NEC Chapter 33: The Delivery from the Stars

Director Lin Xiangdong felt like he was on the verge of flying apart from sheer busyness. After more than thirty hours of relentless work without sleep, he finally managed to sort out the basic framework of their tasks.

First came the recommendations for the expert team.

The “Eagle script original,” personally adjusted by the Stargazing team, presented the following backstory to the experts: a key figure from another Blue Star nation possessed intelligence and materials of immense value to East Xia.

Currently, East Xia had contacted this mysterious foreign guest through covert channels. However, this individual suffered from a severe form of delusional schizophrenia, often imagining themselves as the protagonist of a movie or game world.

To facilitate communication, East Xia’s liaisons had to play along with this important guest, creating elaborate fictional settings. The task for the Cihang expert team was to develop logically rigorous implementation paths for these fictional constructs.

The core mission at this stage was to provide feasible, practical solutions with solid theoretical backing for a specific dilemma in the magical world imagined by this foreign guest.

East Xia needed to use this unconventional approach to strengthen its bond with the mysterious guest, earning their favor and trust.

“The higher the authenticity, the better!”

“Time is tight, and the task is critical. We hope everyone will provide sound recommendations as soon as possible!”

The elite members of the planning expert team reviewed the task brief and attached files with a spectrum of colorful expressions.

Watching the two Stargazing team leaders depart, a young expert couldn’t help but grumble, “What kind of bizarre story is this? Fantasizing about a game world? Why not just go play Big Monkey if they’re that bored?”

“Enough. Let’s finish the analysis first. We’re not the only team working on this, and we can’t afford to be outdone. That’d be too embarrassing.”

An expert with a deep linguistics background adjusted their glasses. “I find it odd. The phrasing in this document doesn’t quite feel like native White-Headed Sea Eagle language. It’s more like it was translated from Longship Federation language or some other standardized tongue into Eagle script.”

“I don’t buy a word of it. This couldn’t be some rich kid’s whim to write a novel, roping us into fleshing out their worldbuilding, could it?”

“Come on, who could possibly get a national think tank to work on novel settings? A child of destiny?”

The team leader finally put an end to the speculation. “Stop guessing and get to work!”

Meanwhile, the technical research team faced an even heavier workload.

The materials sent by Chen Mo were a dazzling array, varied and numerous. Though the total weight was only a few kilograms, there were over thirty items, clearly assembled with great care.

The technical team spent nearly two hours just sorting and conducting basic hazardous material tests before distributing the items to various laboratories.

Animal and plant specimens, along with the so-called “Demon Tree Heart,” were sent by special transport to East Xia’s National Biological Laboratory in Changan Prefecture.

Weapon fragments, ores, and metals went to the East Xia Materials Science Institute.

A basic data package from the Starry Continent was sent to the East Xia Institute of Astrophysics.

Several herbal potions, reportedly from the Starry Continent, and a “valuable healing item” in an exquisite pouch were dispatched to the East Xia Medical Academy’s Drug Research Center.

A set of gold, silver, and copper coins was sent to the East Xia Central Bank, with instructions for the mint to produce replicas and age them appropriately.

Just as they finished sorting this “otherworldly garbage,” the planning expert team delivered their first draft of recommendations. The Stargazing team had to hurriedly review them, select the most valuable suggestions, compile them, and send them to the translation team for conversion into White-Headed Sea Eagle language.

While the trio was swamped, preliminary research results from the materials began trickling back.

According to the compiled reports, most animal, plant, and material samples had elemental compositions consistent with Blue Star, but certain molecular structures or forms exhibited slight differences, sparking intense interest across the institutes.

Due to strict confidentiality requirements preventing disclosure of the materials’ origins, the institutes indicated they needed more time for in-depth research.

The Drug Research Center had yet to provide feedback, as their testing process was far more complex. Most of the herbs had undergone preliminary analysis, but further tests were needed to identify any special effects or side effects.

As for the “valuable healing item,” it was causing a major stir.

At the First Affiliated Hospital of the East Xia Medical Academy, Academician Li Yunhai had just stepped away from a six-hour surgery, visibly exhausted. After downing two bottles of oral rehydration fluid and preparing to rest, a figure burst through the stairwell like a whirlwind, nearly colliding with him.

It was Lu Xiaoming, Professor Li’s youngest disciple, privately teased by senior colleagues as the one whose “head got caught in the door” when the professor took him on. The young man, too impatient for the elevator, had sprinted up the stairs to the ninth-floor operating room, chest heaving, face flushed, pointing down the corridor while gasping, unable to form a complete word.

Professor Li’s heart sank, instinctively grabbing his stethoscope. “Which patient’s bed has a problem?”

Lu Xiaoming shook his head. “No… no patient… it’s, it’s the lab… laboratory…”

“An accident in the lab?!” Professor Li’s voice shot up.

A nearby circulating nurse, seeing the commotion, handed over a clean surgical towel and shoved a cup of water into Lu Xiaoming’s hands. “Drink some water and catch your breath! Professor Li just came off surgery. Don’t startle him and cause trouble!”

Lu Xiaoming gulped down the water, finally steadying himself, though his voice still trembled. “There’s a confidentiality requirement, Professor! I need to tell you privately!”

Professor Li frowned, stepped into his office, and shut out the curious onlookers, sternly instructing his disciple.

“This is a hospital, and you’re a doctor. Unless it’s a matter of saving lives, you must stay calm and avoid causing unnecessary panic among patients!”

“Can’t you be a bit more composed?”

“Speak!”

Lu Xiaoming nodded vigorously, stammering, “Teacher, the lab just received a batch of special drugs! One of them is a sealed solid block… we ran preliminary pharmacological pathway tests…”

Professor Li shook his head, unimpressed by his disciple’s theatrics, and held out his hand. “Did you bring the data? Can the pathway activation effect match AP3790?”

Lu Xiaoming, trembling with excitement, pulled out his phone and opened a data screenshot. “Can’t say outside… look… look at this data! The effect… it’s… it’s a miracle!”

“Compared to AP3790, it’s… I don’t know how many times stronger! We repeated the tests three times, and the results were consistent!”

On the phone screen, complex data curves soared in an almost perfect arc.

Professor Li took the phone, his eyes scanning every data point. The exhaustion on his face vanished, replaced by an almost frozen intensity.

Click—clatter!

The phone was carelessly tossed aside, its back cover popping off. At nearly sixty, Academician Li Yunhai shot out of the office like a bolt of white lightning, his lab coat flapping as he charged down the corridor without looking back.

A doctor carrying a sample box stumbled as the old man brushed past, nearly dropping it. About to curse, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

The old man was gone like the wind, leaving behind a group of stunned medical staff, jaws practically on the floor.

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