Chapter 16
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Chapter 16: Confusion
In the evening, after finishing his work, Ji Yongxing, the assistant to the Deputy Director of the research institutes, returned to his room, locked the door as usual, and began to wash up.
Once everything was tidied up, he dragged a large wooden box, half his height, from under his bed. After opening the seemingly meaningless lock on top, he revealed a dense array of electronic components inside.
He plugged the device into the wall socket, and amidst the flickering green lights and the whirring of a fan, the machine he had assembled from discarded parts began to slowly operate.
He had read many documents from the Old Era and learned that someone like him had been referred to as a "junk collector" a century ago. He wasn’t sure whether this was a compliment or an insult; he was only focused on the changes that were about to unfold in his model.
At sixteen years old, Ji Yongxing’s character could be perfectly summarized in two words—genius.
Born in the inner city, both his parents were senior researchers at the research institutes, responsible for technology development and superpower research, respectively.
Although he had not awakened any superpowers, he perfectly inherited the talents of both his father and mother, displaying an astonishing aptitude for science from a young age.
By the age of sixteen, he had become the assistant to the Deputy Director of the research institutes, and no one complained about it, as the Deputy Director himself had been another Ji Yongxing forty years ago.
For the research institutes, which steadfastly pursued science, following procedures and waiting to earn seniority was meaningless; it was a consensus among nearly everyone that talented individuals should take precedence, and promoting capable people while sidelining the incompetent was one of the basic rules of the institutes. They believed that truth was the fairest judge, and incompetent fools would only lead research into an irretrievable abyss, endangering all humanity.
To shape the future of the humans in Hope City based on individual capabilities, there were three pathways: power, knowledge, and personal greatness.
Everyone who knew Ji Yongxing believed he would master one of these perfectly in the future.
But only Ji Yongxing himself knew that he might be even smarter than they thought.
Perhaps not just by a little.
As the machine slowly powered up, the screen gradually lit up, and a faint sound of electricity echoed in the not-so-spacious single dormitory. Ji Yongxing updated the data while recalling the origins of this clunky device.
The Deputy Director, Zhou Zhuo, actually knew that he had violated the salvage discipline by secretly bringing back broken parts to his dormitory. However, the old man had always believed in the idea that geniuses could change the world, so instead of criticizing Ji Yongxing, he actively helped him cover up.
The only request the old man made was that Ji Yongxing’s work be the first one he saw, claiming that it would be a moment to witness history.
But in fact, Ji Yongxing’s experiment had already been completed. He didn’t know if anyone had done something similar before, but he had built a functioning model within this ramshackle machine.
It was a model that integrated all known information, calculated weights, and ultimately conducted future simulations.
Due to computational power limitations, Ji Yongxing’s current results could only produce final conclusions without showing the real-time simulation process.
As Ji Yongxing continuously input new known data over the past year, the conclusion range produced by the model gradually narrowed. When he changed the parameter “extraordinary beasts can communicate and evolve” from "high probability" to "certainty," he once again activated the model.
The air in the narrow room grew a bit hot, an inevitable result of the computer’s operation. However, before long, Ji Yongxing found himself in a much more intense heat than the machine.
After two hours of operation, a number appeared before Ji Yongxing—
“70-72”
This indicated that the simulation result predicted humanity could hold on until the 70th to 72nd year of the new era.
After that would naturally come destruction.
“Closer than ever.”
Ji Yongxing leaned back in his chair and murmured softly. The model’s results had dropped from nearly two hundred at the beginning all the way down, and as Ji Yongxing received and input more information, humanity’s hope seemed to dwindle…
This was also the reason why he hesitated to submit his research findings. He had a premonition that if he did submit this model, the changes in parameters would surely bring humanity’s destruction day even closer.
The simulation of the apocalypse felt like a mental plague; Ji Yongxing dared not speak of it to anyone, fearing it might spread among people and lead to dire consequences.
But even if he kept this secret forever, would humanity truly gain salvation?
Did that mean the inevitable war against extraordinary beasts lost all meaning?
And for those who firmly believed in humanity’s victory, was this a form of cruelty?
It should be noted that while Hope City had long been promoting the idea that extraordinary beasts were terrifying beings (which was indeed true), the belief that humanity would eventually triumph had deeply taken root.
Countless humans willingly endured their current lives because they believed such days would not last forever.
For decades, countless soldiers with such beliefs had died on the city walls…
Ji Yongxing slipped into slumber amid his chaotic thoughts, and before losing consciousness, his last thought was:
“I’ll take a day off tomorrow and clear my mind.”
—
“Feeling unwell?”
When Deputy Director Zhou Zhuo heard Ji Yongxing’s request for leave, he looked up from the microscope to his close disciple.
As an expert in biology, he focused on deconstructing all discovered superpowers from a biological perspective.
Seeing Ji Yongxing shake his head, Zhou Zhuo immediately understood.
“It’s normal to encounter difficulties in research, even a genius can go astray, right?
“I’ll give you two days to relax. Don’t forget to request a handgun for protection.”
Ji Yongxing wanted to say something but hesitated. His mentor clearly attributed his gloom to research obstacles, but he felt powerless to argue against it.
This works too.
Ji Yongxing thought as he took the leave slip the Deputy Director handed him, heading off to find his parents to inform them about this.
However, when he looked at the slip in his hand, he was stunned. It wasn’t a two-day leave. Instead, it was a temporary appointment.
Ji Yongxing, the senior investigator at the research institutes, was to go to the eastern city wall of the outer city that had been struck by the beast tide three days ago for inspection.
The inspection included assessing the damage to the wall, observing the concentration of training for observers, and interviewing survivors from the battle at that time.
The duration of this task was two days, with a final requirement to submit an investigation record and a three-thousand-word summary.
Ji Yongxing paused for a moment, then quickly resumed his journey.
In the Deputy Director’s eyes, such a short-term field investigation was considered a kind of leave, and Ji Yongxing had no objections to this. He simply thought that the requirement for a three-thousand-word summary was quite excessive and hoped the content of the investigation would be substantial enough to minimize the fluff.
