Chen Chen studies biology at a fairly ordinary university and lives a fairly ordinary life. If there is anything unusual about him, it’s that he takes his classes more seriously than most people around him. While his classmates are busy worrying about grades and graduation, he is more interested in topics like aging, genetics, and other similar subjects.

That interest, however, ends up leading him toward his ultimate goal.

After finding a strange black USB drive during a lecture, Chen Chen discovers that it isn’t as simple as it looks. The device doesn’t have any markings from a previous owner. In fact, for quite some time, he isn’t even sure what he is dealing with, other than it appearing to be a simple USB drive—which it is far from.

Rather than rushing into things, Chen Chen does what comes naturally to him. He observes, records, and experiments.

Some results make sense.

Others don’t.

As his investigation continues, what began as a harmless curiosity slowly becomes a part of his daily life. New questions appear faster than old ones can be answered, and every attempt to understand the USB only seems to reveal how little he actually knows about it.

Unlike stories where power arrives overnight, Chen Chen’s greatest advantage is his willingness to think before acting. He approaches problems like a researcher, not a hero, and many of the novel’s most interesting moments come from watching him test ideas that most people would never consider.

Part science fiction, part mystery, and part slow-burning exploration, this is the story of an ordinary student who stumbles across something extraordinary and decides to figure out how it works, regardless of where the answers might lead.