The Smartest Monkey in the Universe

After walking out of Ren Jian's office, Jiang Xingye and Chen Yan immediately crowded around him with concern.

"How did it go? What did the boss say?"

Jiang Xingye spoke first, while Chen Yan stood beside her, his face full of anticipation.

"It still needs further optimization."

Lin Xu's expression did not change.

"The boss believes this proposal bears similarities to competing industry proposals. If we want to avoid legal risks, we'll need to provide more technical details."

"I'll be busy with this over the next couple of days. If anything else comes up in the group, I'll have to trouble Team Leader Chen to handle it."

"No problem, no problem."

Chen Yan nodded repeatedly.

"But we're about to officially launch the project. When it comes to assigning responsibilities and determining roles..."

He did not finish the sentence. Clearly, he wanted to probe Lin Xu's thoughts regarding "positions," to see whether the boss had given any instructions.

"You should discuss that with the boss yourself, Team Leader Chen."

Just as Lin Xu finished speaking, the reception room door was pushed open.

The secretary came in and called Chen Yan away.

Before leaving, Chen Yan looked back at Lin Xu with a complicated expression. The eager light in his eyes seemed to cool by several degrees in an instant.

After he left, Jiang Xingye lowered her voice and leaned close to Lin Xu as she asked:

"Didn't go well?"

Lin Xu smiled.

"It didn't go well, but it also went well."

"More accurately, it went well on certain conditions."

"And I'm very likely able to fulfill that condition."

"Perfect!"

Jiang Xingye raised her hand and high-fived Lin Xu.

Smack!

"You trust me that much?"

Lin Xu asked curiously.

"I checked your credit report."

Jiang Xingye replied with a straight face.

"...Don't be ridiculous."

Lin Xu rolled his eyes.

"Let's go."

"There probably isn't anything else today. Let's get back to work."

"I have something important to do tonight, so I can't work overtime."

"Tonight? You've got something to do?"

Jiang Xingye looked at Lin Xu warily, like she was ready to bristle at any moment.

Amused, Lin Xu waved his hand and answered:

"I'm going to the National Library to look up information... Some papers can only be accessed there."

"That's more like it."

Jiang Xingye nodded in satisfaction.

The two entered the office one after the other. The moment she stepped inside, Jiang Xingye resumed her aloof, unapproachable demeanor...

7:00 p.m.

After getting off work, Lin Xu grabbed a quick bite near the company and hurried back to his place without stopping.

All the way home, he thought about everything in Bracelet World. After sorting it all out from beginning to end, he had more or less organized a tree diagram of his tasks.

First, the biggest issue was that the apocalypse would most likely arrive twenty years from now.

Whether in Bracelet World or reality, he had to solve that problem.

Second, following that line of reasoning, it was not just him—the Planetary Reincarnation organization had also foreseen the coming apocalypse. Although their predictions were not precise, they most likely possessed fairly complete clues related to the apocalypse.

If he wanted to uncover the truth about the apocalypse, starting with that organization would be the most convenient option.

Finally, it was now confirmed that the real world was linked with Bracelet World. Some of the things he did in reality would be reflected in Bracelet World.

So, if Bracelet World encountered an unsolvable problem, he could also try to create the necessary conditions in reality by changing certain "variables."

That made it extremely necessary for him to rise through the ranks in the real world as quickly as possible and reach a higher position.

After all, the higher his position, the more resources he could mobilize, and the easier it would be to solve problems.

This could work!

Lin Xu took a deep breath.

Then he would solve Star Traveler One's problem first.

He would obtain the technical materials and bring the project to fruition ahead of schedule!

That way, he could not only secure a higher position sooner, but also push Skyvault Technology to develop faster.

In the original timeline, Star Traveler One had taken seven years to complete. What if he could shorten that process to five years—or even three?

Technological development always snowballed, growing larger and larger.

One small push from him would one day be like a butterfly flapping its wings, stirring up a storm.

—So where should I start?

After pushing open the door and entering his bedroom, Lin Xu turned on his computer and began reading through the rocket proposal he had written—copied—from start to finish.

This proposal had been designed around the general direction of a "space shuttle," so what he needed to solve were the practical problems in space shuttle design and manufacturing.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xu typed out several lines in the document, listing the biggest current difficulties.

[First, insulating materials for the thermal protection system]

[Second, high-thrust engines for the propulsion system]

[Third, lightweight composite materials for the structural system]

Once they were listed out, the overall challenges became clear at a glance.

Looking closer, damn, two of the three challenges were related to materials.

—No, all three problems are related to materials!

Did manufacturing a high-thrust engine not require materials?

For example, the variable-cycle engines and aerospace dual-mode engines Lin Xu had considered before—given the current state of technological development, were they not stuck at the stage of high-temperature-resistant materials?

Damn.

Materials science had once again made its grand entrance into human history.

But then again, this really was a highly "opportunistic" direction with enormous potential results.

What was materials science?

Alchemy!

There might be countless systems and theories, but in the end, the birth of a new material still could not be separated from one word.

Randomness.

Creating a new material depended on luck.

Using the algorithm he knew best as an example, it was like Monkey Sort. Amid nearly infinite trial and error, if you were lucky, you could get the right answer on your very first attempt and crush every other complicated, sophisticated solution.

Of course, if you were unlucky, you might never get the answer in your entire life.

And now, he was the smartest monkey in the universe.

He did not need trial and error. He only needed to pick the peaches.

Every one of his "first attempts" would yield the correct result.

Ha!

Master Lin, when did you become number one in materials science?

Today!

It was today!

The more Lin Xu thought about it, the more excited he became. He nearly forgot that he still had the serious matter of the "apocalypse" to deal with.

He quickly raised his hand and looked at his bracelet. The number displayed on it was "5."

His energy had recovered.

Now, he had enough chances to enter Bracelet World and suffer again.

Satisfied, he lay down on the bed and silently recited what he needed to do.

Enter Skyvault Technology.

Find the key material models.

Find the methods for manufacturing the key materials.

Memorize them.

Bring them out!

With a light touch on the bracelet, darkness filled Lin Xu's vision.

His consciousness was drained away, then slowly descended once more...