(Late May 2027, XX Group Headquarters & global locations; technology is advancing with the speed of a galloping horse.)
Since Li Banjia launched a global "bargain hunting" campaign to build the structure of the Future Exploration Division (FED), the XX Group's technology tree has been growing like it’s on steroids. The theoretical physicists formerly at SAL, having found a new employer, received high salaries, and gained "unlimited" research funding, were buzzing with energy. They holed up in their labs every day, tinkering with "strings," "membranes," and "multi-dimensional universe bubbles."
Li Banjia would occasionally drop by for an inspection. Looking at these scientists—whose IQs were off the charts but whose hairlines were in serious trouble—as they argued fiercely over formulas he couldn't understand while chugging the "Brain-Boosting Anti-Hair Loss Drink" specially supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture, he couldn't help but feel a rush of emotion: "Tsk, keeping these 'gold-devouring mythical beasts' is expensive! But then again, what if they actually manage to pull some black-tech wool off a cosmic string for me? One must have dreams; what if they come true?"
Chapter 168