```
Fifteen years later.
December 25th.
Along the banks of Lake Ying, a thin layer of ice had formed on the lake’s surface, and the surrounding cherry trees were already bare.
But next to it, the modern science museum was bustling with activity, welcoming two middle school student groups for a visit that afternoon.
From the outside, the building’s layout still resembled that of a school. If one were to look down from the surrounding heights and see a campus full of students, they would never imagine it was a museum.
Inside the "classroom building," however, everything had been turned upside down.
The "Classic Science Hall" on the first floor had many open partitions arranged like classrooms, where renditions of most scientific figures and classical experiments prior to the year 2020 were on display.
Undoubtedly, the most attractive exhibit was the "double-slit interference demonstration."
Each class of students loved this place the most. They crowded in front of the transparent partition, watching a white machine resembling a baseball pitching machine aimed motionlessly at the double-slit board, imagining photons traveling through space and time.
Then, they would turn their heads toward the side wall, where a quantum dot microscope’s observations were displayed in real time. Slowed down by millions of times, they could witness firsthand how particles passed through the slits.
They were still unaware of how many generations’ efforts were condensed in everything they saw.
The quantum dot microscope alone cost tens of millions in its initial stages; today, it has become a standard piece of equipment in any middle school physics lab.
Different from other museum visits, the classes here were usually led by physics or math teachers.
The physics teacher of this class was a young man who only briefly described the double-slit interference experiment, avoiding explanations of why such results occurred.
Watching the two vertical bars displayed on the wall, the teacher pushed up his glasses with a smile and asked, "So, what do you think is the reason behind this?"
"Quantum interference!" several students answered in unison.
"The concepts are well remembered," the teacher continued, "But how does interference occur?"
This time, most were left speechless.
"Entropy Torsion Force."
This voice, somewhat immature yet pretentious.
Everyone turned to look; the speaker was leaning alone against the windowsill, hair half-covering his face, melancholically gazing outside.
He seemed to be quite cool.
But this cool guy was quite short.
Not short by birth, but because he was not of age yet.
The teacher too was surprised—although the student had an experienced look, judging by his appearance...
He should still be in elementary school, right?
We are after all legitimate middle school students on a visit.
The teacher quickly asked, "This student... did you get separated from your elementary school? Shall I make an announcement for you?"
"Tsk." The boy sneered, twisting his mouth, "I’m a high school student. I finished all that elementary school stuff in half a year, couldn’t stand the boring visits with our class so I came here for some peace and quiet."
"???"
Before the male teacher could react, the boy pursed his lips, "Continue teaching, I’ll correct you if you’re wrong."
"..." The teacher’s face hardened with irritation, but he chose not to bother with the boy and continued.
"Entropy Torsion Force is a force that has not been observed."
"But the Jie Qifen equations beautifully interpret how it operates, though that’s content from the second floor’s ’Modern Quantum Hall’."
"We just need to know that this experiment represents everything humanity knew before 2020. Massive investments were made into a series of research projects back then, which led to all sorts of absurdities without yielding a coherent explanation."
"As for Entropy Torsion Force, it’s the greatest invention based on the teachings of Jie Qifen by the three academicians."
"Faced with the discovery of a fifth fundamental force beyond electromagnetism, strong, weak, and gravitational forces, the scholarly community was inclined to call it ’Calm Zenith Force,’ but the academicians firmly opposed this naming convention. Perhaps if it were called ’Zenith Calm Force,’ they might have accepted it…"
"Hahaha!"
The students burst into laughter.
Among the three academicians, Gu Jianfeng had vanished permanently, while Li Zheng and Lin Yujing were always forced to make public appearances, inevitably together. Whenever they showed up, there was a 50% chance they were amicably together, with Academician Jing behaving like a docile kitten. The remaining 50% was spent jostling over dominance, with Academician Jing as fierce as a fighting kitten.
It seems that during the naming dispute, Academician Jing was in her more combative state.
The male teacher finished his talk and glanced once more at the small boy by the window, raising his glasses with a faint smile.
"You should go find your teacher, little one. What I’m talking about is too advanced for someone who only knows a few terms to understand."
The boy sighed, complaining about the present state of middle school education. He made a face toward the equipment inside the transparent partition, "Numerous examples prove that what’s in the textbooks isn’t always right, especially since they get updated every year."
As he spoke, he turned his head and glared.
Staring down the physics teacher, he said slowly and emphatically.
"The nature of Entropy Torsion Force remains an unsolved mystery. Defining it as a fifth fundamental force is more about our education system trying to boast and inspire confidence in the discovery of a new force by our country, hard-selling it. At least half of the mainstream academic community views it as an extension of electromagnetism, just one that temporarily cannot be observed because of its spatial and activation characteristics."
"The fundamental goal of the ’Dandelion’ experimental satellite we launched the year before last was to enter the universe beyond the Solar System, a purer physical depression in space, to carry out a series of experiments about Entropy Torsion Force."
The middle schoolers were dumbfounded.
They didn’t understand a word.
However, they were well aware of the "Dandelion" experimental satellite, which was indeed impressive.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a single satellite, but 150 satellites bundled together and launched as a super-spore!
Her first mission was to travel around the Solar System, scattering 20 of the 150 satellites at strategic points, then engage her reactors at full throttle, breaking out of the Solar System at a maximal velocity of 2.37% the speed of light. She would drop another 40 satellites along the way to study the vast margins of space and celestial bodies at the system’s edge.
If all went well, the Dandelion would reach the Proxima Centauri System 220 years later, carrying 80 seed satellites to scatter within a year, fulfilling her purpose.
As for Dandelion’s main body, she would never slow down.
Or to be precise, she wasn’t designed with the capability to decelerate.
This was a journey destined for the stars, without a return path.
This was her journey.
```
It’s said that the "Dandelion Project" took a total of 8 years from inception to launch, meaning that Li Zheng had already been planning it even before the "Great Disconnection". He claimed it was necessary to verify a series of theories and to unravel the ultimate enigma.
However, in the engineering design, the dandelion seeds were endowed with many strange functions, especially the "visual experience" aspect. He forcefully equipped some seeds with VR observation capabilities, which was quite unscientific.
As for this, Li Zheng’s explanation was—
This is part of the plan!
Considering that at this time, he was already the absolute leader in the fields of science, engineering, and even sociology and medicine, he was a historical figure, a domineering demon king, never seen before across all disciplines.
With such a request... the organization had no choice but to accommodate.
Inside the exhibition hall, the group of middle school students on their tour gradually moved towards the next demo station, yet two middle school girls at the end of the line couldn’t help but glance back from time to time.
"They wouldn’t get scolded for keeping that kind of hair in elementary school?"
"What’s wrong with that hairstyle... Look closely, he’s so handsome..."
"Wait a minute, you can’t be serious!"
"Hey... Maybe... he really is a high school student who jumped ten grades."
"Isn’t that probability way too low?"
"But listening to him speak, he’s really good at studying..."
"But he doesn’t look like he’s good at studying at all, where’s the crew cut? The glasses?"
"What if... If he’s a high school student... I can ask for his contact information, right?"
"That’s still a crime!!"
No matter how they debated, the boy leaning against the window remained utterly unphased.
Even though he talks arrogantly and has a chuunibyou personality.
He is, indeed...
Very handsome!
"Ho!"
An energetic Northeastern accent came through: "It really is you!"
The boy turned his head towards the voice.
It was a kindly looking, middle-aged man, who, despite wearing a suit and a work badge on his chest, did not fail to express the enthusiasm of seeing someone from his hometown.
The boy quickly stood up, saluted, and said with a smile, "Curator Liu, my parents told me to send you their regards."
"Haha, I’m doing great, they can be at ease, completely at ease." Liu Xiaodong excitedly stepped forward, gripped the boy’s shoulders, and said, "Like mom!! Oh no... like dad... wait... eyes like mom, face like dad... that’s not right either... ah you look so wonderful, if I were to use a trendy quantum analogy, your Y chromosome is still in a superposition state, not yet twisted by entropy!"
"..."
"Haha, as long as it’s praise, that’s correct." Liu Xiaodong excitedly asked, "You should be... 10 years old now? Already in high school?"
"Yes." The boy nodded, "I should be entering university next year."
"Even more spirited than your dad!" Liu Xiaodong raised his eyebrows, "Did you sign up for any competitions?"
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
"Don’t you watch the news? I already won the championship last year."
"Wow, wow, wow!" Liu Xiaodong wiped off his sweat in astonishment, "The others must be furious..."
"It’s not their fault." The boy shook his head helplessly, "Not everyone can enjoy the home education that I had."
"Sigh, let’s not talk about that." Liu Xiaodong, still holding the boy, said, "Come on, I’ll take you for a tour of the classroom where your parents studied, they met each other there..."
"That sounds good." The boy followed him towards the staircase, "But I have a question."
Liu Xiaodong panicked, "I’m not even a master’s degree holder... if you have a question, I probably won’t understand..."
"No, no, only you can answer this question, my parents couldn’t agree..." The boy looked up earnestly, "Between the two of them, who’s on top?"
...
Meanwhile, at the National Space Administration, Deep Space Observation Center.
It was a scene of bustling confusion!
"The academician is coming!"
"Just received the notification, the academician is coming!"
"Hurry, prepare the observation pod, check the status of the five Mammoths!"
"The director is in Wenhai, and me, a center director... I dare not receive..."
"Wait, the academician couple is coming together?"
"Oh my, do they really have to hold hands at every event?"
"Prepare for photographs, quick..."
In such a tense atmosphere, a black capsule car silently entered the compound and stopped in front of the center’s door.
All the leaders of the center, both big and small, nervously yet had to maintain smiles as they greeted them.
The car door slid open, and a spry old fellow with half-white hair leapt out, straightened his formal attire with a swoosh, and frowned as he looked around.
Not right, it wasn’t the academician, but an old charmer.
The crowd couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
"Secretary Chen, ah..."
"I thought it was the academician..."
"Shh Shh... he’s still a top leader... let’s not be like this..."
At this moment, the old fellow who hurriedly stepped out of the car, still carrying himself with the demeanor of a military man, was naturally Chen Hongbing.
This was his third year as the secretary of the space agency, and in six days he would be retiring with honors.
At such a time, he was suddenly assigned an extremely tedious task...
To receive his son-in-law!
Although in terms of relationship, he was an old father-in-law, in position, he was a subordinate.
```
Like it or not, that’s the only way.
"Hasn’t arrived yet?" Chen Hongbing scanned the crowd and asked.
"Not yet…" The director of the center stepped forward to greet him, "You’ve worked hard… The academician hasn’t made a public appearance in a long time; who knew she would suddenly think of coming here."
"That’s just her character," Chen Hongbing raised his hand and glanced at his watch, "Well, this is probably the last thing I’ll do before I retire, so let’s complete the mission perfectly."
"You’ve worked hard," the center director joined Chen Hongbing’s side. It was quite dry to wait like this, and after pondering, he decided to start a conversation, "These years, it hasn’t been easy for you."
"It’s been hard for all of us," Chen Hongbing sighed, "It’s been tough for us, for the country, and even tougher for Li Zheng and the others."
"At least we persevered," the director breathed a sigh of relief, "Ever since the ’Dandelion’ ascended to the heavens, no one has questioned us anymore."
"It’s hardly been easy…" Chen Hongbing stood with his hands behind his back, his face barely concealing a trace of vicissitude, "Whether it’s us or Li Zheng, we were all forced into it."
"Indeed," the director also folded his hands behind his back, "At first, I thought it was just one Miracle Year; who knew... it would be fifteen consecutive Miracle Years, and before we know it, the sixteenth is almost upon us. It might be more appropriate to call it a Miracle Century."
The misunderstanding regarding the naming of the Miracle Year, of course, wasn’t limited to the director alone; it was a global mistake.
This mistake began with the naming of the first Li Zheng Miracle Year as the Magic Angle Year.
Following the release of the Magic Angle Theory, Li Zheng virtually gained dean-level resources and power overnight, though he was nominally just a ’Special Research Fellow.’ Still, he could manipulate half of the School of Physics at his whim.
Just when everyone was starting to wonder if giving a student such immense power was absurd...
Li Zheng threw out 15 major collaborative plans!
The fields he opened up for collaboration almost spanned all cutting-edge disciplines, which was outrageously incomprehensible.
But the problem was...
Each of his plans was backed by at least two top-tier theoretical papers and received affirmation in all 15 directions within the industry.
Thus began the first Miracle Year.
The nation’s top 15 laboratories resolutely set aside their current work to embark on Li Zheng’s projects.
Regarding this amazing phenomenon, when interviewing an academician from the University of Science and Technology of China, he covered his face and admitted with a suppressed laugh—
"I admit, there was indeed some gambling involved at the time."
"If condensed matter can be gambled on, why not high-energy physics?"
This spectacle was bound to provoke a series of questions. The Magic Angle Theory indeed had tremendous potential, but did it truly represent an individual’s breakthrough power across all fields of science?
Soon.
People discovered.
Indeed.
The 15 major collaborations were like firecrackers, exploding one after another within that year.
Of course, this was not the merit of Li Zheng alone. It was the tireless efforts of his Science Frontier group and the strong support of nearly half of Ji University.
But from the situation disclosed at the time, Lin Yujing and Gu Jianfeng still played the most crucial roles.
The work of others might have been replaceable, but their incomprehensible inspiration and their terrifying mathematical intellect had not seen any existence that could match them over the fifteen years.
What’s more troubling for the organization was that these two were completely unmanageable... they were just like direct relatives of Li Zheng, impossible to divide.
This resulted in the scariest trio in academia, who were essentially one family.
An ultimate scholar faction trio was born.
In this process, Jie Qifen, who had recovered from his illness, never returned to Ji University or even thought about physics again.
It’s as if he had pondered all he needed to in this life and could no longer comprehend nor wished to think anymore.
Or perhaps after experiencing life and death, he felt that all of this was no big deal.
He became an utterly ordinary person, married a lady, and began to live a mundane life. Perhaps thanks to a series of targeted drugs developed by the science academy, he remains healthy to this day, far healthier than in the days when cigarettes were a constant companion before his illness.
Apart from spending time with his mother and family, Jie Qifen devoted most of his time to all the banal things outside of physics, from falling in love with a girl to extreme sports, seemingly determined to make up for the lost years and life.
But this did not prevent the dramatic emergence of the "Jie Qifen Equation."
That was the third Miracle Year.
That year, the ultimate trio of the scholar faction were simultaneously nominated for... oh, they had to be stuffed into the position of academicians.
Li Zheng, whose influence was so vast it blocked out the sky, went on to establish the Science Academy within Ji University for more efficient learning and organizing of studies.
One of the most frequently featured people in the news then came to the fore.
She was initially just an ordinary clerk who entered Ji University Science Academy by leveraging her connection to Li Zheng.
Then, because she was good at networking, she became a spokesperson.
Later, because of her extremely cunning tactics, she gradually rose to the role of Executive Vice Dean.
Facing the media, what she often said was.
"Hey ya, we’ve accidentally discovered something again!"
Every time this was heard.
Everyone knew that the Dog Dean was up to something again!
Initially, the "Jie Qifen Equation" was full of controversy. It described a force known as "Entropy Torsion Force," which was believed to be the definitive force of the "observation" behavior on the quantum world. Its transmission of space-time and speed of effect were theoretical at that time, still beyond observational capacity.
Such soliloquy-like behavior, of course, could not earn widespread acceptance. However, due to the immense achievements of Li Zheng and others, it wasn’t immediately dismissed as pseudoscience.
But as quantum computers designed with this new architecture came into being, as the revolutionary superconductivity technologies for power generation, transmission, and storage emerged...
No matter the controversy, they had to start using it.
Suddenly, a theory emerged that wasn’t certain to be correct but was definitively useful.
Humanity wasn’t experiencing this for the first time.
And it was at that moment that a scandal that shocked the world occurred.
Li Zheng’s mother, An Ning, while accompanying her husband to North America for cancer treatment, was detained by the local customs. The official reason given was involvement in "smuggling embargoed technology," violating the laws of that country.
Realistically, the only possible reason was Li Zheng. Li Zheng’s existence had already shaken the hegemony of that country in all fields.
```
Many analysts believe that spies from a certain country must have made contact with Li Zheng on more than one occasion, which likely included Lin Yujing’s biological father. They would undoubtedly have used every conceivable method to entice the scientist to swap his homeland for another.
But Li Zheng’s stance was certainly firm, which could be seen from his first entry into the space system.
As for the detention of An Ning, it was nothing more than a tactic to coerce Li Zheng after enticements failed.
For a long time afterward, there was no news whatsoever concerning An Ning.
All people knew was that, before she was controlled, she had managed to send out a message with all her strength.
Very few people were privy to this message, but it was revealed that the content of the message was very brief—
"Don’t stop, if you do, I’ll smash myself to death immediately."
Following this incident, for three whole years, including Li Zheng, the three academicians had not been seen again.
No one knew how they spent those days.
Just when everyone thought he was truly driven to a corner by the concern for his mother’s safety and stopped writing,
the "Great Disconnection" occurred.
It was exactly 7:19 PM Jijing time, not a millisecond off, when the familiar news music sounded. For the next five minutes, all of the artificial satellites of that country lost their connections, and all GPS under its control stopped responding.
At the same time, satellites from other countries began receiving a series of brief signals.
"War test1."
"War test2."
"War test3."
...
No one knew what had happened.
The only thing evident was, a few hours later, the leader of that country resigned, his deputy took over, and they made a diplomatic statement expressing a series of apologies and respects to another country.
11 hours later, the plane carrying An Ning landed at the capital’s airport.
Li Zheng and Lin Yujing got married that same day.
In fact, they already had children, but they were adamant about getting married only in the presence of An Ning as a witness.
This was also one of the very few public appearances of Gu Jianfeng, who was seen holding his nephew (younger brother) with a big smile.
It wasn’t difficult to determine afterward that the cause of the "Great Disconnection" could only have been the series of "Beacon Quantum Communication Satellites" that went up like firecrackers during those three years.
Clearly, the "Beacon" did more than just communications, indeed forming a global network, but the signals it transmitted were not solely for defense purposes.
In any case, the essence of the "Great Disconnection" was a mysterious force that proclaimed to the world its ability to disable all Earth orbit satellite communications and conducted a five-minute demonstration specifically targeting that country.
It was the equivalent of effortlessly blinding that country using a method it was completely defenseless against.
Then anything was possible.
Of course, they wouldn’t really do anything, at most it was just a War test.
From the reaction of that country’s government, the "Great Disconnection" was proven to be the only deterrent surpassing nuclear deterrence.
To this day, no credible nation, group, or power has taken responsibility for the "Great Disconnection," but clearly, it’s no mystery; it’s just an unspoken secret everybody knows.
With the resignation of that country’s leader and the publication of that friendly public statement, there were no more obstacles in Li Zheng’s path.
In an era of scientific explosion and ambitious ambition, a new batch of researchers also rose up under Li Zheng’s strong intervention, and the scientific community gradually became a realm for the young; often, those who were best at absorbing new knowledge were the fastest to unearth practical applications.
This year marked the beginning of a bloom across the entire continent, not just in Li Zheng’s own science academy.
Having successfully ignited this series of scientific revolutions, the three academicians shifted their focus to other endeavors, now known in history as the "Dandelion Project."
This was an unprecedented space program.
Some old-time RTS gamers jokingly referred to it as the "Protoss Carrier" or the "Mother Ship."
The destination and journey of the Dandelion Project were public knowledge, but its technical content remains a secret, including the power source, which has never been disclosed. The outside world can only guess that it might be a nuclear reactor, as chemical propulsion could not possibly lift this behemoth, let alone accelerate anything to 2.37% of the speed of light.
The only certainty was that the Dandelion Project was the culminating effort of the three academicians, filled with cutting-edge science and engineering technologies that seemed almost otherworldly.
Three years ago, as this colossal structure soared into space, the last voices of international opposition were permanently silenced.
Although it will take centuries to reach the Proxima Centauri System, the handful of seeds it scattered beforehand are enough for humanity to thoroughly understand the Solar System within this century and conduct a series of experiments beyond Earth.
Many even assert confidently that the Dandelion has proven humanity’s capability for interstellar colonization.
That year, Li Zheng was 32.
Since college, every year seemed like a peak for him, but it’s an inevitable fact that this is just the beginning.
No one doubts that for the next 15 years, miracles will continue.
...
"Hum—"
Accompanied by a low-frequency electromagnetic sound, another colorfully decorated capsule train stopped in front of the central gate.
The director hurried forward to open the door.
Wow!
Another cool old dude got off!
But he had that kind of naughty charm about him.
"Chief Engineer Du?" the director exclaimed in surprise, "What brings you here?"
"I had to come for the Dandelion, didn’t I?" the cool old guy said hastily, stepping out of the car and holding up his cell phone, "Have you seen this?"
"What?"
"You guys really only care about space, huh," Du Songtao stared at them and said, "Huge scientific research news!"
Chen Hongbing now grinned, "What are you glaring for, haven’t you glared enough over the years? Got something bigger than the Great Disconnection?"
"Bigger, sure!" Du Songtao stared back at Chen Hongbing, and after straining for a good while, he finally squeezed out four words—
"Unified Field Theory! Just published!"