Deep within the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, 17 floors underground.

The heavy lead door slid open silently, and a chilly air, a mixture of engine oil, ozone, and the unique scent of underground rocks, rushed out.

Fluorescent tubes illuminated a narrow and oppressive corridor.

On both sides are thick concrete walls, with mottled spots of dark yellow water seeping out, silently telling the story of this place's isolation and the weight of time.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, carrying a deep-seated loneliness.

Mingzhao, dressed in a dark blue work uniform without any markings, followed behind a solemn-looking security officer, carrying a worn canvas tool bag.

Su Xuan followed closely behind, tightly clutching an equally inconspicuous metal box in his arms.

This is the core research and development area of ​​the top-secret project codenamed Galaxy!

This is a super laboratory buried deep underground in the desert.

At the end of the corridor, a heavier alloy door, gleaming with a metallic sheen, slowly opened.

Then the scene opened up, yet it carried an even deeper sense of spatial oppression.

Su Xuan was both excited and nervous. He glanced at Ming Zhao with some unease.

Seeing that Mingzhao remained calm and composed, his uneasy heart finally settled down.

This is a huge hemispherical underground space with a towering dome, divided into several ring-shaped platforms.

In the center is a huge, sunken work area, brightly lit at the moment, displaying massive instrument frames with a rugged industrial aesthetic that Mingzhao has never seen before, as well as test platforms wrapped with thick cables.

The air was filled with the buzzing of high-voltage electricity and the pungent smell of coolant.

However, it's not just the environment that brings oppression and suffocation, but also the gazes cast upon us from all around.

On the second floor of the circular platform, in an observation room separated by bulletproof glass, sat several people.

In the center is an elderly man with gray hair, a serious face, and thick glasses.

His eyes were incredibly sharp! He was coldly looking down at Mingzhao as she walked over through the glass.

He is Academician Yan Zhensheng, the chief advisor of the Galaxy Project Technical Committee, and a leading figure in the Chinese physics community.

Beside him sat several experts with equally serious expressions, their gazes scrutinizing him.

Even more jarring was a foreigner in the corner of the observation room, dressed in an elegant suit with his hair neatly combed, slowly swirling a glass of red wine.

His name is Valery Ivanov.

He was a representative of the technical assistance experts sent by the Soviet Union.

Those grey-blue eyes revealed an undisguised sense of superiority and a hint of mockery.

Mingzhao and Su Xuan stood at the edge of the work area.

In the vast space, only the low hum of the instruments could be heard.

All eyes were on them.

Academician Yan's voice, transmitted through the loudspeaker in the observation room, carried an unquestionable authority and echoed in the empty laboratory.

"Comrade Mingzhao! Comrade Su Xuan! Welcome to the Galaxy."

"Although your performance in the Tianyin project seems a bit clever, this is space."

He pointed to the cold rocks above the dome: "It's the absolute domain of the laws of physics, not something you can fool with some ores and canned goods."

Academician Yan slammed his hand on the control panel in front of him, making a loud bang, and his tone suddenly became stern and angry.

"I've reviewed your preliminary proposal, and its core idea is to rely on quantum entanglement to establish an interstellar communication link? Ridiculous!"

This is utter pseudoscience, the specter of idealism, a blatant betrayal of dialectical materialism, and a heretical doctrine that shakes the very foundation of the nation.

Every word carried the thunderous force of Lu Yi and the final judgment of his life.

"Old Yan, Comrade Mingzhao's theory..."

Su Xuan couldn't help but want to speak up in defense, his voice trembling slightly.

"Shut up!" Academician Yan interrupted sharply! His gaze fell on Su Xuan, carrying a palpable chill.

"You have no right to speak here."

Su Xuan's face turned deathly pale, and he clenched his fists.

He knew that, given his talent, he wouldn't be able to get into the project team!

He was able to come along entirely because he was Mingzhao's assistant.

In the observation room, Valery elegantly sipped his red wine, a highly ironic smile curving his lips.

His voice came through the simultaneous interpretation equipment, carrying a solemn Russian accent, languid yet like the flicking of a viper's tongue.

"Oh, dear Yan, why get angry?"

He swirled the wine in his glass, the scarlet liquid leaving eerie streaks on the glass.

"Young people always like to fantasize! Quantum entanglement? God rolling dice? Ha!"

He let out a short, disdainful laugh.

His grey-blue eyes turned to Mingzhao below, as if looking at a novel but doomed lab rat in a laboratory.

“Miss Mingzhao.” Valery’s tone became earnest, but it was even more embarrassing than Academician Yan’s anger.

"I admire your imagination, truly! But the reality is, you're still experimenting with stable and reliable microwave communication transistors in the lab, with a pitifully low yield rate. Tsk tsk..."

"Want more photons?" He spread his hands dramatically, almost spilling the red wine in his glass.

"That requires ultra-low temperatures! Ultra-high vacuum! Precision optical components thinner than a human hair! Do you have these things? Can you even build them?"

As Su Xuan listened to his humiliating words, her nails dug deep into her flesh, a surge of immense shame rising within her.

His indignant gaze was fixed on Valery.

Valery put down his glass, leaned forward slightly, and stood behind the thick bulletproof glass.

Those grey-blue eyes were fixed on Mingzhao, each word spoken clearly and slowly, carrying a blatant sense of humiliation.

"Give up, young man! Space is a game for the strong, and you... haven't even learned to walk yet, and you're already thinking about flying to the stars."

Instead of focusing on practical matters, let's first learn how to build a functional broadcasting satellite. Ha!

His deliberate emphasis on the words "broadcast satellite" elicited suppressed chuckles from several experts behind him, also from the Soviet Union.

The frigid air seemed to freeze, and in the vast underground space, only the monotonous hum of the instruments and Valery's venomous words echoed.

Su Xuan was trembling with anger. If that person were standing right in front of him, he would have punched him immediately.

On the circular platform, some young researchers who were engrossed in their work also secretly looked up, their eyes filled with complex emotions as they glanced at Mingzhao.

There was sympathy, doubt, and a lingering sense of disappointment.

Mingzhao stood still, his posture ramrod straight.

Faced with Academician Yan's furious rebuttal and Valery's blatant humiliation.

His face was expressionless, devoid of the anger they expected to see.

There was no explanation, no humiliation, only a bottomless calm, like the absolute forbidden eye of a storm.