Chapter 123: The Man No Country Dares to Provoke
"Why?"
Zheng Mingyu pressed.
Ye Xing exhaled.
"Because shortly after I downloaded the general solution to the equation, I received a mysterious call from a number displayed as 000—"
"000? No way, could it be—that department that likes to invite people for tea?"
Zheng Mingyu's interest was piqued, and he entered a state of watching a play and listening to a story.
"You guessed it, it's them."
"Oh~~ So that means, actually, 'Star Sea' has long been under the surveillance of that department?"
"Exactly! You can guess again when they started to realize that 'Star Sea' might not just be a game."
"Recently?"
"Wrong! It was 6 hours after that Jin Yi Ye Xing held his first live stream."
"My goodness, that fast!? They clearly didn't have anyone in the game, yet their reaction was even quicker than yours?"
"Of course, that's what they do for a living." Jubian said with a wry smile, "You wouldn't really think there are no smart people in that organization, would you? Afterwards, when the game's official website went online, they immediately tried to crack it, but they used every method and still couldn't get in, and they couldn't find the physical address of the server! And my leader, during that time, had also been secretly in contact with them, constantly sending over what I said and the blueprints I produced."
Zheng Mingyu was speechless for a moment.
"So you were the only one kept in the dark, and then what?"
Jubian: "In short, by the time that department officially showed their hand and called me, the official internal consensus on the 'Star Sea' incident was clear: it was confirmed as a Fourth Kind of Contact."
"Fourth Kind—you mean, when you went online, your mental consciousness was hijacked by an alien civilization?"
"The officials didn't say hijacked, just contact, because we can go online and offline voluntarily."
Zheng Mingyu: "But since the officials have already determined this, why isn't there any word about it in society? What about other countries? Haven't they noticed?"
Jubian: "At least the US CIA noticed. They offered a high bounty, wanting Nan Guo de Xue, that Millikan player, my senior from MIT, to copy out intelligence and data."
"Did she do it?"
"No. She said she didn't want to provide services to the federal government. Either they lock her up in prison, losing her, the only US open beta player, or they let her play however she wants."
"Her mouth! Is she that tough? What about other domestic players, weren't they called in for questioning either?"
Jubian shook his head: "Not that I know of. I guess the higher-ups are worried that doing so would anger the true existence controlling 'Star Sea', fearing that they might close the game in a fit of pique. In the current state, letting us, these closed beta players, play inside, and occasionally producing black technology, the benefits clearly outweigh the risks."
"That's true."
After truly understanding what a monstrous "game" 'Star Sea' was, Zheng Mingyu secretly exhaled, bent over, hunched his shoulders, and shrank his neck, as if he had deflated by a size, his face full of smiles.
"I heard you still have an internal recommendation slot for a closed beta player, right?"
Jubian gave him a warning glance, "Ha! You kid, you sure can bend and stretch!"
"'Star Sea' has very high requirements for players. At the very least, you need to have a sense of identity with the game and be responsible enough for your future role. Do you still think the game is fast-paced now?"
"Not fast-paced, not fast-paced! Ah! I was just a kid who didn't know any better before, just saying things! Please don't take it seriously, ha!" "Giving you an internal recommendation isn't impossible," Jubian pushed up his glasses, a slight smirk on his lips, "but there are conditions."
"Tell me."
"Your profession must be Scholar."
"Of course, I was planning to choose Scholar anyway."
"You also have to be my assistant, and you have to research zero element with me."
What!
You, an engineering doctor, dare to ask me, a noble doctor of science, to be your assistant?!
How outrageous! How excessive, I'm so angry!
Zheng Mingyu's eyebrow shot up, but since the recommendation slot was in the other party's hands, he couldn't flare up, and finally had to grit his teeth.
"Fine!"
The next afternoon, Lu Yuan descended from the sky aboard the "night heron," returning to his loyal Devil Mountain Camp.
"Executive Officer, hello! I'm the helper Shenceng Jubian found!"
Zheng Mingyu, who had just come online, walked up to Lu Yuan and bowed in greeting.
His character's name was "Nether True Mage," with an initial intelligence of 11, one point higher than Jubian, at the cost of a weaker body.
"Good afternoon, welcome to Cangyuan Future Technology." Lu Yuan nodded.
Yesterday at noon, after Jubian contacted him on the official website and said he wanted to bring the Mage over, he didn't even think much about it and directly agreed.
Theoretical physicist!
My Cangyuan Future Technology is truly becoming more and more talent-rich.
"The zero element reactor on the industrial ship is about to undergo its test ignition," Lu Yuan said to the Mage. "Your new employee training can be put aside for now. The top priority is to deduce the properties of zero element from the operating parameters of the zero element reactor, to make up for the shortcomings in Cangyuan's basic physics research."
"Understood, Executive Officer!"
"In the future, when our production capacity increases, I will also build specialized large laboratories for you Scholars, as well as giant particle colliders for in-depth research on zero element!"
"Mm! Thank you so much, I'm very much looking forward to it!"
A giant particle collider requires a large amount of resources, and the power consumption during experiments is also extremely high, but that doesn't prevent him from drawing the picture first.
The Mage was overjoyed.
Now, he was one of the few players who fully confirmed that 'Star Sea' was not a game and that all the technology within it was real. A collider that a genuine space civilization could build was simply too tempting for a theoretical physicist.
In contrast, the LHC and RHIC, which couldn't even be bought for experimental time on Earth, were simply pathetic.
Secretly bringing in his real-world research topics and running experiments, that should be possible, right? If so,
Then wouldn't he no longer have to worry about the Europeans and Americans in the future?
Hehehe!
"Then let's go,"
Lu Yuan spread his palm, pointing to the aerospace plane behind him.
"The process might be a bit tough for you, I'll ask the pilot to fly as slowly as possible."
After seeing off the Mage, Lu Yuan looked out at the training ground.
The other 59 new players were listening with shining eyes as the Butler introduced the game's background.
Compared to the previous batch of players who were mostly Engineers, Lu Yuan didn't specifically require special skills this time.
A third of the players were current students, and the rest came from various industries. Their common points were that they all loved games, had decent gaming skills, and had enthusiastic, cheerful personalities, capable of helping each other.
A lively and relaxed internal atmosphere is very important for the development of a company, especially during relatively peaceful times.
As soon as the Butler finished his opening remarks, the new players immediately couldn't wait to form teams and start doing novice quests. Gunshots echoed from the shooting range.
"Executive Officer, Ye Xing sent a message that they are ready at the mine." Praire came to report.
"Mm, I know."
Lu Yuan looked up, gazing in the direction from which the Apollo reinforcements were attacking.
"The prey should be arriving soon."