Chapter 69: Breathless

Chapter 69: Breathless

After hearing it, Chen Feng fell into a long silence.

He forgot to keep walking forward and just stood on the path with his hands in his pockets.

He looked up at the willow branches above him.

The willow branches swayed gently in the breeze, carrying a few tender green buds.

This was the last new life before the final times.

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes, his mind replaying the story Ding Hu had told about the predecessor of the Xuanwu Institute.

He felt deep sorrow for the people born in this era a thousand years later.

They tried so hard, yet still failed to change anything, it was all in vain.

A hundred years ago, in the early 2020s of the thirtieth century, human technology reached a plateau.

During that period, technology made no progress at all for a full decade.

Materials and energy are the foundation of all scientific progress, so to break through this barrier, the World Government gathered all the best research talents from relevant basic fields into one base, throwing all efforts into breakthrough efforts.

Unexpectedly, this effort went on for eighty-three years.

Across four full generations, nearly one point three seven million people walked shoulder-to-shoulder on this incredibly hard, thorny path.

They moved forward painfully day after day, year after year.

In the scientifically advanced twenty-ninth century, the global average lifespan had long passed one hundred years.

But nearly one point three million researchers, enjoying the best welfare, averaged less than sixty years in lifespan!

Over six hundred thousand died of overwork before reaching fifty.

They often burned out their final drop of energy at their most vigorous and lucid age.

Even when lying in sickbeds, before breathing their last, they held work materials in their hands.

Every last word they left behind was to pass on their unfinished projects to successors.

Through eighty years, over a million people fell one after another, but no one backed down.

This was a war without gunpowder, yet strewn with countless bodies.

Eventually, humans won this war, making a breakthrough twenty years ago.

It took humanity another twenty years to turn the results into reality, which showed in replacing old Type A3 vehicles with more advanced spindle-shaped ones, and bulky Individual Combat Armors with light, efficient Azure Dragon Armors.

Chen Feng’s twist of Ou Junlang’s fate had planted a seed.

The changes in the Ouhe Group amplified Chen Feng’s alteration of the future once.

The predecessor of the Xuanwu Institute, building on predecessors’ foundations, amplified the butterfly effect again during its desperate eighty-three-year charge.

Finally, countless causes merged into one result, allowing humans to win a tech war, achieve a phase change in quality, and create today’s reality.

With Chen Feng’s worldview, he couldn’t understand how those people persisted.

What belief supported them?

How did the World Government convince the scientists to willingly sacrifice themselves against a vague, doomed enemy?

Chen Feng could not figure it out at all.

But his greatest strength was not wasting thought on what he couldn’t grasp.

He easily judged his own limits, never overthinking stubbornly, and quickly let it go.

As for why “Baptism of Fire” became humanity’s battle song, it was tied to these scientists who took self-sacrifice to the extreme.

Those people averaged over sixteen hours of work daily, and while their firm belief and nutrient supplies restored physical energy, long-term mental strain under high brain load still exhausted them.

They needed some mental stimulation.

At first, they used drugs and counseling.

But drugs drained them ahead of time; after enjoying the benefits, they had to pay back debts soon.

Counseling worked too slowly, and time was too precious to waste.

What to do then?

The scientists tried many ways and made numerous attempts with new technologies, but it barely helped.

Later, someone uncovered the dusty old writings and found that shining treasure in the sediments of history.

The centuries-old masterpiece “Baptism of Fire” rang across the skies again.

The timeless Zhong Lei, an immortal master who was once ranked top ten or even supreme, was never forgotten, but as new stars rise each generation, hearts always grow restless. Only a few fans of “ancient style” revisited thousand-year-old songs.

But this time, one of these scientists tried it out as an experiment, wondering if the song could spark passion, and listened to “Baptism of Fire”.

The song’s emotion matched his state of mind perfectly—fighting, burning, sacrificing for humanity’s survival.

Then he burst into tears and stayed in peak mental shape all day.

The next day, he listened again.

He thought the effect would lessen, and repetition might make him numb or resistant.

But no, it still felt just as strong.

The third day was the same.

It stayed constant for a full month, no fading at all.

This top leader, who excelled in acoustics besides Materials Science, gave “Baptism of Fire” a full technical analysis.

In the end, he concluded that when one’s heart matched the song’s emotion perfectly, its strength didn’t fade. This was because from music to singing, it represented the pinnacle of sound humanly possible at that level.

Its tune felt less man-made and more like nature guiding genetic evolution, merging into something as great as human genes with amazing precision.

He recommended “Baptism of Fire” to a close colleague, and word spread fast, becoming the shared passion of tens of thousands in the institute.

“From then on, the Project Team’s progress sped up a lot, but that same song made more people burn out and die early from overwork.”

“You can’t say ‘Baptism of Fire’ harmed them, though. Take one researcher: work meant for eighty years took only forty with the song’s push.”

“He died early at sixty, but he reached his life’s full potential and had no regrets. His name is forever honored by humanity.”

“Master Zhong is no longer just an art world Leader; her achievements and contributions go beyond any ranking.”

“Her works, thousands of years later, still inspire generations, helping us finish this tech leap. Her legacy shines forever on Civilization’s monument.”

“Chen Feng, do you see that Bell Tower? It has one million, three hundred seventy thousand, six hundred and thirty-two names carved on it. Master Zhong and her mentor Master Chen are at the very top, with every scholar who fell at the predecessor’s base.”

“It’s a bit of a coincidence—Master Chen has the same name as you. And you’re now humanity’s first to have one hundred percent adaptation to the Coagulation Serum — that’s amazing too.”

“It’s like fate. Should I change my name to Ding Feng? Ha… burp…”

Ding Hu said this before sending Chen Feng into the Azure Dragon Armor training compound.

Chen Feng wandered alone in the compound for a long while, then stood in the corridor staring at the Bell Tower.

The blazing afternoon sun hurt his eyes, so he turned away and didn’t dare look.

For a moment, he wanted to see his name on the Bell Tower.

But in the end, he didn’t move, just turned his back toward the Azure Dragon Armor trainers coming to meet him, and walked quickly into the building.

Something heavy had grown in his heart.

So heavy.

It almost made him gasp for breath.