Qingmu received a call from Mei Ziqing saying that the professor wanted to discuss something with him, so he rushed over. Mei Ziqing led him to the large conference room on the third floor of the experimental building, where more than a dozen people were already seated, most of them silent.
Qingmu sensed something was off and asked Mei Ziqing what had happened.
Mei Ziqing whispered, "These are all scientists in China who Lester Signature, meaning they are members of the Third Space Foundation. Today is the Third Space Foundation's China group meeting."
Qingmu was baffled. He had never said he wanted to join the Third Space Foundation, which was an organization within the scientific community. Someone as lazy as him would never want to be bound by any organizational discipline.
"Where's the professor?" he asked.
"The professor is organizing materials in his office and will be here in a bit," Mei Ziqing said. "Oh, by the way, the professor asked me to discuss with you whether we could find a place to keep more cats."
Qingmu said, "The city center is definitely not suitable. Cats will meow, and too many will create a smell. If you want to keep cats, you'll have to find a place in the suburbs."
"Then I'll have to trouble you!" Mei Ziqing said.
Qingmu thought for a moment and said, "We can set aside a piece of land in our security company's training base. It's very secluded, and everyone there is an insider, so security and confidentiality won't be a problem. But cat food is no longer available in supermarkets or online, so feeding it is an issue."
"That is a question. Could we feed them fish and meat instead of cat food? Cats can digest small amounts of starch, and fish soup mixed with rice is also a very palatable food for them. Cats raised this way are cats in the traditional sense and have more research value!" Mei Ziqing said.
Qingmu nodded and said, "Alright, but it's hard to say how many stray cats we can get, and we can't openly collect them."
Their whispers in the back row clearly disturbed the scientists sitting upright in the front. Someone turned around and asked, "Miss Mei Ziqing, who is this young man?"
Mei Ziqing said, "Ah--this is Mr. Qingmu."
"May I ask where Mr. Qingmu works? I've never heard of such a young talent in the scientific community!"
"Did he get Lester Signature? Miss Mei Ziqing, do you even know what kind of meeting this is? It's already an exception that you can attend out of respect for Professor Mei, how can you bring in another young person!"
"This..."
Just as Mei Ziqing was wondering how to answer, Mei Yiqiu walked into the conference room carrying a stack of documents.
" Ziqing has already passed Lester Signature. Her original Mind Matrix file is in my office; I personally deciphered it. You can look at it anytime you want. Because I am a founding member of the Foundation, her name is not listed separately on the membership list. She, like everyone here, is fully qualified to attend this meeting!"
Mei Yiqiu's words reassured Mei Ziqing, filling her with gratitude.
"As for this Mr. Qingmu..." Mei Yiqiu walked to the head seat of the conference room, "He is an advisor I invited. You don't need to doubt him. If you doubt him, it's the same as doubting me."
"Alright, since the professor says so, then we have nothing more to say."
Mei Yiqiu is one of the founders of the Third Space Foundation and holds a high position in the scientific community. He is already a leading figure in the Foundation and a representative of Chinese scientists.
He smiled at everyone, gesturing for them to sit down, and then asked Mei Ziqing, "Is the internet down?"
Mei Ziqing said, "Everything is disconnected, and the electromagnetic shielding has been activated. There's nothing here that can communicate with the outside world."
Mei Yiqiu said, "Okay, please turn off your phones."
Qingmu took out his phone, only to find that there was no signal.
Someone asked, " Professor Mei, isn't this a bit too mysterious?"
Mei Yiqiu his hand to interrupt him, " Ziqing, turn off the mains switch and use the backup power."
Mei Ziqing said "okay" and left. The professor silently lit his pipe. As the flame of his pipe lit up, the lights in the conference room went out. When the flame of his pipe went out, the lights came back on.
People were increasingly puzzled. A network outage was understandable, but what about a power outage? Was a backup power source any safer?
When Mei Ziqing returned, a black and white cat darted in with a meow. Mei Ziqing cried out and tried to chase after it, but the cat had already jumped onto the chair next to the professor and was gazing at him expectantly. The professor kindly picked up the cat and said, "Oh, you want to listen too? Go ahead and listen."
Seeing that the professor didn't intend to kick the cat out, Mei Ziqing closed the door and sat down in her seat.
Mei Yiqiu the cat down and said to everyone, "You all know the situation now—it's terrible! Absolutely terrible!"
Everyone stared at him blankly, wondering what he wanted to say.
"I know you're all confused as to why I'm cutting off the internet, power, and signal. I'll explain that later. Meetings need a theme and an order, so I'll start by talking about the Foundation's current operations and research findings."
Mei Yiqiu opened the documents and first explained the funds raised by the Foundation and the progress of several important projects. Then she said, " The Foundation's development in the past two months has been faster than we expected. In addition to the amount of funds, we now have 198 official members. If we include Ziqing and Mr. Qingmu, we can reach 200 people. As the world's top Alliance of scientists, 200 people is quite a lot."
Immediately, someone raised an objection. "Rapid development is certainly gratifying, but shouldn't we be more cautious about a cause that concerns the fate of humanity? If we don't verify the identities of our members, especially young people without academic achievements, not only will it be of no use to science in saving the world, but once secrets are leaked, it will be too late to regret it!"
His words were pointed, and several people looked at Qingmu and Mei Ziqing.
Mei Yiqiu said, "You mean to talk about the online leak and the Cat-Killing Order, right? Yes, that's the important issue we're going to discuss today—who is this whistleblower? And what is their purpose?"
"Is there even a question? It must have been done by someone inside the Foundation; there's a traitor among us!" someone said.
"How do you know?" Mei Yiqiu asked.
" Lester's last words are understandable, since besides the Foundation members, some military and political dignitaries also attended your meeting in Copenhagen. But the Gray Brain Virus is something only our internal staff knew about, and the relationship between the virus and toxoplasmosis was only recently confirmed; it's impossible for outsiders to know. For such detailed information to be leaked, who else could it be but an insider?"
"Why would our people do this?" someone asked.