Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

The smoke and death of the New Poseidon continent were gradually diluted and dissipated by the efficient underground environmental circulation system and the cleanup efforts of the Chinese engineering forces. However, the desolation and silence left behind by the self-destruction of that civilization, so deeply ingrained, seemed to be imprinted on every corner of this space, lingering for a long time.

On the surface, the highest levels received detailed battle reports and assessments from the Earth's core. The organized resistance of the Atlantean civilization had been completely ended. Apart from a few captured personnel and some scattered, now harmless, gigantic beasts, there was nothing in the inner Earth that posed a substantial threat to China.

Lin Feng's application report was presented to Professor Li at this moment. The report was concise and had a clear objective: to personally go to the Earth's core, preside over the final implementation of the Hou Tu Energy Project, and conduct first-hand scientific research on the ruins of Atlantis.

"The threat from the Earth's core has been eliminated, and the environment is basically stable. The Post-Earth Project is a millennium-long plan concerning the fate of the nation. Only with Comrade Lin Feng personally overseeing it can we ensure that nothing goes wrong." At the meeting, Elder Li overruled the objections of the majority. "As for security, the garrison at the Earth's core has established preliminary order. Coupled with Comrade Lin Feng's own protection and elite guards, the risks are controllable. His application is approved."

The order was given. A top-notch team of experts, personally selected by Lin Feng and covering multiple fields including energy, geology, materials, and ancient civilization research, was quickly assembled. They boarded the latest type of fast transport ship, the Xirang-II, equipped with Nezha armor and Golden Crow self-defense weapons, and descended once again onto this alien continent that had just been baptized by blood and fire through the Tongtian Well.

Standing on the hard, slightly warm, dark ground of New Poseidon, with the flowing dark red energy sky above, Lin Feng felt little of the joy of a conqueror, only the pure focus of a scientific researcher facing the unknown and a complex sigh for a lost civilization.

His primary task is to fulfill the promise of the Houtu Project—to transform the surging power of the heart of this planet into an inexhaustible source of energy for Chinese civilization.

"Everyone, begin work immediately according to the established plan." Lin Feng instructed the expert team. "Phase one objective: On the edge of the Neo-Poseidonian continent, near the kinetic energy overflow zone, establish three prototype planetary generator stations and the main nodes of the supporting geothermal transmission network. Phase two objective: Comprehensively map the energy distribution of the continent and the surrounding core fluid region, and optimize the overall development blueprint. We aim to achieve experimental transmission of Earth's core energy to the surface within one year; and within three years, build a stable energy supply network covering the major regions of the country."

With clear commands and a highly efficient team, modular equipment, already prepared, was continuously unloaded from the transport ship. The once-silent subterranean world resonated once more with the hum of human technology, this time for construction, not destruction.

After establishing the grand framework of the Houtu Energy Project and ensuring that all basic tasks were carried out systematically, Lin Feng handed over the daily coordination work to his deputy. He himself, under the close protection of an elite White Tiger Squad led by Zhao Weiguo, began to delve into the ruins of the Atlantis civilization.

Through the interrogation and language deciphering of the prisoners over this period, Huaxia has mastered the basic structure of the Atlantean language and pieced together some key information from the scattered confessions: the core that has supported their subterranean civilization for ten thousand years, besides the unique energy technology tree, also includes two key substances—the high-purity energy crystal known as the Heart of Titan, and the mysterious extraterrestrial meteorite known as the Star Core that is said to have guided them into the Earth's core.

One of Lin Feng's main purposes for this trip was to find the remains or clues of these two items.

They first arrived at the ruins of the Energy Treasury, located in the northwest corner of the continent, which had already been partially cleared by the Chinese engineering corps. This was once where Atlantis stored the Heart of Titan. Now, what greeted their eyes was a scene of devastation. The massive crystal base was empty, the ground was covered with dull, cracked crystal fragments, and the air was filled with a faint, burnt smell from energy radiation.

Clearly, the Atlanteans carried out a thorough destruction of this place in their final moments.

Lin Feng crouched down and picked up a palm-sized, dark crystal fragment whose internal structure was completely chaotic. Even though it was ruined, the moment his fingertips touched it, he could still feel the residual energy within it, which was far purer and more powerful than any known energy source on Earth.

"The Heart of Titan... truly lives up to its name. Even in its destruction, the residual energy density is still astonishing." Lin Feng carefully collected several of the most representative fragments and placed them into a specially made shielded container. "Taking them back to analyze their composition and decay patterns might allow us to deduce their formation mechanism and even find methods for synthesis or replacement."

Leaving the Energy Treasury, Lin Feng and his group arrived at the Central Temple located in the center of the continent. This was the religious and technological core of the Atlantis civilization, and also the place of worship for the Star Core.

The temple's interior was empty and deathly silent. The magnificent dome and walls, engraved with intricate energy patterns, stood silently, devoid of any radiant energy flow. Most striking was the enormous circular platform in the center of the hall, cast from some kind of high-temperature resistant alloy. At the platform's center was a strange, molten-edged pit, about ten meters in diameter, its interior empty except for remnants of an unusually powerful energy field, evidence that something extraordinary had once been stored there.

The star's core had been completely annihilated, leaving not even atomic-level debris. The Atlanteans' final purification was carried out with such ruthlessness.

Lin Feng carefully sensed every energy fluctuation around the platform. Besides the destructive remnants of annihilation, there was something even deeper and more elusive... an imprint? It was as if some information beyond the material realm had been briefly imprinted on this spacetime by that violent energy annihilation.

Just as Lin Feng was concentrating on sensing and preparing to lead everyone away to check the other side halls and underground database of the temple, a sudden change occurred!

The once calm residual energy in the center of the temple seemed to be drawn by some invisible force, and began to converge uncontrollably at an accelerated pace! It was not a physical accumulation of matter, but rather the remaining energy field, spatial distortion points, and even the microscopic particle information that it might contain, all surging wildly upwards towards the depression in the center of the platform, as if drawn by a vortex!

Ding-ding-ding!

A crisp, ethereal sound, seemingly resounding directly into the depths of the soul, rang out. It was not the vibration of air, but rather the sound of strings containing complex information emanating from the spatial structure itself!

Immediately afterwards, in the void about one meter above the crater, energy and light underwent an incredible distortion! The dark red skylight, the residual energy glow, and even the underlying color of space itself were woven and recombined by an invisible force. Finally, to everyone's astonishment, a line of strange text appeared out of thin air!

The text was not carved or projected onto any physical surface, but appeared directly in mid-air. It was composed of flowing light and ever-changing colors that could not be described by any known color spectrum. Its structure was complex and beautiful, full of geometric beauty and ineffable rhythm. Each character was like a self-consistent miniature universe model containing multiple layers of information.

This is absolutely not the script of Atlantis! It doesn't even resemble a symbolic system that any carbon-based or silicon-based civilization could create! It's too... "beyond".

Lin Feng's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart pounded involuntarily. He stared intently at the strange, floating characters that emitted a faint glow, and a bold, blood-tingling guess instantly seized his mind—

"Could this be... the last message left behind by the star core itself, or rather, by the being that created and delivered the star core?"

Not the last words of Atlantis, but an even older message from beyond the stars, encased in a meteorite...?

"Record it! Record all the optical, energy, and spatial parameters of this line of text! Use the highest precision equipment!" Lin Feng quickly recovered from his shock and ordered in a deep voice, "Captain Zhao, find a way to attempt information stripping or energy imprinting without damaging its state of existence! We must bring it back!"

Zhao Weiguo immediately directed the White Tiger warriors to take action, carefully using specially made energy field capture devices and multispectral recorders to try to fix and replicate the mysterious characters.

The lettering remained suspended in the air for about thirty seconds, its light gradually dimming, its structure becoming unstable, and finally, like a reflection in water shattered by a pebble, it vanished silently into the air, as if it had never existed. But all the recording equipment had firmly captured that strange moment.

Lin Feng spent several more days carefully examining the temple and several other important ruins. Aside from collecting fragments of Atlantean conventional technology and some partially destroyed crystal tablets recording basic scientific principles, he found nothing else. The secrets of the star core and the heart of Titan seemed to have been buried along with the self-destruction of the Atlantean civilization.

However, the few remaining fragments of the Titan's Heart, along with the mysterious last words recorded in the star core, were the biggest unexpected gains of this trip.

Watching the Houtu Energy Project unfold vigorously under the guidance of the expert team, with giant drilling equipment extending deeper into the Earth's core fluid zone and the prototype of the energy harvesting array gradually taking shape under the dark red sky, Lin Feng knew that the basic work here no longer required his constant monitoring.

It's time to go back.

He needs a quiet environment and a top-notch laboratory to decipher the energy secrets of the Titan's Heart. He also needs to utilize all of Pangu's computing power and may even need to rely on the system space to try to decipher that line of heavenly scripture from the distant depths of space.

The energy from the Earth's core will illuminate China's future.

That mysterious script might point to a more distant starry sky and a more vast... truth.

Lin Feng took one last look at this alien continent that was being reshaped by the power of China, then turned and boarded the transport ship returning to the surface.