Zhou Tianming cried himself to exhaustion and fell asleep. When he woke again, the shuttle had already reached Earth, with landing announcements playing on loop.
He wiped the dried tears from the corners of his eyes, his face flushing with embarrassment.
How undignified!
After finding a pair of sunglasses to hide his red, swollen eyes, Zhou Tianming finally dared to disembark.
Stepping off, he felt momentarily lost, lacking any motivation.
In his current state, returning home seemed impossible, so he checked into a nearby hotel instead.
For the next several days, he languished lazily in his room, doing nothing but lying on the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling. His grandmother, Gao Jing, had called multiple times to urge him to come home, but he brushed her off with excuses about coordinating materials for the Black Tortoise. This slump lasted an entire week, leaving the room in complete disarray.
After seven days without stepping outside, seeing sunlight, or moving much, Zhou Tianming looked drastically different.
His shoulder-length black hair was tangled and messy, his once-handsome face now pale and bloodless, his eyes bloodshot.
His clothes hung haphazardly—his left arm properly in its sleeve, while the right sleeve was only half on, exposing his shoulder. Barefoot, he paced the unswept room, never opening the windows for fresh air, leaving the space filled with the stale odor of leftover food. He plopped onto the floor, leaning crookedly against the bed, mechanically pressing the remote's buttons to change channels.
His deep brown eyes stared vacantly at the TV, his pupils unfocused, as if gazing at nothing.
Just as it seemed he might rot away like this, his phone rang.
Li Chuang's aged voice came through: "Tianming, Yamato Mining delivered a batch of metal materials. None of us have seen them before—when can you come inspect them? They need feedback on whether the product meets specifications."
His pupils sharpened, and he blinked twice, as if waking from a long dream.
"Understood. I'll come today."
After hanging up, Zhou Tianming glanced around the room before heading to the bathroom.
Staring at the disheveled stranger in the mirror, he exhaled. "Zhou Tianming… Zhou Tianming, it's just death. It's not like you haven't experienced it before. You can't keep wallowing like this."
With that, he turned on the faucet, splashing icy water onto his face and scrubbing vigorously.
"Revival!"
Reinvigorated, Zhou Tianming meticulously cleaned himself inside and out. His slightly overgrown hair was tied back into a short ponytail with a rubber band.
Instantly, he looked refreshed and vibrant again.
The next whole day, he first went to the Black Tortoise to inspect the Psycommu Alloy. As the first batch of samples, the overall quality was quite good, with only a 20% defect rate.
Later, upon returning home, Gao Jing fussed over him, noticing his pale complexion and preparing a table full of nourishing food that she insisted he eat. Zhou Tianming seemed to have completely returned to his usual self, as if he had never learned the truth.
Days passed, the sun and moon cycled, and the weather began to cool as October arrived.
The Psycommu Induction Frame for the Black Tortoise, laid out according to the new design, was already more than halfway completed.
Zhou Tianming had redesigned the frame, optimizing it by utilizing the two distinct properties of Psycommu Solid/Liquid Alloy.
The solid alloy was insensitive to Mental Power but had high amplification and transmission efficiency.
The liquid alloy, on the other hand, was extremely sensitive to Mental Power and had the ability to absorb and store it, though it was difficult to activate. Using the Psycommu Solid Alloy as the support structure and the Psycommu Liquid Alloy as a simulated bloodstream flowing within the frame,
the Black Tortoise could now not only benefit from Mental Command enhancements but also gradually store excess Mental Power from Zhou Tianming and those around him, prolonging the reinforcement effects.
The result was that the Black Tortoise's frame no longer resembled that of a ship but rather a living organism. Li Chuang, witnessing this, seemed decades younger as he showered praise.
As for the Vermilion Bird, there weren't many major improvements, but based on previous combat data, various aspects had been optimized to some extent, and its frame was also replaced with the new type used in the Black Tortoise.
One day, Li Chuang came to ask, "Tianming, are you still planning to use the nuclear fission reactor? I see the model is already a few years old. Maybe take this opportunity to upgrade it."
This reminded Zhou Tianming—he had almost forgotten about the major nuisance that was the Neutron Jammer.
"Got it. I'll go dig through the East Asian tech database."
"You still have access?"
"No, but can't I earn it by uploading new tech? I happen to have some things to contribute."
An hour later, he arrived at the specialized institution and logged into the tech database.
His ID account still existed, but his access privileges were gone. Inside, he could only view civilian-grade technology.
However, he had prepared in advance, uploading all the data on Psycommu Alloy and the Psycommu System.
During this time, he had already made up his mind—since death was unavoidable, he would ensure his name was remembered in history.
In the limited time he had left, he would strengthen East Asia's military power, leaving behind the perfected Black Tortoise for Natarle and an absolute battlefield-dominating Gundam for his family.
Even if his mother, Zhou Hanxiang, couldn't operate it, she only needed to activate the Psycommu System—the rest could be left to the White Rabbit.
He would also do his best to further optimize the Psycommu System, striving to achieve the ability to replicate his own Mindpower. That way, even after his death, he could still protect his family.
Unfortunately, progress in this area had been minimal. The only relevant data came from the mysterious wreckage, but he didn't dare test it on himself—one wrong move and he'd be dead for good.
He wasn't afraid of death, but dying from his own recklessness was unacceptable.
While uploading the data, Zhou Tianming kept contemplating what would happen after his death.
Meanwhile, at the East Asian Ministry of Industry headquarters, the balding leader of the tech review department spat out his tea onto the desk upon seeing the newly uploaded Psycommu System.
He jumped up as if his seat were on fire and rushed toward Lu Sizhe's office: "Chief! Chief!"
Bang!
The door was flung open. Lu Sizhe, who had been secretly enjoying a hardcore sci-fi novel, quickly snapped the book shut and furrowed his brows, assuming an authoritative demeanor. "What's the matter? Why the rush?"
The balding man panted, "Chief! Look at the newly uploaded technology—S-grade! Absolutely S-grade!"
His demeanor shifting, Lu Sizhe straightened up and opened his computer to review the data. His eyes scanned the [Psycommu System] materials rapidly, his tone grave. "Make sure all loose ends are tied up. Not a single word of this data can leak."
"Understood!" The balding man saluted before hurrying off.
"Converting brainwaves into electronic signals... and even completing the analysis. Truly unbelievable," Lu Sizhe marveled.
His mind immediately conjured countless applications—the [Psycommu System] was like an unbloomed seed with infinite potential. Curious about the uploader, he checked the ID and instantly recalled Zhou Tianming.
"Seems the kid has quite a few treasures up his sleeve."
Without waiting for the upload to finish, Lu Sizhe directly granted Zhou Tianming $-grade access to the tech database.
"Let's see what you'll pick and what kind of surprises you'll bring me."
Upon receiving the access upgrade email, Zhou Tianming dove into the tech database to browse.
There were plenty of S-grade technologies, but most were national-level projects—even if acquired, they'd be impossible to build.
After skimming through them briefly, he moved on to others.
In the A-grade database, he spotted a familiar name: Laser-Ignition Nuclear Fusion Reactor.
Zhou Tianming remembered that the Archangel-class had used this method to bypass [Neutron Jammer] restrictions.
A closer look revealed that while a prototype existed, its high cost and massive size made it impractical for widespread use—let alone for smaller vessels like the Black Tortoise.
But now that he had high-level access, he immediately flagged it as a priority, attaching optimization requests and rewards to incentivize the research institute. Continuing his search, he found the East Asian tech database brimming with hidden gems. In the C-grade section, he discovered a derivative of his own [Yin-Yang] design—Wireless Charging (Electromagnetic).
His eyes lit up. Zhou Tianming downloaded it immediately, planning to optimize it himself to realize his vision.
Next, he searched for the two most famous technologies from the SEED universe—[PS Phase Shift Armor] and [Mirage Colloid]—but found no trace of them.
Timing-wise, the Atlantic Federation and Orb likely already had theoretical groundwork or research underway. East Asia lagged noticeably in cutting-edge tech.
He also noticed that East Asian technologies rarely had single-use applications. Each main tech branched into numerous sub-technologies with broad utility. The region's research emphasized versatility and breadth but lacked the vertical depth to produce a decisive, game-changing super-technology.
Still, Zhou Tianming couldn't help but feel smug—his [Psycommu System] upload definitely qualified as a super-technology.
If only he'd named it the [Tianming System]—then no one could forget he was the creator.
The thought made him click his tongue in mild frustration.
-Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/QueenTL
Thanks!