Break out of the courtyard

As soon as Mr. Nie entered the conference room, he went straight to the podium. “Mr. Hua, I heard from Mr. Li last night that Consultant Zhang has set up a virtual dream game device in Hong Kong with a capacity of 600 people, and even recreated the fall of Nanjing!”

"Could we import this equipment? I want to take those old comrades to Nanjing to kill the Japanese devils!"

Hua Lao, who was taking notes in his notebook, said without looking up, "Old Nie, find a seat first, the video conference is about to start!"

Old Nie walked to Old Hua's side, glanced at the dense text on the other's notebook, then suppressed his impulse, looked around the room and saw Old Li and Old Qin waving at him, so he walked over to them.

As Elder Yang and his entourage arrived, the attendees, who had been whispering amongst themselves, immediately fell silent.

The guard, Xiao Qin, came to Hua Lao's side and asked a question in a low voice before returning to the computer next to him and using the mouse to open the audio for the video conference.

"The meeting will begin in 3 minutes. Now, let's play a slide!" said Guard Xiao Qin, projecting a slide onto the large screen. "The tiered classroom in the photo is a newly renovated virtual dream tiered classroom at the Hong Kong Island Peace College."

"The 600 black domes hanging from the classroom ceiling are actually virtual reality game helmets."

As Xiao Qin introduced the scene, the photos on the slides began to change one by one.

Secretary Chen did not return to the capital with Elder Hua. The higher-ups originally wanted to assign Elder Hua another secretary, but Elder Hua refused, stating that he intended to train Xiao Qin.

That is why Xiao Qin is acting as the host of this meeting.

However, Xiao Qin's computer skills were a bit lacking, and the slides were poorly made. When Secretary Chen sent back the photos, there was no brief explanation for them when they were pasted onto the slides.

Fortunately, he spoke clearly and did not stumble during his presentation, which allowed everyone present to understand the meaning of the photos.

After Xiao Qin finished presenting the slides, Hua Lao's figure appeared in the upper left corner of the screen, starting this morning's three-location video conference.

The meeting was triggered by Zhang Heping's virtual dream game equipment, which could accommodate 600 people.

But the problem that still needs to be solved is the brain-computer interface problem!
However, the prerequisite for cooperation still rests on Zhang Heping's family.

"Secretary Chen believes..." Old Hua looked at the others in the room and slowly said, "The reason why this dream of the fall of Nanjing is so realistic is because Hua Yingxiong Company, a subsidiary of the Peace Group, collected a large amount of text, photos, videos and other related materials on the Japanese island."

"He suggested that when we are collecting information related to the Korean War, we could consider soliciting relevant information from foreign countries."

"In addition, he suggested that we should not limit ourselves to the Korean War, but also consider other historical events with educational significance, and collect information to have Advisor Zhang construct them in a virtual dream!"

After Elder Hua finished speaking, Elder Yang turned on his microphone and asked, "If there are enough golden masks in Western Shu, what is the maximum number of people that can be accommodated in the illusion at the same time?"

On the large screen, a group of people in the image representing the Xishu conference room were seen silently saying something.

About ten seconds later, a voice came from the Xishu conference room: "Reporting to the leader, the number of golden masks discovered so far, including those that are broken, is only 322. We cannot assess the maximum capacity of the illusion."

"Unless Consultant Zhang can help us make more gold masks for testing!"

This brought the conversation back to the issue of brain-computer interface collaboration, causing a brief silence in the capital's conference room.

Because Zhang Heping publicly revealed his virtual dream game, the secrecy level of the Ruomu Brain-Computer and the Ruomu Divine Tree in the Sanxingdui underground base was lowered by one level.

Therefore, everyone in the three venues—the capital, western Sichuan, and Shenzhen—knew that the golden mask represented a primary brain-computer interface.

Furthermore, most people have already guessed the reason why Zhang Heping does not cooperate with the mainland in brain-computer interface research.

"When will Comrade Zhang Zhaodi go to the Shenzhen Municipal Health Bureau?" Old Qin suddenly asked.

Before Yang Lao's side could answer, Li Lao frowned and suggested, "Zhang Yi, the nephew of Consultant Zhang, graduated from the Computer Science Department of Capital University of Technology and stayed on as a lecturer. Last year, he obtained the title of associate professor."

"I suggest supporting Professor Zhang Yi's research on brain-computer interfaces and having him lead his team to Hong Kong Island for academic exchanges!"

None of the people brought by Elder Yang spoke; they all looked at Elder Yang, waiting for him to speak or for his signal.

With the names Zhang Zhaodi and Zhang Yi mentioned, Elder Yang understood the intentions of Elder Hua and his group of elders.

However, the names of Zhang Pandi, Zhang Ting, Zhou Xiaochun, and others were then mentioned, which made things difficult for Mr. Yang.

However, Yang also knew that the reason why Hua, Li and other elders brought up so many names of Zhang Heping's relatives was not to arrange things immediately, but just a bargaining tactic. In the end, they would only need to finalize one or two names.

……

While the capital is still deliberating on how to handle the personnel transfers of Zhang Heping's relatives, a large number of foreigners in Hong Kong want to see Zhang Heping but are unable to do so.

Compared to the 239 mainland Chinese prodigies who passed the second round of assessments, the number of those who passed from countries like Japan and the United States seems rather lackluster.

The United States has 59 gifted teenagers who passed the second round of assessments, the European Union has a total of 73, and the Northern Soviet Union, due to economic problems, only sent 29 teenagers, but unexpectedly all of them passed.

The remaining 100 spots were taken by countries such as Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and Africa.

More than 1 candidates came from Japan, but only 17 teenagers passed the test.

Logically speaking, with such a large number of test takers, the pass rate for Japanese students should not be so low.

The blame lies with these guys who waited for the answer outside the arena, missed their chance to enter, and directly lost their eligibility for the assessment.

These Japanese islanders didn't dare to protest like the other foreigners who lost their eligibility for the assessment, because before they came out, they were repeatedly instructed by their superiors to treat everyone in the Peace Group with courtesy, even if the other party was just a cleaner.

The reason for this can be traced back to the night that the Imperial Palace in Toto, Japan was burned down and struck by a large passenger plane.

Anyone with eyes can see whose handiwork it was, but since the Japanese did the first thing, they can't blame the Peace Group for doing the fifteenth!

Moreover, no one died on the Huangwu side, so it was a very restrained revenge!
The unexpected deaths of Mitsui and his gang, along with the mercenaries who inexplicably became split-brained individuals, caused those forces that wanted to secretly harm the Zhang family to suspend all their radical plans and instead adopt a policy of appeasement.

Perhaps because the Japanese islanders behaved humbly enough, the Peace Group agreed to let the Japanese island boys who failed the second round of assessments experience the virtual dream game.

However, because mainland teenagers and teachers also want to experience the virtual dream world, only 300 spots were allocated to the Japanese side for each session on the afternoon of the 11th.

Even so, the Japanese islanders still bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle, appearing extremely grateful.

While Zhang Heping was monitoring the biological brain state in the adjacent computer room, Zhang Bei, Zhang Nan, and others gathered a group of familiar relatives and friends, along with mainland teenagers and teachers, totaling 300 people, and were watching intently as the first batch of 300 Japanese islanders entered.

Zhang Bei wanted his father to change the random character mode to a selection mode, so that they could freely choose their faction. However, Zhang Heping had his own considerations, believing that only the random mode could reveal a person's true nature in a crisis.

Therefore, after the Nanjing Falls virtual dream game began, not all 300 Japanese islanders randomly became Japanese soldiers; a large portion of them became ordinary people in Nanjing.

Compared to yesterday, the tolerance of mainland teenagers and teachers has improved significantly; at least no one screamed or vomited like those Japanese island teenagers.

It's also worth mentioning that Zhang Bei and Zhang Long have learned their lesson and both chose the highest seats in the back row to avoid the risk of being vomited on.

At 5x perceived speed, 25 minutes of real time had passed. The first game ended around 130 minutes into the game because most of the Japanese and Hong Kong rich kids gave up on the experience.

Even though some wealthy second-generation Hong Kong residents gave up their spots, Zhang Heping did not increase the number of participants for each session at the Japanese Island event.

While the cleaning staff were tidying up the classrooms, Zhang Bei gathered his relatives, friends, and teachers from the mainland to discuss the next meeting place and the action plan to fight the Japanese invaders.

After discussing for a while, seeing that the cleaner was leaving and the Japanese people were about to enter, Zhang Bei couldn't help but look at Director Wang and asked, "Grandma Wang, is it really impossible to reveal the location of your underground organization?"

"According to the confidentiality regulations, it's not allowed!" Director Wang shook his head firmly.

"Grandma Wang, it's just a game, there's no need to take it so seriously!" Zhang Long said from the side. "If we hide with you, maybe we can all survive to the end!"

“Xiaolong, this virtual dream is not a game to me!” Director Wang said with a serious face. “I will ask my superiors for permission to go to the hideout in the dream.”

"If the higher-ups agree, I will come to your assembly point to find you."

"Okay then!" Zhang Long replied, no longer dwelling on the matter.

As the second batch of 300 Japanese islanders began to enter, Zhang Bei and his group quickly returned to their respective positions.

Outside the teaching building, the first group of 300 Japanese islanders who experienced the virtual dream game were being questioned by a group of team leaders.

One of the Japanese boys, who had randomly been assigned to the body of a Japanese soldier, was loudly recounting his experiences in the virtual dream world. Judging from his excited expression, he was one of the targets Zhang Heping was screening.

There were Japanese boys and girls who randomly ended up in Nanjing, ordinary people. Especially the girls, when they thought about their experiences in the dream, even though the dream memories were a bit blurry, they still felt panicked and didn't want to talk to outsiders.

Of course, there were also Japanese islanders who were so frightened that even when they were dragged into the sun, they still acted as if they had seen a ghost. Some would bury their heads in their hands and squat on the ground like ostriches, while others would scream and not allow anyone to touch them, or stare blankly into the air.

In the second round of assessments, only 17 Japanese candidates passed, yet they became the first to experience the virtual dream world, which truly displeased many foreigners.

Therefore, while the Japanese island boys were queuing up at the Peace Academy, many foreign boys came over with their entourages to check on the situation.

Some foreigners may not have seen the panicked and crying faces of the first and second batches of Japanese islanders, but in each subsequent batch of Japanese islanders who went to experience the virtual dream game, some people broke down and left with various expressions, making those who had not yet experienced the virtual dream game even more curious about what the Japanese islanders encountered in the game.

At 18:21 PM, Zhang Heping called on Zhang Bei, Director Wang, and others to go back and rest. He also freed up 300 more seats for the Japanese island boys and began testing with 600 full people in each batch.

To accelerate the elimination process and to test the stability of the regenerative brain server, Zhang Heping increased the perception time speed of the virtual dream game from 5 times to 7 times.

Last night, after administering the brain regeneration medication, the speed increase was 8 times.

It was later discovered that the brainwave activity of the regenerated brain was somewhat sluggish, so today's test did not exceed 8 times.

The Japanese leader, who was in charge of gathering intelligence outside, had learned from the previous nine groups of Japanese boys that time in the virtual dream game was faster than real time.

Such crucial information gradually led the people of the Japanese islands outside to accept the reality that each batch of Japanese island boys could only last for about twenty minutes.

However, when Zhang Heping increased the speed of the virtual dream game to 7 times, each batch of Japanese island boys could only last for more than ten minutes.

The team leaders wanted to know what was going on and wanted to go in and experience it themselves, but once inside, they had to leave the academy with the others who had already experienced it, and were not allowed to stay there any longer.

After determining the limits of the Japanese island boys' endurance, Zhang Heping set the game helmet's lifting device to end in 15 minutes. He then had the bodyguard captain, who had just changed shifts, stand guard on the platform while he went home for dinner.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there are more than 10,000 Japanese island teenagers. Dividing that by 600 people per batch, there are only about 20 batches, and the total time is only six or seven hours.

If the regenerative brain server is destroyed by those Japanese islanders within the next few hours, then there's no need to keep it.

Zhang Bei, Zhang Nan, and the others had dinner at the Peace Hotel because they were exchanging game tips.

They had originally planned to go to the teaching building to find their father after dinner, hoping to re-enter Nanjing and carry out their newly researched counterattack plan.

As a result, when they arrived halfway there, they were stopped by plainclothes bodyguards who told them that Zhang Heping had already gone home and that the Virtual Dream Classroom was only open to Japanese people and would close for a break after the experience was over.

With no other option, the hundreds of people had to break up halfway and leave the counterattack plan for tomorrow.

Yan Wo Yi Community, The Peak, Hong Kong Island.

My nephew Tang Lie and his children also went to the lecture hall of Peace College this afternoon to experience the virtual dream game "Nanjing Falls".

Moreover, they were among the first group to give up and not persevere.

Upon hearing that Zhang Heping had returned home, Tang Lie called his third brother, Tang Qiang, grabbed two bottles of red wine, and excitedly ran to the Zhang family next door.

"Uncle, would you like to try some of my homemade wine?" Tang Lie said with a smile as he walked into the Zhang family restaurant with a bottle of red wine. "It was just shipped from the French estate this afternoon. If you like it, I'll bring the wine barrel over for you later."

Zhang Heping glanced at the unlabeled bottle and said, "You can try some."

When Tang Xin heard that Zhang Heping wanted to drink, she got up with a smile and went to get a bottle of wine and a wine glass.

Chen Shuting, who was ladling soup nearby, looked at the two bottles of red wine that Tang Lie and the others had placed on the table and said with a smile, "Looking at this wine, I even want to try making my own wine."

"Didn't Aunt Chen buy a few castles and estates in Europe?" Tang Qiang, the third nephew, chimed in. "If it's inconvenient for you to go there now, you can have the managers there plant the grapes first, and then you can start making wine as soon as you go."

"Don't look at me!" Zhang Heping met Chen Shuting's gaze and smiled, "If you want to make your own wine, just buy some grapes from outside."

"Or, you could choose a village in the country to grow grapes and make wine."

...(End of chapter)