17: Chapter 17 Supercomputing Center Launch

He suddenly wanted to ask himself a question: “What exactly are you doing every day?”

For so many years, he had been accustomed to living alone: shopping alone, eating alone, watching movies alone, playing games alone… as if life should be this way.

Until recently, many people suddenly appeared in his life, so many that he still couldn’t remember some of their names. As those familiar and unfamiliar faces flashed through his mind, he really wanted to ask himself:

“What exactly are you doing? Why has life become like this?”

“Aren’t you usually most annoyed by crowds? Aren’t you usually most afraid of trouble?”

“How could this be?”

Most importantly, everyone was looking at him.

His destiny had unknowingly become intertwined with everyone else’s.

He had inadvertently become the spiritual leader and hope for everyone.

In everyone’s perception, he had gradually been deified: deified into a prophet, deified into a savior, deified into the only hope that could lead them to the future.

But he knew that he was still his original self. His heart, perhaps, was not yet ready to bear such a weight.

However, he was already unable to control it; he had no choice.

…

“Commander, the Supercomputing Center has been deployed and debugged, and all construction personnel have withdrawn. The control system program has been packaged. Should it be pushed for installation?” Xiao Lin suddenly spoke.

“Install.” Xiao Lin’s words pulled Oriental Chen back from his thoughts, and he replied.

“Understood, Commander.” Xiao Lin replied.

One hour later…

“Commander, the control system program has been deployed. Should it be run?” Xiao Lin asked.

“Run!” Oriental Chen replied.

“Understood, Commander, the program has started…”

“Congratulations, Commander, the Supercomputing Center has been successfully deployed. Would you like to connect?” Xiao Lin said.

“Connect.” Oriental Chen replied.

“Understood.”

Then the status prompts on the screen kept flashing:

Sending command…

Verifying…

Authorization status normal…

Satellite signal normal…

Distributing keys…

Logging in…

Login successful!

With the appearance of the words “Login successful,” the screen shifted, and the outline of a Space Station, sketched by blue lines, appeared on the screen.

The Space Station at this time was clearly divided into three modules. Two short, one long. The long module was estimated to be about four times the length of the other two.

The longest module was displayed in yellow, with a large number in the middle: 83%.

It seemed that this largest module was the Central Hall.

“Xiao Lin, can the view be rotated?” Oriental Chen asked.

“Yes, Commander. Since augmented reality technology has not yet been developed, you cannot directly rotate the view yourself. You can only operate through me. You can tell me the desired rotation angle, and I will help you adjust it.” Xiao Lin replied.

“Then forget it, it’s too much trouble. I’ll make do with this for now.” Oriental Chen waved his hand.

“Understood, Commander.” Xiao Lin replied.

“Once the Supercomputing Center is activated, can I connect to the Bee Queen?” Oriental Chen asked.

The Bee Queen’s matter was of paramount importance and could not be taken lightly.

“Yes, Commander, the Bee Queen has been successfully connected. You can view her at any time on the panel.” Xiao Lin replied.

“Hmm, then switch to the Bee Queen panel.” Oriental Chen was too lazy to go over and click the mouse, so he commanded.

“Understood, Commander.” Xiao Lin replied.

Then the large screen flashed, and an enlarged projection of a spider appeared in the center of the screen.

“How many Bee Ants have been manufactured so far?” Oriental Chen asked.

“Commander, 247 have been manufactured.” Xiao Lin replied.

“It’s still a bit slow. What’s the next plan?” Oriental Chen asked.

“Reporting to Commander, once the number of Bee Ants meets the construction requirements, the next plan is to use the Bee Ants to build a geothermal power generation room to ensure the stability of the base’s power system. In addition, once the Space Station’s Central Hall is completed, the experimental module can be constructed.” Xiao Lin reported.

“Very good, then let’s do that.” Oriental Chen nodded.

Other things could wait, but power had to be dealt with first. As the virus continued to spread, the power supply system would eventually fail. The power generation room had to be built before problems arose. Otherwise, the base would be plunged into darkness, and the air would not circulate, making it impossible for people to stay, and chaos would ensue.

…

At this moment, outside the base, the entire West District Development Zone was in chaos.

The streets were filled with running zombies, shouting crowds, and the sound of gunfire.

On a certain street.

“Luo’er, are you alright?” A man saw his Sister fall and quickly helped her up, asking.

“Brother, I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt at all.” The Sister said calmly, looking at her scraped hand.

“Alright, then let’s hurry.” The man didn’t bother to stop the Sister’s bleeding and continued to run, holding her hand.

The road was already heavily congested, and walking was the only way to get around.

“Brother, do we really have to go to Funing District?” The Sister didn’t move, pulling her brother and asking.

“Yes! Haven’t we already agreed?” The man replied anxiously.

“Brother, I suddenly don’t want to go. Why don’t you go alone?” The Sister said, suddenly shedding tears.

“Why? Luo’er? Why don’t you suddenly want to go?” The man was confused and asked.

“Nothing. Brother, I just don’t want to go. I just want to stay at home, I don’t want to go anywhere. Don’t worry about me, go by yourself.” The Sister pulled away from the man’s hand and pushed her brother, saying.

“If you don’t go, what would I go for alone? Since you don’t want to go, then let’s go home!” The man saw that the Sister wouldn’t move, so he also decided not to move.

“No! Brother, I want to be alone.” The Sister refused.

“Luo’er, what’s wrong with you today? Why have you suddenly become so strange?” The man was very puzzled and anxious.

“Nothing. I just feel that you’ve been taking care of me for so many years, and it’s really troublesome. I’m already this old, and I want my own space. It’s really inconvenient for you to be by my side.” Luo’er said.

“But you’re different! How can you manage without someone to take care of you?” The man said anxiously.

“Brother, I can take care of myself! Please give me some private space, okay?” Luo’er cried.

“Okay, okay, okay! Don’t cry, don’t cry. How about this, I’ll take you back first, okay?” The man said with concern.

The Sister nodded, not speaking. The man helped the Sister turn around to go back. Just as he took a step, the Sister fainted.

“Luo’er, Luo’er!” The man quickly laid the Sister down and shouted loudly.

The Sister frowned, her expression very pained.

The man hurriedly took out medicine from his pocket and fed it to the woman.

Five minutes later, the Sister recovered and opened her eyes.

“Brother. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” The Sister cried miserably, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Silly girl, what are you apologizing for! As long as you’re well, that’s all that matters.” The man indicated it was alright.

The Sister shook her head, indicating she didn’t agree with the man’s words, and said:

“Brother. I’m afraid I can’t go on. Don’t worry about me, just leave quickly by yourself.”

“You girl! What are you saying? I have your medicine with me; you’ll be fine. Besides, can your brother abandon you and leave alone?” The man pretended to complain angrily.

The Sister continued to shake her head, her eyes filled with reluctance, and continued:

“Brother, I won’t hide it from you now. I suspect I’ve been infected! You won’t be able to get out of West District with me.”

“No, no! You have a heart condition; it must be an attack!” The man firmly denied it.

“Brother, listen to me. I know my own condition. I can no longer feel pain, and I might fall unconscious very soon. You should go quickly, otherwise we’ll both die here.” The Sister explained.

Not being able to feel pain is a typical symptom of being infected with the neurotropic virus. Affected by the virus, the patient’s brain’s pain center may be damaged. The virus prevention and control team would popularize relevant content through various internet platforms and media, so everyone basically knew about it.

“I don’t care! If we die, we die together!” The man said unequivocally.

After speaking, the man picked up the Sister and ran back.

Zombies chasing people would appear on the road from time to time.

The man, holding the Sister, couldn’t go home and couldn’t get out of West District, so he could only find a deserted place to hide first.

In his desperate flight, he also ran into Binjiang Park.

“Luo’er, just hold on a little longer. Let’s find a place to rest as soon as possible.” The man said while running, sweating profusely and breathing heavily.