Chapter 13: Research

You're also early.

Chen Mu held no position in class; previously, he and Tang Jing at most only discussed some math problems. In these two days, what he has said might be more than what he said in the past three years combined.

"Da Lei's snoring is too scary." Tang Jing stuck out her tongue slightly and muttered a complaint.

She was on the first shift last night, so she could sleep around 10 p. m.; besides, she actually didn't do any physical labor yesterday, followed Chen Mu to fetch water, and even washed up, so she ended up sleeping better than others.

"Haha, he must have been exhausted yesterday." Chen Mu also chuckled.

"You're busier than him; why don't you sleep a bit more?" Tang Jing asked.

Chen Mu said: "I discovered that our awakened ability uses something similar to mental power; even if overused, it does not cause fatigue, only dizziness, but recovery is faster than physical strength. After sleeping last night, I now feel almost no effect."

"You rested for a long time when you climbed onto the desk yesterday—was it because of dizziness?" Tang Jing asked again.

"That's right; at the time I didn't know what would happen, so I took the safest measure."

"You did the right thing; our understanding of this so-called Special Ability is still too little." Tang Jing sighed.

Chen Mu also wanted to borrow Tang Jing's brain to help analyze his ability, so he took the opportunity to say: "I discovered that after mental power is consumed and then recovered, there is a certain degree of growth, somewhat like physical training, but the effect is more noticeable."

Tang Jing nodded: "That makes sense; if there's no growth potential, the Special Ability would actually be of limited help to humanity."

"How so?"

"I think this ultimately is a matter of scale."

"Scale?"

"Yes, for example, with our current abilities like yours and Da Lei's, we can easily deal with something the size of an ant, but against a mouse, or even larger cats and dogs, it's almost useless."

"That's right." Chen Mu nodded.

"Then, for humanity to return to the top of the food chain, there are only two ways."

"What?"

"The first is the growth of the Special Ability—for example, Da Lei's strength keeps increasing until he can fight an elephant barehanded. Or your ability could control a whole building."

"That's impossible, right?"

"Why?"

"I don't know; it just feels off." Chen Mu shook his head.

"Your feeling is likely correct, because between organisms, a difference in scale cannot be directly compensated by physical opposition; for example, bacteria killing humans must destroy our bodily functions, not simply bite us to death."

"So there's still a second way?" Chen Mu asked.

"The second way is to develop technology, or rather, technology built upon the Special Ability."

"Technology..."

Although the apocalypse has only been two days, Chen Mu almost feels as if the word has become unfamiliar to him.

"When humans first controlled the world, it wasn't by relying on the body; no matter how strong a person is, they can't beat lions and tigers. We invented guns and cannons, cars and airplanes—wasn't that to make up for our shortcomings?"

"But why say it's technology built upon the Special Ability?" Chen Mu asked.

"Because much of humanity's past technology had to be built on a certain scale."

"Scale again?"

"That's right; even if a steam engine's parts were perfectly shrunk to our current scale, it still wouldn't work. Likewise, an internal combustion engine, a motor, or even a simple screw—if its size were reduced a hundredfold, it might not function properly."

"Why?"

Chen Mu couldn't immediately understand what Tang Jing said; he always felt that if humanity were given enough time, it could recover its former technological level.

Everyone still drives to work each day, returns home to light the stove and cook, watches TV, plays computer games—essentially it's just a shrunken version of the world. But hearing Tang Jing's meaning, such a world could never be realized.

"I know this sounds counterintuitive, but it's actually easy to understand. Take a simple example: an ordinary candle can be shrunk a hundredfold, but after it's lit, the flame it produces does not shrink a hundredfold."

"Many physical phenomena cannot be simply scaled proportionally."

"That makes some sense." Chen Mu, although he still couldn't fully grasp it, had at least understood a bit; in this regard, ten of him wouldn't equal one Tang Jing.

Tang Jing added: "Of course, theoretically we could also manufacture mechanical equipment of the same size as before, then operate it through a series of excessive measures, but how long that would take is unknown. In the short term, humanity can probably only focus on ensuring survival; if several generations fail to pass on knowledge, a gap will form, and perhaps we'll never recover the original civilization."

Chen Mu remained silent for a long time, then asked: "So, is the Special Ability more important than we imagined?"

Tang Jing nodded: "This is not only our reliance for survival; it is also likely the foundation for humanity's resurgence."

Chen Mu laughed: "I find your words very persuasive; you'd surely make a fortune in multi-level marketing."

Tang Jing gave an indifferent smile: "Chen Mu, have you ever thought that your ability might be far stronger than you imagine?"

"It's indeed a bit more useful than I initially thought, but for now I can only make some simple tools." Chen Mu sounded rather helpless.

Tang Jing smiled: "Isn't the reason humans differ from other animals precisely because we first learned to use tools? While others are still in a primitive state, you already have the right to use tools—isn't that the greatest advantage?"

Chen Mu now also somewhat understood the significance of his ability; before industrial civilization is fully restored, he indeed possesses a great advantage.

But this has two prerequisites.

First, his ability must be strong enough to manipulate larger objects and perform more refined operations; otherwise, if even leveling a plastic water bucket takes a long time, it's obviously not very meaningful.

Second, and most importantly, he must be able to survive.

This ability currently helps very little in combat; encountering three or five ants might already mean gg, and talking about humanity's technological future would be utterly ridiculous.

He helplessly spread his hands toward Tang Jing and said: "Let's see if we can live that long first."

Tang Jing didn't continue the topic; a flash of embarrassment suddenly appeared on her face as she asked: "Aren't you going inside yet?"

Chen Mu was first puzzled, then suddenly realized.

Others came out early in the morning; obviously they weren't intentionally coming to greet him, but were also taking care of personal matters.

"Mm-hmm, I came out to get some air; I'm heading back now… you… do as you please…"

After saying that, Chen Mu realized it sounded a bit ambiguous, but hard to explain; saying more would only make things worse, so he hurried back as if fleeing.

Left behind, Tang Jing felt a mix of laughter and tears.