Little Ice Age

"Regarding my views on the golden-eyed individuals, I admit I was wrong."

Academician Li Yanhuang sighed, stating his opinion in a cold, stern tone.

After watching the video of Ma Ran dodging bullets, he had clearly and profoundly realized a problem...

The world had changed. Sticking to old, ingrained perceptions to define something would only lead to arrogance and prejudice.

Who was Ma Ran?

A fantasy-obsessed shut-in. Before entering the Zhaofu Well secret base, this person could go months without leaving his house, barely exercised, and his combat strength wasn't even better than a goose's.

But now?

How long had he been undergoing specialized training with Yan Anqing, and he had already reached the point of dodging bullets...

Recalling the content of the video he had seen earlier, Li Yanhuang felt a chill run down his spine.

Times had changed.

Decades ago, if the situation were on a battlefield, shooting at people or being shot at would be as normal as it could get.

But Yan Anqing, born in a peaceful era, why did he dare to shoot at an innocent person so recklessly?

Why could Ma Ran dodge bullets?

These facts, which defied logical convention, shook Academician Li Yanhuang's worldview and soul.

"It is a great virtue to be able to correct one's mistakes."

Zhao Hongyun, standing beside him, chuckled and smoothed things over. "Not everyone has the quality of self-reflection."

Li Yanhuang raised an eyebrow, puffing out his beard and glaring. "Alright, stop trying to sweet-talk me!"

"What we need to discuss now is what to do in the next few years!"

"Didn't the Meteorological Section predict that the next few years would be a new Little Ice Age? What is the connection between the appearance of golden-eyed individuals and this climatic change, and how should we handle it?"

The so-called "Little Ice Age" refers to a period of drastic decrease in global temperatures, leading to significant crop failures, causing severe social upheaval and population decline.

In ancient China, only the unfortunate Ming Dynasty had encountered such a natural disaster.

Severe droughts and floods occurred in succession during the summer, while winters were incredibly cold...

Who could withstand that!

When facing the power of nature, humanity could never be too cautious.

As Old Li said this, the smiles on everyone's faces gradually faded, and a shadow appeared in their eyes.

Even though it was the 21st century with advanced technology, humanity's power remained limited when facing natural disasters.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, solar storms...

If the Earth so much as trembled a little, human society would suffer immensely.

"We must arrange the overall coordination from top to bottom, ensuring that no problems occur in any link."

A frail, hunched man in a Zhongshan suit spoke with firm resolve. "The more critical the moment, the more vigilant we must be! Our position not only represents honor but also a responsibility!"

Li Yanhuang snorted, "Old Liu, you always like to spout these correct but useless platitudes. Can you offer any constructive suggestions?"

Zhao Hongyun, standing to the side, interrupted him with a chuckle. "Speaking of which, I have great confidence in our national fortune. We won't be as unlucky as Zhu Youjian."

Zhu Youjian was the famous Emperor Chongzhen, the last ruler of the Ming Dynasty, a very diligent monarch.

Unfortunately, his vision was insufficient, his courage lacking, and he was indecisive when facing issues. He easily trusted the treacherous Donglin party, leading to rampant corruption, with officials stuffing their bellies while the emperor was impoverished. The national treasury was empty, and coupled with the Little Ice Age, his attempts to help the populace with disaster relief were futile.

When the people could no longer survive, Emperor Zhu Youjian naturally could no longer remain emperor. Li Zicheng, the delivery guy who started the peasant uprising, was merely opportunistic; even without Li Zicheng, there would be Zhang Zicheng, Wang Zicheng, or Chu Zicheng.

After Zhao Hongyun mentioned the word "national fortune," many of the elders' expressions turned strange.

Previously, they hadn't really agreed with Old Zhao's claims, but the recent events were indeed incredibly mysterious, defying scientific and logical explanation.

"I was also planning to discuss this matter, and since you've brought it up, it saves me the trouble of repeating myself."

Li Yanhuang's expression was stern, his tone solemn. "Besides Yan Anqing, we should also establish several more new star scientists. You should know the current online climate; we must not engage in hero worship."

According to the information from the Information Section, that brat Yan Anqing was actually watching movies and anime online just now!

Old Li was so angry he almost left the meeting immediately to lecture Yan Anqing.

"The current situation is that no one can compete with Yan Anqing."

"If he loses his motivation, becomes dispirited, and stops progressing, and can no longer produce research results in the future, he'll become a joke."

Everyone took Li Yanhuang's proposal very seriously.

One piece of evidence is not enough!

If they could promote another scientist who was recognized and respected by the nation, could that person, under the "national fortune" boost, similar to what the Earth's collective consciousness exhibited, efficiently produce research results like Yan Anqing?

After a lively discussion, they narrowed down the candidates to four people.

Xie Zhe, Shang Yin, Qu Li, and Luo Jiashi.

The new "star scientist" would be born from these four.

So, who would be chosen?

The issue didn't trouble everyone for too long.

To put it bluntly, out of these four gifted young scientists, only Qu Li was somewhat human.

Shang Yin was a lunatic who constantly yapped about the solar system being destroyed in ten years.

Oh, now it was closer, with only nine years left.

This guy had long lost his former spirit and spent all his time wasting energy on research topics that others couldn't understand at all.

If this fellow were to be thrown into a mental hospital, he'd likely never get out…

Xie Zhe, because of his foul mouth and his ice-cold emotional intelligence, had offended almost all his colleagues in the Capital City.

According to Academician Liu Shijun, this guy hadn't changed much during his "tempering" days at the Magic City base.

Wasting resources on Xie Zhe and painstakingly building momentum for months would likely be undone by just one ill-timed remark from him, rendering all the efforts of the Xuanhe Section comrades futile.

Luo Jiashi from Magic City was pathologically biased towards women, to an extreme degree. The flaws in his personality were no less severe than those of the two above.

Academician Liu Shijun, who flew in from the Magic City Performance Extreme Department, opened his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating, as if he wanted to say a few words for Luo Jiashi.

But after thinking about it, he ultimately didn't interject.

Young people had their own competitions, and his casual interference would only make things worse.

The discussion finally reached a conclusion.

Qu Li became the lucky winner.

Canteen.

Yan Anqing was burying his head in food.

Beef offal noodles, roasted whole fish, braised pork knuckle, crystal soup dumplings, stir-fried vegetables with rice, bobo chicken, fatty lamb wide noodles, spicy potstickers, sweet and sour pork, pan-fried dumplings, thick gruel, fried dough sticks wrapped in tofu skin...

After implanting the Limitless Cell into his body, Yan Anqing, through the Copy and Paste functions, directly reached the current peak of individual strength on Earth—the level of Yu Hongyi.

In simple terms, he was in a state of first-order completion.

The superpower cell, with a 10% immersion rate, granted Yan Anqing vigorous energy and physical strength. He also needed to consume more food than before to maintain normal function and prevent degradation and atrophy.

Although Yan Anqing could completely replace his Limitless Cell with one in a full energy state from the database using the [Copy] and [Paste] functions, he didn't do so.

The sudden surge in his appetite would lay the groundwork for his future mutations, making any changes appear less abrupt.

Yes.

This was the primary reason.

It absolutely wasn't because he was indulging his gluttony.

"Hah..."

Yan Anqing used his chopsticks to scrape the last bit of sauce from the plate, a satisfied, slightly flushed glow appearing on his face.

The canteen chef's cooking was truly excellent; he was skilled in cuisines from various regions, all of which were appealing in color, aroma, and taste, making one look forward to every meal.

"You're just jealous! And you won't admit it! Shameless! Do you know what Yan Anqing's research results mean?"

The sound of a heated argument suddenly erupted nearby...

Requesting recommendation tickets!