414: Chapter 414 Chen Wuwang Ignores the Issue, Focuses on Family Development

The night wind swept through the eaves of the Main Hall's high platform, softly rustling the few pages of paper scrolls on the desk.

Chen Wuwang sat in the center of the quiet room, three pale blue light patterns floating before him like command strips distilled from thin air, flowing silently.

He tapped his fingertip, and one of them enlarged slightly—"Spirit Field mutation tide in three days."

"Again," he whispered, his tone as flat as if he were reading a weather forecast. "Every time this happens, it's right during the critical seedling stage. System, are you doing this on purpose?"

The light pattern did not react; naturally, it would not answer. It simply hung there quietly, waiting to be marked, executed, and archived.

He scanned the second strip: "Artifact Refining Workshop will show cracks in new Materials."

The third strip: "Youth group trial passage opens within seven days."

Chen Wuwang raised his hand and drew a circle in the air. The three commands were automatically categorized and sorted. The first was marked in red as a high-priority monitoring item;

The second was set as an early warning for inspection; the third was forwarded directly to the Family Teaching Office to stand by for preparation.

"Fine, let's follow the routine." He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside, the lights were as bright as day.

Mecha formations were patrolling at low altitude along the City Defense Tracks, their metal feet making steady "clack" sounds as they stepped over the bluestone slabs in perfect unison.

In the distance, the furnace of the Artifact Refining Workshop spewed pale golden flames, casting a warm glow across half the sky.

Further away in the Sword Dao Field, dozens of young clan members were still sparring. The sound of Sword Qi cutting through the air rose and fell, occasionally exploding into sparks of spiritual energy.

He watched for a while and suddenly smiled. "It's a bit noisy, but it's good that this momentum hasn't broken."

Turning back to the desk, he tapped the hilt of a dagger, and a virtual panel popped up, displaying a clan-wide resource scheduling map.

"Spiritual Vein energy supply... 87%?" He raised an eyebrow. "It's almost at the red line."

With a swipe of his finger, he pulled up the energy distribution details. The load on the Main Mine Eye had reached its peak, while Branch B was still in a dormant state.

"What are they waiting for? Afraid of wasting Spirit Stones?" He scoffed and issued a direct command: "Activate the Branch B energy matrix. Switch time—now."

As soon as he finished speaking, a very slight vibration came from underground, as if something deep within the earth was slowly waking up.

A few breaths later, a green light lit up on the control console: Energy shunting successful, load reduced to 73%, System running smoothly.

"That's more like it." He leaned back into his chair and rubbed his brow. "Machines don't get tired, and people can't stop. Do one step less today, and you'll have to pay for it with your life tomorrow."

Just then, a small Spiritual Puppet in the corner suddenly activated, emitting a short "beep."

"Engineering Spiritual Puppet has been dispatched to Mine Shaft No. 3 to begin routine maintenance." After the mechanical female voice finished its announcement, the Spiritual Puppet took small steps out of the room and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Chen Wuwang nodded. "Preventive maintenance is a hundred times better than putting out fires. Some people don't understand that logic their whole lives."

He sat up straight again and opened another data stream—the Genius Screening Program had just finished its first round of brainwave detection, and the potential maps of a hundred youths were being generated.

The screen was filled with curves and values; most people were concentrated in the average range, while a few jumped past the peak.

He clicked through them one by one and saw a thirteen-year-old child whose resonance frequency was exceptionally stable, showing no fluctuations even during high-intensity testing.

"Interesting," he whispered. "Neural tolerance close to Chen Xiaodao's level back then, and an even higher emotional suppression threshold... a good prospect for scientific research."

With a drag of his mouse, he pulled the youth into the priority cultivation list and wrote a note: "Suggested integration into the Cyber Cultivation practical training System, priority allocation of experimental permissions."

After finishing this, he pulled up another document titled "Green Seedling Cultivation Plan Phase 3 Implementation Plan."

"All clan members over the age of fifteen are to be included in the practical training System." He read aloud while modifying the details. "No fewer than ten theory lectures per week, and practical operation must not be less than six periods. Those who fail will be demoted for retraining, no exceptions."

After saving and submitting, a prompt popped up from the System: [Plan synchronized to all teaching nodes, expected to fully launch after tomorrow's morning bell]

He closed the panel and let out a long breath.

At that moment, a set of footsteps came from outside the window, approaching from afar but pausing at the door.

"Come in," he said.

The door pushed open a crack, and a messenger peeked in. "Family Head, we just received a report from the Border Outpost. The Earth Vein Oscillation Wave to the east... has disappeared."

"Oh?" He didn't even lift his eyelids. "When did this happen?"

"About half an hour ago, the signal was suddenly interrupted. We currently cannot track the source."

"Understood," he replied indifferently. "Go back and do what you need to do. Don't come running to me every time there's a slight disturbance."

The messenger froze for a moment. "But... could it be a precursor to an enemy attack?"

"If we treated every anomaly as the start of a war, we would have died of exhaustion long ago."

Chen Wuwang finally looked up, the three old scars on the right side of his face appearing particularly clear under the light. "The enemy wants us to be tense, so we should be tense? Then guess who will collapse first?"

The messenger opened his mouth but said nothing more, bowing his head as he withdrew.

After the door closed, Chen Wuwang withdrew his gaze and looked out the window.

The sky in the far north remained pitch black, and the wind and snow had not ceased.

But he knew that things were happening and people were plotting in the shadows.

He also knew that he didn't need to care at all.

Because what he had to do was never to spin around following someone else's rhythm.

What he wanted was for everyone to be able to do nothing but run while looking at his back.

"Threat?" he muttered to himself, his voice not loud, yet it pierced the air like a nail. "A true threat is never someone hiding in the shadows... but a stagnant version of yourself."

Having said that, he rose and walked to the wall, taking out a blank rune stone.

Spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips as he quickly carved onto the stone's surface. The lines were simple and precise, each stroke carrying an unquestionable power.

A moment later, a miniature array took shape and was embedded into the foundation connection port.

"Global Sensing Network Iteration Project, initiate." He pressed down the final rune.

The entire Main Hall vibrated slightly as all monitoring nodes refreshed simultaneously, scanning accuracy increasing by thirty percent and response time shortening by 0.7 seconds.

This was not some world-shaking event.

But under the accumulation of countless such "small matters," the Chen Family had long ceased to be the small clan that could be bullied at will thirty years ago.

He stood at the edge of the high platform, his silver hair blown by the night wind. The Mechanical Prosthetic Eye in his left eye automatically scanned the entire area, marking twenty nodes awaiting upgrades and listing them one by one on his to-do list.

The city below was still busy.

Some were debugging new equipment, some were recording experimental data, and children were clutching textbooks as they ran toward the school, their steps hurried yet full of hope.

All of this was moving forward.

And he always stood at the very front.

"You say you want to destroy me?" He suddenly smiled, the corners of his mouth curling slightly. "But I can't even be bothered to listen."

Turning to step into the Inner Hall, his figure gradually faded into the light and shadow.

A final whisper scattered with the wind upon the steps:

"The path the Chen Family takes has never been decided by anyone's threats."