It was an afternoon of swaying tree shadows in the Jinghua University residential compound.
Professor Zhou Mingyi, a retired giant in the field of chemistry, was playing chess with an old friend.
Yet a lingering gloom furrowed his brow.
His daughter, Zhou Li, stood beside him, her voice sharp and grating:
"Dad, can't you be a little more considerate of me?"
"Is picking Xiaobao up and dropping him off and cooking three meals a day really so tiring for you?"
"Look at yourself. Now that you're retired, what can you do besides play chess?"
"Can't you make some contribution to the family?"
Zhou Li's words were like icy knives stabbing into Professor Zhou's heart.
Scenes from thirty years ago seemed to flash before his eyes.
Back then, he had led a team to crack the problem of "new composite materials," working day and night at a base in the northwest and winning the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
When he received his medal at the Great Hall, the applause had been thunderous...
Now, in his daughter's eyes, he had become "an idle burden."
The old professor's hand trembled slightly as he held a chess piece.
His graying head drooped helplessly, his chest filled with the sorrow of a hero in his twilight years.
The other old professors nearby were displeased as well.
"Zhou Li, you can't talk about your father like that."
"Back in the day, he was Jinghua University's most famous chemistry professor. He made countless contributions to the country."
"Even if he's old now, you still shouldn't treat him as free labor. If you really don't want to do it, hire a nanny."
"What?!"
"Hire a nanny? There's already someone at home, so why spend money we don't need to spend?!"
Like a powder keg set alight, Zhou Li pointed at the old professors and shouted as she pleased.
Her voice made passersby turn their heads.
It also made Zhou Mingyi's gaze grow even more sorrowful.
He had spent his life conducting academic research, but the one thing he had never studied was how to raise children.
"Rumble!!!"
Just as Zhou Li was about to continue berating him...
A tremendous roar erupted like a thunderclap!
A dark green helicopter burst through the clouds.
With the force of thunder, it hovered above the residential compound.
Fierce gusts swept fallen leaves into the air, making everyone squint their eyes shut.
Under the shocked gazes of all the residents, the cabin door opened.
A fully armed special forces operative rappelled down and marched up to Zhou Mingyi with ringing steps. Snap! He stood at attention and saluted:
"Professor Zhou Mingyi! By order of the supreme command."
"A national 'key' project has encountered a major technical bottleneck. You have been specially appointed as chief scientific adviser. Please return to duty immediately!"
His crisp, forceful voice rose above the roar of the helicopter.
The entire compound fell silent in an instant.
The neighbors stared slack-jawed, and the chess piece in his old friend's hand fell with a clatter.
Zhou Mingyi slowly rose to his feet, his hunched back straightening in an instant.
He took the document and turned to look at his deathly pale daughter, his eyes blazing like torches:
"Did you hear that?"
"The country says these old bones of mine can still burn with the last of my lifeblood for the rejuvenation of our nation."
"I'm not only good for picking up and looking after children, like you said."
Before his words had faded, the formidable armed helicopter was already descending slowly into the compound.
Under Zhou Li's deathly pale gaze and the neighbors' reverent stares, Professor Zhou boarded the helicopter.
The helicopter roared across the sky.
It carried this national luminary, newly entrusted with a mission, toward a battlefield upon which the future of civilization depended.
And this scene was not confined to this one place.
Across the country, scholars and experts who had once stood at the pinnacle of their fields
were brought to the national security headquarters in Jing City one after another on the same day!
"Rumble!"
"Rumble!"
The deafening noise of the helicopter left Zhou Mingyi's ears ringing.
Yet he had never looked so bewildered.
Especially as he watched the aircraft fly past that magnificent gate tower
and arrive at the most heavily guarded district in all of Jing City.
"Young man, may I ask what project has brought me back out of retirement?"
"Why does this place look a little unfamiliar?"
Looking down at the deserted district below, Zhou Mingyi raised his voice to ask.
But the soldier escorting him did not say a word.
He merely guarded the old professor with great care.
And after the helicopter landed,
Zhou Mingyi passed through checkpoint after checkpoint and entered an elevator. When he watched it descend rapidly toward the thirty-seventh basement floor,
he froze.
"The thirty-seventh basement floor?"
"There's a research lab down here?"
"What on earth is this place?!"
Zhou Mingyi's voice was full of shock, and the soldier beside him finally spoke.
"Professor, strictly speaking, this is a base."
"Swish!"
As his voice fell, the elevator arrived.
The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing an immensely vast base like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster.
"Professor, welcome to Group 749."
"Next, members of the research team will explain the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan to you in detail... Goodbye!"
The soldier gave a crisp salute.
Then he took the elevator back.
The bewildered Zhou Mingyi was left to be escorted away by several soldiers who looked like clerks.
"The Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan!"
Utterly baffled, Zhou Mingyi repeated the words under his breath.
Before he could make sense of it, explanations began to reach his ears.
Cultivating immortality, the Imprisoned Dragon Realm-each entered his ears like a myth from the Arabian Nights.
"Reporting to Director Li, recruitment has begun for experts in all the fields where we have vacancies."
"Thirty-five percent are in place at present. We expect to fill all remaining vacancies within three days."
In an office in the national security building, Li Yuanchao nodded as he listened to the clerk beside him report.
He issued his instructions.
"Good. We must do everything in our power to ensure that Group 749 gets the personnel it requisitions."
"All local authorities, work units, enterprises and institutions, and even private companies must support it unconditionally, without exception."
"The state will bear all losses. Make absolutely sure the personnel are provided as quickly as possible!"
"Yes! Understood!"
"Good. Are there any other problems?"
"At present, there are no problems with personnel, but some of the equipment and machinery Group 749 requested are a little troublesome."
"The machines they want require production lines to be modified, and molds have to be custom-made as well."
"As for the time needed..."
"Not a moment can be wasted!"
"Give priority to state-owned enterprises as suppliers. If they can't make it in time, requisition some private enterprises."
"Any qualified private enterprise can be requisitioned. The state can purchase the equipment at twice the price!"
"Yes! I'll pass the order on at once!"
Having received his orders, the clerk in the military-green service uniform dared not delay any longer.
He hurried off to carry them out.
Calls went out from Jing City.
In less than ten minutes, they reached major enterprises across the country.
Thirty minutes later, official vehicles drove out from local government offices.
They sped toward the enterprises on the production list...