Zhang Beihai looked at Wan Yining's helpless gaze, and a mixture of pity and sinister desire gradually welled up inside him. Zhang Beihai knew that the things inside her brain would slowly take effect.
The show had only just begun. The voice assistant notified Zhang Beihai that a visitor had arrived, and Zhang Beihai smiled triumphantly to himself.
The visitor was Lu Youqi; Zhang Beihai knew he would come.
Lu Youqi was the primary leader of the Department of Health and Global Epidemic Prevention. From the very first moment Zhang Beihai laid eyes on him, Zhang Beihai knew he was a crucial figure, and that he would eventually come over to Zhang Beihai's side.
Zhang Beihai met him for the first time at the cabinet meeting on the second day after taking office. He was nothing like other politicians with their actor-like demeanor, nor did he possess the understated shrewdness of seasoned civil servants. Zhang Beihai's first impression was that this man was a professor who had spent too much time in academia.
Yet the very first thing he said to Zhang Beihai made Zhang Beihai realize he was a political genius.
After that cabinet meeting concluded, he smiled, took the initiative to shake hands, and asked, "Do you know the two reasons you might lose your life in our era?"
At the time, Zhang Beihai secretly scoffed at him: "A bookworm fond of sensationalist talk."
Then he said, "First, it's the second-in-command of your department. Wade came from a century ago, and over the past few years, he has grown very close to the people in the Security Department. His ambition is far from small, and according to Zhang Beihai's observation, he doesn't value human life. Second, a global epidemic breaks out, and you cannot be treated in time."
After he spoke, a chill ran down Zhang Beihai's spine. He felt as though Zhang Beihai had already been seen through by him. People in this era were not all naive; Zhang Beihai could not underestimate a single one of them.
Years of training kept Zhang Beihai's expression and emotions completely unchanged. Feigning nonchalance, Zhang Beihai asked him, "How would you prefer me to die?"
He pondered for a moment and said, "The second way of dying might be slightly better. If it's the first, the situation could become extremely dire, and the darkest chapter in human history would repeat itself."
Zhang Beihai said, "To put it in the words of our era, have you been playing too many video games? Are we Common Era people really that dangerous? Dangerous enough to threaten all of humanity?"
Lu Youqi replied, "Yes. I used to believe that there were two most uncertain risk factors for humanity's future: first, a global pandemic caused by an unknown virus, like the Black Death in Europe or plagues in Asia in the past, which would cause immense catastrophe in today's densely populated environment. Second, an unknown extraterrestrial civilization—if aliens more advanced than Earth were to launch an attack, and the question of who leaves and who stays remained unresolved, in the end, no one might be able to leave. My first published academic paper, 'On the Renaissance and Threat Factors to Earth Civilization,' began discussing this very issue. After all these years, only today did I realize that one more threat factor must be added for Earth's current civilization: you Common Era people."
"Why?" Zhang Beihai feigned a look of shock and helplessness.
"The education you Common Era people received is different from ours. I know that in your era, human life was not valued, and organizations like 'Civilization Preservation' were even formed. Some of you have no bottom line, whereas we in the 22nd century have lived for so long in a peaceful environment governed by rules of competition that we have gradually forgotten human instincts and human bestiality. People with a bottom line cannot defeat those without one; moral people cannot withstand the amoral. Barbarians conquering civilization has repeated many times throughout history."
Having said this, Lu Youqi adopted his typical consultative tone and said, "If such a day comes, we can only rely on Common Era people to deal with Common Era people. I believe you will be my friend. What do you think?"
Hearing this, Zhang Beihai sighed. The probing was over; he was here to form an alliance. So Zhang Beihai reached out and shook his hand.
Today, as soon as Wan Yining ushered him in, Zhang Beihai took the initiative to extend his hand and said, "Brother Lu, we meet again. I never could have imagined that instead of Wade, a Common Era person, it would be Jiao Huanqi who did something so utterly insane."
Lu Youqi ignored Zhang Beihai's provocative tone, took his hand, and asked, "Has Wade gained control over a batch of robots?"
Zhang Beihai said, "Yes, he is rushing to Jiao Huanqi right now to restrain him and prevent him from doing anything else that jeopardizes public safety."
In Lu Youqi's normally sincere and calm eyes, a trace of anxiety surfaced: "Beihai, have you still not fully awakened from hibernation? With a dangerous man like Wade, once he controls Jiao Huanqi, who will control him? He now has a robot army in his hands, and there is no force left to check him! The new virus Jiao Huanqi cooked up is merely a superficial affliction—plenty of biopharmaceutical companies can produce vaccines—but Wade and his robots are the mortal threat."
Wan Yining asked timidly, "Is it really that serious? He has only gained control of a robot unit. Even if he truly had the guts to do something out of line, could it control the entire Coalition Government?"
Lu Youqi sighed and said, "This is precisely why we 22nd-century people have no way of withstanding this kind of disaster. In a room of five thousand people, it only takes fifty men with guns to take control. That is the rule of competition Common Era people are familiar with."
Zhang Beihai also put on an anxious expression: "You should have said so earlier. I've already handed the threshold key over to Wade. We probably can't stop him now. Under such rules of competition, aside from being the fastest person to grab a gun, is there any other way for us to win?"
Lu Youqi nodded: "Mm, indeed, but there is still one chance. Wade is truly the shrewdest politician I have ever met, but he committed a major blunder—showing his hand too early. Now, even the dullest politicians in the Coalition Government have realized that Wade is a dangerous figure. People often forget one fear because of another. Wade wants to use the fear of the supervirus to dilute the fear of robots. As long as we can emphasize this fear and use it to forge an anti-Wade alliance, we still have a chance of winning."
Wan Yining said anxiously, "Wade just took his army to look for your Global Health and Epidemic Prevention Organization. He must be trying to threaten and control you."
A faint smile touched the corner of Lu Youqi's mouth: "I anticipated that. That's why I've already brought out the core personnel of our department; they are waiting for you in the front hall."
Zhang Beihai was a bit surprised: "I thought you came alone! Turns out you were prepared all along."
Lu Youqi said, "In this moment of crisis, our department will temporarily answer to your leadership. I hope our cooperation will allow the Coalition Government to weather this crisis."
With that, our hands clasped together once again.
Lu Youqi's palm was warm, without a trace of sweat.
Noon was the brightest time of day, as if light were bearing down upon the entire world. Holding Lu Youqi's hand, Zhang Beihai's heart was filled with light.
Zhang Beihai had not misjudged Lu Youqi; he truly was a genius. He provided Zhang Beihai with two crucial pieces of information:
"Zhu Ban of the Presidium was a professional manager before entering governance. The experience of politicians of his generation was accumulated from struggles between CEOs and boards of directors. Under rule-bound competition, he is a genius, but in the impending situation, he will be completely incapable of coping and will collapse very soon. Jiao Huanqi and Wade are ambitious, but they can easily provoke public fear and backlash. We must seize on this to our advantage."
"We mainly have two advantages: first, we control the health and epidemic prevention department during an outbreak, giving us the advantage of releasing authoritative information; second, I can provide a moral endorsement for you. For the past twenty years, I have lived like a Puritan, donating all my income and constantly working on the front lines of the most grueling epidemic prevention departments."
With Lu Youqi's help, Zhang Beihai's allies steadily increased. Naturally, the entire world was indeed sinking into panic; after all, there had not been a global pandemic virus in decades, and now it coincided with Jiao Huanqi's palace coup. No one knew how best to react—some were angry, some were fearful, some didn't care. Yet on the surface, everyone appeared calm, believing the Earth would keep spinning and everything would remain as before.
Zhang Beihai was waiting for Wade to make a move. He would inevitably be the impatient one, misled by one key fact: he believed he was holding the gun. The Matthew Effect would help him accomplish the rest. Zhang Beihai only needed a little patience to wait; that old fox was certainly observing the mood of the masses as well, looking for the right opportunity.
Wade would definitely want to physically eliminate Zhang Beihai with his robots right away. Zhang Beihai could only rely on Lu Youqi to ensure that Wade wouldn't strike him for now; Wade would have no choice but to target Zhu Ban or Jiao Huanqi first.
The vaccine was undoubtedly the top priority. Zhang Beihai contacted the biotech company BAT to produce the vaccine and had spoken with BAT's top executives several times. Hopefully, everything would go as Zhang Beihai wished.
Lu Youqi stepped forward this afternoon to deliver an announcement regarding the vaccine rollout, both to make Wade wary of us and to build goodwill among the public.
In this era, politicians had gradually evolved into actors; nearly every successful politician was well-trained in oratory. Lu Youqi was no exception. A simple vaccine rollout announcement was executed by him like a seamless performance. Every glance, gesture, posture, and spoken word were in perfect sync—both sincere and approachable, yet authoritative and calm.
The announcement read as follows:
"Players of the world, partners, my friends. I know that over the past two days, you have experienced frustration, anger, disappointment, and many other emotions. I must admit that our current government has fallen short; our epidemic prevention department failed to uncover the ambitions of Jiao Huanqi and his cohorts early on, leading to the disaster we face today."
"However, players, partners, please trust in the cooperation between the two departments led by Zhang Beihai and me. We will not sit idly by and watch chaos ensue; we cannot simply wait as the forces of artificial intelligence expand across the Earth. Coldness cannot warm human hearts, nor can conspiracies deceive them. Our vaccine is under development and will be administered to everyone within seventy-two hours or even less."
"Please believe in the light, believe in the future, and believe in Zhang Beihai and me."
After Lu Youqi delivered the announcement, representatives from BAT came over to report on their progress, saying, "A verifiable vaccine model has now been created. However, the problem right now is a shortage of inoculation equipment. Even if production is completed, we don't know if we can inoculate so many people in time."
Zhang Beihai asked, "Can't the inoculation equipment just be disposable syringes? Why is it so complicated?"
Lu Youqi said, "It's primarily the storage equipment for the vaccine. If disposable syringes are used, the vaccine will lose its efficacy."
Zhang Beihai paced a few steps across the room and asked, "Why was the inoculation of our electromagnetic identifiers relatively simple, requiring no auxiliary equipment for storage?"
Hearing Zhang Beihai say this, Lu Youqi seemed struck by sudden inspiration: "We can use these electromagnetic inoculators to administer the vaccine, and use the existing electromagnetic inoculation warehouses to store the vaccine. We only need to mix the vaccine into the electromagnetic identifiers at the final step, and that can definitely be done!"
Having said that, Lu Youqi rushed off in a hurry toward the laboratory to direct the newest experimental protocol. Watching his retreating figure, I exchanged a smile with the young man from BAT standing opposite me.