Chapter 138.1: The Longevity Researcher
Never mind Blue Sea.
Even just looking at the history of Moon Silk Star, the emergence of portable compressed energy had ushered every industry on the planet into a period of explosive development.
The most common—and perhaps the most tempting—example was the vehicles of Moon Silk Star.
These vehicles didn’t need to be constantly refueled. A small piece of portable compressed energy was enough to power an ordinary car for three years. And best of all, once the energy was depleted, you could simply replace it with a new energy unit, just like changing a battery.
But even though these vehicles were a specialty of Moon Silk Star, they were still extremely expensive there, thanks to the desperate demand for transportation in the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Blue Sea had only managed to acquire a little over a hundred of them. They had long since studied every part of them inside and out. It wasn’t just Cheng Qisheng who coveted them—the entire Blue Sea did.
And now, Blue Sea could manufacture vehicles like these too.
With this type of energy powering them, the structure of the vehicles could be redesigned as well. There was no longer any need to reserve space for things like fuel tanks or engine exhaust systems, allowing the interior space to be greatly expanded. The body could also be made lighter, thinner, and safer.
With conventional vehicles, carrying a heavier load affected their handling and could even prevent them from operating when the weather changed.
But vehicles equipped with portable compressed energy could maintain a continuous high-power output. No matter what temperature or environment they were driven in, their performance wouldn’t be affected by the climate or terrain.
They were practically the God-chosen vehicles of Safe Cities!!
Cheng Qisheng was extremely satisfied.
As long as Blue Sea began mass-producing vehicles from this point onward, its residents would never again have to worry about their vehicles running out of energy. They could even use the vehicle’s energy supply to keep their phones and watches charged.
They could use that electricity to cook, run air conditioning, provide lighting, produce oxygen…
As long as enough equipment was installed in these vehicles, whenever Blue Sea’s residents drove them through the various apocalyptic worlds, they would never have to lose the support provided by their advanced technology.
At least from now on, whenever Blue Sea residents wanted to eat something while out in the field, they wouldn’t have to figure out how to gather firewood, dig a pit, and start a fire. They could simply put a pot on and cook.
If there was enough space, residents could even install a refrigerator in their vehicles.
The days of the Old Eighths living like primitive savages in the apocalypse were gone forever.
The emergence of portable compressed energy could at least allow them to evolve from complete savages into half-savages.
And portable compressed energy wasn’t limited to vehicles, either. Phones and computers aside, take the cold-weather suits from Dazzling Star, for example. Didn’t they also require a continuous and sufficiently compact energy source to function?
From small electric tools to gigantic tunnel boring machines… airplanes, drones, pleasure boats, submarines, and all kinds of other equipment could make use of it.
There was another very important point: now that Blue Sea had broken through compressed-energy technology, it could also manufacture handheld high-energy laser weapons of its own.
Colleen had only been in Blue Sea for less than half a month, yet she was already able to directly drive the overall development of Blue Sea forward.
As expected!!
Talent really was important!
They had barely managed to poach one talented person, and suddenly they had a whole bunch of incredibly useful vehicles!
With actual results to show for it, Cheng Qisheng’s attitude also changed from her previous “I’ve already tried persuading you. If you won’t listen, then whatever” to “Anyone who contributes to Blue Sea deserves a reward.”
…
Colleen had just submitted her results and the research process and was planning to put her head down and continue working when she suddenly received some news.
—She had been forced to take paid leave.
Vacation. And paid vacation at that.
What a distant concept.
Of course, Colleen had taken vacations in the past. That was back before the war had completely engulfed the continent, when researchers still held a considerably higher status than they did now.
But once the war began, the [Company]’s status rose steadily, while the government gradually became corrupt. No one was left to protect the interests of employees.
At first, Colleen had three days off every week.
Then it became two.
Later, one.
Until finally, she didn’t even have half an hour of vacation left.
But it was all worth it.
At least she still had a job. She could still earn money. Back then, there were countless people outside who had lost their jobs and their means of making a living, leaving them with no choice but to sell parts of their own bodies in exchange for food.
Eventually, even selling limbs, kidneys, or lungs couldn’t get them much food anymore. There were simply too many people doing it, so naturally, the market price dropped.
Being unable to take a vacation had even become a reward of sorts.
So now that Colleen was being told to take time off, she genuinely didn’t know how to handle it.
After all, taking a vacation meant she couldn’t create more value.
Not being able to create value meant being useless.
Being useless meant getting fired.
Colleen was extremely satisfied with this workplace, which was willing to protect both her and her family without removing her brain. So she tried asking her superior for permission to continue working.
Her superior flatly rejected her request.
“No. You have to take a vacation. If you don’t rest now, you’ll die from overwork. We’re the [Longevity Faction], after all.”
Colleen hurriedly tried to explain herself.
“No, Minister. I underwent deep-brain basal ganglia implantation surgery. My body can sustain long periods of work.”
Ninety percent of the employees from Colleen’s generation at the [Company] had undergone this surgery. Although it shortened their lifespans somewhat, it allowed them to remain alert after sleeping for only one hour a day, giving them more time to work and serve the [Company] more effectively.
The Blue Sea superior: “……”
Every time she thought the [Company] couldn’t possibly get any more twisted, it managed to completely shatter her expectations again.
The minister reluctantly digested this new piece of information.
“Your body may be able to keep working, but won’t your mind get tired?”
Colleen fell silent.
Of course she was tired.
Her superior continued pressing the point.
“Besides, you haven’t seen your family even once since you started working. Colleen, don’t you miss them?”
Colleen wavered.
She certainly did. Every single day, she wanted to contact her family—to check on them and hear their voices.
But she didn’t dare show it. Over the past few days, she had only contacted her family once, and even then, they had spoken for just one minute. She had asked whether they were doing all right, and naturally, her family had said they were. But there hadn’t been time to talk about anything in greater detail.
Colleen was afraid that spending too much time communicating with her family would cause the [Company] to judge her as being “too distracted by external matters.”
According to Colleen’s plan, she would work for roughly half a year, produce some worthwhile results, and then cautiously ask her superior for half a day off. Only then would she be able to reunite with her family.
But she hadn’t expected that after just half a month, [Ota] would proactively give her time off and allow her to visit her family.
With a strange, unfamiliar feeling, Colleen set out on the journey back “home.”
To maintain her condition as effectively as possible, she had been sleeping directly at the research institute during this period. Although the [Company] had provided her with an employee room, she had only been there once herself.
Despite having visited her employee room only once, Colleen didn’t feel the slightest bit regretful, because her family, as employee dependents, were allowed to live in that room.
Whenever she worked day and night, whenever she occasionally felt a little tired, whenever the [Company] required her to sleep, all she had to do was think of her family, who could live safely in that employee room, and Colleen would feel herself filled with strength once more.
Her memory was good enough that, after walking through the winding, spacious white corridors, she successfully followed the route she remembered and stopped in front of a door.
The room number was neatly written in the script of Moon Silk Star:
Employee Dormitory, Zone D, Building 7, Room 2139.
Colleen took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Coming!”
The voice of her partner, Regg, came from inside. As he called out, he opened the door.
The simple action immediately put Colleen somewhat at ease.
Regg’s first reaction to the knock was to open the door. He didn’t ask who was knocking, pretend that no one was home, or cautiously peek outside before opening it. This showed that while her family had been living in the employee dormitory, they hadn’t encountered any danger from the outside.
“Darling! Oh my God! You’re back!!”
Regg opened the door and was delighted to see his partner standing outside. He let out an excited cry.
“Quick, quick, come inside, Seraphine!” He pulled Colleen into the room while turning around and calling out loudly, “Seraphine! Mommy’s home!”
“Mommy!!”
A delighted cry came from inside. A little girl wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts came running out, thump-thump-thump, and wrapped both arms around Colleen’s leg, looking up at her.
“Mommy, I missed you so much. Did you miss me?”
The slight fatigue that had always lingered in Colleen’s eyes melted away, replaced by tenderness. She picked up her daughter and kissed her.
It was only after entering the room that she caught the aroma of food wafting through the air.
That smell…
It was natural food.
Extreme capitalism!!! Evil God!!!