93: Chapter 93 I too became someone who refused to serve high-ranking officials.

The night was as dark as ink, and all was silent.

Beside him, Su Qingxue's breathing had become steady and deep, clearly indicating she had entered a deep sleep.

Lu Li opened his eyes, not a hint of sleepiness in his gaze.

Like a nimble civet cat, he silently threw off the quilt, went barefoot, and slipped out of bed.

He did not turn on the lights; his familiarity with this villa was already engraved into his muscle memory.

He passed through the living room and pushed open the door leading to the garage.

In the chilly garage sat his wife's red Bentley and Porsche, while his own Ferrari was parked quietly beside them, like three dormant beasts.

But his destination was not here.

He walked to the innermost corner of the garage, where a hidden door blended seamlessly into the wall.

Nominally, it was a tool room, but since Su Qingxue did not know how to repair cars and Lu Li could not be bothered to do so, it had long been abandoned and filled with miscellaneous items.

Lu Li took out the key and inserted it.

"Click."

With an almost imperceptible sound, the hidden door slid inward, revealing a deep entrance.

Behind the door lay a patch of deep blue, cold light.

The light illuminated Lu Li's face, and also revealed a behemoth lurking in the darkness.

It was a machine resembling a sleeping steel giant, with countless complex pipelines and precision mechanical arms intertwined, exuding a cold, futuristic industrial aesthetic.

A 3nm Lithography Machine, along with the complete set of production processes that accompanied it.

This was the reward the system had given him after he solved that little trouble at Tianqiong Technology.

Looking at it this way, Fan Yu's tech company must be completely finished by now, though the news had yet to spread.

Lu Li stretched out his hand, his fingertips gently grazing the cold metal shell of the Lithography Machine.

An indescribable, complex emotion surged into his heart like a tide.

In his previous life, he had burned out his life leading thousands of Huaxia's top minds, struggling to catch up during that era of technological blockade.

They had expended countless efforts and drained themselves over countless days and nights, only to barely touch the threshold of 5nm by 2030.

And now, a 3nm Lithography Machine with even more terrifying performance and more perfect craftsmanship had appeared so quietly in his basement.

He had forcibly advanced the timeline by a full twelve years!

What did this even mean?

Lu Li's gaze was deep.

It was 2018, and the overlord of mobile phone chips, Qualcomm, was still using the 10nm process for its latest Snapdragon 845.

Apple's A-series chips were much the same.

And the machine in his hands was not only 3nm, but also backward compatible, capable of modulating the process at will.

The system had even thoughtfully included several complete chip design schemes; in this world, each one was an unregistered treasure trove of patents.

"Qingxue, your dream of letting Guanghui Technology become the world's number one..."

Lu Li whispered to himself, his eyes filled with unprecedented firmness.

"It is about to be realized."

With these chips, Guanghui Technology would no longer have any shortcomings; whether it was Samsung or Apple, they would all be mere juniors.

However, he couldn't take too big a step.

Toothpaste had to be squeezed out a little at a time.

If the stride was too wide, he might pull a muscle.

If he brought out 3nm directly, he feared that every chip company in the world would suffer collective brain death on the spot.

Lu Li pondered for a moment and decided to start with 5nm.

Even if it were only 5nm, with the process schemes in his mind slightly optimized, the performance of the designed chip could easily beat the Snapdragon 888 of a few years later, and could even go toe-to-toe with the 8gen1.

Using something like this to deal with the current Snapdragon 845 and Apple A11?

That wasn't a dimensionality reduction strike.

That was like gods descending to the world, using thunder to judge a group of primitive people who ate raw meat and drank blood.

The next day, early morning.

Lu Li was immersed in a dream when he was rudely dragged back to reality by a huge, buzzing roar.

He turned over irritably and buried his head in the pillow.

What was going on? Who was doing renovations so early in the morning? Couldn't they let people sleep!

"Lu Li, wake up! Look outside!"

Su Qingxue's voice carried a hint of undisguised shock, and she pulled him out of bed.

Lu Li walked to the window, bleary-eyed, and pulled back the curtains.

The next second, he froze.

He saw two dark green armed helicopters hovering at a low altitude above the villa area, their huge rotors stirring the air and making a deafening roar.

The wealthy neighbors who usually strolled about leisurely and the patrolling security guards had vanished without a trace.

In their place were teams of fully armed, cold-faced soldiers.

They stood guard every few paces, turning the entire Hongshi Villa District into a heavily fortified military restricted area.

On the rooftop opposite, a red light flashed and disappeared.

That was the reflection of a sniper scope.

"This lineup..." Lu Li raised his eyebrows. "If you didn't know better, you'd think they were filming a war movie and had requisitioned our house as a set."

Su Qingxue was completely bewildered; she had lived for over twenty years and had never seen such a scene.

Just then, the doorbell rang downstairs.

The smooth, emotionless synthetic female voice of 18 sounded: "Master, the visitor has been confirmed: Director of the National Security Bureau, Mr. Wu Zhenguo."

What was meant to come, eventually came.

Lu Li yawned, got dressed unhurriedly, took Su Qingxue's hand, and went downstairs together.

In the living room, an old man with gray hair, yet full of spirit and sitting with a straight back, was seated on the sofa.

He was wearing a simple Zhongshan suit, but he carried the majestic aura of someone who had held a high position for a long time.

It was Elder Wu, who had spoken to him on the phone last night.

Behind him, Zhang Qiang and other members of the special operations team stood at attention, their hands at their sides.

There were also a few technical personnel who looked like professors.

"Elder Wu, this lineup of yours is a bit too much." Lu Li greeted him lazily. "If you didn't know better, you'd think The Alien had attacked and scared all our neighbors."

Elder Wu heard this, but instead of getting angry, he laughed heartily.

"Young man, the things you've created have a much greater impact on us than The Alien!"

He raised his hand to signal: "Sit."

After some pleasantries, Elder Wu got straight to the point.

"Comrade Lu Li, on behalf of the country, I formally invite you to serve as the first director of the newly established 'National Institute of Intelligence and Bionics'. Your administrative rank will be equivalent to a ministerial level, and the country will allocate trillion-level resources to you."

Su Qingxue's heart suddenly jumped.

Trillion-level—what a concept! It was completely equivalent to the country's investment scale in Nuclear Fusion.

Lu Li didn't even consider it, shaking his head like a rattle.

"No."

He answered firmly.

What a joke?

Become the director of a research institute?

Wasn't that just walking back down the old path of burning himself out in his previous life?

Soaking in the laboratory every day for ten, twenty years, accompanied by cold machines.

He subconsciously turned his head and looked at the nervous Su Qingxue beside him.

His wife was so beautiful, and living off her was so comfortable—why would he go to work?

Was he crazy?

Elder Wu seemed to have anticipated his reaction and was not surprised.

He pondered for a moment and continued: "We understand your concerns. How about this: you serve as the Chief Technical Consultant for the institute. You won't need to work in the office, you won't participate in administrative management, and you will only be responsible for providing technical direction and solving key problems."

"In exchange, the country will provide you with the highest level of security protection. We will satisfy all your reasonable requests."

Elder Wu's expression became extremely solemn.

"There is only one requirement: the technology in your hands, and you yourself, can never leave Huaxia's soil."

Lu Li could accept this condition.

To put it plainly, it was a work-from-home job, and he could enjoy national-level VIP treatment.

His good life was secure!

"Deal." Lu Li agreed readily.

The negotiation was unexpectedly smooth.

A satisfied smile appeared on Elder Wu's face, and the several accompanying experts behind him also clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since that's the case, let's show some sincerity," Lu Li said suddenly.

He took out an ordinary USB drive from his pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"This is something I asked my... um, Artificial Intelligence, to rush out overnight."

"The complete process plan for the 5nm chip, as well as the complete manufacturing technology for the supporting Lithography Machine."

"A small token of my respect."

The words fell.

The entire living room fell into a deathly silence.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

The top domestic chip experts behind Elder Wu widened their eyes, their mouths agape, and they stood petrified on the spot.

What had they just heard?

5nm?

Lithography Machine manufacturing technology?

That technological Mount Everest that had plagued the entire Huaxia semiconductor industry for decades, which even the power of the entire nation had struggled to overcome, was... packed into this small USB drive?

And it was... rushed out overnight?

Elder Wu's hands, which had weathered countless storms, were shaking violently at this moment.

His gaze was nailed to the small USB drive on the coffee table.

That was not just a USB drive.

That was the cornerstone of Huaxia's technological rise!

It was the key to breaking the shackles of Western technology!

It was an admission ticket to a whole new era!

He slowly stretched out his hand, his movements slow and solemn, with a piety bordering on religious, and trembling, he reached toward the USB drive.