40: Chapter 40 Two powerful figures personally visit Su Family Village; a peerless master's skills astound the audience.

The vegetable basket in Su Pingan's hand dropped to the ground, and he didn't think to pick it up for a moment.

Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, it used to be the place where the village's elderly gathered to sunbathe and gossip.

Today, there was not a single soul.

A long, yellow cordon wrapped the entire village up like a zongzi.

Inside and outside the cordon, it was packed with people.

They weren't police officers, nor were they the soldiers in engineering uniforms under Captain Li Jun.

It was a group of men wearing dark black combat uniforms with completely expressionless faces.

They all held rifles in their hands and stood straight as arrows, like wooden stakes driven deep into the ground.

The bone-chilling coldness and solemnity radiating from them made Su Pingan's legs tremble uncontrollably.

"What... what on earth is going on here?"

A young man wearing the same uniform walked over.

"Fellow villager, don't be afraid."

The young man's voice was polite, but his gaze brooked no argument.

"Military control. The village is temporarily sealed off."

"No one is allowed to enter or leave."

...

Lin Waner was woken up by a burst of noise.

She pushed open the window, and this was the scene she saw.

Her heart sank abruptly.

That yellow cordon was like a needle, stabbing ruthlessly into her eyes.

Fifteen years ago, when her father met with his accident, the outside of the 703 Research Institute was exactly like this.

The same cordon, the same lockdown.

"Su Che!"

A terrifying thought sent a shiver through her entire body.

Ignoring everything else, she grabbed a coat and rushed out.

"Comrade, let me in!"

She ran to the entrance of the village, only to be stopped by two guards.

"Sorry, no entry."

"I'm looking for someone! I'm looking for Su Che! Did something happen to him?"

Lin Waner's voice carried a sob, and she was so anxious that tears were on the verge of falling.

Unmoved, the guards stood like two mountains, completely still.

"Please step back."

"I won't!"

Lin Waner tried to squeeze through the gap like crazy.

"Su Che! Su Che, come out!"

She screamed with all her might.

Just then, Captain Li Jun walked over quickly from inside the cordon.

Seeing Lin Waner looking half-crazed, he frowned.

"Let her in."

The guards exchanged a glance and stepped aside.

Before she could even say thank you, Lin Waner stumbled her way inside and rushed straight to Su Che's courtyard.

She flung open the half-closed wooden door.

Then, she froze.

In the courtyard, there was none of the confrontation or danger she had imagined.

Beside the stone table, Su Che was sitting perfectly safe and sound.

Beside him sat two grey-haired elderly men wearing ordinary grey jackets.

Su Pingan was walking out of the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly cooked farmhouse stir-fried pork, a reserved yet proud smile on his face.

"Leaders, please try our countryside cooking."

The two elderly men stood up with chuckles, and one of them took the plate.

"Little Su, your cooking is much better than the head chefs in the theater command's cafeteria!"

The other elderly man looked at Su Che, his eyes full of appreciation.

"Xiao Che, come, sit down and eat. Don't just stand there."

This warm scene, which looked like a family having dinner, formed a stark contrast with the bloody images in Lin Waner's mind.

Standing at the door with tears still on her face, she was completely dumbfounded.

Hearing the noise, Su Che turned his head.

Seeing her looking so lost and tear-stained, he was also taken aback.

"Waner? What's wrong?"

He stood up and quickly walked over.

Lin Waner looked at him, seeing him standing perfectly fine in front of her. The string in her mind, which had been stretched so tight it was about to snap, finally relaxed.

No longer able to hold herself up, her legs gave way, and she collapsed toward the ground.

Quick-eyed and fast-handed, Su Che caught her and pulled her into his embrace.

"It's alright, it's alright."

He gently patted her back, his voice gentler than it had ever been.

Everyone present watched this scene play out.

The two elderly men, General Zhang beside them, and several middle-aged men who were also in plain clothes but possessed extraordinary bearings all had knowing smiles in their eyes.

Lin Waner buried her face in Su Che's chest, feeling his familiar scent and heartbeat, only then feeling like she had come back to life.

She also realized that her loss of composure just now had been seen by so many people.

In an instant, her face flushed red all the way to her ears.

...

"This must be Teacher Lin, right?"

The one who spoke was the elderly man who had taken the stir-fried pork. He had a resonant voice and a very genial smile.

"I am Commander-in-Chief Wang Xueshan, from the Southern Theater Command."

The other elegant-looking elderly man also smiled and nodded.

"My name is Peng Dehai, from the Beijing Military Science Commission."

General Zhang added from the side.

"This is General Wang, the political commissar of our Southern Theater Command."

"This is Lieutenant General Peng, the head of the Military Science Commission."

Lin Waner's mind buzzed.

"General? Lieutenant General?"

She quickly broke away from Su Che's embrace, so nervous that she didn't know where to put her hands.

"He... Hello, leaders."

"Hahaha, don't be nervous, young lady." General Wang waved his hand. "We only came today to grab a free meal."

He looked at Su Che, his gaze becoming complex, filled with relief, deep emotion, and a trace of sadness.

"Kid, you look just like your grandfather."

General Wang pulled out an item tightly wrapped in oilcloth from his breast pocket and handed it to Su Che.

"This is what your grandfather, Su Changshan, left for you."

Su Che took it and unwrapped the oilcloth, revealing a yellowed letter inside.

"Changshan used to talk about it all the time back then, saying that if he ever had a grandson, he would definitely have to be smarter and more successful than him."

General Wang patted Su Che on the shoulder.

"You didn't let him down, kid."

Su Che held the letter. On the envelope, the words "To be opened by Su Che personally" were written with powerful strokes that seemed to penetrate the paper.

He did not open it on the spot.

Lieutenant General Peng also walked over, unmasked praise written all over his face.

"Comrade Su Che, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has commissioned me to express their gratitude to you for weeding out that parasite and national disgrace, Ma Wenju."

"That scumbag has already been placed under investigation, and what awaits him is the severe punishment of the law."

"In addition, the Academy has unanimously agreed to nominate you as a candidate for this year's 'State Preeminent Science and Technology Award'."

Lieutenant General Peng paused, then pointed to the water pump still working at the entrance of the village.

"Also, your Anti-gravity water pump is a great piece of work. They want to acquire the technology and organize experts to upgrade it into a large-scale Anti-gravity irrigation system to promote it nationwide, especially in the arid western regions."

"What do you think..."

"No problem," Su Che agreed readily. "I'll compile the blueprints and underlying principles later."

A simple farmhouse meal was finished in a strange yet harmonious atmosphere.

After the meal, the accompanying technical experts finally could not contain themselves.

The leading old professor, who wore thick glasses for nearsightedness, pushed his glasses up.

"Comrade Su Che, we have all read your materials regarding [Quantum Enhanced Laser Technology]."

"The theory is stunning, but... pardon my bluntness, some parts are too advanced. We feel that engineering implementation is practically impossible."

Several experts behind him also nodded in agreement.

"Yes, especially that 'Kunlun' alloy coating scheme. We can't deduce the theoretical model for the energy gain."

Having heard them out, Su Che picked up the stack of manuscript papers on the table that he had stayed up all night to write.

"What you read was just a brief."

"Here is the complete version."

He handed the manuscript papers over.

"As for your inability to deduce it, that's completely normal."

Su Che walked over to a small whiteboard that had been temporarily brought in and picked up a marker.

"Because you calculated the energy dissipation rate in this model incorrectly. The problem doesn't lie in the material, but in the containment field algorithm."

He turned around and rapidly wrote down a series of brand-new formulas on the whiteboard.

"It should be modified like this."

The experts, who had looked skeptical just moments ago, all crowded around.

Watching the smooth and flowing deduction on the whiteboard, and seeing the fatal loophole pointed out by Su Che—one they had researched repeatedly without ever noticing—their mouths fell open wide enough to fit an egg.

"So... so that's how it is..."

"My god, this line of thinking... is simply a stroke of genius!"

"The bottleneck that has plagued our entire project team has been... solved just like that?"

The old professor looked at Su Che, his gaze shifting from skepticism to fanatical admiration.

"A peerless scholar! He is truly a peerless scholar!"

...

In the evening, two Z-20 helicopters picked up the two big shots and the thoroughly satisfied expert team.

That complete technical file was also taken away, treated as top secret.

The lockdown on Su Family Village was lifted, and it returned to its former tranquility.

General Zhang stayed behind and pulled Su Che to a corner of the yard.

The smile on his face was gone, replaced only by utmost solemnity.

"Kid, there's some bad news."

"Sakura Country has made a move."

General Zhang lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Ida Heavy Industries has dispatched their top ace agent, code-named 'Onikiri', and he has already infiltrated the Dragon Country."

"His target is you."