Homo Sapiens

Across the ocean.

Deep within the inland mountains of Cianlan Island, part of the Luzon Islands.

As the sun rose, the first rays of dawn touched the roof of an unobtrusive villa. Upon receiving the light signal, a special biosensor hidden on the roof activated, and Li Qingye awoke once more in his hibernation pod.

Sangjibada Laiyal quickly handed over a towel. ”Sir, breakfast is ready.”

”Thank you.”

”It is my honor.” Sangjibada Laiyal gently took the towel and handed him another clean one.

Li Qingye wiped the sticky nutrient fluid and cryogenic life-sustaining agent from his body.

During the meal, Phil updated him on the status of the various divisions and some major international events.

”Samsung wants to invest in the New Luzon Shipbuilding Company?” Li Qingye picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. ”They can dream on. A minor chaebol that can’t even break free from Wall Street’s leash, indulging in fantasies all day.”

He thought for a moment, then instructed, ”Don’t reject them outright. Just string them along ambiguously. They’ll eventually get the hint and back off.”

”Yes, Boss!” Phil made a note of it.

After breakfast, Li Qingye went to the gym for a half-hour morning workout to stay in shape.

Around 8:20, he discreetly traveled by off-road vehicle to Research Institute 422, a facility built deep in the mountain forests and disguised as a large pepper plantation.

The institute was enveloped by a canopy of green, with some of its structures built directly into the mountainside.

Li Qingye arrived at the institute’s core area.

The research topics here were things like ”Composite Artificial Pheromones,” ”Pheromone Sensors,” and ”Special Biological Detection Technology.”

A research team he was leading had recently developed a brand new technology, and it was currently undergoing experimental testing here.

He picked up a special pair of glasses, and after putting them on, pressed the sensor switch on the arm of the glasses.

In an instant, his vision was completely transformed.

The environment around him was no longer a cold laboratory but a brand new world formed of waves, each one displaying unique, colorful patterns.

The name of this new world was ”magnetic field.”

That’s right, the special glasses could see magnetic fields.

The special glasses were developed based on the unique visual cells of birds and insects.

According to research conducted by Li Qingye and his assistants, the visual cells of birds and some insects contain a special protein capable of interacting with the environment’s magnetic field lines—cryptochrome protein.

Cryptochrome protein was the first magnetoreceptive molecule to be discovered.

Li Qingye irradiated the cryptochrome protein with blue light, converting it into a magnetically sensitive molecule. Then, by applying a magnetic field of a certain intensity, he could trigger two competing chemical reactions, the ratio of which would be affected by the magnetic field’s strength.

One of these reactions would induce another form of the protein, which would then interact with other proteins to trigger the transmission of corresponding signals.

Afterward, Li Qingye used a supercomputer to screen and simulate proteins of this type. By screening the genetic sequences of relevant natural organisms in their current database, he successively discovered 17 natural protein structures. He also simulated 536 artificial protein structures. All of these structures possessed magnetoreceptive capabilities.

These special proteins are influenced by the environment’s magnetic field lines, which in turn causes them to produce a wide variety of ”stress colors” on the retina.

In other words, the eyes of birds and some insects can actually see fluctuations in the magnetic field, which are then converted into highly intuitive changes in color.

Li Qingye dubbed these ”magneto-receptive visual cells.” With them, one could achieve magneto-receptive vision, allowing them to see changes in the surrounding magnetic field.

This is one of the reasons birds and insects don’t get lost easily. It’s particularly true for migratory birds that travel thousands of kilometers year after year. Their magneto-receptive visual cells are so highly developed that they can even perceive large-scale magnetic field information.

These migratory birds then use the magnetic field information passed down through their genes to remember the annual migration routes of their ancestors, repeating their flight paths.

So, what are the applications for this magneto-receptive vision?

The answer is magnetic field navigation.

Currently, the Homo Sapiens Company lacks the capability to establish its own GPS positioning system. Its existing monitoring network, which is based on submarine fiber-optic cables and nodes and uses pheromones and sonar, has gaps when it comes to aerial surveillance.

And in terms of traditional radar technology, the Homo Sapiens Company is obviously no match for the major powers.

Although the Foreign Affairs Department has managed to steal a great deal of classified data on radar technology, the problem remains that modern high-precision radar requires a vast number of specialized, precision electronic components. The Homo Sapiens Company cannot produce these components itself in the short term, and import channels are fraught with uncertainty.

Even if Silicon Valley’s component manufacturers were willing to supply them, the Homo Sapiens Company wouldn’t dare use their electronics. Doing so would make security leaks almost inevitable.

Therefore, the Homo Sapiens Company now needs an alternative to radar to fulfill its need for airspace surveillance over the surrounding regions.

The emergence of magneto-receptive vision technology has filled the gap in the Homo Sapiens Company’s aerial surveillance capabilities.

Several research assistants synchronized the data, captured by a lens equipped with magneto-receptive visual cells, with the supercomputer’s topographic database.

Instantly, a variety of colorful fluctuations appeared on the three-dimensional topographic map.

Currently, they have already collected the magnetic field spectrum and color change patterns of the vast majority of common objects.

For example, a bonfire in a tropical rainforest would cause subtle changes in the surrounding magnetic field due to the rise in temperature and infrared radiation.

From the perspective of a magneto-receptive visual cell, this change is extremely distinct.

And the magnetic field fluctuations generated by man-made machinery, chemical products, or explosions are even more pronounced.

This is also why many migratory birds now get lost during their migration.

Human activity has caused changes in the magnetic field. When these changes affect their migration routes, the birds can no longer accurately identify the magnetic field information along the way, causing them to lose their way.

Li Qingye planned to conduct a comprehensive magnetic field survey, mapping the locations of all his branch and front companies, as well as the entire Southeast Asia region.

If conditions allowed, he could even consider mapping the magnetic field of the entire Earth.

Then, he would establish a complete magnetic field monitoring system and also use it for navigation.

Once the magnetic field database was complete, by leveraging magneto-receptive visual cell sensors and biological supercomputers, the Homo Sapiens Company could guide its aircraft to any location on the globe with pinpoint accuracy, even without a satellite navigation system like GPS.

Moreover, a magnetic field navigation system based on biotechnology would be immune to suppression by electromagnetic interference.

On the contrary, if an adversary attempted to suppress the Homo Sapiens Company with electromagnetic interference, the magnetic field monitoring system would lock onto their position instead.

Another advantage of magnetic field monitoring is that the speed of magnetic field fluctuations is basically equivalent to the speed of light.

This means that a magneto-receptive visual cell perceives changes in the magnetic field within its line of sight at effectively the speed of light.

Radar, on the other hand, needs to actively emit electromagnetic waves and then analyze the reflected waves, so its detection speed is only half the speed of light.

Of course, in practical terms, the difference between the speed of light and half the speed of light is negligible.

But the real reason Li Qingye valued this technology was that magnetic fields aren’t absorbed by matter. This meant that, at present, there was no such thing as magnetic stealth technology.

The fundamental physical laws of the universe dictate that all things have a magnetic field.

Stealth from electromagnetic waves can be achieved using wave-absorbing materials and designs that reduce reflection, but a magnetic field can neither be shielded nor absorbed.

Even if an aircraft isn’t made of metal, the engine heat, frictional heat, and even the materials themselves will cause changes in the magnetic field during flight.

Therefore, within the monitoring range of magneto-receptive vision, the concept of a stealth aircraft does not exist.

However, at the current stage, the magneto-receptive visual cells, or rather, the magnetic field monitoring technology, still has some shortcomings.