Deceitful Game

Chapter 144 Mr. Shen and the "Doctor"

Mingpo felt like she had a very, very long dream.

But when he woke up, he had forgotten the details of his dream.

I just felt... that it seemed like a bad dream.

It was filled with blood, cries... there was a cold downpour, betrayal and slaughter.

When Mingper opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in her bed at home.

Clang, clang, clang...

The ticking of the clock, seemingly from nowhere, echoed through his room.

"Ah..."

Mingpo slowly sat up straight, feeling a slight headache.

It felt like a combination of lack of sleep and a hangover—although Mingpo had never had a hangover, she had heard that this was what it felt like.

It's not a throbbing pain in the nerves and blood vessels of the forehead, but deep inside the brain. It's like a walnut stuffed in a soda can; it rattles and clatters when you shake it slightly.

"They actually teleported me back here..."

Mingpo covered her head and murmured softly.

There are just some differences.

He clearly remembered that his family had never had this ticking sound of clock hands before.

That familiar clicking sound... Mingpo felt like she had heard it somewhere before.

He slowly got out of bed and searched the room for the source of the sound.

Mingpo first opened the door to Ai Shiping's room and found that Ai Shiping had not returned there—which was to be expected. He had come from Gao Fan's house to prepare for his advancement, so even if he had completed the level, he should have returned to Gao Fan's house.

He just wanted to make sure that his eldest son was still alive.

The host has no anchor point of his own.

If Ai Shiping dies in the promotion game and becomes the host, then his room should turn back to black and white. Following the clicking sound, Mingpo walked over.

He finally saw it... it was the sound of a countdown timer coming from the living room.

Did the countdown make a sound before?

Mingpo tried to recall for a moment, but found that he didn't remember much of it.

But in any case, it couldn't possibly be loud enough for Mingpo to hear clearly from his bedroom.

The numbers above have also changed.

-71:50:58

-71:50:57

Now, the blood-red countdown has finally been officially compressed to less than 72 hours.

Mingpo tried to touch the countdown timer, and heard the ticking sound of the hands moving from her ears to her mind.

Perhaps... he felt a headache, or maybe it was because the clicking sound was too loud when he was half asleep?

"Only three days left..."

Mingpo murmured softly.

Thinking of this, he suddenly paused.

Because Mingpu realized something—it had only been four days since he became the Deceiver.

He participated in so many games and killed so many people...

But only four days have passed?

"What will happen when the countdown ends...?"

Mingpo's lips curled up slightly: "I'm getting more and more excited."

at the same time.

Hubei Province, Wuhan City, Wuchang District.

In a black and white world, a profound and elegant palace stands out abruptly, enveloping most of Han Street.

The longest side of the palace stretches nearly a kilometer, covering an area of ​​700,000 square meters, rivaling even the Forbidden City in size. The brightly lit Chuhe Street adjacent to the palace illuminates its deep walls with a dazzling golden-red hue.

In a side hall within the palace was a magnificent banquet hall.

The thick carpet was so soft it felt like stepping on cotton in a heavenly palace.

People in suits and tuxedos chatted and laughed inside. Some sat alone in a corner, while others huddled together with friends. But the largest table had no more than six people.

There were only about fifty or sixty people in total, so the side hall seemed rather empty.

This is the headquarters of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

"Come, let us celebrate!"

An elderly man with white hair and a white beard, possessing eyes as sharp as a hawk, raised his glass of champagne: "Congratulations... Mr. Shen, on successfully seizing the future."

Congratulations, Mr. Shen.

The four much younger businessmen at his table clinked glasses with him.

The one who looked the most radiant was the youngest person at the table.

He looked to be no more than twenty years old, with a handsome face and fair skin. At that moment, his eyes shone with a light that was indistinguishable whether it was the light of hope or the glow emanating from the crystal chandelier above him.

"It is I who should toast the doctor."

The incredibly young "Mr. Shen" stood up and respectfully toasted the white-haired old man: "Without the doctor's guidance, I might have become the 'host'."

"But now, you've succeeded, haven't you?"

The "Doctor" smiled slightly: "The saying goes, 'The winner takes all'... Zhou Zhiqingqian is already considered a backbone of the guild. To be promoted to this level in just three months, in my opinion, the guild leader's rating of you is still too low."

"Not to mention Moon Silver... even Year Gold is worth a try."

Mr. Shen just smiled and didn't take the "doctor's" words too seriously.

"The president is right, Doctor. I have no ambition to be promoted... Once I reach Zhou Zhiqing's level and have my own 'palace,' I will be able to integrate and incubate paradox technologies."

His voice was clear and full of vitality.

The other people present were all around the same age as his father's or even his grandfather's generation.

Seeing this young man, everyone else showed kind and encouraging smiles.

"Young people are so energetic."

A middle-aged man smiled and said, "We don't have that kind of drive anymore. Xiao Shen, let me remind you... even if you already have a 'palace,' when you're doing paradoxical loops, remember that you must not exceed the time it took for your company to be built."

"Just bring the technology back little by little. Don't be too far ahead of the times, or 'Tianwen' will see you."

"Remember to be patient, Xiao Shen."

A woman who looked to be in her thirties with remarkably well-maintained skin smiled and said, "Don't just focus on bringing back the technology. The most important thing is 'business direction.' Take the doctor, for example—back then, he was developing his own feature phones, but the company was dragged down by the R&D team. The first thing he did after returning to the past was to adjust the company's business direction. He switched from in-house R&D to OEM production, and only managed to save the company thanks to Nokia's orders."

"Did you see what technology he brought back? No. Because not all technologies can be immediately absorbed."

Three years.

The middle-aged man held up three fingers: "Although the paradox technology will be fully mature when it's sent back... generally speaking, we still need to leave a three-year buffer... What do you plan to send back?"

"A robot."

Mr. Shen said without hesitation, "Our company's multi-functional robot has almost fully integrated with artificial intelligence. It can now perform simple operations via voice, and at least following and carrying are no problem, with a response time of less than 0.5 seconds. I plan to send it back, and the primary solution is to reduce the response time. My ultimate goal is to reduce the response time to less than 0.1 seconds, the false recognition rate to less than 0.1%, and at least to be able to complete simple household chores such as cooking and cleaning."

"You robot..."

The woman's expression was somewhat subtle: "Have you considered cooperating with the military? Robots of this caliber will be investigated."

"The most important thing is the unemployment rate."

The "Doctor" spoke slowly: "We must be careful to control costs. Costs cannot be too low. If it becomes too widespread, it will lead to a sharp rise in unemployment. If the higher-ups notice you, they may send Divine Comedy to investigate."

"The situation now is different from what we were like back then—in our time, there was no Tianwen's oversight, and as long as we kept a low profile, we wouldn't run into any problems."

"There's another question. You're going to do technology iteration... Are you planning to bring artificial intelligence back with you? Will your company also be doing algorithm development?"

"That shouldn't be a problem."

Mr. Shen spoke without hesitation: "I have a collaboration with Mr. Gao Song of Gaotian Construction Group. He plans to open up some of his artificial intelligence technology to me."

"Once I start the paradox loop, I will transfer the relevant technology to him and grant each other access."

But upon hearing his words, the others fell silent.