Qin Jingzhou was quite generous about leaving the mecha spider and all four neural interface chips behind. "Just swap in the batteries and it'll work, as long as you don't break anything." After his instructions, he sent Chief Wang a copy of the manual.
Everyone kept chatting and laughing for a while longer. Right in front of Qin Jingzhou, the Elder instructed his secretary to make arrangements—he wanted to hold an imperial meeting on the spot, since a powerless mecha spider couldn’t just be left anywhere.
Qin Jingzhou said they would head home first. The Elder personally escorted him out of the hangar, to where the special operations teams sent to protect his whole family were waiting.
Both squads—from their team leads down—looked quite familiar.
Mi Xiaoxiao immediately recognized the young man who’d carefully helped her out of the warehouse the day before. She flashed a bright smile. "It’s you!"
The young man, dressed in plain clothes, smiled sheepishly.
Gu Zhiyuan’s expression was a bit complicated, but his childhood sweetheart quickly grabbed his hand, dragging him forward. His smile instantly turned genuine, and together they sincerely thanked the teammates who rescued him.
The young men all blushed a deep red from the repeated praise.
Qin Jingzhou glanced at the group of young men, then heard Ling Jing’s voice in his mind: "The officials really put some thought into this." Only then did he comment, "It’s a pity you’re all a bit overqualified for this."
Chief Wang, standing at the hangar entrance, jumped in to explain. "That’s not true at all!"
Both team captains nearly spoke in unison. "We volunteered!" In their hearts, the same thought leaped up: Professor, we want to pilot a mecha!
There were a total of four squads in the rescue yesterday. The two chosen to stay were picked because they’d already had contact with Mi Xiaoxiao and Gu Zhiyuan. The captains of the two squads not picked were especially disappointed when they heard they’d been passed over.
Qin Jingzhou grinned. "We’ll have chances to work together again in the future." With that, he took his family and left by car.
The Elders, meanwhile, held imperial meetings for a whole day just for Qin Jingzhou.
While listening to the experts, a few top academicians from the relevant fields spoke frankly. "The neural interface chips, graphene processor, pusher, and the engine on the exoskeleton—similar tech we can definitely make. But making it as exquisite and miniaturized as he does, that’s beyond us. That’s his genius."
Another academician said, "Three-dimensional graphene processors—ideas like this have been proposed before, but there’s a big difference between thinking and doing."
An expert specializing in Qin Jingzhou’s behavioral psychology pushed up his glasses and read a passage out to the room. "My goal is to leap out of the solar system. That’s what he posted years ago on the Mechanical Heaven Forum. He was harshly mocked at the time, but never replied... Instead, he just quietly worked, astonishing everyone in the end."
Chief Wang could barely hold back a laugh. He could almost picture Professor Mi reading those comments online, totally deadpan: Netizens thought you were just bragging, who knew you were dead serious...
Soon, even the stern-looking Elders were breaking into laughter.
The behavioral psychology expert continued, "His girlfriend, Gu Xin, posted on social media a month ago that after reading a certain novel, she wanted to pilot a mecha across the endless stars and be proposed to by her boyfriend—that would be the ultimate romance."
Chief Wang blurted out, "So Professor Mi built a mecha in record time!"
A kindly expert chimed in, "That’s pretty much it. The mecha spider made a big visual impact, but the real core tech was all in the neural interface, pusher, and exoskeleton."
The Elder who’d actually test driven the mecha spider chuckled, sipping his tea. "I think he was pretty much focused on fulfilling his girlfriend’s wish."
Another Elder laughed and said, "From that angle, he’s sure to pull it off."
So, before the meeting adjourned, the Elders set the direction: give Mi Jingzhou their complete trust and see if he could truly get Hua Country out beyond the solar system.
With the foundation set, the long-hidden new-generation fuel cell, kept strictly secret in the lab until now, was finally approved to be installed in the mecha spider.
That night, Qin Jingzhou heard about the Elders’ decision from Chief Wang. He casually said, "That good, huh? In that case, I’ll bring my students and your assigned experts and researchers to build the mecha spider together."
Chief Wang couldn’t have been more pleased!
They chatted a little longer, until Qin Jingzhou raised another request. "Recruiting students was like a national beauty pageant. Next, I need some people to practice piloting and maintaining the mecha. The mecha spider can’t fly off Earth for now, but for disaster relief, rescue, and other special missions..." He deliberately paused. "It should be pretty useful."
Chief Wang, who hadn’t slept a wink the night before, was already nearing his limit—his mind felt blurry from exhaustion, but hearing that, he immediately perked up, feeling like he could go another night without sleep.
But before he could reply, Professor Mi on the other end said, "You should go rest now. If you keep this up, do you want to drop dead from overwork?"
Chief Wang burst out laughing. "What, you can read minds now?"
Qin Jingzhou replied, smiling, "I really can. I’ll send you the requirements for the mecha pilots and maintenance engineers later. For the first batch, aim as high as possible; after they’re trained, they can serve as mentors for the next group."
Chief Wang promised earnestly, "You have my word."
While waiting for Chief Wang to send over the students, Qin Jingzhou arranged for his daughter and her little childhood friend to meet with one of Capital City’s most highly respected psychologists.
Even if the kidnapping had been more dramatic than dangerous, and everything had turned out fine in the end, they couldn’t skimp on proper diagnosis and psychological support.
Even though both Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing agreed that the two kids were, at most, a bit "stressed," with no real issues, perfectly able to dive back into studying to heal themselves, standard procedures couldn’t be skipped.
Any psychologist doing a house call was sure to have been vetted by Chief Wang’s office, making them highly trustworthy.
The female psychologist handling Mi Xiaoxiao met with her in the upstairs study for the whole afternoon. She even tried on the exoskeleton. As she was leaving the Mi house, she bumped into the male psychologist responsible for Gu Zhiyuan again.
The two professionals exchanged a glance, and the female psychologist stated directly, "I want to switch careers and apply for Professor Mi’s graduate program!"
The male psychologist smiled. "Let’s apply together, then."
Once the sixty students selected by the national beauty-pageant-style competition had assembled, and the expert researchers recommended by the officials were in position, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing, at Chief Wang’s request, personally went to the base to recruit mecha pilots and maintenance engineers.
Since Qin Jingzhou had signed a four-unit mecha build contract with the officials, he needed eight pilots and eight engineers for the first batch.
The requirements for pilots were similar to those for airplane pilots, sometimes even higher in a few aspects, but nothing excessively demanding. As for maintenance engineers, he specified that they had to be top-tier test-takers with great hands-on skills.
The real reason competition for these pilot and engineer spots was so fierce—and only ace pilots or senior research institute fellows could even apply or see the test—was that Qin Jingzhou had written a final line: If, in my lifetime, I really develop interstellar mechas and spaceships, those who participated in this will have priority as pilots, engineers, and captains. As long as I'm alive, I’ll have the last word.
Everyone who saw this line, including the Elders, firmly believed this was no idle "in my lifetime" promise.
Experts had studied the mecha spider closely. Most agreed that with four engines and a cockpit attached, the mecha spider could lift off into space without much extra reinforcement, and could even land safely on other solid planets, deploy gear for surveys and mining—or, thinking bigger, just build a factory right there.
And as for the relevant engine tech and manufacturing capability, the aerospace research academy and aerospace corp both had it! They all did! Growing crops and building factories on other planets… now that was Hua Country’s own special flavor of romance.
One can imagine how wild this recruitment for pilots and engineers became, even though the Elders kept the news tightly contained.
Whenever candidates made it through the rounds and none seemed ideal, they had to call in Professor Mi to make the final call.
Qin Jingzhou wasn’t afraid of offending anyone—mainly because he was able to convince all the candidates to accept the outcome without complaint.
He showed up with a modified helmet and two sets of test materials—the helmet being a standard mental power testing device widely used in the interstellar world, capable of measuring spiritual power, and the exam tested both IQ and EQ. With personal interviews by him and Ling Jing, they could pick the best team.
Stone-polishing graphene processors was already time-consuming enough; he and Ling Jing didn’t want to spend too much energy personally training pilots or engineers. They’d rather they be able to teach themselves.
With both Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing present at the exams, it took only half a day to select ten pilots and ten engineers.
The pool of candidates was so strong that Ling Jing went soft and added four more to each group.
That was fine—Qin Jingzhou simply promised the officials he’d build them one more mecha spider.
When he told Chief Wang about his decision, Ling Jing added, "Guess I’m buying two kilos of vinegar and some crabs for this little spat."
Chief Wang burst out laughing.
That was exactly why he found it hard to be wary of this couple—their motives were so pure, and they had the skills to stay that way.
As for Capital City’s three top universities—Capital City University, Qingmu University, and Capital City University of Transportation—they formed a three-way rivalry, with all three linked by the expert residential compound and the institute managed by the Academy of Engineering.
Currently, all the houses on both sides of the street where Qin Jingzhou lived had ended up in his hands, and construction crews were working around the clock. His alma mater, Capital City University of Transportation, had even given him an entire laboratory building.
The Academy of Engineering had also pulled out all the stops, vacating the institute nearest the expert compound for him to use.
Both lab and institute were now being filled with new equipment, and in no time Quin Jingzhou had over two hundred people on his team, not even counting the security squad.
Even though the staff hadn’t all arrived yet, preparations were underway.
Once the pilots and engineers were selected, he had Chief Wang mark out space in the institute for their dorms. "There’s plenty of space, so just have them eat and lodge there. Let them get as much sleep as they can—if they average five or six hours a night, that’s as good as it gets in a startup."
Startup, my foot!
Chief Wang, who had originally planned to set them up in the faculty dorms, was left torn between admiration and exasperation: Should he call this thoughtful, or ruthless?
Whatever Chief Wang thought, Qin Jingzhou’s requests were quickly approved without a hitch.
September arrived in a flash.
Mi Xiaoxiao and Gu Zhiyuan had gone back to school. Meanwhile, after nearly a month of negotiations with Elizabeth, Gu Sheng’s patience finally snapped… Mainly because he’d seen a mountain of medical reports from Elizabeth, and several friends abroad confirmed she’d been frequently visiting the top local OB-GYN hospitals. It was safe to say Elizabeth was telling the truth—she was indeed pregnant, and the child was almost certainly his.
Since money was no object, he’d hired plenty of private detectives to dig into Elizabeth’s personal life.
For better or worse, it turned out that he and Elizabeth were truly the only ones who’d had "fun" together during that time.
Having gathered all the evidence, Gu Sheng decided he needed another talk with his dad.
He thought it over and realized he didn’t want to give up custody, but getting Elizabeth to agree… seemed it would take his dad’s cooperation. Of course, he didn’t think his dad had to hand over the blueprints.
With his father’s permission, he and his assistant rushed to the expert residential compound.
He hadn’t been for over half a month, and as he stood at the gates for inspection, he immediately sensed that the atmosphere felt off.
His heart grew heavy. No matter what had happened with his dad, he was totally out of the loop. That said it all—he was becoming more and more marginalized!
He finally got to his father’s door and, seeing all the construction barriers around, couldn’t help asking, "Why all this sudden construction at the house entrance?"
Mi Xiaoxiao answered her brother, "Because all the houses around here are Dad’s now."
Gu Sheng’s eyes went wide. He could feel things going from bad to worse. Still, he was here now; turning back wasn’t an option, so he just followed his sister inside.
Passing through the entryway, he saw his dad in the rocking chair. Then, Miss Gu, holding her mug, said as she approached, "Let him get tested, too."
His dad added, "Might as well have a physical while you’re at it."
The one in charge of testing was Doctor Nian—the very doctor who’d once declared excitedly at their first meeting that he wanted to hitch himself to this family. He had since quit his old job and joined up here as the "school doctor."
Soon, the results were ready. Doctor Nian struggled not to laugh. "Mr. Gu, you’re an ordinary person."
Gu Sheng was a little flustered. "What’s that mean? Isn’t my dad and my sister ordinary, too?"
Doctor Nian paused, then added, "You may very well… be infertile." He explained quickly, "I roughly know your situation. Think about it—Elizabeth, wanting her child to be as valuable as possible, would have targeted you. Since you don’t live with Professor Mi, you… couldn't be on guard. For a rich heiress to bribe your assistant, your bodyguards, maids, or drivers is really not difficult."
Gu Sheng was silent for a long time before finally asking, "Is it treatable?"
Doctor Nian nodded. "It should be. Don’t be afraid to face the truth… It’s a fairly common experience for men." Grinning, he tucked away the medical record and walked off, chuckling more with each step.
Gu Sheng: ……