novelraw Chapter 38: Going back to the past, changing the world.
Chapter 38: Going back to the past, changing the world.
Upon arriving at the dormitory building, Lin Yu found that the dormitory manager was not there, so he led Song Shu directly into the dormitory.
Back in the dormitory, all the other roommates in the eight-person room had left by early February, leaving only Lin Yu and Song Shu.
Lin Yu usually didn't notice any particular smell in the room, except for a medicinal scent mixed with sulfur, which was the smell of Shanghai sulfur soap.
But today, Lin Yu felt that there was an indescribable, strange fragrance in the air.
Once inside, Lin Yu picked up the lunchbox Song Shu had brought and wolfed down the pork dumplings inside, saying as he ate:
"My senior sister's cooking skills are really good. She has improved recently. The millet porridge she made last time was especially delicious."
Song Shu rolled her eyes:
"Just eat, stop talking nonsense. How could my cooking skills be bad? I was just forced to do it."
"Mom is usually not home, and Dad can't cook, so I have to take care of you from time to time. If I don't learn to cook, there will be no one in the family who can cook."
She responded to Lin Yu with a laugh and a playful retort, while waving her hand:
"Go back to sleep first, I still have things to do. I'm glad to see you're safe and sound. See you later! Remember to come to my house for dinner during the Chinese New Year!"
At this point, Lin Yu suddenly remembered that Professor Song still had to deal with satellite signal data and coordinate with teams in various locations, so he reached out and grabbed Song Shu's forearm, saying:
"Although I can't tell you the specific details, it seems Professor Song won't be able to come home for the Spring Festival. I won't bother him during the holiday, will I?"
Song Shu was taken aback for a moment, then relaxed when she remembered that Professor Song would be accompanied by security guards when he went out.
"I don't really care, but if you don't come for the New Year, it will just be my mom and me at home. My mom will say that it's not very festive when it's just the two of us."
"You can't just be nice to Dad and not to me and Mom, right?"
After saying that, Song Shu smiled slyly, blocking all of Lin Yu's options to refuse.
Lin Yu used his rare dose of "straight man" emotional intelligence to think it over, and knew that he absolutely could not say anything negative now, otherwise it would be tantamount to breaking off his friendship with Song Shu.
So he nodded: "Okay, I'll definitely go during the Chinese New Year."
Song Shu then beamed with joy and skipped away with her hands behind her back.
Watching Song Shu's departing figure, Lin Yu breathed a long sigh of relief.
Luckily, my senior sister didn't understand. Chief Hou almost did something wrong this time because he meant well.
He didn't even dare to think about how he would progress further if his senior sister understood what he had just said.
Lin Yu quickly washed up, then made his bed and went to sleep.
The workings of the world are never affected by human will.
But occasionally, even the slightest flap of a butterfly's wings can stir up magnificent waves in the distance.
Even as Lin Yu lay asleep, the world continued to change.
Brussels, Belgium.
The headquarters building was still brightly lit in the early hours of winter time.
Manfred Werner, then the Secretary General of BY, the man who single-handedly expanded BY's power and laid the groundwork for its subsequent eastward expansion, sat at the head of the meeting room and spoke in a hoarse voice:
"We can't let our guard down, even though the Warsaw Pact has only been broken up for two years."
"We...also demand change."
"Military alliances without a target to confront will not fare well. Either we will dissolve them, or... we will have to find a way to expand our functions."
Upon hearing this, the once lively conference room fell into an eerie silence, as if swept by a fierce winter wind.
The remaining people had various expressions, but none of them picked up the conversation.
Manfred Werner, a Germanic man, was the former Minister of Defense of West Germany.
"Heh, don't get the wrong idea, everyone."
"What I seek is peace."
"With the collapse of Yugoslavia, the Serbian, Muslim, and Croatian peoples also severed all ties."
"This civil war has dragged on for too long, and they've gone too far. Justice... needs to be upheld."
Moscow, Russia.
Boris was angrily berating the agent who had delivered the intelligence:
"Poch secretly transported mortars into the peace zone? You're asking me what to do?"
"We can't even afford to pay military expenses right now; we don't even have one-tenth of the defense budget!"
"Chechch is still causing trouble. You ask me what to do? What can I do? There's nothing I can do!"
"We can only turn to the United States for help; I wonder if they can give us some preferential treatment."
Finally, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serrajevo in the Peace District.
The snow fell for three days, a thin layer covering the bullet-riddled stone wall and also concealing some dried bloodstains.
Zhou Minghai knocked on the window of a dilapidated house and leaned against it, saying:
"Found it."
"The Serbs plan to bombard KX, and if successful, the consequences would be unimaginable."
"Not only will a large number of innocent people lose their lives, but it will also give BY an excuse to intervene."
"That mortar was mounted on a military truck and drove around the city. Today I put a locating beacon on the truck."
"But the location error is too large; we can't get his real-time address. Without the address, we don't know where their plan will unfold."
"All we know for now is that the trucks make a loop around the Milyatka River every day at noon, but we don't know what that means."
After speaking, Zhou Minghai lowered the brim of his hat and continued to pick up the bright yellow copper bullets from the street with his scavenging bag.
After he left, a few short keystrokes echoed in the snowy night, but they didn't travel more than a few meters before the swirling snowflakes disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Domestically, it was the third hour after Lin Yu fell asleep.
Inside the conference room, the professors were still working feverishly to figure out Lin Yu's anti-SA algorithm:
"Zhiwei, are you even capable? Isn't Lin Yu your student? How come you can't even understand the code he wrote?"
A group of professors surrounded the supercomputer. Professor Song, who was interpreting code using a DOS system, paused, then burst into a tirade:
"Old Wang, if you're incompetent, don't make sarcastic remarks. I told you I'm not good enough, but you guys were the ones who put me on the job."
"Stop researching, just copy it and see if it works."
Five hours after Lin Yu fell asleep.
A signal relayed by satellite was introduced into the conference room.
"Huh? Why is the signal acting up again?"
"Where is this signal coming from?"
Chief Engineer Lin looked at the signal source brought by Commander Hou and asked in confusion:
"This isn't just simple GPS positioning, is it?"
Chief Hou did not provide an answer, but only said:
"Is the location inaccurate? I understand."
He then left in a hurry.
Seven hours after Lin Yu fell asleep.
Commander Hou, who was in a meeting, received a telegram from Shanghai that read:
"You don't need to talk about this anymore; leave the professional matters to the professionals."
"Doesn't he want a steel mill? Let him handle that problem. If he can resolve it before it actually happens, then we'll transfer the steel mill to him."
"If he doesn't handle it well, he'll just get the position of factory manager."
This concise and decisive writing style is typical of that old man.
Upon seeing the instructions, Commander Hou finally felt relieved and personally went to the dormitory building of Beihang University.
Seven hours and thirty-one minutes after Lin Yu fell asleep, the dormitory door was pushed open.
In his half-dreaming, half-awake state, Lin Yu saw Zhang Wei's dignified face:
"Comrade, wake up, comrade, the motherland needs you now."