Chapter 26: Smiling Faces Everywhere

“It’s here, it’s finally here! Thank you, Huaxia Nation! Thank you, Professor Qin Yu! Professor Qin Yu is without a doubt the greatest scientist of this century, even the greatest ever!”

“Not fair, I wasn’t able to get one. Might have to wait for the next batch. But I’m still grateful to Professor Qin Yu. I will praise Professor Qin every single day for the rest of my life.”

“…Jealous. Why must we wait many more months to get the 2611 Longevity Injection? Those awful leaders, why didn’t they make a deal with Huaxia Nation sooner! They got it using other ways long ago and used it quietly, not caring about the rest of us!”

“Haha, praise Professor Qin. These past few months, I’ve been extra careful. Been watching my safety, watching my health. I was scared something bad might happen before I could get the 2611 Longevity Injection. That would have been such a shame. But now, I’ve got mine!”

Outside Huaxia Nation, the internet was replaying scenes that seemed to have happened before.

Months had passed. Now, the people outside Huaxia Nation who got to use the 2611 Longevity Injection were praising Qin Yu greatly too. Their words were full of excitement and gratefulness.

It seemed like, because they were so eager to prove themselves by joining what they saw as the solution, their praises for Qin Yu and Huaxia Nation became a bit too loud.

They almost stopped seeing Qin Yu as a researcher in the Field of Life Sciences. He wasn’t just a scientist anymore; in their words, he was like a god who came down to save humanity.

Outside Huaxia Nation, the first places to get the 2611 Longevity Injection were of course those countries near the Nine Provinces. These were countries already in Huaxia Nation’s area of influence.

Compared to people inside Huaxia Nation, who got the injections a long time ago, these people had to wait much longer.

But compared to people in Moon Nation, North Bear Nation, and the countries they influenced? These people felt good about their timing. It’s all about comparing situations.

Huaxia Nation had deals with Moon Nation and North Bear Nation to supply them. But because of how much the 2611 Longevity Injection could be made right now, and the rule of first come, first served,

it was decided that Moon Nation and North Bear Nation would have to wait even longer to get their supply of the injections.

Seeing that complaining at Qin Yu or Huaxia Nation wasn’t helping, the people in these places who faced an even longer wait started blaming Moon Nation and North Bear Nation instead.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Moon Nation and North Bear Nation themselves didn’t talk much about other things.

But when it came to Qin Yu, their words were full of praise and flattery.

The reason was simple: If they didn’t put Qin Yu on a huge pedestal, acting like he was more amazing than any scientist before or after him,

it would make them look bad. After all, they hadn’t made the 2611 Longevity Injection. They hadn’t even figured out its secrets yet.

Only by making Qin Yu seem like a one-in-all-history wonder who had incredible luck,

could they make people think they weren’t really failures. The problem lies not with us; such praise implied, it’s just that Qin Yu is an impossible giant.

Also,

outside Huaxia Nation,

getting the 2611 Longevity Injection wasn’t free for everyone.

But maybe because Huaxia Nation set the example first,

and because the effect of the 2611 Longevity Injection was just so huge – the difference between having it and not having it was too real,

fearing chaos,

these countries didn’t set the price too high. They kept it at a level that wasn’t super cheap, but that most people could still afford.

Of course, all this didn’t really concern Huaxia Nation itself.

The finished 2611 Longevity Injection vials were sold to these countries at the price agreed before.

How these countries then gave the injections to their own people was Huaxia Nation’s business.

…

Inside Huaxia Nation.

Several months had gone by.

The huge change brought by the 2611 Longevity Injection hadn’t settled down completely, of course.

But people were slowly getting used to living in this new time where the Longevity Injection is common.

During the months, around maybe the second month,

the number of people getting divorced went way up for a while.

This happened because, for a lot of people, their marriage felt like just getting by.

Before, they might have thought, ‘We’re old. Just ten or twenty more years to last, and it’ll be over.’

But now, realizing they might need to make it work for another sixty or seventy years – almost another entire lifetime – that felt too long. They couldn’t just ‘last’.

But as of now, most who wanted out had done it, so the divorce numbers calmed down again.

People also started thinking more on their own.

What was the point of marriage in this new time, after the Longevity Injection?

If, in this future we all see now, most people were going to live about 180 years and probably have more than one marriage, then why marry at all?

Also,

people thought about the meaning of life itself. How should they spend these extra decades they suddenly have?

And how should they feel about working into their hundreds? Because they weren’t wrong; work might now go past 100 years old. Over time, maybe past 120 years old.

For the government too,

a very tricky problem came up.

Thinking long-term, fewer new people will be born. That much is true.

But short-term? Everyone living much longer means a massive number of people need work. Jobs must be found for them.

People who retired in their sixties can now potentially work for another few decades. This also means the jobs that should be opening up as people retire… just aren’t opening up.

Should everyone who can’t find work get paid benefits?

But Longevity Technology just lengthened life; it didn’t make things much easier to produce. Wealth didn’t suddenly jump.

They couldn’t afford that. That’s the very reason pushing the retirement age to 90 or beyond was being discussed.

Still,

this set of problems – needing work forever, questions about marriage, the whole lot –

might just be the special stress felt by people in these times. The very first people to use the 2611 Longevity Injection.

When the next generation of Human Civilization grows up,

this kind of society will be the only ‘normal’ they’ve ever known.

Finding workers, people retiring less often… time will sort it out. Things will balance again naturally.

The wait for a job vacancy will just be longer for their generation, that’s all.

Besides, fewer people were being born each year already, before this all started.

These past few months,

inside Huaxia Nation,

the government asked the people about another idea for education.

They planned to, over time, make education longer for each person.

For example, make primary school longer, from six years before to nine years.

Increase secondary school from six years before to nine years too.

Extend university from four years to six.

The goal was to have the newest generation finish their formal learning only after they turn 30.

This change would fit better with the longer lifetimes people have now, thanks to the wide use of the 2611 Longevity Injection.

Also,

the plan was that this next generation should learn much more during their longer school years. They would master a wider set of useful knowledge.

This approach aimed to use the other advantage that Qin Yu earlier talked about – the key point of Life Extension Technology arriving and spreading: Humans would have more time to learn what is already discovered and known. And they would have longer working lifetimes to push past those known things and find entirely new knowledge.

Regarding this plan…

Most people were basically supportive.

Because this was a necessary step to take eventually.

In the new era, where the average human lifespan exceeded 180 years, many things had to change to meet humanity’s new needs.

…

During this time, a small incident also happened.

After the announcement of the 2611 Longevity Injection’s creation, Lingchuan University, which had initially only granted Qin Yu an associate professorship to maintain secrecy,

promptly changed Qin Yu’s associate professor position to a full professorship.

When interviewed by the media,

the president of Lingchuan University couldn’t help but smile several times when mentioning Qin Yu and this incident.

To other universities across the country,

Lingchuan University had become something to be envied.

It seemed like Lingchuan University struck incredible luck, somehow discovering Qin Yu, this gem.

Now, the president of Lingchuan University probably laughed even in their sleep.

“At least in the Field of Life Sciences, without Professor Qin Yu teaching, it’s really hard to claim the first place domestically.”

… …

Qin Yu paid no attention to the commotion outside.

While the outside world buzzed with excitement over him and his research,

Qin Yu, completely unnoticed by anyone,

used his Intangibility and journeyed to the top of the snowy mountain nearest to Lingchuan City.

He stood there for half an hour, letting the biting, snowy wind blow around him.

Then, leaping off the mountain peak, he dove towards the steep cliffs.

For hundreds of meters, he felt the thrill of free fall, followed by the sensation of being completely enveloped by the mountain snow.

Finally, he used Intangibility to free himself from the snow.

On the way back, feeling mischievous, he briefly dropped Intangibility, grabbed the claw of a large bird circling overhead,

startling it into a sharp cry. Then, restoring Intangibility, he hurried away from the scene.

Unseen by anyone, he returned to his room at Research Institute 011.

This was Qin Yu’s leisure time during this research period.

Besides possessing Absolute Immortality, a life span surpassing all others,

the amount of time he had in a single day surpassed most people too.

After all, for an Absolute Immortal like him, sleeping was a ‘hobby’, not something required.

While other people at Research Institute 011 might not go outside easily due to secrecy needs,

obviously, nothing restricted Qin Yu.

In his Intangibility state, no person or device could see him,

and nothing could block his path.

Of course, even if he went out normally, no one would stop him.

But given his current status, normal outings proved quite troublesome each time.

Qin Yu realized that although his movement speed wasn’t very fast while using Intangibility yet,

traveling straight through things in that state allowed him to visit many places in one night.

These experiences were also part of his life.

Maybe someday,

he could ‘pretend’ to be an extreme sports challenger.

Although, strictly speaking, such activities held no real challenge for him.

If he wanted, spending a bit of time, he could even swim across the Pacific Ocean without a problem.

… …

December, Year 27 of the Common Era. Just before the New Year.

Research Institute 011 remained busy.

Compared to when Qin Yu was researching the life extension mechanism at Lingchuan University,

the research team involved in the Artificial Womb Technology project was significantly larger.

Even excluding security and other support staff,

just the researchers directly involved in the research, including scholars from various fields,

numbered over eight hundred. And due to research demands, more people were still being transferred from other organizations,

pushing the total number of directly involved Researchers towards one thousand.

The higher authorities had absolutely no concerns about investing in this workforce.

In fact, the general understanding was that such a large research project required this level of personnel and resource commitment to progress.

Qin Yu’s previous solo development of the 2611 Longevity Injection had been the unusual case.

Initially,

those above were somewhat worried about Qin Yu’s ability to lead such a large team.

After all, his primary demonstrated ability before had been in research.

When he arrived at Research Institute 011, Compound 2611 itself already existed.

He never needed to show team leadership skills.

However, it turned out

such worry was unnecessary.

Under Qin Yu’s leadership, even a nearly thousand-person research team operated smoothly and efficiently.

One reason was Qin Yu’s inherent authority.

The moment Qin Yu stepped in front of the researchers at Research Institute 011, he held the status of the greatest scientist of the century.

Practically no one dared to contradict him.

Even though Qin Yu treated everyone essentially equally,

never acting differently towards anyone based on who they were,

most people naturally felt a bit tense around him.

In fact, since arriving at Research Institute 011, Qin Yu hadn’t heard any opposing views regarding his research ideas.

Basically, what Qin Yu said was final.

Whatever Qin Yu proposed, the researchers would start working on it.

With that kind of atmosphere, what issues could possibly arise in the team’s operation?

Admittedly, this likely dampened the team’s initiative and limited the pooling of collective wisdom from all researchers.

But for Qin Yu, this was the optimal way to run the research.

The second reason was the way Qin Yu structured the entire research process.

For the ongoing Artificial Womb Technology research,

Qin Yu outlined the overall research direction, then identified several key challenges within this direction.

He assigned these specific problems to smaller teams within the larger group, based on their expertise, sometimes suggesting possible solutions.

For critical or stubborn problems that remained unsolved for too long, Qin Yu would take over and tackle them personally.

For all the Researchers in the various teams,

this research model felt a bit strange at first but quickly became comfortable.

There was no need to overthink things;

simply following Professor Qin Yu’s direction led to the solutions.

Sometimes, though, it could make people doubt their purpose.

It sometimes seemed like their entire research effort resembled Qin Yu setting up an experimental plan,

and others just carrying out the procedures and collecting data.

Though a step further, the core felt similar—

it mainly lightened Professor Qin’s workload.

The entire research endeavour remained firmly under Professor Qin’s leadership.

Of course, this approach meant the research progressed incredibly fast.

It felt like Professor Qin was dragging the entire research team through thickets and forests, running at breakneck speed.

The whole process

had a certain harsh beauty, like Professor Qin Yu’s talents crushing the problems underfoot.

… …

From Qin Yu’s perspective,

the development of Artificial Womb Technology was progressing decently.

Unlike the Life Extension Technology which had zero existing foundation,

Artificial Womb Technology actually had some practical groundwork.

Scientists in related fields had previously explored similar concepts.

Moreover, putting Qin Yu in charge of the Artificial Womb Technology project was a good fit.

His earlier research into life extension had given him a deep understanding of various human mechanisms.

This knowledge could aid in developing Artificial Womb Technology.

Essentially, Artificial Womb Technology boiled down to one main challenge:

how to provide suitable conditions outside the human body

for an embryo to develop and grow, independent of the mother’s womb.

Specifically, during the early stage of embryo growth, from fertilized egg to a formed body.

This required substantial knowledge about the mechanisms of early human development.