82 Silently, It Nourishes All Things

Wu Qingchen stepped out of the bedroom looking full of energy.

Poor fellow...

At an angle Wu Qingchen could not see, Ji Mingming gave the faintest shake of the head.

With an expert team made up of hundreds of thousands of elite specialists from various countries, plus billions of people on Earth as a reserve pool of advisers, and with intelligence so scarce that some of the medieval world’s odd mental wiring had to be guessed at, their plan may have stretched a little beyond the original estimate when it came to things like a baronial lord suddenly appointing a minor as chief executive of core assets...

But as for Wu Qingchen himself, every detail of this gentleman’s life had been investigated beyond the smallest doubt: birth, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, university, first job, second job, as well as his relatives, neighbors, classmates, colleagues, superiors, the employees of the shops he frequented, the couriers who occasionally came to his door, and even strangers he had once passed by without meeting.

If all the intelligence tied to the name Wu Qingchen were printed out, it would already pile several stadiums high.

His friends’ new jobs were real, and so were their consideration and candor. Only, these considerate friends had “forgotten” to tell Wu Qingchen that less than ten percent of the lines they spoke had actually been “researched” by themselves; the rest had been carefully crafted by psychologists, sociologists, pyramid-scheme lecturers, and veteran screenwriters.

The serial’s “updates” were real, and so was the author.

Only Wu Qingchen could not see that the content updated over the past few days had long since drifted away from the author’s original outline, transforming from an amusing story into a blade for ideological output.

The game was real, and the enemy’s power was even more real.

What Wu Qingchen did not know was that, in order to make this number-one shady operation in the world open for business without a hitch, those time-consuming games on his computer desktop—the Civilization that demanded too much time, the Assassin’s Creed whose values pointed in the wrong direction, the King of Fighters whose educational effect was not quite striking enough—had all been quietly moved to the least noticeable edges and corners.

Even if Wu Qingchen’s eyesight had gone bad and he had insisted on clicking them, all he would get were nauseating dialog boxes: update notices, system conflicts, platform failures, website connection errors, and the like.

For this two-and-a-half-hour “break,” countries around the world had mobilized vast amounts of manpower, money, and material resources.

The power of a nation, the power of Earth—when it chooses to reveal itself, it can naturally shake mountains and overturn seas with a sweep of the hand, with thunder crashing and storm winds howling; yet when it wishes to remain hidden, it can leave no trace at all, slip quietly into a dream, and achieve its ends as gently as rain nourishing the earth.

With familiar friends, familiar faces, familiar games, all in complete ignorance of what was being done to him, Wu Qingchen gained a rare measure of relaxation after days, or perhaps dozens of days, and at the same time was unknowingly subjected to another highly efficient round of brainwashing.

Leaving the bedroom and opening the door to the living room, he found that thirteen meters below ground, a long corridor connected his private room to his private elevator.

Soldiers stood in two rows along both sides of the passage. Every time Wu Qingchen passed five ranks, two more soldiers would step out of formation and follow behind him. By the time Wu Qingchen and Ji Mingming reached the elevator, the escort had grown to thirty men—exactly half the elevator’s load limit.

The elevator rose at a rather slow pace and took a full three minutes to reach the surface.

A large motorcade was already waiting in front of it.

Among the people gathered at the elevator exit, the middle-aged man at the head was Huang Xing, the one who had coordinated the last round of training.

Compared with his anxious expression during the previous emergency awakening and emergency training, Huang Xing now looked much gentler.

“Mr. Wu, long time no see...”

Yes, long time no see...

After the “living-room concert,” the “diplomat’s thanks,” and the “two-and-a-half-hour break,” Wu Qingchen had noticed the respect and care the state had shown him in many different details.

Even the simplest greeting was one of them.

Long time no see...

The nation, the leaders, the officials—they all remembered that he had just spent ten days in the medieval world...

A warm current surged into Wu Qingchen’s chest. He tightened his grip slightly on the hands Huang Xing had offered and smiled as he replied, “Director Huang, long time no see to you as well... By the way, has Director Jiang’s health improved?”

“Hm?”

At this question, Huang Director, who had just been about to let go, paused slightly, then immediately answered with a smile, “Director Jiang is much better. There really wasn’t much wrong with him to begin with; he was just too tired the other day. After one day’s rest, he was already much better... Ha-ha, looks like my work was not thorough enough, and Mr. Wu is not very satisfied... Xiao Wang, go invite Comrade Jiang Fengming...”

“No, no, no, that’s not what I meant at all...”

Wu Qingchen hurriedly shook his head again and again.

Heaven be merciful! Wu Qingchen had only been moved by the nation’s and Huang Xing’s care for him in all these little details, and then suddenly remembered Jiang Fengming, who had also handled his training and had worked himself to exhaustion before collapsing. Out of gratitude, he had simply wanted to ask after him.

He had never expected it to provoke such a reaction from Huang Xing.

As a senior official, Huang Xing’s ability to control his emotions was naturally quite well developed. When he answered Wu Qingchen, his tone, his cadence, and his facial expression all remained perfectly composed, and even his self-mocking remark came out naturally, without the slightest trace of awkwardness.

However, Wu Qingchen had spent several days being trained by some of the world’s top psychologists and negotiation experts. Although he still could not see through the many traps hidden in the two-and-a-half-hour break, he could at least detect a few flaws in a bureaucrat like Huang Xing, who had neither received professional acting training nor prepared himself psychologically.

“There’s no need to invite him... really, no need at all... Director Huang, you’ve misunderstood me. Your arrangements are excellent, and I absolutely have no objections! Besides, Director Jiang has indeed worked hard, so he should keep resting properly... And this Wang... Wang...”

“Xiao Wang, wait a moment... Come, come, let’s go over there...” Still holding Wu Qingchen’s right hand, Huang Xing turned and gently ushered him toward the motorcade. “You really don’t need him invited? Mr. Wu, don’t mind at all. If there’s anyone you want in charge of your training, just say so. We can accept that without any problem...”

“Really! Absolutely really!” Wu Qingchen nodded hard. “Please rest assured, I’m the same way. Whoever the state sends, I won’t have any objections. Everyone has been very good to me...”

“...All right, then. Xiao Wang, there’s no need to invite Director Jiang anymore...”

Perhaps because he had been subjected to so much training focused on tiny shifts in detail, environment, and emotion, Wu Qingchen faintly felt that when Huang Xing said this, even his voice had become a little fuller and firmer.

Only then did Huang Xing finally release Wu Qingchen’s hand and wave behind him. “Xiao Wang... you come too. Time to get in the car.”

Phew... talk too much, will you!

Wu Qingchen let out a long breath in his heart.

Once he got into the modified bus, the long-familiar scent of training finally hit him full in the face.

As before, the first to step onto the stage was the officer responsible for intelligence.