In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

"What research findings does the Academy of Sciences have regarding the breakthrough from the third to the fourth tier of Awakened Beings?"

Su Ran uttered these words.

"This project was initiated a long time ago, and it caused quite a stir back then."

Su Ran followed, and couldn't help but ask with some curiosity.

How loud was it?

Zhang Qian explained earnestly as he walked.

"At that time, Professor Chen personally took the lead and called together people from the Institute of Genetics, the Department of Neuroscience, and the Department of High Energy Physics."

A joint task force from multiple departments, codenamed "Ascending to Godhood."

Su Ran's heart skipped a beat, and her expression instantly hardened.

"Ascending to godhood?"

"That's right, it's 'Ascension to Godhood'!"

The two walked through a hundred-meter-long corridor and stopped in front of a metal elevator.

Zhang Qian stood still, his posture ramrod straight.

"Retinal scan complete."

"The palm prints have been verified and are correct."

"Voiceprint password verification successful."

The triple physical lock emitted a dull mechanical clicking sound.

"Beep! S-level clearance confirmed. 11th basement level, open."

An electronic synthesized sound began.

A feeling of weightlessness washed over me as the elevator plummeted downwards.

When the elevator doors opened smoothly to both sides again, what came into view was not cold experimental equipment, but a huge holographic projection array that was dark and deep, interwoven with countless blue lights!

In mid-air, lifelike holographic images of the human body floated, next to which were densely labeled genetic maps and supernatural energy indices.

There are awakened individuals from the Great Xia Dynasty, as well as survivors and powerful individuals from overseas.

Almost every high-level awakened individual who has ever shown their face can find a corresponding life model here!

"When was this laboratory built so quietly at the Kunlun base?"

A look of shock flashed across Su Ran's eyes, her heart filled with doubt.

Although he had been busy on the front lines clearing out enemy forces and hadn't been paying attention to the research progress of the scientists in the rear for a while, he had visited almost all of the Academy's main laboratories.

He had absolutely no recollection of this futuristic underground space.

As if sensing Su Ran's confusion, Zhang Qian strode to the control panel and began to explain.

"This place can also be considered a semi-top-secret archive. Information files, combat data, and collected genetic samples of known high-level awakened individuals from around the world are all stored here."

Later, because I took on too many live-action projects, the upper floors weren't enough space, so I moved some of the core data analysis rooms here.

Su Ran then suddenly realized what was going on.

As he spoke, Zhang Qian picked up a tablet on the control panel, pulled up an encrypted file, and shoved it directly into Su Ran's hand.

"Based on your previous report, 'The Next Ten Years: The Evolution Timeline of Alienated Creatures,' we used the supercomputing center to run an evolutionary model on all the data of registered third-level awakened beings nationwide."

Zhang Qian pointed to a red line on the screen that was originally rising gently.

After climbing to a certain point, the red line suddenly seemed to lose momentum and turned into a rigid horizontal straight line.

"Did you see that?"

Zhang Qian pointed to the straight line, his tone grave.

"Whether it's from Tier 1 to Tier 2, or from Tier 2 to Tier 3, as long as there are enough crystal cores and the intensity of actual combat keeps up, the energy accumulation of an Awakener will increase linearly."

"However, once you reach the threshold of the peak of the third tier, this line flattens out."

Su Ran tapped her fingertip on the screen, her mind flooded with memories.

"It's completely leveled." Su Ran echoed in a low voice.

The two walked side by side to a giant segmented display screen in the very center area.

The densely distributed red and blue dots represent the top combat forces around the world.

"At present, there are 952 awakened individuals worldwide who have reached the peak of the third tier, of which 71 are from our Great Xia."

Zhang Qian remained expressionless, his gaze fixed on the data.

"However, no one has yet shown any obvious signs of breaking through to the fourth rank."

"The peak of the third tier is a huge insurmountable barrier."

You mentioned the concept of "sedimentation period" in your report, which has been confirmed in our actual tests.

Moreover, this process of building up foundations is expected to be extremely lengthy.

Su Ran stared intently at the data on the screen, without interrupting.

He knew what Zhang Qian was talking about, but he didn't know how to explain this bottleneck from a scientific microscopic perspective.

"The gap between the third and fourth tiers is insurmountable."

Zhang Qian continued to explain.

"When supernatural energy accumulates to its limit within the body, the mortal body simply cannot withstand the pressure of higher-density mental energy."

To overcome this, a complete genetic recombination and energy solidification are necessary.

This is the most crucial reason for this accumulation period.

"That is, a qualitative change in the dimension of life," Su Ran said.

"Yes! A qualitative change!"

Zhang Qian nodded emphatically, "High-level mutated beasts in nature are also stuck on this line."

They also need a long time to settle.

"And the core objective of our Academy of Sciences' 'Ascension to Godhood' project..."

At this point, Zhang Qian's eyes blazed with extreme fervor.

"We must use the most rigorous scientific methods to forcibly shorten the settling period for awakened humans during this time!"

"Turning the mysterious evolution of supernatural abilities into a controllable industrial process!"

"Let human king-level awakened beings appear in large numbers in Great Xia, ahead of those king-level mutated beasts!"

Hearing Zhang Qian's resounding words, Su Ran felt a surge of fervent excitement.

"Professor Zhang, do you have a plan?" Su Ran asked, getting straight to the point.

The fervor in Zhang Qian's eyes subsided somewhat, and reason regained its footing.

"Two plans have already been developed for simultaneous implementation."

The Engineering Academy is responsible for energy liquefaction and purification, while the Biotechnology Agency is responsible for gene anchor location.

Our neuroscience lab focuses on expanding the limits of neural load.

As he spoke, the holographic projection instantly switched to several extremely complex dynamic diagrams of human meridians and entangled gene spirals.

"We have successfully implemented the theoretical framework, but to truly put it into practice, we still need a large amount of high-level live in vivo data for further experimental verification."

Zhang Qian's expression was stern.

"Everyone's special ability sequence and genetic map are completely different."

Fire, water, mental, and physical attributes each require completely different catalysts and guidance methods for advancement.

"In other words, a one-size-fits-all approach is not feasible."

Su Ran said, "We need to tailor a unique breakthrough plan based on the individual characteristics of the awakened one."

"That's right!" Zhang Qian nodded.

Now that a solution is being validated, its final implementation won't be too far off.

"The solution still needs to be handed over to your experts."

"I'll guarantee the resources. If you're short of resources, I'll personally deliver them to you, no matter where you are."

Su Ran once again made the greatest promise he could.