Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

More than an hour later.

Lu Yongchang looked up from the pile of draft papers in front of him and let out a long sigh of relief.

He reached out and tidied up the draft paper a little.

"Zero, please check this for me."

As Lü Yongchang finished speaking, the camera next to him moved slightly and quickly scanned the contents of the draft paper into the computer.

A few minutes later.

"Professor, the plan is feasible."

A faint smile appeared on Lü Yongchang's face.

Before he could say anything more, Zero's voice rang out again.

"Professor, Representative Hong has arrived."

Upon hearing this address, Lü Yongchang was stunned for a moment, unable to react.

A few seconds later, he came to his senses: "Minister Hong?"

"Yes, but he's a member of the SUPP now," Zero meticulously corrected Lu Yongchang's slip of the tongue. "Also, he's already at the door."

As soon as he finished speaking, the office door opened automatically.

Outside the door, Hong Qiming held up his hand in astonishment, staring blankly at Lü Yongchang sitting behind the desk, then at the automatically opening door in front of him.

Lu Yongchang shrugged slightly, stood up from his seat, and explained in a low voice: "It's just a little trick done by a zero-control robot."

"So, what brings you here?"

"The SUPP was only recently established. As a member of parliament, you probably don't have that much free time right now, do you?"

As he spoke, he turned to the side and said, "Zero, make some tea."

The next moment, a mechanical arm hidden in the corner slowly stepped forward, gently opened the cabinet door, and took out a teacup and tea leaves.

Watching the robotic arm perform its skillful and precise tea-making movements, Hong Qiming swallowed hard.

"Professor Lü, your office... is getting more and more futuristic."

He exclaimed sincerely.

Lu Yongchang smiled and pointed to the chair in front of him: "These are just small gadgets. The development of aerospace technology has also driven the progress of many related technologies."

"These robotic arms and robots are already more dexterous than most people, even with zero manipulation."

"I heard from Zero that a sub-lab recently made a breakthrough in holographic imaging technology. It's estimated that before long, the old mobile phones and monitors will be obsolete."

Hong Qiming opened his mouth slightly, but didn't say anything. He just sighed with emotion, "Time flies..."

"Is it fast?" Seeing Hong Qiming sit down, Lü Yongchang also sat back down in his chair.

"I think this is a normal development."

"Life appeared on Earth 38 billion years ago, but apes did not appear on Earth until 4500 million years ago."

"Most of what we have today has been developed in the last few hundred years."

"Before encountering so-called technological development bottlenecks, the pace of human development will only accelerate."

Hong Qiming smiled wryly and touched the tip of his nose: "It's my fault, I shouldn't have discussed this kind of issue with you."

At this moment, Zero controlled the robotic arm to hand a steaming teacup to Hong Qiming.

He quickly reached out and took the teacup, subconsciously nodding to the robotic arm in front of him: "Thank you."

Seeing the robotic arm "nod" like a human, Hong Qiming suddenly came to his senses.

What is he doing...?

Seeing the faint smile on Lü Yongchang's lips, Hong Qiming couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile.

"It seems I'll have to come to your office more often in the future, otherwise, I'll probably end up like Granny Liu when she first entered the Grand View Garden."

Upon hearing this, Lü Yongchang finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Faced with Lü Yongchang's "mockery," Hong Qiming put down his teacup, took a deep breath, and directly changed the subject: "Alright, enough of the small talk, I should get down to business!"

Hong Qiming's expression turned serious: "Do you know what's been happening outside these past two days?"

A look of bewilderment crossed Lü Yongchang's eyes.

He subconsciously shook his head: "I've been in the carbon nanoparticle lab for the past month, how could I have time to care about what's going on outside?"

"The Speaker was right after all..." Hong Qiming shook his head with a wry smile and continued, "In order to better adapt to the universe, the Human Alliance has decided to establish the Human Alliance Academy of Sciences, which will be mainly responsible for the direction of civilization development and external affairs. As for the council, it will only be responsible for internal affairs of the civilization from now on."

There is no subordinate relationship between the two.

Lü Yongchang nodded calmly: "Anything else?"

Seeing Lü Yongchang's reaction, Hong Qiming coughed sharply: "You're not surprised at all by this?"

"It's just a logical development, what's so surprising?" Lü Yongchang reached for the teacup beside him.

The development was exactly the same as in the previous life.

He added silently to himself.

"Moreover, in times of civilizational crisis, the Academy of Sciences has priority control over civilization, which is also to prevent some unexpected situations from occurring."

"Therefore, in a sense, you are now of a higher status than Representative Lee."

"Cough cough cough!"

Lu Yongchang quickly put down his teacup and took the paper that Hong Qiming handed him.

"So fast?!"

After wiping his mouth, Lü Yongchang asked Hong Qiming with an incredulous look, "Can the other councilors agree?"

Hong Qiming shrugged: "They dare not disagree. At least for now, we have overwhelming strength."

"As for the future... I personally have full confidence in the culture of the Xia Kingdom."

A strange look appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

Well, he doesn't deny that.

Even though the Xia Kingdom did not hold a dominant position in the previous life, it eventually transformed the people into its own by virtue of its large population and powerful culture.

As for this life... I imagine the process will be even faster.

"So, what should I do now?" Lu Yongchang asked after a moment's thought. "What does the Speaker have to say?"

Hong Qiming smiled and shook his head: "You don't need to do anything."

"For now, you just need to focus on developing technology and leading humanity to escape."

"As for the future, you may need to worry about extraterrestrial civilizations."

Lü Yongchang nodded silently.

"By the way, the Speaker asked me to ask you, what should we do if—I mean, what if—we really encounter extraterrestrial civilizations in the future?"

At this point, Hong Qiming's smile vanished completely: "Professor, I need a definite answer; this concerns the future direction of the People's Federation!"

Sensing the sudden increase in the solemnity of the atmosphere around him, he remained silent for a moment, then a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Unless there are exceptional circumstances, only war!"