That answer was so decisive?

  Kane froze.

  He couldn’t tell if Stella was joking. Logically， with her sharp tongue， an offhand quip in this situation was par for the course.

  But there was an unforced， genuine honesty in her expression that made it impossible to tell if she meant it.

  He cleared his throat and asked， “Why? You didn’t even hesitate before answering.”

  “What’s there to hesitate about? You asked the question， the least I can do is save you some face.”

  Stella set down the skewer in her hand and said seriously， “Let me give you a workplace lesson today.

  Look， you laid out a choice in front of me. The choice itself is what matters here.

  All that doomsday nonsense， all the preconditions? They don’t matter.

  The only thing that matters is the question: who do you pick?

  No matter who I answer with， I’ll be exposing a real part of myself in this relationship， and that’s clearly not what I want.

  So if I answer with you， nothing can go wrong.

  If you keep pressing for why， I can just flatter you and laugh it off.

  That’s way better than letting someone drag my real thoughts out of me， right?”

  “...Right.”

  Kane sighed.

  She could say that， but in that other world， she really had chosen him.

  When he’d gotten her message， there had only been 15 seconds left until the apocalypse hit. That meant she’d had barely any time to spot the signs of the end and react.

  In that short window， she’d tracked down his location， mobilized that much equipment to send him a message. Logically， there was no way he was the last person she’d notified.

  It only made sense if he’d been the only one.

  But why?

  Maybe Stella didn’t know yet. Or maybe she just didn’t want to say.

  Either way， he clearly wasn’t going to get an answer from her right now.

  Kane didn’t push it. He and Stella finished their late-night meal without fanfare and headed home.

  As the elevator doors were about to close and they went their separate ways， Stella suddenly asked， “So you asked me out just to ask that one question?”

  “Uh...”

  How the hell was he supposed to answer that?

  Kane scratched the back of his head and said， “I actually had other questions， but they don’t seem necessary anymore.”

  “Wait， did someone ask you this， and you came to me for the answer?”

  Wow， her ability to fill in the blanks was insane.

  Kane cleared his throat. “Something like that.”

  “A girl asked you， right?”

  Stella pressed on.

  “...Yeah.”

  In an instant， a gossipy glint flashed in Stella’s eyes.

  “So you used me as your wingman? You got no other female friends? Honestly， if a girl asked you that， she’s definitely head over heels for you.

  How you answer is gonna decide where your relationship goes from here. You better think long and hard before you say anything.

  That trick I used is for the workplace. It doesn’t apply here.”

  “So how should I answer， then?”

  Kane just went along with what she was saying. As long as he could smooth this over， the whole thing would be behind him.

  “The answer doesn’t really matter... in this situation， you should be thinking about what she wants to hear.

  If you want things to go somewhere with her， give her a real answer.

  If you don’t... don’t give her any hope.”

  “Got it. I’ll just copy what you said， then.”

  Kane said it with a straight face， and Stella rolled her eyes at him.

  “Are you an idiot?

  The only answer a girl who asks that question wants to hear is ‘I’d save you.’

  Once you say that， nothing else you say after matters.

  If you’re not into her， you better not say you’d save her.”

  “I see...”

  Kane nodded thoughtfully.

  But then， something felt off.

  Didn’t I just ask you the exact same question?

  By that logic， why did you answer the way you did?

  Ugh. Working here had stripped him of even being seen as a normal romantic prospect， apparently.

  The elevator reached the 6th floor， and Stella waved goodbye.

  “Get to the office early tomorrow! I’m putting your name forward tonight， we’ve got an early meeting tomorrow.”

  “Got it， got it...”

  Kane replied offhandedly， only looking down to realize he was still holding her water bottle.

  “Hey， your bottle...”

  The elevator doors slid shut slowly.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Forget it. He’d just bring it to her at the office tomorrow.

  Once he got home， Kane collapsed onto his bed and fell straight asleep.

  This time， he didn’t dive back into the bracelet world to take any risks.

  The next day.

  In the company meeting room.

  Amid the heated discussion， Kane， a low-ranking member of the team， typed away on his computer， bored out of his mind.

  The project finance lead sitting next to him， who knew nothing about code， probably thought he was hard at work. In reality， he was coding a game of Snake.

  The other new members of the project team chattered about the project’s prospects， plans， and ideas. Kane listened half-heartedly， splitting his focus to puzzle over the bracelet world.

  Wait， what if this thing was just an advanced holographic game console?

  The kind that could pick up real-world information and generate game content in real time?

  When you thought about it， the technology wasn’t even that far-fetched.

  Phones already listened to your conversations to push targeted ads. If you thought big， real-time rendering wasn’t that hard...

  Maybe he should take it apart and see?

  Nah， better not.

  Kane’s thoughts drifted， and just then， he heard someone say his name.

  “Kane， why don’t you share your thoughts?”

  Kane looked up. The speaker was Chen Yan， the leader of the new project team.

  The man looked at him with eager expectation and said， “I heard the space tourism idea was yours. The boss really liked it.

  Got any more concrete ideas?”

  Kane spread his hands. “...I’ve got some， but I don’t even know where to start right now.”

  He was telling the truth. He’d seen the StarVoyager 1 documents， after all， and had a rough outline in his head.

  But turning that outline into something tangible to discuss wasn’t exactly simple.

  “No problem. This is just a project kickoff brainstorm， not a formal proposal review. Say whatever’s on your mind.

  For example， everyone was just talking about spacecraft design. Do you have any thoughts on that?”

  “Well...”

  Kane paused for a moment.

  “All I’ll say is this: slapping a vertical takeoff and landing cargo rocket design onto a commercial manned spacecraft just doesn’t work.

  If we’re doing space tourism， we need to prioritize user experience.

  And a rocket-style spacecraft has the worst user experience imaginable.

  A space shuttle design， on the other hand， is far more suitable.”

  “A space shuttle?”

  The second Kane finished speaking， the meeting room erupted.

  “There’s no way we can do a space shuttle! Forget the cost， the technical difficulty alone is way out of our league.

  Millions of parts， a complex launch system， insane maintenance requirements... hasn’t history already proven this is unworkable? It’s obsolete!”

  “Exactly! Look at the Russians. They slaved away to build the Buran， and it only ever did one unmanned test flight before it was scrapped.

  Even the national programs don’t touch space shuttles anymore. It’s a technical trap. Bringing this up now is just pie in the sky.”

  “Yeah... I don’t agree with this suggestion at all.”

  Like a stone dropped into a pond， Kane instantly became the target of unanimous pushback from everyone in the room.

  Even Stella， who always had his back， looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

  Kane completely understood their reaction.

  A space shuttle? What a relic.

  Normally， anyone hyping up space shuttles in 2025 was either out of the loop or just a space opera fanboy.

  But Kane hadn’t pulled this out of thin air.

  His reasoning was simple.

  The StarVoyager 1 was a space shuttle.

  So he cleared his throat and said， “In reality， almost all the disadvantages and flaws of the space shuttle came from historical limitations.

  Let’s be real， is 2.5 million parts that crazy? It was 50 years ago， sure. But today， metal 3D printing is incredibly mature. For anything that’s not a critical load-bearing part， manufacturing it with 3D printing is trivial.

  And the myth of sky-high costs? Yeah， the American space shuttle program had high costs because of technical hurdles and difficult part manufacturing... but the biggest issue was the catastrophic corruption from layer upon layer of subcontracting. That’s not exactly a secret， is it?

  In today’s environment， we could easily subcontract most parts through competitive bidding.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  Before Kane could finish， Chen Yan cut him off.

  “There aren’t that many domestic manufacturers with aerospace-grade part manufacturing capabilities. How are you gonna get competitive bids?”

  “Who said there aren’t?”

  Kane shrugged. “If you insist on using space-grade components， then sure， there aren’t many.

  But what if we use industrial-grade? That’s exactly what SpaceX is doing， isn’t it?

  A space-grade control system costs 140 million， a single chip 5 million. The Dragon capsule uses off-the-shelf Intel x86 processors， and the entire main control system chipset costs less than 4，000 dollars. That says it all， doesn’t it?”

  Chen Yan was left speechless.

  He kept thinking there was something wrong with what Kane was saying， but he couldn’t find a way to refute it.

  This was ridiculous.

  Were new hires really this good now?

  You’re a flight control guy， how do you know this much about overall architecture design?

  Chen Yan cleared his throat and asked， “You know about all this stuff too?”

  Kane smiled.

  “A little.”

  “...A little it is， then.”

  Chen Yan clapped his hands. “Since you brought it up， why don’t you take charge of this part?

  All this talk is too abstract. If we’re gonna do a space shuttle， we need a preliminary technical plan， right?

  Think you can put something together， Kane?”

  The second he said that， everyone in the room looked at Kane with thinly veiled schadenfreude.

  Even an idiot could see Chen Yan was setting him up to fail.

  Wait， what had he done to piss this guy off?

  He was the one who asked for his opinion!

  A sudden surge of anger rose in Kane’s chest. He was about to snap back when Stella， sitting a few seats away， suddenly spoke up.

  “Director Chen， isn’t this a bad fit for Kane?

  His specialty is flight control. Overall system design isn’t even in his job description.

  His FTE is already at 1.5， he’s working an average of 12 hours a day， and you want to pile more work on him?”

  “FTE 1.5 was from the last project... this is a new one.

  Young people can always use more experience. Besides， we’re not asking for a full design plan， just to formalize his ideas into a written document.”

  “Are we gonna pay him extra for it， then?”

  Stella cut Chen Yan off mid-sentence， leaving him floundering.

  In front of the whole room， he was losing face， and his gaze toward Stella hardened.

  But Stella didn’t back down in the slightest. Even though Chen Yan was two levels above her， her role as flight control team lead didn’t report directly to his project team — it was part of the corporate platform.

  She’d only joined his project as a favor， and now he was trying to strong-arm her team member?

  Not a chance.

  “...You’re really protective of your people.”

  Chen Yan spread his hands helplessly.

  “Fine. I’ll make you a promise. If he delivers the document， I’ll lock in and report the bonus for you two upfront.”

  He said it with complete confidence， because he knew Kane would never take the bait.

  Come on. A new hire barely a year out of college? What did he have?

  Stick to flight control， and he’d be fine. But he’d talked back to him in front of everyone?

  Now he had to lie in the bed he’d made.

  He looked at Kane with a smug， sharp smile.

  Stella’s brow furrowed tightly. She was about to argue more when Kane spoke up， without a single hint of hesitation.

  “Sure. I’ll challenge myself. Give it a shot.

  I won’t let you down， Director Chen.”

  His words landed with absolute certainty， and everyone in the meeting room froze.

  Wait， he was actually doing it?

  “Excellent! Fearless youth， that’s the spirit!”

  Chen Yan clapped. “Then it’s all yours， Kane. Good luck!”

  All eyes turned to Kane. He sat down without changing his expression， and a message from Stella popped up instantly on his computer screen.

  Stella 003876:

  Are you out of your mind? Why would you jump into that trap??

  Kane 004267:

  Relax. I’ve got a plan.

  Stella 003876:

  Plan my ass. You think overall system design is that easy?

  You think this is a game， just press a button and it builds itself?

  If you were actually capable of this， you’d be the chief engineer already， not stuck doing flight control.

  Stella was clearly panicking. She’d gone head to head with Chen Yan to keep him out of this mess， and he’d dived right in anyway.

  What the hell was he thinking?

  But Kane was completely calm.

  He typed back slowly:

  I’ve got a trick up my sleeve. You did good defending me， I’ll cut you 10k of the bonus when it comes through.

  Stella 003876:

  Dude， how are you gonna do this? What， you gonna hack NASA and steal their plans?

  Kane 004267:

  Nothing like that. I just happen to know a few people who work at NASA， that’s all...

  He sent the message and ignored Stella’s replies after that.

  He ran a finger gently over the unremarkable bracelet on his wrist.

  I can’t get my hands on NASA’s data.

  But Aether Technologies?

  That’s an open book.

  Huh.

  I don’t know what the apocalypse is， and I can’t fix it right now.

  But a design plan?

  I can’t bring physical things out of the bracelet， but even if I have to memorize it， I can get 90% of it down.

  You want it?

  You got it.