25: Chapter 25: The nation treats me with the respect due to a scholar; I am willing to dedicate even more to the nation!
Su Che looked at General Zhang, his mind buzzing with a loud "hum."
Grandfather... wasn't dead?
And it was top secret?
This was damn... even more outrageous than him creating Anti-gravity!
General Zhang looked at his expression, which was as if he had seen a ghost, as if he had expected it all along.
He reached out and pressed Su Che back onto the stool.
"Kid, don't get excited."
"Your grandfather's matter involves too much; now is not the time to tell you."
"I can only say that the contribution he made for this country is no less than what you are doing now, kid."
General Zhang paused, then changed the subject.
"I am telling you this because I want you to understand."
"You are not fighting alone."
He took out a neatly folded document from his pocket and pushed it in front of Su Che.
"Didn't you show some backbone yesterday, kid?"
"Those old guys in the capital were overjoyed."
"The 'National Special Technical Consultant' status I submitted for you has already been unanimously approved by the Military Science Commission."
"You will enjoy security treatment at the Major General level."
"As long as you hand over the detailed information on the Quantum Communication, the appointment document will be issued immediately."
Su Che looked at the document, then at General Zhang.
He felt as if everything was like a dream.
Major General level?
He was someone who had been expelled from university and had returned to the village to play with mud. Just because he had made a few pieces of junk, he was now on the same level as a general?
"I don't understand."
Su Che frowned.
"What I handed over was civilian technology; it doesn't have much... to do with your military, does it?"
"Why are you supporting me so much?"
"Civilian?"
General Zhang laughed, a bitter smile.
"Kid, you are too naive."
"In this day and age, where is there still purely civilian or military use?"
"Eagle Sauce's GPS was originally military, and now isn't everyone using it on their phones?"
He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the engineering soldiers working overnight in the distance.
"The international situation is getting tenser by the day."
"War could break out at any time."
"We lack time, we lack technology, and we even more so lack a... monster like you who can turn theory into reality."
"So, let alone Major General level treatment, as long as you can produce results, even if you want the stars in the sky, we will find a way to pluck them down for you!"
General Zhang's words were like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into Su Che's heart.
He had always thought that what he was doing was just to improve life and make things more convenient for the villagers.
But now he understood.
These "pieces of junk" in his hands were, in the eyes of the country, sharp swords and shields.
They were national treasures capable of protecting the hundreds of millions of compatriots behind him in this turbulent world.
He remained silent for a long time.
Then, he picked up the cold tea on the table and drank it in one gulp.
"General."
He looked at General Zhang's back, his eyes firmer than ever.
"For that information, I will not only give you the Quantum Information Technology."
"Quantum computing and quantum precision measurement, I will package them together for you."
"I hope... it can be of some help."
...
Su Che sent off General Zhang and stood alone in the courtyard for a long time.
He walked to the entrance of the village elementary school and watched from afar.
School was already over, the playground was empty, and only the light in Lin Waner's office was still on.
He hesitated for a moment, but still walked over.
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Please come in."
Su Che pushed open the door.
Lin Waner was sitting at the desk, staring blankly at a blank lesson plan, her eyes red, obviously having cried.
Seeing Su Che, she stood up in a fluster.
"Student Su Che? You... why are you here?"
Su Che didn't speak, just closed the door behind him.
He walked to her, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"Teacher Lin."
"I know about your father's matter."
Lin Waner's body trembled uncontrollably.
She forced herself to endure it, silently watching Su Che, waiting for what he had to say next.
"Fifteen years ago, 703 Research Institute, particle collision experiment."
Su Che's voice was very calm, yet it was like a knife, cutting open that long-sealed scar.
"That was not an accident."
"It was someone who, in order to steal your father's research results, framed him."
Lin Waner's tears could no longer be held back, rolling down like beads with broken threads.
She covered her mouth to keep from crying out, her thin shoulders trembling violently.
All these years, she had carried too much.
After her father passed away, she went from being a proud daughter of heaven to a "daughter of a sinner."
The cold looks from relatives and the criticism from others were like a great mountain, pressing down on her until she couldn't breathe.
She studied desperately, got into a normal university, and came to this most remote mountain village.
She just wanted to escape that suffocating environment.
She thought this matter would rot in her stomach forever.
Yet she didn't expect it to be uncovered time and time again in this small mountain village.
Su Che did not comfort her.
He just waited quietly, waiting for her to cry enough.
"That person is now an academician of the Academy of Sciences, holding a high position and heavy power."
"It is very difficult to take him down."
Su Che looked at her red eyes, saying every word clearly.
"But, I promise you."
"I will get this justice back for your father."
Lin Waner raised her head, looking at him with teary eyes.
His eyes had no trace of frivolity or hesitation.
There was only a kind of unquestionable firmness that put her at ease.
"Why?"
She asked, choking with sobs.
"No reason."
Su Che grinned.
"You are the children's teacher, and they certainly wouldn't want their favorite teacher to be unhappy. Just think of it as... me doing something for the children!"
He stood up and opened the door.
"School starts its winter break tomorrow, right!"
"After I finish the matter with the water pump in the village, I will accompany you to the county town for a stroll."
"Buy some new clothes for the New Year."
...
Near evening, Su Che was in a great mood.
He dragged that Anti-gravity water pump, which was full of violent aesthetics, to the water pump station at the entrance of the village.
He also conveniently started a live stream.
He hadn't broadcast for a few days, and as soon as the live stream room opened, the popularity was still soaring.
[Holy crap! The missing person has returned!]
[Brother Che! I heard you summoned a general? Is it true or false?]
[Don't ask, if you ask, it's from the Telecommunications Bureau!]
Su Che aimed the camera at the new machine.
"Family, today we aren't playing anything else."
"I will perform a magic trick for everyone, called 'The Big River Flows East'."
He connected one end of a thick water pipe to the machine, and the other end, he had Su Hao and a few other half-grown boys drag all the way to the reservoir behind the mountain.
After Su Hao sent the OK signal from his side, he connected the power and flipped the switch.
There was no roar.
Only a slight "humming" sound.
Two minutes later.
At the water outlet of the pump station, a stream of clear water gushed out with a "whoosh" sound!
The barrage in the live stream room exploded instantly.
[Holy crap! It actually produced water? This thing doesn't need priming?]
[The guy above knows nothing! The point isn't the priming! The point is, the reservoir is on the other side of the mountain! This is equivalent to pumping water from the bottom of the mountain to the top! This violates the conservation of energy!]
[This damn thing is Anti-gravity! It's definitely Anti-gravity! Brother Che has created something from a sci-fi movie!]
The villagers also gathered around, and seeing the clear water gushing out, they were all incredibly excited.
Village Chief Wang Fugui was the first to rush up, cupping a handful of water and gulping it down.
"It's sweet! It's sweet!"
But soon, the villagers discovered an even more awesome use for this "divine pump."
Su Ergou from the west end of the village had his vegetable garden on the hillside, and previously he had to carry water up shoulder-pole by shoulder-pole.
He directly pulled a water pipe from his home and connected it to the shunt port of the pump.
The water flowed along the pipe and easily reached the hillside.
Su Ergou stood in the vegetable field, holding the water pipe, smiling like a two-hundred-pound child.
In the live stream room, the barrage went crazy.
[Holy crap! High-mountain irrigation system?]
[If this thing is popularized, it could solve so many agricultural problems in mountainous areas!]
[My mom asked why I was kneeling to watch the live stream, I said I was watching a god farming!]
At night.
Su Che returned to the studio.
[Ding! Main task: The Fountain of Life Across the Mountain Range, completed!]
[Task reward: 500 skill points, issued.]
[Current host has accumulated 730 skill points.]
Su Che looked at the numbers on the panel and let out a sigh of relief.
"System."
"Upgrade Quantum Information Technology!"