The internal debate at Expedition Technology over the technical approach for the "Shadowblade" main valve quietly concluded under Lu Chenyuan's directive and external pressures.
There were no winners, nor were there losers.
Lu Chenyuan's decision was like a boulder dropped into a still lake—the ripples it stirred were not chaos, but deeper contemplation.
After that night's conversation in the break room, neither Professor Zhou Mingyuan nor Dr. Li Mo ever brought up the dispute over their proposals again.
Two independent research teams were officially established the very next day.
Resources, equipment, and personnel were allocated with impartiality, as Lin Yuan had been instructed by Lu Chenyuan.
Meanwhile, the emergence of Stellar's "Smaug" had cast a palpable pressure over everyone.
The atmosphere across Expedition Technology's campus underwent a subtle shift.
The tension and hostility that once hung in the air were replaced by a silent competitive drive and an undercurrent of urgency.
The lights in Team A's lab often burned until 3 a.m.
Team B's simulation servers ran at full capacity almost around the clock.
Colleagues no longer argued when they crossed paths—they simply nodded before retreating to their respective battlefields.
Everyone was driven by an unspoken determination.
Their goal was no longer to prove "I'm right, you're wrong," but to present irrefutable test data demonstrating that their path was the optimal route to the stars.
They also wanted to prove they were worthy of Lu Chenyuan's trust in bringing them here.
The project's development pace quietly accelerated.
Standing by his office window, Lin Yuan watched the bustling figures crisscrossing the campus, his heart filled with complex emotions.
Meanwhile, Lu Chenyuan was at the Quantum Intelligence Lab of Abyss Dragon Technology.
Before him lay another "soil"—one that was flourishing, yet seemed to be sprouting something unexpected.
The artificial intelligence he had always regarded as the most critical "foundation" had been pushed by Lu Ruoxi into an unknowable, unfathomable direction.
Lu Shi'an, now over two years old, was cradled in Su Yang's arms, his curious eyes taking in this futuristic world.
In his tiny hands, he clutched a few brightly colored building blocks.
Lu Ruoxi stood nearby, dressed in a simple white lab coat, her long hair loosely tied back.
Her presence had grown increasingly serene, almost transcendent.
Only when she smiled tenderly at her nephew did she seem like an ordinary woman of this world.
"Brother, look," she said.
She didn't delve into complex quantum entanglement theories or intricate algorithmic models.
Instead, she simply pointed at the blocks in Lu Shi'an's hands.
"In the past, when we built 'Nuwa' and 'Pangu,' it was like this," she explained.
She took a red block from Lu Shi'an's grasp.
"We told it, 'This is a block. It's red. It's a cube.'"
Then, she picked up a blue one.
"And we'd say, 'This is also a block. It's blue. It's a rectangular prism.'"
"We fed it thousands of such definitions. Then, we'd give it a command—say, 'Build a house.' It would execute based on the rules and information we provided."
"It was clever. It could construct beautiful houses. But it was always just following our orders."
Lu Chenyuan listened quietly, not interrupting.
Su Yang handed Lu Ruoxi a glass of water, his gaze filled with affection and admiration.
His presence seemed to ground her ethereal aura.
Taking a sip, Lu Ruoxi's eyes sparkled with an unusual brilliance—the glow of a thinker.
"But now, it's different," she said softly, returning the blocks to Lu Shi'an's open palms.
"My current research is about making the blocks 'know' they are blocks."
Lu Shi'an clacked the two blocks together, producing a crisp sound.
"I no longer tell it, 'You are this.' I only give it the most fundamental logic—'Go and understand the world.'"
"It will 'see' for itself, 'touch' for itself, 'feel' for itself. It will discover it has color, shape, and weight. It will realize other blocks are different."
"It no longer passively receives information. It actively 'learns' and 'comprehends.'"
Her voice was gentle, but her words carried seismic implications.
"Once it truly 'understands' itself and the world, we won't need to command it to 'build a house.'"
She met Lu Chenyuan's gaze, enunciating each word.
"We'll simply ask, 'What do you want to build?'"
"Or perhaps, it will tell us what it believes should be built."
"Brother, this is my 'Quantum Consciousness Framework.' It isn't just a smarter tool."
"It is the embryo of a new species."
The laboratory was enveloped in silence.
Lu Chenyuan gazed at his younger sister, remaining quiet for a long while.
He knew exactly what Lu Ruoxi’s words implied.
If the birth of "Nuwa" years ago had propelled Xia from a follower to a leader in the field of artificial intelligence,
then what Lu Ruoxi was working on now was nothing short of creating an entirely new track right at the finish line—
a path even the likes of Stellar and A-Country’s most advanced tech giants had yet to envision.
“This ‘new species’,”
Lu Chenyuan finally spoke, his voice slightly hoarse,
“Is it… safe?”
This wasn’t a question about business or technology.
It was a question of survival.
A question that would determine the future of humanity itself.
Lu Ruoxi seemed to have anticipated his concern.
She shook her head, then nodded.
“I don’t know,” she admitted candidly.
“Just like the first human who struck fire from wood—he had no idea that flames could bring light and warmth, but also burn down entire forests.”
“Technology itself is neither good nor evil. It all depends on who wields it.”
“So, brother,”
She met Lu Chenyuan’s gaze, her eyes clear and resolute,
“I’m handing this ‘spark’ to you.”
“Because I know you’ll use it to light up the stars.”
“Not to set fire to your neighbor’s house.”
Hearing this, Lu Chenyuan paused, momentarily taken aback.
Then, gently, he patted her shoulder and said,
“You’ve worked hard.”
His gaze shifted to Su Yang, and with a faint nod, he added,
“Take care of her.”
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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)
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
