23: Chapter 23 Don't misunderstand, she's just after my technology (probably).

That needle, glinting with a cold light, was less than two centimeters from Jiang Chen's carotid artery.

Jiang Chen could even feel the chill radiating from the needle tip—a terrifying coldness enough to make any adult male cringe in fear.

"Stop! Hold it!"

Jiang Chen pressed his back hard against the lab bench behind him, holding his hands above his head in a standard French military salute. "Academician Chen, beautiful Academician Chen! Let's be reasonable. Do you understand sustainable development? Only a fool would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs!"

Academician Chen Shuyin's hand was steady, as steady as a precision surgical robot.

Her eyes, hidden behind her glasses, narrowed slightly, and a playful smirk hung on the corners of her lips. She had absolutely no intention of moving the needle away.

"I'm not killing the goose, I'm just drawing a little blood."

She took a step forward, her unique aura—a mix of cold aloofness and fanaticism—pressing down on Jiang Chen until he could barely breathe. "You said it yourself, I'm in research. Facing a perfect specimen with a possible genetic mutation, if I don't take a sample to analyze, I won't be able to sleep."

"What if..."

She lowered her voice, her breath gently spraying against Jiang Chen's ear. "What if you really are an alien?"

Jiang Chen felt his scalp tingle.

This woman is truly insane!

He had to find something else for her to do, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to keep this tube of blood today.

"Look over there!"

Jiang Chen pointed sharply at the half-disassembled android on the operating table and shouted, "That chip! The blue one! That's a quantum neuron core! If it's not put into the constant temperature tank immediately, it will oxidize and be ruined in five minutes!"

The effect of these words was immediate.

Academician Chen Shuyin, who just a moment ago looked like she was ready to "slice him up for research," suddenly froze.

"Quantum neuron?"

She turned her head, her gaze landing on the core component emitting a faint blue light.

As a top-tier expert, she naturally knew what this meant. It was the ceiling of computing power that Earth's scientists dreamed of conceptualizing but could never break through. If this thing were truly ruined, it would be a loss more painful than death to her.

"Damn it!"

Academician Chen Shuyin instantly tossed away the syringe in her hand. The face of the "perverted female doctor" vanished without a trace, replaced by an expression of heartache and anxiety.

She lunged toward the lab bench like a mother tiger protecting her cub, carefully picking up the chip with movements so gentle it was as if she were cradling the face of her first love.

"This structure... this packaging process..."

She murmured to herself, the fanaticism in her eyes even more intense than before. "It's too beautiful... This is the direction of evolution!"

Jiang Chen seized the opportunity to slip to the door, leaning against the doorframe and panting heavily, feeling his back soaked in cold sweat.

That was close.

He almost got forcibly drained of blood.

"Academician Chen," Jiang Chen asked tentatively, looking at the woman who was completely immersed in the world of the chip, still feeling a lingering fear. "This thing... should keep you busy for a while, right?"

Academician Chen Shuyin didn't even look up, just waved her hand dismissively. "Don't bother me. The logic gate design of this thing is too advanced. I need at least three months to build a mathematical model and run it."

"As for your blood..."

She pushed up her glasses, her tone carrying a hint of regret but mostly a rational trade-off. "Let's keep it stored in your body for now. After all, if you really are an agent of that 'Galactic Empire,' making you angry enough to cut off the supply of technology would be a loss for the country."

Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.

Good grief, so I'm just a tool to you, right?

"So, have we reached a consensus?"

Jiang Chen straightened his messy bathrobe, trying to regain a bit of his dignity as a "Father God." "In the future, for this kind of black technology, I'll be responsible for providing the ideas and the physical items, and you'll be responsible for..."

"I'll be responsible for fabricating a reasonable backstory for them."

Academician Chen Shuyin finally looked up, her eyes clear and sharp. "For example, for this android, I'll write a report saying it's a relic of a prehistoric civilization we discovered in deep-sea ruins, or the result of twenty years of secret research by Longke Academy. In any case, I won't let anyone slice you up."

She paused, looking at Jiang Chen, and a rare, sincere smile appeared on her face. "Jiang Chen, although you are a man full of mysteries and your private life is a total mess."

"But as long as you have this kind of technology in your hands..."

"You are the man I, Academician Chen Shuyin, want to 'possess' the most in this lifetime. Don't misunderstand, I'm referring to your brain and those stockpiles."

Jiang Chen rolled his eyes.

This explanation was worse than no explanation at all.

"Fine, you take your time researching. I'm going up to get some air."

Jiang Chen waved his hand and fled from the basement, which was filled with a cyber-maniac atmosphere.

Returning to the first floor, the night was already deep.

On the villa's terrace, the evening breeze carried a hint of chill, blowing away the cold sweat on Jiang Chen's body.

He sprawled on the rattan chair, looking at the bustling night view of Tianhai City in the distance, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag.

"Eating this 'soft rice'... is also a heart-pounding experience."

Jiang Chen exhaled a smoke ring, his mood somewhat complex.

Although having the country as a safety net is great, the people around him are none of them easy to deal with. General Qin Weiguo is an old fox who has become a spirit, Academician Chen Shuyin is a tech fanatic, plus that android that could self-destruct at any moment...

"My Wanqiu is still the best."

Jiang Chen sighed with emotion and reached for his phone.

A 2D waifu is still more worry-free. Although separated by a screen, that devotion where her heart and eyes are entirely on you is something these monsters and freaks in reality cannot give.

"Let's see what Wanqiu is doing. She should have enjoyed that sausage, right?"

Jiang Chen opened "Civilization Revival" with a fatherly smile on his face.

However.

The moment the screen lit up, that warm and healing atmosphere did not appear.

Instead, there was a suffocating sense of oppression.

The Wasteland world.

In the square of Dawn City, the campfire had already gone out, leaving only a few strands of miserable smoke.

The other survivors were nowhere to be seen, hiding far away as if avoiding a plague.

In the center of the screen, that silver-haired, red-eyed empress was standing alone in front of a huge granite rock.

She wasn't holding a weapon in her hand, but rather gripping that alloy battle blade with the rolled edge, and was... hacking at the stone.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Once, twice, three times.

Her movements were mechanical and stiff, every strike landing in the same spot, sending sparks flying.

That hard granite had already been chipped with a deep notch, stone fragments flying everywhere, even cutting her cheek, but she seemed completely unaware.

What made Jiang Chen feel most uneasy was the status bar above her head.

The originally pink [Mood: Extremely Joyful] had now turned a pitch-black color, and it was even emitting eerie black smoke.

[Status: Darkening...]

[Mood Value: -500 (Extremely Depressed/On the Verge of Rage)]

Jiang Chen's heart sank, and the cigarette in his hand almost fell into his lap.

What is this situation?

Wasn't she eating the sausage just fine a moment ago? How did she go from "full of gratitude" to "I want to kill someone" after just a short time offline?

Could the sausage have expired?

Just then, a line of blood-red system prompts slowly emerged at the bottom of the screen, every character looking like it had been drizzled with fresh blood:

[Alert!]

[Your believer Jiang Wanqiu, relying on her extraordinary sixth sense, has smelled the scent of another female creature around "Father God."]

[That is the fragrance belonging to a woman from the divine realm, different from the rotting smell of the Wasteland (Academician Chen Shuyin's perfume).]

[Jiang Wanqiu has fallen into deep self-doubt and intense jealousy.]

In the scene, Jiang Wanqiu suddenly stopped her movements.

She slowly raised her head, those originally clear red eyes now becoming deep and gloomy, staring straight at Jiang Chen outside the screen.

Even though it was just a pixelated character, Jiang Chen felt a chill down his back, as if his throat had been locked onto by a beast guarding its food.

Immediately after, a pitch-black dialogue box popped up:

[Jiang Wanqiu (Eerily): Father God...]

[Jiang Wanqiu: Who... is that woman?]

[Jiang Wanqiu: Is it because Wanqiu isn't good enough? Or is it... that her "sausage" tastes better than Wanqiu's?]