People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

A misanthropic scientist? Are his research results only for his own enjoyment?

To some extent, Christensen has a good eye for people.

Levy was indeed unwilling to let his research results become a dumping ground for any one person or group of people; he wanted to bring change to the vast number of pioneers and even those infected.

Real change.

But Christensen was destined not to understand this way of thinking.

Just like the official characterization YJ gave her at the end of the game, this "selfish person. betrayer. seeker of truth. loner. pioneer." is someone who would do anything to pave a path for herself, but not someone who would sacrifice herself to pave a path for others.

Even if her actions will objectively change Terra's future, she is subjectively nothing more than a great selfish person.

This is not contradictory; on the contrary, it makes Christensen appear as a person, not a saint.

Christen pulled Muirsey out of the water glass and threw it on the ground. The water-based body immediately disintegrated, then quickly coalesced again, transforming into a life-size version of Muirsey that was no different from before.

Christen asked, "He refused again. What did he say this time?"

“Hmm…” Muirsay thought for a moment before saying, “He told Christen that next time you should speak less official jargon and just bring the project to him directly.”

Christen paused for a moment.

Muirsey's words were always tactful, and she could probably guess how harsh Levy's words of refusal must have been.

But it doesn't matter, she has never cared about what others say.

Even though Levi repeatedly rejected her offers, she would not give up, because Levi was a talented person, a talent that Rhine Life needed, and a talent that her plans needed.

Christen had read the paper that made Levy famous in the Tremont academic community, "The Relationship Between Originium and the Evolution of Life Forms".

One of the academic viewpoints put forward is still being debated repeatedly in Tremont's academic circles even months later.

[Experimental results indicate that Originium can serve as a carrier of consciousness and can even replace bodily organs in extreme cases. Life forms that utilize Originium as organs are themselves being shaped by the Originium.]

The extreme disease widely known as 'Orestone Disease' among the Terrans may be more than just a disease. It can be considered a turning point in the evolution of life.

This view is heretical, and could even be described as alarmist.

Since the earliest recorded history of Terra, the demonization and persecution of Oripathy and the Infected have been documented. For millennia, no one has ever questioned the evil nature of Oripathy. Even the most progressive thinkers have only advocated for the equal status of the Infected, arguing that Oripathy is a part of the evolution of life.

In Ursus, a country where the exploitation and oppression of infected individuals has become a basic national policy, such academic papers would have no chance of being published.

But this is Colombia, this is Trimont.

It is a place approved by the President as "a place where all ideas collide".

Here, while content is still subject to censorship, as long as it doesn't involve extremely sensitive issues (demons, sea creatures, pre-civilizations), it won't attract the President's attention. Academic censorship is far more lenient than anywhere else.

As long as Levy provides sufficient experimental evidence, a clear enough process, detailed enough content, and obvious enough results, then this study has room for discussion.

And Levy did it.

He used one hundred people—one hundred late-stage Oripathy patients struggling to survive on the frontier—who, under Levy's "treatment," lived an extra month, leading normal lives, even more "healthy" and energetic than before, instead of lingering in extreme pain.

Christine was not interested in the research itself; she was more interested in the byproducts Levy obtained in his experiments.

He confirmed the Originium's function of storing and transmitting consciousness—allowing people's consciousness to connect and generate energy.

This means that Originium, with more refined research and modification, can become a "transmitter".

This neurotransmitter plays a crucial role in Christensen's plan.

Therefore, she valued Levy highly.

After learning the reason why Levy rejected her this time, Christensen chose to grant his request.

"Müllerse, please tell Yara that I happen to have a project on hand, and I don't know if he would be interested."

Muirsey covered her mouth in surprise and said, "You're not talking about that one, are you?"

Christen nodded: "The location is in Sherag. The research subject is the isolation layer covering this land at an altitude of about six thousand meters above Terra, and its reaction to life forms and Originium. Doesn't he believe that Originium can become the next stage of human evolution on Terra? If he is interested in this topic, he can come to Rhine Lab headquarters to find me tomorrow."

“Bring a copy of the project proposal with you; it has my signature and that of the Prime Minister of the Sherrag government,” Christen said.

Chapter 106 Holy crap!

Upon arrival at the quarantine checkpoint, undergo security checks. Pass through the connecting gate, take the elevator, and enter the Trimont city entrance.

Although it wasn't his first time visiting Trimont, Ernst was still amazed by its technological sophistication.

Because all of the above processes are completed mechanically.

Several months have passed, and the city of Trimont has undergone considerable changes. With the New Year holiday just over, the entrances to Trimont are bustling with returning pedestrians. Construction sites that were previously surrounded by corrugated iron sheets have now been replaced by large buildings with signs advertising beach umbrellas.

In the Chinese mindset, a thriving real estate market doesn't necessarily indicate a city's vitality, but if a city has no land for housing developments, it's definitely doomed.

This is why, when describing most changes in the times and social progress, we subconsciously add the phrase: "High-rise buildings have sprung up on the former rural plains" to modify "the rapid development of cities."

Unfortunately, Sherag has yet to be recognized as a true scientist. His brother's close friend, Nohis, did have that inclination, but he later focused his energy on his position as CTO of Carlan Trade and politics, and to this day has not produced any noteworthy scientific achievements.

Human energy is, after all, limited.

I wonder if my sincere request to learn mechanics from the great god Jeragund ever reached His ears. After all, He might be the only person in Sherag with the means to conduct scientific experiments... amazing.

RheinLife's reception staff arrived quickly. Ernst didn't wait long at the station before he saw the vehicle with the RheinLife logo drive onto the main road into the city.

Ernst was somewhat surprised when he saw the appearance of the person who picked him up.

"Sedee... Rhea?"

Wearing a loose, dark gray trench coat, an oversized and ambiguous scarf and straps, a stern and angular face, and black and red horns that immediately identify him as a member of the Vyvan race.

Who else could it be but Seria, the head of the Rhine Lab's Defense Section?

Ernst knew Seria for a very simple reason.

Jeston, who wasn't hired during the last recruitment drive, was beaten up by Seria.

In an era when the most popular topic was selecting the "Three Phantom Gods," only Saria, with her infinite power from her first, second, and third skills at Mastery 3, decisively ended player discussions time and time again in Crisis Contracts, becoming a true "Three Phantom God."

Without exception, the "Three Phantom Gods" refers to Saria's three skills.

In addition, Saria was known by two respectful titles in the early days: "Saria Mom" ​​and "Saria Dad," which happened to match the name of a certain well-known LOL e-sports player at the time, leading to the saying, "If Saria hadn't been born, the Contingency Contract would have been shrouded in eternal darkness!"

There are so many interesting stories about her that it's impossible to list them all. She's also one of the few operators with high skill ratings who, in an era of explosive power in storylines, wasn't just used as a punching bag and maintained a high level of performance, even inspiring a large number of defeated opponents.

It can be said that this character is a double hit in terms of both plot and gameplay, and is extremely well-developed and has a high level of sophistication.

Unfortunately, she is now the director of Rhine Life.

Ernst did know that she would leave Rhine Life for some reason in the future, but the specifics were somewhat hazy in his memory, and he had no recollection of the exact date.

We can only hope to glean some information during this meeting and seize the opportunity.

When Ernst called her name, Saria looked somewhat surprised:

"Mr. Ernst, do you recognize me?"

“Christen mentioned you to me.” Ernst quickly lied and changed the subject. “I was flattered to find that the head of Rhine Lab’s defense department was the one who came to pick me up.”

"You're too kind." Seria didn't delve into it further and shook her head. "Christen takes this meeting with you very seriously, Prime Minister Ernst."

She paused, her expression slightly grave, and said...

"Furthermore, to be frank, the collaboration between Rhine Labs and your company has attracted considerable attention. The Matterhorn is the closest point to the isolation layer, and many companies have submitted research applications to Rhine Labs, hoping to participate in the construction of this dome research station. Christensen is able to withstand the pressure for now, but she is worried that some unscrupulous people might try to take action against you."

Ernst clicked his tongue, feeling a bit of toothache.

Indeed, the business world is like a battlefield, and the competition between scientists is not as simple as "I publish a paper to refute your point of view".

Judging from Celia's statement, if necessary, "eliminating the opposing scientist so that he can never publish a paper to refute my point of view" is also an option for the scientific community in Tremont?

Upon hearing this, Hinterlea moved even closer to Ernst.

She has learned this the hard way, so she understands this principle even better.

If she hadn't been lucky enough to run into Ernst nearby, she might be stuck in the cycle of reincarnation today. Naturally, she didn't want Ernst to encounter a similar danger.

Perhaps noticing Hinterlea's tension, Saria's grave expression eased slightly, and she comforted her:

"There's no need to be too nervous. Now that I'm here, I won't let you encounter any more danger."

What a reassuring statement! No wonder she's a woman whose hardness rivals that of diamonds!

Hinterlea was still somewhat puzzled as to why this seemingly poker-faced woman possessed such confidence. Ernst, however, nodded first and got into the Rhine Life vehicle with a reassured expression.

Just kidding. If it were anyone else, Ernst might have hesitated to keep the Divine Stone after hearing the previous warning, just for peace of mind. But since it was Saria, it's a different story.

Do you even realize how valuable Columbia Superman is?

The journey was uneventful, and we arrived at the Rhine Life Building.

Although they encountered many groups of paparazzi trying to take photos along the way, even the most courageous paparazzi wouldn't dare to block the car and try to make an "exclusive report" when they saw that the person accompanying Ernst was Seria.

After all, Saria was quite a celebrity in Tremont. Everyone knew that the head of Rhine Lab's defense department was not someone to be trifled with, and everyone knew that no matter who Saria offended, the Rhine Lab's commander would provide her with the greatest possible protection.

No one wanted to provoke the commander-in-chief, especially since she had a highly promising research project under her control. With large companies like beach umbrellas not making a move, these small fry naturally had no reason to offer them anything.

Led by Seria, Ernst finally ascended the star-studded building in Tremont and entered the conference room.

There were four people waiting in the room.

An old acquaintance, Ms. Nastya, the head of the Engineering Department at RheinLife.

An unfamiliar face, a successful person whose clothes exuded an air of extravagance, with a name tag on his chest proclaiming his position as "Director of Business Department".

A strange, middle-aged man, dressed in a plain white researcher's lab coat without any other adornment, and sporting a rather unconventional hairstyle, looked at Ernst with a complex mix of emotions—scrutiny, excitement, and suspicion. The smile on his lips was harder to suppress than an AK-47.

Of course, there was also the main character of this meeting, the head of Rhine Lab, Miss Christen Wright.

"Mr. Ernst, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The lady of the house stood up and extended her hand to Ernst.

Welcome to Rhine Labs.

PS: Let me give a brief, albeit somewhat blunt, review of the plot this time.

Although the exposed text has more than one star in length, to be honest, in my personal opinion, it is far inferior to Lone Star.

To be honest, I feel like this storyline lacks a central theme.

He adopted a similar approach to Lone Star, starting as a crime drama where the protagonist searches for the remnants of the Witch King's faction (corresponding to the Chief Inspector) to uncover their motives (corresponding to the Chief Inspector's objectives). Then, a minor plot twist occurs midway, revealing that the initially discovered "truth" was merely a deception (corresponding to the Chief Inspector allowing the Doctor and others to discover the medium and its preserver). Finally, the truth is revealed—the existence of the Wasteland and the Witch King's true purpose of fighting evil, corresponding to the Chief Inspector's plan for flight.

Overall, it was entertaining, but lacked a clear theme.

The theme of Lone Star is humanity's relentless spirit of exploration, expressing the courage of an extreme idealist to break free from all constraints and abandon everything to rush towards the stars. The appearance of the Preservator and the completion of some content of the pre-civilization are just additions to this story.

Even disregarding the existence of the Preservator, Lone Star remains a very moving story. The performance of Christensen's final question, paired with the etched "Future" emblem, was a stroke of genius.

But this time the plot...

Chapter 107 Justin: I shouldn't be here, I should be under the table.

"The conditions for Kjerag are simple: the Matterhorn can be opened to Rhine Lab as a research station, but apart from the arrival of the high-tech equipment, the rest of the construction work for the Matterhorn research station must be carried out by recruiting local workers in Kjerag. In addition, while hiring Ms. Nasti as the chief urban planner, we will form a review committee consisting of myself, Enciodes, Latatos, Actos, and Ms. Nasti to jointly modify and optimize the plan."

Ernst paused, sweat already beading on his forehead, but he persisted in speaking.

"Besides that, we hope RheinLife can provide some high-quality channels for construction costs in the design plan, ensuring that the quality is good and the price is reasonable. Other than that, we have no other requirements."

Ernst had no other requests, and he didn't know how he had the audacity to say those words.

Even though he had been a shameless civil servant in his previous life, his shamelessness at this moment still crossed his psychological bottom line.

It's a transaction of interests; you have to offer something in return for the exchange. Look at what Ernst offered.

The right to establish a research station on the Matterhorn!

So what did he ask for?

The construction of the research station requires local recruitment, which means that Rhein Life cannot use its experienced engineering staff for this project and must instead recruit unfamiliar Sherag people on-site. Moreover, based on Nasti's report, Christen felt that he might also have to provide a round of technical training.

Otherwise, it's hard to say how many people in Shelag know how to apply ash and glue.

And when you think about it, this is actually the most common condition!

The appointment of Nastie as the engineering designer was agreed upon beforehand, but the formation of a council composed of Ernst and others was not arranged in advance.