"The energy activity in this leaf is at least two orders of magnitude higher than in the gemstone!"
A young researcher said excitedly:
"Compared to the leaf, the gemstone's energy seems like something it picked up through years of exposure!"
"Chief, look at the microscope!"
Another researcher's voice was filled with shock.
On the screen, the tiny wound made by the sampling needle was writhing and healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within seconds, it was as good as new, without so much as a trace left behind.
"Put my hand on it!" Professor Zhang suddenly shouted.
"Huh?"
"Stop wasting words! These old joints of mine have rheumatoid arthritis. Put my hand on it!"
A few minutes later, Professor Zhang flexed his wrist, which had not moved so freely in decades, tears streaming down his aged face.
"A miracle... this is a medical miracle!"
They fetched a potted plant that was on the verge of withering from neglect and carefully placed the leaf beside it.
Ten minutes later, the yellowed plant had turned green again at a speed that defied everything they knew about life sciences. It had even produced a vivid flower.
Only the sound of heavy breathing remained in the laboratory.
This was a priceless treasure! A divine marvel!
"A report! Write a report immediately!" Professor Zhang's voice trembled.
"All the data! All the footage! Send it up immediately under the highest level of encryption!"
New Capital City, Ice River City.
At five in the morning, dawn had yet to break.
The office was furnished so simply that it bordered on austere. The only striking feature was the enormous world map on the wall.
Red marker circled one steadily expanding disaster zone after another.
Beside the simple bed provided in the office, the secretary gently woke the leader, who had lain down less than an hour earlier.
Exhaustion was plainly visible on the leader's face. The chain reactions caused by Blue Star's massive slowdown weighed like a mountain on everyone's minds.
Last night's meeting over the latest round of resource allocations for the Ark Plan had been another drawn-out battle of arguments that lasted from dusk until dawn.
He rubbed his temples and sat up, his movements sluggish.
"Has something happened?" His voice was hoarse, and his first instinct was to expect bad news.
"Has one of the Ark Plan projects suffered a major accident, or have some countries come to blows over territory?"
The secretary's face showed a mixture of guilt and excitement he was struggling to suppress.
"Sir, neither. Zhao Gang, the head of the Ark project, sent an emergency report of the highest classification through the Red Line."
"The highest classification?" The leader froze, his expression instantly turning grave.
A report at that level meant the matter had gone beyond what the person in charge could handle and was significant enough to affect national policy.
His heart lurched, and he braced himself for the worst.
He took the thin report and quickly leafed through it.
His expression shifted from solemnity to confusion, then to incredulous shock.
When he saw the photograph of the World Tree Leaf restoring a withered plant to life, along with the frankly outrageous experimental data attached beneath it, he shot up from his chair!
The exhaustion that had weighed on him like a mountain a moment earlier vanished beneath a tremendous surge of joy!
His eyes blazed.
"Quick! Get Bell Base on the line immediately!" His voice was no longer hoarse, but brimming with strength.
"Order Zhao Gang to escort the samples to the National Academy of Sciences under the highest level of security. We need to verify this ourselves!"
He paused, then spoke with added emphasis.
"And temporarily suspend all the projects those old fellows, Academician Qian, Academician Liu, and the others, are working on. Hand them over to someone else."
"This is our highest priority right now. Have them verify its authenticity as soon as possible!"
"Yes, sir!" The secretary nodded solemnly and hurried away.
Two hours later.
The Great Xia National Academy of Sciences, New Capital City.
This nerve center, which brought together the nation's finest minds, was now filled with barely restrained complaints.
"What is this? What the hell are the higher-ups doing? The nuclear fusion theory for the Ark Plan is already in its final stage, and they're making us stop at a time like this?"
In the conference room, Academician Qian Zhenhua, his hair graying and old-fashioned black-framed glasses perched on his nose, tapped the table irritably.
He was a towering figure in Great Xia's physics community and one of the Ark Plan's chief scientists.
"Exactly, Professor Qian." Beside him, Academician Liu Chengen, who was responsible for biosphere research, pushed up his glasses, his brow tightly furrowed.
"The compatibility test results for the final microbial strain in the space colonization ecological cycle system are due today."
"Time waits for no one. Every second now is a race against death. Who gave this order? Did an asteroid hit them in the head?"
Qian Zhenhua sighed and waved a hand.
"Don't ask. They said it was top secret. We've just signed the confidentiality agreements, so we'll find out when it arrives. All they said was that Zhao Gang from Bell City sent it."
Liu Chengen snorted, his temper flaring.
"Which of our projects isn't top secret?"
"Zhao Gang? He'd better be sending me an alien. Otherwise, I guarantee he can forget about ever asking me for help again!"
Several others voiced their agreement, clearly just as resentful.
As far as these scientists, each a national treasure, were concerned, humanity's future lay in their hands.
Underground cities and space colonization were the only tangible ways forward.
And now some inexplicable order had made them stop this great undertaking, on which the survival of civilization depended, to wait for a "package" that was still on its way?
It was utterly absurd!
Just as the complaints in the conference room reached a fever pitch and the atmosphere threatened to explode, the door opened.
Zhao Gang walked in at the head of several stern-looking soldiers dressed in black special-operations uniforms.
Zhao Gang looked around at them.
"Professor Qian, Professor Liu... everyone, sorry for the wait."
Liu Chengen said irritably:
"Cut the chatter. If you haven't brought us something good, I won't let you off!"
Zhao Gang said nothing more. He simply placed two specially made combination cases, their surfaces gleaming metallically, gently in the center of the conference table.
"Beep, beep, beep."
Under everyone's puzzled gazes, both cases simultaneously completed iris and fingerprint verification.
Air valves hissed, and the lids slowly opened.
The complaints stopped dead.
Everyone's eyes converged on the two open cases.
Inside one case lay an emerald-green gemstone emitting a soft glow.
Inside the other... lay a leaf that seemed to be breathing, radiating a shimmering green light!
Before you continue