Chapter 20: The Fate of the Planet

There was no negotiation, no unnecessary shouting, and no storming of the building.

The tactics of those emergency response personnel were simple. Once the drones were airborne and the large-caliber bullets started flying, it didn't matter what kind of demons or monsters you were—a single shot would blow you to pieces.

Lin Xu subconsciously touched his own head. The sensation of being hit by a large-caliber round was entirely different from the experience of shooting himself in the head earlier. Although there was no pain in either case, the feeling of his skull exploding was, at the very least... a bit novel.

Savoring the memory, he opened his computer and quickly recorded two new pieces of information in his "Clues" document.

[The industrial manufacturing process for M46X and PEEK-RTM materials comes from the Planetary Reincarnation organization.]
[The industrial process emerged between 2025 and 2030.]

The first point had been confirmed by the hostage, while the second was Lin Xu’s own deduction, as he hadn't had the chance to press for more details. However, the 2030 "upper limit" was certain, because the Star Traveler I project had lasted seven years and was completed in 2032. From any perspective, the final two years must have entered the stages of design finalization and actual production. Pushing back further, the patent application must have been around 2028?

Three years... Research and development take time. Did this mean that the Planetary Reincarnation organization had actually existed for a long time? Right now! At this very moment!

Lin Xu opened his browser, clicked on the search bar, and typed four characters: Planetary Reincarnation.

The first result that popped up was the orbital period of planets, and the second was a metaphysical article posted by a clickbait account. After scrolling through, there was no useful information. He pondered for a moment, then added the word "Apocalypse" after "Planetary Reincarnation." Good heavens, this time it jumped straight to a web novel site. Still, not a single shred of useful information.

What was going on? Theoretically, in this era of highly developed information, any organization—no matter how secretive or isolated—would leave some traces on the internet. Unless, of course, this organization had absolutely no interaction with the outside world. Or perhaps they were merely a secondary group within an already existing circle—like an offline clique within some "artistic work-sharing group." They wouldn't need to "outreach" to gain new members, and their internal communication would rely on relatively closed social software. In that case, it would indeed be impossible to find any trace of their existence on the internet. The only way to get to know them was to join them. But how to join them remained an unsolvable puzzle. He could only wait for them to find him.

Forget it! First, copy down the technology!

Lin Xu closed the clues file, opened a new document, and began recording the industrial manufacturing processes he had memorized. This wasn't simple; an industrial manufacturing process involved complex equipment and raw materials, and the environmental and reaction condition data had to be precise to several decimal places. Lin Xu could only rely on his memory to write down the general flow; as for the more specific data, he planned to enter the wristband world a few more times and piece it together bit by bit.

After spending over half an hour, he finally managed to write down most of the process. A quick glance at it revealed that he wasn't familiar with the names of most of the equipment.

Melt injection machines, micro-precision compounding extrusion systems, vacuum vulcanization integrated machines... Lin Xu wasn't even sure if he had written the names of these devices correctly. He would have to verify them little by little.

However, even so, based on the information he already held, these two industrial production processes were already quite mature. So mature, in fact, that as long as the documentation was complete, they could be put to use immediately. He couldn't help but marvel at the power of the Planetary Reincarnation organization. Industrial manufacturing processes were not comparable to the difficulty of small-scale laboratory production. To give an extreme example, in the field of materials, you might inexplicably create a high-performance, low-cost heat-resistant material during a run in a muffle furnace, and you might even be able to repeatedly reproduce it in that same laboratory. But once you wanted to move to large-scale production, it was a different story entirely. Most of the time, the industrial production of new materials relied on the support of national-level power.

Did Planetary Reincarnation have that kind of power?

Wait a minute. Could this be a state-sponsored organization?

Lin Xu couldn't help but shudder. He checked the edited document one last time, then stared blankly at the computer screen. The technology could be copied sooner or later, but the mystery of the "Apocalypse" and "Planetary Reincarnation" was not so easy to unravel.

An adventurous thought crossed his mind. Since it had been confirmed that Jiang Xingye was a core member of the Planetary Reincarnation organization, and it was possible the organization already existed, was it possible that she was already part of it?

Should he ask her?

Lin Xu picked up his phone, unlocked the screen, and opened WeChat, but hesitated. If he were to ask her, how should he start? Just go up and ask, "Hey, do you know about the Planetary Reincarnation organization? Are you a member?" Like that? Even if she were, she wouldn't admit it, would she? He needed to beat around the bush. But what excuse could he use? Last time he had used the "confession" excuse to brush it off, but he couldn't do that again.

Just as he was struggling, a red dot suddenly appeared on Jiang Xingye's chat box.

Holy crap. I haven't sent a message yet, and you've sent one first?

Lin Xu quickly tapped the chat box, expecting some work arrangement, but to his surprise, Jiang Xingye had shared a news link.

"Scientists predict an asteroid could cause the world to end in 2036? Is this for real?"

Lin Xu opened the link and scanned it; a strong scent of clickbait hit him.

"No way, you actually believe this?" he typed back. Jiang Xingye's message returned quickly.

"Can't I just look for fun? You really are exceptionally boring."
"A girl takes the initiative to share something with you, and this is your reaction?"
"..."

Lin Xu was speechless.

"Wow, so scary! Is the apocalypse really coming? What should I do? Big sister, please protect me!"

"I am asking you to give me a real response, not to act like a sissy!" Jiang Xingye sent a panda emoji hitting its head in annoyance, followed by a threat: "I could punch through three of you!"

"I thought you enjoyed the thrill of being a female dominatrix," Lin Xu replied, then seized the opportunity to ask: "By the way, do you really believe in this 'apocalypse' stuff?"

"I don't," Jiang Xingye replied. "Isn't it just for fun? Though, an asteroid hitting the Earth isn't really that special—it's not like we haven't been hit before. Didn't they say the extinction of the dinosaurs was because of an asteroid? If we got hit again this time, human extinction would be possible, right? But even if humans went extinct, it wouldn't really be an 'apocalypse.' After all, to the Earth, the history of humanity is just a blink of an eye..."

"You're quite open-minded," Lin Xu laughed. "If an asteroid lands on your head, you'll be quiet."

"Not me," Jiang Xingye's chat box flickered constantly. "There's still over a decade left. By then, maybe the space travel ships from Sky Dome Tech will be mature, and I'll have already taken a ship to Mars."

Mars.

Lin Xu frowned slightly. He was particularly sensitive to this word now. He immediately typed: "Are you really planning on going to Mars?"

"If I get the chance, I'll go!"
"It's a rare experience in life, why miss out?"

Jiang Xingye's answer didn't reveal any of the information Lin Xu was looking for. He shook his head in slight disappointment. But the next second, a new message popped up.

"Though, when you think about it, topics like the universe and the apocalypse are quite grand."
"The Earth has existed for so long, are we really the only intelligent life?"
"It seems like the evidence isn't complete yet, right?"
"Maybe there have already been several waves of intelligent life on Earth."
"They just, like the dinosaurs, went extinct in an apocalypse."
"Fate really is a cycle."
"Don't talk about humans; even the fate of the planet is a cycle..."

Lin Xu's heart skipped a beat. Taking a deep breath, he typed:

"Planetary Reincarnation?"