340: Chapter 340 The Perfect Positive Cycle

The night was like ink, staining the bustling lights of Jingzhou into a flowing river of light.

Inside the car on the return trip, it was silent.

Lin Yuan leaned back in the rear seat, watching the streetscape rapidly receding outside the window, but his thoughts returned to Ziguang Pavilion.

Everything was developing according to the perfect script he had preset.

An absolutely stable political rear was the cornerstone that allowed him to push forward all subsequent grand plans without distraction.

As for that remark from Elder Long, "The future era belongs to you"...

The corners of Lin Yuan's lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

The future?

No.

From the moment he made that decision, the present, past, and future of this era had already been firmly grasped in his palm.

He withdrew his gaze from the window and let it fall onto the matte black alloy briefcase on the seat beside him.

Inside the case, that mass of liquid metal prosthetic body, slowly wriggling like a living thing, was still quietly waiting for its host.

Lin Yuan's fingertips tapped lightly on his knee, his eyes deep.

...

Time passed quietly for a few days in this atmosphere of national fanaticism mixed with a strange quietness.

The storm brought by the press conference did not subside; instead, it permeated the daily lives of the 1.4 billion people of the Xia Kingdom in an even more peculiar way.

At this moment, the entire Xia Kingdom presented an unprecedented and peculiar scene.

During the day, white-collar workers in suits in office buildings, workers on factory assembly lines, and students in schools were still busy at their respective posts; the macro operation of the entire society was orderly, without the slightest chaos.

But if you observed carefully, you could discover that a kind of strange agitation was permeating the air everywhere.

In the office pantry, the opening line when colleagues met was no longer gossip about celebrities from last night or which stock had risen, but a sentence spoken in hushed tones:

"Hey, do you have a sense of Qi yet?"

During the factory lunch break, one could no longer see crowds gathered together playing cards or smoking.

One could always see twos and threes of fellow workers finding a sheltered corner or sitting on a cardboard box, legs crossed, eyes closed and focusing, muttering words under their breath.

And on major social media platforms, the popularity of the topic regarding the "Refining Essence into Qi Chapter" seemed welded to the top of the trending list, leaving everyone else in the dust.

"It worked, I succeeded! I finally cultivated a sense of Qi!"

A personal update without any embellishment was posted at midnight.

Just like that, a dry post, and the comment section below was completely flooded within a few short minutes.

"Congratulations to the fellow Daoist for successfully entering the path; there is one more companion on the road of Cultivation!"

"Holy crap! Another one succeeded? Worship the big shot! I'm coming to the comment section to soak up some immortal energy, praying for a breakthrough tonight!"

"Haha, I succeeded too! I succeeded too! Just finished meditating, I thought it was an illusion, but it really was a sense of Qi!"

However, human joys and sorrows are not shared.

Where there is joy, there is naturally sorrow.

Beneath the floors of this carnival lay the anxiety and deep self-doubt of more ordinary people.

"I'm so envious I'm about to cry. I've sat cross-legged for three nights; besides my legs going numb and my stomach growling, I feel nothing. Could I be the legendary trash without spiritual roots?"

"Me too, my mentality has collapsed! Seeing that fat guy in the office who is usually the dumbest saying he has a sense of Qi, while I'm still like a block of wood, I have no energy to type on the keyboard at work today."

"Don't rush, people above. I've read several technical analysis posts, and they all say the early stage is mainly about focusing and calming the mind. The more anxious you are, the less likely you are to succeed. I've already downloaded the professional recitation audio of the 'Tao Te Ching' and plan to listen to it as a lullaby tonight; might as well try anything, even if it's a long shot!"

"Is there a possibility that our talent isn't suitable for Cultivation? Didn't God Lin say there are three other paths: genetics, machinery, and psionics? When will the country announce the details of the other three paths? I can't wait!"

The joy of those who entered the path and the anxiety of those who hadn't formed a sharp contrast online, and a kind of invisible atmosphere of "Cultivation involution" began to spread quietly.

Besides exchanging Cultivation experiences, another hot topic that ignited national sentiment was also fermenting rapidly.

"Did I see that right? The 5G signal tower downstairs that was just upgraded last year was surrounded by a construction team early this morning! Could this be laying the seventh-generation communication infrastructure for the 'second world'?"

"Same here! I was delivering food today and saw several base stations being fully enclosed for renovation again, with floodlights turned on full blast. They say they're preparing to work through the night, three shifts, with construction vehicles coming one after another!"

"Haha, this time no one should dare to go and obstruct the work, holding banners saying there's radiation, right? [Dog Head]"

Amidst the joyful teasing, there was also some extremely real regret and wailing mixed in.

"I'm crying..."

"In our residential area, a bunch of old men and women made a fuss, saying the base station had radiation that would cause cancer and affect their grandchildren's intelligence, and they forced the construction team away. Even now, we don't have full signal coverage here!"

"Will we not be qualified to access the 'second world' in the future? If I had known, I wouldn't have just stood there watching the show back then; my guts are green with regret now!"

This comment was quickly pushed to the top by netizens, and a tall building of replies was quickly built underneath, but they were all uniformly schadenfreude and crazy teasing.

"Hahaha, middle of the night and this is killing me! Forgive me for laughing like a barbell!"

"Brother, don't panic, look on the bright side. Your residential area has no electromagnetic pollution from modern technology; it can be called a rare blessed land, a treasure trove of Feng Shui, perfect for lighting a kerosene lamp and focusing on Cultivation! [Dog Head]"

"Yeah, how great it is to have no signal. Without signal, your residential area won't be exploited by that 'virtual capitalism' of the 'second world'. This wave counts as a blessing in disguise; you guys have won big! [Eating Melon]"

The internet was full of noise and the vivid atmosphere of daily life.

Meanwhile, far away in the special residential compound, Lin Yuan was comfortably sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV with his family.

Although he was accompanying his family, by relying on the Artificial Intelligence "Xiao Long" to control the internet, every fluctuation of public opinion and every trend of hot topics across the entire network was clearly grasped by him.

From the polarization of national Cultivation to the infrastructure frenzy of the 'second world'.

The two big promises he drew at the press conference were, under the unparalleled execution of the state machine, turning into reality bit by bit at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And the massive expectations, firm belief, and fanaticism generated by this would become the best soil for him to harvest the next round of confidence.

Everything constituted a perfect positive cycle.

"Beep—"

Just then, the specially encrypted mobile phone placed on the table suddenly vibrated, and the screen lit up.

Lin Yuan turned his gaze slightly and picked up the phone to open it.

A line of short text came into view.

[The first batch of core materials has been collected, and it is expected to be delivered in full this afternoon.]