Break out of the courtyard

Just as He Zheng left, Old Hua, carrying a box of tea, walked into Zhang Heping's office with a smile.

"I just got some new Tieguanyin tea, let me share some with you," said Old Hua, as he walked over to the coffee table and sat down.

Seeing Elder Hua brewing tea by himself, Zhang Heping chuckled, "Sending tea at no time of year or holiday, are you here to ask for brain-computer interface equipment again?"

"Let me make this clear first, I don't have time to deal with those things lately, and I'm out of stock!"

"This little bit of autumn tea isn't enough to replace the brain-computer interface device!" Old Hua replied with a smile, then focused on brewing the tea.

After he picked up the teapot and two cups and went to Zhang Heping's desk, poured two cups of tea, and then said with a smile, "Spring tea is bitter, summer tea is astringent, for the best taste, choose Autumn White Dew!"

"How about trying this tea?"

After speaking, Mr. Hua took the lead in picking up a cup of tea and smelling it.

"The aroma of this tea is quite nice, but I'm afraid it won't taste good!" Zhang Heping continued looking at the paper report in his hand, casually remarking without reaching for the teacup.

It wasn't that he was deliberately being pretentious; the fact that Elder Hua personally served, brewed, and poured tea was clearly not a good thing, and Zhang Heping didn't even want to ask.

Old Hua took a small sip, savored it for a moment, and smacked his lips, saying, "Although this tea is sweet, it's not the mellow flavor that this old man likes."

"Take it home and let Ah Xin and the others try it. I'm leaving now!"

Without explaining his purpose, Mr. Hua simply left the office with his hands behind his back, leaving behind the teapot and teacups.

After finishing reading the paper report in his hand, Zhang Heping turned his head to look at the glass teapot next to him.

Most of the Tieguanyin autumn tea from Fujian Province is brought here because of the chip factory in Xiamen.

With the withdrawal of investment from the Heping Group, the first loss suffered by the Xiamen chip factory was the welfare benefits from the Heping Group, followed by the technical support from the Heping Group, and finally the orders from the Heping Group.

Are those people blind to such huge losses?
Do not!
They saw it, but they didn't take it seriously!
Those people only care about immediate benefits, and since the Lifespan 120 potion is now available for free application nationwide, the lack of welfare benefits from the Peace Group has little impact on them.

Zhang Heping understood the purpose behind the tea, but he didn't ask, indicating that he didn't want to get involved, even if Elder Hua pleaded for him personally.

Hua Lao understood Zhang Heping's attitude, which is why he didn't reveal the matter, lest he provoke Zhang Heping's rebellious mentality.

However, Zhang Heping couldn't say this here, but he could still go to Chen Shuting.

If we can't convince Chen Shuting either, then we'll have to put this matter off until another time, since the Xiamen chip factory hasn't gone bankrupt and closed down yet.

Although 28-nanometer chips are not as powerful as 10-nanometer chips from Peacechip Factory, they are still components needed in mainstream electronic devices and will not be immediately phased out.

The reason they brought tea today is twofold: first, the factory has changed management, and they came to pay their respects; second, they are trying to ease tensions and see if cooperation is still possible.

That's often how things are in this world: those who have things don't know how to cherish them, while those who don't have them can't get them no matter how much they want.

The exchange delegation from the United States toured various universities in the capital, intending to showcase their status as a developed country. However, the students in the capital were quite uncooperative, asking them many professional questions that they could not answer.

It was one thing for them not to be able to answer, but other mainland students in the audience did answer, which felt like a slap in the face.

Most importantly, some American professors not only couldn't answer the questions, but they also lacked the ability to distinguish between true and false answers, and even publicly questioned the answers given by mainland students.

In the end, the teachers and students of universities in the capital began to question the identities of these Americans.

Actually, you can't really blame the American experts for being unskilled.

Many mainland students are influenced by the World Internet Forum, where they have seen a lot of information on advanced technologies, which has improved their professional skills.

The increasing number of professional textbooks and materials on the World Internet Forum, coupled with the fact that they are displayed only in Chinese characters, has caused many American experts who do not understand Chinese to fall behind.

Even though the United States wanted to translate relevant materials from the World Internet Forum for domestic use, the translation work was slow because some specialized Chinese terms did not have corresponding words in the U.S. military.

After setbacks at universities in the capital, the exchange delegation from the United States also encountered obstacles in securing a place at the Shenzhen World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

Foreign affairs officials in the capital told them that they needed to apply in Shenzhen to be eligible to study at the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

As for helping mainland China join the WTO, an agreement has already been signed. If the US fails to fulfill the agreement, mainland China can restrict the export of relevant goods and stop corresponding scientific research cooperation.

The Americans' scheme failed, so they had no choice but to regroup and come to Shenzhen.

They had barely arrived in Shenzhen, and before they even stepped into their first stop, the Peace Hotel, they were stopped by a sentry post on the south side of Xueyuan Road.

"Your protests to the United Nations won't do you any good!" A middle-aged man who looked like a military officer stood at the southern checkpoint entrance and said sternly to the Shenzhen reception staff and the group of Americans:
"Either hand over all electronic devices and dangerous items and submit to a body search; or get away from here and don't obstruct us from performing our duties!"

As soon as the accompanying American translator translated these words, the middle-aged American man leading the group immediately looked at the receptionist and spoke a long string of words in American English.

As if afraid the reception staff wouldn't understand, the American translator loudly translated, "We are a delegation of American experts invited to conduct exchanges. We do not accept this unreasonable behavior and we demand to see your highest-ranking official."

Perhaps influenced by the teachers and students of universities in the capital, Shenzhen did not receive the so-called exchange group from the United States with the same enthusiasm as the capital. Instead, they sent a section chief, three staff members, and four buses to pick up the Americans from the airport.

Just as the junior section chief looked at the officer at the guard post entrance with a troubled expression, the officer turned around and left, and he couldn't stop him no matter how much he called out to him!
"Stop shouting!" The guard squad leader in charge of security at this time of day looked calmly at Liu, who claimed to be the section chief of the Shenzhen Municipal Government Office. "Since they want to see your highest-ranking officer, take them to the Shenzhen Municipal Government Guesthouse. I suppose the security there isn't as strict!"

This Section Chief Liu dared not make the decision himself. If he took the person to the Shenfu Guesthouse, who would pay for the expenses?
If this is attributed to their Shenzhen Municipal Government Office and it takes up this year's budget, then he will become the sinner of the office!

So, the junior section chief hurriedly took out his phone and reported the situation to the leader who had assigned him the task.

Finally, this guy didn't forget to turn on the recording function on his phone.

After all, it's foreign affairs work, and there's no room for carelessness. The main problem is that he doesn't have the same level of confidence as the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

A moment later, Section Chief Liu beckoned to three of his men, instructing them to call three buses back first, and for the other bus to turn around and be ready to leave at any time.

After the four buses complied, the section chief called the translator to the side of the bus, said a few words, got on the bus, and told the driver to leave!
"Section Chief, are we just going to ignore those Americans?" A female staff member looked at the group of Americans behind her with a puzzled expression, wondering what her section chief was up to.

While moving the recording file on his phone to save it, Section Chief Liu replied, "The leader said that once we've finished our airport pickup duties, we should go back as soon as possible and not get involved in other matters."

The three clerks exchanged glances, as if they had suddenly learned something, and fell silent.

Meanwhile, the American translator was watching the bus drive away, completely bewildered.

“Wang, what did he say to you? Why did he drive the car away?” A young American man came over and asked.

After regaining his senses, the translator hurriedly ran back to the head of the US exchange group. He first glanced warily at the weapons slung across the guards' chests, then whispered:

"The receptionist just said that the guards here have killed 53 spies and advised us not to provoke them; in addition, he said that he had finished picking us up by bringing us here and that we should communicate politely."

The head of the exchange group from the United States licked his lips and looked again at the group of ordinary mainland Chinese people on his right who were queuing in an orderly manner, undergoing inspection, and successfully entering the checkpoint.

“Mr. Wilson, if you’re unsure, could you please let us in?” An elderly man wearing black-rimmed glasses stepped forward, frowning as he spoke.
"You have your tasks, and we have our learning tasks; we can't let your tasks interfere with our studies. Learning space-locking technology is our top priority, understand?"

“Yes, Professor Smith!” Wilson, the group leader, said in a low voice, “Please allow me to make a phone call before you go in.”

The section chief Liu from the Shenzhen Municipal Government Office needs to shirk responsibility, and this American named Wilson also needs to pass the buck, otherwise he won't be able to go back and explain himself.

In this case, reporting the task change to the leader and receiving their approval versus reporting the task failure to the leader only after no communication was made throughout the process; anyone who has been a leader knows which is better or worse.

Foreign spies who had been thwarted countless times by Zhang Heping's security detail knew all too well how difficult it was to deal with them. Therefore, after making the phone call, Wilson, the group leader, summoned the scattered Americans to the lawn by the roadside.

Not long after, Wang the translator ran to the guard post and asked a few more questions. Then he ran to the Americans and said, "The rule that electronic devices are not allowed to be brought in was implemented on the 1st of this month because we caught hundreds of spies using electronic devices to secretly film classified information."

"In addition, they are not responsible for storing electronic products; we are left to handle them ourselves."

Wilson, the leader of the group, frowned and asked, "Now that we're inside, how do we contact the outside world?"

Translator Wang hurriedly replied, "There are telephones in the Peace Hotel. When booking a room, you can also request to stay in a computer room."

A young American man exclaimed indignantly, "Those phones and computers must be being monitored!"

Wilson glanced at the impatient experts and professors, frowned, and said, "Take out your cell phones and cameras, and put them all in this bag. We'll try out the miniature camera later..."

“That’s the latest security scanner from Umbrella Security. Our miniature cameras have electronic components that can’t pass through those devices.” After saying that, a middle-aged man took off his black-rimmed glasses and casually tossed them into the travel bag at Wilson’s feet.

"The wall here is quite long. You can agree on a spot, leave a few people outside, and throw the equipment over the wall at night. Then send someone to retrieve the equipment and bring it back to the room," Translator Wang suggested to the group of Americans.

“Impossible!” said an American standing nearby. “There’s a spherical camera every two meters on those walls, and that doesn’t even include the cameras in other places.”

“The security level here is no worse than that of the Yan Wo Yee neighborhood on Hong Kong Island!” another American who was observing the terrain said. “The important thing is that this is just the outskirts; it’s still quite a distance from the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.”

A group of Americans, accompanied by a Chinese translator, chattered on for a long time before finally leaving behind 10 young men and women and 20 bags of luggage, and then they were able to enter Xueyuan Road.

After these Americans arrived, they didn't obediently go to the Peace Hotel to check in. Instead, they split into three groups and each did their own thing.

A young American woman, accompanied by 129 experts and professors who wanted to rest, went to the Peace Hotel.

Translator Wang, accompanied by three young American men, went to the checkpoint at the border between the research institute and the hospital to inquire about entry procedures and the schedule for the public lecture on space-locking technology.

Wilson, the leader of the group, took more than fifty men, women, and children to Peace Hospital to find out the truth about the situation there.

As a result, Wilson and his group patiently waited in line for most of the day, only to be told at the hospital entrance that they could not enter without an appointment.

Seeing that the female medical guide at the door could speak English, a young American man seemed to have found an outlet and launched into a rapid-fire barrage of words.

Unexpectedly, the female medical guide simply looked at the guard with a gun next to her and said something, and seven or eight guards immediately surrounded her.

Faced with the stark contrast of truth and reality, the Americans who had just been so dissatisfied and threatened to protest at the WHO immediately backed down.

Pretending to be weak doesn't mean it's over!

"stop!"

Seeing his subordinates handcuffed by the guards, Wilson, as the head of the exchange group, had no choice but to step forward and argue, "We are..."

Before Wilson could identify himself, the guards next to him handcuffed his hands behind his back.

A black-clad guard carrying a gleaming blue talisman scanned the queue and said indifferently in Mandarin, "No matter who you are, once you come here, you must abide by the rules and regulations here."

"Anyone who disrupts medical order will be blacklisted and prohibited from entering!"

"Those who haven't made an appointment and aren't family members of the patient, come out!"

As soon as the guard finished speaking, another guard standing next to him, holding a black, gleaming sign, translated the words in English and then pointed to a few Americans in line, signaling them to come out.

After more than fifty Americans were called out, four guards who were waiting outside came over and took Wilson and the young American man who had backed down to the sentry post on the south side of College Road.

Under the suspicious gaze of the Americans following closely behind, Wilson and the young man were shuffled around a small device at the guard post to record their facial features. They were then unlocked and pushed outside the guard post.

This scene left not only the Americans inside the College Road intersection dumbfounded, but also the 10 young Americans who hadn't left yet outside the intersection. They didn't understand what had happened!

Wang, the translator who had been urgently summoned, came to the intersection again to negotiate, asking why the person in charge of their exchange group had been kicked out.

"They disrupted hospital order and were blacklisted, so they're prohibited from entering!" the guard at the intersection explained indifferently.

Translator Wang hurriedly ran out to ask team leader Wilson, and after learning what had just happened at the hospital entrance, he rushed back to the guard post to explain.

Unfortunately, he was unaware that the mainland had already thoroughly investigated all the members of this US exchange group.

We've basically figured out who are academics and who are intelligence agents.

It was only a matter of time before Wilson, the head of the spy ring, was driven out.

It was just a coincidence that gave the guards at the hospital entrance an excuse.

After Wilson was ousted, the remaining Americans, young and old, became much more obedient.

However, with the Peace Hospital across the street receiving patients 24 hours a day and the queues never seeming to thin out, those American intelligence agents only behaved themselves for one night. The next day, they couldn't resist asking the hotel staff how to make an appointment at the hospital.

Their mission had many objectives, one of which was to get people to queue overnight to get the Lifespan 120 drug at Peace Hospital.

To cover their tracks, these American intelligence agents even tried to take the senior experts to the other side of the border for a medical check-up.

However, all appointments for the next three weeks at Peace Hospital are booked, and appointments for the fourth week have not yet started.

What surprised them even more was that the open course on spatial locking technology required a screening process before it could even begin.

After an afternoon of manual screening, 186 Americans checked into the Peace Hotel, but on the third day, only 103 people were qualified to study at the World Advanced Technology Research Institute across the street!
It's not that the remaining 83 people were all spies; even in the US labs, there are bound to be some unqualified people with connections.

The clashes outside the academy were all handled by Secretary Chen and his team; Zhang Heping didn't get involved.

While 103 American experts and professors entered the World Advanced Technology Research Institute, looking around at the school that had a production line for the Life 120 drug, Zhang Heping was still having a small meeting in his office with Professor Hua, Vice Dean Qian, Vice Dean Deng, and Director Wang, discussing whether or not to hypnotize these American people.

“Heping, you’ve been in the Sanxingdui underground base for several months. You should have mastered the hypnosis method of Ruomu Brain-Computer by now!” Seeing that Zhang Heping was still not willing to budge, Elder Hua finally opened up and said something.

“It is indeed very easy to hypnotize others using the Ruomu Brain-Computer and Ruomu Divine Tree servers!” Zhang Heping did not answer directly. “Because that brain-computer device is used to enslave believers, that’s why it has such a strong hypnotic effect.”

Old Hua frowned and said, "The brain-computer interface you developed is similar to the Ruomu brain-computer interface, so it should be able to produce the same hypnotic effect, right?"

Zhang Heping laughed and said, "You should ask Li Tong and those teachers from School D about this. They should have been verifying the effectiveness of this method."

"You're getting more and more cunning!" Old Hua leaned back in his chair, picked up the teacup on his right, and said slowly, "You used to be so straightforward when we talked, it wasn't nearly as tiring as it is now!"

Zhang Heping shook his head helplessly, "Before the meeting, I said that you could ask Li Tong and those teachers from D School to try hypnosis, but I'm not going!"

"If I were to put it more bluntly, some of what I'm about to say might not be pleasant to hear!"

"If it sounds unpleasant, then don't say it!" Director Wang promptly intervened.

The five people present knew what was so unpleasant about it: many people in China suspected that Zhang Heping's brain-computer interface had a hypnotic effect comparable to that of Ruomu's brain-computer interface.

Hua Lao has already brought this up, and if we let them continue talking, it might anger Zhang Heping so much that he'll have to go to Hong Kong Island.

As for today's meeting, it was less about discussing whether or not to hypnotize those Americans, and more about testing whether Zhang Heping could hypnotize them... (End of Chapter)