23: Breakthrough! This technology could create a second world!

When Lu Chen's question, filled with seriousness and danger, clearly reached Wang Peng's ears, the lively and noisy atmosphere in the barbecue restaurant instantly felt as if an invisible large hand had gripped its throat.

The hand Wang Peng used to grip the beer bottle suddenly stiffened.

For the first time, a look of... struggle appeared on his face, which was usually plastered with a cheerful grin.

Life-threatening danger?

Changing the world?

These words were simply too distant and too heavy for an eighteen-year-old boy whose mind was only filled with games and basketball.

He looked at his good brother's eyes, which were calm, even terrifying, and an inexplicable chill rushed from the soles of his feet straight up to his head!

He knew Lu Chen wasn't joking.

Silence.

A long silence.

It lasted so long that the lamb skewers on the grill began to sizzle and emit black smoke.

Finally—

Wang Peng seemed to have made some kind of decision, and with a 'bang,' he slammed the beer bottle in his hand onto the table!

"Damn it!"

His face flushed red as he roared, as if trying to cheer himself up!

"What is there to be afraid of knowing?"

"You're my brother! If the sky falls, I'll hold it up with you!"

"Tell me, I'm listening!"

However, seeing his 'ready to die' appearance, Lu Chen laughed.

He shook his head, picked up a perfectly charred chicken wing skewer, and handed it to Wang Peng.

"Forget it."

His tone returned to its usual relaxed state.

"For some things, ignorance is bliss."

"You just need to remember that I'm still me. That's enough."

Wang Peng froze.

He looked at Lu Chen, opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to ask something else.

But, seeing Lu Chen's undeniable gaze, he ultimately swallowed his words.

He silently accepted the chicken wing skewer and took a fierce bite.

For some reason, the chicken wings tasted particularly... bitter today. The day of 'shore leave' quickly came to an end.

Bidding farewell to the still somewhat disappointed Wang Peng, Lu Chen once again got into the black, bulletproof Volkswagen.

Outside the car window, the city neon lights flashed past.

Lu Chen leaned back in the rear seat, closing his eyes, seemingly napping.

But his consciousness had long since sunk into the depths of his mind.

He was waiting.

Waiting for a sacred moment that arrived punctually every week!

As the vehicle was about to enter the final Security Gate of the Kunlun Mountain Underground Base.

The moment the electronic clock on the wall steadily jumped to [Monday, 00:00]!

[Ding—]

The cold and familiar mechanical synthesized voice arrived as expected!

[The future technology system has refreshed.]

[Now infusing this week's Black Technology into the Host...]

Boom!

A massive, complex super information torrent—larger and more intricate than the previous two combined—instantly flooded his entire consciousness like a breached universe!

"Ugh!"

Lu Chen groaned, and a layer of fine cold sweat instantly seeped out on his forehead!

If the first 'Room-Temperature Superconductivity' was like a small stream.

And the second 'Graphene Battery' was like a river.

Then the knowledge infused into his mind this time was... a boundless, vast ocean!

From brain science to neuronics, from information encoding to virtual engines, from sensory simulation to consciousness uploading... countless pieces of cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary knowledge, even exceeding the limits of human imagination, collided and merged frantically within his brain!

This 'Empowerment' lasted for a full ten minutes!

When the information torrent finally subsided.

Lu Chen was completely soaked, as if he had just been pulled out of the water!

His face was paper-white, and his breathing was rapid, like that of a dying patient!

[Infusion complete.]

[This week's Black Technology: Neural Interface Immersive Virtual Reality Technology (Complete Version)]

When he clearly saw what the refreshed technology was this time!

Lu Chen's pupils, which had been somewhat scattered due to the intense pain, instantly constricted to the extreme!

An unprecedented surge of ecstasy and shock, more intense than any previous time, exploded in his heart like a nuclear blast!

Virtual Reality!

And not the 'Pseudo-VR' on the market, where you wear a clumsy helmet and look at a heavily pixelated screen!

But... technology that uses a Neural Interface to directly connect human consciousness to the virtual world!

One hundred percent fidelity!

One hundred percent immersion!

You can breathe, run, touch, and feel inside it... you can even experience Extraordinary Power that you could never experience in the real world!

This... this is no longer just 'technology'!

This is... creating an entirely new world!

A Second World, parallel to the real one!

Lu Chen clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails nearly digging into his flesh, yet he didn't notice!

His body trembled slightly from extreme excitement!

He realized it!

He instantly realized the terrifying, nearly infinite application prospects of this technology!

Entertainment?

Gaming?

Those are just its most superficial and boring applications!

Use it to simulate the most complex surgeries, allowing novice doctors tens of thousands of risk-free practice opportunities!

Use it to simulate the most extreme battlefield environments, allowing our soldiers to conduct the most brutal and realistic combat drills in the virtual world!

Use it to simulate the most advanced scientific experiments! Such as... Controlled Nuclear Fusion!

In the real world, one failed experiment could cause billions in losses, or even a massive catastrophe!

But in the virtual world... we can test and fail infinitely, at zero cost!

What a terrifying super accelerator this will provide for the technological development of Xia Country!

"Mr. Lu Chen? What's wrong?!"

From the driver's seat, Qin Feng noticed Lu Chen's abnormality through the rearview mirror and asked anxiously.

"I'm fine."

Lu Chen slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, forcefully suppressing the heart that was practically leaping out of his chest!

The calmness returned to his face.

But deep within his black eyes, a flame of madness burned, one powerful enough to make the entire world tremble!

He knew that the day this technology was unveiled.

The entire world order would be completely changed!

He picked up the Internal Communication Phone in the car and dialed the highest-level number directly.

The call was answered almost instantly.

"Hello? Lu Chen?" Long Weiguo's voice, tinged with sleepiness, came from the other end.

Clearly, the busy Director Long had just laid down.

"Director Long, are you asleep?" Lu Chen's tone was calm, yet carried a hint of undeniable command.

"Not yet, what is it?"

"Don't sleep."

Lu Chen looked out the window at the Kunlun Mountain Base, which lay dormant like a giant beast in the dark night, and said clearly, word by word:

"Immediately call all the core members of the Pangu Project and wake them up!"

"I have a... new toy."

"I'd like to invite you all... to come play with it."