Technological practice: leading the human race to the stars

Chapter 44: Astra who cannot understand emotions
“Another refreshing day.”

Yuan Ze walked out of the green assessment tower in a happy mood. He had already reached the limit of his current strength. He went to the front desk to check the task list, hoping to find some new challenges to hone his strength.

As Yuan Ze's eyes quickly shuttled through the task list, an unsettling task caught his attention:
"

D-level mission: Individual mission, S Province missing case
01. Mission address: S02 and S Mechanical City

2. Mission Background

In the past two years, incidents of missing students have frequently occurred in Province S, attracting widespread attention.

These sudden disappearance cases have caused deep concern among parents, schools and society, and have also had an impact on the local educational environment and social stability.

To address this issue, Province S is taking active measures to ensure the safety of students and find the whereabouts of missing students.

Province S secretly requested the assistance of the elite training camp. The specific information is in the confidential archive room of S01 Mechanical City.

III. Current Status of the Mission Area

1. S01 Mechanical City:
Located in the northern part of S Province, it is the center of S Province.

In the past two years, cases of missing students have occurred in the area, causing panic and anxiety among local residents.

Currently, S01 Machinery City has stepped up its security and carried out strict identity checks on people entering and leaving.

2. S02 Mechanical City:
Located in the southern part of S Province, it has a developed economy and many enterprises and research institutions.

Security in the city has been stepped up, but there is a risk of confidential information being leaked by insiders.

IV. Mission Objectives

main target:

Go deep into the S01 and S02 mechanical cities to assist in investigating the causes, background, and masterminds of the students' disappearances, and find at least one missing student.

Other goals:

Goal 1:

Investigate and obtain detailed names and background information about missing students.

Goal 2:

Check the security system of the Machinery City to find possible security loopholes or weak links.

5. Rewards

After S Province is confirmed, the main goal is 800 contribution points, and each other goal is rewarded with 400 points for each completion.

"

Yuanze accepted this mission without hesitation, as well as another mission to defeat the source beast requested by Astra:

"D-level mission, hunting mission, the rebellious Shining Eagle."

S Province is far away from here, and it takes too long to get there by plane. Last time, it took several hours to get to the meeting point. Yuanze had no choice but to use the portal, so that he could reach his destination in an instant.

"The portal to the University of Science and Technology in S01 Mechanical City."

Yuanze swiped his card to activate the portal, and the eyes of his classmates around him revealed envy. The high cost made the portal uncommon, so his action caused a small sensation.

Yuan Ze didn't say anything extra. He quickly stepped into the hole of the portal. As the portal shrank little by little, he disappeared from everyone's sight.

"thump."

Yuan Ze would fall down almost every time he came out of the portal, because the environment of the portal was too chaotic. For Yuan Ze, who had sharp five senses, it would be a strong feeling of dizziness.

"Why are you here?"

A man saw Yuanze lying on the ground and kindly pulled him up.

"It's okay."

Yuanze thought the person behind him was asking him why he fell, but when he turned around, he found it was his old squad leader Zhu Yi.

The two of them got along well, and Yuanze knew that he was particularly good at science. He must have been studying in the top science class at the University of Science and Technology.

The night was rolling in, and Yuanze planned to have a quick meal first, and then chat. Maybe he also knew some information about missing students, after all, there were cases of missing college students.

Yuanze took him to a restaurant, which looked to have a nice decoration.

"Don't come here. It's expensive. We are all students of the University of Science and Technology and can't afford it. What's more, there are only private rooms for VIPs. There is no open seating."

Yuanze smiled, patted his shoulder, and put his arm around him as he walked into the door.

When the proprietress thought that they were just two ordinary students and was about to deal with them casually, Yuanze took out his ID card of the elite training camp. Then, the two of them were led into the private room.

"Yuan Ze, you've become successful. I thought you got into the University of Science and Technology, but I didn't expect you to be admitted to the elite training camp!"

"I thought you all knew."

"Alas, what a pity! Nearly half of our former class is disabled. Several of my former buddies are still in the hospital. Without further ado, let me toast you a glass and congratulate you on getting into the elite training camp."

Zhu Yi raised the glass high, then lowered it, knocked on the table, and drank it all in one gulp.

"We are classmates, it would be too strange to be so polite." Yuanze also drank the beer in his glass.

"You are the only one in our class who has made it big." The old monitor sighed. "No, no, I came back to talk to Harma. He is currently training in the martial arts school."

"Halma, his family has the money to train in a martial arts school, but that doesn't count. By the way, you three brothers, why is there no news about He Can now?"

"Their family seems to have disappeared, and I haven't contacted him for a long time." Yuanze couldn't reveal the purpose of his trip, so he could only lay out a bait to see if he knew anything.

"I've also heard recently that students have been going missing in the past two years. Some time ago, even students from universities and martial arts schools went missing, which led to the strengthening of security measures throughout the province." Zhu Yi poured himself another glass of wine and drank it.

"Are you so brave now? The security in the university is quite strict, and the people who enter the martial arts school are basically the children of the rich and powerful, right?"

"I also heard it from others, but what happened in college is definitely true..."

Yuanze watched Zhu Yi guzzle beer after beer and barely eat any of his food. He seemed to be worried about something.

Yuanze did not continue to ask questions, but continued to drink and eat with him and chat about some light topics.

"Alas, I still have to vent."

Yuanze felt that Zhu Yi was obviously a little drunk.

His face gradually turned red as the alcohol spread through his body. This was supposed to be a symbol of enthusiasm, but his eyes lost their luster and the enthusiasm gradually died out.

"You know what? She's missing too."

"Who?"

"Sun Wanwen."

"Oh oh oh, I remembered."

Yuanze remembered the girl that his old squad leader had always had a crush on. He heard that she had also been admitted to the University of Science and Technology. It was no wonder that he was sad about her disappearance.

"Last month." Zhu Yi drank another glass of wine. "I just confessed to her and she agreed. I was really happy at that time."

He sat quietly at the table, holding the wine glass tightly in his hand, with a gleam of light in his eyes. But then he finished the wine in the glass in one gulp, and the whole person was overwhelmed by dullness.

"Can you understand me?"

"Yes, yes, yes, old squad leader."

Yuanze quickly poured him a glass of wine.

"I remember it very clearly. Three days later, on that Friday, I asked her out to go to the movies the next day. We had already agreed on it!"

Zhu Yi suddenly became excited again: "I couldn't contact her the next day. I looked for her everywhere but couldn't find her. I was so anxious."

"But." Zhu Yi fell into depression again, "I tried everything but it was useless, including my roommate, the counselor, and even his parents."

"On Monday, I went with her parents to report the case." Zhu Yi drank the wine that Yuanze poured. "I remember the police officer simply registered it and said that there have been a lot of reports of this kind recently and they are already overwhelmed."

"And then?" Yuanze poured him another glass.

Zhu Yi picked up the wine glass and put it back. "The police officer was actually a nice person. I shouldn't have gotten angry at him. But he was quite polite. He even reminded me to be careful and said that a lot of students have gone missing recently."

Suddenly, Zhu Yi must have thought of something. His eyes seemed to shine and he stared at Yuan Ze with his eyes open.

"Can you help me? You are a student in the elite training camp. You are a talented person who is both civil and military. You are the pillar of China..."

"Please help a poor man like me for the sake of our friendship."

Yuanze watched Zhu Yi cover his face, but he couldn't stop him from sobbing.

"Do you remember the policeman who registered your report?"

Zhu Yi raised his hand and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, his eyes fixed on Yuan Ze, as if he wanted to confide his inner pain. However, the sadness surged like a tide, making his throat seem to be tightly strangled by an invisible force, and he was speechless for a moment, unable to speak.

Yuanze patted his back gently and watched quietly, waiting for Zhu Yi's emotions to gradually calm down and for him to find his voice again.

"His name is Fan Chengming, his phone number is..."

"Okay, I'll contact him tonight."

Yuanze slowly comforted Zhu Yi, and when he was a little more stable, he personally sent him back to the dormitory and found a hotel to stay in.

Yuanze was lying on the bed, thinking about the encounter with his classmate today, and found that his emotions were not as intense as before.

"Astra, do you understand?"

"I still don't fully understand human emotions, let alone love. I can only explain it theoretically."

"I know that humans are full of love at the beginning of a relationship, but then it slowly fades. In fact, it is very likely that the other person is still as good to you as before, and it has not changed at all. It is just your feelings that have changed. The same love is just like plain water to you, without any feeling."

"That's because science shows that human senses and perceptions do not follow a linear relationship, but a logarithmic relationship. Just like one speaker at home is already the loudest, but to double the volume you have to add nine more, not just one."

Astra explained in a very formal manner.

"So when we want to get a stronger feeling, we have to feel the stimulus more strongly than it would otherwise, because the senses pay more attention to proportions rather than absolute values."

"That's the first law of psychology, Weber's Law. If you're going to paraphrase the theory, you better stop talking about it."

Yuanze interrupted Astra's meaningless chatter.

"Please help me contact Officer Fan Chengming on the training camp's dedicated channel. He will definitely not refuse to talk to me."

I was out today, wrote this on my phone, it's a bit rough, I'll revise it when I get home
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(End of this chapter)