"That woman wants to see us?"
In a private meeting room on the top floor of the laboratory, the behind-the-scenes investors who were monitoring the project's progress became suspicious upon hearing this request.
What does she want?
Almost everyone frowned.
All of you here are top figures from your respective countries, wielding formidable power in fields such as finance, politics, energy, and media. However, people of your stature are not entirely reckless in their actions. At the very least, participating in such an experiment, which is clearly questioned by the outside world regarding its Human Dao, would affect your reputation and status.
Especially those from the Central Federation.
"Are you sure you've thoroughly investigated this woman's identity?"
The person asking the questions was an elderly man from the Central Federation, and he was most sensitive about this Chinese woman.
The Central Federation is not like a foreign country, where even if you are disgraced, you can still retreat. At worst, you can pretend to be deaf and dumb for a few years and not appear in public. There, if such a scandal were to be exposed, it could even affect the careers of your descendants!
"We've done a thorough investigation, so there shouldn't be any problems," the middle-aged woman in charge of the project quickly said. "Although Chen Xiaohui used to be an official data analyst for the Central Federation, she was ostracized by the mainstream academic clique and was forced to resign after less than two years. Otherwise, with her resume, she wouldn't be working as a game data analyst for a private company."
"Shouldn't be a problem?" The two elderly men from the Central Federation frowned; they hated nothing more than such unreliable words.
If it's okay, it's okay; if it's not okay, it's not okay. What do you mean by "should"? Did I come here to hear your opinions on what "should" mean?
"Let me see your resume."
Sensing the other party's dissatisfaction, the middle-aged woman quickly had someone send over Chen Xiaohui's resume.
"Two years." The old man glanced at the resume, then immediately made a phone call, clearly to have someone check the candidate's actual situation back then.
As it turned out, the higher-ups were quite efficient in getting what they wanted to know; someone replied within fifteen minutes.
"Ah, Elder Liu, I checked that person for you. There's no problem. Her file is normal, with no confidential information. The reason she was ostracized was because she refused a blind date arranged by her supervisor. She became arrogant because she had published a few papers and won a small award. In the end, no Scientific Research Institute would accept her resume, and she could only end up working for a private company."
"Yes, I understand." The elderly man, addressed as Elder Liu, nodded, put down the phone, and looked around. "What do you all say?"
Even though Elder Liu had proven there was no problem, many people were still clearly reluctant to meet him. Putting aside whether the other person's status was worthy of him, the threatening tone alone made them very uncomfortable.
Since they came to power, when have they ever been threatened? Especially by such insignificant people.
"Can't we do without her?" asked an elderly man with blond hair and blue eyes.
"It's a bit troublesome." The person in charge said with a forced smile, "The game designed by Pu Yunchuan is the most expensive one on the market right now. Several terabytes of data patches have been added. To find out what makes it different from other games, and why its Samsara can be recognized by data life, we have to check each piece of data one by one. If we use manual methods, it might take years to find the reason. And as the former head of game data, her efficiency is on a completely different level."
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions immediately turned sour, the key being that they couldn't easily refuse this reason.
Time is the most precious thing for them now. Although most of the people here hold high positions of power, that's how it is in this world; when they reach the pinnacle of power and wealth, their lives are often coming to an end. This is especially true for the two elderly people from the Central Federation. They are renowned and have taken such a great risk to invest in this, precisely because their time is running out.
Most of you here are in the same boat; you're either nearing the end of your lives or suffering from a terminal illness, and you don't have much time left.
"She told you she was confident she could find out the Central Plains?" Elder Liu, the leader, whispered.
That's what she said.
"Quite the boast," Elder Liu, tapping his fingers on the table as he habitually did.
"She only said she wanted to meet the person behind the scenes? She didn't specify who?"
"Uh..." The middle-aged woman swallowed hard and managed to say, "Yes, she knows the investment behind the scenes has Central Federation background. She mainly wants to meet the Chinese financier!"
"Oh, I see."
A large group of Westerners at the conference table immediately shrugged. "It seems Liu came here specifically for you."
"Since this is causing you trouble, please handle it properly and don't delay the experiment."
"And please don't reveal our identities."
Elder Liu simply smiled indifferently at the gloating of the crowd, "Don't worry, it's just a small matter. I'll handle it properly."
"That's good"
"Arrange a room for that girl to go directly there; I'll be there in a bit."
"Yes!" The middle-aged woman breathed a sigh of relief. She was Chinese and her family was from the Central Federation. The most powerful person here was Elder Liu, whom she dared not offend. It would be best if he didn't get angry.
As she took her leave, the other senior executives also left one after another, leaving only Elder Liu and another elderly man behind.
"I'll go alone," Elder Liu said in a low voice.
"Good, one less one exposed. Although the threat shouldn't be significant."
"Yes," Elder Liu nodded.
This girl is probably not an ordinary person, at least not in a cunning way. There are two possibilities: First, she might be a spy, deliberately planted by the enemy to lure them into a trap.
However, if that's the case, the situation becomes quite complex. A young girl ostracized by a Scientific Research Institute becomes a data analyst at a game company, and coincidentally, this game is the only successfully simulated environment in the data life experiment.
Such a coincidence is highly improbable, because how could the other party be certain of the experimental results?
Unless the experiment was fake from the start.
But this experiment was funded by top figures from over a dozen countries. Does the other party have the power to hire so many people to act in this charade?
Obviously not.
The second scenario is simpler. The young woman was ostracized by the Scientific Research Institute when she was young and was unwilling to accept it. Being a smart person, she immediately guessed that the Chinese investor in this lab was no ordinary person and wanted to use this opportunity to return to the Scientific Research Institute, or even ask for more!
"Have you found out who was targeting that girl back then?"
" Professor Zhu, the one from Imperial Capital University."
"Tsk," another old man said, his eyes turning cold. "A bunch of good-for-nothings. They can't be relied on for scientific research or anything else, but they're all very good at ostracizing outsiders!"
These older folks were quite disgusted with this group of academic cliques, but their influence was already established, and it was often difficult to take action against them.
After all, all the important official scientific research resources are in their hands, and pushing them too far would not be good for the overall situation.
"Alright, go check on her first. If she just wants a seat, that's fine."
"What if the intention is to target Professor Zhu?"
"That Zhu fellow has been sitting in that position for far too long," another old man said calmly.
"That's what I think too." Elder Liu slowly stood up, feeling a wave of dizziness. He remained standing for a long time before recovering.
"Take it easy. Didn't you take your medicine today?"
"I'm practically eating medicine like it's food." Elder Liu gave a wry smile and slowly walked outside.
After Elder Liu left, the remaining old man also looked at the dense needle marks on his arm.
This time, the national team member in charge of medical matters has called him several times, saying that he can't be away for too long and that he should go back as soon as possible.
Actually, you never know when tonight's sleep might be over and tomorrow it will be gone.
The old man sighed, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and thought, "Time is running out. Will I make it?"
Ziyue was arranged to wait in a small conference room early on. She was also a little anxious. She had been meditating deeply for a long time and didn't know how much time had passed outside. Now she had to find out the information as soon as possible, because time was of the essence.
She was also very curious about who was behind everything back then.
The moment the conference room door opened and she saw who it was, Ziyue was completely stunned.
She had considered many people, but she never imagined it would be this person in front of her!