The night breeze was still blowing, and the lights along the lake were being lit one by one. Chen Hao's fingers rested on the edge of the bench, and he tapped them lightly twice before stopping.

Susan didn't say anything, but her hand remained on his knee, suppressing his restless little movements.

Carl sat up straight and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't fully recovered from his nap, and his voice was a little hoarse: "Nana, who did you say sent it?"

"Deep Space Joint Research Institute," Nana said, looking at the water ahead, "Frontier Exploration Group, led by Professor Li Zhenhua."

“Li Zhenhua?” Carl’s eyes widened. “Is that the guy who questioned our sampling errors at the press conference?”

“Yes.” Nana nodded. “Their team reproduced our energy transfer model last week with an accuracy of 98.3 percent.”

Chen Hao snorted: "Oh, you got slapped in the face and now you're trying to curry favor?"

“It’s not about building connections.” Nana pulled up a text message that floated in the air. “It’s a formal invitation to collaborate. The project is codenamed ‘Symbiosis Project,’ with a three-year duration, covering three areas: ecological simulation, energy conversion, and material reconstruction.”

The words rolled down line by line without anyone interrupting.

Karl leaned closer to look, growing more and more excited: "This equipment list... they have a quantum entanglement communication array! And a miniature gravity field generator! Things we never even dared to dream of before!"

"So what?" Chen Hao tilted his head. "You just believed them when they suddenly became friendly?"

“The data doesn’t lie.” Carl turned to look at him. “After our press conference, seventeen laboratories around the world verified it. If they still wanted to criticize us, they would have found fault with it long ago. But now even the Interstellar Technology Annual Report is using our conclusions as the benchmark.”

Chen Hao remained silent.

Susan stared at the projection for a long time, then suddenly asked, "Is this project... going to leave Earth?"

“The first phase is at the ground base,” Nana replied. “The second phase may require moving to the low Earth orbit experimental module.”

“So you’re leaving.” Susan’s voice lowered. “I’ve already agreed to give an environmental lecture at the community center next month, and the property management also asked me to help organize a neighborhood festival… What will happen to these things if I go for three years?”

“You can take leave,” Carl said.

“It’s not about asking for leave or not,” Susan shook her head. “It’s that I’ve finally managed to talk to the people around me. Before, when I walked down the hallway, my neighbors would avoid me. Now it’s different. Aunt Wang downstairs brings me dumplings, and the kids upstairs call me ‘scientist sister’… I don’t want to lock myself in the lab anymore and live like an alien.”

The air suddenly became quiet.

Chen Hao looked down at the tips of his shoes and after a long pause, he managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Actually, I quite like things like this now. I sleep during the day and eat grilled sausages at night, and nobody cares if I'm a bad student. Yesterday, an old man asked me if I could fix his electric bike, and when I said yes, he bought me a bottle of soda—this kind of life is pretty good."

"So you plan to repair electric cars for the rest of your life?" Carl laughed.

"That's not what I meant," Chen Hao scratched his head. "I meant... we've just caught our breath, and now we're going to plunge headfirst into another big project? What if we run into a lunatic like Novian again? Remember when we almost had our database deleted last time?"

“I remember,” Karl said, his smile fading. “But I remember even more that blue band of light we saw on the planet. You can’t see that kind of thing on Earth, and it’s not in textbooks. We discovered it ourselves. Now someone is willing to bring the best equipment to continue digging with us, and you’re telling me you don’t want to go?”

Chen Hao opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Nana hadn't moved until now, when she finally spoke: "I've checked their collaboration records. Over the past ten years, this team has initiated five large-scale joint research projects, all of which were completed, the results were made public, and there was no commercial monopoly. Nor have any members gone missing or encountered accidents."

"It sounds like a model unit." Chen Hao chuckled twice. "But the more normal something seems, the easier it is to hide problems."

“I know what you’re afraid of,” Susan said softly. “You’re afraid of being chased again, afraid of not being able to sleep well, afraid of waking up one day to find yourself being used as a tool again.”

Chen Hao did not deny it.

He raised his hand and touched the back of his neck, where it was still a little numb, like a lingering effect from the day the system was restored.

“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I’m just a fat guy who’s just coasting along. If it weren’t for Nana tutoring me, I wouldn’t even know how to write a research report. And now you suddenly want me to lead a team on a three-year project? Those people outside won’t understand how I’m so nervous that I mispronounce technical terms.”

“No one’s making you shoulder this alone.” Susan held his hand. “We can decide together whether or not to go.”

“But once you agree, you have to sign a confidentiality agreement, cut off external contact, and re-enter a closed state,” Nana added. “Just like last time.”

Carl frowned. "But this time it's different! This is an invitation, not a mission. We have the right to refuse. Besides, they're here for our results, not to exploit us."

“Sounds like a job ad.” Chen Hao grinned. “‘High salary offered, meals and accommodation provided, and a cosmic view upon joining.’”

“Pretty much,” Nana surprisingly added, “Bonus: Free use of the anti-gravity training pod.”

The three of them paused for a second, then burst out laughing.

After the laughter subsided, the lake became still again.

A shared bicycle jingled as it sped past in the distance, breaking the silence.

Chen Hao looked up at the sky; the clouds had dispersed somewhat, and there were more stars than before.

How long will they give us to consider it?

"Seventy-two hours," Nana said. "The deadline is nine o'clock the day after tomorrow."

"There's no rush then." Chen Hao deliberately stretched. "Let's not think about it tonight."

But he didn't lie down.

His fingers started tapping his knees again, each tap faster than the last.

Susan noticed and stopped pressing down on his hand, but simply moved closer.

Carl stared at the water, his eyes shining: "Do you know what's the most exciting part? This project isn't just about studying known planets. They plan to use our models to predict energy nodes in unknown regions, and then... send people to verify it in the field."

"You mean we're going to a new planet?" Chen Hao turned his head.

“It’s not necessarily us,” Nana corrected, “but there’s a high possibility that we were involved in designing the exploration route.”

“That’s an opportunity,” Carl grinned. “Think about it, a piece of land that no one has ever set foot on, with unknown atmospheric composition and surface structure. Maybe it holds something that could change the history of energy. If we could be the first to set foot there…”

"Then it got swallowed whole by the monster." Chen Hao rolled his eyes.

"You're afraid of monsters?" Carl laughed. "You're not afraid of Novian's hacker army, not afraid of data bombs, not afraid of system crashes, but you're afraid of monsters?"

“At least I can see monsters,” Chen Hao muttered. “Hackers can delete my save files, but monsters can only bite my legs. If my legs are broken, I can put on a mechanical one, but if my brain is gone, I can’t reboot it.”

Upon hearing this, Nana suddenly turned to look at him: "My program can back up your memory data. If you wish, I can create a personal database in advance."

"Huh?" Chen Hao was startled. "When did you secretly scan my brainwaves?"

“No,” Nana said expressionlessly, “but I can start now.”

"No, no, no!" Chen Hao shrank back. "My mind is full of the instant noodle flavor rankings I ate yesterday. What do you need this for?"

"Knowledge knows no form." Nana said seriously, "Even a conclusion like 'braised beef is three parts less salty than pickled cabbage' could become a key sample for future research on the evolution of human diet."

Susan burst out laughing.

Carl slapped his thigh: "Nana, you're getting better and better at insulting people!"

“I’m just stating the facts,” Nana said calmly. “However, based on my observations, Chen Hao tends to use food to distract himself when he’s nervous, such as repeatedly mentioning grilled sausages, instant noodles, and jianbing guozi with eggs but no scallions. This is a typical escape mechanism.”

"Hey!" Chen Hao glared, "You're a robot, how dare you talk about my psychological problems?"

“I don’t have a psychologist,” Nana said, “but I can analyze behavioral patterns.”

"Alright, alright," Susan said with a smile, trying to smooth things over. "You two, stop arguing."

She looked up at the sky, then at the city lights on the opposite shore of the lake.

“Actually…” she paused, “I’m not against doing research. I just don’t want to lose my current life. If we could find a way to continue exploring without having to completely hide away… that would be great.”

“Maintaining a balance is difficult,” Nana said, “but not impossible. I can apply for remote collaboration permissions, and some data analysis can be done locally. In addition, the project allows for 30 days of rest per quarter.”

"Really?" Karl's eyes lit up.

“It’s written in Article Seventeen of the document,” Nana nodded.

Chen Hao stroked his chin: "So, you mean I don't have to stay at the base all the time? I can still come back to fix electric cars?"

“Theoretically, yes,” Nana said.

He fell silent again.

The wind carries the scent of the lake.

Carl rubbed his arms: "It's cold."

"Let's go back," Susan said, standing up. "We have to go to work tomorrow."

"Are you really going to work?" Chen Hao asked.

“Of course,” she said. “The library received a new batch of popular science books today, and I’m going to sort and classify them.”

Chen Hao slowly stood up and stretched his arms and legs.

The four people walked along the path toward the park entrance, their pace slower than when they came.

Halfway there, Nana suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Susan turned around.

“They sent me the meeting link.” Nana raised her wrist, a faint light flashing. “The first online meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8 pm. At least one key researcher needs to attend to accept the invitation.”

"So fast?" Karl exclaimed in surprise.

“Efficiency is the priority,” Nana said. “They want to get started as soon as possible.”

Chen Hao stood there, watching his phone screen light up as a notification popped up.

[You have a new schedule reminder: the first meeting of the Deep Space Joint Research Institute's Symbiosis Project tomorrow night at 20:00]

He neither confirmed nor rejected the request.

Simply flip the phone over, screen down, and hold it in your palm.