Chapter 80: Meeting

The "Cornerstone Project" began operating at full speed, propelled by Qin Feng's near-infinite wealth. The land selected on the city's outskirts was swiftly enclosed, as heavy machinery and elite construction teams flooded in day and night, beginning to shape the embryonic form of the "Future Technology Research Institute" according to a blueprint far ahead of its time. Meanwhile, recruitment notices for "Shield Security" quietly flowed through specific channels to certain targeted individuals worldwide—its astonishingly generous benefits and challenging mission were enough to stir any elite yearning for power and adventure.

Qin Feng remained at headquarters, directing operations from afar. He did not wait long—the effect of the 【Pioneer】 recruitment card began to manifest.

The first to arrive was Lei Zhan, a former military colonel responsible for the preliminary preparations of "Shield Security." He had not come directly through the recruitment card but was drawn by the generous terms and the ambition to "build the world's top-tier security force." After undergoing rigorous screening, he was referred to Qin Feng.

Lei Zhan was nearly fifty, his posture still as straight as a pine, his gaze sharp as an eagle's, his face marked by the weathered resilience of a soldier. In Qin Feng's highly modern office, he reported the preliminary recruitment status and site selection plan for the training base with neither subservience nor arrogance.

Qin Feng listened to the report, his expression calm, but secretly activating his 【Fortune Dominion】 Observation ability.

In Qin Feng's "vision," Lei Zhan was enveloped in a dense, iron-gray and dark-red intertwined aura. The iron-gray represented his military background and strict discipline; the dark-red revealed a decisive, ruthless nature and an unextinguished ambition. This aura was not particularly strong, yet it was exceptionally stable and resilient, like tempered steel. What caught Qin Feng's attention was a faint, invisible attraction between this aura and his own pale golden aura, hinting at the possibility of cooperation—or even submission.

"Excellent, Commander Lei," Qin Feng said after the report, nodding. "You have full authority over the security company's operations. I have only one requirement—loyalty and strength must coexist. Funding and equipment are not an issue. I need you to build, in the shortest time possible, a blood-hardened force capable of handling any extreme scenario."

Lei Zhan felt the unquestionable trust and immense ambition in Qin Feng's words; the long-dormant fire in his chest seemed ignited. He straightened his spine and said firmly, "I will not betray your trust, Mr. Qin!"

After seeing Lei Zhan off, Qin Feng grew even more eager for the recruitment card's effects. Lei Zhan was an excellent talent, but still fell short of the "world-class potential" category. The real highlight lay in biotechnology.

Several days later, in the afternoon, Qin Feng was reviewing the research institute's blueprints when his assistant's internal line rang, her voice tinged with unusual excitement: "Director Qin, a lady outside wishes to meet you. She says her name is Su Jin, from MIT Media Lab, specializing in gene editing and cellular regeneration. She has no appointment, but… she says you will surely be interested in the 'gift' she brought."

Su Jin!

Qin Feng's eyes sharpened. This name had ranked among the top potential targets in the system's feedback after he activated the recruitment card! At just twenty-eight, she had already published groundbreaking papers on telomerase activation and non-destructive cellular repair in top journals like 【Nature】 and 【Science】, recognized internationally as one of the most likely geniuses to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs in anti-aging. Yet she was fiercely independent, even eccentric, having rejected countless exorbitant offers from elite institutes and pharmaceutical giants to focus solely on her own research.

She had come to him—on her own—and at this exact moment?

"Show her to Conference Room One," Qin Feng said calmly, setting down the blueprints. Yet he knew—this was surely the 【Pioneer】 recruitment card's interference with causality at work.

He tidied his attire, did not rush out, but activated his Fortune Dominion Observation once more.

Through the one-way glass of his office, he could see in Conference Room One a young woman dressed in a simple white lab coat, her long hair loosely tied back, her face elegant yet steeped in scholarly air and a faint, distant coldness. She sat quietly, her gaze fixed out the window, as if lost in thought, her fingers idly tapping her knee—as if calculating some formula.

And in Qin Feng's "vision," the aura surrounding Dr. Su Jin made him slightly recoil.

It was… an extraordinarily pure and intense aura of "wisdom" and "creation"—pale blue, like a deep ocean or an infinite starry sky, vast and brimming with the unknown. Its strength far surpassed anyone he had ever seen, including Lei Zhan. Even more peculiar: entwined within the core of this pale-blue aura was a thin yet unyielding thread of bright silver, representing "perseverance" and "breakthrough."

Without doubt, she was a true child of heaven, a pioneer walking at the very frontier of human knowledge.

Qin Feng stilled his mind and stepped into the conference room.

Hearing the sound, Su Jin turned her head, her gaze calm and direct, carrying the sharp scrutiny of a researcher—as if trying to see through this unnaturally young man who had already stirred the world.

"Mr. Qin," Su Jin's voice, like her person, was cool and crisp. "Forgive the intrusion."

"Dr. Su, I've long admired your name," Qin Feng said, sitting across from her with a faint smile. "What wind has blown such a rising star of academia to my door?"

Su Jin cut straight to the point. From a silver metal case she carried, she retrieved a 【Tablet Computer】, pulled up a complex set of data and dynamic cellular simulation diagrams, and pushed them toward Qin Feng.

"This is my latest research: achieving targeted cellular repair using specialized guide RNA, and controllable extension of telomerase activity under specific conditions," Su Jin said, her tone devoid of boastfulness, merely stating facts. "Theoretically, it can dramatically slow organ aging and potentially cure numerous diseases caused by accumulated cellular damage."

She paused, lifting her eyes to meet Qin Feng's, her gaze burning: "But my research has hit a bottleneck. First, I lack sufficiently precise and powerful instruments to validate and optimize it. Second… the current research environment is either profit-driven or bureaucratically rigid, incapable of supporting the kind of foundational, disruptive research that may take years—and yield no immediate returns."

"I heard you are building an unprecedented laboratory, and that you have an extraordinary interest in… and confidence in… 'future' technology," Su Jin's gaze seemed to pierce through the soul. "So I came. I want to see if this is the place I've been searching for—the one where I can pursue truth without distraction."

"This is the 'gift' I bring—my knowledge, my talent, and my entire passion for exploring the unknown," she stared directly into Qin Feng's eyes, speaking slowly and clearly. "So, Mr. Qin… can you give me what I seek?"

The conference room fell silent.

Qin Feng looked at this extraordinary genius before him, at the pure thirst for knowledge and relentless determination in her eyes, and recalled the 【Primary Gene Optimization Fluid Formula (Fragment)】 stored in his System Space. His decision was made.

He needed precisely such a mind—to transform the System's gifts into tangible power.

This meeting, perhaps, had long been written in causality.

Qin Feng slowly stood, extending his hand to Su Jin, his face breaking into a sincere, infectious smile:

"Dr. Su Jin, welcome to the Future."

"Here, you will have the world's most advanced laboratory, unlimited research funding, and… technological support beyond your imagination."

"Let us together touch the forbidden zone of life, and define… new rules."

Su Jin looked at Qin Feng's outstretched hand, then into his deep, confident eyes. For the first time, a flicker of emotion crossed her cold face. She fell silent for a moment, then finally extended her own hand.

Two hands—one representing boundless capital and vision beyond the age, the other representing the pinnacle of human intellect and the courage to explore the unknown—clasped tightly together.

The most crucial piece of the "Cornerstone Project" had finally fallen into place.

And Qin Feng knew—with Su Jin's arrival—a storm that would sweep through global biotechnology was about to erupt, ignited by him.