"Hallucination, Clark, a technology that can simultaneously interfere with both humans and artificial intelligence—‘Eden’ is the only thing that comes to mind." Benjamin Foster tapped his temple. "Everything has two sides. Whoever can make you happy can also make you lost. Back when Eden was established, the seven major star systems hammered out a boxful of legal clauses, strictly prohibiting Eden technology from interfering with normal cognition and human free thought. But technology itself is a double-edged sword. If it can serve the people, it can also undermine them—in addition, my student probably has empty brain syndrome."

About 1% of the human population, due to genetic defects, are born with low mental strength and cannot adapt to the Eden system—in simple terms, their brains have poor connectivity.

If they are forcibly connected to Eden, over time, it may cause mental disorders or even endanger their lives. This is called "empty brain syndrome."

In the first few decades of the New Star Calendar, when Eden was not yet mature, these people could still barely get by. But as the Eden system became more and more integrated into human life, these "defectives" were gradually marginalized. Empty brain syndrome has a clear hereditary tendency and often appears repeatedly within a family.

Back then, after General Simon Foster reclaimed the Eighth Star System, a large number of empty brain syndrome sufferers who had endured discrimination migrated with their families to this barren place, living together with the motley native population in the "wasteland," which led to the vote to establish the Eden system in the Eighth Star System never passing... Of course, even if the vote had passed, no one would have allocated funds for the gorillas of the Eighth Star System.

Fourth Brother looked up at Luke.

Luke understood, opened his hand, and showed the erudite Principal Foster the biochip he had taken from the "spider's" heart: "This should be that 'double-edged sword,' Principal Foster. I don't know if you also have expertise in information technology."

"What do you mean?" Benjamin Foster was startled. After a moment, he finally managed to tear his gaze away from the chip and forced himself to maintain his composure. "Are you trying to hire me as a researcher? Difficult. I don't have a proper lab right now."

Fourth Brother raised an eyebrow. "You go around flaunting my name, cobbling together a shabby school, and you don't even have a lab?"

Benjamin Foster sighed and said pretentiously, "Rome wasn't built in a day. Xinghai Academy is still very young and needs a gradual process of improvement."

Fourth Brother: "Cut the crap."

"..." Young Master Foster lowered his head. "There is a bit of a funding problem."

Xinghai Academy was not, as outsiders guessed, a plaything for a rich second-generation squandering his father's pocket money. No father in the world would fund his son's runaway. When Benjamin Foster was out roaming around in his modified mecha, the one-eyed eagle had already frozen all his accounts.

Back then, Young Master Foster had to resort to trickery, selling his modified mecha to a gullible fool to get the money to build the school.

When Xinghai Academy first opened, many facilities needed repairs, the staff he had tricked into coming needed to be paid, equipment and machines needed maintenance, and the little tuition the students paid was a drop in the bucket—most of them were "impoverished students" who not only didn't pay tuition but also needed scholarships.

On the surface, Principal Foster looked dignified, but in reality, he was so poor he was about to sell himself.

However, his biggest worry didn't seem to concern Fourth Brother at all. Fourth Brother just lowered his head, lit a cigarette, and with a casual gesture to send him off, made the final decision: "Got it, that's settled. Whatever you need, settle it with Luke, let him transfer it to you."

Benjamin Foster almost knelt down and called him "Dad," but with great effort, he managed to maintain the dignity of a scholar. He nodded with restraint. "Thank you for your support of education. On behalf of the board of directors, I have decided to award you an honorary doctorate from our school."

Fourth Brother treated it as nonsense, nodded toward the door with his chin, signaling him to hurry up and leave.

Principal Foster still refused to stop while he was ahead, pushing his luck, and forcibly grabbed Fourth Brother's hand, shaking it up and down. "As our school's biggest sponsor, I have another surprise for you. Tomorrow morning, our school will hold the second freshman opening ceremony, and we've specially reserved a VIP seat for you. Dr. Clark, you are cordially invited to attend."

The freshly minted Dr. Clark replied, "Get lost."

Benjamin Foster took the bloody biochip from Luke's hand, not the least bit squeamish, and with a flourish, brought it to his lips and kissed it before striding away.

The wind chimes at the front door jingled wildly in the wake of his dashing steps. After he left, Fourth Brother finally revealed a faint, almost imperceptible smile and said to Luke, "Pour me another drink."

Luke, just like Benjamin Foster described "Eden," didn't need to be told. He precisely mixed a drink to Fourth Brother's taste, added two ice cubes, and placed it in front of him. "Sir, you are very fond of Principal Foster."

Fourth Brother's gaze swept over the rim of the glass and glanced at him.

"You are very patient with him. I rarely see you so patient." Luke put the green lizard back into the glass tank and methodically tidied up the bar.

Fourth Brother neither agreed nor disagreed. "Have I always seemed impatient to you? The researchers who used to follow me were all pretty annoying, rambling on and on, and I never said anything, did I?"