256: Chapter 256 Hopscotch: A Life-or-Death Gamble, The First Weapon – Laser Close-Combat Defense – Finally Appears!

The corridor lights cast a cold glow on the alloy walls.

Su Che strode towards the 32nd door.

Turning the corner, the passage was packed with people.

Su Wanxing stood at the front, surrounded by team members and onlookers.

The door was dark gray, with 108 squares engraved on it in a 12x9 matrix.

Each square had a fingernail-sized fluorescent marker, ranging from nearly transparent to deep indigo.

Su Che read the glowing text at the bottom of the door.

"Body rhythm verification unlock: Please designate a carbon-based lifeform to step on the ground projection squares in the correct sequence."

On the floor, 108 squares corresponding to the door panel lit up, stretching over ten meters.

Each square was exactly one foot wide.

"You may jump from any starting point. You must step on the correct square to continue; stepping on the wrong one terminates the sequence immediately and resets the order. You may switch jumpers to restart."

Below that was a line of small text.

"For every wrong step, the current jumper's natural lifespan is reduced by ten Earth standard years; the deduction takes effect immediately."

Su Che re-read the last line.

A ten-year reduction in lifespan for every wrong step.

He turned to look at the team from the Second Group. Twenty faces showed different expressions—some frowned, some bit their lips, and two older ones were already stepping back.

"Don't panic," Su Che said, and the corridor fell silent.

"Liu Nanshan and his team have fully mastered the anti-aging and life-extension functions of the medical pods; three hundred years is a safe bet."

He paused.

"If you step on the wrong square, you lose ten years, but you can just go to the medical pod and get it back. What's there to be afraid of?"

The corridor exploded.

"Three hundred years?!"

Lu Cheng'an dropped his electronic pen without noticing.

"Chief Engineer Su, did you say three hundred years? Not thirty?" Xu Zhaoning's voice cracked.

"Three hundred," Su Che said, hands in his pockets. "As long as you work with me for life, everyone has a chance. Just line up for the medical pod."

Ji Fengxing knelt to tie his shoelaces, his hands shaking so much he couldn't manage it after three tries.

He Jianming leaned against the wall, head tilted, muttering something unintelligible.

Lucas Müller spoke a string of German to Jack Kilby, who nodded repeatedly; both were flushed with excitement.

"Three hundred years..." Qin Shaoqian rubbed his hands. "I'm fifty-eight this year. Does that mean I can live another two hundred and forty years after the treatment?"

"You have to jump the grid correctly first," Su Wanxing interjected.

Su Wanxing turned to the team members.

"Those over sixty, don't jump. In case you lose ten years of life, your body might not handle it."

Six people stepped out of the line: Gu Linchuan, Ma Chongshan, Bai Chunyang, and three foreign experts.

Ma Chongshan realized something right after stepping out and grabbed Su Che's sleeve.

"Chief Engineer Su, if we don't jump, does that mean the life extension..."

"You'll still get it," Su Che said, pulling his sleeve away. "I said everyone has a share. Just line up; I've already notified the medical pod team."

Ma Chongshan grinned, turned to join the other five old men, looking as happy as if he'd won the lottery.

"Alright, for the remaining fourteen, who's first?" Su Wanxing asked.

Ji Fengxing stepped forward.

"I'll go."

He stretched his ankles and walked to the first row of squares.

The squares on the floor glowed faintly, with varying depths of color, giving no hint as to which was correct.

Ji Fengxing chose the nearly transparent square at the top left and stepped on it.

The square lit up green.

"Correct!" someone shouted.

For the second, he chose the adjacent indigo square to the right.

As his foot landed, the square lit up red.

"Error: Ten years of natural lifespan deducted."

Ji Fengxing swayed, his knees buckling, but he didn't fall.

He stepped out, looking pale, but still stubborn.

"It feels... I really am a bit older. My waist is a bit sore."

"Next," Su Che waved his hand.

Xu Zhaoning went up, starting from a different direction, choosing a light blue square.

Green light.

For the second, she hesitated for five seconds and chose a dark blue square below.

Red light.

"Error: Ten years of natural lifespan deducted."

Xu Zhaoning hissed, rubbing her waist.

"I'm only forty-five this year, and suddenly I'm fifty-five..."

"Alright, alright, next."

It turned into a farce.

Fourteen people took turns, each thinking they could find the pattern, and each fell on the road ahead.

Lu Cheng'an jumped four squares, got three right, and missed the fourth.

He was a mathematician; after jumping, he squatted on the floor to draw a matrix diagram, muttering, "There must be mathematical logic in this."

He Jianming was even more ridiculous; he missed the very first square.

He worked in genetics; after jumping, he stared at his legs in a daze.

"My legs... did they get two centimeters shorter?"

Lucas Müller jumped five, Kilby three, Park Min-ah four; all were wiped out.

All fourteen finished trying, and the furthest anyone got was the seventh square.

Out of 108 squares, they hadn't even finished a tenth.

Su Che stood by watching, feeling more and more that something was wrong.

These people were getting more relaxed by the second.

They laughed before jumping, didn't take it seriously when they missed, and gathered to discuss which square might be correct.

Ten years of life deducted? It didn't matter; they'd just make it back in the medical pod later.

Su Che rubbed his temples.

"Kyla."

"Present."

"What's wrong with these people?"

Kyla thought for a moment. "They have a way out, so they have no pressure."

"Exactly."

Su Che took out his communicator and dialed Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan.

"Grandpa Wang, bring ten soldiers over to the 32nd door."

"What happened?"

"These scientists are all wiped out jumping the grid. I need to replace them."

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan didn't ask further and arrived with ten people eight minutes later.

They were all in starfield camouflage, young men in their early twenties, lean and agile.

Su Che briefly explained the rules.

"108 squares. Step correctly to continue, miss and lose ten years of life. With the medical pod as a safety net, don't be afraid. Who's first?"

A medium-built soldier stepped forward.

"Reporting, I'll go first."

He started from the first square, very fast, almost without pausing.

The first three were correct.

The fourth, he missed.

Red light flashed, the young man swayed, but steadied himself immediately.

"Next," Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan said from behind.

The second soldier went up, starting from the first square on the left.

He was slower than the first, pausing for two seconds at each step to look at the color of the square.

One through five were correct, sixth was correct, seventh was correct, eighth was correct, ninth... Missed.

"Another one."

The third soldier stepped forward.

This soldier wasn't tall, but his legs were exceptionally sturdy.

He didn't rush to step; he squatted to scan all the squares and then stood up.

One through ten, correct.

Eleventh, twelfth, correct.

From then on, he moved faster and faster, bouncing between squares, each step landing precisely in the right spot.

Fortieth, fiftieth, seventieth.

No one spoke in the corridor; everyone stared at the figure jumping on the squares.

Ninetieth, hundredth, hundred and eighth.

Green light.

"Path correct, unlock successful."

A cheer burst out in the corridor.

The scientists from the Second Group clapped and stomped, even more excited than when they were jumping themselves.

Lu Cheng'an ran over and shook the soldier's hand vigorously.

"Young man, what's your name?"

"Reporting to the Chief, Zhao Lei."

"Zhao Lei, good name!" Lu Cheng'an patted his shoulder. "Can you draw me the jumping path you took from the nineteenth square onwards? I haven't figured out the logic there."

Zhao Lei scratched his head. "There's no logic. I just stepped on whatever color looked good."

Lu Cheng'an's face froze.

Su Che couldn't help but laugh out loud.

These scientists had spent ages calculating matrices and deducing logic in front of the squares, and couldn't even finish a tenth.

The soldier had passed it on pure intuition.

Sometimes, thinking too much is a burden.

The door slid open to the sides.

The space behind the door wasn't large, with a ceiling height of about six meters.

The walls on both sides were embedded with dense turret bases, each mounted with a rotatable high-frequency quantum laser cannon; the barrels were silvery-white, with faint blue energy patterns flowing on the surface.

The text on the central instruction panel had been translated.

"Shipborne Close-range Vacuum Polarization Laser Defense System"

Standard close-in defense configuration for a Level 3 Civilization mothership.

Equipped with multiple rotatable high-frequency quantum laser cannons, capable of intercepting incoming missiles, torpedoes, small aircraft, and space debris, covering the mothership's full-angle defense blind spots.

Su Che walked to the nearest laser cannon and reached out to touch the barrel.

Cold and solid.

He had worked on quantum laser cannons; the second-generation Nantianmen Fleet was equipped with models he had developed himself.

But compared to this thing, what he had made was like a toy water gun.

"Finally saw some weapons."

He patted the barrel and turned to look at Kyla.

"Hand this system over to Sun Jingyuan and Chu Yan. Have them handle the parameter calibration and plasma operating condition tuning."

"Understood, I will notify them."

Su Che exited the cabin and walked back along the passage.

He had unlocked thirty-two doors and finally revealed the first weapon system.

Although it was just close-in defense, it was a start.

He felt a bit more confident.

That night.

Su Che just came out of the bathroom after a shower when the communicator rang.

It was Jiang Yingxue's encrypted channel.

"Su Che, Lieutenant General Peng called."

Su Che wiped his hair with a towel, clamping the communicator between his shoulder and ear.

"What did he say?"

"The main infrastructure of Su Family Village is finished. Various laboratories, R&D facilities, testing and training bases are all built. The first one hundred Zhulong production lines and three hundred Sub-nanometer chip production lines are also completed simultaneously."

Jiang Yingxue's voice carried uncontrollable excitement.

"Lieutenant General Peng said that the construction of the Dyson Cloud, the R&D of the third-generation Nantianmen Fleet, and the construction of the Dry Dock at the lunar base can all be started simultaneously. They are just waiting for you to make the final decision."

Su Che threw the towel on the back of the chair.

The pie he had drawn in the Xishan Command Center was finally ready to be baked.

"Tell him I'll be there tomorrow."

Hanging up, Su Che sat on the edge of the bed.

Lin Waner was already asleep, wrapped tightly in the quilt, with only a tuft of hair visible.

He glanced at her and got up to go to the study.

He opened the terminal and pulled up the system interface.

"System, give me ten technical data discs."

In the consciousness space, golden light flickered.

"Extracting ten at once, how long do you intend to stay on Earth?"

"I don't know, maybe for a while. If Kyla encounters a punishment mechanism, notify me and I'll come back."

"Understood."

The data for the ten discs appeared on the terminal, and Su Che copied them onto ten physical storage discs.

The next morning.

Su Che called the core personnel to the D-zone conference room.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan, Li Chengwen, Zhang Zhiyue, Senior Colonel He Zhiyuan, Captain Li Jun, Instructor Han Tiefeng, Qin Lan, Gao Jian, Lin Waner, Jiang Yingxue—everyone was there.

"I'm going to Earth for a while. The infrastructure at Su Family Village is finished, and a few major projects need to be approved."

He scanned the room.

"On the mothership, Grandpa Wang will oversee the overall situation, General Zhang will manage the daily operations of the General Staff, Senior Colonel He will focus on training, Instructor Han will focus on the training center, and Qin Lan and Gao Jian will handle security."

"Logistics goes to Waner, Earth coordination goes to Yingxue, and Kyla will continue to unlock doors for me. Notify me immediately if you encounter a punishment mechanism."

He handed the ten data discs to Kyla.

"You start these ten doors. When the data discs are used up, wait for me to come back to replenish them."

Kyla took the data discs and nodded solemnly.

Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan stood up. "Captain Shen, go ahead, we have things covered here."

Su Che said goodbye to everyone one by one and left the conference room.

The shuttle was parked in the exclusive hangar, and Su Che boarded it alone.

In the cockpit, he placed his hands into the control recesses, the biological signal sensing ring tightened, and the system identification was completed.

The engine started, the shuttle slid out of the hangar, passed through the docking channel on the side of the Genesis, and cut into space.

The gray-white surface of the far side of the moon swept under the porthole, and ahead was the blue Earth.

Su Che set the course for Earth and pushed the thrust to cruise mode.

Su Family Village, he was back again.

This time, he was going to turn that interstellar village drawn on paper into reality.