Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

That evening at 9:30.

Lu Yongchang, who had just stepped off the Xuan Nu No. 1 ship, was naturally unaware of what was happening in the United States.

Of course, if he knew the pessimistic thoughts of Albert and others now, he would probably be laughing all the way to the bank.

This is a typical example of a cognitive error caused by information asymmetry.

Although the Xuan Nu No. 1 is powerful enough, its current structure makes it completely incapable of carrying weapons.

Forget about missiles, it can't even launch a simple tungsten rod.

Moreover, the primary mission of Xuan Nu-1 is not combat, but to conduct scientific research on the moon.

Therefore, in the short term, Lü Yongchang has no intention of changing the fuselage structure.

Simply put, aside from her exceptional ability to escape, the current Xuan Nu No. 1 is nothing more than a pretty face with no combat capabilities whatsoever.

……

Xia time, 11:30 PM.

In the office of Representative Lee in Beijing.

Representative Li, with a solemn expression, handed a newly released document from the United States to Lü Yongchang.

"Yongchang, take a look at this document."

Lu Yongchang reached out and took the still-warm A4 printout. The moment he saw the title, his eyebrows shot up.

"The US has announced that NASA's budget for this year has been increased to $5000 billion?"

"Wow!" A look of amazement flashed across Lü Yongchang's face. "Albert is really generous! This is ten times the funding of previous years!"

Councilor Li nodded solemnly: "This news just came in; it seems that the Xuan Nu No. 1 incident has given them quite a shock."

"That's also what I'm worried about. If we start Project Lunar now, the reaction from the United States might be much stronger!"

"What Xia Kingdom needs most right now is a period of stable development."

Lu Yongchang smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Speaker, in my opinion, this shouldn't be a problem."

"In fact, the faster we speed up the process, the safer we become!"

"Oh?" Councilor Li raised an eyebrow sharply. "What do you mean?"

"As you can see, since we launched the Moon Palace Project, the Southern Heavenly Gate Project, and the Heavenly Court Project, the United States' attention has been diverted without them even realizing it."

"After proposing the Mars Pathfinder program, the United States increased NASA's research funding tenfold."

At this point, Lü Yongchang's smile widened: "I believe that the United States, with its vast territory, wouldn't have the energy to deal with China."

"Speaker, are you familiar with a term often used online: the Strategic Deception Bureau?"

Lu Yongchang said with a smile, "It seems that the United States is completely thrown into chaos now."

"I've achieved my goal in announcing those three plans!"

It's a familiar recipe, and it's a familiar taste.

Everything seemed like a reenactment of history from decades ago.

However, with the opponent changed, the United States went from being the dominant party to the disadvantaged party.

"I understand!" Councilor Li nodded slowly, his expression relaxing slightly. "Then, according to your logic, Xia Kingdom should focus all its efforts on building automated lunar mining equipment?"

Lü Yongchang nodded, then shook his head: "Not only that, there is an even more important matter."

"Rebooting" the Biosphere 2 project!

……

three days later.

A red banner was hung at the entrance of Sandaokou University.

"A warm welcome to all the academicians and professors for attending this conference at our university!"

The large red banner at the entrance attracted a crowd of students.

"What's going on... What kind of meeting is our school holding? Why is it so important?"

A girl with long, flowing hair frowned and turned to the person next to her, asking, "Yutong, did you hear what your advisor said?"

Beside her, a girl wearing a white chiffon dress, with a high ponytail and a pure-looking face, was looking up at the big red banner at the school gate.

Hearing the question from the person next to her, Su Yutong frowned slightly, subconsciously reached out to adjust her rimless glasses, hesitated and shook her head, saying, "I... I haven't heard of any important meeting."

"How about... I go ask about it later?"

A hint of regret flashed in the long-haired girl's eyes: "Well, I thought you knew some inside information!"

Su Yutong rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Where did you get so much inside information? I'm just an ordinary student under my mentor right now."

"Ordinary?" The girl stared at Su Yutong in surprise. "You were taken in as a student by Professor Guan Hualiang in your junior year, and you call that ordinary?!"

"I heard that Professor Guan Hualiang even looks down on ordinary graduate students!"

"It's not that exaggerated..." Su Yutong said with a wry smile, "Although Professor Guan's requirements for his students are indeed a bit high, it's all for our own good! Scientific research can't tolerate the slightest mistake!"

The long-haired girl's eyes were filled with amazement as she exclaimed, "I really don't know what you went through in your sophomore year, it's like you suddenly had an epiphany..."

As she spoke, the long-haired girl rolled up the book in her hand into the shape of a microphone and placed it in front of Su Yutong: "Let me interview our newly crowned top student in the Applied Physics Department. What exactly makes you study so diligently?"

Seeing the curious glances directed at her, Su Yutong blushed slightly, her cool voice tinged with shyness: "Alright, alright, Chen Yun, stop talking nonsense. I'm not some kind of academic genius... Don't forget, there's a real academic genius in our grade!"

As she spoke, Su Yutong recalled the figure who had sat beside her and helped her solve a problem more than half a year ago.

"Huh? You mean Professor Lü? He's not just a top student!" Chen Yun pouted. "He's a genius!"

"Honestly, if I hadn't seen it on the news in China, I wouldn't have believed that such an amazing person was in the same year as us!"

"But speaking of which, we haven't heard from Professor Lü since the nuclear fusion project. We don't know where he went."

Upon hearing this, Su Yutong's eyes dimmed slightly.

She never saw him in the library again after that day.

She pursed her lips gently, shook her head, and said, "I don't know either."

"Perhaps he's conducting some kind of secret research mission? The small fusion reactor that the Xia Guo news reported last time might have been developed under his leadership."

"Alright, alright, we really are..." Chen Yun chuckled, tugging at Su Yutong's sleeve. "Is it any of our business how Professor Lü works?"

"Let's go, let's go, I'm starving."

"If we don't hurry, all the good food in the cafeteria will be gone!"

Su Yutong withdrew her gaze, gently shook her head, and shook the distracting thoughts out of her mind.

As long as I keep climbing, I'll meet them again someday, right?

A thought flashed through Su Yutong's mind.