Did the world end today?

Chapter 428 Adaptation
"father!"

The short-haired girl rushed into her father's arms. Wu You stroked Ruoruo's slightly stubble-covered head, his expression undergoing only subtle changes, almost imperceptible without close inspection.

"Nothing has changed."

"Of course, it's only been three days."

Ruoruo answered as if it were a matter of course:
"When you left, I told you that it would take at least a year for your hair to grow back to short length."

"I asked you to bring me a wig, did you bring it?"

Wu You was stunned for a moment.

"Sorry, Dad was too busy and forgot."

He looked ashamed, perhaps because he had forgotten his promise to his daughter, or perhaps because of something deeper.

Seventeen years.

Seventeen years have passed for me, but my family seems to have been frozen in time.

Wu You didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

In one sense, after 17 years, I have almost reached the pinnacle that an ordinary person could achieve.

This time, my family's life will inevitably undergo earth-shattering changes.

Things that were once out of reach are no longer difficult to obtain. Let alone a wig, with the massive amount of equipment and technology brought back by her fleet, even if Ruoruo wanted to directly replace her head, it wouldn't be that difficult.

But from another perspective, seventeen years have truly passed in my life.

I am old, but they are still young.

This not only means that 17 years of time he spent with his daughter will disappear into thin air, but more importantly, the silent flow of time has already drawn a chasm between him and her, between himself and his wife, and between himself and other relatives.

Wu You looked at his wife, who had obviously received prior notice and knew that he had "returned in triumph".

She put on her most formal clothes, wore light makeup, and even carefully styled her hair.

Wu You didn't know how much time she had spent.

He was grateful for his wife's "attention," but he had to admit that the moment he saw her, he felt an overwhelming sense of "irritation."

Her hair was beautiful, but Wu You noticed the messy strands of hair at her temples that hadn't been styled properly, and the slightly burnt marks at the ends of her hair from the curling iron.

Her makeup was too heavy; the eyeshadow wasn't fully blended and looked a bit messy.

Her outfit wasn't very stylish—it might look good in this era, but she always felt it was too flashy.

Disorder.

Everything here reminded him that he had left the world he had known for 17 years.

His frustration wasn't directed at his wife, but rather at the reality of "soon returning to a chaotic life."

He suddenly realized why He Yong didn't want to come back.

Compared to his idealism, perhaps his seemingly carefree demeanor is actually the most realistic and rational one.

He couldn't adapt to life here, and if he came back, he would only bring some things with him.
The pain that loved ones in this world cannot bear.

Although, in He Yong's eyes, such pain might no longer be worth mentioning.

But for the people here, it is incredibly real.

Therefore, he made another, better choice.

He chose to stay in that world and die in the apocalyptic disaster.

This is not death; he simply wanted to wait for his loved ones for 17 years through the act of dying.

When we meet again, perhaps the chasm will have been bridged?

That's quite fair.

Thinking of this, Wu You couldn't help but sigh.

Come here.

There's no room for regret now.

He gently took his wife's hand and said:
"You have worked hard."

"It's only been three days, you've worked hard."

Compared to her daughter, who doesn't have much of a sense of "time," the wife clearly understands better what Wu You's current state truly represents.

She looked nervously at Wu You, then at the men standing behind him who were clearly "leaders".

Then, she spoke in a low voice:
"If there's anything else, you can go back with them first."

Wu You glanced back at Lin Xu, who shook his head and replied:
"Everything else can wait, it's okay."

“Those who came back are all from here, and most of them have families.”

"You've worked for so long, you should take a good vacation to visit your families."

"clear."

Wu You nodded slightly; he now actually hoped that Lin Xu could take him away.

Because he genuinely felt a bit uncomfortable.

But Lin Xu seemed to have seen through his thoughts. Instead of helping him out, he directly said something:

"I'll handle the subsequent information handover directly with Zhiyun."

"I will arrange for someone to communicate with you regarding other specific matters, including the placement of your group."

"Okay, we're leaving first."

"Take a good look at your daughter."

After saying that, Lin Xu turned and left, before Wu You could even stop him.

He watched Lin Xu leave, and then sat down in the cramped room on a chair that his wife had specially brought for him.

At that moment, no one spoke.

Even her daughter, Ruoruo, put down the tablet that was playing videos and quietly looked at Wu You.

In a daze, Wu You suddenly felt a tremendous force impacting his consciousness.

His head felt slightly hot, which was the chip implanted in his brain operating at full speed.

The electric current precisely struck the target nerve, and the next second, a tremendous sense of detachment washed over me.

Seventeen years of memories vanished in an instant. Wu You closed his eyes with a hint of pain, and when he opened them again, his gaze had changed noticeably.

The things that bothered him and made him uneasy seemed to disappear instantly.

He seemed to accept the world instantly.

This chip
What exactly did I do to myself?
Wu You looked at her daughter with a slight bewilderment, and after everyone left, Ruoruo returned to being that carefree little girl.

"father!"

She lunged at Wu You, who caught her in his arms.

"Joruo!"

"It's so good to see you back!"

Wu You nodded.

"Yes."

"It's so good to be back."

Outside.

Lin Xu, who had gotten back on the bus, shifted his position slightly and settled into a more comfortable seat.

Qin Feng, his eyes still fixed on the scenery outside the car window, asked with concern in his voice:
"Just leave him here. Is that alright?"

"What I mean is, they just came back from that world, they haven't figured out many things, and they haven't undergone rigorous vetting. Wouldn't it be too much to just let them move around freely?"

"It's loosened up?"

"rest assured."

Lin Xu replied:
"The fact that they were able to get here proves that they have already gone through a round of vetting."

"At least in terms of safety, there won't be any problems." "To be honest, I'm more worried about how they'll adapt to this world—it's like asking you to travel back 17 years; would you accept that so easily?"

"Oh no, from the perspective of technological and social leaps, it should be said that we traveled back 40 years."

"I guess few people would miss life back in 1988?"

"really."

Qin Feng nodded slightly.

"Even those time-travel novels are just about traveling back to that era to do great things; no one really enjoys life in that era."

"Even the most nostalgic person is probably just talking about it."

"If we really let them go back, they might start clamoring to come back the very next day."

"so."

Lin Xu sighed.

"The adaptation process will be really difficult for them."

"They have no chance to back out, and they can't leave this world."

"Now I understand why there were nearly 13000 people on the way there, but only 6000 on the way back."

"In fact, neither replying nor not replying is a wrong choice."

"However, this isn't a difficult problem to detect. Theoretically speaking, they should have had a contingency plan."

As he spoke, Lin Xu sat up straight.

"Okay, I need to check the list now."

"Notify the ground support department to grant network access permissions to the Kunlunshan flagship and allow the Zhiyun system to access the local area network."

"We're going back to the launch site now; there are many things I need to see in person."

"clear."

Qin Feng immediately replied, and the speed of the convoy gradually increased.

Half an hour later, at the Jinling Launch Site, in the isolated data center.

Lin Xu stood in front of the screen, which displayed a circle that was completely devoid of any anthropomorphic image and extremely simple.

Hello, Zhiyun.

Lin Xu spoke simply, and Zhiyun replied simply:

Hello, butterfly.

"Please enter a voice command to obtain the highest level of control."

Voice commands?

Lin Xu was slightly taken aback, then spoke:

"Coffee, KAFEI, coffee."

"Instruction correct, authorization complete."

Zhiyun's voice rang out, and Lin Xu asked with a slightly amused expression:

"So why set the command to this keyword? You could have used more precise methods for biometric identification, right?"

"Indeed."

The circle representing Zhiyun's external image splits and recombines on the screen with a beautiful golden ratio, and the complex movement trajectory shows a kind of order like a fractal structure.

As the image changed, its sound continued to play:
“We can perform biometric identification, and we can also perform more complex and precise identification of high-dimensional information sets, but in fact, it is not really necessary.”

"Like now, even without relying on a password, I can be sure that what's standing in front of me is a butterfly."

“This is a global endorsement, and the password is more like a ritual that cannot be wrong.”

"The ceremony is now over."

"You have been granted supreme command of the support fleet, and all authority has been transferred."

"If needed, you may issue orders to me at any time."

Supreme command authority.

This familiar feeling!

In a daze, Lin Xu even thought he had returned to the world of the Starship Age.

The difference is that back then, he had the highest authority over the "entire world," while now he only has the authority over a fleet.

But that's enough.

A fleet that possesses future technologies and a large amount of equipment.

Although it lacks direct offensive capabilities, the ability to "manipulate gravity" alone is sufficient to ensure the fleet's self-defense.

Isn't this enough?

That's even a bit too much!

Lin Xu coughed once, and then spoke:
"I need detailed information about the 'four-tier solution' that this mission is carrying out."

"I already have a basic understanding of the first level, so I can skip it."

"clear."

Zhiyun's reply rang out, and the circle on the screen disappeared, replaced by rapidly flashing subtitles.

The civilization leap solution consists of four levels: the foundational level, the enabling level, the leapfrog level, and the strategic level.

[Among them, the core objective of the enabling layer technology is to strengthen the core of civilization, that is, to strengthen the "basic elements of civilization."]

At this level, the main technologies include the following three: information transmission interfaces, super artificial intelligence, and high-dimensional biological science.

[Among them, the information interface is an advanced version of brain-computer interface technology, but it can achieve accurate information construction and transmission through transcranial magnetic stimulation technology, thus realizing full practical application.]

Super artificial intelligence, represented by Zhiyun, also includes a series of specialized artificial intelligence technologies to support the full intelligent upgrading of industrial sectors.

High-dimensional bioscience is a higher-dimensional extension of traditional bioscience. With current technology, it can cure and prevent most diseases. In the original world, this collection of technologies has helped to achieve a leapfrog increase in human life expectancy from 110 to 170 years.

After finishing the second level of content, Zhiyun paused briefly before moving on to the third and fourth levels.

Compared to the "specialization" of the second-level technology, the third-level technology felt more familiar to Lin Xu.

Gravity manipulation, space-driven systems, limiters, high-dimensional channel teleportation, and boundary editing.
These technologies are all things that the main world Lin Xu is in is exploring, and most of them have already been completely solved.

Even the "boundary editing technology," which is still under research, has made considerable progress.

As a reference for research in the main world, it is enough to push the boundary resolution project forward by a big step.

After viewing the contents of the three floors, a vision of the future slowly unfolded before Lin Xu's eyes.

It doesn't need to wait too long, and it doesn't need to evolve slowly.

With the support of this massive fleet, the world can move towards the future in a very short time.

This is simply...
It's so convenient!

If we could find a few more similar worlds, or even a more suitable world that could project matter to an earlier point in time,
How far can that world develop?
OK.

Lin Xu clicked his tongue in approval, and at that moment, Zhiyun's introduction had entered its final part.

[Strategic Level]

This is the most important part of the entire solution.

If the first three levels of technology were designed to enable rapid development of human civilization, helping humanity reach its developmental limits in the shortest possible time...

The function of this level is exactly the opposite of the previous three levels.

Its core function is to act as a "safety valve".

Its goal is to ensure that technological explosion does not lead to the self-destruction of civilization.

This is not pessimism.

[Because in our simulations, this world has been destroyed countless times due to excessive technological advancement.]

(End of this chapter)