Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
When Chen Rui entered the venue, sixty percent of the seats were already occupied.
The venue was designed in a circular amphitheater style, with the first row being the lowest but also at the center. A large round table was covered with seven LCD screens, and there were two 3D projectors beside each screen.
The second row resembled an elevated viewing area, with four giant curved tables leaving space for the four entrance passages. Aside from lacking independent 3D projectors, its configuration was similar to that of the first row.
Further back, there were only seats and tables, with no individual LCD screens; instead, there was a projection screen suspended above each area.
Before entering the venue, there was a security check primarily to prevent weapons from being brought in.
"Your seat is at -1," the security personnel informed Xiang Xiao and Zhang Jun.
"You are seated from 6-1 to 6-1."
"Those high-ranking personnel are just different," Chen Rui said with a smile as he looked at Xiang Xiao.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Xiang Xiao replied sternly.
"I mean, you high-ranking personnel are just different; you get to sit so close. We don't have that privilege. After all, we're not high-ranking personnel," Chen Rui waved his hand and walked toward the entrance of row six with a grin.
"Just joking; no need to take it seriously," Zhang Jun said as he patted Xiang Xiao on the shoulder and laughed while heading toward the second row.
As the slope increased further back, the entrances varied: rows 1 and 2 used the VIP passage, rows 4 and 5 used passage two, rows 6 through 9 used passage three, and those further back used passage four.
By the time Chen Rui and his group reached their seats, the meeting was about to start. Most rows were nearly full. As Chen Rui passed by row six, he noticed that all seats from 6-1 to 6-11 were occupied. It appeared to be a North American team, with eight Caucasians and three Black individuals intently watching the entrance across from them.
Just as Chen Rui was about to reach his team's seats, he suddenly found someone blocking his path.
"Excuse me, sir, please let me pass," Chen Rui said, having been distracted by the central area of the venue and not paying much attention to the person in front of him.
"Are you with me?" a very pleasant female voice came from nearby.
Chen Rui looked over and thought to himself, "This is not good." "Sorry, sorry, no, I... I'm sorry," he stammered in a mix of Chinese and English. The girl in front of him couldn't help but laugh at his flustered state.
"It's fine, I understand. You all arrived a bit late," she said with a smile as she settled into her seat to let them pass.
In his panic, Chen Rui quickly found the nearest available seat, which happened to be right next to the girl. Tang Yong, who was supposed to sit there, shook his head and teased, "You know, your first mission wherever you go seems to be flirting with girls?"
"Hey, stop joking around; she can understand us," Chen Rui shot Tang Yong a glare. "And besides, I'm not that charming."
Tang Yong just chuckled and remained silent, which only made Chen Rui feel more aggrieved. "Hey! Clearly, where have I been charming?"
As a result, everyone around laughed and glanced between Chen Rui and the White Girl, their expressions revealing amusement that even children could recognize.
Although the venue had been relatively quiet before, it suddenly fell completely silent. The reason for the thousand or so attendees maintaining their silence was simple: an important figure had arrived.
The first to enter was the current United Nations Secretary-General, a young man of only thirty-seven years old—young compared to his predecessors.
The second to enter was the brain of the member countries involved—the British Prime Minister.
...
Finally, the last to enter was the brain of the member countries involved—the Chinese President and General Secretary.
Chen Rui took a deep breath; most people in attendance did the same. The experience of being so close to six national leaders was something that most people present had never encountered.
"Surprised?" the White Girl beside him whispered softly.
"Not surprise, but rather a feeling of something unsaid; in any case, it's not surprise." Chen Rui couldn't quite articulate that sensation, yet he truly wasn't surprised. Although he hadn't been clear about the nature of the meeting when he arrived, the sights around him convinced Chen Rui that it was indeed related to a plan and that the issues at hand were serious enough to warrant such a gathering. Thus, he felt no astonishment at the assembly of world leaders.
"Oh, I feel the same way; it's hard to express this feeling—it's really quite subtle," the girl said. "By the way, are you also one of the people responsible for the trial implementation of the plan?"
"We call ourselves the Action Team; I'm one of the team leaders," he replied.
"You really don't look like it," she chuckled lightly.
"I should be saying that to you! Just looking at your appearance, you seem no different from an ordinary college student," Chen Rui remarked, his mind automatically recalling Liang Yu's first day on the job.
"I might be older than you; you should call me 'sister'!" The girl laughed at Chen Rui's comment. "But then again, as a girl, I definitely hope others think I look as young as possible."
"May I ask your age?" Chen Rui shook his head and inquired.
"The meeting is starting," she said, turning her gaze away from him and focusing on a row of round tables.
Chen Rui sighed helplessly and turned his attention to the round table as well. To be honest, he wasn't particularly interested in this meeting since he had no decision-making power.
The first to speak was the United Nations Secretary-General. "Ladies and gentlemen, I must formally inform you that the trial phase of the plan is expected to conclude ahead of schedule."
At this announcement, chaos erupted in the room. Aside from the top leaders and project heads from various countries, only those responsible for the trial implementation remained seated.
This statement indicated that their work was nearing its end and that the entire plan was about to go live. Their roles would soon shift to routine monitoring and data collection during the implementation phase—tasks that would be significantly less demanding.
"Why is this happening? Isn't there still a year and a half left to reach a final conclusion?" The German Leader pressed for answers, clearly concerned that an early conclusion to the trial phase would increase risks once the plan was activated.
"The reason is that someone has leaked effective information regarding the plan ahead of time. According to incomplete statistics, similar information has appeared online within various countries."
"Even so, ending the trial period early due to this matter would be a disaster for everyone present if something were to go wrong," the Italian Prime Minister remarked subtly, causing the atmosphere in the conference room to drop to freezing levels once again.
The United Nations Secretary-General sighed, "For this matter, we have invited experts."
An elderly man in the second row stood up, his white lab coat unmistakably indicating his identity.
"Research has confirmed that the equipment planned for use will not cause harm to the human body. Moreover, it can further enhance brain function to a certain extent."
"In that case, why don't we just announce it directly?" the German Chancellor insisted.
"We cannot announce it now. Once we do, media and public opinion will force us to halt this project. But how much have we invested in this? Such a loss could directly lead to a global financial crisis," our leader finally spoke up. "Although the ultimate beneficiaries of this project are the people, we absolutely cannot let them know about the dark side arising from its progress."
"I believe that if this plan had been made public from the start, such a situation would not have arisen!"
"Now let us hear from the project leader representing China: Zhang Junyan."
"Hello everyone, I am Zhang Jun, the overall leader from China. I just learned about that news as well, but I fully agree with the suggestion to end the trial phase early. There are two reasons: first, if the information leaks and is credible, it could lead to the plan being exposed by the media before it even begins, resulting in its premature failure; second, if the plan does fail, I believe it would trigger a global financial storm that would certainly affect everyone here. The most important point is: since we can confirm that implementing this plan will not cause substantial harm to humans, there is no meaning in continuing the trial phase. My final question is: why are we discussing a task that merely cleans up after others? Who is truly responsible for this situation? That concludes my remarks; thank you all."
Silence... Silence... Silence...
"Now let us hear from the first trial leader: Kaitina."
The girl next to Chen Rui stood up. "I believe that even so, ending the trial phase early is a serious irresponsibility towards people's safety..."
After she finished speaking, Chen Rui smiled at her.
"Now let us hear from the second trial leader: Morinta."
“Now, I would like to invite the last trial representative: Chen Rui to speak.”
Chen Rui was taken aback for a moment. If he hadn’t seen his name appear on the LCD screen above, he would have thought there was someone else named Chen Rui in the room.
In fact, there were probably quite a few people in the world named Chen Rui, but among all the Chinese attendees at this venue, he was likely the only one. However, that was not something Chen Rui needed to dwell on.
He stood up and smiled, saying, “Based on my own judgment, I am absolutely opposed to ending the trial period early.”
His words caused a stir in the room once again. It was clear that Chen Rui and the previous speaker, Zhang Jun, were part of the same team, yet they were not on the same ‘channel’!
“Actually, no one had reminded me that I was supposed to speak as a representative. I could only rely on my initial judgment. My first judgment is that I absolutely oppose ending the trial period early. Because my initial thought is that ending it prematurely could lead to unforeseen consequences later on, and it might even result in loss of life.”
Chen Rui couldn’t help but chuckle at himself, thinking, ‘What a mess; I’m not even following the leader’s intentions.’
“My values place human life above all else. In the face of life and death, nothing else matters. As long as it’s not a matter of life and death, we can negotiate. But when it comes to matters of life! There’s no room for negotiation!” With that, Chen Rui sighed deeply, suddenly realizing that everyone in the room was whispering among themselves, even those in the front row.
“I apologize for my outburst; that concludes my statement.” He sat down and leaned back wearily against the chair.
“That was pretty impressive!” Kaitina smiled at Chen Rui.
“The purpose of this conference is to decide whether to end the trial period early. We will now begin an anonymous vote. Each country’s brain accounts for thirty-three percent of the total vote; project leaders from each country also account for thirty-three percent; and trial phase representatives from each country will account for thirty-four percent of the total votes.” The United Nations Secretary-General stated this crucial point of the meeting. “We will now take a half-hour break before starting the voting.”
Comment 0 Comment Count