Before the panel on stage, the audience was abuzz with the murmurs of confusion and occasional sniggers. The conference that had been meant to showcase the quality and competency of global satellite communications and navigation systems had somehow lost contact with a mere fishing boat with a previously established connection.
This was a humiliating blow.
The host of the conference saw that things were getting out of hand and immediately changed the display to connect with another target. This was a research vessel in the Arctic they had also set up a connection with beforehand. However, the research vessel’s connectivity was even worse than the fishing boat’s—the image was grainy and the connection dropped midway.
The technical personnel for the conference were flushed in the face as they hammered various commands at the terminal in a desperate attempt to establish a strong connection with the satellite, but it was as though a great door had blocked their path. They had no way of contacting the outside world.
“My God! What is going on?”
“The Copernicus system is completely down!”
“Enable the American GPS system! That’s the best system around!”
“But that’s too expensive…”
“This is not the time to worry about price! Even if it costs a fortune, I still need that connection established!”
The chairman of the conference was drenched in sweat and his bald head glittered with beads of perspiration. However, they had struggled to no avail—as soon as they connected with the American GPS, it was immediately apparent that there was something wrong with that system as well. For some reason, the system was running incredibly slow and couldn’t establish connection; they kept receiving “bad connection” errors. Jenny, the host responsible for explaining and selling the features of the system, was so embarrassed that all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole.
Huo Shaoheng turned around to look at Deputy Director Yan. Deputy Director Yan quickly nudged Bai Shuang, who was sitting beside. him, “Secretary Bai, you’re up.”
Bai Shuang grit her teeth, “Will our Nandou system work?”
Even though the Copernicus and GPS were down, she truly had no faith in the Nandou. Zhao Liangze hastily uploaded Nandou’s civilian password just as Gu Nianzhi had asked, and said to Bai Shuang impatiently, “Hurry up and get on stage, tell them to switch to the Nandou system so they can connect to the fishing boat and research vessel. Get on with it now! This is an order!”
Bai Shuang dared not hesitate any longer and quickly took the items from Zhao Liangze before walking up to the stage. She was truly an excellent member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and immediately regained her composure as soon as she went to the podium. She spoke in her suave London accent, “Ms. Jenny, is there something I could assist you with?”
“The satellite system is down, obviously. I’m not sure what you and your Asian peers could possibly do for us. Perhaps you’ll perform some Oriental magic and give our bored audience some entertainment?” The blonde haired and blue eyed Jenny said nastily.
The blatant scorn and contempt enraged Bai Shuang, along with all the members of the Huaxia delegation. In that moment, everyone hoped that their nation was powerful enough that these hypocritical Caucasians would be forced to kneel and lick the shoes of the Huaxia Empire, who they had trampled under their feet.
“Heh, I don’t know magic, but how about you perform another round of your confused mannerisms for us while we try to establish connection to the system? Maybe it’ll be even more entertaining for our bored audience here.” Bai Shuang winked at her and smiled brightly. She passed the object she held in her hand to the technical support personnel for the conference, “This is the Nandou Global Satellite Navigation System developed by the Huaxia Empire. I will demonstrate how it can quickly help us to reconnect with the fishing boat and research vessel.”
The technical support personnel was already at their wits end. Although they had no faith in the Nandou system, which they’d never heard of, it didn’t hurt to try. However, once the connection was established, they shockingly found that the Nandou system not only had a faster connection, but also had instant communication capabilities! This meant that not only could they send messages to the the fishing boat, but also have them send replies! Soon, the LED monitor on the stage flashed twice and the previously interrupted video resumed. This time, the people on the fishing boat appeared anxious, but quickly grew excited, They shouted joyously in Spanish. With the aid of simultaneous interpretation, all the attendees understood that the fishermen were asking about what happened earlier and why all the navigation systems went down.
Bai Shuang seized the opportunity to take the microphone from Jenny’s hand and began explaining the earlier situation to the fishermen in fluent Spanish. “Because the Copernicus and the American GPS systems failed earlier, the conference utilized the Nandou Global Satellite Navigation System developed by the Huaxia Empire. This system is compatible with the Copernicus system, so it is possible to use the Copernicus system’s receivers to receive navigation and location services from the Nandou system. Remember, the password is…” Bai Shuang suddenly slowed down her speech and carefully read out the civilian password for the Nandou system.
Suddenly, the conference hall grew completely silent. All the attendees were in shock as they gaped at Bai Shuang, who was reciting the password on stage. Was this Huaxia woman insane? Did she even know what she was doing?! She was broadcasting such a valuable password to the whole world?!
At that moment, the US Military who had been monitoring the London International Telecommunications Conference was also floored. “This is too cunning of them! We cannot let the Huaxia Empire get away with their evil plan! We must release the news that the password has been cracked now!”
The expert group from the Harvard School of Engineering that had been cooperating with the US military suddenly received an emergency call: they must immediately hold an international conference and declare that the United States had already cracked the channel coding of the Huaxia Empire’s Nandou Global Satellite Navigation System! When the Americans intended to broadcast something to the world, the world’s media was at their heel.
Bai Shuang didn’t get to finish reciting the password at the International Telecommunications Conference when Jenny received a notification. Jenny stormed up to her and yanked the microphone as she declared excitedly, “Ladies and gentlemen, we just received breaking news from the United States!” She turned and pointed to the giant LED screen behind her. The video was switched to the conference held by the expert group from the Harvard School of Engineering!
“Distinguished guests and journalist friends, we have just made a major breakthrough. We would like to announce that we have just cracked the channel coding of the Huaxia Empire’s Nandou Global Satellite Navigation System!” Sounds of clapping and cheering immediately traveled from the speakers, along with the pops of champagne bottles as the audience saw swirling ribbons and confetti dancing in the screen.
Bai Shuang froze and stood helplessly besides Jenny for a moment. She regretted not finishing reciting the password faster! Jenny smugly glanced at her and was elated.
Your fault for stealing my spotlight, how’s that for a slap in the face?
Gu Nianzhi laughed coldly, she had been watching the whole situation through a video call on Zhao Liangze’s phone. All the preparations were complete—she had already asked Zhao Liangze to upload the password earlier. She lowered her head and quickly texted Zhao Liangze: “Brother Ze, send it to the spokesperson on stage, let’s have everyone decide for themselves who the shameless ones really are.”
Bai Shuang’s phone rang once, she looked down and sighed in great relief. She raised her head high and smiled as she took the microphone from Jenny’s hand once again. She loudly read the words from her phone without missing a beat. “It truly is breaking news! Our delegation had already released all the civilian channel passwords for the Nandou system on the International Teleommunications Conference’s official website 15 minutes ago. The Americans are declaring that they cracked all our passwords 15 minutes later. It must be my mistake, or how the Americans like to say, ‘my bad!’ Maybe I shouldn’t have released the password early.”