With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

As time goes by, the grape trellis in the yard is once again laden with grapes.

The two little ones, holding onto the chair legs, wobbled and moved around under the grape trellis. Song Zhiyao walked in front, her steps more steady, while Song Zhizheng followed closely behind, swaying every two steps before plopping down on the ground without crying, looking up at his sister with his little face.

Jiang Zhiyu sat on a small bamboo chair under the eaves, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, watching the two children.

A year has passed, time flies. In the first half of the year, she, Wang Zhaixing, and Li Mancang made two more trips: one to Jiuyi Mountain to retrieve the bronze assistant statue; and the other to Qingcheng Mountain to get the Bagua compass. Neither trip was easy. The internal structure of Jiuyi Mountain was complex, and they almost encountered a landslide. The tomb in Qingcheng Mountain was full of traps and mechanisms. Fortunately, they managed to get everything back intact in the end.

Now, only two of the original twenty-seven locations remain, both in the northwest direction.

"Host, aren't you worried? There are only two places left." Seventeen's voice was clearly anxious.

Jiang Zhiyu put down the palm-leaf fan, looked at a bunch of dark purple grapes on the grape trellis, reached out and picked one and threw it into her mouth.

"No rush. I just feel the timing isn't right."

"Alright, host, I was too hasty."

"Don't worry, this time you'll definitely absorb enough." She squinted at the sun overhead. "I also want to see what you'll become after you've absorbed it all."

……

Just then, the phone rang inside the house.

Jiang Zhiyu clapped her hands, stood up, and went inside to answer the call.

Hello, who are you?

"Hello, Director Jiang, we are from the Qiongzhou Island experimental base. The fishermen here have handed in a batch of unmanned underwater vehicles, but the pollution is quite severe. If we want to dismantle them, we must first clean up the pollution. We would like to ask you to come over."

Jiang Zhiyu leaned against the doorframe. "Approximately how much?"

"There were quite a few; they filled an entire room."

"I wonder if Director Jiang is available at the moment?"

Jiang Zhiyu turned around and glanced at the two toddlers taking their first steps in the yard.

She smiled and said confidently, "Sure."

……

When Song Yanzhou returned in the afternoon, he saw Jiang Zhiyu sitting in the main room in a daze as soon as he entered the door.

He knew that look in her eyes all too well; it was always that expression whenever she had a task but couldn't bring herself to speak up.

He took two steps over and grabbed her hand.

"Is it another mission?"

Jiang Zhiyu nodded.

Song Yanzhou didn't say anything, but pulled his wife into his arms and rested his chin on her head.

"Honey, this year has been the most fulfilling year of my life. Look at the kids, we've raised them so much, Zhizheng and Zhiyao, we haven't missed a single moment of their growth. We've always been there for them."

He paused, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"They have no idea how envious everyone in the compound is of me. Especially my childhood friends, they're green with envy."

Jiang Zhiyu's lips curled up slightly at his amusement.

"Don't always look apologetic on your missions. Your missions are always shrouded in mystery; all I can do is support you from behind."

He released her and pinched her cheek.

"Sit down and wait patiently. I'll make you braised pork ribs today. And I'll cook the seafood you left over from yesterday too."

After saying that, he kissed her on the forehead, turned around and went into the kitchen.

Jiang Zhiyu stood there stunned for two seconds, unable to suppress the smile on her lips.

……

The next morning, Jiang Zhiyu went directly to Qiongzhou Island.

The experimental base was located at the southernmost tip of the island, a row of low cement buildings with an inconspicuous sign hanging at the entrance, surrounded by heavily armed sentries. The researcher who greeted her was wearing a heavy protective suit and led her to the back.

Pushing open the door to a room, Jiang Zhiyu was still taken aback.

Two yellow unmanned underwater vehicles were placed against the wall, their outer shells covered with a layer of grayish-green deposits. Next to them were piles of unexploded torpedoes of various sizes, and several layers of sonar buoys. The room was crammed full, and people had to squeeze in sideways.

She turned to look at the researcher behind her.

"Did you salvage all of these?"

The researcher shook his head. "Some of these were salvaged by the military, and some were turned in by fishermen who voluntarily salvaged them. These items have some radiation. We'd like to study them, but we'd prefer to wait until you've cleaned them up before proceeding."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded. "You did the right thing. Don't move yet, come in after I've finished."

She closed the door tightly, spread her mental energy, and silently activated her poison-based superpower.

The invisible radioactive particles in the air, as if drawn by a magnet, gradually gathered around her. The grayish-green coating on the submarine's hull slowly faded, revealing the silvery-white metal underneath. The radioactive layers on the torpedoes and sonar buoys also peeled away one by one.

It was completely absorbed in less than ten minutes.

She opened the door, and the researcher leaned in to take a look, then glanced at the readings on the instrument. He opened his mouth, but said nothing.

……

Jiang Zhiyu followed the researcher to the director's office.

Director Lu was a thin, elderly man in his sixties with gray hair and thick reading glasses. When he saw her come in, he immediately stood up and poured her a cup of tea.

"I'm so sorry to trouble Director Jiang to make this trip again."

"It's nothing." Jiang Zhiyu took the teacup and sat down on the sofa. "You guys have been having a lot of these things lately."

Director Lu sighed, took off his glasses, and wiped them.

"That's right. The South China Sea has been particularly turbulent lately. We've been working on one technological breakthrough after another, and although some haven't been made public, those people are putting things in the South China Sea trying to spy on us. They've provoked us at sea more than once or twice."

He put his glasses back on and shook his head.

"There's nothing we can do; our naval equipment is inadequate right now. We even lost two soldiers recently."

Jiang Zhiyu put down her teacup. "What's going on?"

"They brazenly drove that big machine right to our doorstep to provoke us. No shots were fired, but these kids, hot-blooded and impulsive, started fighting during the standoff, and two sailors were killed. They were both in the navy, very elite, and quite young."

Director Lu's voice turned somber.

"So, their big thing is still at our seas?"

"They left after the provocation. But their nuclear submarines and patrol boats are still on the high seas."

After Director Lu finished speaking, he slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups jump.

"Damn it, this is so frustrating. Sometimes I really want to slap our research in their faces. But it's still not enough, our strength is still insufficient. No matter how hard we try, there's still a huge gap."

Jiang Zhiyu looked at the old director's gray hair and red eyes, and said nothing.

After a moment of silence, she finally spoke.

"Director Lu, this can't be rushed. You should understand that we've already sacrificed the comfortable lives of several generations to conduct this research."

Director Lu put his glasses back on, nodded, and said nothing more.

After leaving the research institute, Jiang Zhiyu stood on a high point and looked towards the sea.

The sea on the horizon was a hazy gray, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky ended and the sea began. The sea breeze, carrying a salty smell, blew over and messed up her hair.

Since they dared to extend their claws, she would make them disappear.