Chapter 39: Ahem, that's right, it's an alien ruin.

"Heh."

Watching Old Zhu, whose tone betrayed a hint of agitation, Ma Weixing became even more certain of his suspicions. He sat up straight, fixed his eyes on the elder, and spoke with resolute conviction.

"Old Zhu, there's no need to lie to me anymore."

"As for those other technologies, the exoskeleton and so on, I could accept your claim that they were secretly developed by the military."

"But this electromagnetic pulse weapon—I have been researching this for many years. I am, by any standard, an expert. Do you really think I can't see the truth behind it?"

With a scoff, Ma Weixing felt entirely confident. As an expert in electromagnetics, his expertise was vast, and in certain fields, he was arguably the best in the world. Most notably, he had led the development of the second-generation DC integrated power system and the electromagnetic catapult. His work was so advanced that when China originally planned to build its latest aircraft carrier, the design was set for steam catapults. However, because his electromagnetic catapult was so superior, the military compared the two and insisted on changing the design mid-build. In the field of electromagnetics, he possessed that kind of confidence.

"..."

Old Zhu understood. This young man had managed to decipher the nature of the technical data. Having mastered the latest global developments in electromagnetic pulse technology, Ma Weixing had realized at a glance that this technology was not something that should exist on Earth at this stage. To be half a step ahead is genius, a full step is insanity, and one and a half steps ahead can only mean "aliens."

Old Zhu had anticipated this day would come, though he hadn't expected it so soon. He gave a helpless smile. Since his tracks had been uncovered, he had no choice but to go along with the narrative.

His expression turned solemn, his back straightened, and his eyes grew sharp and cold. He clasped his hands together and spoke in a gravelly, grave voice:

"You are correct, Comrade Ma Weixing. It is indeed an alien relic."

"?"

"!!!"

Ma Weixing's brows shot up, his pupils constricted, and he stood up in astonishment. He stared at Old Zhu, his face filled with utter disbelief. He had actually guessed correctly! There really were alien ruins!

"Where are they?" Ma Weixing's tone was impatient, his voice trembling with excitement, a look of longing appearing on his face. These were alien ruins!

"That... I cannot say."

Zhu Jincheng, the master deceiver, showed no outward reaction to Ma Weixing's display, but he was secretly amused. Even if you figure something out, you still end up being led around by the nose by an old man like me! Just wait until I lead you even further down this path.

"Fair enough, that must be top secret!"

Seeing that Old Zhu refused to speak further on the matter, Ma Weixing expressed his understanding. Such a top secret was likely known to only a handful of people in the entire country; it was already a significant concession that he had been answered at all.

"No wonder the military has achieved cross-generational breakthroughs in so many fields recently, even managing to produce an electromagnetic cannon for me."

Ma Weixing understood. It all made sense now. All his doubts were resolved. So that was it! China had discovered an alien ruin somewhere and was secretly organizing a team to conduct reverse engineering. Thinking of this, Ma Weixing suddenly felt that the Zijing Pavilion was no longer secure enough. He carefully looked around and whispered to Old Zhu:

"Old Zhu, could you give me a hint? To what extent have we managed to reverse-engineer it?"

"Heh, we have hit a bottleneck. The reason we were in such a rush to go to the moon this time was to retrieve something. That object will help us accelerate our progress."

Old Zhu also lowered his voice and gestured vaguely toward the newspaper on the table announcing the success of China's manned moon landing, his expression shrouded in mystery. Seven parts fake and three parts real—was this not the perfect way to deceive someone? This was the script Zhu Jincheng had prepared in advance to fob off scientists who managed to guess the truth. After all, the technologies being retrieved from the *Wandering Earth* world were becoming increasingly advanced, and he needed the help of these very scientists to implement them in this universe. Explaining the origin of these technologies had become a crucial step.

"Hiss—"

Ma Weixing drew a sharp breath. It was as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun. All the doubts that had previously clouded his mind were suddenly cleared. The Academy of Sciences had been very puzzled as to why Old Zhu was sparing no effort and going all-in on this project. China didn't have such an urgent need in aerospace. Previously, he had thought the leadership had finally decided to go head-to-head with the United States in space. Now, hearing Old Zhu's explanation, he was truly shaken. So that was the reason! There was something on the moon that could help accelerate the reverse-engineering process.

"Is the alien relic a spacecraft?" Ma Weixing couldn't help but ask.

"..."

In response, Old Zhu simply watched him silently with his weathered eyes.

"Oh, right, secrecy, secrecy." Ma Weixing understood the look and quickly shut his mouth.

"As long as you know." Old Zhu wore an expression that suggested "those who know, know, and those who don't, needn't ask," maintaining an air of profound mystery. In truth, he just hadn't made up the rest of the story yet.

But this was already enough to shock Ma Weixing to his core.

"I understand, Old Zhu!"

He nodded firmly, his doubts completely erased. However, after some hesitation, he asked the question he cared about most:

"Old Zhu, might you reveal the upper limit of our reverse-engineered technology?"

Alien ruins. What Ma Weixing cared about most now was how far China could climb using this opportunity and how far its technology could develop. Where was the ceiling?

"...Little Ma, I can only tell you this: it is enough for us to walk off this planet."

Old Zhu gave a cryptic look, offering a subtle hint.

"Walk off this planet!!!"

His heart thumping, Ma Weixing gasped for air, his entire body trembling. It was no wonder; the implications were simply too staggering. To leave the Earth! He recalled Zhai Gang's words after the successful moon landing: "From here, we shall head toward the universe!" It turned out that wasn't a joke after all. They were actually going to do it!

"Little Ma, the fact that you were able to infer the origin of our technology shows that these systems are far more advanced than we imagined." Seeing the shock on Ma Weixing's face, Old Zhu nodded slightly. This was the effect he wanted.

"Tell me, how did you figure it out?"

"Old Zhu, the electromagnetic pulse weapon design you had someone give me didn't seem to exceed our current technology by too much." Having recovered from his shock, Ma Weixing felt confident when discussing his own field, and he gave a wry smile: "But the problems within it were enormous. Especially the core data—current theory cannot support it. I thought about it over and over again. This thing must have been reverse-engineered from electromagnetic pulses simulated by fusion reactors!"

Ma Weixing looked at Old Zhu with a faint smile. He hadn't expected that this was where they would slip up. The technology for the electromagnetic pulse weapon was clearly a high-level application, reverse-engineered from a more advanced foundation. And if it was built from such a high vantage point, there had to be a secret. Following that thread, he had linked it to the alien ruins. Otherwise, there was no way to explain it! Could it be time travel or a parallel universe? Compared to those, he preferred to believe in alien ruins. At the very least, that seemed more logical.