5: Chapter 5 Waste Utilization? I'll Build a Quantum Router from Trash!

"Redeem!"

Su Che growled in his mind without the slightest hesitation.

[Ding! 100 skill points deducted! Beginner redemption access for [Quantum Information Technology] has been unlocked!]

[Transferring basic theories and civilian-grade modular blueprints to host... Transfer initiated!]

Boom!

An unimaginably massive torrent of information rushed into Su Che's brain like a bursting dam.

Terms like "quantum entanglement," "Bell's inequality," and "photon pair generation"—countless profoundly mysterious concepts mixed with a massive amount of circuit diagrams, material formulas, and energy equations—flashed wildly through his mind.

Su Che felt as if his head had been stuffed into a high-speed washing machine. The pain made him grimace, and he nearly blacked out on the spot.

The feeling was more overwhelming than downing three big bowls of fermented mung bean milk after a hangover.

Fortunately, the headache came and went quickly.

Dozens of seconds later, Su Che shook his throbbing head, his eyes clearing up once more.

Although he still only half-understood those profound theories, the complete modification blueprints for a civilian-grade "Quantum Network Router" were already clearly imprinted in his mind like a 3D model.

The core principle was simple: use the technology provided by the system to manufacture a "quantum entanglement source" that would continuously generate entangled photon pairs.

One photon would connect to the existing network base station via fiber optics, while the other would be transmitted wirelessly to cover the entire village.

Due to the nature of quantum entanglement, no matter how far apart these two photons were, their states would synchronize instantaneously.

This meant that as long as the devices in the village could receive this wireless photon, it would be equivalent to connecting directly "face-to-face" with the base station. The latency would be virtually zero, and it would be absolutely impossible to hack or leech off the network!

"Awesome!"

Su Che slapped his thigh in excitement. Wasn't this basically a physical cheat code?

He immediately rushed out of the room, his target clear—his "workshop," which was piled high with junk!

The moment he stepped into the courtyard, Su Pingan's roar arrived right on schedule.

"Where are you going now, you little bastard?! Haven't you had enough of that pile of junk? Do you have any idea that the village chief came by again just now? He said you have to write a self-criticism and read it in front of the whole village tomorrow!"

Su Che paused and turned back to see his old man holding a large tea mug, his mustache trembling with rage.

"Dad, I'm doing serious work here!"

"Serious work? Your serious work is blowing pigs into the sky, or bringing the mil... the Telecommunications Bureau people over here?" Su Pingan almost let it slip and quickly corrected himself.

"Bro! Bro! Are you going to make a divine weapon?" His cousin Su Hao scurried out of the house like a little shadow, his eyes full of stars. "Is it going to be like that bicycle from last time, running super fast?"

Su Che couldn't be bothered to explain to his dad. He gestured to Su Hao with a finger. "Let's go. Come with me to the scrap yard to hunt for some treasure!"

The scrap yard in Su Family Village was just an open space at the west end of the village, piled high with all kinds of junk collected from miles around.

This was Su Che's "treasure-hunting holy land."

"Bro, what are we looking for?" Su Hao pinched his nose and kicked away a ruined tire in disgust.

"An old router, a satellite dish, and... well, it'd be best if we could find some quartz crystals, even broken ones." Su Che said as he rummaged through a pile of e-waste like an experienced scavenger.

Although he had the blueprints, even the cleverest housewife couldn't cook a meal without rice.

The system only provided the core technology; he had to figure out the materials himself.

Soon, he dug out an old router with a yellowed casing, a rusty satellite dish "big ear," and a few discarded computer data cables.

"Bro, just with these things? Will it work?" Su Hao looked skeptical. "This router looks older than me."

"You don't understand, this is called retro." Su Che said as he disassembled the router's casing, his brow gradually furrowing.

The core of the blueprint—the "quantum entanglement source"—required a high-purity non-linear crystal to generate photon pairs.

The most ideal material was "Barium Borate Crystal." Let alone a scrap yard, you wouldn't find a single grain of this stuff even if you turned the entire county upside down.

"Damn it, I'm stuck on the materials." Su Che scratched his hair in frustration.

Although the system was amazing, it couldn't create things out of thin air for him every single time.

The "High-Energy Reactant" provided earlier was probably just a newbie gift pack.

Returning to the workshop, Su Che stared at the pile of junk in front of him, falling into deep thought.

His cousin Su Hao paced around anxiously beside him. "Bro, is it going to work or not? My classmates have already reached King rank!"

"Stop rushing me!" Su Che snapped back.

He irritably tapped open his phone, wanting to see if the followers in his livestream channel had all left.

As soon as the broadcast started, the number of online viewers shot up to over two thousand in an instant.

The bullet comments were densely packed.

[Holy crap! The streamer still dares to broadcast? Your account wasn't banned?]

[Brother Che is awesome! I watched that "firecracker" clip ten times. The pig's flying posture was too graceful!]

[Streamer, I heard you blasted the military out here. Is that true or fake?]

Su Che cleared his throat and aimed the camera at the junk on the table. "My friends, that was all a misunderstanding. This time we're not doing explosions, we're doing something useful."

"The village network is too laggy, and my cousin gets flamed when he plays games. Right now, I'm going to use these things to make him a signal booster!"

He didn't dare say "quantum router," fearing people would think he was crazy.

The livestream chat instantly exploded.

[Pfft! Making a signal booster out of scrap? Brother Che, are you serious?]

[A big shot who can blow a pig into the sky is actually coming back to fiddle with a router? This style is all wrong!]

[I bet a pack of spicy strips that this is absolutely a gimmick! If this pile of trash can connect to the internet, I'll livestream myself washing my hair while doing a handstand!]

Amidst the mockery, an account with the ID "Future of Tech" sent a bullet comment that stood out from the rest.

[Streamer, are you trying to make a photon source based on SPDC (Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion)? If so, you probably need a non-linear crystal. I happen to have a batch of lab-retired BBO Crystals and matching temperature control modules on hand that I can send you for free.]

Su Che's heart skipped a beat.

BBO Crystals!

How did this person know he needed this? And they even phrased it so professionally!

He immediately became alert.

That woman from earlier, Jiang Yingxue, had curves in all the right places, her backside practically bursting the seams of her yoga pants. She looked like eye candy, yet terms like "cold explosion" and "polymeric nitrogen" had popped out of her mouth.

Now, another "Future of Tech" had popped up, directly pointing out his most critical material.

How could there be so many coincidences in this world?

Su Che narrowed his eyes, recalling Captain Li Jun's parting words: "Don't be misled by people with ulterior motives."

He picked up the black card from the pen holder on the desk. Printed on it were the three characters "Jiang Yingxue" and a string of numbers. It seemed to still carry a trace of warmth and a milky fragrance, as if retrieved from between a woman's buttocks.

This girl was definitely not as simple as just being a streamer.

Su Che sneered. Facing the camera, he said in a flat tone, "Thank you, friend, but there's no need. The whole point of this is waste utilization. Using ready-made materials would take away all the fun."

Having said that, he shut down the livestream.

In the livestream room, the viewers were all dumbfounded.

[Holy cow! Am I seeing things? The streamer refused? That's a BBO Crystal!]

[This boast is a perfect ten! For the sake of so-called "fun," he doesn't even want professional materials?]

[What do you guys know! This is called technical confidence! Brother Che means: I can make it even out of trash!]

Meanwhile, in a minimalist office.

Jiang Yingxue looked at the darkened phone screen and smiled helplessly.

She had changed into a black silk bathrobe, its collar wide open to reveal her ample bosom wrapped in lace lingerie.

Swirling the wine glass in her hand, she spoke to the empty air, "Interesting. He'd rather use scrap than accept my 'goodwill.' It seems his vigilance is higher than we imagined."

In the darkness, a deep male voice spoke, "Miss, should we initiate Plan B? Directly send people to..."

"No need," Jiang Yingxue interrupted him. "To deal with a pure genius like him, we cannot use crude methods. He's like a wild stallion; we have to stroke him the right way."

She stood up, walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the city's night view.

"Doesn't he like playing with scrap? Then let him play."

"I'd like to see how he manages to conjure up cutting-edge high technology like 'Quantum Tech' in that little mountain village without the core materials."

...

Su Family Village.

After Su Che shut down the livestream, the fire in his heart burned even hotter.

The more people wanted to see him make a fool of himself, the more he had to achieve something remarkable!

Could a photon source not be made without BBO Crystals?

The blueprints in his mind flipped rapidly. The system didn't just provide one solution!

One module, labeled "Low-Cost Alternative Solution," caught his attention.

This solution could use a high-power laser to bombard ordinary quartz crystals. Under a specific angle, it could probabilistically stimulate entangled photon pairs!

Although it was inefficient and unstable, it... worked!

He didn't have a high-power laser, but the burners and projectors in the scrap yard all had laser heads!

Quartz crystals...

Su Che's gaze suddenly drifted out the window.

He remembered!

In the village convenience store run by Grandpa Wang, there was a huge crystal ball sitting on the counter!

It was said to be a souvenir he bought back when he went traveling years ago, and he wiped it shiny every single day!

Wasn't that thing just a giant chunk of silicon dioxide crystal!

"Xiao Hao!" Su Che's eyes lit up as he grabbed his cousin's shoulder.

"Huh? Bro, what's wrong?"

"Let's go! Come with me to 'borrow' a treasure!"

Su Che grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, a light called "madness" flickering in his eyes.

"Today, I'll let you witness what true 'alchemy' looks like!"