Eagle Sauce, inside the LLNL Laboratory employee dormitories.
Lu Ze looked around and nodded. "Not bad... at least it's a private room."
The space was not very large, less than twenty square meters, but at least it had a bedroom and bathroom, along with a small separated kitchen for simple cooking.
Though it looked somewhat shabby, Lu Ze was already quite satisfied.
After all, he had no desire to share a dorm with Black uncles. Even an old white man would make him uncomfortable; the smell on those people was simply enough to make one's eyes sting.
Besides, although he had previously lived in a double room, Li Yijie, that "foreign" Eagle Sauce citizen, hardly ever stayed in the dorm, so it was no different from a private room.
He glanced at his emails.
There was still no reply. Great Xia Academy of Sciences seemed to have fallen into a long silence.
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow. "Great Xia is as cautious as ever. They should still be thinking it over."
"But that makes sense. Looks like I gave them quite a difficult problem."
Naturally, he understood Great Xia Academy of Sciences' concerns very well, which was why he had directly made it clear that he was not in any danger.
If they still had not replied, they were probably weighing which technology would be the most suitable to request.
Still, he sincerely approved of such caution.
If Great Xia had not possessed this extraordinary prudence, it would have been devoured clean by the wolves and tigers of the international stage decades ago.
He merely called himself a "little genius of caution," while Great Xia was the true grandmaster of caution!
He checked the time. It was already past seven in the evening.
Lu Ze rubbed his stomach as a trace of hunger surfaced. "The main question now is, what should I eat?"
He had wandered around all afternoon and had not seemed to find any Chinese restaurants in this small town. Most places served fast food or Western cuisine.
As for Eagle Sauce's local "delicacies," Lu Ze truly could not bring himself to enjoy them.
They were either disgustingly sweet, with sugar poured in like there was no tomorrow, or disgustingly greasy, with cream and butter piled on desperately. Sometimes they even sprinkled extra sweeteners on top before it reached their required level of sweetness.
And many LLNL Laboratory employees' favorite snack was not sunflower seeds or nuts, but doughnuts made with flour mixed with honey and sugar, then covered in chocolate syrup.
With every bite, they would give a thumbs-up and say, "Doughnuts are so delicious."
No wonder Eagle Sauce was full of three-hundred-pound fatties. Who could withstand eating like that?
"I should just cook for myself."
Lu Ze opened his backpack. He happened to have bought several tomatoes and eggs, so he decided to make tomato and egg fried rice.
It would save him some money too. Eating in Eagle Sauce was not cheap; even a casual meal with a tip cost twenty or thirty dollars at minimum in this era.
Just as he was about to cook.
His phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number.
"Who's calling me?" Lu Ze frowned.
Not many people knew this new phone number of his. His family? It should be dawn in Great Xia right now.
With that question in mind, he answered the call.
A crisp, sweet voice came through the phone.
"Hey, Lu Ze, good evening?" Familiar laughter came from the other end.
Hearing that laugh, he seemed to see a long-haired girl with two shallow dimples on her face reflected in his mind.
"It's you, Lucy." Lu Ze scratched his head.
Only then did he remember that Lucy had exchanged phone numbers with him that afternoon.
"What do you need?"
"Do you want to come to the laboratory for dinner?" Lucy continued with a smile.
"Forget it. I'll just make do with something myself." Lu Ze shook his head.
He had experienced Eagle Sauce cafeterias firsthand. The dishes were bland enough, but the key issue was that they tasted terrible—and most outrageously, they were expensive!
Right now, he missed Great Xia's university cafeterias more than ever. A five-yuan meal could still be pretty good.
Besides, it was already this late. He might as well eat something simple.
However.
Lucy softly said something that moved Lu Ze. "Are you really not coming? The laboratory cafeteria is free for all employees, and today's dishes are pretty good. It would be a shame if you missed it."
"Wait for me. I'll be right there." Lu Ze immediately stood up and cut her off.
Free? That changed everything.
Who would have thought Lucy was actually the same kind of person as him?
On the path of fleecing capitalism, he had finally found a kindred companion.
Meanwhile, as Lu Ze headed toward the cafeteria.
Great Xia Academy of Sciences, the president's office.
"No, this technology won't do either." Zhang Yuli rejected one idea after another in his mind.
"What technology should I choose to best serve our current interests?"
He paced around the room, thinking it over and over, yet nothing felt sufficiently safe.
Just then.
"Old Zhang, come on, come on. Let's play a few more rounds." A white-haired old man entered the office carrying a chessboard.
"Losing to you yesterday was an accident. You captured my cannon when I wasn't paying attention. It doesn't count, it doesn't count."
As he spoke, he pulled Zhang Yuli over to the table and began placing the chess pieces one by one.
"Forget it. Let's not play today." Zhang Yuli waved a hand and refused.
Hearing this, the old man looked rather surprised. "Hey, usually after winning a few games, you're the one clamoring for an all-night final showdown. What's going on today?"
In the past, Zhang Yuli was always the one dragging him into chess. This time, he was acting completely out of character.
"Did something major happen at Great Xia Academy of Sciences?" Seeing Zhang Yuli's absent-minded appearance, he frowned.
"Old Man Zheng, let me ask you something. What technology do you want most right now?" Zhang Yuli asked with a serious expression.
Old Man Zheng froze for a moment at those words, then answered without thinking, "The technology I want most... Controlled Nuclear Fusion?"
Zhang Yuli twitched his mouth. "Do you think I'm joking?"
Controlled Nuclear Fusion? Forget about him wanting it—which country in the world did not want it?
"Am I wrong?" Old Man Zheng glared at him.
"No. It has to be any technology that has already been developed, preferably one from Eagle Sauce."
Hearing such an absurd range of options, Old Man Zheng could barely hold his expression together. "Old Zhang, at your age, don't be impulsive. Great Xia can still afford to wait."
Good lord, any technology that had already been developed, and it had to be from Eagle Sauce too. What major stunt were you planning to pull over there?
"I'm old. Let me go!"
Hearing the teasing tone in his voice, Zhang Yuli knew he could not avoid telling him the truth. "Listen to me. If—if, and I mean if—"
"Someone told us to pick any Eagle Sauce technology we wanted, and he would help us get it. What kind of technology would you choose?"
Zhang Yuli did not deliberately hide it from this old friend of his.
Zheng Lixing had been the one who developed Madam Qiu in the desert decades ago. He had endured Great Xia's difficult years, and his presence could be found in many top-secret projects.
Nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and more—he had been deeply involved in all of them.
He had even been wanted by Eagle Sauce for decades, only becoming widely known after files were gradually declassified in recent years.
If he were not too old and lacked the inclination to continue handling Great Xia Academy of Sciences' many affairs, he would have been the best candidate for its president.
There was absolutely no issue with his trustworthiness. The highest authorities had long granted him a certain level of access; Zhang Yuli simply had not had time to notify him yet.
As soon as Zhang Yuli finished speaking.
"What??" Zheng Lixing stood there blankly, as though he had heard some wild fantasy.
What the hell kind of deity was this, capable enough to obtain specifically designated technology from Eagle Sauce?
Was he Sun Wukong?
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