469: Chapter 465 Let's begin the experiment.

Shen Mingyuan joined the group, and Lu Jianchuan pulled his chair over, tilting his head to look at the screen. He was also quite curious about what was being discussed in this group.

The messages in the group were jumping quickly. Someone posted a long manifesto, saying that humanity is one big collective and that now is a critical time to stand united against outsiders and completely wipe out those animals.

Someone chimed in, saying they should implement genetic modification to turn animals into human appendages, ensuring they could never rise up again.

Others were shouting slogans, things like "For the Emperor" and "Exterminate the Xenos"—all sorts of chaotic nonsense.

Shen Mingyuan scrolled through a dozen or so messages, swiped back up, and then scrolled through them again. His expression slowly relaxed from its initial tension. He leaned back against his chair.

"Looks alright," Lu Jianchuan said from the side. "Not too radical."

Shen Mingyuan nodded.

"For now, it seems like just a QQ chat group. No missions have been issued, and no one's talking about taking action yet." He thought for a moment. "Maybe it's because this trend has only just reached here, so the people in the group aren't particularly radical yet. Or maybe it's because this incident didn't result in any obvious casualties, so everyone's hatred for those alien races isn't very deep yet."

Lu Jianchuan withdrew his gaze and leaned back in his chair.

"Let's keep an eye on it for now," Shen Mingyuan said, placing his phone on the desk. "We'll intervene if they start getting radical. Or maybe we'll do something ahead of time."

Lu Jianchuan fell silent for a moment.

"I'm out of ideas too," he said. "Let's just watch for now."

The two of them stared at the screen for a while. The group was still filled with those same slogans and manifestos, repeated over and over with nothing new. Lu Jianchuan moved his gaze from the phone screen to the computer next to it.

"By the way, want to play a round?" He gestured toward the screen with his chin.

Shen Mingyuan followed his gaze, then looked back at the messages in the group, and finally flipped his phone face down on the desk.

"Let's do it."

The two of them straightened their chairs and gripped their mice. The screen lit up, and the interface for Fireboy and Watergirl popped up. Two little characters stood at the start of the level, one blue and one red.

[Consciousness Space]

Han Chengyu sat cross-legged in that white Void Realm, several light screens floating before him. They were filled with armor structural diagrams and data streams. His fingers swiped through the air, zooming in and out as lines and data danced rapidly before his eyes.

"Almost there, almost there," he muttered to himself. "The basic adaptation is mostly complete. It won't affect the transformation outside, and the user won't feel anything unusual. Just a few last fine-tunes..."

[host, the factory has been secured.] The System's voice rang out, calm but carrying a sense of efficiency.

Han Chengyu's fingers paused for a moment.

"Oh? Secured?"

[The acquisition is complete. Title transfer, legal procedures, and surrounding inspections have all been handled. The renovation can begin at any time.]

Han Chengyu withdrew his hands from the light screen and leaned back. He stared at the ceiling for two seconds before sitting up straight again.

"System, I have a new idea."

[Please speak.]

"That Point Nemo—the place where the spacecraft crashed. Let's build the factory there."

The System was silent for a second.

[Point Nemo. The South Pacific, the point furthest from any land. A concentrated crash zone for spacecraft debris. Water depth is approximately 4,000 meters.]

"Exactly," Han Chengyu said, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest. "We'll use this current factory to build some necessary equipment, and then we'll start our development from there. There's a massive amount of discarded aerospace equipment there—titanium alloy hulls, heat-resistant Materials, precision instrument wreckage—all ready-made resources. Plus, it's so remote that no one will disturb us. We might even find some interesting things."

[A good idea.] A rare hint of approval entered the System's voice. [Establishing a base at a depth of 4,000 meters offers extremely high concealment. Resources can be sourced locally, and power can be generated using deep-sea hydrothermal vents or small nuclear reactors. The success rate is very high.]

Han Chengyu rubbed his hands together.

"Then let's first design some equipment that can work underwater. Small unmanned submarines, deep-sea robotic arms, modular construction Units. We'll use this factory to build a batch first, ship them over, and let them assemble themselves."

He paused.

"Let's put the armor aside for a moment and focus on this first. Underwater pressure, sealing, and corrosion resistance—those are all going to be a headache."

[No problem.] the System said. [I will assist you. Engineering structures, material mechanics, and deep-sea environment simulations—leave those to me.]

Han Chengyu scratched his head.

"I'm really not that familiar with this field. I studied biology before; as for engineering... I only have a general idea. You'll have to take the lead this time."

[Understood.] The System pulled up several new light screens, which began scrolling through design sketches for deep-sea probes. [Appearance and comfort can be ignored for now; prioritize functionality. Now, let us begin.]

Han Chengyu rolled up his sleeves, pushed the armor design screen aside, and leaned into the dense engineering diagrams.

"Let's go."

[Real World]

Li Mo straightened up from the microscope, closed his notebook, opened it again, and then closed it once more.

The petri dishes on the Experimental Table still glowed with a faint fluorescence, and several samples on the test tube rack shimmered with a pale golden luster under the incubator lights.

He stared at those test tubes for a long time before reaching out to pick up the one in the center, turning it against the light.

It was done.

He took a deep breath, carefully placed the test tube back on the rack, and picked up his phone.

The screen lit up. He tapped on a chat window that hadn't been opened in a long time. The last message was still "I will guarantee this point." He stared at those words for a few seconds and began typing.

The initial adaptation of the Potion is complete. I will send the Potion and the monitoring equipment to you together. The shipping address is the one you gave me last time.

Keep an eye out for it. Before injecting, put on the monitoring equipment and record the entire process; I need to see the real-time data. If you get caught, don't give me up. Don't forget your child is still waiting.

After sending the message, he placed the phone face down on the table and turned to look at the test tubes. About a minute later, the phone vibrated.

He picked it up.

I understand.

Li Mo put the phone down, thought for a moment, then picked it up again and dialed a number.

The phone rang a few times before the other side picked up. The voice was lazy, as if they had just woken up.

"Old friend, do me a favor." Li Mo leaned back in his chair, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about the weather. "When the time comes, I'll drop something in a trash can. You dress up as a sanitation worker and pick it up. Then help me ship it to this address."

He recited a string of address details. The other side was silent for a moment, seemingly taking it down.

"Fine, I got it." The voice paused. "What are you up to this time?"

Li Mo gave a small laugh, his voice dropping slightly.

"Nothing much. If it succeeds, I'll give you a share. You could achieve immortality too, couldn't you?"

A short laugh came from the other side—neither happy nor unhappy, more like a tacit understanding. The call ended.

Li Mo put his phone away and looked down at the sealed Potion on the table. He stuffed it into an inconspicuous courier bag, sealed it, and then placed that inside a trash bag, tying a knot.

He carried the bag out of the lab, through the hallway, around the stairwell, and pushed open the back door.

The trash can was right against the base of the wall, its lid half-open, filled with scrap paper and empty bottles.

He tossed the bag inside, clapped his hands, and turned to walk back.

When he returned to the lab, the instruments on the Experimental Table were still running, and the data curves on the screen were pulsing steadily.

He sat down and pulled up several monitoring windows, waiting for the signal from the other end. His other hand wasn't idle either; he took a new sample from a drawer and began the next set of experiments.