Break out of the courtyard

Transferring Zhang Zhaodi to work in Shenzhen, far from the core area of ​​the capital, would only affect Shenzhen, even if she were promoted three times before retirement. Moreover, there was still Guangdong Province overseeing her.

Those people certainly have a good plan!

Although Zhang Heping had considered sending his two sisters to local positions and then having the Heping Group invest in their respective locations to create political achievements for them.

But times have changed!
Even if the eldest sister Zhang Zhaodi retires at 55, she will only have 9 years left on the job. Coupled with the opposition from the capital, she can at most reach the bureau-level position in Shenzhen before retiring.

"You can talk to her about my sister's situation. I generally don't interfere with my family's choices, just like I don't interfere with my children's choices of partners." Zhang Heping casually avoided the topic.

His answer was, in itself, another form of rejection.

The second sister, Zhang Pandi, is in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's special task force. Now, she has sent her eldest sister to Shenzhen. On the surface, this seems to be pushing the Zhang family out of the core area of ​​the capital, but it also leaves room for the expectation that Zhang Pandi will be transferred back to the capital after Hong Kong's return to China.

There's a prerequisite: Hong Kong Island's return to China!
If Zhang Heping had immigrated abroad before the handover, Zhang Pandi would most likely have been left to work on Hong Kong Island, thus completely excluding her from the core area of ​​the capital.

"Peace!" Old Mrs. Zheng said, pulling her military overcoat tighter around her and stamping her feet. "I just talked to Zhao Di. She's not against being transferred to work in Shenzhen, but she hasn't decided which department to go to yet. She's going to discuss it with you and Pan Di before making a decision."

Zhang Heping nodded slightly, waved his right hand, and the surrounding scene changed once again.

While Hua Lao, Zheng Laotai, and the others were still wondering why the surroundings had turned into barren slopes, they saw Zhang Heping pick up a Type 38 rifle from a box at his feet and put several boxes of bullets in the pockets on both sides of his clothes.

Just as everyone else was astonished to discover that Zhang Heping was wearing an Eighth Route Army uniform, Zhang Heping raised his gun and fired a shot down the slope.

Then a rapid Japanese voice rang out from down the mountain, followed by a barrage of gunfire, the sound of bullets hitting the ground and trees, and the whistling sound of something rushing past.

"Good heavens! This group of Japanese soldiers has at least eight hundred men, a whole battalion!" Old Nie peeked down the mountain and excitedly ran back to collect weapons and ammunition. "Old Li, Old Qin, don't just stand there, grab your weapons and fight the Japanese!"

As Old Nie got up, he picked up an extra Type 38 rifle and tossed it to Old Hua. Then he turned and ran to Zhang Heping's side, lay down, cocked it, and fired—biu~
"Old Nie, your marksmanship is terrible!" Old Qin said, throwing a grenade far away.

After the grenade killed or wounded three or four Japanese soldiers, Old Qin said happily, "Playing games with Japanese soldiers is much more exciting than playing games with monsters!"

"Old Qin, that grenade throw was pretty good. I thought you were going to hurt your back and end up throwing it to me!" Old Li chuckled, carrying a box of grenades over. Braving the hail of bullets, he glanced at the situation down the mountain, then looked at Zhang Heping standing beside him, neither dodging nor avoiding the bullets, and asked in confusion:
"Advisor Zhang, did it hurt when those bullets hit you?"

boom!
No sooner had Old Li finished speaking than a mortar exploded nearby. Old Li and Old Qin instinctively shook their heads, trying to dispel the dizziness and tinnitus in their ears.

Although the others knew it was a game, they couldn't help but go forward to check on and ask about the injuries and bleeding from Li and Qin's heads.

Zhang Heping, with blood blooming all over his body, still stood steadily firing at the edge of the hillside. With a simple turn of his gun, he shot down a Japanese soldier who was trying to load a mortar shell.

With his next shot, Zhang Heping aimed at the mortar shell that had fallen to the ground and used its explosive force to take out the two Type 92 infantry guns over there.

The group, who had been laughing and joking, immediately scattered after realizing that the pain in this game was just like in real life, each looking for advantageous terrain to shoot.

Grandma Zheng and Director Wang did not take up guns and went into battle. Instead, they exchanged a slightly worried glance, wondering what Zhang Heping's intentions were in doing this.

"Advisor Zhang, there are too many Japanese soldiers. Could you get a few machine guns?" As soon as Old Li finished speaking, several semi-automatic rifles and a bunch of magazines appeared beside him.

On the other hand, Zhang Heping has switched from a rifle to a Gatling gun and has also started cheating and abandoning all martial ethics.

As Zhang Heping and Li Lao changed their weapons, the Japanese battalion that was supposed to take about an hour to kill was wiped out in less than three minutes.

"Damn it! It feels so much better to shoot with a rifle!" Old Nie was clearly not satisfied with the shooting. He put down his semi-automatic rifle and picked up a Type 38 rifle.

Zhang Heping wiped his bloodied face, and his body quickly returned to normal.

Then he looked at Elder Hua, Elder Li, and the others, and laughed, "How about that? Real enough, right?"

"That's so true!" Old Nie said as he disassembled the Type 38 rifle. "I'll have them apply to buy a batch of these game consoles from you as soon as I get back, so they can have live-fire combat training in the game every day!"

"We can't sell it yet!" As soon as Zhang Heping finished speaking, the scene around them changed again, and they suddenly found themselves on the deck of a wide aircraft carrier, surrounded by the boundless sea and blue sky.

Even though they had experienced multiple scenes, their attention was still drawn to the aircraft carrier beneath their feet and a fighter jet that was preparing to launch.

It wasn't until the new fighter jet burst off the deck and soared into the sky that Elder Hua and Elder Li came to their senses.

Old Nie stomped on the steel plate beneath his feet and asked Zhang Heping, "Advisor Zhang, is this kind of aircraft carrier we're standing on the same nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that Wucheng Shipyard is currently building?"

"Hmm!" Zhang Heping responded and slowly walked towards the edge of the deck.

"You two chat, I'll go take a look around..." Old Nie said, and then led Old Qin to find the aircraft carrier's command center and hangar.

Hua Lao had not forgotten the main purpose of his trip, especially after seeing how realistic the various scenes in this virtual dream game were, he became even more eager to bring Zhang Heping back to China.

However, after Zhang Heping sat down on the edge of the deck to start fishing, he did not express much opinion on the cooperation that Hua Lao and the others had mentioned, as well as the matters related to the Lifespan 120 potion.

After Elder Hua and Elder Zheng finished explaining the purpose of their visit, Zhang Heping asked them to leave the virtual dream game.

“Every gun has rifling, so we can determine which gun the bullet originated from based on the bullet's trajectory,” Zhang Heping said slowly to the eight people who were leaving the game pod.

"I plan to add a tracking device to the brain-computer interface to facilitate tracing the source of mental energy in the future, thereby reducing incidents of mental energy damage."

“Before this, I had many other research projects to attend to and didn’t have time to worry about anything else.”

Zhang Heping's words set the tone for today's conversation: rejection!

Although he phrased it tactfully, the underlying meaning was "rejection."

Old Hua didn't expect that with so many of them coming, they still couldn't persuade Zhang Heping. Did they really want Old Yang and the others to come from Shenzhen as well?
"Heping, could you spare some time to go back to Shenzhen tomorrow?" Director Wang was glanced at by Old Hua and knew it was time for her to play the emotional card again. "Old Yang and the others have also come to Shenzhen and hope to communicate with you face to face."

"If you have any requests, you can also mention them to Elder Yang and the others."

"No time!" Zhang Heping said indifferently and walked into his laboratory.

When the others followed, they were astonished to find that the long and narrow laboratory seemed to have come alive. Not only were all the equipment running, but large and small gold objects, bottles and jars were flying around in a seemingly chaotic manner, yet no two of them collided.

"Everyone, go upstairs and rest first. I'll take care of some things in the lab and come find you later." After saying this, Zhang Heping sat down at a computer desk and started typing something on the keyboard.

The group looked around in confusion and, finding no one else in the laboratory, reluctantly left after exchanging glances.

Director Wang spoke quietly with Old Lady Zheng for a few moments, and after going up to the Zhang family's living room, he parted ways with Old Man Hua and the others to talk to the two sisters, Zhang Zhaodi and Zhang Pandi.

Old Nie followed them out of the Zhang family villa, found a plastic chair on the flat ground, and sat down. Then he asked in confusion, "Old Hua, Consultant Zhang wasn't this difficult to talk to before, was he?"

Hua Lao shook his head slightly. If Zhang Heping had been difficult to talk to before, how could the mainland have acquired so much technology?

"Judging from Consultant Zhang's demeanor today, the multiplayer virtual dream game will probably be publicly announced soon!" Old Li frowned. "Isn't he afraid of foreign spies doing this..."

Hua Lao waved his hand, interrupting Li Lao's speculation.

He still remembered the surveillance methods used here; even if someone was speaking outdoors, as long as they were still in the neighborhood, there was a high chance that the bodyguards would be listening in.

Mr. Hua even wondered if a large area outside the residential compound might also be within their surveillance range.

Therefore, things like foreign spies stealing technology, which might have worked in the past, are now likely to disappear one after another.

Thinking back to the scene of Zhang Heping fighting the Japanese just now, this guy is ruthless to the enemy and ruthless to himself.

"We were too hasty in this matter!" Old Hua raised his right hand, tapped his right ear with his index finger, and said slowly, "Let's deal with Comrade Zhaodi's matter first, and put everything else aside for now!"

Upon seeing this, Mr. Nie instinctively wanted to check under the table to see if there was a listening device, because Mr. Hua's gestures were the sign language they used in their early years.

The next second, Old Nie reached out to tie his shoelaces to cover up his little act of checking under the table.

"Ahem!" Old Hua coughed to signal, and seeing that the others had stopped examining the area, he shook his head slightly and said, "Would you like to visit other places on Hong Kong Island later?"

Seeing that Elder Hua had changed the subject, the group realized that some things were not appropriate to say at this time, so they followed Elder Hua's lead and started talking about the situation in Hong Kong.

No sooner had Hua Lao and the others left the laboratory than Zhang Long and Zhang Hu couldn't help but ask their father if they could enter the multiplayer virtual dream game.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhaodi and Zhang Pandi, who were playing mahjong with Tang Xin and the others, were called out by Old Lady Zheng and Director Wang and sat down on the flat ground to chat quietly about work.

Because of the presence of outsiders like Elder Nie and Elder Qin, Zhang Heping didn't stay in the lab for long. After changing the nutrient solution for the biological brains and handling some automated production processes, he called his children out of the game pods and went upstairs together.

“Dad, I think the brainwaves of the multi-species gene regeneration brain are quite weak, so it shouldn’t be able to release mental power explosively!” In order to play the multiplayer virtual dream game for a longer time, Zhang Hu tried to persuade Zhang Heping to let them play freely with his guess.

"You think its brainwaves are weak?" Zhang Heping said without turning his head as he walked ahead. "If its brainwaves are like an elephant, yours are at most like a rabbit."

"This is only because I prevented it from continuing to grow abnormally. If its size were to increase threefold, I would worry that it might be able to release mental energy directly without the aid of a brain-computer interface!"

“Uh…” Zhang Hu scratched his head and asked, “If it can directly release its mental energy, won’t it extend its mental energy in all directions and kill people indiscriminately?”

Before Zhang Heping could answer, Zhang Long, who was standing next to him, seemed to understand. "So that's how it is. I was wondering why this biological brain server had a covered cast iron base. It's to prevent the abnormal release of mental energy by the regenerating brains of multiple species!"

"You need to be strong yourself to forge iron!" Zhang Heping walked out of the stairwell, stood aside, and said to his children who were filing out, "You should focus on improving your brainpower first, so that you can resist the unknown risks of experiments in the future."

After receiving a response from his children, Zhang Heping went out to find Hua Lao and the others.

Although Zhang Heping was unwilling to cooperate in going to Shenzhen to preside over various research projects in mainland China, it did not mean that he wanted to sever ties with the mainland.

He has already provided sufficient information on relevant research in mainland China, but he doesn't want them to come to him with every question, as it not only annoys him but also hinders the development of mainland researchers.

This is like drawing a picture based on a model. If a student can't draw it well, does that mean they have to ask the teacher to draw it for them?

That would definitely require the student to erase and redraw!
Therefore, even though Zhang Heping refused very decisively, Hua and his colleagues were not in a hurry, because the relevant research in mainland China was within a controllable range.

Only Zhang Heping's brain-computer interface and the discontinued Lifespan 120 drug are in a bit of a hurry!
Because Hua Lao had set the tone, other matters should not be discussed until communication with Zhang Zhaodi is completed.

So after Zhang Heping arrived, their conversation shifted away from research and pharmaceuticals, and instead extended from their previous discussion about Hong Kong to various domestic and international issues.

"Heping, the Shenzhen Foreign Exchange Trading Center was established on the 8th of this month. They should have sent you an invitation, right?" Old Hua asked casually.

Zhang Heping nodded slightly, "Shuting will go then, but I still need to see how things go, so it's not certain yet."

Old Li continued, "Last month, the financial system reform was decided, and some of Advisor Zhang's suggestions were adopted. Therefore, there will be a lot more work to do at the People's Bank of China."

This statement, seemingly referring to Zhang Heping's contributions, actually serves as a brief mention of Chang Wen, who has been transferred to the People's Bank of China and is Zhang Heping's eldest niece.

Zhang Heping simply smiled and did not elaborate on the topic.

Old Qin interjected, "I heard that the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant will officially begin commercial operation next month. With so many nuclear power plants in Guangdong Province, how much of the electricity generated each day can the province use?"

Hua Lao hadn't paid attention to this data, so he looked at Zhang Heping.

Zhang Heping took out his phone, looked at the website of China Southern Power Company, and replied with a smile: "Guangdong Province can consume 80% of the electricity they generate during the day; at night, it's less, only 50% or 60% can be consumed."

Old Qin continued, "Was the excess electricity transmitted to other provinces?"

Zhang Heping smiled and pointed to the ground, "Hong Kong Island is also a major electricity consumer, so very little electricity can be transmitted to other provinces."

Everyone chatted amongst themselves, glancing occasionally at Grandma Zheng and Zhang Zhaodi, until it was time for dinner.

After Mr. Hua, Mrs. Zheng, and the others had finished dinner and left Renheyi Community by car, Zhang Zhaodi finally found an opportunity to ask Zhang Heping for his opinion on her transfer to Shenzhen.

Looking at his hesitant eldest sister and his silent second sister, Zhang Heping smiled and said, "As long as you know one big premise, our family will not immigrate abroad, you'll know what to do!"

...(End of chapter)