoms Television Series and Movie Film Script Classics Patent".

After just a rough glance, they realized that classics patents were being applied for all of the poems, literary classics, and stories that were renowned in the slightest in the form of film scripts!

This could only mean one thing: the Cathayan Underworld had developed the new energy resource!

Furthermore, this new energy resource had to be quite similar to electricity, able to be used with televisions and movie technology. The gates to the new era had already been flung wide open, and this was the Cathayan Underworld's first present to the rest of the world!

Is this true?

The five board members could feel their own skin crawling, and their hands were trembling uncontrollably.

"Why haven't they released the new energy resource yet?" Birlocks asked as his breathing began to accelerate, then answered his own question. "No, it makes sense for them not to have released the new energy resource yet. They're waiting for the three pillars' Prometheus plan to make further progress before they slam the door shut on them!"

The most eye-catching subject during the past few years was undoubtedly the race to develop the new energy resource taking place between the three pillars and the Cathayan Underworld.

Everyone knew that the one who controlled the new energy resource would be the ruler of the next era!

The three pillars had established the Prometheus plan in the hopes of catching up to the Cathayan Underworld, while the Cathayan Underworld had isolated itself from the rest of the world, making it impossible for anyone to see what stage their research and development had reached. However, these film-related patent applications were extremely telling!

Even an idiot would be able to read through the lines and see what these film patent applications entailed!

"They're right to withhold this information," Carlangus said. "They're registering patents for their own nation's film scripts and stories with the intention of dominating the entire global entertainment industry! If they really have already discovered the new energy resource, then once it's released, no nation would be able to compete with the Cathayan Underworld, which has already prepared all of its film and recreation facilities! They'll be like the Hollywood of the mortal realm, dominating the entire film market!"

They were trying to establish a monopoly on an industry that didn't even exist yet! This was completely outside of the rules!

"Report this to the Coalition of Underworlds right away!" Father Reynold said in an urgent voice. "This is not something that we can handle on our own!"

"Wait!" Carlangus rose to his feet with a serious expression as he said, "The most important thing for us to do now is to determine whether the Cathayan Underworld really has developed the new energy resource, and to do that, we need to see the rest of its patent applications! Billy!"

The doors immediately swung open, and the underworld emissary from before strode into the room in a respectful manner.

"Bring us all of the patent applications that the Cathayan Underworld has just submitted! Hurry!"

"Yes!"

Each passing second felt like an hour to the five board members as they waited impatiently for the rest of the patent applications to arrive.

They knew that there was a very good chance they were witnessing the birth of a new era, but they were also aware that this was an extremely significant turning point in the world. Judging from the Cathayan Underworld's actions, it was clear that they wanted to establish a complete monopoly in the entertainment industry, not allowing their competitors any chance to even secure a sliver of market share!

What a shameless yet ruthlessly cunning move!

Soon, a wooden crate that was around one cubic meter in volume was carried into the room, and as soon as it was set down, Carlangus waved a dismissive hand, upon which all of the underworld emissaries instantly left the room. He then frantically opened the crate before grabbing a document to read.

As soon as he saw the contents of the document, he was completely rooted to the spot.

If he had only been astonished a moment ago, then at this point, his soul had already been whisked away.

Only after three full minutes had passed did he reach out with a trembling hand, grabbing another file in a mechanical manner before staring at it with a blank expression.

He then picked up the next file like a madman, then the next one, and soon, files were flying everywhere! This was an image completely unbefitting of the director of the GIPO, but it was as if he had gone completely insane and had no regard for etiquette anymore!

Several minutes later, documents were fluttering through the air like snow, and he slumped back onto his seat in despair before suddenly falling unconscious as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Director!"

"Director, are you alright?"

"Director!!"

The other board members immediately rushed over to him and shook him vigorously, upon which he slowly awakened from his unconscious state. However, he remained silent as he pointed at the documents fluttering down around them with trembling fingers.

"What the hell is going on?!" Birlocks frantically grabbed a pile of documents before taking a look, yet after just a single glance, his legs instantly gave out from under him, causing him to kneel down onto the ground.

The other three board members immediately also grabbed documents for themselves upon seeing this, and their reactions were not dissimilar from those of Carlangus and Birlocks.

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Phone Patent Application"

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Computer Patent Application"

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Lightbulb Patent Application"

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Television Patent Application"

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Microwave Patent Application"

"Cathayan Underworld Electricity-like Energy Resource Generator Patent Application"

......

Virtually all electronic products had been covered in this vast array of patent applications!

They turned around in a wooden manner to stare at the wooden crate with slack-jawed expressions, only to find that there were countless more documents still sitting in the crate.

"If two types of new energy resources appear at the same time, then the one with the more refined ancillary system would emerge victorious." Carlangus said in a trembling voice. "It looks like the new energy resource discovered by the Cathayan Underworld is very similar to the electricity of the mortal realm. As long as they have all of their ancillary facilities set up, the film industry, the entertainment industry, the telecommunication industry, the computer industry... Countless industries would be launched at the same time from them! They're trying to take all of the patents!"

All of the board members shuddered in unison.

This was an extremely vicious move from the Cathayan Underworld!

"If this is brand new technology, then there would be no problem with their actions," Father Reynold said in a grim voice. "But what they've discovered is an electricity-like energy resource, which allows them to take all of their blueprints and designs directly from the mortal realm! This definitely can't count as their patents, but at the same time, they really are brand new patents in the underworld!"

How were they supposed to judge this?!

According to past conventions in both the underworld and the mortal realm, cases with no precedents like this were generally approved, but that would allow the Cathayan Underworld to gobble up all of the electricity-related patents at once!

The scientists hadn't raised any objections, so it was clear that communication had already taken place between them, but this was an attempt to establish monopolies over countless industries!

A single nation was trying to establish monopolies on all of the technologies related to the new energy resource! Were they trying to start a world war?

"Report this to the Coalition of Underworlds right away!" Carlangus yelled. "This is not something we can pass judgment on! These aren't patent applications, these are the precursors to the next world war!"