Chapter 64: Encounter of The Third Kind
Without a second thought, Yang Qiu closed the webpage. He didn't even bother to reply.
The sugar coating was thick, and the bombs wrapped within were huge. Although Yang Qiu was extremely tempted by the candy shell outside the bombs, he couldn't handle this firepower right now!
Cement and fertilizer production lines were one thing, but even the smallest ten-thousand-kilowatt thermal power generator unit easily cost millions of RMB. This candy-coated temptation would easily suffocate Yang Qiu!
Most frustrating were "Director Lu's" undisguised intentions—the cement and fertilizer production lines were still manageable. An African worker trained for a couple of months could get up to speed, and even an average person from this other world could be transformed into an industrial worker with some teaching.
But could someone from this other world, who didn't even have an elementary school diploma, operate a thermal power generator unit?
If Yang Qiu took the cement and fertilizer production lines, he couldn't possibly ignore the power generator units. Would he then need to arrange operators for the thermal power generator units?
Would he need to plan the logistics supply route for the coal used for power generation?
What about arranging for personnel to lay electrical circuits and maintaining high-voltage electrical boxes?
Yang Qiu could imagine that if he dared to take this bait, the shortfall of hundreds of "Tool Player Exclusive" helmets would come crashing down on him—otherwise, was he to let all that complementary machinery sit in his yard gathering dust? Furthermore, his yard might not even be large enough to accommodate it all!
Taking a step back, even if Yang Qiu could fulfill the demand for these several hundred "Tool Player Exclusive" helmets, he still wouldn't agree to it. After all, if he did so, the development of the territory would be entirely at the mercy of others.
I can't provide so many helmets right now, and even if I could, I wouldn't be foolish enough to hand over the initiative to someone else. Has this person lost their mind? This approach is drastically different from the previous behavior… Wait!
Yang Qiu frowned as he realized things weren't as simple as they seemed.
The original identity of "Director Lu" was just a scientist.
Although Yang Qiu didn't know who was using the ID "Director Lu" to communicate with him over the Internet, he was certain it was related to the organization connected to the original "Director Lu."
Would a typical governmental organization casually allocate tens of millions in resources just to impress?
That was impossible—even in cases where local governments colluded with external parties to embezzle central funds, there would be projects created that appeared decent on the surface. Preparations were made, and even results that looked somewhat plausible in order to pass muster would be produced. But even if they managed to get away with it initially, they would inevitably face questioning and investigation later on, followed by a series of resignations.
An organization related to neuroscience research, being so lavish as to allocate resources worth several tens of millions just to gain favor though…
Yang Qiu came to a realization: "…"
As someone from Earth himself, Yang Qiu thought about it from the perspective of his pre-transmigration self and could roughly guess what the person behind the "Director Lu" account and their associated organization were thinking.
They weren't really after helmets or other superficial needs. Their curiosity lay in an "encounter with the third kind," a pressing need to understand something beyond humanity, something extraterrestrial!
This other world, wasn't it just an alien planet!
The few "informants," Ji Tang, Master Liu, and Old Geng, had personally interacted with living individuals beyond Exile Town and learned that there were other human forces aside from Exile Town and Taranthan. It was impossible that "Director Lu" wasn't curious about the world where Taranthan was situated.
In other words, "Director Lu" was no longer content with engaging in uneventful and trivial "backdoor transactions." They now wished to forcefully open the door to the other world and forcibly subdue the "gatekeeper," Yang Qiu.
What did millions of dollars worth of equipment matter? If Yang Qiu dared to give in, he had no doubt that "Director Lu" would be even more enthusiastically supportive of his pursuit of supremacy. After all, manipulating proxies was a play that the Chinese were well adept at; they just disdained active participation.
Once Yang Qiu understood the intricacies behind this, he became more composed instead. He could empathize with "Director Lu's" curiosity and thirst for knowledge, but… there was absolutely no "encounter of the third kind." All there was, was a game.
No matter how you people interpret it, as far as I'm concerned, "OtherWorld" is just a game!
Thus, Yang Qiu reopened his web browser and sent a straightforward email reply:
"Dear player, 'OtherWorld' is currently in closed beta testing, and the official release date is not yet determined. Please stay tuned!"
What it meant in essence: Backdoor exchanges were temporarily on hold. There were currently no backdoor helmets available, and when they would be available was still indeterminate, so wait for further updates.
When the expert task force's Professor Yin Zhengliang saw this response, he didn't know whether to laugh or sigh in exasperation.
"He's still rather vigilant, huh?" Professor Yin Zhengliang shook his head with a chuckle.
The "target's" identity was still a mystery. Apart from being able to confirm the pro-China sentiment of the "target" and their knowledge of their nation, which couldn't be possessed without long-term residence, the origins and life of the "target" remained unknown.
Despite the deployment of national resources and several weeks of investigation, authorities were still unable to pinpoint how a living person could simply appear out of thin air. This was a rather eerie situation.
Even more unsettling was the fact that after deploying numerous elite agents and using various surveillance methods, a bizarre discovery was made: even when simply tracking the "target" taking a short distance, say, to a restaurant about two hundred meters away, the "target" was able to shake off all surveillance.
Professor Yin Zhengliang had personally reviewed the relevant visual materials himself. The images captured by law enforcement officers' body cameras and unmanned surveillance drones clearly showed the "target." However, in circumstances where the frame rate of the footage was unaffected, and the agents and drones were undisturbed, the individual in the footage would inexplicably turn into an unrelated bystander.
This inexplicable phenomenon was beyond anything that Professor Yin Zhengliang could comprehend, and the technical departments had not been able to provide any conclusive findings either.
In short, all involved in this covert operation, including members of the expert task force, wouldn't dare suggest "taking control of the 'target' first before further consideration." Nobody was willing to bear the responsibility should the "target" be startled and disappear just like how he had first appeared.
"Never mind, impatience won't solve anything. It's best to wait," Professor Yin Zhengliang muttered as he rubbed his temples.
While Lu Yiyun and her group of scientists were concerned about whether the helmet's technology could be used for medical purposes, Professor Yin Zhengliang was different. When he saw the videos Ji Tang had taken, a single thought took hold of his mind—living extraterrestrials.
Compared to players who only cared about whether NPCs dropped equipment or not, this professor from the Public Security University saw much more:
The "eccentric cavalry" wasn't surprised by the compressed, uniformly sized instant noodles. This indicated the presence of mass-produced products in that world.
A portion of these "eccentric cavalry" wore robes, while others wore armor resembling something from a period drama. Besides those robes, even the high-quality armor showed signs of industrial processing, especially the shoulder guards. Those curved shoulder guards made from an unidentified alloy material clearly weren't forged by hand. Even from Ji Tang's close-up shots, they looked like a result of a hydraulic forge press!
It was difficult to determine how advanced this world's industrial technology was, but at least it proved one thing: industrial development did exist in this strange world within the "game"!
This was a world with both industry and magic, where undead, humans, and monsters coexisted. If Professor Yin Zhengliang didn't think rationally and knew every helmet the research institute possessed was precious, he would have bound one to himself and headed "online"…
Having sent the response that greatly perturbed Professor Yin Zhengliang, Yang Qiu was bothered if his stance might cause the former even more headaches. He casually washed up, had breakfast, and signed off on receiving a delivery package.
Only after dealing with miscellaneous matters on Earth did he change into his "Lord Yang" outfit and return to Exile Town's Town Hall.
Inside the Town Hall, within the small space between the cabinet and a wall, was a bed.
Purchased from the suburban furniture market, the total cost of the cheap single bed, including the frame and the mattress, was only eight hundred yuan.
And the owner of this bed was… Alfred Lowell.
Inspector Lowell didn't reveal any expression seeing Yang Qiu appear from the abrupt spatial rift and merely nodded in acknowledgment before returning to his elegant partake of afternoon tea.
Well, theoretically speaking, it should be Yang Qiu's afternoon tea. The oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip muffins were all from Yang Qiu's cupboard.
Besides eating and drinking Yang Qiu's stuff, Inspector Lowell was also wearing Yang Qiu's regular everyday clothes: a simple white shirt and casual trousers that, combined, cost just over 50 yuan.
Yang Qiu also calmly nodded in greeting to his new roommate. "It's great that you can adapt to life here, Inspector Lowell."
"Why not? Though it's somewhat noisy, Taranthan undead are indeed the friendliest non-human creatures I've encountered." Inspector Lowell put down his cup and glanced nonchalantly at Yang Qiu.
His demeanor was even more indifferent, and he exuded the air of an affluent master.
Yang Qiu: "…"
Yang Qiu hadn't spared any expense when he invited the Holy Legion cavalry unit to Exile Town. Besides accommodation and food for several days, he had even provided additional supplies and rations for their return journey.
Initially, Yang Qiu had ulterior motives regarding his actions.
However, the one Yang Qiu hoped to persuade to stay with this expenditure was the "young man," Jorge Andres.
Having experienced being just slightly over a century old before, Yang Qiu was well aware of the fervor that noble ideals and lofty aspirations could inspire in young minds. He was confident that by using the bait of a brighter future in Exile Town compared to Carmore, he could ignite Andres's ambition and convince him to stay.
Therefore, he had specially engaged with Andres's superior in a discussion on the "future"—the same words said to Andres by both Yang Qiu and Lowell would weigh differently. If Yang Qiu spoke directly with "young" Andres, who was guarded against him, the latter would definitely be suspicious of any ulterior motives.
Ironically, perhaps Yang Qiu's display had been a tad too convincing, and he watched as Andres led his men away. Instead, it was Lowell, the more seasoned old-timer, who chose to stay…
Yang Qiu was somewhat regretful regarding this outcome. After all, both having lived for so long, surely they would understand each other well enough. Turning Lowell into an ally was clearly out of the question. This fellow obviously believed he was scheming, ambitious, and a top-tier threat. Yang Qiu would be content as long as Lowell didn't tread on any of his sore spots.
But, of course, Yang Qiu was one to be restricted by the apprehensions of others. Regardless of Lowell's watchful gaze on him, he had tasks at hand that couldn't be delayed.
Yang Qiu took off his outer robe and hung it up, then casually poured himself a cup of tea before taking a seat in his usual high-backed chair, facing Lowell.
"The Taranthan undead are different from others because they possess pure, newborn souls, curious about this world," Yang Qiu said with a smile. "I appreciate the purity of these undead, but you must understand, respected inspector, that the nature of this world is not as simple as the undead might perceive."
Lowell, accustomed to Yang Qiu's bold statements, fell into a brief silence…
Lowell wasn't able to refute one bit with regard to Yang Qiu's use of the word "purity" to describe these undead beings. In some sense, these undead treated him with more respect than some of the Camore outcasts did.
Having ventured out himself while Yang Qiu was away, Lowell noticed how the undead would avoid the commoners sweeping the streets, not wanting to disturb them, yet they frequently pestered him.
Not categorizing people based on status and identity, to a certain extent, could still be considered pure.
"From the sound of it, are you planning to teach these summoned undead about the dangers of the world?" Lowell asked sarcastically.
"Exactly. The undead have forgotten the heavy burdens and pain from their past lives. They are innocent, newly born entities in this world," Yang Qiu said, his tone earnest and serious. "They yearn for exploration, for magic and power. They hope to possess greater strength to eliminate the monsters that threaten humanity's living space and protect their homes and people.
"Given our respective roles, we must acknowledge the nobility, sanctity, and loftiness of this goal. As a summoner, I am more than willing to guide these adorable beings with all my might."
Lowell: "…"
The black-robed inspector felt an overwhelming numbness within him as his expression became wooden. Whatever. Apply grand words like "noble" and "sanctified" to undead creatures if it makes you happy…
Suppressing the discomfort, Black-robed Inspector Lowell forcibly inquired, "So, Yang, what exactly do you plan to do with these undead?"
Yang Qiu had a serious look as he said solemnly, "I believe it's time to teach the undead the concept of 'the price of power.' Everything I do from now on is aimed at helping them understand the true nature of this world. I want to make it clear, respected inspector, that my only intention is to avoid any misunderstandings between us. I highly value the Goddess of Prosperity myself and hold a deep respect for ascetics like you. I would be truly disappointed if our friendship were to suffer due to misunderstandings."
Lowell: "…"
When did we even become friends… But that's not important for now. What is it exactly that you want to do with these undead?!
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