At the same time, at the Ji University Science Academy, in the press conference hall.
A lady, exquisitely dressed and frequently licking her lips, stood at the podium.
Facing the media, this Executive Vice President maintained a decent, mischievous smile.
"’Unified Field Theory’ will be Li Zheng’s last theoretical work."
"Just like all his previous theories, he allows it to be questioned, eager to be overthrown."
"He also admits that over 70% of the content in the theory cannot be verified with current technological conditions."
"The reason for choosing to announce it today is partly because it’s his 35th birthday, and on the other hand, we selfishly hope to redefine this day."
"From now on, the Ji University Science Academy will also suspend digging into foundational theories, shifting our focus to technical subjects to improve the quality of people’s lives and meet their spiritual needs."
"In summary..." Zhang Xiaoke said, tapping her head and flashing a crooked smile with licked lips, "Hey, we’ve accidentally discovered some things again!"
After saying this, Zhang Xiaoke dashed off like a fleeing dog, leaving only the science consultant to deal with the aftermath.
By the time she sprinted into the "Science Frontier" activity room, it was already in chaos.
This activity room, an upgraded version of the old academy’s, had been moved from the basement to the rooftop, and the structure was made of transparent material that automatically adjusted its transparency based on temperature and brightness. It could be said that every time you walked in, your mood would greatly improve.
This had been for years the place where the core team discussed matters among themselves.
But at that moment, they were directionless.
Or rather, they had too many directions to consider.
Following the publication of ’Unified Field Theory,’ Li Zheng stated that he would no longer lead the research direction, encouraging everyone to freely explore, to study anything they wished, to fulfill any fantasy they desired.
This declaration really got everyone fired up.
The most assertive voice in the discussion room belonged to a long-haired man who looked more like an Indian warrior.
"Spirit Ascension," Mo Nian said firmly, tapping his forehead, "the soul is now the only thing worth exploring. Give me 200 yoga monks and a full set of quantum brain observation equipment, why not ascend together?"
Beside him, a bespectacled person tried to soothe, "Brother Nian, let’s bear with it a bit more... Environmental modification is the engineering project that needs urgent attention."
Across from them, a more mature leader smiled and raised his hand, "Yang Jun, if you’re willing to use Gundam for the modification, I’m on your side."
"Brother Tu, let’s talk this out nicely..."
Yang Jun adjusted his spectacles, looking passionately at everyone.
"The exploration of environmental modification projects is not only about making our Earth better; it can also play a role in interstellar immigration. We have already identified 176 habitable planets within 50 light-years, and modifying their environments is an inevitable task."
As he spoke, Zhang Xiaoke entered and took a seat with a sigh.
"Alas... Yang Jun is still so serious and boring... Are there no fun proposals at all?"
"Yes, there are," the leader turned and said, "Gundam, if not now, then when?"
"Could you please be more rational," Ou Xingzhuo, who was sitting alone by the window sipping coffee and looking at the scenery, remarked, "If it’s about aerospace robotics, I might reluctantly participate."
On the other side, Wu Shu sitting alone at a different window blew on her bangs, "That already has plenty of people working on it. Orbital projects, solar acceleration, space elevators and the like deserve more investment."
"Calm down, Sister Shu," Zhang Xiaoke said stiffly, raising her hand, "These topics are too vast... Although Master told us to freely study, it can’t possibly exceed the scale of the Dandelion Project."
"Hmm..." In the table’s corner, a man with thick hair, though looking somewhat askew, raised his hand, "As someone from the corporate collaboration department, I have a proposal that fits well with the market..."
"It’s crooked," Zhang Xiaoke pointed from afar, "Qinghua, your hair is crooked."
"Oh," Jiang Qinghua flushed, quickly straightening her hair and then clearing her throat. "Regeneration and synthesis technology for biological tissues has always been a hot topic, of great significance for human health. Investing in this will not only meet future work targets but also yield good market returns, thus securing more resources for further research."
Beside her, Chang Keqing suddenly narrowed her eyes, "Is the ultimate goal to create artificial humans?"
"No, no, no, starting with something simple," Jiang Qinghua gestured casually, "like... reproducing a healthy, lush patch of scalp. This is an urgent need for the scientific community, isn’t it, ha ha ha..."
In the ensuing awkward silence, only Chang Keqing was capable of withstanding such embarrassment.
She pinched the edge of the table and spoke word by word.
"Everyone, please see the situation clearly, our science and technology have exceeded sociology and ethics by far."
"It’s time to return to the humanities and anthropological content."
"Especially the issue of the marriage rate, it would be best if everyone could work hard to get themselves a handsome... to get a mate that’s right for them."
Suddenly, the atmosphere sank, filled with bitterness.
"Cough..." Zhang Xiaoke rubbed her chin and said, "Thinking about it, artificial humans seem more realistic..."
"No, no, that’s too radical," Lin Moming, who had been half-reclining on the couch, suddenly sat up.
Although she was already in her twenties...
She still maintained her original height.
Which was quite spectacular.
"The universe has Dandelion to explore already."
"We should pay more attention to our own Earth now."
"Do you know how many secrets are still hidden in the soil beneath our feet?"
"Exploring the core of the Earth is what’s really worth doing now!"
"Not only will it lead to more discoveries in physics, but there also are so many, so many, so many fossils!"
As she spoke, Lin Moming wiped her drool and looked at everyone’s disgusted expressions, then lay back down with a pout.
"You guys are mean..."
"Can’t even think about it?"
"Actually, this direction could be proposed," Zhang Xiaoke raised her hand and laughed, "How about this, everyone combine your proposed projects into a report..."
She glanced around and quickly noticed a plump, slightly melancholy man.
"Shi Yang... why do you look so unhappy?"
"It’s loneliness..." Shi Yang murmured with his head lowered, "I’ve been going to the bathroom alone for a long time... It’s completely uninteresting, that feeling of racing against time, swearing to be first, it’s gone."
"This... I’ll take that as artistic expression. It must be boredom from having no chemistry experiments to do," Zhang Xiaoke said with a smirk, licking her lips. "Master told me to inform you that in the methane storms on Neptune, seeds of the dandelion have discovered new elements and isotopes, which he says are the result... of Neptune’s years-long ’shitstorm’..."
"!!! Does that mean... there are still mysteries in chemistry?" Shi Yang perked up, "Hidden in high-pressure shitstorms?"
"Yeah, he’ll be looking for you later to study the data, and there’s also some shitstorm videos you can watch directly."
"Woohoo! Then I’m taking on this project!! Set me up with a Neptune experimental environment!"
"Sigh..." Zhang Xiaoke held her head, "Letting everyone study freely, but everyone’s letting their imagination run wild... I better discuss it with the science advisory team. You guys stop making proposals... "
Just as she was saying this, a boisterous voice came through.
"Am I not allowed either?"
Everyone looked up.
Teacher Jie was approaching with a cheerful smile.
Immediately, everyone stood up!
"Hey, don’t be so formal." Teacher Jie waved his hands, didn’t let anyone help him, and just casually found a seat to sit down.
Compared to others, his changes were minimal over the past fifteen years. Although he had some white hair, his overall condition was even better than at the beginning, probably due to the power of his state of mind.
Seeing the solemn crowd, Teacher Jie said with an indignant smile, "What’s with all this seriousness... I came here because Li Zheng contacted me, he said there’s something he needs everyone’s help with. He mentioned that the Science Academy doesn’t have any significant tasks at the moment and we could deal with some minor matters, so I came."
"Indeed that’s the case," Zhang Xiaoke quickly replied. "Whatever suggestions you have, please say them outright. They’re certainly our top priority."
"No need, no need, it’s just a small thing..." Teacher Jie coughed, then gesturing, continued, "Well... I’m actually very satisfied with my current life, desiring nothing in every detail, but there’s just one thing, that is, this foot of mine..."
"......"
Zhang Xiaoke and Jiang Qinghua immediately understood.
"Teacher Jie, I also understand this matter very well and can relate," Jiang Qinghua said as she adjusted her hair, nodding from a distance, "This problem is solvable. Provide us with some samples, and within an hour we can complete the bacterial analysis and offer a counter-strategy."
"No, no, no... that’s backwards." Teacher Jie waved his hands repeatedly, "There are plenty of those kinds of products. What’s-his-name... actually solved that issue three years ago... But..."
He spoke with a mix of shyness and frustration, shaking his head.
"Can you understand..."
"Suddenly, it just lost its taste."
"Life, in every sense of the word, suddenly became very bland."
"Even my mother felt something was missing at home."
"So..." he said, looking up seriously, "is there any way to get that back?"
"Wow!" exclaimed Zhang Xiaoke, "Now that’s a big project..."
"It’s just bacteria." Mo Nian immediately raised his hand, "Give me the samples, and I’ll have it made by tomorrow."
"The problem is there are no samples anymore..."
"What about socks?" Jiang Qinghua persisted.
"I can look for those..."
"Not very hopeful though..." Shi Yang pondered for a moment, his eyes lighting up, "Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll create 100 completely different scents. You sniff each one and tell me which is the right one for you, and I’ll hand it over to Mo Nian and his team to create the culture."
"Won’t it be very tiring?"
"Sigh! I enjoy this type of thing!"
And so, the topic finally decided upon in this discussion was—
[On the targeted cultivation of bacterial colonies and infecting the human epidermis]
Also known as.
[Finding the Original Scent.]
...
Meanwhile, in front of the Deep Space Observation Center.
A large capsule car finally appeared.
The invention of the capsule car seemed like a step backward in aerodynamics, but that didn’t stop it from becoming the mainstream of the market within five years.
With the spread of new power and energy storage technologies, car energy was no longer an expensive consumption, and had almost become a free service.
Also, with leaps in intelligent driving technology, humans no longer need to waste energy on driving, not to mention braking and speeding up could be minimized. Although being in a car wasn’t quite the same as being on level ground, it was getting close to the comfort of a bedroom.
Comfort gradually became the biggest demand.
And the capsule car was the product that turned the automobile into a bedroom.
You could lie down and sleep in it, watch movies, study, and if you felt like it, you could even dance in it.
And this capsule car arriving now was clearly an enlarged model; by width, it was enough to accommodate a comfortable double bed.
"It’s here..."
"It’s really here this time."
The people at the center’s door couldn’t help but straighten themselves.
Seeing the slight sway of the car...
Although it’s not right to have such thoughts...
Still...
It would be so embarrassing if the car arrived and everything wasn’t finished yet!
"Buzz——"
In the deep electromagnetic hum, the car came to a stop.
As the front passenger door slid open.
An agile fat man was the first to jump out.
He very seriously and diligently cleared the area of air to avoid a crowd gathering.
There he was!
Driver Liu Xin!
Talking about this is a bit awkward.
After Liu Xin’s military career, he came to the door of the Science Academy to submit a resume.
In this city, there were no more drivers as a profession...
But Li Zheng still hired him as a driver and chose a car with an independent front seat, so he would have his own spot to sit.
Liu Xin had no choice but to dub himself the "king of soldiers" and take care of security.
To prove his worth, he always had to clear the air like he was doing now.
After sweeping the area with the vigilant eyes of an old security guard, he poked his head inside.
"All clear."
Li Zheng was the first to get out of the car, followed by helping Lin Yujing out.
Everyone could clearly see.
At that moment, Lin Yujing’s gaze was averted as she clung to Li Zheng’s arm right away.
She wasn’t being boisterous at all, she was demure!
Meanwhile, Li Zheng quickly buttoned up the top button of his shirt and wiped his mouth.
The crowd was envious.
It was too obvious!
Fifteen minutes later, the group was already standing in front of the Mammoth control chamber.
A young girl in the center, maintaining a smile as if reading from a script, introduced.
"Thank you to all the leaders for coming to visit and offer guidance."
"This is the chamber where we remotely control the Mammoth explorers."
"Among the seeds from the Dandelion Mother Planet, there are 10 explorers that are special, which we call Mammoths."
"Using cutting-edge quantum communication technology and virtual reality technology, our astronauts no longer need to visit the site in person. By simply wearing the professional equipment in this chamber, they can control the explorers in deep space."
"The immersive effect not only enhances the multidimensional perspective of exploration but is also immensely sophisticated."
"I got it, I got it," Li Zheng impatiently interrupted, raising his hand, "All these metrics were set by me..."
No sooner had Li Zheng finished speaking than he looked around at everyone, "Old Chen, Brother Du, and this... this director, everyone has worked hard. I really just came to have a look around, I don’t know who made such a big fuss."
"That’s what I thought," Chen Hongbing clapped his hands and said to everyone, "Okay, let them have their fun, the rest of us can disperse now."
Following closely, Du Songtao reminded, "We don’t have many Mammoths, handle them with extreme care. If there is a problem... you will get scolded."
"Oh?" Li Zheng raised an eyebrow, "It’s been a while since anyone has scolded me."
"Uh..." the chief of the center wiped his sweat nervously, "These are all your brilliant creations. Even if you ordered the Mammoths to charge into Jupiter’s eye of the storm... that would still be a scientific experiment..."
"Hahaha," Li Zheng laughed, "I know my limits. Everyone has worked hard, we’ll talk later."
Several minutes later, after finally sending everyone away, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing stepped into the chamber.
Being involved in the design, the two of them were quite familiar with putting on the equipment.
As Li Zheng was putting on the equipment, he looked up and said, "Shut down all surveillance inside the chamber."
Following the extinguishing of several indicator lights, the space officially became a black box state.
Li Zheng then smiled, drew Lin Yujing—who had just put on her equipment—into his arms, and held her close.
"Mmm..." Lin Yujing gasped, "We’re... about to start..."
"Hmph, what technique do you hope I’ll use this time?"
"I mean space travel!!"
"Why not double-line it? That’s more thrilling!"
"Back off, back off!" Lin Yujing struggled and said, "Start with... start with space travel first!"
"Alright," Li Zheng smiled, embracing Lin Yujing as they both reached for the control stick.
"Let’s see... there are five ready to go..."
"Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, the Asteroid Belt..."
"We can observe the Sun up close, dive into storms, frolic in the glaciers of China, or even... bask in the showers of Neptune..."
"Where should we go first?"
Lin Yujing trembled with excitement, "Mmm~~~~ it’s such a tough choice!!"
Li Zheng’s eyes widened.
"How about... we start with this one!!"
"Ughhh!!!"
"Ummmm........"
"Ugh ugh ugh...."
"Ugh~~"
...
Outside the chamber.
The engineers shivered.
Although they didn’t know what was happening inside the chamber, they could clearly see the mammoth inside Neptune pulsating rhythmically...
"The academician must be conducting... conducting some experiments beyond our imagination!"
"Definitely!!!"
...
9 hours later.
Lin Yujing had drifted into dreamlike peace amidst interstellar travel.
Li Zheng alone, trembling, opened the chamber door.
He needed energy!
Any more and he would faint from hunger...
By this time, there were hardly any people left in the work area outside.
"Excuse me," Li Zheng called out from a distance to a female engineer, raising his hand, "Is there anything to eat around here?"
The female engineer’s figure trembled, then she slowly opened her drawer and, holding two bags of snacks, turned slightly, "If you don’t mind... you can have mine."
Li Zheng looked at her and trembled in kind.
Just an ordinary female engineer.
For the first time in years, he felt somewhat shy, somewhat at a loss.
He tilted his head slightly and walked over step by step, taking the snacks: "Thank you."
"It’s nothing, nothing at all." The female engineer sat down flustered, turned on her screen, and began clicking aimlessly.
Li Zheng swallowed and asked on the spot, "How have you been recently...?"
"Very good, exceptionally good." The female engineer said with a trembling voice, "You should go back; I heard her ’ugh ugh’ looking for you."
"Then... if there’s anything I can help with... The science academy here has a lot of openings..."
R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.
"No need, I’m really fine." The girl looked down, biting her lip and covering her mouth as she whispered, "Just go... I... I can’t be too close to you... I was about to forget..."
"..." Li Zheng sighed deeply, shaking the snacks in his hand, "Thanks, really, thank you."
...
Late at night.
When Li Zheng lay down in bed.
Something that had disappeared for a long time suddenly appeared.
[Unified Field Theory has been illuminated!]
[The ultimate learning has been completed!]
[All card inspirations and technologies have been acquired and saved; you can summon them at any time.]
[The above is the entire content of this system.]
[Whether there is a greater unknown beyond the end is for you to explore.]
[The system core will re-encapsulate itself and search for the next host in the spacetime.]
[You can leave a message of up to 20 characters for the next host.]
[Would you like to leave a message?]
After a brief pause, Li Zheng just smiled and secretly sang out softly.
...
Early autumn, the summer waves had not yet subsided, nor had the winter wind arrived.
Inside classroom 2-4, Hu Chunmei was habitually railing against the midterm math scores.
A boy in the back row, who sympathized deeply, was gritting his teeth.
But suddenly his eyes bulged.
[Have you become more knowledgeable today?]
After a series of information rapidly poured in, he turned his head abruptly, looking toward the middle row by the window.
That girl, with short, fluffy hair and a school uniform hanging loose, was leaning against the wall with her legs casually crossed.
She inadvertently tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing an ordinary, reassuring profile.
The boy glared with clenched teeth.
’This time I’ll definitely be above you!’
’Teacher Mengxi!!’
(The end of the book)