A person has been arranged in the conference room.
When Lou Wei went to the conference room, the head of the design department next to him quietly briefed him on the situation.
Design Department Head: General Lou, we didn’t expect them to come. We just applied for a patent and suddenly received their call, then they came directly.
It’s not a very hot day now, and wearing formal attire sometimes makes you feel cold. But a layer of sweat has already appeared on the head of the design department. His hands were clasped in front of him, and his face was full of nervousness.
“Will there be any problems with our design?” The head of the department hesitated.
Lou Wei didn’t speak, he just glanced at him sideways. That silent yet slightly fierce gaze instantly silenced the department head.
He immediately touched his nose and stopped talking.
Wen Fan was also pondering in Lou Wei’s mind, trying to figure out who the person they were talking about was.
The department head and Lou Wei seemed to be playing some kind of silent riddle, talking for a while without revealing the name of the person who had come.
And when the two of them finally walked to the conference room, Lou Wei looked at the door of the conference room in front of him and whispered to the department head, “You can go now.”
“Yes,” The department head nodded and, brimming with curiosity, quickly left.
After he left, Lou Wei pushed the door open and walked in. There were only three people in the room. One of them looked to be in his fifties or sixties, sitting at the top of the conference table. The other two were dressed in black, with tense expressions and robust figures, standing on either side of the man.
When the three men saw Lou Wei approaching, the man sitting in the middle immediately stood up and extended his hand to shake hands with Lou Wei.
“Hello, I am Li Yunqing, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology.”
Upon hearing the man’s voice, Wen Fan froze. Even the apps next to him were taken aback. The Meituan kangaroo that was grilling skewers got startled and ran away with its skewers.
Compared to them, Lou Wei appeared much calmer. He had already had a vague sense of anticipation from what the head of the design department had said earlier, so he wasn’t very surprised at this moment. Through the camera, Wen Fan saw that Lou Wei’s expression remained unchanged. He calmly raised his hand and shook hands with Li Yunqing, saying, “Hello, I’m Lou Wei.”
Despite being the head of the company, Lou Wei was naturally indicated to a seat by the man, who took on an air of authority and said in a deep voice, “Please have a seat.”
Lou Wei sat down where he was indicated. The man continued, “Here’s the situation: I noticed that your company successfully designed the gaming chamber and is applying for a patent.”
Lou Wei nodded slightly, showing no change in his expression as he recited the patent number for the patent application.
Li Yunqing had a smile on his face. “We are very interested in your company’s gaming chamber. Could you please provide more details?”
If it were another company sitting across from them, this would be an inquiry about the design achievements.
However, the person sitting before them was the primary figure responsible for overseeing science and technology. After a brief thought, Lou Wei outlined the general design concepts of the gaming chamber and relayed them to Li Yunqing.
From their design philosophy for the gaming chamber to the exploration of neural connectors and the virtual gaming world, Lou Wei explained everything concisely.
Li Yunqing’s smile remained unchanged. From the surface, one couldn’t tell his thoughts at all. He waited until Lou Wei finished explaining all the designs before he hesitated for a moment and spoke again, “LouV Technology has always been at the forefront of the national gaming industry. Many of your designs have a significant impact on targeted players. The design of this gaming chamber is innovative and remarkable, but there’s one issue.”
Lou Wei replied, “Please go ahead.”
Li Yunqing continued, “Addressing the gaming industry separately is not a problem. However, the gaming chamber connects to the human brain. Once an issue arises, it could potentially cause irreversible damage. For the sake of the safety of young people, without concrete statistics on safety rates, the gaming chamber cannot be released on the market.”
This meant that all the funding put into LouV Technology’s flagship design this year would go to waste.
Listening from Lou Wei’s phone, Wen Fan felt incredibly uncomfortable.
How could this be allowed?!
He had personally witnessed the entire company’s excitement and enthusiasm for a whole week.
The gaming chamber was the result of the efforts of the staff of “Dream of Heaven” for so long. Wen Fan couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be if they found out that the design they had been eagerly anticipating for so long wouldn’t make it to the market, couldn’t be used by players outside the company, and might not yield any returns.
But compared to him, Lou Wei seemed much more composed. There was no expression of unacceptance on his face, so much so that it was hard for Wen Fan to believe. He simply gazed calmly at Li Yunqing, as if pondering the implications of Li Yunqing’s words.
In reality, Lou Wei was indeed considering the reasons behind Li Yunqing’s visit.
Given his position, if it was just about informing him that the gaming chamber couldn’t be released or that there were patent application issues, it could easily be communicated by the relevant departments under him. There was no need for him to come in person.
The fact that he was sitting here now, going out of his way to explain, made Lou Wei feel that there might be a chance for a turnaround in this matter.
After some thought, he changed his approach and said, “If we can incorporate a mainboard in the gaming chamber that displays the scenes players see inside the game, allowing those who haven’t used the gaming chamber to observe the user’s in-game situation. Additionally, if we enhance the automatic monitoring function of the gaming chamber, ensuring that players can immediately exit safely when a problem arises, could that be considered sufficient protection for player safety?”
Li Yunqing still had a smile on his face, but he didn’t speak.
His eyes were fixed on Lou Wei, as if he was considering something, yet also seemed like he hadn’t intended to respond.
Observing Li Yunqing’s expression, Wen Fan couldn’t help but recall his school days and the headmaster’s expressions during disciplinary talks.
Every time the headmaster spoke, it was this kind of expression.
It made people feel uneasy all over.
And there always seemed to be something unsaid in their words.
As Wen Fan thought this, he heard Lou Wei continue, “If you have relevant personnel to supervise, we are willing to undergo constant inspections. We will also enhance the design to include a panel that displays the gameplay within the game world. Even the inspection personnel can monitor the situation of any player simultaneously, without entering the game, through external surveillance.”
After he finished speaking, Li Yunqing finally spoke, “We need to discuss this further internally. We’ll need a few more working days to provide you with a specific response.”
Lou Wei immediately nodded, saying, “Of course.”
The conversation between the two about the gaming chamber seemed to have come to an end.
However, after Li Yunqing finished speaking, he remained motionless in the room for quite some time, as if there were some topics left unsaid.
Sure enough, just as he and Lou Wei had maintained eye contact for over two minutes, Li Yunqing spoke again, but this time his voice sounded much more serious and cold than before.
Every word felt like it was treading on people’s auditory nerves, making listeners’ hairs stand on end, as if speaking a single wrong word would result in some undesirable accusation.
Li Yunqing: “We unintentionally received personal information about members of the IRS International Revolutionary Organization and information about their secret website from an unfamiliar account.”
The moment he finished speaking, Wen Fan felt his heart skip a beat.
Could it be that Li Yunqing was suspecting Lou Wei?
But Lou Wei had used an entirely fabricated anonymous account, without even an IP address. It was created by exploiting a card bug, leaving no traces that could be searched.
Li Yunqing continued, “The account had no name, no personal information, and not even an IP address. Although it greatly helped us trace the trail of the IRS, we can’t express gratitude face to face. I wonder if you, Lou Wei, have any thoughts on this account.”
His voice wasn’t loud, nor was it soft, but it sent a shiver down the spine and made the listener’s back feel cold.
Lou Wei thought for a moment and whispered, “It’s quite puzzling. According to logic, this kind of account shouldn’t exist.”
Li Yunqing stared at him intensely for a while and then smiled, agreeing with his statement.
However, right after his words fell, he added, “Originally, I thought that under your LouV Technology, there were remarkable talents emerging one after another. Over these past few months, a variety of high-design games have been consistently released. This time, there’s even a gaming chamber that can potentially connect to neural pathways. It’s possible that this account might have some understanding of how to trace it…,” he glanced enigmatically at Lou Wei, then lowered his head to look at his own hands, and smiled slightly before saying no more. However, this restrained and cryptic tone left the listener on edge.
Wen Fan couldn’t help but scratch his head.
In the past few months, at most, he had helped Lou Wei with a few tasks that he deemed unimportant. He never thought that it would attract the government’s attention.
However, upon further reflection, if he were a government employee and a game company suddenly started releasing new designs at an unlikely development speed, it might indeed evoke memories of the elusive black account they had been unable to trace.
Li Yunqing’s words were not just inquiries; they seemed more like a warning.
They might continue to keep an eye on LouV Technology’s activities in the future.
Both Wen Fan and Lou Wei thought of this simultaneously.
For the rest of the time, Li Yunqing returned to the tone of their initial conversation, discussing the types of technology that young people have been fond of in recent years with Lou Wei.
It wasn’t until Li Yunqing left that the conversation never circled back to the issue of Wen Fan’s black account and the gaming chamber.
But as Lou Wei watched Li Yunqing’s departing figure, his brows furrowed, as if he was consumed by worry.
He personally drove to the hospital where Wen Fan was being treated, his expression tense throughout the journey, not daring to waste any time.
Wen Fan felt Lou Wei’s worry, and he himself was genuinely concerned.
From the perspective of national security, it was understandable for the government to regulate things like the gaming chamber that could potentially disrupt the neural conditions of young people or serve as tools for disseminating harmful information in places hidden from government view.
What worried Lou Wei was that the account Wen Fan had sent them to counter the IRS opposition, the recent game designs from LouV Technology, and the hypnosis sound waves from the gaming chamber might be traced back to Wen Fan.
Although he could ensure that he didn’t show Wen Fan to others.
With the current level of technology, if Wen Fan could remotely access other people’s computers via the internet, others could naturally connect to Lou Wei’s phone and computer, potentially discovering Wen Fan’s connection.
The top priority was to get Wen Fan back into his body immediately.
With this in mind, Lou Wei increased the speed of the car.
Lou Wei’s phone, where Wen Fan resided, was positioned on the phone holder, facing directly at Lou Wei’s face.
From within the screen, Wen Fan watched Lou Wei’s unusually solemn expression, and he himself became increasingly nervous as well. However, for the sake of security, he refrained from speaking.
When Lou Wei parked the car outside the hospital and took Wen Fan inside, he immediately went to find the attending doctor responsible for Wen Fan’s condition.
Dr. Li was reviewing Wen Fan’s medical records. Upon hearing the knock on the door, before he could respond, he saw Lou Wei directly entering the room.
The first thing Lou Wei said was, “Dr. Li, may I inquire whether Wen Fan, the patient in Room 816, can be discharged for treatment?”
Dr. Li hadn’t yet responded, but he had taken note of Lou Wei’s request.
