"Father, you're joking again."
MEI took Li Mu's words as a jest.
Building a city on the sea wasn't without precedent; with current technological levels, it was certainly achievable.
But the problem was, if they really were to build a city in the maritime area her father circled, how much money, manpower, and resources would it take?
Most importantly, even if it were built, how could they ensure it would thrive?
"MEI, I am not joking."
Looking at the serious expression on Li Mu's face, MEI realized that her father truly intended to complete this so-called St. Freya Academy City project.
MEI instinctively wanted to persuade Li Mu to abandon this unrealistic concept, but stopped herself just as the words were about to leave her mouth.
Yes, this plan sounded completely unrealistic, almost like the ravings of a madman.
But was it really impossible for her father?
MEI thought of her father's transformation over this period. He had truly reformed himself from a drunkard and gambler.
He had fulfilled his unrealistic promise, building a massive corporation and naming it after his daughter.
He had become a good father his daughter could be proud of, as if he were a completely different person.
Thinking back on everything that had happened recently, MEI felt like it was a lifetime ago, like an intoxicatingly beautiful dream.
In the end, MEI didn't say anything, didn't even ask her father for the reason behind this. She simply nodded.
"I believe in you, Father."
"Whether it can be done or not... I believe in you."
Belief was enough. There was no need for reasons to believe in one's father, just like the miracles he had brought her.
To MEI's trust, Li Mu replied, "It can definitely be done, and it must be done."
Li Mu didn't tell MEI the rest.
If it wasn't done, everyone in Nagazora City, and perhaps the entire East Asia region, would be sent to the afterlife by the Great Eruption.
In the script he had set, Nagazora City was destined to be the stage for a controlled Great Eruption.
And he planned to perform a "de-urbanization" on this city—clearing out everyone.
Of course, not the Pol Pot style of de-urbanization.
He planned to build a new city on the sea outside Nagazora and name it St. Freya Academy City, serving as the stage for the next phase of the script.
Once built, he would move all the residents of Nagazora to the newly established St. Freya Academy City cluster to fill out St. Freya's framework.
Then, he would trigger the Great Eruption in the empty Nagazora City, completing the [Escape from Nagazora] Check-In.
Meanwhile, not only would the residents of Nagazora survive the Great Eruption, but they could also jump straight into the operations of St. Freya Academy City, gaining better jobs, higher wages, and more benefits.
With such a win-win solution, Li Mu really couldn't imagine anyone objecting.
Of course, the plan was set, but implementation was indeed a problem.
After all, even though technology in this era had advanced significantly, raising a city from the sea was no easy task.
Even with sufficient funds, building a city of such scale would likely take decades.
But what Li Mu lacked most was time. There was at most one year left until the Third Eruption. Meaning, he had to build the St. Freya Academy City district and migrate the residents of Nagazora within one year.
Therefore, to save time, ordinary construction methods wouldn't work.
Fortunately, for Li Mu, who could access future Fire-MOTH technology, there was a "wild" path he could take.
In the future era where Honkai eruptions were frequent, Fire-MOTH led humanity in a technological arms race against the Honkai that was essentially a blood-vomiting marathon. Coupled with Honkai energy, a near-omnipotent power source, this led to an explosion of "black technology" in the late Previous Era.
Among these technologies, naturally, there were techniques for rushing wonders.
The New Atra base Fire-MOTH built on the moon in the later stages, and the Deep Sea City in the Pacific Ocean—these things were far harder to build than a maritime city cluster.
The engineering mechs Li Mu obtained were just a small part of it. There was even a large portion of technology that couldn't be realized due to the collapse of the industrial system in the late Previous Era, existing only in theory.
But now, it wasn't too late. These technologies had a place to shine.
Naturally, MEI didn't know what Li Mu was thinking.
However, since her father had finalized the plan, as his daughter, she naturally needed to contribute.
"Father, I will work hard to learn about corporate management."
Hearing MEI's words, Li Mu looked at the purple-haired girl holding a book. He realized the book in her arms was a classic on management.
"MEI, why learn about that?"
MEI looked at Li Mu strangely and said, "To help Father manage the company, of course."
To this, Li Mu shook his head.
"MEI, you don't need to learn that."
"But Father, I also want to contribute..." Hearing Li Mu's words, MEI felt a bit disappointed.
"MEI, I think you might have misunderstood me." Li Mu took a few books from the office bookshelf and handed them to MEI. "Having you manage the company would truly be a waste of your talents."
MEI looked at the books Li Mu placed on the table and found they were a set of books on programming.
MEI looked up, confusion in her eyes.
"I want you to learn programming and design an artificial intelligence that can assist the engineering mechs in construction."
Asking someone who had never touched programming before to read a few books on it and then write an AI—Li Mu knew how absurd his request sounded.
But absurd was only for ordinary people. For an absolute genius like MEI, who possessed god-given talent, it was a different concept entirely.
After hearing Li Mu's request, MEI picked up a book from the table, flipped through it, and said, "I haven't touched programming before. Starting from scratch is a bit difficult. I'm afraid it will take quite some time to meet your requirements, Father."
"Don't force yourself. Take it slow."
This wasn't just to comfort MEI. The System Shop also sold corresponding AI. Li Mu asking MEI to write code was mainly an experiment to see if she could "code out" a certain character.
Hearing Li Mu's words, MEI felt extremely guilty.
"Father, I might need a whole week to learn programming. To complete the construction of the AI... I'm afraid it will take a month."
"..."
Looking at MEI, who was shy amidst her guilt, he felt that the joys and sorrows of humans and geniuses were not connected.
"Never mind... you, just do your best!"
However, after flipping through the book for a while, MEI discovered something strange.
"Huh... the author of these books is... Dr. MEI?" Seeing the author's name on the book, MEI was greatly surprised. "It's the same name as me. What a coincidence."
"Yeah, what a coincidence."
Li Mu naturally wouldn't tell MEI that these books were programming guides written by her future self.
Being able to code a super AI like Prometheus meant she was, in a sense, a god in the programming field.
And his purpose in having MEI learn programming was naturally to see if she could create Prometheus.
Although Prometheus didn't have much screentime in the early stages, perhaps it could take on Bronya's role.
Li Mu had tried to find a counterpart for Bronya in this era, but unfortunately, he hadn't found one so far. He had a guess, but he needed to confirm it with Mobius.
However, there was no rush for that right now. He had another thing to do.
He looked at the System panel.
[Mission: Witness Ryoma Raiden imprisoned for economic fraud. Reward: 300 Crystals, A-Rank Stigmata Selector Box x1]
[Status: Incomplete]
Since MEI Corp existed, and Kiana and Raiden Mei were present, the script could continue to advance.
Yes, next was the classic Honkai Impact plot point: The Ryoma Raiden Imprisonment Incident.
"Ryoma has been picking bananas on a plantation in Africa for two months now."
"After being beaten down by life like that, surely he must have turned over a new leaf... right?"