Another year of bickering passes, and the Spring Festival arrives once again.
The sales of gaming helmets have reached tens of millions.
The gaming companies and equipment manufacturers have grown into behemoths. Making money alone isn't enough—they've spawned hundreds, if not thousands, of upstream, downstream, and peripheral industries.
To put it bluntly, the cutting-edge technology required just for these helmets isn't a matter of a few or even a dozen innovations.
And each technological breakthrough branches out into a dozen different directions...
And that's just the beginning.
Not to mention the ready-to-use technologies, which require even more companies and industrial chains to support them.
...
Enough about that.
Let’s talk about what’s been happening abroad over the past six months or so.
Gaming helmets remain in short supply, with demand far outstripping availability.
More and more people are coming to China for medical treatment, tourism, and gaming, making it harder to suppress the positive word-of-mouth like before.
Especially since the current leader of Old Len Country has been constantly hindered during his term, achieving little of note.
However,
Cao Cheng has never been one to meddle in politics, so he doesn’t pay much attention to it.
He’s aware of the situation, and that’s enough.
He also knows full well that this guy will soon be ousted by Sleepy Joe’s cheating, only to return four years later with even more madness.
Doing the math...
It’s truly a perfect storm of timing, geography, and human advantage.
As long as the Eastern Bloc is well-prepared, they can sit back and watch the chaos unfold, remaining unshaken.
Of course,
Cao Cheng doesn’t plan to lecture his father-in-law too much.
After all, the tide of history isn’t something you can steer with a few words—a gentle reminder is enough. There’s no need to overdo it.
Because even without interference, his family will thrive.
No need to force growth prematurely.
Rather than meddling in politics, it’s better to focus on developing new technologies and nurturing top-tier talent.
And that’s exactly what Cao Cheng has been doing.
Over the past six months, using the emotional energy harvested from gaming helmets, he’s acquired numerous advanced technologies.
Some are too cutting-edge to reveal.
Others are unusable even if disclosed.
But,
they’re more than enough to push his current goals forward by years...
So, with Cao Cheng’s help, his father-in-law has also issued directives.
From these directives, it’s clear that their family is one with foresight and long-term vision.
A far cry from those families that rose through plunder and violence.
The difference in perspective is stark.
...
Once the New Year passes,
their family officially declares complete victory in poverty alleviation.
But this doesn’t attract much attention.
Foreign media deliberately underreport it, mentioning it only in passing if at all.
And their family has always been low-key, so most ordinary people aren’t even aware of it—unless they closely follow political news.
After announcing this victory, tucked away in an obscure report, they also release a development plan.
The full title of this plan is...
"Our Family’s Medium- to Long-Term Development Plan for Space Science (2020–2050)."
Just from the name, you can tell it’s a meticulously structured, phased project.
But...
Coverage is sparse. Only those deeply invested in the field—or certain foreign observers—are aware of it.
Hidden within this plan and report are many details.
For example, the plan, jointly released by the Academy of Sciences, the Aerospace Institute, the Manned Spaceflight Office, and other departments, outlines five major scientific themes.
First: Extreme Cosmos...
In simple terms, this involves studying dark matter, cosmic origins, and the detection of baryonic matter.
Second: Ripples in Spacetime.
Basically, researching quantum entanglement in spacetime, detecting mid-to-low-frequency gravitational waves, primordial gravitational waves, and so on.
Third: A Full-Spectrum View of the Sun-Earth System.
This focuses on the interconnected cycles of Earth and the Moon, among other things.
Fourth: Habitable Exoplanets.
In short, solar system archaeology, sustainable planetary development, the search for extraterrestrial life, and exoplanet exploration...
Fifth: Space Exploration.
This one’s self-explanatory, right?
In any case...
These development goals are divided into three major phases.
...
No wonder Cao Cheng looks down on other families.
It’s not just blind pride.
Their family operates systematically, progressing as a cohesive whole—take this plan, for example.
Every aspect is interconnected, with a strong thematic focus.
One phase seamlessly leads to the next.
And this was only launched after ensuring the people’s livelihoods were secure—and only after incorporating many of Cao Cheng’s advanced technologies to meticulously chart a path for humanity’s future.
Notably, they didn’t adopt the "metaverse" concept.
What does that tell you?
It means their family already has unique discoveries and believes reality is the foundation of everything—not some virtual universe replacing the real one.
This alone makes Cao Cheng admire the wisdom of their higher-ups.
...
Especially when there’s a comparison.
And the contrast comes quickly.
Shortly after their family releases this medium- to long-term development plan,
other families seem provoked into action.
Soon, they cobble together their own versions of development plans.
Take Old Len, for example.
They hastily announce "The Next Decade in Solar and Space Physics Exploration!"
How impressive is that?
Whether it’s plagiarized or not, whether they had prior research goals—
just the title alone feels cheap.
Seriously.
Only ten years?
What can you possibly achieve in ten years?
Their family’s plan spans thirty years, with three major phases and countless sub-phases for tackling challenges step by step.
And Old Len claims they’ll solve everything in a single decade?
Why not just shoot for the moon?
...
But let’s not dwell on that.
The Euro Bros aren’t about to be left behind either.
They invite multiple families to collaborate on galactic archaeology, gravitational wave research, and something called "heavy gravity science"...
Meanwhile, other families, including the International Space Exploration Association, band together—27 in total—to propose a Moon-to-Mars mission, aiming to land humans on the Red Planet.
Seriously?
You’re gonna "jump" there?
How?
By installing a trampoline on the Moon?
Then—whoosh!—bounce straight to Mars?
Is this all about slogans?
Where’s the substance?
How many years will it take?
What are the phases?
The report doesn’t mention any of that.
...
...
Just from these examples, you can see the difference between a stable, deeply rooted civilization and the rest.
All these other families, even when united, can only produce a PowerPoint presentation!
And their so-called plans are often disjointed, each playing in their own sandbox.
Again, it’s the same story.
Everyone’s stuck in their own little world, hoping that friendship and cooperation will magically pull off a grand project.
Sounds great in theory—collaboration, win-win partnerships, and all that.
But there’s a catch: when you’re not even part of the same family, teamwork lacks that crucial synergy.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
