191: Reunion

Xinghai University, Freshman Dormitory Area, Room 901.

Lin Zhou stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, gazing at the spectacle of the "xinghai dome" suspended in mid-air outside. On the pale blue energy shield flowed light patterns resembling a starry river—a top-tier facility the school had invested heavily in building. It could increase the time flow rate in the Divine Domain by 1.2 times. For a True God, this meant gaining nearly five extra hours of development time each day.

After the College Entrance Examination ended, Lin Zhou did not slack off during the summer vacation. After receiving congratulations from all sides in Cloud City and collecting his rewards as the top scholar, he devoted most of his time to consolidating and rebuilding his Divine Domain.

The pain from Elwin's sacrifice had not yet fully subsided, but the "Nurturing" status on the stele in the Temple of Civilization gave Lin Zhou hope. For this reason, he focused even more on improving his strength—only by reaching a higher Realm could he truly recall the heroic spirits who had sacrificed themselves for civilization.

"Ding-dong—"

The doorbell rang, interrupting Lin Zhou's thoughts.

Through the door monitor, Lin Zhou saw a familiar figure: a slender build, messy hair, thick black-rimmed glasses, and that iconic gray work uniform stained with oil and metal shavings. The bulging canvas backpack on his back was undoubtedly stuffed with various tools, blueprints, and experimental parts.

Li Mo.

This comrade-in-arms who fought alongside him in the final trial of the College Entrance Examination, the technical Genius who used the Mechanical Goblins' "Ballista" to open a path for the allied forces on the virtual battlefield, was now his university roommate.

Lin Zhou opened the door.

"Brother Lin!" As soon as Li Mo saw Lin Zhou, his eyes behind the glasses lit up—a pure, tech-enthusiast's gleam at meeting a kindred spirit. "When the System showed we were roommates, I almost blew up the lab—no, wait, I was so excited I jumped up and bumped into the distiller!"

He spoke rapidly, walking in as he talked, casually tossing his canvas backpack on the floor with a clatter of metal.

"The dorm conditions are pretty good! This Divine Domain access pod is the 'Star Sea-III' model, right? It comes with a third-level rule stabilizer, one tier higher than the military standard version!" Li Mo had already crouched by the access pod in the corner of the living room, his fingers tracing the energy patterns on its surface. "Give me two hours... no, one hour! I can install an external data port and boost the read speed by 15%!"

Lin Zhou watched this comrade who had calmly analyzed the hive structure and developed targeted weapons overnight during the final trial, now acting like a child with a new toy, and a slight smile touched his lips.

"Put your things away first," Lin Zhou said. "Your room is over there."

"Right, right, right!" Li Mo finally remembered the task at hand, picking up his backpack and heading to his room. In less than five minutes, he was back out, holding a thick stack of design blueprints with worn edges.

"Brother Lin, look at this!" He rushed straight to the coffee table, spreading out the blueprints. "My goblins and I have gone crazy these past two months of summer vacation—completely insane!"

The blueprint showed a complex cross-section of a mechanical structure, densely annotated with data and formulas. With a glance, Lin Zhou immediately recognized it as a preliminary design for some kind of large-scale energy conduction device.

"Based on what we discovered dealing with the hive during the trial," Li Mo adjusted his glasses, his tone turning serious, "that 'Chaos' whisper that can dissolve will is essentially a high-level rule contamination. My goblin engineers conducted 137 experiments—blew up 36 labs, severely damaged and repaired 89 monitoring devices—and finally captured a bit of a pattern."

He pulled out a data log sheet covered in various waveform diagrams and energy readings.

"Look here," Li Mo pointed to a peak in the chart. "When the 'Chaos' fluctuation forms a specific resonance with the inherent frequency of a mechanical construct, the contamination effect amplifies by 300%. But conversely—" he pulled out another chart, "if we pre-embed a reverse-phase rule buffer layer in the mechanical core, we can weaken the contamination by over 40%!"

Lin Zhou took the charts and examined them carefully. The data was detailed, the experimental records complete, even noting the yield of each explosion and damage assessments. This rigorous yet crazy research style was very Li Mo.

"So you designed this large buffer device?" Lin Zhou looked at the core blueprint.

"Not just a buffer!" Li Mo's eyes gleamed. "It's conversion! Brother Lin, remember how your Fire of Civilization can burn away falsehoods? My goblins proposed a hypothesis—if we simulate certain features of the 'Order' rule with a mechanical structure, then embed the basic Confucian rune 'Zheng' and Legalist rune 'Lü' we learned from you, could we create a device that actively converts 'Chaos' contamination into inert energy?"

He grew more excited as he spoke, his fingers moving rapidly over the blueprint. "Look at this energy circuit design: a three-layer nested structure. The first layer uses the 'Zheng' rune to build a filter net, stripping emotional impurities; the second layer uses the 'Lü' rune to establish an Order framework, forcing chaotic energy to flow according to rules; the third layer is the mechanical compression and storage!"

Lin Zhou was slightly moved. This line of thinking was no longer just technical innovation—it touched the essence of Rule Application. The talent of the Mechanical Goblins was indeed fearsome. They might not understand profound philosophical ideas, but they had an almost instinctive intuition for the manifestations and manipulability of rules.

"What's the success rate?" Lin Zhou asked the key question.

Li Mo's expression froze, and his hand paused on his glasses. "Uh... the theoretical model shows a 17.3% success rate. But in actual testing..."

"How many explosions?"

"Thirty... thirty-four." Li Mo's voice grew quieter. "The best run lasted 8.2 seconds, achieving 3.7% of the theoretical conversion efficiency, then the core overloaded and blew half the testing ground sky-high."

He scratched his messy hair, somewhat dejected. "The material strength isn't enough, rune compatibility is still too low, energy circuit stability is poor... loads of problems. My goblins run at the sight of this project now, saying they'd rather go mining than get blown up again."

Lin Zhou looked at the blueprint, After a moment of contemplation.

"The The approach is correct., but the direction needs adjustment," he said. "'Chaos' is high-level rule contamination. Trying to Forced simulation Order rules with a mechanical structure is like using wood to block a flood. We should change the approach—not simulation, but guidance and diversion."

Li Mo immediately looked up. "Guidance?"

"In Daoist thought, there's the saying, 'The highest good is like water; water benefits all things without contention,'" Lin Zhou said slowly. "Water flows around obstacles and fills low areas. Your device doesn't need to be so 'hard.' Design it as a multi-layered, flexible guidance structure. The first layer isn't filtration, but identification and marking; the second layer performs Targeted diversion based on the markers; the third layer handles energy of different properties with targeted processing."

He extended a finger, tracing imaginary lines on the blueprint. "For example, direct emotion-filled malicious energy into a specially designed 'Cooling Pool,' slowly purifying it with the School of Medicine's 'Qingxin' rune; channel pure chaotic rule energy into a 'Compression Array' for temporary storage—it might be useful later."

Li Mo stared blankly at the blueprint, mouth slightly agape. After a few seconds, he jumped up abruptly. "Right! Why didn't I think of that! If you can't hard fight, go around! Layered processing! Targeted guidance! Brother Lin, this idea of yours... brilliant!"

He immediately rummaged through his backpack, pulled out an electronic drawing tablet, and began Modify design drawings with fast fingers on the screen, muttering to himself. "First layer uses high-sensitivity resonant crystal arrays—costly but Sufficient recognition accuracy... Second layer guidance channels use flexible memory alloy, deformable to adapt to different energy properties... Third layer needs three processing zones; Cooling Pool material should use cold jade base..."

Lin Zhou watched his A focused look, recalling how Li Mo had Modify the ballista design overnight in the trenches during the final trial. Once this tech fanatic got into the zone, he forgot everything around him.

Ten minutes later, Li Mo let out a long breath, looked up, his eyes gleaming even brighter. "Theoretical model recalculated... success rate increased to 41.6%! And even if it fails, the explosion yield can be reduced by 70%! Feasible! This plan is feasible!"

He turned the electronic drawing tablet toward Lin Zhou. The screen now showed a Brand new 3D design drawings. Though still a sketch, the structure was much clearer, with the layered concept Throughout.

"But there's a problem," Li Mo suddenly frowned. "The flexible guidance channels require a material that can simultaneously carry mechanical signals and rule fluctuations. None of the alloys in my goblin lab can do it—either the rule conductivity is too low, or the physical strength isn't enough."

Lin Zhou thought for a moment, then sank his Divine Thought into his own Divine Domain.

In the Tian Gong Institute, Fire Hammer was leading the dwarf craftsmen in testing the newly developed 'Spirit Pattern Steel.' This material, forged with simple 'Toughness' and 'Conductivity' runes, had decent physical properties and could carry low-level rule power. Though it didn't yet meet the Advanced compatibility Li Mo required, it might provide a Ideas.

Lin Zhou transmitted the formula data and sample properties of the 'Spirit Pattern Steel' to Li Mo via Divine Thought.

Li Mo's personal terminal immediately chimed with a notification. He opened the data, browsed it quickly, and his eyes widened in astonishment.

"Rune Forging Method... the balanced ratio of physical properties and rule-bearing capacity... the nesting method of this 'Guide' rune... Genius! This line of thinking is absolutely Genius!" He suddenly grabbed Lin Zhou's arm, "Brother Lin! Let your dwarven masters collaborate with my goblin engineers! We can definitely develop that ideal material!"

"Agreed." Lin Zhou nodded, "However, formal joint research will have to wait until the society's structure stabilizes. Settle in these next few days; I also have some procedures to handle."

"No problem! I can wait!" Li Mo excitedly rubbed his hands together, "By the way, Brother Lin, during the summer break I made something—"

He pulled out a metal box from deep within his backpack. Opening it revealed a fist-sized, multifaceted crystal covered in intricate patterns.

"This is the 'Tactical Rule Analyzer' prototype," Li Mo carefully picked up the crystal, "Based on various combat data collected during trials, combined with the foundational principles of the Hundred Schools of Thought you gave me before, my goblins attempted to program it. It can analyze enemy Divine Domain rule characteristics in real-time during battle and provide countermeasures."

He handed the crystal to Lin Zhou: "But right now it can only identify twelve common rule types, with about 68% accuracy. And it consumes massive energy; a full charge lasts about ten minutes."

Lin Zhou took the crystal and extended his Divine Thought into it. Inside was a complex micro-rune array and data processing core, clearly bearing the distinct style of Mechanical Goblins—rugged, direct, but effective.

"Tested in actual combat?" Lin Zhou asked.

"Had a match with Zhao Hao's dragon." Li Mo chuckled, "Successfully identified the dual characteristics of 'Intimidation' and 'Fear' within the 'Dragon Might' rule, suggesting using the Confucian 'Vast Righteous Qi' to counteract it. The effect was good; Zhao Hao's Dragon Might suppression was weakened by about 30%."

Zhao Hao... Lin Zhou remembered that youth with the Dragon Divine Domain whom he had defeated and ultimately befriended during the high school league. He also got into Xinghai University, reportedly in the War College.

"Does Zhao Hao know you analyzed him like this?" Lin Zhou asked.

"He knows; he almost blasted me with Dragon Breath." Li Mo adjusted his glasses, feigning innocence, "But data doesn't lie. And I promised to help design a 'Dragon Scale Optimization Coating' for his dragon next time to improve fire resistance, so he calmed down."

Lin Zhou looked at the analyzer in his hand, then at the blueprints on the coffee table, and finally at this comrade before him, whose eyes shone with pure intellectual curiosity.

Li Mo's value far exceeded that of a mere technical Genius. His instinctive intuition for rules, rigorous attitude towards data, and that reckless, all-consuming drive for research were precisely the indispensable elements in Lin Zhou's future plans.

The Hundred Schools Society needed theorists, needed warriors, and also needed technical officers who could translate ideas into tangible power.

"Li Mo," Lin Zhou began, "Once the society is formally established, I want you to head the 'Tian Gong Institute'."

Li Mo was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened: "T-Tian Gong Institute? Like the one in your Divine Domain?"

"Bigger." Lin Zhou said, "Not just researching Mechanical Arts, but also integrating Mechanical Engineering, Rule Application, rune forging, and even future Primordial Artifact Refining. We need to transform the Hundred Schools of Thought into tangible weapons, tools, and defense Systems."

Li Mo's breathing quickened, his fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of the coffee table—a habitual action when he was extremely excited.

"Can I... can I do it?" he asked, uncharacteristically lacking confidence, "My goblins only know mechanics; those profound ideas..."

"I'll provide the ideas; you implement the technology." Lin Zhou said calmly, "Just like earlier. What you lacked was a direction in Materials science. I gave you the direction, and you immediately designed a new plan. That's collaboration."

Li Mo was silent for over ten seconds, then nodded firmly: "Alright! Brother Lin, I'm with you! My goblins might blow things up often, but when it comes to hands-on ability and fearless spirit, they're absolutely top-notch!"

He stood up and paced around the living room, already planning: "The Tian Gong Institute needs a large testing ground, preferably with access to the school's 'Rule Safety Laboratory'... I need to redo the equipment list; what we have isn't enough... We also need to recruit more society members in technical fields—four major groups: mechanics, runes, energy, Materials..."

Seeing Li Mo already getting into the zone, Lin Zhou smiled and handed the tactical analyzer back to him.

"Keep improving this prototype. I hope it can be useful during the society's first group activity."

"No problem!" Li Mo took the crystal, treasuring it as he put it away, "Give me two weeks; I can push the accuracy above 80%! By the way, Brother Lin, how's the reconstruction of your Divine Domain going? Need help? My goblins are rough, but they're fast with basic construction, especially mining and laying pipes..."

"Not for now." Lin Zhou shook his head, "First, stabilize your own Divine Domain. The rule environment at Xinghai University is stronger than outside. Your Mechanical Goblins probably have a lot of room for upgrades."

"Speaking of which!" Li Mo got excited again, "My chief engineer, Glock, read the basic chapters of the Mohist 'The Exploitation of the Works of Nature' you gave me during the summer break and actually grasped the concept of 'Modular Design' on his own! Now our Steam Mechs have achieved core component commonality, reducing repair time by 60%!"

He eagerly projected an image from his Divine Domain to show Lin Zhou.

In the scene, a group of green-skinned goblins in overalls and goggles were busy around a three-meter-tall Steam Mech. The mech's arms could be quickly detached and replaced—swapping to a Ballista made it a ranged unit, swapping to a drill made it construction machinery. The goblins' coordination was orderly and highly efficient.

Lin Zhou noticed that in these goblins' eyes, besides the inherent cunning and greed of goblins, there was now a researcher's focus and fervor. It seemed Li Mo's guidance was successful; his Mechanical Goblins were transitioning from "chaotic inventors" to "rigorous engineers."

"Very good." Lin Zhou nodded, "Keep this direction. Once the Tian Gong Institute is established, your goblins can benchmark technology with my dwarves and learn from each other."

"Absolutely, absolutely!" Li Mo nodded repeatedly, then suddenly remembered something, "By the way, Brother Lin, Senior Qin Qing seems to have also gotten into Star Sea, in the Law College. Wang Meng is in the War College. Zhao Hao is also in the War College. Should we old comrades get together?"

Lin Zhou thought for a moment: "Wait until the official start of the semester. Everyone's busy right now."

"True." Li Mo checked the time, "Oh no, I have to report to the Engineering College! I have an 'Advanced Energy Mechanics' class this afternoon; can't be late!"

He frantically stuffed the blueprints back into his backpack, slung it on, and rushed for the door. At the doorway, he turned back: "Brother Lin, let's continue discussing the material problem for that Guidance Device tonight! I have a few new ideas!"

"Alright."

The door closed, and the living room returned to quiet.

Lin Zhou walked to the window, gazing at the flowing light patterns of the xinghai dome.

Li Mo, Zhao Hao, Qin Qing... These comrades met during high school and the College Entrance Examination trials were now gathering again at university. This might not be a coincidence, but a kind of inevitability.

The spread of the Hundred Schools of Thought needed like-minded companions. And these people each represented possibilities in different directions.

Li Mo's technical talent could translate ideas into tangible power.

Zhao Hao's traditional Dragon Divine Domain was the best control for testing the collision of new ideas with traditional Systems.

Qin Qing's Judgment Angel could verify the applicability of Legalist thought in higher-Order beings of Order.

As for Su Yueyao... Lin Zhou remembered that girl with a demeanor as cool as the moon, who had profound knowledge of Chinese civilization. The resonance between her Moon God Divine Domain and his own Fire of Civilization was still vivid in his memory. She was in the Archaeology College; perhaps she could unearth more fragments of civilization from history.

Everything was moving in a good direction.

But Lin Zhou hadn't forgotten the crisis the principal mentioned during the opening ceremony—the shadow of the "Void Sect," the threat from the Chaos Star Domain, the pressure the Human Race faced on the Star Realm Battlefield.

The four years of university were not just a time to learn knowledge and build influence, but also a critical period to prepare for the possible storms to come.

Lin Zhou's Divine Thought sank into his Divine Domain.

Within the fifty-square-kilometer Hundred Schools Divine Domain, Literary Heart Elves recited classics at Jixia Academy, Law Fishmen patrolled and enforced the law outside the temple, Tiangong Dwarves hammered at forges in the newly built workshops. The river of civilization flowed quietly above the Divine Domain; though just an illusion, it already made the Divine Domain's rules more stable.

Everything was operating in an orderly manner.

But Lin Zhou knew it wasn't enough.

The Xinghai University Freshman Cup Tournament was about to begin, and the Inter-College Championship was also in preparation. More importantly, there was the "Barrier Erosion" course—that would be key to obtaining the first piece of Private Star Realm Territory.

And all of this required a stable base, an organization that could gather like-minded individuals.