"That's right..."
Zhang Qi nodded. He had submitted his report before coming.
At those words, the conference room erupted.
An old man in a white lab coat slammed his hand on the table.
Since he was a holographic projection, the blow made no sound.
But the hologram showed even the bulging veins in his neck.
"Absurd!"
The old man pointed straight at Zhang Qi's face.
"Zhang Qi, have you read so much science fiction that you've lost your mind?"
Zhang Qi knew this old man.
Li Mingyuan, a leading authority at the Dongda Academy of Sciences Institute of Physics.
"An advanced silicon-based civilization, I can accept.
Alien robots, I can accept those too."
"But what is this Creator you wrote about in your report? A god who created the universe? Bringing theology into a defense meeting at the highest level is utterly ridiculous!"
Spittle flew from Li Mingyuan's mouth.
Several holographic projections beside him, all wearing generals' uniforms, nodded in agreement.
They had all grown up under the red flag, receiving the purest materialist education.
Aliens could exist. That was science.
But a god who created the universe? That was feudal superstition.
Now a young scholar working in cutting-edge physics had come before them and claimed that a god had created the world. It really was outrageous...
"Academician Li, five hundred years ago, if you'd told someone that time was relative and space could bend, they'd have thought you were a lunatic too."
"Clinging blindly to your beliefs while ignoring the truth right before your eyes."
"That's not scientific rigor. That's arrogance."
Zhang Qi countered.
"You—"
Li Mingyuan trembled with anger, even the finger he pointed at Zhang Qi shaking.
"That's sophistry! Science demands evidence. What proof do you have of this Creator?"
"Enough, Li."
The middle-aged man at the