Break out of the courtyard

Around 4 p.m., Hua Lao's bodyguard, Xiao Qin, arrived at the Zhang family's residence in Houhai again, waiting to pick up Zhang Heping for the banquet.

Zhang Heping didn't want to have too many social engagements, so he waited until 5:30 p.m. before changing into a dark blue suit and taking a bodyguard captain with him to attend the evening tea party.

The bodyguard captain couldn't go in; he could only wait outside with guard Xiao Qin.

After they arrived outside the venue, Zhang Heping sat in the car for a while until the guard, Xiao Qin, received a call from Hua Lao informing him of their arrival. Only then did Zhang Heping go to the entrance and follow Hua Lao, Li Lao, and the others into the venue.

The floor of the venue was covered with a red carpet, and there were many green plants around it.

Some waiters in red and guards in black stood around the venue like the green plants.

Reporters and photographers stood rather casually, some in the sparse aisles and some around the round tables, seemingly conducting interviews about something.

Those who arrived early were already seated around the round table, either chatting quietly or reading a thin booklet.

As soon as Zhang Heping entered the room, he noticed that Chairman He was at a table with several Hong Kong and Macao businessmen.

He made an excuse to go over and say hello, but ended up staying at Chairman He's table and refusing to leave, even after the waiter came to ask him to leave twice.

It was inconvenient for Elder Hua and Elder Li to personally go and persuade him, otherwise it would be like putting Zhang Heping in a very difficult position.

Moreover, the table where the waiter invited Zhang Heping to sit was mostly occupied by academicians; it wasn't an invitation for Zhang Heping to sit next to Hua Lao and the others.

Seeing that no waiters came to invite Zhang Heping again, Chairman He said with a smile, "Would Mr. Zhang like to stay in the capital for a few more days?"

"We're going back tomorrow morning!" Zhang Heping said with a smile. "If you're not too busy, you can stay in the capital for a couple more days. The weather should be nice for the next few days."

"Old Tang is here!" a businessman nearby exclaimed.

Then, Zhang Heping's father-in-law, Tang Ming, led three elderly men toward Zhang Heping's table.

With Tang Ming's introduction, Zhang Heping chatted briefly with three elderly members of the CPPCC before watching them go to the round table in front.

As more and more people entered, and the cameras began to zoom in and rotate, the attendees quieted down, some sitting upright and waiting, others reading the thin booklet.

These kinds of banquets are not as casual as the annual gatherings of the Chinese Merchants Association.

Participants should not move around or make noise at will, and especially should not sit in random places.

Chairman Zheng, who arrived a little late, stood helplessly next to Chairman He, wanting the waiters to add a chair and a set of tableware, but none of the waiters dared to do so.

Finally, the waiters at the Hong Kong businessman's table and the waiters at the table where Zhang Heping should have been seated called the head waiter. Only after the three women almost begged did they invite Zhang Heping to sit at the front.

Zhang Heping didn't really care where he sat.

It was just to avoid the pre-meeting exchange time, hoping that the CAS personnel at his table would hold back on certain topics.

Sure enough, after Zhang Heping sat back down, all his classmates could only nod and smile at him, not daring to speak at that moment.

Elder Hua, Elder Li, and Madam Zheng, who had been keeping a close eye on Zhang Heping's movements, smiled when they saw him sit back in his designated spot.

After the leader's speech, the banquet officially began, and the reporters who had been waiting around started to move.

Just as someone at Zhang Heping's table was about to speak to him, two reporters with notebooks flanked him from both sides and began interviewing him in hushed tones.

These reporters had so many questions for Zhang Heping, but they never had the chance to ask them. Today, they finally managed to get a chance, but before they could ask anything, a guard came over and dispersed the growing number of reporters, citing the need not to disturb the VIPs' meal.

Once the reporters left, the others at the table finally had a chance to talk to Zhang Heping.

However, when the Chinese Academy of Sciences tried to invite Zhang Heping to serve as the director of the Shenzhen Brain-Computer Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhang Heping directly declined, citing that he was too busy recently!
I've been very busy lately, isn't that what Mr. Hua meant by "no time"?

Hua Lao accurately predicted Zhang Heping's refusal, and the people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences were not annoyed, continuing to discuss their cooperation ideas.

However, they only officially confirmed today that Zhang Heping will serve as the director of the Shenzhen Brain-Computer Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The deputy directors and other personnel have not yet been appointed.

If the Brain-Computer Technology Research Institute only has members from Zhang Yi's brain-computer research team, then it's better not to build it at all.

Therefore, a large number of personnel positions are indispensable!

Zhang Heping did not accept the Chinese Academy of Sciences' invitation to cooperate until the end of the banquet, just as Hua Lao had predicted.

Because when these people mentioned the brain-computer interface technology research institute, they didn't mention the arrangements for Zhang Yi and Luo Yi's team at all!

Although Zhang Heping could make appropriate arrangements for these matters after becoming the director of the Shenzhen Brain-Computer Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it would be difficult to change the ranks of Zhang Yi and Luo Yi within the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Heping still harbored the plan to one day transfer his eldest nephew, Zhang Yi, to an administrative position.

When Zhang Heping returned home, he was surprised to find that his niece Zhang Ting's three journalist colleagues were waiting for him.

To support his niece's work, Zhang Heping patiently answered some questions from the three reporters so they could submit their work to the Capital Daily.

Judging from the questions asked by reporters today, it is not difficult to see that the mainland's focus is mainly on the Life-Generating 120 drug and brain-computer interface.

They did inquire about the Peace Group's boycott of Japan, but their questions were relatively conservative and lacked any radical ones.

As the three journalist colleagues (two men and one woman) were about to leave, her niece Zhang Ting asked another question, "Third Uncle, will you be donating virtual brain-computer interface devices again soon?"

Zhang Ting, a layout editor at the Capital Daily, felt that the questions her three colleagues had just asked were not good enough to be headline stories, so she asked one herself.

"No donations!" Seeing the disappointment on his niece's face, Zhang Heping smiled and continued, "However, I'm planning to have your brother and Xiao Bei go to Suzhou and organize a virtual learning dream experience exhibition there."

"A virtual learning dream experience exhibition?" Zhang Ting was taken aback for a moment, only to be nudged in the waist by her female colleague behind her with a pen, prompting her to ask more questions.

"Alright, that's all for today. I have a video conference to attend later!" Zhang Heping didn't reveal much. Zhang Ting could easily ask her brother or Zhang Bei later; it would only take a phone call.

……

The following day, Zhang Heping returned to Hong Kong Island ahead of everyone else.

My mother, Ma Xiuzhen, and my maternal uncle and his wife will stay in the capital for a few more days to handle some matters concerning the younger generation.

In addition, Ma Xiuzhen, the mother, also wanted to go to Harbin to see what Lao Zhang was doing there, since he hadn't returned for so long.

Zhang Heping had previously accepted gifts from the Americans and promised to restore the American students' access to the library, which essentially meant allowing them to continue experiencing the virtual learning dream world.

Those American students had only been using it for two days when Zhang Heping wanted to move the library's regenerative brain server away, which felt like he was going back on his word.

In order not to break his promise, Zhang Heping gave a simple reason: to upgrade the virtual learning dream brain-computer interface!

There are only 200 virtual dream learning pods, but the multi-species gene regeneration brain server that carries the virtual learning dream can support 3150 people online at the same time.

To ensure the Regenerative Brain server can smoothly operate with 5x basic perception acceleration, Zhang Heping plans to renovate the experience area on the first floor of the library, increasing the number of experience slots to around 2000. As for the specific number of experience slots, Zhang Heping is still considering whether to remove the learning pods.

If we remove it and replace it with a virtual reality game headset, we can add more experience slots.

However, switching to a gaming helmet might lead to some unnecessary physical contact.

If any acts of indecent assault occur, it will also affect the reputation of the Peace Academy.

Therefore, the more gaming helmets there are, the more security personnel will need to be deployed.

Of course, these are all minor matters.

Zhang Bei suggested moving the 200 learning pods from the library to the mountain for the bodyguards to train. Zhang Heping then stopped worrying about the problem and called his nephew-in-law You Daren over, asking him to take charge of the renovation of the first floor of the library.

Zhang Heping was going to Sanxingdui for a period of time, and the safety of his family became his biggest concern.

Don't be fooled by how decisively he left for the capital this time.

But secretly, he instructed Umbrella Corporation to increase its security measures.

During the day, Zhang Heping didn't have time to ask Wei Chunqiao and the others; it wasn't until after dinner, when Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang came to wait outside Zhang's house, that Zhang Heping went to find out about the security situation over the past two days.

"boss!"

When Wei Chunqiao, the general manager of the Umbrella Security Company, saw Zhang Heping come out, he hurriedly led his men to greet him and followed him to the plastic tables and chairs on the edge of the plain.

"Bring a chair and sit down!" Zhang Heping casually called out, then sat down on the plastic chair, facing the afterglow of the setting sun.

Wei Chunqiao and Zhu Chengguang found a chair nearby, and the others, who weren't standing, quickly found chairs and sat behind Wei Chunqiao and the others.

In situations like this, ignoring the boss's instructions and stubbornly choosing to stand still is seen as a lack of obedience and will be noted down.

After everyone had sat down, Zhang Heping asked, "What discoveries have you made recently?"

“Boss, there have indeed been many unusual occurrences during your two days in the capital!” Wei Chunqiao said hurriedly. “First, suspicious vehicles followed President Chen, Young Master Bei, Miss Nan, and Miss Nian after they came down the mountain.”

"An investigation by the Hong Kong Island Smart City Centre revealed that those suspicious vehicles were closely linked to the Mitsubishi Group!"

"Secondly, one-third of the Japanese people who have entered Japan in recent months have traveled along routes that highly overlap with our convoy's route, so we cannot rule out the possibility that they were scouting the area!"

"The third one is..."

Reporting was something Wei Chunqiao always enjoyed doing the most.

Otherwise, it would seem as if his loyalty could not be demonstrated.

However, his reporting method was not problematic when he was reporting to Zhang Heping alone.

But now there are people from the Umbrella Corporation, as well as key personnel from Peace Wisdom Technology Company brought by Tang Wei.

Wei Chunqiao has said everything; what else can the others say?

So, after listening for a while, Zhang Heping interrupted Wei Chunqiao.

Zhang Heping then said to Tang Wei, the head of Heping Smart Technology Company, "Try to contact the Space-based Computing Center and have them reintegrate into the Hong Kong Island Smart City Center system to improve early warning capabilities on Hong Kong Island."

Tang Wei hurriedly replied, "Okay, Master, I'll coordinate with them tonight!"

Zhang Heping continued, "Old Zhu, have the people left behind on the Japanese island show their faces near the residences of high-ranking officials there recently, and investigate their surveillance and sentries."

Zhu Chengguang, the security manager of the Umbrella Corporation, hurriedly agreed and then said, "Boss, do you think we should cut off the water and electricity to those Mitsubishi companies as a warning?"

“The enemy thinks they are in the dark while we are in the light!” Zhang Heping said calmly, “If you go and warn them, they will be alerted in advance and thus lie low.”

As the saying goes, it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who has his eye on you!

"Although your job is to be on guard against thieves at all times, you still need to have a strategy."

"I'll be going to Western Shu for a while soon, so you must take good care of the home!"

After speaking for a while outside the door and arranging the subsequent defense strategy, Zhang Heping went to the laboratory on the third basement floor.

Not long after, he called his wife and children downstairs and told them about the recent anomalies he had discovered and his upcoming trip to Western Shu.

"Dad!" Zhang Nan frowned at Zhang Heping, "Are you going alone, or are you planning to take us with you?"

"My trading company has received a lot of orders recently, and I'm afraid I won't be able to leave!"

Tang Xin looked at her second daughter, Zhang Nan, and frowned, saying, "You're not short of money, what's holding you back?"

"Whether you leave or not depends on your recent increase in mental strength!" Zhang Heping took off his gold-rimmed glasses and smiled at his wife and children.

Before Tang Xin and Chen Shuting could figure out what was going on, Zhang Bei suddenly exclaimed, "Dad! How did you do that?"

Seeing the gold still flying around, Zhang Feng realized something and asked, "Dad, you don't need to use your brain to release your mental power anymore?"

As Zhang Feng finished speaking, Tang Xin, Chen Shuting, and Zhang Nan realized what had happened.

Even after removing his gold-rimmed glasses and not wearing a gaming helmet, Zhang Heping was still able to use his mental power to control the surrounding machines and gold.

Instead of answering, Zhang Heping asked, "How long can you go without drinking brain-boosting tonics while wearing gold-rimmed glasses?"

“I haven’t tried it!” Zhang Nan said, then looked at his two mothers and his third sister Zhang Nian.

Zhang Bei, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, stepped forward and, while sensing the source of his father's privately released spiritual energy, said, "Last month, I tried not drinking brain-boosting liquid for a week and only experienced mild brain swelling."

"I can last for 3 days!" Seventh daughter Zhang Nuo quickly asked, "Dad, how long can I last? Is it related to you not wearing gold-rimmed glasses anymore?"

Zhang Heping looked at his fourth daughter, Zhang Feng. His two wives and third daughter remained silent, clearly because they hadn't been practicing their mental strength and were too embarrassed to speak.

Zhang Feng thought for a moment and said, "I haven't used any brain-boosting liquid for the past month, but that's because I often take off my gold-rimmed glasses. We'll need to test how long I can maintain this."

"I don't use gold-rimmed glasses to release my spiritual energy; it's not as complicated as you think," Zhang Heping said, pointing to his forehead.

“I previously implanted a miniature gold brain-computer interface under my skin here.”

"The gold-rimmed glasses I usually wear are just to avoid being recognized."

Seeing the realization on his wife and children's faces, Zhang Heping continued, "Xiao Bei, Xiao Feng, and Xiao Nuo should be able to have their miniature golden brain-computer interfaces implanted..." (End of Chapter)