Break out of the courtyard

"Before we start the meeting, please watch this video!"

Qian Lao's voice came through the speakers in the conference room, and then three video screens, one large and two small, appeared on the projection screen in front of him.

The three videos were shot from different angles, but it is clear that the scenes in them all belong to the same room.

"It is said that this is the surveillance footage of the last half hour of the Stargate Teleportation Laboratory in Area 51 of the United States."

Qian Lao's voice rang out again from Shenzhen, explaining what the three surveillance videos were monitoring.

As the video played, the eagle language spoken within was translated into subtitles and displayed at the bottom of the screen.

About half an hour later, Mr. Qian's figure reappeared on the main screen.

On the right side of the main screen are two columns of four rows of eight smaller screens, randomly displaying images of eight attendees or sub-venues.

"This video was personally brought to Hong Kong by the personal secretary of the US Grand Steward, and then handed over to Advisor Zhang," Mr. Qian said solemnly.
"Before that, they also gave Consultant Zhang a piece of broken Jianmu wood, some Jianmu research data, and two photos of a hammer."

After he finished speaking, the video conference screen switched again to a picture of seven or eight strong men pulling a floating hammer with ropes, which became the main image. The photo of the electric hammer shadow hidden in the black fog was then displayed as a small image in the upper left corner of the main image.

"The Americans told Advisor Zhang that this hammer is proof of the success of the Stargate teleportation experiment and the source of the violent explosion at Area 51. Its authenticity is under investigation and will not be discussed at this time."

"The next photo shown is a test scene of the virtual reality game helmet, which was taken by Mr. Hua with his mobile phone."

After he finished speaking, the image on the projection screen changed, showing two people wearing pajamas and motorcycle helmets standing on the left and right, respectively. In the middle, on a low table covered with a white cloth, were several glass containers filled with transparent, light blue, and light green liquids.

"The authenticity of the virtual dream game has been confirmed by Mr. Hua and others, and it will be publicly tested on the 12th of this month."

"Host, I have finished my introduction."

After Mr. Qian finished speaking, the projection screen returned to the main venue in the capital.

Then, Elder Yang turned on the microphone, looked around at the attendees and the camera in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "This meeting will discuss two matters, and then we will vote by show of hands!"

"The first thing is the discussion about whether to elect Advisor Zhang as an academician or a foreign academician."

As soon as Mr. Yang began introducing Zhang Heping's contributions over the years, the participants in other sub-venues couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

It's just that the microphones weren't turned on in each of the breakout sessions, otherwise who knows how much noise it would have caused.

The reason those people disregarded meeting discipline was simply because academicians enjoy vice-ministerial level treatment, while foreign academicians only have honorary or advisory titles and can only participate in domestic scientific research projects to a limited extent.

Although the second matter has not yet been announced, the pre-meeting notice stated that the possibility of Advisor Zhang entering the Sanxingdui underground base would be re-discussed!
Therefore, this seemingly trivial discussion about treatment is actually about Zhang Heping's authority.

After Mr. Yang introduced Zhang Heping's past contributions, Vice Dean Deng of Shenzhen Peace College gave a speech, briefly introducing the majors offered by their college and the majors that will be added in the future.

Everyone at the meeting knew that there was a top-secret base underground at the Shenzhen Peace Academy, involving many advanced technologies, but they knew very little about which technologies those were.

Now, after Vice President Deng's lengthy and detailed explanation, many people are gradually coming to their senses.

This isn't an introduction to a major; it's clearly a disguised revelation of the secret research conducted by Shenzhen Peace Academy.

After Vice Dean Deng finished speaking, Professor Qian then spoke, introducing Zhang Heping's academic influence at the World Internet Forum.

Despite the extensive foreplay that Elder Yang and his colleagues put on, there were still dissenting voices.

“I agree with electing Advisor Zhang as an academician, but he is currently a Hong Kong Island resident. It would be best to wait until Hong Kong Island returns to China before electing him as an academician; or first elect him as a foreign academician and then re-elect him after Hong Kong Island returns to China.”

This statement, while seemingly well-considered, is actually a strategic retreat, employing a delaying tactic.

Unfortunately, Professor Yang didn't get entangled with the opposition on such matters. "Now let's start the vote by raising hands. Those who support the election of Advisor Zhang as an academician, please raise your hands!"

Peace Real Estate has been buying villas and castles overseas, and Zhang Heping has shown strong resistance to this, even Hua Lao and others couldn't do anything about it.

Zhang Heping's talk of an equal exchange was clearly aimed at the issue of access to the Sanxingdui underground base.

Previously, they could rely on Elder Hua and Director Wang to keep Zhang Heping in check. However, after Zhang Heping developed a brain-computer interface with covert lethality and iterated on it four times in a short period of time, things started to develop in an uncontrollable direction.

To put it bluntly, with the Peace Group's immense cash flow and annual income, they could easily move to Southeast Asia and establish themselves as kings.

Moreover, Zhang Heping has always held the initiative in the production and distribution of the Lifespan 120 drug, and there are also Lifespan 160 and Lifespan 200 drugs that have not been made public.

With the added benefit of the regeneration and repair fluid, it's hard to imagine what it would be like if Zhang Heping went off to establish an independent kingdom.

After a count, 116 people raised their hands in favor, reaching 76.3% of the total.

"More than half of the people support the selection of Advisor Zhang as an academician. The Chinese Academy of Sciences will follow up on this matter after the meeting and strive to complete the relevant procedures within 48 hours!"

After speaking, Elder Yang gave a serious look at those people in the main hall who hadn't raised their hands.

It was these people who caused Zhang Heping to be delayed in obtaining access to the Sanxingdui underground base.

"The second matter concerns the discussion about whether to dissuade Consultant Zhang from immigrating overseas."

Upon hearing this, those who still wanted to oppose Zhang Heping obtaining access to the Sanxingdui underground base were dumbfounded!
The issue of identity that they were prepared to repeatedly bring up has now been replaced by an even more critical issue!
Once Zhang Heping immigrates overseas, then they really won't need to object anymore.

The key point is that the consequences and impact of Zhang Heping's emigration will be attributed to these opponents.

"According to reliable sources, in the past nine months, the Peace Group has withdrawn 189 billion US dollars that it originally planned to invest in the mainland, and increased its overseas investment by 327 billion US dollars."

"In the past three months, Peace Real Estate Company has purchased 16 villas and castles in countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and they are all under renovation for future occupancy."

"In addition, Umbrella Security Company in the past..."

As Elder Yang presented the data, everyone present fell silent.

Everyone knows why the Peace Group did that; it's simply because they lost trust.

……

Zhang Heping was unaware that Elder Yang and his group were using another method to secure access to the Sanxingdui underground base for him.

He was just standing under the sunshade outside the villa, listening to Zhu Chengguang relay Old Bu's investigation findings. "Since it's confirmed, let them continue to follow up on that hammer in Area 51."

"Boss!" Zhu Chengguang sat up straight beside him, hands on his knees. "Someone in the US said that if you agree to sell the drug, they'll immediately take our people to see that hammer." Zhang Heping nodded. "I'll call the Americans later to confirm the drug sale. You can go ahead and get busy!"

After Zhu Chengguang left, the bodyguards on the perimeter stopped stopping Elder Hua and Director Wang.

However, Zhang Heping didn't say much to Hua Lao and the others. He made a phone call to the Americans while quickly returning to the underground laboratory.

Mr. Hua and Director Wang knew that this kind of behavior without boundaries was not good, but Zhang Heping's cold and distant behavior made them even more annoyed and uneasy.

Even though they know that Elder Yang is in the capital, fighting for better treatment and related privileges for Zhang Heping, they are still very worried that Zhang Heping will continue to insist on an equal exchange.

To put it bluntly, the number of technologies that China currently possesses that are competitive enough to attract Zhang Heping can be counted on one hand.

However, things did not develop as Hua Lao and his colleagues had feared.

Zhang Heping was simply too focused on his research (idling away) to waste energy managing his facial expressions or caring about other people's feelings.

The following day at noon, when Mr. Hua handed two faxes to Zhang Heping, Zhang Heping calmly accepted them and gave Mr. Hua a reassuring reply.

"I'll have Xiao Bei deliver the helmet and frog brain to the venue later, so they can experience the charm of the virtual dream game in advance."

Hearing Zhang Heping say this, the most excited people were not Hua Lao, but rather the two young men, Zhang Long and Zhang Hu.

"Dad, if you let my older brother take the helmet and the frog brain with him, what will we use?" Zhang Hu was the most agitated.

“Just make a new one,” Zhang Heping replied casually, without saying anything more.

After a while, Zhang Heping put down his bowl, said "Everyone, please enjoy your meal," and then took the two faxes that Hua Lao had just given him and went to the study on the second floor.

The fax contained two simple messages: one notifying Zhang Heping that he had been elected as an academician, and the other informing Zhang Heping to come and sign a confidentiality agreement when he had some free time.

The previous fax was from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, containing relevant information and details about benefits. Someone will contact Zhang Heping later.

The second fax was sent by the Sanxingdui Museum, and its meaning is self-evident.

Even though Hua Lao held back from saying anything, Zhang Heping knew that access to the Sanxingdui underground base had been granted to him.

I can't say I'm happy, because he forced this out of him through underhanded means, and there are definitely many people in mainland China who are dissatisfied with his actions.

But so what? As long as he achieves his goal, that's enough!
Shortly after Zhang Heping entered the study, Elder Hua followed him in.

Hua Lao originally wanted to talk about the access rights to the Sanxingdui underground base, but seeing Zhang Heping wearing a gold-plated black iron helmet, leaning back in his chair, wirelessly controlling the computer, he temporarily suppressed his many thoughts and sat quietly to the side, watching the webpage on the monitor change.

Judging from the content on the webpage alone, Zhang Heping is selecting attendees for the technical sharing session on December 12th.

Although the bombing of Area 51 in the United States had previously overshadowed the news about virtual reality game helmets, the topic had been overshadowed.

However, as the United States actively suppressed the attention surrounding the explosion, news about the virtual reality gaming headset quickly gained traction.

Naturally, the number of people applying to attend the conference on the official Peace website surged.

The list that Zhang Heping is currently screening is already comprised of personnel information that has been verified offline by the Heping Group.

Zhang Heping's criteria for selecting people is very simple: youth!

Based on this standard, he had previously only given the mainland expert group five places to participate in the conference.

This time, considering the two faxes, Zhang Heping selected a few more people, including the names of mainland experts.

He simply checked the boxes here, but when it came to the Peace Group's conference organizing team and the Umbrella Security Department, a little extra work was added.

Since the boss has never shortchanged them in terms of salary, bonuses, and benefits, these subordinates have no complaints. On the contrary, they want to take the opportunity to perform well and show off in front of the boss.

So when Zhang Bei, Zhang Long, and Zhang Hu arrived at the newly set-up technical sharing session venue in the afternoon with two virtual reality game headsets and the Frog Brain server, the Peace Group employees who had just relaxed were suddenly full of energy again, as if they had endless work to do.

While Zhang Long and Zhang Hu, wearing virtual reality game helmets, released weak mental energy to wander around, Zhang Bei, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, released his mental energy to intercept the mental energy of his two underlings who were running around aimlessly.

“I feel that the audience sitting in the first three rows is in danger. If the person using the virtual reality game helmet doesn’t listen to instructions and directs their mental energy towards the audience, something bad might happen,” Zhang Long said, taking off his helmet and expressing his concerns.

Zhang Bei laughed and said, "Put on your glasses and try to intercept Xiao Hu's mental power with me!"

After speaking, Zhang Long put on the gold-rimmed glasses hanging on his chest and used his invisible spiritual power to block Zhang Hu's rampaging spiritual power.

After a while, Zhang Bei saw that his fifth brother had not succeeded yet, and directly reminded him: "Sever his spiritual power. Don't be afraid of hurting Xiao Hu. Losing such a weak spiritual power will at most make him yawn!"

Zhang Long did as instructed, circulating his mental energy around Zhang Hu's virtual dream game helmet, forcefully severing Zhang Hu's weak outward mental energy.

Subsequently, no matter how Zhang Hu released his mental energy, Zhang Long's mental energy released through his gold-rimmed glasses always surrounded Zhang Hu, preventing him from having another chance to release his mental energy randomly.

After the three brothers played around for a while, they began to seriously discuss who would use their mental power to control the situation later, after Director Wang invited the experts from the mainland.

After a quiet discussion among the three of them, they decided that the eldest brother, Zhang Bei, would guard the front, while the twin brothers, Zhang Long and Zhang Hu, would stand by in the audience.

Of course, to ensure everything went smoothly, Zhang Bei asked Director Wang to move the mainland experts to the fourth row and leave the first three rows empty except for Zhang Long and Zhang Hu's seats.

After the mainland experts were seated, Zhang Bei had Director Wang arrange for two people to come to the podium. Then, Zhang Bei explained the relevant precautions for the trial to the two mainland experts next to him and the people in the audience.

"I'll emphasize again, do not actively control your mental energy, otherwise I will stop you and disqualify you from the meeting!"

Zhang Bei stared at the two middle-aged male experts in their forties or fifties beside him until they nodded in agreement. Only then did Zhang Bei tell them to put on the two motorcycle helmet-shaped virtual reality game helmets.

The two people in the first group tried it on for 5 minutes before Zhang Bei stopped them.

Although the two of them dragged their feet and wore it for another minute, Zhang Bei's powerful mental energy severed the weak mental energy they were releasing, leaving them only to make futile attempts in place.

As the two people stepped off the stage, a middle-aged man and woman who had been waiting impatiently rushed to grab the helmets from the table.

"I'll say it again, the trial period is only 5 minutes! If I stop you after that and you disobey my instructions again, today's test is over," Zhang Bei said coldly.
"If anyone has something to blame, it's the people in front who didn't follow the rules and didn't listen to instructions!"

...(End of chapter)