Hu Xing wanted to ask something more, but Mei Yiqiu had already changed the subject, asking Qingmu, "Can that shadow still hear us now?"
Qingmu said, "Not for now, but it will find out sooner or later as it grows up."
Mei Yiqiu nodded and said, "It's time to have a good talk with Elder Xia." Then he consulted Qingmu for his opinion, "Should we talk here or outside?"
Qingmu said, "Let's talk outside. Elder Xia isn't Awakened; he might not remember what he discusses in his dream after waking up. Besides, you're essentially intruders right now. If you talk to Elder Xia, although I can try my best to stabilize his dream, your Mental Power will be quickly depleted."
"Alright, let's talk outside." Mei Yiqiu didn't seem surprised to hear the unfamiliar term " Awakened."
When Hu Xing woke up, she saw Mei Yiqiu sitting there, looking at his watch with no unusual expression.
The old man's Mental Power amazed her.
Mei Yiqiu asked, "How long did you feel you were in the dream just now?"
Qingmu smiled without saying a word.
Hu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Before you came, I don't know how long I waited. I was very scared then; it felt like centuries had passed. Then the Crow took away the shadows, and from then on, we chatted for about an hour or two."
Mei Yiqiu asked, "Then guess how much time has passed in reality?"
"About ten minutes, it won't be too long." Ever since she started having lucid dreams, Hu Xing often relies on an alarm clock to wake up, so she has some concept of the time difference between the two spaces.
Mei Yiqiu pointed to his watch and laughed, "Seventeen seconds! Everything we did in the dream only took seventeen seconds in reality, including the time I used to hypnotize myself."
At this moment, Xia Wenyuan also slowly woke up, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, smiled at Qingmu, and then asked Mei Yiqiu, "Professor, what do you want to say? Can you say it now?"
Mei Yiqiu took out his pipe and gestured to Xia Wenyuan in a questioning manner. Xia Wenyuan said, "Please go ahead," and Mei Yiqiu filled it with tobacco, lit it with a match, took a puff, and said, "What is about to happen may be too shocking. Mr. Xia, and Miss Hu Xing, I hope you will remain calm after hearing it, and also not tell anyone about this for the time being."
Xia Wenyuan and Hu Xing nodded.
Mei Yiqiu then gave a brief account of the Copenhagen Conference's proceedings regarding Lester's death and his last words, before quietly watching them with his pipe in his mouth.
Hu Xing stared in astonishment, looking at Qingmu with disbelief, while Xia Wenyuan frowned deeply.
"Professor, do you mean that the shadow in my dream was an alien?" Xia Wenyuan didn't easily believe anyone, so he wanted to find out for sure.
"That's how it seems at the moment," Mei Yiqiu said.
"But... you can't prove that what Mr. Lester said is necessarily true." Xia Wenyuan was always calm, but when he became serious, his voice carried an air of authority. Even in his old age and illness, his eyes possessed a penetrating power. "Of course, I also have great respect for Mr. Lester and have no doubt about his character and scholarship."
Mei Yiqiu said, "You're right. We argued about this for three days and three nights in Copenhagen without any result. Before learning about Mr. Xia's situation, I couldn't be sure what this so-called Parasitic Consciousness was, but now I'm quite certain that what Mr. Lester said is true. As for whether this thing comes from outer space or from the dormant underground, it doesn't matter. What matters is that humanity has been invaded, and we are powerless to stop it."
Xia Wenyuan said, "There's always a way. Since the professor is here, he can't be here to pronounce me, Xia, dead, can he?"
Mei Yiqiu said, " Elder Xia is indeed a master."
The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.
After laughing for a while, Xia Wenyuan asked, "Professor, just tell me what you need me to do?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "Your personal doctor just said you underwent examinations and treatment at Hopkins Medical Center, where Mr. Lester also died. The death report we received for Mr. Lester states that he died of acute encephalitis, but I just received a secret document from a friend. In fact, Mr. Lester left a separate, explicit will requesting an autopsy. The hospital did so and detected a new type of virus in his brain. However, the virus sample and pathology report were destroyed."
"Is that so?" Even Qingmu didn't know about this; he hadn't heard the professor mention it in Mei Yiqiu's lab last time.
Mei Yiqiu said, "It was just confirmed yesterday. My friend discovered the problem while organizing the medical center's database. Although some of the deleted data was recovered, the specific virus information could not be found."
"How could such a thing happen?" Hu Xing exclaimed. " Hopkins Medical Center is so careless!"
"This means that someone at the medical center has been successfully parasitized, and that person has considerable authority," Qingmu said.
"That's right, this is the dilemma we're facing," Mei Yiqiu said. "Currently, there are only about ten cases worldwide that are in the same resistance stage as Mr. Xia. So, apart from the cases we haven't discovered yet, the rest are either safe, normal people who haven't been invaded, or they've already been successfully parasitized and turned into aliens."
"So you even doubt Aunt Xia?" Hu Xing finally understood why there were only four of them in the room. Thinking about the possibility Mei Yiqiu mentioned, she suddenly felt a chill. She looked at Qingmu and smiled gratefully, knowing that she was only able to stay in this study because of Qingmu's trust.
Mei Yiqiu said, "Currently, the invaders' main targets are those who control human society's resources, including technology, power, and wealth. Government agencies, the military, research centers, and medical centers will definitely become their primary targets. Moreover, the more heavily defended a place is, the less safe it will become, because for them, all defenses are meaningless. The only thing that can deal with them is humanity's own Mental Power."
Xia Wenyuan suddenly understood why Qingmu lived in a place like Liuying Lane. That's how most reclusive masters are; their occasional unintentional actions happen to align with the will of Heaven and become the best choice for the moment.
"I understand, you want to find virus samples from me," Xia Wenyuan said.
Mei Yiqiu said, "Don't worry, Elder Xia, with current technology, it won't cause any real damage to your brain."
Xia Wenyuan laughed and said, "I, Xia, am a man nearing the end of my life, so why would I care about any damage? Professors, just do what you need to do. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "We demonstrated a hypothesis in Copenhagen that, if successful, might break the current predicament. However, there aren't many trustworthy wealthy individuals, so research and development funding is urgently needed."
Xia Wenyuan asked, "How much money do you need?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "The more the better."
Xia Wenyuan and said, "I can directly allocate about one billion yuan of funds without the family's consent or public disclosure. If that's not enough, I'll need to find someone to prepare an investment report, but as you said, I can't find a reliable person to do that right now."
Mei Yiqiu said, "Ten billion is quite a lot. If it's not enough, we can talk about it later. Fortunately, our hundred or so people are quite capable, so for now, we don't lack talent."
Xia Wenyuan naturally knew what kind of people Mei Yiqiu was referring to when he mentioned the hundred or so. The thought of investing in a project to save humanity, developed by one hundred of the world's top scientists, suddenly gave him a sense of meaning in life, and made him realize that his past eighty-odd years of life had not been in vain.