Chapter 564: Haji Ran Runs Away

They said five hours, and it really took five hours; the most exhausted were those who kept hauling the engines out.

And when Zhang Jie easily slotted the final jump engine into place, everything was considered perfectly completed.

The Alliance giant ship said it was fine, feeling no pain, and as the subsequent test flight proceeded, everyone could clearly see the ship's silhouette distort and vanish as if sucked into a black hole, after which its coordinates abruptly appeared 20 light-years away.

That's that, it's only natural—at least Zhang Jie truly thought so.

"Leader Niu Fu!"

"Leader Niu Fu!!!"

Some big brother started cheering, and the shouts rolled in like waves, a mysterious power appearing within Zhang Jie's body.

Zhang Jie, who was waving down below, keenly sensed the change—his spiritual energy... was increasing at a visible speed!

"What's going on?"

Then Zhang Jie suddenly realized: the change was happening right upon his spiritual energy!

"Basic Cognition... now I get it!"

Unbeknownst to him, at this moment Zhang Jie's image had already appeared on Alliance news, and he didn't know someone had done this.

And the video's popularity is also to be expected—would you believe an extremely powerful leader-unit would personally lead the engine swap on its own giant warship?

The key is, this isn't an ordinary ship—it's the Alliance giant ship that carries countless memories of the Alliance's old and new generations!

Thus, Zhang Jie began frantically accumulating spiritual energy through Basic Cognition, only feeling a huge change after he finished replacing the ship's engine.

"Leader, you've worked hard!"

Zhang Jie nodded, took off his dirty protective suit, and had to admit, the smell inside the Alliance giant ship really wasn't pleasant.

The jump engine replacement succeeded; next, the support speed of the Alliance's mega-structure units will undergo a qualitative leap!

And the Deep Space Giant Sword and Biological Giant Ship No. 2 were likewise personally swapped by Zhang Jie; the fact that he was originally a research staff member spread like wildfire.

Some still wondered why the Alliance's development this year was faster than the previous millennium, but as they dug deeper, everyone finally realized who was behind all this.

"Basic Cognition" broke through to Level III overnight! Soon to reach Level IV, and this made Zhang Jie overjoyed—perhaps afterward the spiritual energy system won't need him to allocate points; just continually boosting his influence will suffice!

"The engines of all three giant ships have been fully loaded, test flight successful!"

The researchers' admiration had turned into substance—know that if they did this, finishing a perfect engine swap within a month would already be considered extremely smooth.

And Zhang Jie, who had completed all this, suddenly saw a pop-up window appear before him.

"Notice! 'Genius ProMax' status updated!"

"Current Genius Value: 105%!"

Another big surprise! After these days of research activities, this talent of Zhang Jie's, which he basically had no clue about, suddenly updated its status.

This means that to improve this talent, one only needs to do research!

After a day's work, Master Zhang not only felt no fatigue, but his body grew even stronger; having nothing to vent his energy on, he once again set his sights on Lin Ran.

So..... Lin Ran, who had just weakly awakened at night, was poked again....

Poor Lin Ran, having just woken up, became so tired she fell asleep again.

Thus, in the days that followed, Zhang Jie gained tremendous motivation for research; as long as he kept researching and producing results, Basic Cognition could rise, and likewise the effect of 'Genius ProMax' would also increase!

Zhang Jie wasn't wrong in the slightest—this simulation would bring the Alliance a tremendous boost!

It might be slow at first, but once underway, this lingering power is simply explosive!

And this period was also a joyful yet painful juncture for the Alliance Academy of Sciences.

The joy? The academy once welcomed two nearly omnipotent research titans, who could accomplish any study with just a couple of tries.

And the pain is here too—because those two freak researchers' speed is absurdly overpowered, many Alliance researchers now spend their first task each day memorizing that damned data and learning that damned technique, each shift feeling heavier than a star‑corporation's workload.

Never mind engine tech—just speaking of that Force Field Shield, they simply couldn't believe their own leader had personally cobbled one together right before their eyes!

"This poet?"

However, Zhang Jie isn't without worries—lately, cough, perhaps because his strength rose too fast, he's brimming with energy every day; just one hour of sleep leaves him fully charged.

And Lin Ran bore the brunt—from the initial clinginess, to later helplessness, then fear—it all took just over a month.

Cough, however long this period lasted, Lin Ran had been absent that long; her daily routine became:

In the afternoon she woke up, exhausted, so she comfortably lingered in bed, handled duties online, and before two hours had passed, Zhang Jie returned....

Then the cycle began...

Worn out and poked—awaken—handle duties—be poked—awaken—handle duties—be poked—handle duties.

And then, when Zhang Jie came back one day, he discovered Lin Ran had outright run away.....

She left him a note on the spot, saying the Alliance No. 2 giant ship had encountered an incredibly awesome natural disaster, no idea if it's real or fake, but she needed to go deal with it.

Finally she threw down some harsh words, saying she'd soon break the gene lock again, telling him to wait and see—Zhang Jie couldn't hold back a laugh.

You little rascal, Haji Ran, you'll never turn things around in this lifetime! Because Old Zhang's 'Basic Cognition' has already reached Level VI!

The Genius Value also hit 115%, and the rate of increase for both numbers is getting slower and slower.

The former is because everyone already knows Zhang Jie's abilities, plus the recent emergence of engines and Force Field Shields—nothing shocking tech-wise—so the accumulation of spiritual energy for 'Basic Cognition' has also slowed down.

The same goes for the Genius Value, but even so, Zhang Jie feels he won't lose anymore.

He! Finally! Finally stood up!!!

"Hmm... what should I go do next?"

Unbeknownst to him, the sneaking-over blue sapphire had edged into his hand, and Zhang Jie naturally began to rub it.

A purring sound came; since the blue sapphire had lightly bitten Zhang Jie once before, it had been nervous for two days, but after realizing nothing was wrong, it returned to its cheerful self.

But, her now and forevermore! No matter how fast Zhang Jie's hand speed reaches—even if it's light‑speed—she can completely endure it!

"Mm! Absolutely!"

"Mm, two months have passed; we can run a simulation now."

Zhang Jie nodded, but he couldn't afford to slack off just because he's obsessed with Haji Ran, you useless old fool!

He opened the simulator again after a long time.