Chapter 88

The information technology research laboratory of the Serenitea Pot refuge was long past the days of its makeshift, drafty wooden sheds with their patchwork walls and leaking roofs. Thanks to the Limeng team's successful verification of the strategic value of "Chisui Double-Resistant No. 3" during the agricultural crisis, and the subsequent surge in confidence regarding food security, the Qixing Emergency State Committee had finally diverted some precious resources toward scientific research. This newly completed two-story masonry building was far from grand, its gray concrete walls still exposing sections of piping, but its thick walls shut out the external clamor and moisture, and the neatly installed electrical wiring provided a stable energy source for precision instruments. In the spacious interior, brand-new experimental workbenches and arrays of server racks with blinking indicator lights finally lent it a proper veneer of what a "research lab" ought to be. Yet at this moment, the air inside this space—the very symbol of the refuge's scientific progress—was frozen solid as ice. "Camouflage dismantling complete, proceeding with final semantic restoration!" Jalal's voice carried a trembling crack as his fingers hammered the final confirmation commands onto a dusty, ancient keyboard—the specialized terminal keyboard that stood as the single out-of-place antique in the new laboratory. Beside him, several other scholars who had also fled from Sumeru held their breaths, th…