From Idler to Tech Tycoon: Earth
Chapter 91: Research

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Research

After leaving the climate systems lab, Richard passed through the central corridor of the Bytebull’s Research Building Innovation Wing—his footsteps echoing against the polished floors. Glass walls framed each sector, revealing glowing servers, and teams of scientists immersed in their respective domains.

Now, his destination was different.

Mechanical. Energetic. Industrial.

He entered the Engineering Research Division, where the air was tinged with the scent of coolant, ionized particles, and the lingering hum of active prototype forges.

Sparks flew from a fabrication rig to his right. A technician raised a welding visor and nodded at him in awe. Richard returned the gesture, barely pausing.

Inside Lab 3E, the heart of Bytebull’s Energy Propulsion Initiative, stood a man in a grease-streaked lab coat, goggles atop his forehead, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, gesturing animatedly over a half-dismantled battery module encased in smart gel panels.

Dr. Dmitri Sidorov—Ukrainian by blood, but a twenty-year resident of the Philippines. A beloved engineering vlogger turned visionary researcher, his channel had inspired millions with deep dives into EV design, futurism, and sustainable energy theory.

The man turned at the sound of the automatic door.

"Richard!" Dmitri beamed, thick accent curling his words warmly. "You came!"

Richard smiled as he approached. "Wouldn’t miss it. You’re practically preaching the future here. How’s your research coming along?"

Dmitri’s eyes lit with passion. "We’re so close. So close," he said, clapping his hands together. "The solid-state electrolyte layers—we’ve optimized a multi-phase lattice that doesn’t degrade under charge cycling anymore."

He gestured to the hovering 3D blueprint above the workbench: a compact, hexagonal cell surrounded by magnetic flow regulators.

"We’re talking energy density five times greater than current lithium-ion standards, zero fire risk, and charge time—get this—four minutes to full. For an EV-grade pack."

Richard nodded slowly, absorbing the data.

"That’s faster than anything even conceptualized on the market," he said.

Dmitri grinned like a man on the edge of a miracle. "And with Phoenix AI helping simulate ion mobility at the molecular level—what used to take weeks, we now do in hours. Real-time lattice stress testing, entropy fluctuation prediction, you name it."

Richard’s hand hovered near his side. The System still pulsed behind his eyes, aware, ever-watching. He could open the Shop right now. There was an entire section on Solid-State Battery Tech, probably refined, probably decades ahead of even this.

But he didn’t.

He could, but...

He watched Dmitri work, eyes alight, fingers smudged with graphite, blue sparks reflecting off his goggles as he fine-tuned a prototype.

No.

Curiosity. Passion.

That’s what scientists like Dmitri lived for. Needed to live for. To short-circuit that journey with a system purchase wouldn’t just be disrespectful—it would rob the man of the very thing that gave him meaning.

Richard had already accepted that he was evolving into something beyond ordinary. But that didn’t mean those around him couldn’t reach greatness in their own way.

"Dr. Dmitri," Richard said with a thoughtful pause. "When do you think the first test cell will be stable?"

Dmitri scratched his beard. "If the simulations hold... three days. Maybe five for real-world stress. I already have an EV prototype shell ready—an all-terrain model. This thing could run for 1,500 kilometers without a recharge. No joke."

"Good," Richard said, stepping closer to inspect the cell design. "Because once you’re ready... I want to test it with a Phoenix-powered control architecture. Full integration."

Dmitri’s eyes widened. "You want AI-assisted load balancing... on the drive system itself?"

"Exactly," Richard said. "Real-time reaction to terrain, battery thermals, passenger weight, external temp. Let Phoenix run predictive movement vectors, then rebalance cell draw at microsecond intervals."

Dmitri’s voice dropped to a whisper of awe. "You’ll make the first vehicle that drives like a living thing."

"No," Richard corrected, a spark of his old smirk returning. "You will."

Dmitri chuckled, brushing dust from his sleeve and tossing a rag across the workbench. "Fine, fine. But I’ll leave the exterior design to the younger engineers. My taste? It won’t cut it for this generation. I still drool over Packards and Duesenbergs—1920s to 1940s designs. Massive bodies, real presence. I look at these sleek alien Lamborghinis and think, beautiful, sure, but I’d rather sit behind the wheel of a rolling art deco thunderstorm."

Richard grinned. "Then why don’t you design a series of those?" he said, arching a brow. "Limited editions. Nostalgic futurism. Electric muscle with classic soul. There’s a growing cult movement in the younger crowd for vintage aesthetics. Something timeless, but reborn."

Dmitri paused, then scratched his temple, gears already turning in his mind. "Hmph. That... actually isn’t a bad idea."

Richard continued, "We’ll have to wait until the Iligan Megaplant finishes construction, of course. But with Phoenix optimizing the fabrication lines, we’ll be able to run parallel production models. One line for mainstream, another for collectors."

Dmitri’s eyes lit up, full of a kind of boyish joy rarely seen in someone surrounded by superconductors and capacitors. "I’ll need time. Time to work the designs, the charging systems, maybe even test out a modular swappable battery for extended range. Oh—and Richard—if you’re serious about this, you’ll have to talk to the materials division. Especially him."

Richard nodded knowingly. "Li Zhang."

Dmitri groaned. "Yes, the ’material boy.’ Smart as hell. Cold as tungsten. But gods above, that guy has more protocols than a missile silo. Still, if I’m throwing steel and composite into my dreams, he’s the one I need blessing them."

Richard smiled. "I’ll talk to him about it and ask to cooperate more openly with you."

Next Door – Material Engineering Division

The moment Richard entered, the atmosphere changed.

The walls were lined with carbon-reinforced panels, and everything in the lab screamed precision. Temperature and humidity were tightly controlled. Machinery hummed like it was afraid to speak too loudly. Smart arms tested tensile strength and composite pliability with mathematical grace.

At the center stood Li Zhang.

He was lean, mid-30s. His features were sharp and youthful, yet underlined with a tension—like someone used to competition and trained to never show weakness.

Formerly a high-ranking engineer at BYD, Li had abandoned the Chinese giant not because of lack of opportunity—but because of too much of it. Cutthroat internal politics, talent cannibalism, and personal betrayals had driven him away.

Now he stood in Bytebull’s lab, determined to rebuild his name, and make those who once dismissed him watch from the sidelines.

Li was hunched over a workbench, peering through a scope at a set of graphene-infused carbon nanotube sheets, layered precisely like the skin of a stealth aircraft.

Richard approached quietly.

"Zhang," he said.

Li didn’t look up. "Santamo."

Richard waited.

A few seconds later, Li finally straightened, turned, and offered a sharp nod. "What do you want tested now?"

Richard smirked. "Nothing tested. Yet. Dmitri’s prepping a line of solid-state vehicles. But he’s going to need your team to help with the composite chassis and structural testing. Custom designs. Possibly vintage-inspired."

Li narrowed his eyes. "So... inefficient. You want form over function."

"No," Richard said. "I want both. Something artistic. But it still needs to perform like a next-gen war machine."

Li’s expression relaxed slightly. "Then I assume you will enforce Dmitri’s discipline. Because that man still measures tolerances with his thumb."

Richard laughed. "I’ll keep him in line."

Li folded his arms. "Very well. I already have experimental frames in development using molecular-forged composites—twice the strength of titanium alloy, half the weight. I’ll prep them for compatibility with his designs."

"Good," Richard said. "This is your stage too, Zhang. Show us something they couldn’t even imagine back at BYD."

Li stiffened, a flicker of something sharp behind his eyes—pride, rage, vindication. "I intend to."

Richard turned halfway toward the door but paused.

"Zhang," he said, turning back, "what about the materials I asked about last week? The ones for the high-temperature propulsion applications?"

Li Zhang removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose, clearly balancing thirty mental tabs at once.

"I’m still analyzing possibilities," he replied. "Graphene alloy composites show promising metrics. They outperform almost everything in weight-to-strength ratio and thermal thresholds—up to 5,500 Kelvin in controlled configurations. But they’re not universal."

He stepped aside and expanded a material analysis projection on the holotable. Molecular lattices spun slowly, annotated with color-coded stress maps.

"Graphene conducts heat too efficiently," he continued. "In rocket applications, that’s both a strength and a flaw. It can survive thermal loads but also dumps heat into surrounding systems faster than they can compensate. It’s not a plug-and-play replacement. We’d need to design hybrid systems—composites built to redirect, absorb, or store heat differently. It’ll take time."

He looked Richard in the eye, uncharacteristically direct. "And I already have too much on my plate. I’ve prioritized materials for your electric vehicle line. High-strength chassis, ultra-light modular panels, impact-responsive crumple zones, all compliant with Phoenix fabrication specs."

Richard nodded, not displeased. "No. That’s exactly where your focus should be. Rockets are still far off. When the time comes, we’ll revisit it."

He paused, then offered something rare: a grin of respect. "You’re doing well, Zhang. Keep pushing."

Li nodded sharply. No false humility—just silent acknowledgement. That was how he worked.

Integrated Circuit Design Lab – 12th Floor, Bytebull HQ

As the elevator doors parted, Richard was immediately greeted by the sterile, charged atmosphere of next-generation electronics development.

Unlike the previous labs, this one felt like static in motion—flickers of microscopic energy passing between layers of carbon-based circuit boards, prototype wafers, and glowing feedback monitors. The air smelled faintly of ozone and lab-grade insulation polymer.

This was the core of Bytebull’s neuro-silicon initiative: a vision of the future where silicon was replaced or outclassed by carbon-based computing—lighter, faster, more adaptable, and better for neuromorphic systems.

At the helm of this experimental wing stood Christian Delos Reyes.

Once a lead engineer at Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., Christian had shocked peers across the industry when he resigned, practically overnight, to join Bytebull. The moment he read Richard’s vision paper on AI-integrated carbon chipsets, he knew it was the direction the world was headed—and he refused to be left behind.

He was in his mid-thirties, clean-cut, sharp-eyed, wearing a white coat with a digital pen tucked into the collar. Behind him, a dozen Filipino engineers, most under 30, worked in silent focus. Their terminals flickered with real-time simulations and material conductivity maps.

Christian looked up from his interface as Richard entered.

"Boss," he said with a mix of formality and pride. "You’re just in time. We’re getting some serious headway."

Richard approached the translucent circuit board on display, mounted on a magnetic field suspension rig. Its base glowed softly—carbon lattice etched with quantum-layer logic gates.

"This the new batch?" Richard asked, peering at the exposed structure.

Christian nodded. "Carbon nanotube transistors, fully printed, integrated with Phoenix-backed neural translation protocols. Ten times the data density of our previous model. And—get this—1.6x faster data propagation than the silicon standard."

He tapped on the side of the display. "And it’s not just speed. This design pulls 20% less power, and we’ve started testing heat dissipation under stress. It barely warms. The AI-guided subroutines self-regulate current flow through redundant carbon pathways."

Richard raised his eyebrows. "That’s neural mimicry, right there."

"Exactly," Christian said, his excitement simmering beneath every word. "We’re not just building chips—we’re building electronic synapses. The Phoenix AI runs so efficiently on these, it’s almost like it’s... thinking with a new brain."

Richard smiled faintly. He could already see the arc. These chips wouldn’t just power government systems, cars, and cloud platforms.

These would be the nervous system of his future empire.

"I’ll want a prototype batch ready for integration within a month," Richard said. "When the EVs are field-tested, I want your chipsets running everything—from the control interface to dynamic engine modulation."

Christian nodded with firm resolve.