After receiving the payment, Wu Yue did not stay for long. He had some small talks with Jiang Chen for a bit longer before departing.
After Wu Yue left, Jiang Chen asked Jiang Lin to store the engine first. The institute would start the reverse engineering process to create the blueprint, then send the prototype with the blueprint to the warehouse in his backyard. After these instructions, he pulled Jiang Lin aside and handed him a folded blueprint.
The main purpose of his visit to the Aerospace Science and Technology Institute was not to examine the engine, but to design a piece of technology, or a weapon for him.
After taking the drawings from Jiang Chen’s hands, Jiang Lin frowned. He tilted his neck and put his hand on his chin but couldn’t come up with a conclusion after a long examination.
Because of the lack of reaction, Jiang Chen spoke out.
“What do you think? Are you confident?”
“Of course. Wanghai is full of this stuff everywhere, especially the closer we get to the city center…” Jiang Lin returned the sketch to Jiang Chen and asked the question bothering him. “But what’s the purpose of this?”
Jiang Chen slapped his head and forgot about this. Those steel prisms stuck in the concrete are NATO Orbital Airborne Pods? He didn’t need to use models built in a game.
Yes, the prismatic steel box in the sketch is the “descending objects” used for his “Space Defense Force”. Based on his concept, using these “steel boxes” can allow his soldiers to be deployed to anywhere on the surface from the synchronous orbit within any location on Earth.
“Don’t worry about the use, there is, of course, a purpose.” Jiang Chen, using his usual tactic, avoided the question.
Jiang Lin naturally didn’t persist on the question simply for the sake of curiosity.
With a nod, he took the errand. He said that the prototype and drawings could be completely in half a month at the latest.
As for the sketch, Jiang Chen crumbled it and tossed it into the trash. With a ready-made model to reference from, it was not necessary to design based on the sketch. They could easily take a few of those pods from the city center and reverse engineer the design.
After leaving the Aerospace Science and Technology Institute, Jiang Chen toured around the Fishbone base.
Almost four years passed, and the base received a new look every year; he couldn’t even recognize some places anymore.
The wall drenched by mutants’ blood was removed and placed two blocks out. A dozen more kilometers out was the Sixth Street. The underground sewage system that connected Fishbone and Sixth Street were even upgraded to a maglev track.
Based on Chu Nan’s plan, once the Holy Shield System is fixed, the Sixth Street and the Fishbone base could merge into one after a few more years of development.
Based on his words, the quality of the houses on the outskirts of Wanghai was still good. It would be a pity to let them go to waste. Since the mutants and zombies were eradicated, it was more cost-effective to reuse than to rebuild them.
While walking, Jiang Chen’s thoughts drifted elsewhere, thinking about what was missing from the base.
What is missing?
It seems that nothing is missing.
The second and third Garden of Edens were entering production. Not only vegetables and fruits were being produced, but cloned pigs, Cows, and sheeps were also being bred. Together with canned sugar and Mud Crabs imported from Yizhou, food was no longer a rarity in Wanghai. Even the poorest citizen could afford meat every week.
For this very reason, his personal prestige reached an astounding height.
On the wasteland, the person who can make everyone feel safe, feel full, and feel warm, the person will be well-deserved of being called the savior. It is no exaggeration to say that even without things like “citizen ranking”, “Knight Medal” and “Honour Collar”, no one would rise against him.
When Jiang Chen strolled back to his home, he still couldn’t think of what was missing in the base.
While pleased with the work of his subordinates, he felt somewhat lonely. He was more than happy to give autonomy to his subordinates, but now that they have all matured, he realized that he was no longer helpful.
Shaking his head with a smile, Jiang Chen threw these thoughts out of his mind and pushed open the door.
He would be crazy to worry about positive changes for the base.
The next day, the engineering team began the construction of the research institute. The foundation was already in place and the building didn’t need to be high. With the construction speed of the Fishbone engineering team, it would at most take two weeks to complete.
Jiang Chen spent his time walking around and increasing his presence in the base. At night, he fed the two kittens and indulged in the gentleness of the sisters.
Time passed quickly and in a blink of an eye, half a week passed.
As the artificial intelligence said, Lin Yi’s learning ability was impeccable. In just a few days, she learned how to wear clothes, eat, go to the bathroom and take a shower. She even learned some common sense like drying her hair before going to sleep.
The artificial intelligence was not accurate about a point, that is, she actually knew these things.
Like clothes, chopsticks, towels, since she knew what they are called, of course, she knew their purpose. However, these bits of knowledge were stored in her mind and not habits.
After all, from the embryo to her complete form only took up to two or three weeks. Jiang Chen even suspected that she didn’t even live a normal life for a few days before being placed in the hibernation chamber. She must immediately start learning in deep sleep.
On the other hand, Lin Lin’s attitude also changed a lot. From the initial exclusion to alienation, she now grew closer to her sister.
Although the two sisters looked identical, they could easily be distinguished. For example, Lin Lin, who is a digitalized human, has a black and red pupil, pale skin, and fairy-like silver hair.
Lin Yi’s hair was black. Although her skin was pale, it was more similar to Asian skin tones and not as exaggerated as Lin Lin.
In order to make the difference more obvious, Lin Lin also demanded Lin Yi to not keep the same hairstyle as her and to not wear the same clothes… Although they didn’t have the same clothes to begin with.
The strange thing was that Lin Yi, other than Jiang Chen who she encountered first, listened to Lin Lin the most. While she didn’t follow every command of Lin Lin, she followed most of them. She followed Lin Lin every day like a pet.
So one day, she also discovered a special function – the ability to communicate with Lin Yi through consciousness.
It was a mysterious feeling, even Lin Lin didn’t understand it. Two people didn’t even speak, didn’t even look at each other, and didn’t even need to be in the same room, but after they entered a certain state, they can understand each other’s thoughts.
The state was quite stable, Lin Lin didn’t understand the mechanism behind the state and even made a fool of herself quite a few times.
Jiang Chen and Lin Lin herself didn’t know if this was positive or negative. They also didn’t know what will happen after the rest of the 1999 sisters wake up.
But in any case, it was an incredible discovery.
