Chapter 2

The police searched the apartment meticulously, and time ticked by.

Li Yi sat on the bed, holding a black cat that was unconscious, and asked indifferently, "Officers, you're turning my house upside down. What exactly are you looking for?"

"It's impossible, how can we not find it..." The fat officer's eyebrows knitted together.

"Officers, my cat is about to die. I need to take it to the vet right away. You can continue searching, just make sure to close the door when you're done!"

Without waiting for a response, Li Yi went downstairs directly.

"You... you..."

The fat officer was about to stop Li Yi from leaving but found that he was already gone. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had seen a ghost. How could someone move so fast?

Li Yi stood downstairs, holding the "cat" in his arms, deep in thought. There seemed to be many issues with his father's case, so this "cat" couldn't die. Fortunately, this "cat" was just dehydrated from hunger, and an IV would help it recover.

If he could use virtual energy, Li Yi could easily convert a lump of matter into physiological saline and inject it into the "cat." Unfortunately, the current backup annihilation energy system couldn't handle such a large load, so he had to find another way.

"Just go to the nearby hospital and get it a shot!"

The street was bustling with people, and Li Yi didn't want to walk too fast. He was about to hail a taxi but realized he had no money.

He extended his hand, made a gesture as if counting money, and shook his head, saying, "I'm really used to using virtual energy. I always want to generate things on the spot..."

"Screech—!"

As Li Yi was thinking about where to get some money, a Toyota sedan suddenly stopped in front of him. The car door opened, and a beautiful woman with a perfect figure got out, glaring at him and saying, "Xiao Yi, what are you doing here?"

"Mother-in-law?" Li Yi's heart leaped with joy.

Tang Yun was a good friend of his mother, and the two families were close. She often joked about letting Li Yi choose one of her two daughters as a wife and liked to call him "son." Over time, Li Yi also often playfully called her "mother-in-law."

Li Yi looked at the back seat and saw a pair of pretty little girls. They were Tang Yun's daughters, twins named Shen Shanshan and Shen Lingling, who looked exactly the same. The girl on the right glared at Li Yi when she saw him.

"Aunt Yun, can you lend me some money? I'll pay you back tomorrow," Li Yi asked.

Tang Yun frowned, "What do you need the money for?"

"Oh, my cat is sick. I need to take it to the vet," Li Yi replied.

Tang Yun was furious, pointing at Li Yi's forehead and scolding him, "You brat, you're getting more and more out of hand! For three whole days, you've been nowhere to be found, and your mother is worried sick. Get home right now! What are you doing with a dead cat?"

"Mom..." Li Yi's gaze sharpened.

A person can have many friends and many lovers, but there is only one mother, and she will always be the only one. Even after thirty million years, his mother would still be the person he cared about the most.

But now he was back, and he would see his mother eventually. There was no need to rush. The "cat" in his arms needed immediate help, so Li Yi decided to save the "cat" first.

"Aunt Yun, I'll go see my mom later. Right now, I need to save the cat."

"Save the cat? You've been missing for three days, and now you're telling me you need to save a cat?" Tang Yun was almost at her wits' end.

This son of Yu's was truly hopeless!

Her husband had died unexpectedly, and now her son was causing trouble, disappearing for three whole days!

She wished she could give this boy a couple of slaps for Yu!

"Get in the car!" Tang Yun shouted.

"Aunt Yun?"

"Get in the car! I'll take you to see your mom!"

Li Yi couldn't help but shake his head. Aunt Yun hadn't changed a bit, even after thirty million years—well, only three days had passed on Earth...

But he didn't feel annoyed at all because this woman truly cared about him. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't care if he had been missing for three days or even three years.

Sitting in Tang Yun's car, she immediately started recounting all of Li Yi's embarrassing stories, scolding him until he was worth nothing. Li Yi listened with a smile, not saying a word, because anything he said would be wrong at this moment.

"Oh, so you skipped class, fought, and even got the lowest score on the final exam? Mom, how can you let your sister marry such a bad person?"

The little girl who had glared at Li Yi before couldn't help but shout.

"Adults are talking, children shouldn't interrupt!" Tang Yun turned and glared at her daughter.

"He's not much older than me," the little girl pouted.

Although the twins looked exactly the same, Li Yi could tell this was the older sister, Shen Shanshan.

Looking at the cute Shen Shanshan, Li Yi couldn't help but tease her, "Shanshan, do you have a lot of homework? How do you have time to go out with your mom?"

"I'm already in junior high school, and you're still in elementary school!" Shen Shanshan glared, her cheeks puffed up, and Shen Lingling giggled.

"Oh, so you're in junior high school!" Li Yi pretended to be surprised, "But I heard from your mom that she wants to marry you to me, not your sister."

"I'm not marrying you, you're so useless!" Shen Shanshan shook her head vigorously, "Only a fool like Lingling would laugh when Mom says that!"

Shen Lingling immediately objected, reaching out to pinch Shen Shanshan, and the two sisters started fighting in the back seat.

"Stop it, don't break my computer. All my data is on it!" Tang Yun frowned, as Shen Lingling had a laptop in her lap.

"Lingling, are you playing games on your mom's computer?" Li Yi asked.

"No, it's for a school project," Shen Lingling said brightly.

"Junior high students have projects?" Li Yi was surprised.

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you!" Shen Shanshan raised her eyebrows, looking extremely proud.

Tang Yun explained, "Nowadays, they're promoting quality education, so their school has these cutting-edge projects. I gave them my research data to copy as much as they can. It's all just to fool people; what do kids know about controlled nuclear fusion?"

"Who says I don't understand? I can understand it!" Shen Shanshan's eyes widened, then she pointed at Li Yi, "He's the one who doesn't understand anything!"

"Controlled nuclear fusion? I do understand it!" Li Yi couldn't help but smile.

Current nuclear power plants use radioactive elements like uranium and plutonium as nuclear fuel, converting the energy produced in fission reactions into electricity. However, these heavy metals are scarce on Earth, and conventional fission reactors produce long-lived, highly radioactive waste, leading to high operating costs and severe pollution.

Compared to fission, fusion is undoubtedly a more advanced and cleaner energy source. It produces far more energy than fission and does not result in the long-term, high-level radioactive waste or greenhouse gases that fission does, nor does it pollute the environment.

The easiest fusion reaction to achieve in nature is the fusion of hydrogen isotopes—deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is abundant in Earth's seawater, with over 40 trillion tons. If all of it were used for fusion reactions, the energy released would be enough to power humanity for billions of years, and the reaction products are non-radioactive helium.

However, making fusion controllable and applicable to civilian facilities like power generation is a global challenge. Since the last century, countries like the United States, Russia, the European Union, China, and Japan have invested hundreds of billions of dollars and countless human resources, and many scientists have gone gray, but no one has seen any hope of success.

"This is a tough subject. I only know a little bit, and with your poor grades, you shouldn't even think about it!" Shen Shanshan lectured Li Yi.

Li Yi thought about how the other world used virtual energy, while this world couldn't even harness fusion energy, and he couldn't help but shake his head.

It was like a modern person traveling back a million years and finding that even the most primitive people hadn't figured out how to use tools or make fire. At this point, everyone was still covered in fur and living in trees!

"Earth's technological progress is urgent!"

"Hey, Lingling, let's work hard and write a longer article to publish in the school newspaper. Then we can get a red flower!" Shen Shanshan said to her sister, then boasted to Li Yi, "Our article will definitely be published in the school newspaper. Do you understand? I bet you'll never get an article published in the school newspaper in your life!"

Li Yi nodded, "Of course, such a low-level newspaper, why would I submit to it?"

"Hey, you're getting cocky now. Where would you submit an article? Show us if you can! Who can't brag?" Shen Shanshan pouted.

"Shanshan, if I can publish an article on controlled nuclear fusion in a well-known newspaper, what will you give me?" Li Yi asked with a smile.

Shen Shanshan didn't hesitate, "If you're really that good, I'll let Lingling be your wife!"

Shen Lingling blushed, "If you want a wife, do it yourself. Don't drag me into it!"

"Fine, I'll do it, as long as you can!" Shen Shanshan challenged Li Yi.

Li Yi laughed, "Shanshan, that's not right. I don't have the ability now, and if you let Lingling marry me, once I have the ability, I'll marry you myself. That's too cunning! That's not how a big sister should act!"

"You... scoundrel!" Shen Shanshan's face turned red and white, and she puffed up in anger.

"Enough, Li Yi, shut up!" Tang Yun suddenly said.

At this moment, she was in a terrible mood.

This Li Yi had been missing for three whole days, and after being scolded, he showed no sign of repentance, even flirting with her daughter!

He was heartless and beyond redemption!

"Publishing an article in a well-known newspaper? Do you think you're someone special? A member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences? You're just bragging without any basis! I'll say this: if you can publish an article in a major newspaper, I'll marry both my daughters to you. But can you? You can't! So I won't marry either of my daughters to you! Shanshan, don't talk to him. This good-for-nothing doesn't deserve you!"

Shen Shanshan's eyes sparkled, as if to say, "Did you hear that? You don't deserve me!"

Li Yi couldn't help but laugh, "Aunt Yun, you shouldn't be so absolute. What if I really have the ability?"

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