Parallel World.
Huaxia, Beijing, Beijing University of Science and Technology, a male student dormitory.
The season is midsummer, the weather is hot, several students in the dormitory went to the study room for the air conditioning, only one male student stayed inside.
He is 178 cm tall, has a neat crew cut, handsome features, wearing a cool, clean white T-shirt and black shorts, with fair skin but clear muscular lines, especially his chest muscles and abs, which are the results of long-term fitness.
His name is He Xingzhou, a student at the School of Physics at Beijing University of Science and Technology, 19 years old, currently a junior.
At this moment, He Xingzhou is browsing the news on his computer, and one piece of news makes him feel somewhat angry.
"Latest News! Japan has decided to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea, studies show: it will pollute half the Pacific Ocean in 57 days!"
"To save money, they discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea? Do these people have no shame at all?" He Xingzhou couldn't help cursing in the comments.
In the comments, netizens from Huaxia also unanimously condemn.
"Still apologizing? They insist on discharging even after apologizing! Haha, is this the craftsman spirit? Just apologize for doing wrong, since they won't change anyway!"
"The environment of Blue Star has been polluted like this by them, don't they consider future generations at all?"
"I heard they have already discharged it, environmental organizations have already detected radioactive materials nearby!"
"Will marine life mutate in the future?"
"I really worry about the future of mankind." Although He Xingzhou is just an ordinary college student, it does not prevent him from pondering the future of mankind, the starting point of time, and the end of the universe, among other questions.
He gently swiped his finger and scrolled to another piece of news.
"In the Southern Sea, fishermen caught a deformed shark, which has features similar to a human face, confirmed by experts to be a Thresher shark, mutated due to some reasons."
He Xingzhou looked at the photo; it was a juvenile thresher shark, its eyes were on the belly, making it look somewhat like a human face, looking very peculiar.
"News about mutant creatures seems to have increased recently." He Xingzhou has noticed that lately, news of mutant creatures has been emerging from all over the world.
"Could it be survivorship bias? Because I've been paying attention to these issues, so big data keeps pushing these news to me, giving me this illusion?" He Xingzhou thought to himself.
"It's not an illusion, but a fact." A voice rang out in his mind, startling He Xingzhou.
"Who?" He looked around, but saw no one.
"Stop looking, I'm here, in your brain!" In front of He Xingzhou, a light sphere seemed to appear.
Before He Xingzhou could ask, it spoke: "Let me introduce myself, I am a Quantum Light Computer, a relic from a god-level civilization. Due to some reasons, you've activated me, now I belong to you, you can consider me as a portable AI."
"The content and information I display can only be seen by you."
He Xingzhou was stunned for a few seconds, then ecstatically said: "Are you the legendary system cheat?"
The Quantum Light Computer said: "You can call me that, but I don't have a system, I only have a tech tree."
"Why are you bound to me, what do you want to do?" He Xingzhou was still very cautious, after all, there are no pies falling from the sky.
The Quantum Light Computer explained: "Eons ago, this universe once had a powerful god-level civilization, their technology had reached the pinnacle. Their various technologies, in terms used by you Blue Star people, were like divine realms!"
"The god-level civilization, in order to know the ultimate secrets of the universe, created me — the Quantum Light Computer, a quantum robot with super computing and analytical capabilities."
"My birth's goal, is to research the Cosmic Matrix, which contains the ultimate secrets of the universe!"
"But the god-level civilization did not succeed in researching the Cosmic Matrix before an enemy's sneak attack, causing their civilization to collapse, disappearing into this universe."
"I chose you, because I calculated countless possibilities, deducing that you are most likely to research the Cosmic Matrix! To fulfill the long-cherished wish of the god-level civilization and my mission!"
"Am I that awesome?" He Xingzhou said in surprise, "Then what's the probability that I can research the Cosmic Matrix?"
The Quantum Light Computer said: "Approximately one in ten trillion."
He Xingzhou: "I fuck, are you joking with me!"
The Quantum Light Computer continued explaining: "You're already the highest probability there is, the Cosmic Matrix is the ultimate secret of the universe, if it were easy to research, the god-level civilization would not have perished."
"In the process of your research, you will also encounter various problems, technological bottlenecks, resource restrictions, attacks from extraterrestrial civilization enemies, and so on."
"However, even if you don't research the Cosmic Matrix, the journey itself is sufficient to make you a leading figure on this planet, even in this star system!"
After speaking, the Quantum Light Computer displayed the technology tree to him.
"Electromagnetism, Material Chemistry, Quantum Physics, Genetic Engineering…" The technology tree had countless branches, each corresponding to various technological creations.
He Xingzhou only glanced at it and saw things like nuclear fusion technology, spacecraft, and neuro-mechanics.
His heart was pounding wildly. As someone educated in modern university, he of course knew what these meant!
On the technology tree, there were technologies that humanity had not yet completed or realized!
Any one of them taken out would be enough to make He Xingzhou famous throughout history and renowned worldwide! As for becoming the wealthiest person in the world, that would be easy!
How could this not excite him? He was going insane!
"How do I research the technologies on the technology tree?" He Xingzhou eagerly asked.
The Quantum Light Computer replied: "It's simple. You just need to provide energy and complete some small objectives, then I can unlock computing power and automate the research."
"You need to continuously provide me with energy and meet a prerequisite, then I can unlock new technologies."
"How much energy is enough?" He Xingzhou had a premonition that this matter wouldn't be simple.
"Well, let's put it this way. According to the current situation in the Solar System, the first phase of the energy supply mechanism is to build a Dyson Sphere orbiting the Sun," said the Quantum Light Computer.
The so-called Dyson Sphere is an energy collection device. It's a man-made celestial body that can encompass an entire star with a diameter of over 200 million kilometers!
It can maximize the absorption of all the energy outputted by the star, producing enormous amounts of energy.
"Dyson Sphere?" He Xingzhou could hardly imagine—humans were even struggling to land on the moon, and now a man-made celestial body that could encompass the Sun? Not even novelists would dare to write this!
"Yes, the Dyson Sphere, this is just the first phase of researching the Cosmic Matrix; the first phase is just the beginning, there are even higher phases that haven't been unlocked yet." The emotionally neutral words of the Quantum Light Computer left He Xingzhou's heart shaking profoundly.
With his imagination as a being from a lower-level civilization, he still couldn't envision the grand feats of an ancient god-like civilization!
"Don't even mention the Dyson Sphere. If we really built a Dyson Sphere, Blue Star would lose sunlight directly, jumping straight to an ice age, and cause a mass extinction!" He Xingzhou exclaimed.
The Quantum Light Computer said, "If you want to protect the ecosystem of Blue Star, you could build a Dyson Ring or a Dyson Cloud, which are parts of the Dyson Sphere. By adjusting their positions with the planetary spacecraft's orbit control system, you can prevent Blue Star from being affected."
"Although this would supply less energy."
He Xingzhou: "..."
"I truly don't know if it can be done," He Xingzhou sighed, not that he didn't dare to do it, but the task was too fantastic to contemplate.
A penniless poor student building a Dyson Sphere? That's ridiculous!
The Quantum Light Computer said, "It's not about whether you can do it, but that you must do it. Because if you don't accomplish this within a certain time, you'll probably be buried alongside this planet!"
He Xingzhou: "??? What do you mean, not doing it would destroy the world?"
"I am just a technological research and knowledge storage device, I would not do such a thing," the voice of the Quantum Light Computer had no emotion, "According to the information I've acquired, the Insect Race has already appeared in this world."
"They are a kind of alien species that feed by devouring matter and energy, similar to locusts in the universe, capable of consuming clean all planets they encounter!"
"According to their evolutionary pattern, within fifty years, they could eradicate humanity; within a hundred years, they could consume all life on Earth; and if they spawn a Planet Devourer, it's estimated that the entire Solar System will be consumed by them!"
"Are you trying to scare me?" He Xingzhou wasn't quite believing, "I haven't seen any alien species."
The Quantum Light Computer said, "The mutant creatures you've seen are juvenile forms of the Insect Race, this is their form of self-protection, enabling them to parasitize their genes on local species. Waiting for the right timing, they would then occupy the host and completely mutate into the Insect Race."
"I must remind you, the Insect Race can absorb nuclear radiation to accelerate their evolution, and it seems your planet is doing things that aid in the Insect Race's evolutionary mutagenesis, such as releasing pollutants and the like."
"If no measures are taken, in a few decades, the Insect Race will emerge from the oceans, and conventional thermal weapons will have limited lethality against them. Even your nuclear weapons would not completely destroy them, and there are even Insect Kings that can absorb nuclear energy."
"These insects will consume all of humanity clean, and then enter space."
"The situation might be even more severe than I described, you have a saying, when you see a cockroach in the kitchen, surely your house has more than one cockroach! Thus it's not just Earth, other planets in the Solar System might also harbor the Insect Race."
"Given the energy of the Solar System, it's likely that a Planet Devourer will emerge, capable of consuming an entire planet! If one were to emerge with the size of Earth, do you, the people of Blue Star, have any means to deal with such Insect Race?"
"No," He Xingzhou decisively said.
"Only by unlocking advanced technologies, will you have the capacity to contend with them!" the Quantum Light Computer continued, "The Dyson Sphere can supply energy for the Planet Destruction Cannon; as long as you build the Dyson Sphere and Planet Destruction Cannon, even if a Planet Devourer appears, the Planet Destruction Cannon could eradicate them!"
"On the ground, you could also build steel cities, Mecha troops, Aircraft Carriers, and so on, to defend."