Bian walked silently behind Wang Bushen, each step echoing faintly on the cold steel floor. The research center felt too big—too sterile. The kind of place where terrible things happened behind glass walls and smiling men called it progress.
Wang Bushen led them straight toward the massive ship in the center of the facility. The closer they got, the more intricate its construction appeared—like nothing from Earth. Alien markings glimmered faintly along the hull, and some of the ship's panels were still open, exposing coils of softly glowing wires, humming with faint energy. Scientists moved around it like bees in a hive, careful, methodical.
"We've replicated the technology we've researched from the Graylings," Wang Bushen began, voice steady and proud, "as well as from the Farians we've managed to come across. It's still in testing mode, but with this tech, we can stand on equal footing with the aliens."
He turned slightly, smiling as though expecting praise.
