Chapter Ninety-One: A Shared Future for Mankind

Xu Yuqing took out her tablet and showed it to Zhang Mingyang. “This is the plan I put together. If the project is approved, basic biological gene collection can be completed within thirty years. Then it will take another twenty years to edit the genome sequence. After that, ten years of cloning and breeding should be enough. In a century, Earth’s ecological restoration can be completed, and an extraterrestrial ecological reconstruction will also have largely taken shape.”

“A hundred years?” Zhang Mingyang shook his head. “Looks like I won’t live to see that day.”

“Don’t lose heart, little brother. Maybe in a few decades the commander system will be able to extend human life.”

As soon as the commander system was mentioned, Zhang Mingyang remembered what had happened in the warehouse. “Senior brother, there shouldn’t be any problem with the micron worms in my body, right?”

“Oh, right!”

Peng Dongli was checking the information on his communicator. “The company hasn’t sent me the maintenance data yet, so I’m not sure either.”

“What commander system?” Xu Yuqing asked.

Zhang Mingyang took out his communicator and showed her the commander system. “It’s a product from my senior brother’s company. They say it can control and direct the human immune system.”

“Huh?”

Xu Yuqing had never heard of such a thing before. She looked at Peng Dongli and asked, “You spineless fool, this is your company’s product?”

“Yeah.”

Peng Dongli answered rather unwillingly. “What’s the problem?”

Xu Yuqing studied the data the micron worms had sent back. “Can this thing really be trusted? What kind of technology is this, anyway, that can replace human immune cells? And even give orders to them?”

“Trade secret,” Peng Dongli said with a smug look. “This system was completed by the Advanced Materials Department of our Northern Group together with the National Biological Gene Project Team. It involves all kinds of cutting-edge technologies, including new materials, software, gene sequences, and more. Of course you wouldn’t understand.”

“Hmph. I don’t care enough to understand.”

Though Xu Yuqing looked unconcerned, she was already thinking that if this technology could be combined with the natural ecological restoration plan, perhaps the future timeline for restoration could really be shortened dramatically.

The more she thought, the more excited she became. No, instead of waiting for project approval, it would be better to look for an opportunity herself.

“Um... Peng Dongli, has your company ever considered ecological research?”

The moment Xu Yuqing called him by his full name, Peng Dongli immediately knew she was paying close attention to the technology. “What, you want to collaborate with our company?”

Xu Yuqing put on a straight face, then said with a smile, “I’m only making a suggestion. Big companies like yours can’t possibly focus only on human research, can they? My plan would be of great help to Earth’s environment and future extraterrestrial development. Your company could actually consider it.”

“Exactly, senior brother, your company really could get involved too,” Zhang Mingyang said, also feeling that the plan had real significance. “Look, my hometown is in the north, and it’s only April, but the temperature is already nearing thirty degrees Celsius. That shows the Earth’s environment is becoming more and more extreme. If we don’t repair the ecology, in a few hundred years the Earth may really become too hot for people to live on.”

Listening to the two of them echo each other, Peng Dongli was not without his own thoughts, but he had his concerns too. “Little brother, some things are not that simple. Restoring Earth isn’t something one company or one country can accomplish. It would require every nation in humanity to participate. I don’t think either of you can fail to see how difficult that is. It’s incredibly hard for humanity to truly unite.”

Hearing his senior brother’s words, Zhang Mingyang felt the truth of them deeply. The idea of a community with a shared future for humanity had been shouted for nearly fifty years, and yet humanity still had not become a single whole. It seemed Earth really had no hope.

Peng Dongli added, “All you two see is the scenery after the project succeeds. You haven’t thought about the setbacks along the way. Just to name one small difficulty: if Earth is to be restored, industrial emissions would have to be reduced and industrial waste eliminated. But have you considered that the developed countries have already long passed through the industrial age, while the poorer countries are still living because of industry?”

“You say we should cut carbon emissions, and the developed countries would certainly be willing—they’ve long since moved beyond industry. But if developing countries give up industry, what will the people in those countries eat? Rely on subsidies from the developed nations? You’re being far too idealistic!”

Xu Yuqing was about to argue back. “By your logic, are we supposed to wait until every country has passed through the industrial age before fixing the environment? Do you think Earth can wait that long?”

“Now you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing!”

“How am I arguing for the sake of it? I’m drawing a conclusion from what you just said.”

...

Seeing the two of them at it again, Zhang Mingyang’s head started to swell. “Everyone, everyone, listen to me for a second.”

He pushed them apart. “What if we use dimensional space to copy a few more Earths? One for each country. Then no one would be able to control anyone else.”

“Dream on!”

They spoke in unison. “Little brother, if such technology really existed, would humanity still care about Earth’s environment?”

“Exactly!” Xu Yuqing shot back. “Leaving aside whether it’s possible, even if it were, Earth would already have been destroyed by then.”

After saying that, the two of them went right back to arguing.

Thinking over what he had just said, Zhang Mingyang himself did not know why he had blurted it out. “Huh? Why did I suddenly think of that?”

The more he thought, the more his brow furrowed. Then it came to him: the dream from that night, the old gentleman—he had created an independent space of his own.

Unfortunately, it had only been a dream and could not become reality.

Ah.

I should think about something practical.

“All personnel, attention. Ten minutes to Earth.”

“So fast!”

Zhang Mingyang looked at the screen in front of him. If not for the Arrow’s reminder, he would have forgotten all about it.

The screen showed that the rocket had already reached the outermost layer of the atmosphere and was about to enter the ionosphere.

“Senior brother, Sister Xu, stop arguing. We’re about to reach Earth.”

“Huh?”

Peng Dongli looked at the clearly visible landmasses on the screen and hadn’t expected it to be this fast.

“Forget it. Since we’re almost there, I won’t keep arguing with this shrew.”

“Who are you calling a shrew?”

Xu Yuqing pointed at Peng Dongli’s nose, ready to strike him, but Zhang Mingyang stopped her.

“Sister Xu, you two should calm down for a bit. Once we get to land, we’ll all go our separate ways, and who knows when we’ll meet again. At this final moment, at least leave each other with a decent impression.”

At Zhang Mingyang’s words, the two of them really did quiet down, both looking ahead and saying nothing.

Seeing them settle, Zhang Mingyang nudged his senior brother with his elbow and whispered in his ear, “Senior brother, ask Sister Xu for her project plan and show it to the higher-ups at your company. Don’t worry about whether it succeeds or not. We’re about to part ways anyway, so leave a good impression. It’s also a favor.”

Hearing Zhang Mingyang’s words, Peng Dongli thought about it and felt it made sense. Then he stammered toward Xu Yuqing, “Well... send me your project plan.”

“Didn’t you think it wouldn’t work?”

Seeing that Sister Xu was about to flare up again, Zhang Mingyang hurried to stop her. “Sister Xu, don’t get angry yet. Send him the plan. Whether it works or not, it’s still an opportunity. If it succeeds, wouldn’t that be even better? Then you wouldn’t have to keep urging this and pushing that all the time—it’d save you a lot of trouble!”