I started by submitting to the Douluo Continent, and the nation helped me become a god.

Chapter 47 You are my unparalleled wisdom!

The cheers gradually subsided, but the smiles on everyone's faces remained.

Old Yuan stepped down from the command platform, his steps much lighter than usual, his old cloth shoes, worn for many years, making a soft sound on the metal floor. In his hands he held a palm-sized jade box, its surface milky white with a faint fluorescent glow, a vessel specially used to store top-grade elixirs.

He walked up to Li Fulan and stopped.

"Little Li." Old Yuan's voice was still slightly hoarse from excitement as he solemnly handed the jade box to Li Fulan. "Take this; it's the first Longevity Pill."

Li Fulan took the jade box with both hands, and the moment her fingertips touched it, she could feel the slight warmth emanating from the pill inside.

He gently lifted the lid of the box, and inside lay a pill the size of a longan, its entire body amber in color, with golden patterns flowing across its surface, like solidified sunlight. That refreshing and unique fragrance wafted out again, even more intense than before.

"With this longevity pill, one can extend their life by ten years." Old Yuan stroked his white beard, a smile hidden in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "Take it to that auction. With this thing to back it up, it'll be a sure thing. Those nouveau riche will go crazy bidding like madmen when they see it!"

Li Fulan didn't speak, but just looked down at the pill in her hand.

The pill refracted a warm luster under the light, like a living gem. He could feel the immense life force contained within it; it was the culmination of their more than a thousand days and nights of hard work, the result of the collective efforts of dozens of people.

He was silent for a few seconds, as if he was thinking about something.

Then, he raised his head and handed the jade box back to Mr. Yuan.

"What?" Old Yuan paused for a moment, then didn't answer.

"Elder Yuan, I don't think this pill should be sold." Li Fulan's voice was calm, but her tone carried an undeniable solemnity.

"So what do you want to do?" Old Yuan frowned, his white eyebrows furrowing into a knot. "Just take it, what's with the fuss? You know where our research funding comes from. This pill, if auctioned off, will be enough to keep the base running for another three years."

Li Fulan did not withdraw her hand, and the jade box remained suspended between the two of them.

"Elder Yuan," he said, looking directly into the old man's eyes, emphasizing each word, "I believe this pill should be given to you."

"What?!" Old Yuan's eyes widened, his cloudy old eyes filled with disbelief. "Have you lost your mind? This is the culmination of our team's hard work, meant to be used to obtain funding. What kind of nonsense is this, feeding it to me?"

"I remember..." Li Fulan's voice lowered, carrying a rare hint of seriousness, "Professor Yuan, you're already eighty years old this year, aren't you?"

Old Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to refute something, but was silenced by Li Fulan's next words.

"Do you remember last winter? During that furnace upgrade test, you stayed in the lab for seventy-two consecutive hours, and in the end, you had to be carried out on a stretcher. The doctor said your heart was severely overworked and you needed to rest. But you only lay in bed for three days before secretly running back to base."

Li Fulan shifted her gaze from Yuan Lao's face to the silent scientists around her.

"And then there was that medicinal herb purification experiment this spring. The data went wrong, and you spent two days and one night alone in the control room, managing to find the problem. When you came out, your face was as white as paper, and you were even staggering as you walked."

Yuan Lao's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say it.

"Elder Yuan," Li Fulan looked at him again, her eyes filled with an unprecedented earnestness, "With you here, we have a continuous supply of pills to refine. You are the brain of this team, the anchor for all of us. Without you, even if we had the best equipment and the most medicinal herbs, we couldn't refine this longevity pill."

"You are my unparalleled wisdom!"

He pushed the jade box forward, almost touching Yuan Lao's chest.

"We can refine one now, and ten years from now we can refine ten, a hundred. As long as you're still here, we can continue down this path. But if you're no longer here..."

Li Fulan paused, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You are our extraordinary wisdom. There are many things in this world that can be sold for money, but someone like you is priceless."

Yuan stood there, clutching the jade box helplessly, not knowing what to say for a moment.

At this moment, a middle-aged researcher wearing thick glasses stepped forward. He was Lao Zhang, who was in charge of the temperature control system in the team. He had been working with Yuan for almost twenty years.

"Mr. Yuan, Xiao Li is right." Old Zhang's voice choked with emotion, his eyes red-rimmed. "You've sacrificed so much for this project all these years. We've all seen it and remember it. You truly deserve this elixir."

"Yes, Professor Yuan, please accept it." The young apprentice, barely twenty years old, squeezed in, his face still bearing traces of tears. "I've only been at the base for two years, but I've heard from the senior researchers that you started this research when you were young. Conditions were so difficult back then; we had nothing. You figured it all out bit by bit. Without the foundation you laid, we wouldn't be where we are today."

"Elder Yuan, you can't fall down." The female researcher with glasses spoke up, her voice trembling. "We still need you. My son just got into the Soul Master Academy this year, and he said he wants to work at the Seventh Base when he grows up and learn skills from Grandpa Yuan. You can't let him down."

"Elder Yuan..."

"Elder Yuan, please accept this..."

You deserve it...

One voice after another rose and fell. Some were hoarse, some trembling, and some had a heavy nasal tone. Dozens of people surrounded Old Yuan, each face filled with sincere pleading and gratitude.

Among these people were old colleagues who had worked with him for decades, their hair mostly white; young people who had only joined the team a few years ago, their faces still showing signs of immaturity; technical backbones transferred from other places, who had given up high-paying jobs; and ordinary staff responsible for logistics, who quietly ensured everyone's basic needs were met...

Their eyes all looked the same, filled with respect, gratitude, and reluctance to part.

As Yuan looked at the familiar faces around him, his lips began to tremble.

"You..." His voice was strained, as if something was blocking his throat.

"You..." He wanted to say something, but the words became a blur.

"Everyone……"

He couldn't say anything more.

Eighty-one years of life, sixty years of scientific research career, countless sleepless nights, countless failures and restarts, countless times of gritting one's teeth and persevering... At this moment, all the things that had been accumulating in his heart surged out like a flood breaking through a dam.

Turbid tears rolled down from his wrinkled eyes, slid down his deeply lined cheeks, and dripped onto his faded old lab coat.

He wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, but the more he wiped, the more tears he shed, as if he were trying to make up for all the tears he had never shed in his life.

He cried like a child, his shoulders heaving, his face a mess of snot and tears, utterly unseemly. Yet everyone present felt that this old man had never been so respectable and endearing as he was at that moment.

It took Yuan a long time to recover.

He took a deep breath, then another, his chest heaving. He rubbed his eyes hard with the back of his hand, tilted his head back, and tried to force back the tears that were about to spill.

Then, he lowered his head and looked at the jade box in his hand.

The amber-colored pill lay quietly inside, radiating a warm glow.

With trembling hands, he closed the box and clenched it tightly in his palm.

"Alright." His voice was terribly hoarse, yet carried a resolute determination like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. "Then let this old body of mine fight for everyone... for the country... for another ten years!"

Applause erupted again.

This time, the applause was louder and longer-lasting than before.

Li Fulan stood on the periphery of the crowd, watching Yuan Lao being surrounded by people, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

Ten years.

With Mr. Yuan around, these ten years are enough for them to accomplish a lot.