Chapter 88: The Return! The Key to the Industrial Revolution!

"Armory!"

These words weren't just a sound.

They were like high-explosive armor-piercing shells, blasting directly into Lin Yuan's cerebral cortex.

His eardrums buzzed, and phantoms seemed to be projected onto his retinas.

If the "nano-forging matrix" was the key to starting the industrial revolution, then the "Armory" was the massive steel foot that would kick all of humanity directly into the interstellar era.

What would be inside?

Thousands of "scavenger" units on standby?

An array of "titan"-class dreadnoughts, enough to blot out the sun?

Or some kind of doomsday weapon that could completely format a planet like Earth with a single shot?

Lin Yuan felt his throat go dry, his saliva stopped flowing, and his heart pounded against his chest so hard that his sternum throbbed with pain.

Greed.

A primitive, pure greed belonging to a scavenger instantly burned through the fuse of his reason.

This time, he had to gamble.

Even if he had to bet his life, he had to grasp this key in his hand!

The bloodshot veins in Lin Yuan's eyes instantly burst, and his pupils contracted to the size of pinheads.

"ashilya!"

He roared in the depths of his consciousness, his voice tearing through the tranquility in his mind.

"Start the cracking! Forget about the success rate, I want it to open the door right now!"

[Command confirmed.]

The cold electronic voice had no emotional fluctuations.

[Connecting to "genesis"-class data interface...]

[Warning: Mental load is about to exceed the threshold. This process is irreversible; if your consciousness shows signs of dissipating, the system will forcibly cut the connection.]

"Cut the crap! Do it!"

Lin Yuan squeezed his eyes shut.

The next second.

"Boom—!"

This wasn't a sound; it was the vibration of a tsunami crashing against rocks.

A massive, suffocating torrent of data poured brutally into his brain through the neural connection port.

Pain!

Intense pain!

It was as if someone had taken a red-hot iron wire and shoved it into his temple, then stirred it frantically.

It was no longer the gentle knowledge he had learned on Earth.

It was the coldest, most fundamental mechanical logic of "Titan Heavy Industry".

Countless "0"s and "1"s were no longer numbers; they turned into hundreds of millions of miniature gears, connecting rods, and pistons, operating, meshing, and grinding frantically on his fragile cerebral cortex.

They formed a steel fortress that reached from heaven to earth.

Walls of bronze and iron, perfectly sealed.

Lin Yuan's consciousness turned into a sharp blade, slamming hard against it.

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere.

The blade shattered, and his consciousness vibrated violently.

"Pfft!"

In the real world, Lin Yuan, inside the connection pod, lurched forward, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the display screen.

The crimson liquid slid down the glass, reflecting his face, which was as pale as paper.

The life monitor instantly sounded an alarm, its piercing buzz echoing in the cockpit.

[Warning! The host's mental body damage is at 15%! Cracking progress is at 0.1%!]

[Recommendation: Terminate immediately!]

"Terminate my ass!"

Lin Yuan gritted his teeth, which were covered in bloody foam, his facial muscles contorted and twisted from the extreme pain.

Retreat?

Retreat to where?

Behind him was the Eagle Fleet that could return at any time, the eyeing alien civilizations, and a future where Earth's five thousand years of civilization were about to be reduced to ruins.

There was no way out.

"Open... for me!"

He forcibly gathered his consciousness, which was about to dissipate, and launched another charge.

But this time, he no longer used brute force to collide.

The pain made his thinking clearer than ever before.

For three months, the knowledge of quantum mechanics and materials science that Academician Wang had instilled in him churned frantically in his mind.

The profound theories of "Soul Architecture" in the "ashilya" database began to glow.

And himself—the small boss who had spent twenty years crawling through scrap heaps, with his unique "Dismantling Philosophy".

No matter how precise a machine is, it is assembled from parts.

As long as it is assembled, there are gaps.

Even the creation of a god-level civilization, as long as it was manufactured, must have a logical "interface"!

If a frontal collision won't open it, then dismantle it!

Three completely different modes of thinking merged miraculously at this moment.

Lin Yuan's consciousness was no longer a rigid knife.

It became a flowing, pervasive mercury.

It flowed along the surface of those "city walls" composed of hundreds of millions of codes, searching for the smallest cracks.

Found it!

A tiny logical loop hole.

Just like a rusty engine in a junkyard; no matter how shiny the exterior, the gaskets inside will always age.

Drill in!

[Cracking progress: 1.3%...]

[Cracking progress: 5.7%...]

[Cracking progress: 12.9%...]

The progress bar began to jump.

Slow, but steady.

Earth, underground Command Center.

On the massive main screen, Lin Yuan's EEG map was like a crazed venomous snake, twisting frantically on the death line.

Everyone stood up, staring intently at the red progress bar.

Academician Wang's fingers dug deep into his palm, completely unaware that blood was seeping out.

"What is he doing..."

The young operator beside him spoke with a trembling voice, looking at the inconceivable data flow: "This amount of calculation... even if the 'pangu system' supercomputer were running at full power, it would burn out the motherboard. Is he... holding out with his human brain?"

"He's putting his life on the line."

Academician Wang's voice was hoarse, as if there were grit in his throat.

He stared at the young man's data on the screen, his eyes rimmed with red.

"He's using his own brain to gnaw at the firewall of a god-level civilization."

"He's fighting for that ticket to the future on behalf of all of us."

No one spoke again.

The entire hall was so quiet that only the hum of the electric current could be heard.

Everyone's heart was in their throat, beating along with the slowly rising number.

...

No one knew how much time had passed.

Maybe a second, maybe a century.

Lin Yuan felt as if his brain had been hollowed out.

His thinking began to slow, his memories began to blur, and even the sensation of "pain" became numb.

He was even about to forget who he was and what he was doing.

Only one obsession remained, nailed deep into his soul like a spike.

Dismantle it.

Dismantle it!

Just as the last trace of mental strength was about to be exhausted and darkness was about to swallow everything.

"Click."

A very slight crisp sound.

Like a rusty lock, its core finally pushed open by a key.

That indestructible steel fortress burst open with a crack.

[Ding-dong!]

The crisp notification sound was like heavenly music.

[Congratulations to the host! Successfully cracked the first layer of the "nano-forging matrix" firewall!]

[Basic access permissions acquired!]

[Obtained item: "Titan Heavy Industry" Standard - nano-forging matrix (Incomplete) *1]

[Obtained blueprint: 'the arbitrators'-class Multi-role Assault Destroyer Design Blueprint (Incomplete) *1]

[Obtained coordinates: Secret Armory "gate of hades" Coordinates (Incomplete) *1]

Won.

Just as these words surfaced in his mind, boundless darkness surged in like a tide.

Lin Yuan didn't even have the strength for wild joy anymore.

In the second before his consciousness completely blacked out, he used every last bit of his remaining will to issue the final command to the system.

"Take the stuff... home..."

...

"Hum—"

A white light of spatial distortion flashed.

Inside the connection pod, the body that had already fallen into a deep coma twitched slightly.

"Lin Yuan!!"

A heart-wrenching scream pierced the frozen air.

Li Na broke through the security line and threw herself against the glass of the connection pod, her tears bursting forth.

The pod door popped open.

A heavy smell of blood wafted out.

Lin Yuan's face was covered in blood, and his body was slumped in the seat like a pile of mud, the rise and fall of his chest so weak it was almost invisible.

But on the materialization platform beside him.

A palm-sized silver cube was floating quietly.

Its surface shimmered with a dreamlike mercury luster, and every flicker seemed to carry some ancient and mysterious rhythm.

Chen Weiguo and Academician Wang rushed over.

Lin Yuan struggled to open his eyelids.

His vision was blurred, and double images overlapped.

He saw those familiar faces, those faces filled with terror and worry.

He moved his cracked lips and pulled out a smile that looked worse than crying.

Bloody foam trickled down from the corner of his mouth.

"Chief... Old Wang..."

His voice was as light as a falling leaf in the wind.

"The key... I've... grabbed it back for you."

His head tilted to the side.

The world fell completely into darkness.

...

Three days.

A full seventy-two hours.

When Lin Yuan smelled the scent of disinfectant again, the sunlight outside was shining through the gap in the curtains, casting a golden line across his face.

Every bone in his body felt as if it had been dismantled and reassembled, with a newborn numbness permeating the soreness.

"You're awake?"

The voice was very soft, carrying an uncontrollable tremor.

Lin Yuan rolled his eyes.

Someone was sitting by the hospital bed.

Academician Wang.

This scientific titan, who had returned to his prime after being injected with alien medicine, looked ten years older than he had three days ago.

His hair was as messy as a bird's nest, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had heavy bags under his eyes.

But the way he held that silver cube in his hands was as if he were holding the entire universe.

That kind of look.

It was the look of a fanatic seeing the arrival of a true god.

It was the frenzy of a traveler who had been groping in the dark for a lifetime and finally saw the light of a lighthouse.

"Lin Yuan..."

Academician Wang's voice was shaking, his hands were shaking, and even the silver cube was vibrating slightly.

"Do you know... exactly what kind of thing you brought back?"

He suddenly looked up, staring intently at Lin Yuan.

Two fires were burning in those eyes.

"This isn't a key."

"This is authority."

"This is the authority... that God uses to create all things!"

Academician Wang stood up, and in his excitement, he even kicked over the chair behind him.

"Structural stabilizers, industrial mother machines—they're all trash in front of it!"

"It can directly arrange atoms! It can 'grow' the alloys, chips, and engines we want directly from the microscopic level, just like printing!"

He held the box as if he were announcing it to the whole world.

"Lin Yuan, do you know what this means?"

"As long as we give it enough energy, give it enough raw materials..."

Academician Wang's voice suddenly rose, carrying a metallic penetration:

"Forget about one 'South Heaven Gate'!"

"Just one year!"

"In just one year, we can pull together a fleet!"

"An invincible fleet... that can truly cross the stars and blast those scum who covet us into smithereens!"

Before he could finish his sentence.

The broadcast indicator light on the hospital room wall suddenly lit up red.

Chen Weiguo's voice, carrying an unprecedented majesty and bloodthirst, resounded throughout the underground base.

"Attention all departments!"

"This is Chen Weiguo."

"I am now issuing the supreme command!"

"The 'South Heaven Gate Project' is suspended immediately!"

"All resources, all personnel, and all computing power will be shifted to the new project!"

"Code name—'genesis'!"

"There is only one goal!"

"At all costs, within one year, let our first interstellar warship..."

"Take flight!"