653: Chapter 648 Your Ambition

However, a faint, almost "knowing" smile appeared on Eva's face.

"I understand."

She nodded, as if merely confirming a trivial matter.

Shen Yan frowned.

"Don't you think... that by doing this, I am deceiving you?"

"Deceiving?"

Eva looked as if she had heard an amusing word.

"President Shen, you seem to have misunderstood one thing."

She took a step closer, her glasses reflecting the overhead lights.

"People like us have zero interest in who is number one in the world, who can monopolize the market, or who becomes the new hegemon."

"Leo only wants to use the strongest machines to run the most perfect models."

"Marcus only wants to use the best materials to create parts with zero tolerance."

"Dr. Hoffmann only wants to see the ultimate form of his theories with his own eyes before he dies."

"And I," she pointed to herself, "only want to find that perfect material that can achieve 'zero' resistance loss for electrons."

"We don't care much about the application of the results."

Her gaze was clear and pure.

"What we truly care about—or rather, our group's only obsession—is the process leading to the result."

"As long as we can walk this path without interference, whether you use our results to build a toaster or start a war is your business, not ours."

Shen Yan fell silent.

For the first time, he understood the mindset of these people so clearly.

They weren't madmen.

They were seekers of the Way.

Science was their Way.

And he was merely the one who cleared all obstacles from their path, allowing them to seek their Way with single-minded devotion.

Eva looked at him, seemingly feeling that the conversation could end.

She turned to leave, took two steps, but then stopped.

Without turning around, she left behind a faint remark.

"President Shen."

"Yes?"

"Actually, there was no need for you to put on that act this afternoon."

"You only needed to tell us your entire plan, just as you have now, in full detail."

"We would still work ourselves to the bone for you."

"Because your ambition happens to be large enough to contain our dreams."

After saying that, she paused and added one last sentence.

"Sometimes, sincerity is a more efficient weapon."

As her voice faded, her slender back disappeared through the laboratory door.

In the vast laboratory, only Shen Yan remained.

He stood there, motionless for a long time.

Outside the window, waves crashed against the embankment with a dull roar.

Sincerity?

He hadn't thought about that word in a long time.

From the moment he was betrayed by everyone, he had grown accustomed to arming himself with schemes and maneuvers, wrapping his true intentions in layer after layer.

He thought it was protection, a strategy.

But today, a scientist devoted to research had casually told him that perhaps it was just cowardice he didn't dare reveal.

Shen Yan slowly let out a breath, a wisp of white mist dissipating in the cold air.

He smiled.

In that smile, there was relief, and there was also a sharp edge.

Perhaps Eva was right.

When your power is enough to crush everything.

The most powerful weapon is to reveal all your cards and tell your opponents—and your teammates—that what I want is the entire table.

The wind of Jingluo Bay, carrying the salty stench and chill of the deep sea, blew across Shen Yan's cheeks.

Eva Chen's words were like an invisible chisel, carving new lines into his heart that had been wrapped in layers of disguise.

Sincerity.

A word that, in his past life's dictionary, was almost synonymous with "stupidity" and "suicide."

His Ex-wife's betrayal, shareholders running off with funds, and the mutual deception in the business world.

Everything he had experienced told him that the human heart is an abyss—untrustworthy and unpredictable.

Only absolute interests and unshakable strength are the foundations that maintain everything.

He had always thought he was doing well.

Until today.

A pure scientist had pointed out his deepest fear in the simplest way.

He wasn't setting a stage.

He just didn't dare expose his heart to someone else's blade.

Even if the other party was a most trusted comrade-in-arms he had personally selected.

Shen Yan shook his head in self-mockery.

He turned and glanced at the brightly lit dock laboratory behind him.

There, like a massive heart gestating a storm, every hum of the operating equipment was a powerful pulse.

Hoffmann, Leo, Marcus, Eva.

These people were not Employees he had hired with money.

They were pilgrims chasing the light of science.

And he, Shen Yan, wanted to borrow the light they chased to ignite a monstrous fire.

A fire sufficient to burn the old era to ashes and establish a new order.

To such a group of people, using interests to bind them or contracts to restrain them was an insult in itself.

Eva was right.

His ambition happened to be large enough to contain their dreams.

That was the most unbreakable alliance.

Shen Yan set off, walking toward the apartment building deep within the base.

The night was deep; his shadow was stretched long by the streetlights, then shortened under the next.

He had made a decision.

The next day.

Ten o'clock in the morning was the fixed break time.

Sustained high-intensity mental labor required a balance of tension and relaxation.

In the laboratory's common rest area, there was a rare touch of everyday life.

Leo Garcia was holding a mug larger than his head, pouring his third cup of espresso into it, muttering that there was still room for optimization in a data model from last night.

Marcus Rodriguez was surrounded by several mechanical Engineers, arguing heatedly over the internal etching scheme of a new reaction chamber on a tactical tablet, spit flying everywhere.

Dr. Hoffmann sat in a corner, wearing reading glasses, quietly reading a materials science journal; his occasionally furrowed brows showed he hadn't completely detached from work.

Eva Chen sat by the window, taking small sips of lemonade, her gaze fixed on the endless sea outside, lost in thought.

The entire space was filled with a peculiar atmosphere—a mix of exhaustion, excitement, and focus.

Shen Yan and Chen Guangke walked in.

Chen Guangke was carrying several large bags of food that had just been delivered from outside. Seeing the state of these people, he couldn't help but lower his voice.

"Yan Zi, are these people made of iron?"

"They worked until three or four in the morning, and today every one of them is still like they've been injected with chicken blood."

Shen Yan did not answer.

He walked straight to the center of the rest area.

His appearance caused the noisy discussions to gradually subside.

Everyone's gaze converged on him.

They thought this young financier was about to issue some new directive.

Shen Yan looked around, seeing these faces—some young, some old—but all without exception glowing with the light of wisdom.

He cleared his throat.

"Everyone, I'd like to take a bit of your break time."