IJWTRQ Chapter 006

After Minister Yu sorted out the notes, he immediately called for an emergency meeting.

At present, they only know that the ‘void’ will appear around 21-0 time in the East District Eighth, but the frequency and date of appearance don’t have the slightest regular pattern. It’s now 15 o’clock in the afternoon, and there are still 6 hours before the next ‘void’ may appear. The Ministry of State Security must decide how to settle Tan Yan before then.

If it were someone else, they might be worried about being taken away for human experimentation because of their supernatural abilities, but Tan Yan’s spirit is always stable. He fully believes in the organization’s decision, or he is willing to obey the arrangement to show such behavior.

When leaving the room, Minister Yu couldn’t help but secretly praised Tan Yan again. When he inspect the Ping County Public Security Bureau Office before, he said that he would spread Tan Yan’s work attitude to the whole country so every worker could learn from him. This is not just empty word. It’s a pity that Tan Yan’s identity is now a confidential file, and it is impossible to put it in the open for people to learn.

All the insiders of the Ministry of State Security are waiting for Minister Yu in the conference room. They have studied the ‘void’ phenomenon for many years, and now they have finally made a breakthrough. How can they not be excited?

At the meeting, Minister Yu summarized the conversation with Tan Yan, briefly explained the general situation, and then put down the notebook, waiting for everyone’s comment.

“…That’s it?” Xu Mingyu looks disappointed, “What is the cause of the void? Where is the source of the special energy field? What about the connection between Tan Yan and the void? No answer for all of them?”

“Exactly. The current situation is very complicated. The appearance of Tan Yan not only failed to solve our existing problems, but also added many problems. Do you have any thoughts on this?” Minister Yu asked.

He actually had a solution in mind, but it was absurd to say it, and he needed to convince the people in front of him.

Although the main person in charge of the ‘void phenomenon’ is Minister Yu, but he is only the general manager. The specific theoretical causes still need to be studied and analyzed, and the actual operation is still with these people. The most he can do is to translate the results of these people’s research into words that ordinary people can understand, report them to the country, apply for funding and resources, and experiment permission.

“I don’t quite understand one thing,” The deputy head of the research group, a senior professor, asked, “He has entered the ‘void’ countless times, how could he not understand anything? Even if there is no instrument, wouldn’t it be possible to compare and analyze the differences between the air composition, gravity changes, biological characteristics and the real world after entering the ‘void’ each time? As long as you compare several times, you can always seek common ground while reserving differences, and find out the different laws of each world.”

“There are also changes in soil quality, climatic characteristics, and the composition of drinkable water sources, which should also be noted, right?” Another professor added.

“He has such a great opportunity, but he hasn’t made any progress for forty years, this is really…” Leader of research team, Professor Fei Yindun, shook his head in disappointment.

Several other team members also nodded repeatedly, surprisingly, even the most basic environmental factors are not analyzed, honestly…

“Everyone, please pay attention,” Minister Yu knocked on the table, “The nature of Tan Yan’s work is different from everyone else’s, he is not a scientist. And it’s not like there are no scientists who dedicate their lives to science and truth and venture into the void, but has any of them returned?”

The crowd was suddenly silent.

The example given by Minister Yu happened in the 90s, when the ‘void’ phenomenon first occurred. After countless calculations, several scientists from other countries created a device that could bring them back, and they entered the void fully armed with the device. Of course, the result was obvious, they disappear, never to be seen again¹石沉大海 shí chén dà hǎi: like a stone dropped into the sea–disappear forever.

After that, no one dared to take risks to do experiments again, let alone do something to the ‘void’ with their existing knowledge reserves. This is a phenomenon beyond their understanding.

“I know that everyone is very interested in what is beyond the ‘void’. I didn’t mention this in my report just now, because I didn’t ask Tan Yan about it. Let me tell you about my experience——

It was a lava world, the temperature felt on the body was over 50 degrees, the sky was covered with dust, and it was a dim yellow, and it was impossible to see whether there were sun or stars in the sky. It was in an extremely unstable state, the ground was split open, magma spewed out, and countless animals I had never seen before were submerged in the magma with temperatures over 2000 degrees. Boiling magma is sprayed everywhere in the air, and half of the body will melt if it touches even a little bit, it’s an extremely dangerous world.

If everyone here goes there, will they still be in the mood to test the difference in environment?

No way, right? In the world beyond the ‘void’ everyone will only think about one thing——survival! And Tan Yan has persisted in an environment like this for forty years, please don’t use common sense to evaluate this matter.”

After Minister Yu finished speaking, everyone was silent, only Qiao Zhixue asked: “What about other worlds? Are they all the same? Is there a whole world beyond the ‘void’ or is it just a closed space where intelligent life exists?”

“Tan Yan can’t explain these things clearly.”

“Why?” Qiao Zhixue was a bit confused.

“If the Lava World were replaced by Tan Yan’s description, it would be—it’s quite hot, but it’s still tolerable, walk around to find a way out and came back.” Minister Yu recounted what Tan Yan said helplessly.

It was precisely because of their different understandings of the lava world that Minister Yu gave up asking about the situation in other worlds. Tan Yan’s descriptions of all the worlds are almost always ‘okay’, ‘tolerable’, and ‘came back alive in the end’. If he were to explain everything in detail, even with Tan Yan’s language standard, he can’t explain it clearly.

The truth is that the world is different in everyone’s eyes, and no matter how much Tan Yan explain it, the people in the research group will not get the answers they want.

After listening to Minister Yu’s explanation, everyone in the research team frowned. Such a narrative is not acceptable.

“What does the Minister have in mind?” Qiao Zhixue somewhat saw through the Minister’s thoughts, “Tan Yan can’t go in alone, but the Minister entered with him and came back, that is to say, I can go with him to the world beyond the ‘void’.”

“You probably can’t,” Minister Yu glanced at Qiao Zhixue’s thin body. The people in the research team forgot to sleep and eat as soon as they started the experiment, they all looked like paper men, “You won’t be able to survive for about three seconds.”

Like his police electric vehicle, turned into volcanic ash.

Minister Yu recalled the look in Tan Yan’s eyes at the time. When he first look at it, he thought it was the feeling of helplessness and nervousness, now in retrospect, those eyes are actually written full of ‘troublesome’ ‘in the way’…

“If every world beyond the ‘void’ is always so dangerous, then we are really not suitable to enter it, but Tan Yan doesn’t know anything… Can I make a small measuring device, teach him how to use it, and let him take it in?” Team Leader Fei asked.

“Don’t rush, listen to my thoughts.” Minister Yu said, “We can’t put all this burden on one person, not to mention that he has persisted for many years, he is very tired both mentally and physically. I want to set up a special operations team, led by someone selected by Tan Yan, specifically to enter the ‘void’.”

“This method can be done,” Group Leader Fei nodded his head, “I have a lot of interns under my command, pick a few who has good physical ability…”

“No,” Minister Yu immediately refused, “Action team members must meet the following conditions, the first is young, young people accept new things quickly; The second is to be trained since childhood, not need to mention having skill comparable with Tan Yan and me, at least they must have the strength of special forces; Third, theoretical knowledge must be excellent, even if they don’t have doctoral degree, at least their level must be of a postgraduate student. Finally, these people must have a strong sense of confidentiality, the ‘void’ phenomenon must not be known to the public, and the identity of Tan Yan must not be known to people in other countries.”

“There are not many people in the country who can achieve these three points at the same time, right?” One team member asked.

Originally, sports and mathematics, physics and chemistry are natural enemies, and there were very few people who were good at both, and they had to be the best at both. Even if this kind of person is found, the country will not be willing to put them in such a dangerous position. They are all talents, even more, young talents. The death of one of them will be a huge loss to the country.

“I know, so to cultivate this kind of talent, it cannot be accomplished overnight.” Minister Yu gave a statement.

“It takes at least three to five years to cultivate a talent. During this period, should Tan Yan be allowed to enter the void alone? What if something changes? What if he doesn’t come back?”

Everyone has been studying the void phenomenon for many years, and they were not in a hurry at this time. But after knowing the situation beyond the void and the role Tan Yan plays in it, they can’t take it lightly.

The safety of a country, a province, a city, a county, or even a town cannot rest entirely on one person. This is not the age of superheroes. People can’t put all the responsibility and blame on one person, the world belongs to everyone.

“Of course not, the two must be carried out together.” Minister Yu finally expressed his proposal, “My opinion is to let Tan Yan choose the right people to enter the void with him, while these people also should learn the necessary knowledge, so that after a few years of integration, a special action team specifically for the ‘void’ phenomenon will finally take shape.”

After a heated discussion, everyone quickly came to the conclusion that Minister Yu’s proposal was the best solution at present, but this was based on the fact that Tan Yan himself was reliable enough. After all, only he knew the situation, and the candidate could only be chosen by him.

“Is Tan Yan up to the task?” Qiao Zhixue thought of Tan Yan’s description of the lava world, and was very worried.

He was really worried that no matter which one brought for Tan Yan to choose, he would only get ‘not bad’ or ‘all okay’ for an answer.

“The current Tan Yan shouldn’t be able to,” Minister Yu sighed, “This training is not only for the special operations team, but also for Tan Yan.”

–

At 21 o’clock in the evening, when Tan Yan was waiting anxiously, Minister Yu finally brought a few people to Tan Yan’s lounge and let him out.

“Can I go back to Ping County? The time now is a bit late.” Tan Yan asked.

“No need to rush for the time being,” Minister Yu comforted, “I have asked the Ping County Public Security Bureau Office to stop night patrols. Even if patrols are required, they must end before nine o’clock in the evening. We will take over the rest of the time. Now there are professionals with detectors to search for void, should be easier than doing it alone.”

“But the void will spread.” Tan Yan worried, “If it appears in the urban area, when I rush back, don’t know how many people will be involved.”

“Don’t worry about it, the research we’ve done all these years hasn’t been in vain.” Minister Yu took Tan Yan to the experimental area, and Qiao Zhixue showed Tan Yan a huge machine.

“This is the quantum field fixer that the research team spent five years and spent huge sums of money to manufacture. It can contain the void for four to five hours, which is enough time for you to travel from City B to Ping County.” Minister Yu patted Tan Yan and push him to the chair.

“Don’t worry too much, you used to be all alone, now we won’t let you bear so much pressure, you can relax your shoulders a bit.” Minister Yu looked at Tan Yan kindly.

Tan Yan: “…”

Feeling touched is touched, but the eyes are a little wrong.

Tan Yan only saw this kind of look when he first start working, and he basically used this kind of look to look at the new police officers in his unit all these years.

Although he doesn’t quite understand the meaning of Minister Yu’s eyes, Tan Yan still feels his shoulders lighten, his body feels extremely tired, his upper eyelids are getting heavier and heavier, and he is about to fall asleep in the laboratory.

“Wake up first,” Minister Yu woke Tan Yan up, “I still have something to say.”

“Considering your current appearance, I have one thing to tell you with regret, I am afraid you will not be able to retire in two years, the country needs your strength.”

Tan Yan’s expression froze for a moment, but he quickly nodded in agreement: “Okay.”

He didn’t even ask how long he was going to work, he just agreed.

Minister Yu thought that it should be very difficult for Tan Yan. The motivation for him to survive is to rest after retirement, now he was told that retirement is not in the foreseeable future, and may have to work like a young man, it is difficult for anyone to accept. But Tan Yan still accepted, because this is his duty.

“Don’t worry, there’s still more words, we can’t just shave the wool of a sheep, we won’t make you work too hard.” Minister Yu consoled, “Your next task is to select the members of the special operations team and take them into the void so that they too can have your power. You can rest after they learn everything. Of course, you may be hired as a nominal consultant, the kind that needs you to help out when they encounter difficulties.”

Unexpectedly, Tan Yan was not too happy to hear that he could rest, he said with concern: “It’s dangerous, I’m afraid something will happen.”

“Precisely because it’s so dangerous it is all the more important not to keep exploiting you. This has been decided, and you can’t refuse it. The hidden danger of ‘void’ is too great, we must find a way to solve it completely.” Minister Yu said solemnly.

At this point, there is no room for Tan Yan to object, he silently accepted it.

“One more thing…” Minister Yu suddenly showed a benevolent smile again, sitting beside Tan Yan and kindly said, “Considering the difficulty and duration of the task, we need to select some energetic young people to cultivate. Because the team member need extremely high quality, we can’t confirm the candidates all at once, we can only choose from a wide range, and we can’t disclose the whole story of this matter before the selection. So you need to first get in touch with these candidates for a period of time, and then choose the person you think is suitable.”

Tan Yan felt a little uneasy: “…What form of contact, training camp?”

“Of course not, that would be too deliberate.” Minister Yu smiled and took out two things and put them in front of Tan Yan, one was Tan Yan’s ID card the birth year is 2000, and the other was an admission notice.

Admission notice for a special class in a central military academy.

Undergraduate college student.

Junior High School Graduate Tan Yan: “…”

---

The author has something to say:

Tan Yan: Minister, I choose to fight for my country all my life, let me go into the void alone!

Minister Yu: Don’t make a fuss, young people should go to college!

 

If you like my translations, a cup of coffee would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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  石沉大海 shí chén dà hǎi: like a stone dropped into the sea–disappear forever