Load Game.
The save file Tang Xiao loaded was from the moment when the meeting had just concluded, discussing the zombie mushroom situation and when the Third Eye confirmed the establishment of the Hope Project, appointing him and Feng Shuyun as the leads.
In other words, right when the world’s main storyline had just been triggered.
“Tang Xiao, what's wrong?”
The meeting had just ended when Feng Shuyun patted the dazed young man, asking with concern, “Are you worried about the project? Don't stress, Xiao Bai and I will help you. Leading a project isn’t that difficult.”
“Mm.” Tang Xiao looked at Feng Shuyun’s face, still bearing a healthy flush, and his voice choked slightly. He pressed his lips together to keep the emotion from showing.
Before he loaded the save, Feng Shuyun had been bedridden for days, her body as fragile as a candle in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished at any moment.
This was a real world, and naturally, its people would not resurrect like NPCs in a game. At that time, Tang Xiao truly believed he was going to lose someone who had treated him well.
Thankfully, there was still time.
But there was one more thing he had to confirm.
Tang Xiao took a deep breath and walked out of the conference room. “Sorry, Dr. Feng, I have something to do. I’ll be going now.”
“Alright, if anything comes up, you can message me.”
“Mm.”
Tang Xiao quickly bid farewell to Feng Shuyun and hurried to the area where Project 428 was located.
The Hope Project had just been established, and soon, experts in relevant fields would be selected to join—including many researchers from the original Project 428. Given the crucial initiative for humanity’s survival, any lower-priority research projects had to be postponed.
But he should still be here.
Tang Xiao’s mind flashed back to the scene of 428's failed evolution, its slow descent toward death. Since he had loaded the save, logically speaking, that failure should no longer exist. But given the precedent of the King of Mushroom as a unique case, Tang Xiao feared that another exception might be happening with 428.
He immediately swiped his keycard to enter the experimental subject area, and the sight of the empty room made his heart sink.
“428”
“428?”
“Dr. Tang?” A junior researcher in the observation area was packing up. Seeing Tang Xiao rush in looking so distraught, he asked in confusion, “Are you scheduled for an experiment today? The experimental subject 428 was just taken by another research team.”
“Taken?”
“Yeah.”
A glimmer of hope reignited in Tang Xiao’s eyes. “Which team?”
“Uh, I think it was Dr. Ye’s group.”
The moment the researcher finished speaking, Tang Xiao turned and sprinted out, leaving the researcher baffled.
Was Dr. Tang really that eager to experiment?
In the lab, Dr. Ye wasn’t present. His team members were preparing to conduct drug reaction tests on 428’s mycelium. They had just started setting up when Tang Xiao abruptly entered, prompting them to pause their work.
“Dr. Tang?”
“Apologies, I have a hypothesis I need to verify immediately.” Tang Xiao’s eyes were locked onto the figure in the transparent containment chamber. He kept his tone as neutral as possible. “Would you mind letting me go first? I’ll explain everything to Dr. Ye later.”
The researchers exchanged glances. Normally, no one liked having their work interrupted, but considering who was asking… When someone like Tang Xiao, a figure whose expertise far exceeded his rank, wanted to cut in, they had no choice but to take off their gloves and step aside.
“Of course, go ahead. We could use a break anyway.”
“Sorry about this. I’ll make sure you get a proper slot next time.”
“No worries, it’s not a big deal.”
Before long, the lab was empty, leaving only Tang Xiao behind. Once alone, he could no longer hold back. He stepped forward and peered into the containment chamber that held ‘Jun Tesi’.
The mushroom inside appeared to be paralyzed. Upon hearing Tang Xiao’s call, it struggled to open one eye. “Xiaoxiao.”
“Are you alright? How does your body feel?”
Tang Xiao moved closer to the containment unit, scrutinizing its form. “Do you feel any changes?”
“I failed, didn't I?” Jun Tesi asked.
Tang Xiao instinctively responded, “Yes.” Then, he froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. “You… remember?”
“Mm, my memories are very clear this time.” Jun Tesi’s lips curled slightly. “That’s good. We still have time.”
During the failed evolution, Jun Tesi had genuinely believed he was going to die.
Now that Tang Xiao had confirmed Jun Tesi was not only alive but had retained its memories, he let out a heavy sigh of relief. Then, his gaze shifted toward the world’s main storyline.
…
Tang Xiao's eyes widened.
[World Main Storyline Countdown: 160 days, 12 hours, 8 minutes]
Something was wrong. The time had shortened.
He distinctly remembered that at this save point, the main storyline had just been triggered. It should have been around 180 days.
So, this was a change caused by his save reload.
“Xiaoxiao.” Seeing Tang Xiao remain silent, Jun Tesi forced himself to sit up. “Did something happen?”
“It's nothing.” Tang Xiao told Jun Tesi about the remaining days as well. “It's just that the time has shortened. I suspect that the King of Mushroom’s memories also carried over with the save reload.”
Since he didn’t know whether his position would be exposed to the King of Mushroom after the reload, Tang Xiao decided to observe for a while.
A day passed, and a beast tide had not surrounded the Third Eye. The looming threat finally eased.
Tang Xiao found an opportunity to discuss the current situation with Jun Tesi. “So, the King of Mushroom’s memories may have followed us back, but it still doesn’t know our exact location. The time left before humanity's destruction is now more than 20 days shorter than last time, which means we have even less time. I suspect the time will keep decreasing with each reload.”
“But even so, there’s still hope.”
Tang Xiao’s eyes burned with determination. “I have all the data from the last iteration in my mind. This time, we’ll definitely be faster.”
Jun Tesi couldn't help but focus on Tang Xiao, his gaze drawn to those eyes once again filled with hope. The corners of his lips curled up. “And my consciousness is clearer than before. Even though my evolution failed, maybe I can still be useful.”
“That’s great,” Tang Xiao said with a smile. “Let’s work together, Jun Tesi.”
“...” Jun Tesi stared at the light in Tang Xiao’s eyes, not blinking. “Mm.”
Honestly, for him, the outcome didn’t really matter.
But compared to Tang Xiao’s despair and sorrow in the last cycle, he much preferred seeing him like this.
Tang Xiao then opened his personal attributes page.
He allocated the points he had accumulated before, bringing his attributes to the following:
[Name: Tang Xiao
Gender: Male
Occupation: Official Researcher
Faction: The Third Eye
Strength: 42 (Weak University Student)
Agility: 53 (Average Human)
Constitution: 50 (Average Human)
Intelligence/Inspiration: 99 (Once-in-a-Century Genius)
Luck: 70 (Lucky One)
Charisma: 69 (Careful of Talent Scouts on the Street)
Core Subject:
Biology: lv4 (0/1000000)
Interdisciplinary Subject:
Biochemistry: lv3 (0/100000)
Biophysics: lv3 (0/100000)
…
Faction Reputation: Respected
Affection Points Gained: 0]
That was his current status. Before his first save reload, he had already maxed out his research-related stats during his work. Now, he was just following the same pattern. But what mattered more was the number of lottery draws.
He had accumulated seven lottery chances. Originally, he had planned to save up for a guaranteed ten-draw, but ever since the main storyline had started, the game panel had stopped generating side quests, so he never managed to reach ten. The items he got in the last cycle weren’t immediately useful either.
But now that he had reloaded, he could draw again.
The lottery wheel appeared once more.
Seven draws—three blue, one purple, the rest were junk. As expected, no golden glow.
Tang Xiao sighed and checked his rewards.
Two regular Lucky Cards, One high-tech blueprint, seemingly for an extremely efficient generator, One bottle of Nutrient that could nourish the body
Hmm, slightly better than last time, but not by much.
Tang Xiao planned to give the Nutrient to Dr. Feng later. In the last cycle, he realized how crucial physical health was, so he spent his remaining points to bring his Constitution up to an average level—at least enough to avoid collapsing halfway. But Dr. Feng was older and couldn't withstand exhaustion, either.
This cycle should go a little better.
Tang Xiao took a deep breath. Now, it was a race against the King of Mushroom.
Would he develop the cure first, or would the enemy find him first?
Tang Xiao quickly threw himself back into research. In the last cycle, he had already prepared for the possibility of another reload. If the King of Mushroom failed to locate him this time, it meant they still had hope. That’s why he had memorized all the data.
Going through it again was second nature.
But he failed to notice that his actions had startled those around him.
Perhaps because of the crisis in the later stages and the Third Eye’s protection of researchers, Tang Xiao had forgotten that most people didn’t actually believe in him at the beginning of the project. After all, half a year had passed.
As soon as the project was initiated, Tang Xiao was eager to push it forward, only to realize that he couldn't quite command this group of Level 3 and even Level 4 scientists. It was then that he suddenly recalled—ah, there had been such an issue at the beginning.
How was it resolved back then?
It seemed that Xiao Bai had resigned from his position as chairman to help him.
“Dr. Tang, I understand your feelings, but I think we might be better off changing direction. For example, giant nucleases—compared to your newly invented gene-editing technology, this technology has been around longer and is more mature. It's crucial to Project Hope, and I hope the higher-ups will carefully consider the direction we take,” Dr. Matulin said tactfully.
Tang Xiao snapped back to reality and looked at Dr. Matulin's face. He remembered this person—later, he had become a permanent member of the laboratory, even sleeping there every night. Whenever the pressure became too much, he would quietly cry in a corner, saying it was his way of relieving stress.
Tang Xiao’s expression softened, and he smiled. “You do have a point.”
Dr. Matulin’s face lit up with joy.
“Then—”
“But I don't think this technology is more promising. Giant nucleases have an encoding gene of about 1kb, making them easy to package into adenoviral vectors for delivery. Their recognition sites are long, which gives them high specificity in gene editing. However, while protein modification can expand the recognition range of giant nucleases, the process is costly and time-consuming.”
Tang Xiao, with the gentlest expression, delivered the most ruthless words. Then, without acknowledging Dr. Matulin’s stunned look, he turned to another scientist who had been silently observing—Dr. Trull.
This doctor was also familiar to Tang Xiao. Later on, after getting to know each other better, Trull had become one of the most diligent members of the project team. Once, when he was drunk, he clung to Tang Xiao’s sleeve and tearfully confessed that he regretted ever doubting Tang Xiao’s ability to lead the team and felt he had wasted too much time.
To Tang Xiao, a little time wasted wasn’t a big deal. But under the immense pressure of the later stages, Dr. Trull became someone who constantly regretted everything—a ‘science-world Xianglin’s Wife.’ Every time he got drunk, he would grab someone and say, ‘I was so foolish, really.’
“And Dr. Trull, you also support changing directions, don’t you? But you favor the TAEN technology. That’s right—this technology was once at the forefront of genome editing. However, TAEN’s modular assembly is complicated, leading to long assembly times, and the assembled TAEN is relatively large, making it difficult to deliver into cells via vectors.”
“And Dr. Burke, in the email you submitted to the academic committee, you suggested changing the direction to—”
Tang Xiao mercilessly tore through the arguments of all the scientists present. Before they could even react, he laid out all the weaknesses and potential flaws of their proposed directions. Did they think he hadn’t done his research? In the last timeline, he had spent half a year reviewing everything over and over again, wondering if a different approach would work better. But time and time again, science had told him—every approach had its own problems.
Dr. Matulin was dumbfounded. “B-but… can you guarantee that your direction will succeed?”
“No.” Tang Xiao took a deep breath, still smiling. Seeing these familiar faces again put him in a good mood. “But I’m willing to bear the consequences of failure. Isn’t that the whole point of being a leader?”
Besides—he could reload. No matter what, he would succeed.
“If you’re really unconvinced, you can apply to Dr. Xiao for a separate project. If you achieve enough results, I believe you’ll be able to persuade him.”
The other scientists fell silent. They all knew that such an application would never be approved. Splitting the project would dilute research efforts, and there was no way Xiao Bai would allow that.
Tang Xiao didn’t get angry. He knew these people didn’t mean any harm—they weren’t targeting him personally. They were simply worried about humanity’s future and whether this newly developed technology could shoulder such a heavy burden.
He also blamed himself. In the first timeline, he hadn’t been firm enough. A leader’s hesitation leads to hesitation among the researchers. It was simply a lack of experience.
But this time was different. They had already lost so many days. There was no time to waste on debate. He needed to integrate resources quickly and throw everything into the research. Time was life.
Tang Xiao’s assertiveness left the scientists with no choice but to start their work reluctantly. At first, they were still upset about being contradicted in public—it was embarrassing. But soon, those feelings disappeared.
Why? Because Tang Xiao worked too fast. Too efficiently.
In a normal research process, determining a direction, designing experiments, and then refining through trial and error all took a considerable amount of time. After all, there was no avoiding imperfect data.
But Tang Xiao seemed to bypass the trial-and-error phase entirely.
It was as if he had already seen the correct answers. There were almost no completely wasted experiments. Even when failures occurred, he could adjust a few times and succeed.
While Dr. Matulin and the others were still struggling to wrap their heads around Tang Xiao’s ideas, trying to figure out where to begin, they realized—He was already sprinting down the path at full speed. And his experimental results were excellent. They didn’t even have the energy to argue anymore. They had no choice but to keep up with his grueling pace.
In the end, it wasn’t Tang Xiao’s team that was left struggling—it was the other project groups that were shocked.
“Huh? I was worried that little Tang Xiao might struggle as a first-time project lead,” Feng Shuyun’s voice came from behind Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai turned his head to see her covering her mouth in astonishment. “But I guess I was overthinking it. Their progress is even faster than our project team’s!”
Feng Shuyun led the vaccine project, which was located not far from Tang Xiao’s group. She had been concerned about whether Tang Xiao could handle a team of veteran researchers. But now, seeing how smoothly things were running, it seemed her worries had been unnecessary.
Especially when she saw how seriously Dr. Matulin and the others were listening to Tang Xiao’s explanations, actively discussing specific research topics with him. There was no trace of their earlier opposition.
“Yeah…” Xiao Bai’s tone was slightly dazed. He hadn’t expected Tang Xiao to handle his first leadership role this well either.
Had Tang Xiao already grown this much without him realizing?
He looked… completely capable of leading on his own.
Xiao Bai felt both relieved and a little troubled. He had recently realized that he wasn’t as good at decision-making and management as Leon was. He had been planning to step down as chairman and assist Tang Xiao instead. But now, it seemed—Tang Xiao didn’t need help anymore.
So… should he still resign?
“Dr. Xiao.”
At that moment, Tang Xiao spotted Xiao Bai and Feng Shuyun. He temporarily left Dr. Matulin and the others behind and walked toward them.
Feng Shuyun smiled and greeted him. “Seeing how well things are going here, I can rest easy. It’s getting late—I need to get back to my own project. Wouldn’t want us to be the ones slowing you down.”
“Not at all.” Tang Xiao shook his head with a smile. “You've helped me a lot. I should be thanking you instead.”
Feng Shuyun:?
Seeing the confusion on Feng Shuyun’s face, Tang Xiao didn’t explain. In the previous timeline, many things that project leaders should have done and key points they should have noticed—he had actually learned from Xiao Bai and Feng Shuyun. In the beginning, Feng Shuyun’s progress had been far ahead.
Of course, this wasn’t a competition. In the end, it was all for humanity.
“Dr. Feng, I heard that you’ve been struggling with your research direction lately.”
“That’s right,” Feng Shuyun replied straightforwardly. There was nothing to hide about it.
“Then, how about constructing a fusion expression plasmid FHI using autologous immunoglobulin as an exogenous antigen carrier? After restriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequence analysis, we can verify the connection points of the fusion gene. What do you think?”
Tang Xiao was talking about an experimental idea that Feng Shuyun had been working on in the previous timeline before she collapsed. It had real potential, but she never had the chance to confirm it.
Hearing this, Feng Shuyun fell into deep thought, mumbling to herself. Then, she suddenly stomped her foot and turned around, rushing straight to the lab—completely ignoring the two living people standing there.
Xiao Bai raised an eyebrow. “Haven't seen her react like that in a long time.”
“Uh… is that a good thing?” Tang Xiao felt a bit uneasy. He hoped he hadn't just messed things up.
“It’s good. Very good. She only reacts like this when she suddenly grasps a moment of inspiration.” Xiao Bai gave him a surprised look. “You’ve studied immunoglobulins, too?”
“I just happened to come across it,” Tang Xiao laughed awkwardly, then quickly changed the topic. “By the way, Dr. Xiao.”
“En?”
“Would you be interested in helping me?” Tang Xiao hesitated for a moment but, thinking about how tight the time was, decided to be straightforward. “We’re really short on time, and any extra help would be invaluable. I know I’m being a bit shameless, but I need your support.”
In the previous timeline, if Xiao Bai hadn’t helped, they might not have made such rapid progress. Tang Xiao was worried that since he was more independent this time, Xiao Bai might not join in.
Besides, Leon was managing things well enough—Xiao Bai was better suited for the lab.
Xiao Bai was silent for a moment. Under Tang Xiao’s increasingly nervous gaze, he finally nodded. “I was already considering returning to the lab.”
“That’s great!” Tang Xiao let out a long breath of relief, then immediately pulled out a new experiment plan. “Then I’ll leave this project to you.”
“You really don’t hold back, huh?” Xiao Bai didn’t expect that Tang Xiao had been waiting for this moment all along. With a smirk, he took the project plan, rolled it up, and lightly knocked it against Tang Xiao’s head.
“I’m just worried we won’t finish in time.” Tang Xiao chuckled dryly, secretly relieved.
Good. So far, this was turning out to be a pretty good start.
The problem came that night.
After a full day in the lab, Tang Xiao returned to his dorm, exhausted. He opened the door, only to see Jun Tesi waving at him. “Xiaoxiao, you worked hard today.”
“Do you want to eat first, take a shower first, or…” Jun Tesi blinked playfully. “Let me eat first?”
Tang Xiao: …
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