Chapter 958, Anti-Counterfeiting Mark

Translator: Silavin

 

Just as the paper was stuffed by Co Co inside the Animal Hide, what appeared before her eyes was a sheet of paper emitting a faint green colour.

 

This scene was indeed as Co Co had predicted. Paper made from Fluorescent Grass would glow in the dark.

 

“This is too miraculous. I never expected paper made from Fluorescent Grass would glow. This is truly the first time I’ve seen this.” Co Co’s heart was extremely shocked.

 

She had never heard of Fluorescent Grass before, only hearing a general description from the people who delivered the paper.

 

Supposedly this type of grass was like a predator, emitting a tiny bit of fluorescence to attract flying insects and such.

 

When mosquitoes and insects landed on them, the vines in the middle would extend out to capture the prey, then stuff it into the mouth-like organs near the roots for a good meal.

 

That was right. Despite such a pleasant-sounding name and seemingly peaceful appearance, it was just like a Venus flytrap. It was merely a carnivorous plant.

 

“If this could be made into currency notes, wouldn’t it be a natural anti-counterfeiting mark?” Co Co murmured to herself.

 

She pulled down the Animal Hide covering her head and returned to her seat with a thoughtful expression.

 

First, she poured herself a cup of water, then fell into contemplation.

 

Of course, she did not stop while contemplating, but rather continued experimenting while doing so.

 

She poured water onto the paper. Instantly, the paper became soaked, and with one touch it would fall apart.

 

The entire process took only about ten seconds. This completely baffled Co Co.

 

“The quality is truly mediocre. Although this might potentially be developed into an anti-counterfeiting feature for currency notes, it’s far too moisture-sensitive.”

 

Co Co looked with distaste at the pile of ruined paper on the table, muttering. “It would probably fall apart halfway through colouring, wouldn’t it?”

 

Co Co picked up the fourth type of paper. The raw material for this paper was relatively common, just Hollow Trees.

 

These were the Hollow Trees now being used by the Flame Dragon Tribe as water pipes. They were relatively common and easy to obtain.

 

Not very far from the Tribe, there was a large forest of Hollow Trees. One could say they were inexhaustible.

 

“The colour of the paper is quite good, relatively white. The Shaman said whiter paper is better as paper, and it can be exchanged for many things later.”

 

Co Co murmured to herself while shaking the paper, wanting to test the flexibility and what sort of sound it produced.

 

Because Su Bai had told her that good paper, when shaken, would not easily tear and would not easily crease.

 

Most importantly, the sound when shaking was relatively pleasant. Many types of paper produced different tones.

 

For this reason, Co Co had also experimented many times. All three previous types of paper had been shaken, and all produced different sounds.

 

The first type of paper made from Red Knot Trees, when shaken, produced a sound that was rather grating. The sound simply was not very pleasant. When shaking it, creases easily appeared, though there was no tearing whatsoever.

 

The second type of paper made from Stone Thorn Trees, when shaken, produced a sound that was rather hard. To put it unpleasantly, it was like the sound produced by steel plates.

 

Dull and heavy, the overall tone could be said to be the worst among the current four types of paper.

 

However, it still had advantages. Namely, when shaking, the paper showed no creasing or tearing.

 

No matter how one shook this paper, its appearance remained as it originally was, with only some creasing where fingers gripped it.

 

Of course, one also could not directly crumple this paper. No matter what type of paper, if you crumpled and rubbed it like that, it would wrinkle into a ball.

 

As for the third type of paper, it was not particularly good. When shaken, the paper completely tore apart. Forget about creasing, the paper completely ceased to exist. It was truly rather disappointing.

 

Now came the fourth type of paper. When shaken, its tone was the most pleasant. However, it also had one flaw: creases formed very easily, and when they formed, they were very rough, with some fine fibres at the creased areas.

 

“As expected, there’s no perfect paper. Each type has its own advantages, yet also has various flaws.” Co Co put down the paper with some disappointment, continuing: “If only the advantages of these several sheets of paper could be combined together and the disadvantages discarded. But obviously, this isn’t realistic.”

 

Co Co sighed, looking at the several types of paper before her, momentarily uncertain how to proceed.

 

She had originally thought that among these several sheets of paper, surely at least one would be good? The result was that not a single one was suitable for making currency notes.

 

“Eh? Wait, I can have the workshop produce some more different types of paper. This is just the beginning. How can I give up so early?” Co Co instantly perked up, continuing to murmur to herself. “I think I should personally visit the workshop. That way I’ll know what to do.”

 

Co Co did not want to continue staying in the laboratory. It was like sitting on pins and needles. Better to go directly to the source and investigate thoroughly. Perhaps this way she might actually get results faster.

 

“However, the papermaking workshop is considered to be confidential, and it’s also one of the Flame Dragon Tribe’s important workshops. I’m afraid they won’t let me in.” Co Co’s face instantly fell a bit, muttering. “If I could go in and look around, it would definitely be different. But I can’t make things difficult for the Shaman.”

 

Thinking of this, Co Co began preparing to experiment with other things.

 

She wanted to first see if approaching from elsewhere might be better. There was no need to remain fixated on the paper itself.

 

“The Shaman said currency notes need to be coloured, and moreover the colour can’t easily fade. Also, these several colours must be the type that others find difficult to replicate.”

 

Co Co furrowed her brow, murmuring to herself. Her slender fingers kept moving back and forth among the materials on the table.

 

For a moment, Co Co hit a bottleneck, not knowing how to proceed.

 

All of this was beyond her scope of knowledge, so she simply didn’t know what the first step should be or how to do it.

 

“First, let me categorise each of these materials that can be mixed into colours, then proceed to the next step.” Co Co rallied herself again.

 

Her golden eyes scanned the materials on the table surface. She began taking out wooden bowls one by one and categorising all the materials properly.

 

That is, red pigment materials together, yellow pigment materials together. Such categorisation alone would take a very long time.

 

Because those materials on the table had all been found by Yan Jiao’s people – various fruits, plants, stones and so forth.

 

As long as something could produce colour, most of it had been placed on this table.

 

All sorts of materials were present. Even Su Bai felt somewhat at a loss looking at them.

 

However, it was not impossible if he spent time researching more indebpt. It was just that he didn’t have that much spare time for this.

 

Plus, Co Co enjoyed experimentation very much. It was just right to let her handle it, and it could also train her.

 

“According to what the Shaman said, this is a long and arduous task.” Co Co rolled her eyes cutely, drank a mouthful of water, then threw herself into work.