pjbooks Chapter 476 It's time to meet!
Chapter 476 It's time to meet!
Qin Xiao and Guan Xing arrived very quickly.
Zhang Yan moved the whiteboard from the study to the living room before everyone had arrived.
Nie Qingcheng sat on the sofa, a tablet lying across her lap, her fingers swiping rapidly.
Qin Xiao leaned against the doorframe, his expression unusually serious. Guan Xing stood in the corner, holding a file box.
"The situation." Zhang Yan picked up a marker and drew a vertical line on the whiteboard, writing "Yes" on the left and "No" on the right.
The "Yes" column indicates that the network is self-sustaining and operating, with a defense limit of 96.4%, and physical intrusions are ineffective.
The Chaos Mech is at full strength, and the Heart of the Celestial Craftsman is 99.4% complete.
The "None" column: Weapons capable of withstanding stellar physical impacts.
He drew a circle below the second column and wrote three words inside the circle.
The final stage of the divine craftsmanship.
"This is the only way to confront them head-on." Zhang Yan put down his pen. "I've studied the blueprints sent by the Mo family for two weeks. The core material of the final mecha is star core crystal, which must be extracted from deep inside the sun."
Qin Xiao clicked his tongue: "That doesn't sound like something a human would do."
"This is definitely not a routine operation," Zhang Yan said. "The chaotic high-dimensional remnant layer can withstand the temperature of the sun's outer layer, but the pressure and temperature in the core area are on another level. I need the Heavenly Craftsmanship to deploy a temporary heatless force field at full power to complete the extraction operation within thirty-five seconds."
Looking up at the stars, he wondered: "Tolerance for error?"
"zero."
The living room was quiet for two seconds.
Nie Qingcheng spoke up at this moment: "Timeline."
Zhang Yan looked at her.
Nie Qingcheng's gaze fell on the tablet, and she drew a chart with her finger and pushed it to the projection area in the center of the living room.
"The previous estimate was five months," she said, "but that 0.7-second signal just now changed everything. Now that the mother body has obtained precise coordinates, the probability of acceleration is extremely high."
"Is there any explanation from the descendants of the Mo family?" Qin Xiao asked.
Zhang Yan retrieved the encrypted message he had received half an hour earlier. The bereaved family's reply was brief.
[The signal has been confirmed to have been received by the parent organism of the community. Based on our observations of community behavior patterns over the past 30,000 years, the probability of the parent organism accelerating after obtaining precise coordinates is 80%. In the worst-case scenario, the arrival time will be shortened from five months to three and a half months.]
"Three and a half months." Nie Qingcheng stood up, walked to the whiteboard, crossed out "five months," and wrote "three months."
Qin Xiao frowned: "The remnant clan said three and a half..."
"Prepare for three months." Nie Qingcheng glanced back at him, her tone leaving no room for negotiation. "The extra half month is for error tolerance."
Zhang Yan did not object.
He understood Nie Qingcheng's logic: she always prepared for the worst-case scenario, and any extra time was a bonus.
Nie Qingcheng took a marker and redraw a timeline on the whiteboard, dividing it into four segments.
"Phase Zero, to be implemented immediately starting today." She marked on the far left, "Earth defense authority is fully transferred. Qin Xiao will take over the outer perimeter control and liaison with the military, while Guanxing will take over the gate network monitoring and the maintenance of the Sky Anchor."
"From today onwards, Zhang Yan will only do one thing: build the final mech."
Qin Xiao nodded.
There was no objection from the stargazers.
"The first phase, within half a month," Nie Qingcheng continued writing, "the solar heat resistance modification of the Chaos Mech."
"Thickening of the high-dimensional debris coating, upgrading of the heat shielding module, and calibration of the heatless force field parameters of the Tiangong Heart."
"The second phase, the following month." The pen tip swept across the whiteboard, "Deep into the core of the sun to extract star crystals, this is the riskiest part of the entire plan."
She drew a red exclamation mark next to this paragraph.
"The third stage, remaining time." Nie Qingcheng finished writing the last paragraph, "Constructing the final stage of the Heavenly Craftsmanship."
The timeline on the whiteboard is clear and concise, with each segment perfectly timed.
Zhang Yan looked at that line.
Three months.
Ninety days.
Every day is fully scheduled, with no day to be wasted.
"I've already prepared the materials list." Nie Qingcheng turned around, picked up a stack of papers from the sofa, and distributed them to everyone present. "Your respective sections are marked with colors: red is mine, blue is Qin Xiao's, and green is Guan Xing's."
Qin Xiao flipped through two pages, then looked up: "Sister-in-law, your efficiency is amazing..."
"I started preparing the day Zhang Yan set off to fight the elite species." Nie Qingcheng sat back on the sofa. "You always have to assume the worst in advance."
Zhang Yan walked over and sat down next to her.
Nie Qingcheng casually snatched the dead crystal he had been clutching in his hand and forgot to put it down, then threw it into the trash can under the coffee table.
The movements were casual, like throwing away an expired candy.
"There's something," Guan Xing spoke up, his voice low but clear, "The gate network's self-sustaining mode doesn't require Zhang Yan to continuously input energy, but monitoring and fine-tuning still require manual operation."
"I'm monitoring six nodes plus the L2 sub-core by myself, so I might need a locksmith's help."
"Contact him," Zhang Yan said.
"I've already contacted him, and he's agreed to collaborate remotely."
"it is good."
Clear division of labor.
The rhythm is clear.
The atmosphere in the living room shifted from tense to a sense of order; even though the sky had fallen, everyone was still holding onto their own burdens.
Just as Zhang Yan was about to begin explaining the technical details of the solar heat-resistant modification, Nie Qingcheng's phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Qin Changfeng," she said, then connected to speakerphone.
Qin Changfeng's voice came through the phone, as concise as ever: "Is Zhang Yan there?"
"exist."
"Military satellites detected unusual gravitational fluctuations at the edge of the solar system half an hour ago. The location is outside the Kuiper Belt, about 20 million kilometers away from where Zhang Yan just fought."
Zhang Yan frowned.
He had just returned from that area, having scanned the surrounding 100,000 kilometers to confirm that nothing had been missed.
Twenty million kilometers away... beyond his scanning range.
"What kind of nature?"
"It's not a colony," Qin Changfeng said. "It's a spaceship. Man-made, currently slowing down, heading...inwards into the solar system."
The air in the living room seemed to freeze for a moment.
"What about the energy frequency?" Zhang Yan asked.
Qin Changfeng paused for a moment: "It's exactly the same as the silver box you retrieved from the far side of the moon."
Zhang Yan and Nie Qingcheng turned to look at each other at the same time.
The descendants of the Mohist school.
They had previously said "yes" and that they wanted to meet.
But now?
Their spacecraft are slowing down as they enter the solar system.
It is not remote communication, nor is it space delivery.
He came in person.
A complex light flashed in Nie Qingcheng's eyes for a moment, then returned to its cold and aloof state.
"Perfect timing," she said, tapping her fingers twice on the tablet. "Three months, the more people the better."
Zhang Yan didn't speak. He looked at the darkening sky outside the window, pondering a question.
It's been 30,000 years.
Seventeen hundred people drifted in the sea of stars for thirty thousand years before finally deciding to return.
Was it because he said, "I accept your help," or because the community matrix was approaching and time was running out?
Or both.
one way or another--
It's time to meet.