That afternoon, You Gui stayed and chatted with him for a while before leaving. She still had work to finish and had no idea how late she would be busy, but tomorrow she could finally get some proper rest. They agreed to meet outside the venue the next morning.
After You Gui left, exhaustion suddenly washed over Shi Yuan. He lay down on the bed and fell straight asleep...
He had no idea how long he had slept before his phone's gentle ringtone woke him. Still groggy, Shi Yuan answered and held it to his ear.
"Yuanyuan?"
Wei Zelin called out in confusion.
"Mm-hmm." Shi Yuan rolled over with his eyes closed.
Wei Zelin stared at the pitch-black screen on his phone and realized what had happened. He laughed. "Tired? I ordered you some food. Remember to eat before going back to sleep."
"Okay..." He himself couldn't even remember whether he had actually said it aloud.
Half an hour later, a knock at the door jolted Shi Yuan awake. He remembered hearing Wei Zelin say he had ordered him takeout, but when the knock came, he thought he was dreaming.
After collecting the delivery, Shi Yuan immediately picked up his phone. There was nothing in his call history, but when he opened WeChat, it showed a twenty-minute call.
Shi Yuan scratched his head. He had thought the call with Wei Zelin was a dream.
He felt much more awake after eating, but since he was unfamiliar with the city, he didn't wander around. He also avoided calling Wei Zelin so Wei Ming wouldn't discover him. After showering, he washed the clothes he had worn that day and hung them up.
A little after nine, Wei Zelin video-called him again. Shi Yuan told him what he and You Gui had eaten that day, how nice the hotel was, and how there was greenery all outside the window... They talked until Shi Yuan grew sleepy, and only then did he go to bed.
Early the next morning, Shi Yuan got up, washed, and dressed neatly. He moved the still-damp clothes from the bathroom to the window, then changed his shoes and headed out.
Before going, Shi Yuan's idea of the venue had been nothing more than a big plaza with a large stage and a crowd around it. Only after meeting You Gui in the sea of people did he realize just how enormous the venue Magic Cube Technology had arranged was!
"Wow! You mean from this street all the way to that hotel?" Shi Yuan gestured over the free map.
You Gui explained it to him, following along on her own map. "Right. Look here. This is S City's most luxurious and famous five-star hotel. The Moat is north of it. This street stretches east to Times Square and west to S City's landmark plaza. To the south is the main entrance where we're standing now, and there's another entrance on each of those two sides."
Shi Yuan counted with his finger. "One, two, three, four, five... It covers five whole streets?"
You Gui looked proud by association. "Mm-hmm. You could also say Magic Cube Technology has borrowed the entire Emerging District."
"S City's biggest technology park and Times Square are both in the Emerging District, but tickets are only required today and tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, everything opens to the public, so there'll be even more people and it'll be even livelier."
Shi Yuan and You Gui queued at the entrance. Up ahead, they could see two robots over two meters tall, one on either side. Their heads slowly turned back and forth, and their eyes were cameras surveying the surroundings. There was a small screen in the center of each robot's chest. When someone in line showed it a QR code, it raised its right hand to scan it, while the cameras in its eyes scanned and recorded the information linking each code to one person. It was incredibly fast, taking barely ten seconds per person.
More than twenty such robots stood up ahead, allowing an average of 120 people to pass through smoothly every minute. So even during the busiest morning rush, everyone was getting in very quickly.
Besides a few patrolling staff members and security guards maintaining order, there was even a squad of fully equipped armed police at the entrance.
The young man ahead of Shi Yuan muttered to his companion, "Holy crap, they've got armed police guarding the gate? Isn't that a bit extravagant? Is Magic Cube Technology going this all-out now?"
"It's for everyone's safety. Still, that's pretty damn impressive. Huh? What's going on with that person up there?"
Shi Yuan looked up at that. Two stylishly dressed girls stood at the front of the line. After the girl on the left scanned her code, the robot suddenly raised its right hand and set off electronic fireworks. Then an electronic voice rang out from its speakers. "Welcome, esteemed VIP Ms. ***, to Magic Cube Technology's tenth anniversary celebration!"
Somehow, the robot on the right was linked to it too. It raised its left hand at the same time and launched electronic fireworks, announcing in the same electronic voice, "We hope you enjoy your visit!"
A staff member patrolling nearby immediately noticed what was happening. After glancing at the information on the robot's chest screen, they eagerly escorted the two girls inside, saying they could accompany them throughout the event.
"What the hell? Didn't we all get our tickets from the official website? Why are theirs so fancy?"
"I didn't," someone countered.
"I got mine in Lu Weiwei's livestream. I can sit in D Section when the performances start."
"Damn! Why doesn't mine have that?"
You Gui whispered to Shi Yuan, "My code has employee privileges. I can take you into C Section later."
The crowd instantly grew noisy over the issue of special privileges. A staff member maintaining order immediately lifted the microphone clipped to their collar and explained, "Welcome to the celebration, everyone. As you all know, many popular stars and our Magic Cube streamers with tens of millions of followers will be performing today and tomorrow. We have a large number of attendees this time, so to ensure everyone's safety and maintain order, seats will be randomly assigned after your codes are scanned. But don't worry about being separated from your friends or family. Since you purchased linked tickets, the seating system will automatically place you together. And if your assigned seats are far from the stage, that's fine too. We'll have full 3D projections in all four directions throughout the venue, and we'll also be handing out little gifts..."
The gifts and the staff member's gracious handling of the situation soothed the restless crowd.
Magic Cube Technology's seating arrangements were straightforward and blunt. A Section, with the best view, was reserved for senior company executives and red-hot rising stars. It was also the smallest section with the fewest people.
B Section was for the various streamers signed with Magic Cube Technology, numbering around fifteen thousand. Almost all of them had come, and theirs was the second-largest section.
C Section was for Magic Cube employees and their families. Magic Cube Technology had sixty thousand employees at its headquarters, but it also had practically the largest technical workforce of any technology company in the country. Many technical staff, Publicity Department employees, and others had to remain at their posts over these few days, so the number registered for this section was about the same as B Section. Most were family members attending without the employees themselves, like Xiao Ying, whose brother was still hard at work doing overtime.
Finally, D Section, F Section, and G Section were for the remaining general audience. D Section offered the best view of those, and many stars and streamers had secured spots there to give away to their fans in prize draws.
There was plenty going on behind the scenes here too. Naturally, bigger names with closer ties to Magic Cube Technology received more spots.
Afterward, a few special-access codes appeared in the neighboring lines as well, each producing a different response. One person even got a hug from a robot, leaving them both delighted and bewildered. "The code my old man gave me actually has special privileges?"
Before long, it was their turn. You Gui's code merely brought up a line of text, and she went inside without any fuss.
When Shi Yuan's turn came, the robot raised its right hand and scanned his code. Then its enormous head suddenly moved up and down, the cameras in its eyes scanning Shi Yuan from head to toe as its electronic voice repeated, "Please turn around. Please turn around."
Shi Yuan: "???"
Completely baffled, he turned in a full circle.
The people behind him were curious too, but aside from making Shi Yuan turn around, the robot asked nothing else of him, nor did it produce any flashy effects.
Magic Cube Technology headquarters-Technical Department Security Center.
Large display screens filled the room, along with neat rows of programmers, each busy at their own computer.
Suddenly, an alarm beeped. Everyone instantly looked up, turning in unison toward the topmost display to search for something. Then the familiar electronic voice of a robot sounded.
"Attention, attention. Target individual detected. Target individual detected."
"He's here, on L2."
The people near L2 glanced at the brief footage appearing on the display. "Er Fang's the one receiving him."
The display showed the view from the robot Er Fang. From its considerable height, only the top of the person's head and a rough view of his clothing were visible.
"He's here pretty early." Kuang Yuebin was among them, looking up at the screen too.
One bolder employee greeted him. "Assistant Kuang, who exactly are we looking for? He looks pretty young."
Kuang Yuebin raised an eyebrow. For some reason, the young man looked a little familiar. He said casually, "We just do whatever the boss tells us. In any case, he's someone you can't afford to offend."
The employee gave an awkward smile and fell silent.
That smile helped Kuang Yuebin realize why he had seemed so familiar. He looked rather like President Shen, especially when he smiled.
Once they had confirmed the designation of the robot transmitting the footage, everyone immediately returned to their seats, their fingers moving nonstop over their keyboards. Kuang Yuebin instructed them to use all security forces throughout the venue to ensure this person's safety for as long as he remained within its boundaries. They also needed to make advance arrangements for the many areas where access permissions had to be enabled manually.
They had no idea who this person requiring manually granted access was, but since the chairman had sent his special assistant down to supervise, he was probably someone important.
Five minutes later, every staff member at the venue received a message.
"Attention. Name: Shi Yuan. Height: 177 cm. Wearing a black baseball jacket, blue jeans, and white shoes. If this individual requires any assistance, report it to headquarters immediately and meet his needs wherever possible. The armed squad and security team are to prioritize his safety above all else."
A few minutes later, Shi Yuan and You Gui stopped outside a drinks shop.
"What do you want? Milk tea?" You Gui asked.
"No, no, no." Shi Yuan shook his head.
"Milk tea makes me dizzy. I'll have a fruit tea."
You Gui stared at him incredulously, her pretty eyes wide. "It's milk tea, not alcohol. Why would it make you dizzy?"
"It's just that mysterious." Shi Yuan didn't know why either, leaving a sweets lover like him with no choice but to miss out on such a wonderful drink.
A staff member who happened to be passing nearby quietly pricked up their ears.
Before you continue