After inspecting the other projects, Lei Ting finally arrived at the research institute dedicated to "Hyperspace Technology."
This facility was now the Federation's top priority. The weight of resources diverted here was immeasurable; most of the time, even the Parliament itself could not tip the scales against it.
Nowadays, the extended average lifespan of Orion humans, coupled with a relatively short period of compulsory education, allowed more people to leave campus for a few years after graduation before freely choosing their future paths. This also provided them with the leisure to pursue further studies and outcompete their peers.
In recent years, the career planning of young scholars across the Federation had been shifting toward two major fields: biotechnology and space folding.
There was no helping it; the Parliament simply offered too much.
"Most Holy Carbon, the Path to Godhood; Genetic Helix, the Stairway to Heaven..."
Lei Ting looked at the bone-conduction transmission patch floating before him. It was playing the grand, divine-sounding propaganda of the "Carbon-Based Holiness."
*Snap.*
The patch, containing numerous tiny metallic components, twisted and shattered. Lei Ting turned his head slightly to look at a person nearby.
It was a researcher, currently surrounded by Lei Ting’s own "Solar Star Guard." A dozen guns were pointed at him from every angle; the message was clear—one move, and he was gone.
"Foolish religious thinking," Lei Ting said indifferently.
With a wave of his hand, Lei Ting had the researcher—whose little secret he had overheard—taken away. He turned to the Beta director of the Hyperspace Institute and said, "Those with irrational mindsets and corresponding behaviors—such as religiosity, bloodline supremacy, or obsession with ideological sects—should not enter the Federation’s high-security research institutes.
"Let there be no next time."
Lei Ting glanced at the Beta director, not expecting the man to be a talent with such a rich inner monologue.
For this, Lei Ting let out a rare, long-overdue, and genuine sigh.
Afterward, he went to observe an experiment.
It was a test—the first operational trial of the "Hyperspace Matter Transmission Experimental Unit R-0120C."
Based on the now completely stabilized intra-stellar hyperspace communication system, this hyperspace technology could achieve precise transmission with an error margin of less than three meters under the condition of "knowing coordinates but having no guidance."
This technology drew references from Stargates, military warp engines, and the "Ringworld" cross-sector transmission system. In essence, it was a simple and efficient form of spacetime folding.
A piece of paper with writing on it was transmitted from one laboratory in the hyperspace space station to another nearby. The process seemed simple, yet it contained the efforts of countless people over a decade and a staggering amount of calculation.
And at the moment that first "unguided precision transmission" occurred...
At the far end of deep space, in the location belonging to the original Solar System.
Upon a blue planet shrouded in a faint glow, Morgan suddenly looked up, staring at the shimmering Milky Way overhead.
He was currently sitting in a cafeteria eating. Opposite him was a black-haired, blue-eyed youth chewing on a fragrant, crispy meat pie.
The boy was about twelve or thirteen years old, with an exceptionally handsome face, bright eyes, and a tall, slender build. He wore a neat blue uniform with a nameplate pinned to his chest that read:
【400819302】
Morgan narrowed his eyes slightly. Deep within his electronic eyes, which were saturated with a mysterious power, a light flickered—he requested the planet’s central server to read the information card built into the badge.
Immediately, an interface appeared before him.
【Name: Kang Li】
【Race: Orion Human】
【Gender: Male · Alpha】
【Age: 13】
"What is it, Uncle Morgan?" Kang Li asked, looking a bit bewildered by the stare as he swallowed a mouthful of meat pie.
"...It’s nothing. How have your studies been lately?" Morgan asked.
"I’ve been doing okay... I think?" Kang Li’s voice grew smaller, his eyes darting around. "I mean, except for the history of the 'Great Expansion' and 'Advanced Mathematics'..."
"...I understand." Morgan rubbed his brow fiercely, thinking to himself that this was a disaster. "For the next period of time, your Aunt Ani and I will stay behind to tutor you."
Kang Li was, quite frankly, struck with horror.
But before he could find a sufficiently persuasive reason to object, a mature and graceful figure carrying a meal tray sat down beside him.
Kang Li looked up to see one of the highest-ranking doctors on this planet, "Gaia"—Ani.
The boy instantly wilted.
After sitting down, Ani calmly added two symbolic grains of crushed sugar into her energy drink. She then took a slow sip of the beverage—which was bitter enough to make most transcendent warriors roll their eyes—and savored the aftertaste for a moment.
"Li, I heard your grades aren't very good." She turned with a smile, her eyes filled with a trustworthy tenderness. "Don't be nervous. We all know it's not that you *can't* do it."
"I... I'm not nervous." Kang Li straightened his back.
But as he grew tense, a tiny but dense, almost physical flicker of golden light flashed deep within his azure eyes.
Ani felt a slight pang in her head. She narrowed her eyes, pulled a pair of glasses that looked like high-tech sunglasses from her pocket, and skillfully placed them on him.
"Where are your glasses?" she asked gently.
"On his way here, he saw some classmates teaming up to bully a kid. He jumped in to fight and ended up knocking his glasses into a gutter," Morgan explained the sequence of events without looking up from his meal.
Kang Li lowered his head. "I didn't get hurt," he said. "And I didn't break any of their bones."
Hearing this, Ani and the now-looking-up Morgan exchanged a speechless glance. In the corner of the table where the three sat, a fourth person also looked up from their food, silently watching the handsome youth.
"What are you looking at?" Morgan asked.
Kang Li paused, withdrawing his gaze from that natural human—the light passed through the latter's body and those glasses casting a gentle gaze, but it did not cast a shadow on the ground.
"Nothing," he said. "I was just spacing out."
"I really don't know which one of them you take after... Oh, I should say, you are just yourself. A real headache of a self."
Morgan scratched his head. He picked up his empty tray and stacked it on top of a passing service robot.
"I'm full," he said, turning to leave amidst the targeting locks of the surrounding autocannons.
"...'Them'?" Kang Li blinked and instinctively turned to ask Ani, "Is he talking about my 'parents'?"
"Perhaps. But that information is too dangerous." Ani shrugged. "When you grow up, we'll tell you."
"What a cliché line," Morgan grumbled as he walked out the door.
Then, a red light flashed in his eyes. He whispered to someone unknown, "Just now, 'Lover' told me that the network of spacetime was plucked by the Federation."
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