Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Two Great Experts Can No Longer Sit Still!

"Ten days. A mere ten days to build such a perfect ecological purification system?"

"This... this is nothing short of miraculous!"

The internet, that invisible beast composed of data streams, was completely ignited at this moment. The live-streamed video titled "Heart of the Dragon" swept through every corner of social media.

The terrifying speed of construction shown in the video, combined with the final, near-perfect purification results, delivered an unreasonable visual impact that smashed into the cognitive barriers of every viewer.

This storm quickly transcended the realms of entertainment and public discourse, storming into the halls representing the nation’s highest wisdom with an air of indisputable authority.

Yanjing, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research.

Late at night, only a few windows remained lit in the entire research building, and Academician Jiang Yi’s office was one of them.

As the nation’s top expert in hydraulic engineering and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Jiang Yi had spent his entire life dealing with water. From the magnificent Three Gorges Dam to the massive water diversion projects spanning north to south, his name had long been etched into the mountains and rivers of this country.

At this moment, the nearly seventy-year-old man was staring intensely at his computer screen. On the display was the time-lapse footage of "Heart of the Dragon."

In just ten days, a muddy valley had been transformed into an ingeniously crafted garden of streams. Crystal-clear water meandered through meticulously designed tiered pools, sand and gravel filtration layers, and aquatic plant zones.

"Impossible..."

A dry whisper escaped Jiang Yi’s throat.

The coffee beside him had gone completely cold, yet he didn't notice. His entire consciousness was firmly gripped by the design of this "natural circulation multi-stage water purification system."

As an absolute authority in this field, he grasped the terrifying depth beneath the system's surface with just one look.

This was no simple matter of digging trenches and diverting water. This was a perfect fusion of hydrology, geology, environmental engineering, and landscape aesthetics.

He suddenly stood up from the mahogany executive chair he had occupied for thirty years, his movement so swift that his aging back issued a slight protest.

But he couldn't care less.

His aged hands trembled slightly as he gripped the mouse, dragging the video’s progress bar back and forth, over and over again.

Pause, zoom in, frame-by-frame analysis. He even utilized the institute’s internal professional software to perform rough modeling and estimations of the water flow rate, slope gradient, and permeability shown in the video.

In the office, nothing remained but the dull clicking of the mouse and the man’s increasingly rapid breathing.

Half an hour later, Jiang Yi slumped back into his chair, yet a fire burned in his eyes.

He had reached a conclusion.

A conclusion that made even an academician accustomed to super-projects feel his scalp tingle.

The purification efficiency and ecological friendliness of this system far exceeded any artificial hydraulic purification system currently in the country! It was even more advanced than the "Fourth Generation Urban Water Self-Purification Scheme" that he had led a team to work on for five years—a project still stuck in the theoretical stage!

"This design concept... it’s so ingenious, it’s a work of art!"

Academician Jiang Yi murmured in excitement. The way he looked at the screen was no longer one of scrutiny, but of a reverence bordering on pilgrimage. He felt as if he were seeing a living dragon using its own meridians to comb through the water systems of this land, bestowing life upon it.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away.

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany.

Dr. Chen Jing, hailed as a titan in the domestic botanical field, was also awake deep into the night.

Unlike the solemnity of Academician Jiang’s office, Chen Jing’s office was a green kingdom filled with rare plant specimens, petri dishes emitting the fresh scent of flora, and mountains of academic literature.

Chen Jing’s interest did not lie in the miraculous engineering, but in the specific aquatic plants within the "Heart of the Dragon" system.

She put on her reading glasses and magnified the video to the limit, to the point where pixel grains began to appear on the screen. Her gaze, like the most precise scalpel, dissected every detail in the footage.

Irises, sweet flags, water lilies, coontails...

These were all common aquatic purification plants, but their configuration revealed an indescribable, eerie quality.

"Something's not right..."

Chen Jing’s brows knitted tightly together.

"This plant community configuration... it’s not just for purifying water."

Her fingers traced lightly over the screen, as if touching the roots of those plants.

With her expertise, she saw through it at a glance: this was no simple purification cluster. It was a perfect "plant matrix" that had undergone terrifying calculations.

Tall emergent plants provided shelter for submerged plants, reducing sunlight and inhibiting excessive algae growth. The roots of the submerged plants provided the optimal breeding ground for nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. Meanwhile, the floating plants were precisely stationed in areas of gentle flow, absorbing excess nitrogen and phosphorus from the water.

Between them, they formed a perfect, sustainable, self-cleansing ecological closed loop!

What shocked Chen Jing the most was that, by analyzing the growth posture and coloration of the plants, she keenly sensed a deeper secret.

"They can even decompose pollutants and convert them into their own nutrients!"

This discovery left Dr. Chen Jing’s hand, still clutching the mouse, frozen in mid-air.

This meant the system wasn't just "filtering" sewage. It was "digesting" it!

It turned the waste produced by humans into a part of its own ecological cycle, turning it into nourishment to feed life!

This was the ultimate form every ecologist dreamed of!

Two titans from different fields were both conquered by the same masterpiece on the same night. After the shock came an irrepressible, frantic thirst for knowledge.

Jiang Yi immediately dialed an encrypted number, his voice rasping with excitement: "Help me check a project, 'Heart of the Dragon'! Yes, immediately, use every resource available!"

Meanwhile, Chen Jing issued a command in her work group: "Attention everyone, immediately gather all data on an ecological purifier named 'Heart of the Dragon.' I want to know who the designer is! Now!"

They both realized simultaneously that this ecological purifier, "Heart of the Dragon," had already transcended the scope of a campus landscape.

It was a world-class masterpiece of ecological engineering, capable of changing the future of urban water treatment!