Chapter 16: The Smartest Monkey in the Universe

After leaving Ren Jian’s office, Jiang Xingye and Chen Yan immediately gathered around with concern.

“How did it go? What did the boss say?” Jiang Xingye spoke first, while Chen Yan looked on expectantly.

“It needs further optimization,” Lin Xu said calmly.

“The boss thinks this plan has similarities with competitors’ proposals. To avoid legal risks, we must provide more technical details.”

“I’ll be busy with this over the next couple of days. If there’s anything else in the team, I’ll have to trouble Team Leader Chen to handle it.”

“No problem, no problem,” Chen Yan nodded repeatedly.

“But we’re about to officially start the project soon. When that happens, we’ll have to arrange responsibilities and define roles…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. Clearly, he wanted to probe Lin Xu about the positions and see if the boss had any instructions.

“Team Leader Chen should discuss that directly with the boss,” Lin Xu replied just as the reception room door opened.

The secretary came in and called Chen Yan away.

Before leaving, Chen Yan glanced back at Lin Xu with a complicated expression. The eagerness in his eyes seemed to cool somewhat.

After he left, Jiang Xingye lowered his voice and leaned toward Lin Xu.

“Not going well?”

Lin Xu smiled.

“Not going smoothly, but not completely stalled either.”

“Let’s say it’s a conditional success.”

“And fortunately, I’m quite confident I can meet that condition.”

“Perfect!” Jiang Xingye raised his hand and high-fived Lin Xu.

“Snap!”

“You trust me that much?” Lin Xu asked curiously.

“I checked your credit,” Jiang Xingye said earnestly.

“...Don’t be ridiculous,” Lin Xu rolled his eyes.

“Let’s go. Nothing else to do today, back to work.”

“I have some important things to handle tonight, so no overtime.”

“Tonight? Something going on?” Jiang Xingye eyed Lin Xu warily, looking ready to explode at any moment.

Lin Xu chuckled and waved his hand.

“I need to go to the National Library to do some research… some papers can only be found there.”

“That’s more like it,” Jiang Xingye nodded with approval.

They entered the office one after the other. The moment they stepped in, Jiang Xingye reverted to his usual aloof, unapproachable demeanor.

...

7 PM.

After work, Lin Xu grabbed a quick meal near the company and hurried back to his apartment.

On the way, he kept thinking about everything in the Ring World. After reviewing and organizing it all, he roughly sketched out a tree diagram of his to-do list.

First and foremost, the biggest problem was that the apocalypse was very likely to come in 20 years.

Whether in the Ring World or the real world, he had to solve this problem.

Second, extending his reasoning, not only himself, but the “Planet Rebirth” organization also anticipated the apocalypse. Although their predictions weren’t precise, they probably held fairly complete clues related to the end of days.

If he wanted to uncover the truth about the apocalypse, starting with that organization was the easiest approach.

Finally, it was now confirmed that the real world and the Ring World were interconnected. Actions he took in the real world would partially reflect in the Ring World.

Therefore, if he encountered unsolvable problems in the Ring World, he could try changing “variables” in the real world to create conditions.

This made it essential to climb higher and faster in the real world, to attain a better position.

The higher his status, the more resources he could mobilize, making problem-solving easier.

Good.

Lin Xu took a deep breath.

First, he would solve the problem of Star Traveler One.

Get the technical documents and complete the project ahead of schedule!

By doing so, he could not only secure a higher position earlier but also accelerate the development of Sky Dome Technologies.

Originally, Star Traveler One took seven years to complete. What if he could shorten it to five years, or even three?

Technological progress was like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger.

His gentle push could one day be like the flap of a butterfly’s wings, stirring a storm.

—So where to begin?

Entering his bedroom, Lin Xu opened his laptop and began reading through the rocket design plan he had copied out.

This plan was based on the general concept of a space shuttle, so the problems he needed to solve were practical issues in space shuttle design and manufacturing.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Xu typed a few words, listing the current major challenges:

[First, insulation materials in the thermal protection system]

[Second, high-thrust engines in the propulsion system]

[Third, lightweight composite materials in the structural system]

Once listed, the difficulties were clear.

Looking closer, two of the three challenges involved materials.

—No, all three problems involved materials!

Would manufacturing a high-thrust engine not require materials?

For example, the variable cycle engine and spaceplane dual-mode engine Lin Xu had envisioned before—they were currently limited by the availability of high-temperature resistant materials.

Wow.

Materials science had once again taken center stage in human history.

That said, it was indeed a somewhat “opportunistic” but highly impactful direction.

What was materials science?

Alchemy!

Despite all the systems and theories, at its core, the birth of a new material came down to one word:

Randomness.

Creating new materials was a matter of luck.

Using his favorite algorithm as an example—like monkey sort—in near-infinite trial and error, if you were lucky, you could get the correct result on the first try, outperforming all other complex and grand schemes.

Of course, if luck ran out, you might never find the answer your whole life.

Right now, he was the smartest monkey in the universe.

He didn’t need to try and fail—he only needed to pick the fruit.

Every “first attempt” of his yielded the correct result.

Whoa!

Master Lin, when did you become the top materials scientist?

Today!

Today is the day!

The more Lin Xu thought about it, the more excited he became, almost forgetting the serious matter of the apocalypse he still had to solve.

He hastily glanced at his wristband, which displayed the number “5”.

His energy had recovered.

Now, he had the opportunity to enter the Ring World to endure hardship again.

He lay back on the bed satisfied, silently reciting his to-do list:

Enter Sky Dome Technologies.

Find the key material model.

Search for the key material manufacturing method.

Memorize it.

Bring it out!

Lightly touching his wristband, Lin Xu’s vision went dark.

His consciousness was drawn out, then slowly descended...