Su Mingge was a person who liked to gossip, and also a person who liked to chat with his colleagues. The video conference ended successfully with Duan Hengye’s insistence, and from the effect of the conference, it could be seen that Duan Hengye was in pretty good shape except for looking a little weak. But this still couldn’t stop Su Mingge’s rhythm of brainstorming.
A few days later, the news about Duan Hengye’s health spread throughout the Institute. And immediately after that, Duan Hengye’s communication account received countless messages of concern from his colleagues in a short period of time. Although getting everyone’s concern was a very touching thing, after carefully reading …… Duan Hengye could tell Su Mingge added fuel to the fire.
But for Duan Hengye, this rumor that had now drifted to An Luo University wasn’t the focus of his life in recent times.
While Duan Hengye was “recuperating” in Southern Star, he was also carefully studying the research records of that year obtained from his parents and teachers during the last school celebration. Although Duan Hengye learned relevant knowledge subconsciously when he was young, the information obtained this time would undoubtedly be of great help to his research.
Because he had been staying in Southern Star, Yu Xinran often came to Duan Hengye’s office to see him. Because of Yu Xinran’s special status and her lack of understanding of mecha research, Duan Hengye didn’t deliberately hide the progress of his experiments.
In the last few days, Yu Xinran found that Duan Hengye suddenly didn’t work on the virtual keyboard every day like before, but looked at the light screen carefully. So she couldn’t help but ask Duan Hengye one day: “Professor Duan, is there something wrong with your recent research? It feels like the progress has suddenly slowed down.” Yu Xinran while asking, couldn’t help but move to Duan Hengye’s side to see.
At that Duan Hengye shook his head, “This is the record of the experiment left behind by my parents.”
“Oh …… so,” Yu Xinran had already heard about Duan Hengye’s experimental records on Duguang Star, but she still didn’t understand, since the model of the mecha weapon module was already out, what was the use of these records?
Yu Xinran was already a person who was prone to asking questions, especially now that Duan Hengye’s research was also related to her own work. So Yu Xinran propped her hand on the table, then glanced at the light screen, “Aren’t these records already very old?”
“In the process of research, the record of failure is more important than the final successful result.” A familiar voice suddenly interjected. Yu Xinran turned around and looked towards the source of the voice, and the person who answered her question was no other than Marshal Meng Jinhuai, who appeared from nowhere.
Before Duan Hengye came to work on Southern Star, Meng Jinhuai’s daily routine was to fly all over the stars. But after Duan Hengye came here, the number of business trips lessened. In fact, the work of the military department should be like this, as the marshal, Meng Jinhuai didn’t need to personally appear in every post-event. In the opinion of Yu Xinran, who was incomparably familiar with Meng Jinhuai, he actually arranged his work too closely before, leaving almost no time for relaxation.
Such a state may at first glance be called dedicated, but in reality it was also an abnormal rhythm of life. Although it had never been said, after seeing his current state now, Yu Xinran also relaxed a lot.
After answering Yu Xinran’s question, Meng Jinhuai directly ignored her existence and walked over to exchange knowledge with Duan Hengye about mecha design. Seeing this …… standing there, Yu Xinran couldn’t help but feel as if she was a bit of a nuisance.
As the famous golden single woman in the interstellar, Yu Xinran had always thought that falling in love was a boring and time-consuming thing. But now seeing these two people in front of her, Yu Xinran couldn’t help but feel vaguely envious …… Then glancing at the two people in front of her who were talking about mecha design issues she couldn’t understand, Yu Xinran silently withdrew from Duan Hengye’s office.
The same as what Meng Jinhuai said to Yu Xinran – in the process of research, the record of failure was more important than the final successful result. The models of the auxiliary and weapon systems recorded from the experiments back then would be combined with Duan Hengye’s long time research. The time spent on the top-level mecha design was surprisingly almost equal to that of the mass-produced mecha.
Just like before when the mass production mecha design work was about to end, Duan Hengye temporarily stopped his work to concentrate on staying inside the research institute. In the recent period, Duan Hengye also took a slightly longer leave of absence from An Luo University.
It was a coincidence. If placed a while ago, the always dedicated Professor Duan suddenly taking a leave of absence would definitely cause a bunch of speculation. If the information had reached the stars, there would have been some people who would have guessed in advance that the Ye Tian Empire’s Mecha Research Institute might be planning to make a big move. But who knew, as early as a while ago, the news of Duan Hengye’s illness was spread through Su Mingge. So now after receiving the news that Duan Hengye had taken a leave of absence, everyone first attributed the reason to his health condition.
This was a good thing for Duan Hengye.
From the example of his parents’ generation, it could be seen that a new, stronger mecha wasn’t simply an industry advancement, but it also involved incomparably complex imperial interests behind it. As for the birth of the top mecha, it was even more closely related to the future trend of the entire interstellar.
Duan Hengye and the Ministry of Military Affairs must keep the news of the end of the experiment secret for the time being, after all, it wasn’t a good time for it to appear in the interstellar.
Early morning in the Southern Star Marshal’s residence, Duan Hengye pushed open the door of his office and walked in. His design for the new mecha had finished a week ago, and in this recent period of time, Duan Hengye had been doing a lot of data review and double-checking. Last night, all the reviews were finished, and now it was time to verify the results.
Shortly after Duan Hengye entered the door, Meng Jinhuai also came to this office. He had just returned from an important job on another planet, so he was still wearing a dark blue military uniform. After entering, Meng Jinhuai walked directly to the side of Duan Hengye who was sitting at his desk, and the two faced the super light computer of the military department. The model generation and virtual experiments would be carried out here.
Perhaps it was because of his experience, or perhaps his heart was already prepared, Duan Hengye was more relaxed than the last time. After seeing Meng Jinhuai come over, Duan Hengye showed him the data: “The next step is the virtual model generation of the mecha. If something goes wrong, all the previous data will be automatically destroyed by the light computer.” Duan Hengye paused a little before continuing to introduce it to Meng Jinhuai: “After the model is generated, it will be time for the virtual experiment. Because of the special mecha model, this virtual experiment is three times more than the last one.”
Although when he came just now, Duan Hengye’s mood was quite relaxed, as the introduction deepened, Duan Hengye’s fingertips still couldn’t help but gently tap on the table. Meng Jinhuai knew that this was a reflection of Duan Hengye’s nervousness.
Although Duan Hengye didn’t forget to study as much as he did in the previous period, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai were clear that the design of the mecha wasn’t a simple matter. Although Duan Hengye’s work went very well the last time, before him, there were some predecessors who had been stuck in this step of model generation for more than a decade.
…… and followed closely by the virtual experiment, which wasn’t easy either.
Meng Jinhuai didn’t speak, he reached out his hand to hold up Duan Hengye’s left hand that was constantly tapping on the desktop. Because of the tension, now Duan Hengye’s fingertips were as cold as ice. Just now his entire attention was on the data in front of him, so it wasn’t until after his hand fell into another warm and dry palm that Duan Hengye finally reacted.
The Marshal didn’t speak, he just stood there silently giving Duan Hengye support.
Unlike the last time he finished his research alone in the lab under pressure, after feeling the support of the person behind him, Duan Hengye first took a slow breath, then reached his other hand over and hovered on the virtual keyboard.
“OK to generate.” Duan Hengye’s finger pressed this key, and then the progress bar began to load.
The interface of the mecha model generation system could be seen by only a few people in the whole interstellar world, and Duan Hengye was the one who saw it most often. The difference with the last one was that after Duan Hengye pressed the button, the progress bar started to load slowly. This speed was neither fast nor slow, it was just enough to whet people’s appetite.
The office was silent, Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai both held their breath, waiting for the result to be born. As the numbers kept getting bigger, the strength of Duan Hengye’s hands couldn’t help but increase a little. Although Professor Duan’s physical quality was average, he was after all an ancient martial arts master.
After a while, Meng Jinhuai’s hand turned white due to poor bl00d flow. It was only at this time that Duan Hengye finally realized. Seeing the color of Meng Jinhuai’s hand, Duan Hengye somewhat embarrassedly released him, then coughed lightly, “Sorry …… I didn’t mean to.”
While speaking, Duan Hengye moved his eyes to the side, and his ears slowly turned red. After seeing his unnatural appearance, Meng Jinhuai smiled a little then took the opportunity to gently touch the top of the other’s hair while he was standing behind him.
Duan Hengye felt that Meng Jinhuai’s current attitude was very much like teasing a child or a pet. But the terrible thing was that he actually enjoyed it ……
This wasn’t good!
After a while, Duan Hengye finally turned his eyes back to the light computer. He saw that at this time the model on the light computer had loaded to ninety-five percent, and now there were only a few minutes left to see the final result.
Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai stopped talking, and the flow of time seemed to deliberately slow down. Finally the light screen went black, and Duan Hengye couldn’t help but choke. But the super light computer didn’t give them time to breathe, a few seconds later, a mecha model appeared in front of Duan Hengye and Meng Jinhuai’s eyes.
Duan Hengye had succeeded!
……
After all, the progress of the mecha design needed to be kept secret for the time being, and after the excitement, Duan Hengye’s mood quickly calmed down. Although the model of the mecha had already started the simulation experiment, Duan Hengye wasn’t idle.
The final antidote to the control drug also came out at this time.
Unlike the previous temporary antidotes that could only be seen as “painkillers”, the antidote that Lan Jingchi researched this time could completely clear the toxins in Duan Hengye’s body. But because this antidote was even more ruthless than the previous ones, before officially taking it, Duan Hengye was told that he wouldn’t feel well for the next ten hours.
In the hospital where Duan Hengye had his medical checkup, a glass nutrition chamber filled with dark blue liquid was already standing in a laboratory of about ten square meters. Unlike the previous times, after taking the drug, Duan Hengye would enter the nutrition capsule and wait for more than ten hours for the toxins to clear before coming out.
The environment requirements in the nutrition module were very strict, and only Duan Hengye and a doctor who was mainly responsible for this matter could enter. When it was almost, Duan Hengye was listening to the doctor’s speech, but his mind couldn’t help but wander.
Until the other finished his words, Duan Hengye then raised his head as if waking up from a dream. And at this time, Meng Jinhuai, who had been standing beside him listening to the doctor’s speech, suddenly came forward. “Don’t be nervous.” Meng Jinhuai gently pushed Duan Hengye’s bangs hanging on his forehead to the side.
Duan Hengye’s forehead was always fully covered with hair, and when the hair hanging on his forehead was pulled away, he suddenly appeared a few years younger. Hearing Meng Jinhuai’s words, Duan Hengye nodded silently. And then before he could follow the doctor into the lab, Meng Jinhuai suddenly moved closer and gave Duan Hengye a gentle kiss on his forehead.
This kiss was extremely gentle, but when it landed on Duan Hengye’s forehead, it gave him a feeling of inadvertently being burned.
Meng Jinhuai smiled towards Duan Hengye, “Go on, I’ll wait for you here.”
……
Although this wasn’t the first time that Duan Hengye entered the nutrition cabin, last time it was only to recover from the trauma on his arm, which couldn’t be compared to this time. Duan Hengye changed into a white lab coat and followed the doctor into the compartment. Despite the preparation in his heart, after seeing it, Duan Hengye still felt apprehensive.
There was a dark blue liquid inside the nutrition chamber, and all of this gave Duan Hengye a feeling of the deep sea. And because the experiment hadn’t yet officially started, the dark blue nutrient liquid was in a completely static state. The color looked a bit deadly, and the feeling of suffocation instantly came towards Duan Hengye.
“Professor Duan, there will be a levitator to send you to the second floor of the laboratory, then you will enter the cabin from there.” The staff who followed Duan Hengye, talked to him. In this recent period of time, Duan Hengye had heard the process for an unknown number of times, but after entering the door, the doctor still continued to explain uneasily, “The structure of the nutrient solution is special, so there will be no oxygen supply device entering, you must adjust your breathing immediately after entering.”
“Mm.” After hearing this doctor’s words, Duan Hengye nodded solemnly towards him, then involuntarily took a deep breath.
Just like what this doctor said, after entering the nutrition cabin, Duan Hengye’s entire body would be immersed in the dark blue nutrition liquid in front of him. Although this liquid was very special, he could still maintain normal breathing after entering. But for someone like Duan Hengye who had never experienced a large nutrition chamber before, quickly adjusting his breathing rhythm was still a difficult task to overcome.
“If you confirm that you are ready, please stand on the hovercraft now.” The doctor turned to Duan Hengye.
As soon as his words fell, Duan Hengye saw a small gray indoor levitator appear in front of him. At this time Duan Hengye’s emotions had almost completely adjusted, he glanced forward and then walked up without looking back.
Duan Hengye was wearing a special experimental suit, although the texture was ordinary, it didn’t look much different from an ordinary white shirt, only the style was more loose.
The doctor couldn’t follow him to the second floor of the experimental cabin, after riding the hovercraft there, Duan Hengye took out the dark gray antidote from his coat pocket, and then swallowed it directly.
The pill wasn’t small, and Duan Hengye could clearly feel the trajectory of it sliding down his esophagus. When it fell into his stomach, a bitterness emerged. Duan Hengye couldn’t help but frown, then he finally looked down at the dark blue liquid at his feet. He hesitated for a moment, then he held the metal railing on one side and walked forward. Duan Hengye didn’t stand there for too long, after standing on the side of the nutrition module, he looked up at the virtual clock on the bulkhead, and then finally put one foot in.
Duan Hengye could swim, but in his impression, he learnt to swim when he was a child, other than that time, he had no contact with this sport. Seeing the large closed water tank, although Duan Hengye knew he wouldn’t be in danger of suffocation, biological instincts still made him nervous.
The temperature of the nutrient solution was neither high nor low, when Duan Hengye’s toes gently touched the surface of the water, he paused for a moment, this time he no longer hesitated, he held his breath, then jumped straight down.
This nutrition module was about three meters high, he didn’t know if it was because the liquid was more special, Duan Hengye didn’t sink fast. A moment later, Duan Hengye opened his eyes, because the landing speed was slow and he was facing the smooth bulkhead without any reference, this trip seemed extraordinarily long.
With this dark blue liquid, Duan Hengye had an illusion that he was falling into the deep sea.
After a while, the landing finally came to a halt. Duan Hengye looked down and saw that he was hanging in the nutrition module, about 30 centimeters away from the bottom. He tried to continue to fall again, but was dragged up again by an unseen and untouchable force.
His ears were incomparably quiet, and when his posture was adjusted, he slowly reached his hand out in front of him, then made a grasping motion in the emptiness. Of course, Duan Hengye didn’t grab anything, but he was slightly surprised to find that the liquid in the bottom of the pod felt somewhat similar to jelly.
As a relatively curious person, after discovering this, Duan Hengye couldn’t help but reach out and continue to gently scratch it. But such leisure didn’t last a few seconds – when Duan Hengye jumped down, he was still holding his breath, and now this breath finally ran out.
After feeling the choking sensation coming to him, Duan Hengye finally put his hand back, and then just like the doctor said before, began to slowly adjust his breathing.
But the experiment on land was really simple, it was two completely different experiences from actually breathing under water. Soon Duan Hengye found that the instinct as a living creature was constantly stopping him and disrupting the rhythm of breathing. He knew he could breathe in the nutrient solution, but if the rhythm wasn’t well grasped, he would choke.
It wasn’t like choking on water… The texture of this nutrient solution was obviously more strange. Because he held his breath for a long time, Duan Hengye started feeling dizzy.
Across the dark blue liquid, Duan Hengye suddenly saw the familiar figure of Meng Jinhuai. The other had changed into a lab coat, and his hand was tightly pressed against the bulkhead. Meng Jinhuai’s eyes were firmly fixed on Duan Hengye inside the pod, his expression incomparably determined.
After discovering that Duan Hengye was looking at him, Meng Jinhuai hurriedly raised the palm of his hand, then kept sliding his fingers up and down on the bulkhead. At the same time, Meng Jinhuai was also mouthing something.
Because of the bulkhead and nutrient solution, Duan Hengye couldn’t hear sounds from outside. But despite this, Duan Hengye could understand what he wanted to express through Meng Jinhuai’s movements.
…… Meng Jinhuai was helping him find the rhythm of breathing. Although he was still a little nervous because of the lack of oxygen, Duan Hengye finally followed Meng Jinhuai’s gestures and tried to start overcoming his fear of water.
A miraculous thing happened, obviously just now he was still panicking because he was worried about choking, but since seeing Meng Jinhuai’s movements, Duan Hengye calmed down. Even …… even the dark blue deep sea in front of him seemed bearable.
Meng Jinhuai’s movements didn’t stop, and after a while Duan Hengye finally found his rhythm of breathing again in the nutrient solution. And as breathing resumed, Duan Hengye, who had just been slightly dizzy, gradually regained his clarity.
“…… don’t be afraid.” Across a wall of nutrient solution, Duan Hengye saw Meng Jinhuai say this.
This novel takes slow burn to a whole new level but it’s so damn sweet.
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