Zhongjing, the top floor of Ex Machina.
"Mr. K."
"Mr. K."
…
In the corridor, Yakuza members gave way and bowed in greeting.
K, wearing a black windbreaker and a low-topped round hat, chewed a cigar and strolled into the deepest room.
There is a dining table over ten meters long in the center of the huge and empty room. The light of the giant crystal lamp shines on the dark red tablecloth, flower decorations and silver tableware.
At the end of the table, Mizuno was wearing a long dress decorated with gold sequins and heavy makeup, dining alone.
"Sonoya~~" with a protracted tone, K approached casually, threw the cigar butt into the red wine glass in Mizuno's hand, picked up a piece of vegetable tempura from the plate in front of her and stuffed it into her mouth, leaning against the dining table to drink it. He said, "Well, I'm getting old."
tomato
"You're back," Mizuno lowered his eyes and wiped the corners of his lips with a napkin.
"Uh-huh," K picked up the fork Mizuno used and picked at the fruit salad, "Li Liang said, you can investigate the Natural Sect's affairs in the future."
"Yes."
"I heard that the group also handed over the 'Whisper's' intelligence network in other cities to you?"
"Um."
K picked up a piece of apple, put it in front of his eyes, looked at it, and asked casually: "Have you found out how Via found out Xiao An's identity and your contact channel was exposed?"
"There is no flaw in my plan."
"What do you mean, do you want to say that something went wrong with my people, or that Tao Chong rebelled?"
Mizuno shook his head, stood up, tidied the group, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
"So far, almost all the devout believers have died. If it is just to prevent us from investigating or protecting an important person, don't you think the price is too high?"
"really."
"Yao Zhengping said that the Holy Father of the Natural Sect is a woman."
"so what?"
"The truth may be...a woman decided to completely break with her past identity, and then used a lie to eliminate all hidden dangers."
"Why did she do this?"
"You won't understand because you're not a woman."
"Well, she succeeded," K. shrugged.
"No," Mizuno said softly, "One day she will know that a person can never get rid of his past self."
K came closer, put his arm around Mizuno's shoulders, and looked at Zhongjing in the deep night: "How is it impossible? From now on, I am going to be a good person."
"You?" Shui Ye raised his head and said seriously, "K, you are just a mad dog tied up with an iron chain by Li Liang."
"Ha ha--"
K's wild laughter echoed in the room.
——————————
"Look, there are those two. The one on the right is Tao Yiran, level 4, Tao Chong's daughter, and the one on the left with pigtails is level 5..." Old Tang shrugged his shoulders and leaned on the glass of the back door of the lecture hall. "Why?"
Li Liang peeked in from the side and saw that in the large staircase-shaped lecture hall, candidates were sitting in a corner of the front row, whispering or looking towards the front door. Only two girls stood out and stared back at the back door.
There was a distance of dozens of meters from their position to the back door, and there was a height difference. Tao Yiran could not clearly see clearly. He tilted his head left and right and kept adjusting the angle, but the girl with two pigtails remained motionless.
"What's the name of the fifth-level one?" Li Liang was very interested.
"Uh...hammer."
"WTF?"
"She was an orphan and was raised by a group of steel mill workers. The worker who signed her up at the time said that she could swing a hammer at the age of five, so everyone called her Hammer. Her registered Chinese name was Iron Hammer."
Li Liang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had high hopes for this talented little girl and wanted to train her to become the most powerful magician and guardian of mankind. He didn't expect her name to be so powerful.
"Are you going in now?" Old Tang turned around and asked.
"Well..." Li Liang was about to open the door, but hesitated, "How about you go in."
"Ah? What's wrong?"
"There are so many people...I...don't know what to say..." Li Liang looked embarrassed.
"……Fine."
Old Tang suppressed a smile and nodded. After a few minutes, he walked around to the main entrance and Shi Shiran walked into the lecture hall.
Wow~
All the candidates stood up in a hurry and applauded when they saw the person clearly. They obviously knew the old Tang who gave them the "physical examination". Many people shouted "Mr. Tang" in a warm tone.
Everyone's attention was attracted to Old Tang, and even Tao Yiran and Tie Zhui turned back. No one noticed that a man quietly opened the back door and sat down in the last row.
"Hello everyone~" Old Tang walked up to the podium, glanced at the candidates, and greeted with a smile on his face, "Hey, you, your name is Alatan, um, you guys are from Denali...ah , you guys, Xin'ao City... Haha, I see, your name is Gibson, from Rocky Mountain... Hehe~ Where is the one from Bay City, haha... Well, Fuji... Zhongjing, Hey, Tao Yiran~~ Well, you guys Are the few people who came from Mexico City settled in?"
The person who came was not the serious senior executive of the joint meeting, but the approachable Old Tang. The boys and girls finally relaxed and responded to Old Tang's greetings with various tongues.
"Haha, okay, okay," Old Tang waved his hand and suppressed his smile, "The reason why I keep you here is to announce something."
The audience immediately fell silent.
"Early tomorrow morning, all of you here will board a spaceship from Xi'an, leaving Zhongjing and going to a place you can't imagine. There, you will face a more stringent selection, and the final result will determine your future."
The candidates looked at each other, and someone asked: "Why us? Have the test results already come out?"
"The exam is just one of the screening methods. When you get to the place, someone will tell you why you were selected. You are the first batch, and there will be a second batch, a third batch..."
"Mr. Tang, what should my parents do?" a girl asked weakly.
"Don't worry, someone has already contacted your family members during your exam, and they will accompany you early tomorrow morning."
Buzz~
The candidates began to whisper, and a boy with a loud voice shouted to the side: "What is said on the Internet is true, we are going to Xi'an!"
This sentence set off the atmosphere, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.
Old Tang looked at the excited young faces in the audience, and suddenly showed mixed emotions. When the lecture hall became quiet again, he slowly said: "I want to say..." He opened his mouth, and seemed to Don't know where to start.
Wow~
The children applauded him.
Old Tang waved his hand, lowered his head, and paced slowly on the podium.
"When I was your age, I was on Activision Internet every day. I felt like I knew everything about Xian, the Joint Conference, and gangs. It seems that in this era, everything can be found online, and no one cares about us. What can I say? At that time, I often shouted about subverting Xi'an on Zhongjing Online. Many people responded. Sometimes, I felt that I was just one chance away. As long as that chance hits me, I can change the world. Really Yes, I always had a strong premonition that I would be rich and powerful in the future..." Old Tang stopped and shrugged, "Not long after, I went to sell steamed buns."
The audience was completely silent.
"Go to work, go to work, eat, sleep, go to work, go to get off work..." Old Tang shook his head and muttered, then slapped his forehead, "By the way, I have a friend who grew up with me. He was younger than me when he was younger. He was even more fanatical, and even organized a boy gang, thinking about subverting Xi'an every day. Later, when we met one time, he was already the father of three children. I asked him, do you still want to subvert Xi'an? He said, yes, I just don’t have time, I still have to go to work.”
Old Tang imitated this last sentence so perfectly that the children burst into laughter.
"Ho ho, come on, none of you think you know everything," Old Tang said with a smile, "Raise your hands and take a look."
Many people raised their hands, especially a few gangsters, who raised their heads as if they knew a lot of inside information.
"Okay, then tell me, who has the final say in your city?"
Before he finished speaking, everyone in the audience started shouting.
Li Liang, who was sitting in the last row, heard many familiar names at once, including Li Ru, Haos, Cain, K, Sonoya, China, Park Shota, Watanabe Harukichi, Alimjian, and even Dr. Xisen. Famous. There were more names that he had never heard of before, including gang boss, family godfather, company president, order director, etc. Among them, there was a child with a loud voice who kept shouting "Underground Emperor Zheng Dasheng". He rummaged through his memory and didn't think of it. Come on, who is "Zheng Dasheng"?
"Okay, okay," Old Tang asked again, "So, who do you think these people listen to?"
This time, the "views" in the audience were much unified. Li Ru received the most votes, followed by House, followed by the presidents of several affiliated companies, including Putnam Laboratories Biopharmaceutical Sales Corporation. CEO, and... "Underground Emperor Zheng Dasheng".
"Who is Zheng Dasheng?" Old Tang looked at the young man who ignored the ridicule of others and insisted on shouting. He scratched his head in confusion, "Okay, it's not important. I heard many people say that Li Ru, well, the joint meeting Chairman, big shot, then, who does Li Ru listen to?"
"Xian!"
"Fate valve!"
"Zheng Da...cough, Xi'an, it's Xi'an."
Old Tang asked: "Who do Xi'an and the clan officials listen to?"
"Twin Gods!"
"So, what kind of people are the Twin Gods? You have just finished taking the New Testament exam. Who can tell me what kind of people the Twin Gods are in real life?"
No one in the audience spoke.
Old Tang looked around and said with a smile: "Let's try something simpler, Li Ru. Who knows what kind of person Li Ru is in real life?"
Still no one responded.
"Who can tell me how the world works? How does every decision of the joint meeting, every decision that affects our lives, come from?" Old Tang lowered his head and paced, "One day I joined... After joining an organization, I felt as if I finally knew something amazing... In fact, it wasn't until recently that I realized that what we know is what others want us to know, and the ideas in our heads are all given by others... …”
This time the children in the audience were obviously unwilling to accept this statement, and there was a commotion.
"I know what you want to say. You are still young, and those big guys must know more..." Old Tang stood still, "Actually, I know many of the people you mentioned before, and they are all my friends now. I am very It’s certain that just a few months ago, they didn’t know who the Twin Gods were, or why the world was the way it is now.”
The lecture hall became audible.
Li Liang looked at Old Tang on the podium from a distance and realized that he seemed to have never really understood this person.
At this time, there was a slight noise behind him. He turned around and saw Li Ru walking in lightly.
"Mr. Li Liang," Li Ru sat down next to him, still holding his notebook in his arms.
On the podium, Old Tang faced more than a hundred pairs of eyes in the audience and took a deep breath: "What I want to say is that the people of Xiacheng District have never changed anything for hundreds of years. We always talk too much. , have done very little, but you are different. You have the opportunity to truly change downtown. I only hope that at that time, you can remember Zhongjing, Denali, New Ao City, Bay City, Rocky Mountain, Fuji, and Mexico City. , remember, where you come from."
At this moment, more than a hundred children stood up and shouted the name of their hometown with all their strength until tears filled their eyes and they couldn't help themselves.
"For all this, you should thank one person. Although you don't know his name yet, you will always know it," Old Tang wiped his eyes and shouted with a smile.
Among the crowd in the audience, Tao Yiran and Tie Zhui looked back at the last row at the same time.
Facing their gazes, Li Liang said softly: "They should thank you, Li Ru, for arranging this exam."
"No," Li Ru rarely wrote in the notebook, but held the notebook in his arms with both hands, looked at the children in the distance, and said with a smile, "I have been sitting in the chief seat for many years, and I know very well , the Twin Gods and the clan will never agree to such a selection, only 'Li Liang' will nod without hesitation, so thank you, Mr. Li Liang."
Li Liang was stunned for a moment, shook his head and smiled: "There were many times before that I felt that Xiacheng District might not need to be changed. Equality and freedom were my own wishful thinking, or the Holy Mother's heart was overflowing..."
"No, look at these children. Because of you, they got the best things, things they have never had before." Li Ru opened the notebook and pointed to the two words written at the footer of the title page:
hope.
