Song He waited impatiently for ten minutes before the livestream resumed.
"Welcome back! I just contacted the livestream platform. They activated a backup server, so things should stabilize!" Wei Liqun said, sounding less than confident. "There was nothing we could do—the audience's enthusiasm was just too overwhelming!"
"Back to the main topic: why are there two major press conferences in advance?"
"First, the technology we're announcing this time will profoundly overturn humanity's established ideas. Everyone needs some time in advance to digest the information and discuss and accept the birth of this technology. That way, when the technology matures in the future, people won't be at a loss for what to do."
"Second, although the technology isn't mature yet, it's somewhat urgent. By announcing it early, those who need it can make reservations in advance and avoid too many people missing the opportunity."
Wei Liqun paused, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. "Before officially announcing the new technology, let me tell you a little story!"
"The story comes from Chapters Nine and Ten of Journey to the West."
"The Jing River Dragon King violated Heaven's laws and, according to the law, was to be taken to the Dragon Slicing Platform and executed. The person responsible for executing him, Wei Zheng, was a minister of Emperor Taizong of Tang. So the Dragon King appeared in Emperor Taizong's dream to beg for mercy. Emperor Taizong readily agreed and said, 'Since Wei Zheng will execute you, I can save you!'"
"When the day came to execute the Dragon King, Emperor Taizong deliberately summoned Wei Zheng to the palace to play chess. During the game, Wei Zheng dozed off, and Taizong didn't wake him. As soon as Wei Zheng woke up, Qin Shubao came shouting and carrying a bloody dragon's head through the palace gate, saying that it had fallen from the clouds at a crossroads."
"Emperor Taizong was stunned, but Wei Zheng remained calm and said that this dragon was the one he had beheaded in a dream just moments before. Taizong was distressed. He had promised to spare the Dragon King's life and thought that keeping an eye on Wei Zheng's physical body would be enough. He never expected that Wei Zheng could slay a dragon even in a dream."
"After the Dragon King reached the underworld, he was furious and went to the King of Hell to make a false accusation. The King of Hell sent a judge to the mortal realm to bring Emperor Taizong down to the underworld, where the three parties would face one another."
"Emperor Taizong's soul followed the judge to the underworld. After meeting the King of Hell, he explained the situation in just a few words, making it clear that he himself bore no responsibility for the Dragon King's death. The King of Hell was quite accommodating and had the judge retrieve the Book of Life and Death to see how much longer Taizong was destined to live."
"The judge brought over the Book of Life and Death. It stated that the Emperor Taizong of Tang of Jambudvipa was destined to live until the thirteenth year of the Zhenguan era. His allotted lifespan had just ended. The judge was startled and secretly took out a brush. He added two horizontal strokes to a single character, changing 'the thirteenth year of Zhenguan' to 'the thirty-third year of Zhenguan'!"
"The King of Hell took the Book of Life and Death and asked, 'How many years have passed since Your Majesty ascended the throne?' Taizong said, 'Thirteen years.' The King of Hell breathed a sigh of relief and said, 'Then you still have twenty years left.' The case was settled, and he invited Taizong to return to the mortal realm."
When Wei Liqun's story reached this point, the audience at the press conference could not help but stir. Every face was filled with disbelief.
Everyone was naturally very familiar with the stories in Journey to the West. They had practically worn the book out during childhood. But now that Wei Liqun had brought it up, its hidden meaning made everyone's imaginations run wild!
The comments in the Livestream Room exploded as well. The number of comments surged rapidly, reaching several million per second!
Sure enough, the Livestream Room went black again and froze!
Song He and Xiang Xiaotong browsed the news on their phones. Netizens were leaving comments and discussing the press conference beneath the news post, and the whole internet was in an uproar.
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! What does Wei Liqun mean by telling this story?"
"Resurrection after death?"
"Think about it carefully—it's terrifying! This is a story about someone dying and coming back to life, isn't it?"
"Oh no, the marketing account actually guessed right. I thought it was going to be some new type of defibrillator or something, but the atmosphere doesn't feel like that. It sounds like they're introducing an actual technology that can bring the dead back to life!"
The livestream platform fought desperately to keep things running. After just two minutes, the livestream resumed.
Wei Liqun stood onstage waiting. He reached up and pressed his earpiece, then picked up the microphone.
"The livestream platform has successfully repaired the problem. Welcome back!"
"I'm sure everyone is familiar with the story from earlier: the Second General guarding the palace gate and suppressing ghosts in Journey to the West, and Emperor Taizong returning to life from the underworld!"
"Our Chenghuang Company founder, Mr. Song He, also told this story at the project mobilization meeting!"
"You told it?" Xiang Xiaotong turned her head and asked.
"Of course not. I never told it at all." Song He shrugged. "It's just business promotion. You have to tell stories to give users something memorable."
Onstage, Wei Liqun continued to embellish the story.
"Song He said that the character who left the deepest impression on him in the entire story was the judge. With a simple brush and two light strokes, he deceived the Ten Kings of Hell and let Emperor Taizong live another twenty years!"
"In Journey to the West, the Book of Life and Death is an important prop. When Sun Wukong stormed into the underworld, he also grabbed the Books of Life and Death belonging to the monkeys and monkey descendants, then recklessly scribbled over them and erased all their names."
"Later, some people saw a few monkeys near Flower-Fruit Mountain that looked unnaturally old and frail. A rumor spread that they were the monkeys whose names had been erased from the Book of Life and Death. Without names for the soul-reaping ghosts to find, they had quietly lived for hundreds or thousands of years."
"After Song He finished telling all this at the company meeting, he asked everyone present whether there was any scientific method that could alter the Book of Life and Death."
"A minor alteration would be adding two horizontal strokes to a character in one's allotted lifespan to extend it for a while. A major alteration would be erasing it entirely, so that when the King of Hell and his ghost officers checked the Book of Life and Death, they would find no such person!"
Wei Liqun paused and surveyed the entire venue, his tone growing heavier.
"Believe it or not, there really is a scientific method to alter the Book of Life and Death!"
"That is Human Hibernation—a technology mentioned in countless science-fiction novels!"
"Stored in Liquid Nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius, decay will stop, aging will stop, and the speed of chemical reactions will approach zero. Time will seem to change from flowing water into solid ice, allowing the human body to be preserved for hundreds or thousands of years!"
"The soul may appear to have already entered the underworld, but as long as the temperature rises again, the person can still return to the mortal realm and come back to life!"
"A person suffering from a terminal illness can be frozen and placed into hibernation, then thawed and treated once medical technology has advanced!"
"Of course, Human Hibernation isn't a new concept. In the last century, some wealthy people had themselves frozen, hoping to be thawed in the next century and achieve immortality. But the results were poor. Many frozen people were found to have internal bleeding and damaged organs. Thawing them had to be postponed indefinitely."
"Countless medical companies have announced that they were developing Hibernation Technology, but they either never truly developed it or failed to develop it successfully. Their actual purpose in making those announcements was simply to drive up their stock prices and swindle money from the stock market with false promises."
"Chenghuang Company isn't listed and has no need to raise money through the stock market. Chenghuang is already extremely popular and has no need for publicity stunts. Most importantly, Chenghuang's corporate culture doesn't permit hype over matters where we have no confidence."
"We assembled an army of scholars and invested enormous sums to begin researching Hibernation Technology early. After countless setbacks, we've finally made some progress!"
Wei Liqun suddenly announced loudly:
"Next, I'm going to pray that the Livestream Room remains stable and doesn't crash, because we're going to demonstrate the latest progress in Hibernation Technology live, right here!"
"Please welcome Nobel Prize winner Antonio, Lu Chengen, director of the Chenghuang Institute, and the other core members of the Hibernation Technology team to the stage!"
Thunderous applause erupted, and the audience wore exaggerated expressions.
The netizens in the Livestream Room went crazy as well, flooding the screen with comments.
"Holy crap, they're livestreaming it?"
"Stop posting comments! Keep the livestream stable!"
"This is terrifying. They're not going to thaw out a person live, are they?"
"Are they going to put someone into hibernation live?"
Before you continue