16: Chapter 16 A Small Lesson, A Spark of Civilization

"Are you finished?"

She walked up to Qi Ming, looking at his collar, which was still dripping with water, her eyes dark and unreadable.

Qi Ming felt a chill run down his spine under her gaze, and he subconsciously took a step back.

Suddenly, Qi Yin reached out and lightly tapped her fingertip against his soaking wet collarbone.

"Argh!"

Qi Ming let out a sudden shriek and clutched his neck, feeling a piercing pain and a burning sensation on the skin that had touched the water.

He couldn't describe exactly what it felt like; it was as if he had been seared by a red-hot iron, yet simultaneously frozen to the point of necrosis by ice.

Qi Yin ignored him and turned to the pale-faced Qi Mingyuan.

"First, those 2.5 billion, and even more, were given to me by my grandmother. They have absolutely nothing to do with The Qi Family."

"Second, how I spend my own money is my own business; it is not your place to tell me what to do."

"Furthermore!"

Qi Yin's voice dropped low, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

"If you dare to step foot in my house again, or try to scheme for that money once more, it won't just be a water bottle that gets shattered, and it won't just be a bit of skin that gets frozen!"

Her gaze swept over Qi Mingyuan's legs: "I hear that arthritis is very sensitive to the cold?"

Qi Mingyuan shuddered violently at her gaze and words, nearly falling down again.

Since when had his docile daughter seemed to become a different person? Now, she looked more like a demon from hell.

Qi Mingyuan felt that the strange events occurring in the house tonight were absolutely related to Qi Yin, but he had no proof.

Qi Yin pointed at the door: "Get out!"

Immediately, Qi Mingyuan and Qi Ming scrambled out the door as if granted amnesty, not daring to look back even once.

Closing the door, Qi Yin leaned against the wall, shutting out the cold air outside and the nauseating presence of that father-son duo from The Qi Family.

In her past life, she had been blinded by the image of Qi Mingyuan as a loving father and had never realized that he was actually just a useless vase.

As for Qi Ming, he hadn't changed; he had always been a useless, good-for-nothing second-generation heir.

Looking at the residual ice stains on the floor, a cold curve tugged at the corners of Qi Yin's mouth.

Trying to use moral kidnapping? Sorry, this time, she had no morals.

After the Apocalypse, these so-called family ties and morals were the most worthless trash.

After this confrontation, The Qi Family remained quiet for several days, and even Lu Yingman, who loved to stir up trouble, quieted down significantly.

Qi Yin was glad they were keeping to themselves, and she shifted the focus of her resource hoarding from physical supplies to "soft resources."

Having experienced the Apocalypse once, she knew better than anyone that in the Apocalypse, a bottle of antibiotics could save a life, and food was a necessity for human survival.

But resources were ultimately very limited and would eventually run out.

When that time came, how would they produce the next batch of antibiotics, how would they grow food, and how would they repair machines or even reignite the civilization of the past?

Qi Yin slipped into her space, carrying a plate of fresh fruit into a bedroom on the second floor of the ancient castle.

Last night, she had specifically cleared out this room and renovated it.

To store massive data resources, the entire room had been electromagnetically shielded and equipped with an independent power supply and cooling system.

Besides that, she had also fleeced Xiao Sinian, getting her hands on their NAS arrays and offline hard drive libraries.

With everything ready, Qi Yin crossed her legs, tasting the sweet fruit while sweeping through the existing human civilization.

On the huge electronic screen, countless windows flickered and ran simultaneously, like a wartime intelligence center.

Books and paper databases related to agricultural production technology, such as "Complete Collection of Soilless Cultivation Techniques" and "Greenhouse Construction Technology," were being frantically downloaded by the program with the highest authority.

Massive medical databases, ranging from theory to practice, were classified and stored.

Engineering technical materials covering everything from daily repairs to infrastructure construction were running and downloading on the screen.

The importance of chemical engineering and materials went without saying, so everything was saved.

There were also backups of the crystallization of civilization, such as global encyclopedias, world history, literary classics, and so on, all preserved digitally.

Dense lines of code ran frantically; this was practically a ransacking of the human knowledge base.

But this was far from enough. Qi Yin knew that digital information was fragile, and even with the best storage methods, she had to guard against the possibility of data loss due to hardware damage and other reasons.

Therefore, Qi Yin turned the most critical technical materials, especially those regarding agriculture, medicine, energy, and basic industry, into physical books using special moisture-proof paper.

Placed inside her space, she would never have to fear losing them.

However, with such large-scale, high-authority data downloads, no matter how careful Qi Yin was, she inadvertently triggered an alarm.

At this moment, at the National Cybersecurity Monitoring Center.

"Sir, an abnormal data stream has been detected," a technician reported.

"Multiple super-high authority access requests targeting our national agricultural, medical, and other databases. The data volume is massive. The IP has gone through multiple layers of redirection, and it is suspected to point to the country's number one conglomerate!"

The officer frowned: "Xiao Conglomerate? Why would they download so much technical material? The access method doesn't look like commercial espionage; it looks more like they want to empty the entire database?"

"Sir, do we need to investigate further and issue a warning?"

The officer pondered for a moment: "Don't alert the enemy. Mark the IP, raise the monitoring level, and let's see what they are trying to do first."

Qi Yin was focused on dealing with the threats before her and preparing for the Apocalypse, never expecting that her actions had already attracted the attention of the national level.

An invisible crisis quietly began to spread toward Qi Yin.

Everyone knew that knowledge was power, but the process of acquiring knowledge itself could sometimes bring huge risks.

Qi Yin stood before the massive data network, the green indicator lights flickering like stars, representing the countless crystallizations of human wisdom that were constantly converging here.

And these intangible things would become the spark for the restart of human civilization after the Apocalypse.

While she was frantically hoarding knowledge, Qi Yin suddenly remembered one crucial thing.

Wasn't her weapon stockpile still insufficient? In her memory fragments, a batch of "Super Weapons" that altered the balance of local power appeared in the later stages of the Apocalypse.

Among them, the one that left the deepest impression on her was a miniaturized electromagnetic pulse weapon codenamed "Stinger."

Unlike traditional large bombs capable of destroying entire cities, "Stinger" was more precise, though its effective range was only a few dozen to a few hundred meters.

But its pulse intensity was sufficient to instantly fry all unprotected electronic equipment within its range, while causing no damage to personnel or buildings.

This thing was extremely effective when used against hostile factions highly dependent on electronic equipment or certain special Mutated Zombies and plants.

However, she vaguely remembered that the core technology of "Stinger" seemed to originate from a small, bankrupting research institute before the Apocalypse.

But this small research institute couldn't attract investment because its research concepts were too advanced and consumed massive amounts of funds.

The chief scientist, Dr. Chen, was a permanent researcher and a stubborn old man, but when the Apocalypse broke out, Dr. Chen and his semi-finished research disappeared in the chaos.

Qi Yin's heart stirred, as if she had made a certain resolution.

She must find him; she must obtain "Stinger" or even earlier prototypes and materials!