20: Chapter 20: The official speculation goes wild: Jiang Chen must have a Galactic Empire behind him.

Kyoto, Xishan Underground Command Center.

The air purification system here maintained a constant temperature and humidity year-round, but at this moment, the air in the conference room felt as scorching as if it were being roasted over a fire.

The ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts.

Several big shots who could make the Blue Star tremble with a simple stomp of their feet were sitting around a huge tactical map, their expressions as grave as if they were studying a battle plan for World War III.

Resting in the very center of the table was not a nuclear launch code, but a black hard drive covered in scratches and even stained with some unknown grease.

That was the "6G trash" Jiang Chen had just given them.

"Take a look, everyone."

Dean Zhong slammed a freshly printed test report onto the table. Those hands, which had handled precision instruments for a lifetime, were trembling slightly.

"News just came back from Academician Chen Shuyin. After preliminary verification, the communication protocols on this hard drive... are real."

"And it's not some theoretical model; it's a mature, ready-to-use product with all the underlying code already encapsulated!"

"As long as we launch the satellites, tomorrow we can turn the 5G that the Eagle Nation is so proud of into the primitive smoke signals of cavemen!"

A deathly silence filled the conference room, with only the buzzing of the ventilation fan remaining.

General Qin Weiguo took a deep drag from his cigarette, stubbed it out fiercely in the ashtray, and knitted his brows into a " river" shape.

"Old Zhong, this isn't scientific."

General Qin Weiguo pointed at the list displayed on the big screen—EUV Lithography Machine, anti-gravity drones, titan exoskeletons, 6G communication protocols.

"The Lithography Machine is optical, the drones are anti-gravity, the mecha is mechanical dynamics, and now there's quantum communication."

"In these four fields, even if we mobilized the entire world's resources, it would take decades to achieve a breakthrough in just one of them."

"Jiang Chen is only 21! Even if he started learning from his mother's womb and his brain was made of a quantum computer, it would be impossible for him to be proficient in so many widely spanning disciplines at the same time!"

At this point, General Qin Weiguo paused, his eyes becoming incredibly sharp:

"The most critical point is that the underlying logic of these technologies is completely different. It's like... like they were forcibly extracted from different civilization systems."

The old man sitting at the head of the table had remained silent.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his gaze deep. After a long while, he turned his head to look at the middle-aged man who had been scribbling away in the corner.

That was the top psychological profiler in the Dragon Kingdom, Professor Li, who was specifically responsible for analyzing the psychological profiles of high-value targets.

"Old Li, what do you think?"

Professor Li pushed up the thick-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, closed his notebook, and stood up.

His expression was very strange, as if he were holding back a shocking secret, or perhaps as if he felt he had gone crazy.

"Chief, leaders."

Professor Li swallowed, his voice a bit dry. "What I'm about to say might challenge your materialist worldview. But once you eliminate all the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how absurd, must be the truth."

He walked to the whiteboard, wrote the two characters "Jiang Chen," and drew a circle around them.

"We analyzed all of Jiang Chen's behavioral logic and discovered an extremely incongruous point."

"His attitude toward these black technologies."

Professor Li pointed to the black hard drive. "Everyone, if you had developed 6G, what would you do? You would treat it like a treasure, you would hold out for a high price, right?"

"But what about Jiang Chen? He called it 'trash'."

"He even traded half a steamed bun for two jin of high-purity gold, then sold the gold to a jewelry store as scrap metal."

"He parked that mecha, which could change the landscape of ground warfare, on the roof as an 'inflatable model'."

"This attitude isn't faked." Professor Li took a deep breath, his eyes burning with fervor. "It's a genuine, heartfelt—contempt."

"Just like we wouldn't treat a ballpoint pen in our hands as a treasure, because in our eyes, it's just an industrial product that can be found everywhere."

General Qin Weiguo was stunned: "You mean..."

"My conclusion is—"

Professor Li wrote four characters heavily next to "Jiang Chen": [Higher Civilization].

"Jiang Chen is very likely not from Earth. Or rather, there is a massive force standing behind him that we cannot imagine—for example, a lost Galactic Empire."

"Boom!"

This sentence was like a depth charge, exploding in everyone's minds.

If anyone else had said this, they would have been carried out to a mental hospital long ago. But this was Professor Li, the most rational brain in the Dragon Kingdom.

"Galactic... Empire?" Dean Zhong muttered to himself, feeling his head buzzing.

"That's right."

Professor Li became more fluent as he spoke, his logic forming a closed loop. "This is the only way to explain why the technology he brings out is so varied, and yet all of it is the 'obsolete version'. Because for that empire, these might truly be elementary school handicraft assignments, or waste thrown into the trash can."

"His current behavior is using the 'trash' of a higher civilization to provide us with precise poverty alleviation!"

"He is looking down on us! Just like we are looking at a group of monkeys still drilling wood to make fire!"

The conference room fell into a dead silence again.

But this time, everyone's eyes had changed. From the initial confusion, it turned into shock, and finally into... uncontrollable excitement.

If it was true.

Then the Dragon Kingdom had really latched onto a golden thigh this time! And one studded with diamonds at that!

"Ahem."

The old man at the head of the table coughed lightly, interrupting everyone's reverie.

He stood up, scanned the room, and the majestic aura of someone who had long held a high position erupted instantly.

"Regardless of whether he is a prince of the Galactic Empire or a savior who traveled back from the future."

"First of all, he has the face of a Dragon Kingdom citizen. He speaks the Chinese language. The things he brings out are helping the Dragon Kingdom, not the Eagle Nation."

"That is enough."

The old man made the final decision, his tone resolute:

"Pass on my order!"

"From this day forward, Jiang Chen's security level is raised to 'Special Grade', the same level as the nuclear button!"

"Whatever he wants, we give him. If he wants to play, we will accompany him. Even if he says tomorrow that he wants to build a Star Destroyer to unify the Milky Way Galaxy..."

The old man's eyes flashed with intensity, and he slapped his palm heavily on the table:

"Then we will mobilize the entire nation to help him tighten the screws!"

"As long as his heart is with the Dragon Kingdom, this sky will not collapse!"

General Qin Weiguo and Dean Zhong looked at each other, stood up simultaneously, and saluted.

"Yes!"

After the meeting, General Qin Weiguo did not leave immediately but leaned over to the old man, a slightly "unbecoming" smile on his face.

"Um... Chief."

General Qin Weiguo rubbed his hands together. "Since Mr. Jiang might be that... prince. Young people are full of vigor, you know. Do you think we should... care a bit more about his personal life?"

"I think that young comrade Academician Chen Shuyin is quite good. She's an academician, they have common interests, and she's quite pretty too."

The old man glanced at him and laughed crossly:

"You old thing, are you pimping for a national treasure now?"

However, the old man paused and added meaningfully: "However, for the sake of passing on excellent genes... you handle this matter. There is only one principle: don't wrong the girl, and don't let Mr. Jiang feel that we are using a honey trap."

"Got it! I understand! This is called free love!"

General Qin Weiguo chuckled, saluted, and ran off.

...

At this very moment.

Yunding Villa, Villa No. 1.

Jiang Chen was lying on the bed, completely unaware that he had been brain-supplemented by the officials into being a "prince of the Galactic Empire", and even less aware that the country was preparing to arrange a blind date for him "for the future of humanity".

He had a headache right now.

A very bad headache.

Because that "special prey" who had been tied up in various ways by the Empress—that blonde foreigner—had woken up.

And, this woman's identity seemed a bit off.

After the rag in her mouth fell out, the first sentence she shouted wasn't for help, nor was it an F-word.

It was a warning delivered in a heavy mechanical voice that made Jiang Chen's scalp tingle:

"Warning! Unknown carbon-based life form detected."

"I am a 7th-generation combat android of the Gaia Civilization, codenamed 'Valkyrie'."

"Attempting to connect to SkyNet... Connection failed."

"Initiating self-destruct sequence... 10 seconds to countdown."

Jiang Chen: "???"

You aren't human? You're a robot?!

And you're going to self-destruct on my bed?!"