Chapter Sixty-Four: The "Defector" of Yenching University!

Professor Jiang Yi sat alone behind his spacious mahogany desk, upon which were scattered the fruits of half a lifetime of hard work: hand-drawn blueprints, yellowed monographs, and several exquisite architectural models.

These had once been his entire pride.

At this moment, however, they seemed to be silently mocking his hesitation.

His knuckles were slightly pale from exerting force. On the computer screen before him, the joint statement of "academic blockade" issued by Peking University in coalition with dozens of other universities glared at him, every single word striking like a thorn.

Those cold Song-typeface characters constructed an invisible wall, isolating a new entity called "Longhai University" beyond the pale.

And trapping him within the walls.

As China's top biomimetic architect, Jiang Yi's name was a golden brand in its own right. He enjoyed top-tier resources provided by Peking University and possessed an academic status that countless people envied.

His life should have proceeded smoothly along this rail paved with glory, steering steadily toward its end.

Until the appearance of He Yu.

That young man had shattered the inherent barriers of the academic circle in a nearly barbaric fashion, also throwing his heart into disarray.

Admiration? Of course there was admiration.

Yet admiration could not put food on the table. Was he to cast aside the foundation he had spent half a lifetime cultivating at Peking University to follow an illusory "future"?

This was no different from a high-stakes gamble.

He could not afford to lose.

The coffee on the desk had long since gone cold, its bitter scent permeating the air. Jiang Yi's gaze finally settled on the unread email icon in the corner of the screen.

Sender: He Yu.

The attachment was an encrypted data package.

This might be the final straw that broke the camel's back, or it might be the ultimate key to opening the gates of a new world.

Driven by an inexplicable impulse, he moved the mouse.

The skin of his fingertips could clearly feel the icy touch of the mouse. Every heartbeat was infinitely magnified in the silent office.

"Click."

A soft sound.

The data package began to decompress.

Jiang Yi's Adam's apple bobbed. He picked up his coffee cup, but forgot to drink, simply letting the cold rim press against his palm.

Decompression complete.

A concise folder appeared on the desktop.

His gaze swept across it, and instantly, his breathing stalled.

There was only a single file within the folder, but its name seemed to possess a soul-piercing magic.

[Complete Structural Mechanics Model of the "Ark of Life" Self-Sustaining Ecological Architecture]

Ark of Life...

Just four words were enough to make Jiang Yi, a grandmaster of architecture accustomed to grand spectacles, twitch violently at the eyelids.

What had he spent his entire life researching, if not how to give buildings "life"?

All his reason, all his weighing of pros and cons, was shattered into pieces in this single instant by the most primitive academic curiosity.

His hand trembled slightly. His index finger hovered over the left mouse button for several seconds before finally pressing down heavily.

There was no dazzling loading animation, no superfluous sound effects.

In the center of the screen, a three-dimensional model quietly and slowly unfolded.

At that moment, Jiang Yi felt the entire world lose all sound.

The coffee cup slipped from his hand, crashing onto the carpet with a dull thud. Dark brown liquid seeped outward, but he remained completely oblivious.

His eyes widened, his pupils contracting to two points from extreme shock, nailed rigidly to the screen.

What kind of… creation was that?

It looked nothing like a building at all.

It was a living, breathing organism.

The framework of the structure was not traditional reinforced concrete, but a spiral support structure he had never seen before, appearing to be a perfect fusion of plant fibers and metallic crystals.

Visible pathways crisscrossed the walls like biological blood vessels, converting and transmitting light energy, water energy, and thermal energy with astonishing efficiency.

The exterior of the entire structure perfectly simulated a certain deep-sea seashell, utilizing the natural circulation of airflow to achieve constant temperature and humidity, and even autonomously regulating the internal air composition.

How could this be architecture!

This was unmistakably a divine miracle!

The very system of architectural knowledge Jiang Yi possessed—the academic edifice he had spent his entire life building—began to suffer a violent collapse from its very foundations the moment he looked upon this model.

With a trembling hand, he operated the mouse, magnifying the model section by section.

Every single detail was so perfect it left him breathless.

Every single mechanical structure subverted his understanding of the physical laws of this world.

"Madness... absolute madness..."

He muttered to himself, his voice as hoarse as if it had been scrubbed by sandpaper.

Yet, the true madness had only just begun.

He noticed that beside the model file, there were several accessory files.

He clicked on one of them.

On the screen, rows of neatly arranged chemical formulas and synthetic recipes detailed to an infuriating degree instantly filled his vision.

[Complete Synthesis Pathway for "Spider Silk Protein-Modified Memory Metal"]

[Room-Temperature Preparation Scheme for "Chlorophyll Photoelectric Film"]

[Culture Medium Recipe for "Mycelium Self-Healing Concrete"]
...

One after another, novel biomimetic composite materials that he had never heard of—materials he wouldn't even dare to imagine in such detail—were laid bare before his eyes.

Jiang Yi's body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably, not out of fear, but due to an ultimate, incomparable excitement!

His brain buzzed as if countless thunderclaps had detonated simultaneously.

He knew what this meant.

Any single one of these documents, if leaked, would be enough to trigger a magnitude-twelve earthquake in the global materials science and architectural communities.

And now, all of them quietly rested within his own computer.

With these, he could effortlessly pioneer an entirely new architectural school.

With these, his name would no longer merely be the pride of China, but would be firmly carved upon the monumental stele of human civilization's architectural history, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the designers of the Pantheon and the Pyramids!

Peking University's academic status?

Half a lifetime of cultivation?

Absurd!

Before absolute, overwhelming truth, these worldly concerns appeared so minuscule, so utterly unworthy of mention!

All hesitation and all struggle were ground completely into dust at this moment by a supreme yearning for unknown truth.

Jiang Yi abruptly stood up from his chair, his movement so fierce that it knocked his seat over backwards.

Yet he did not care in the least.

He rushed to his desk, shoving aside the blueprints and models he had once treasured as precious gems, and opened his personal social media account.

His fingers hammered against the keyboard with a speed that left afterimages, every single letter imbued with his resolute state of mind at that moment.

He wanted to proclaim it to the whole world!

He wanted to tell everyone that he had found it! He had found the true future that had eluded him for half a lifetime!

A heaven-shaking headline was typed out by his hands:

"Truth should not be obscured by sectarian bias. Confused for half a lifetime, today I finally know where the future lies."

He paused, taking a deep breath as if exhaling all the gloom and past of his chest, and then typed out the declaration that would detonate the entire academic circle:

"Starting from today, I, Jiang Yi, resign from all positions at Peking University and join Longhai University to pursue the true future of architecture."

Click.

Send.

The moment that post appeared online, Jiang Yi felt his entire body relax, an unprecedented sense of relief washing over him.

He knew that this public "defection" declaration of his was like a heavy bomb dropped into a calm lake.

No.

It wasn't a bomb.

It was a radiation cloud, about to engulf the skies of the entire Chinese academic circle!