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Meet?

The other side seemed more anxious than imagined, why so urgent?

Chen Qing looked around, he didn’t understand why the so-called Federation was so eager to get involved in this world, this world... was it really that enchanting?

"How do we meet?" Chen Qing asked curiously.

Could it be that they were going to make him travel over there directly?

Although he was quite curious about what that world looked like now, he wouldn’t take the risk under these unknown circumstances.

If he and his people were truly just clusters of data, upon leaving this world and arriving there, would they be at the mercy of others?

He really wasn’t clear about that. After all, the concept of digital life sounded even more far-fetched than transmigration.

"At a designated location, a virtual district will be set up in advance. A buffer zone will briefly appear there—you won’t need to leave this world, and they won’t be able to come here in person. It’s just a meeting in that buffer zone."

"Buffer zone?" Chen Qing asked, puzzled, "Is there such a thing?"

"It’s one of some vulnerabilities found by the higher-ups when they conquered here. These vulnerable spots are classified. For the sake of meeting you, the higher-ups have offered a secret set of coordinates."

"Oh?" Chen Qing narrowed his eyes. Could it be possible to hack into this place?

Vulnerabilities, it looked like he needed to quickly learn about this so-called Digital City; he felt that the Federation’s intervention was only a matter of time.

"What do you say?" Jiang Xiaoling asked tentatively.

"If it’s just for discussion, why insist on meeting me in person when you could have passed the message through you?" Chen Qing looked at her, "What’s the significance?"

"My clearance isn’t high enough..." Jiang Xiaoling shook her head, "There are some confidential matters that I’m not privy to."

"Confidential matters?" Chen Qing looked at her, with a smile that was not quite a smile. If she wasn’t lying and this wasn’t a trick, then this Mr. Zhang must hold significant clout.

The reason was simple: they had already sent Jiang Xiaoling in, so what confidential matter could there be that she couldn’t know?

The only reason that came to mind was that this Mr. Zhang intended to negotiate some terms with him privately.

And the fact that this private meeting was permitted indicated how significant his authority must be. ..

With this thought, Chen Qing nodded, "When?"

"Two hours later, the coordinates are not far from Jiangnan, at this location." Jiang Xiaoling pointed at the map laid out on the table.

Chen Qing was startled; the location was in Nanming Prefecture, part of the former Jiangnan Capital. The Federation’s point of attack through the vulnerabilities was exactly there. Was it a coincidence? Or had the Federation attempted to break in at every capital site?

Unable to sort out the issue, he could only leave first. This time, he did not invoke his Divine Skills. Two hours, if he took the fastest boat available in Jiangnan now, he could make it in time. He indeed wanted to see what exactly the people from the Federation intended to do with this world.

---------------------------------

"Zhang Zhengyuan meeting alone?"

Inside the Digital City, in a space shrouded in secrecy, representatives from various districts gathered to discuss this new intelligence!

Clearly, all the districts had planted intelligence agents within the Federation. Actions like exploiting game vulnerabilities, which required a lot of energy, couldn’t be concealed from these planted agents.

"Could it be a bluff from Huazhong?" the leading representative from the Western Europe District, Du Ke, frowned with suspicion.

At the Federal Parliament, the project had just been announced for a restart. And immediately, Zhang Zhengyuan went to meet privately with this Chen Qing. Could it be a deliberate ploy to draw their attention?

The others couldn’t provide a clear response for a while. The project had always been the most hidden in Huazhong. All these years, the intelligence gathered by their agents had been extremely limited. Some even suspected it was a bogus project aimed at scamming them of their energy resources.

But according to investigations over the years, Huazhong’s energy output was clearly number one in the Federation, yet the energy distribution per capita was even lower than in the Nordic District, which had the least technological conditions.

If life was so hard for those at the bottom, where was all the energy going?

They couldn’t possibly have taken everything, could they?

"The project must be real..." the former lord of the Federation, a North America District congressman, finally spoke up, "It’s just that the details must have been cunningly hidden by the Huazhong people.

I believe the later we enter, the worse it is for us.

I propose that we join the project immediately, but demand that Huazhong disclose all intel, especially about that key figure: Chen Qing! "

Once the boss of the Caucasians had spoken, others naturally took the suggestion seriously.

At present, all regions face severe accommodation shortages, and inciting public outrage is only a matter of time.

Rather than facing that, why not give it a shot?

Even if the project fails later in development, as the initiator, Huazhong must bear the primary responsibility, and by then, any conflict can be shifted outward, at least lessening the internal public pressure.

Thinking this through, most congressmen slowly nodded in agreement, except for some hardliners who still believed that this was a Huazhong plot to scam energy and advocated for conservative development.

Amidst the public’s various speculations, Zhang Zhengyuan, who caused the uproar, didn’t care at all.

He didn’t even care about the suspicions of Huazhong’s upper echelons towards him, because since he had controlled the Zhuxian World, the top brass’s suspicions against him had never ceased. But what of it? What could they do?

In a designated encrypted space, he quietly waited. After about two hours, a ghostly figure appeared.

The figure was clad in white, looked around curiously, and finally turned that curious gaze towards himself.

Zhang Zhengyuan was also curious as he looked at the figure, and eventually took the initiative to speak with a smile, "Should I address you as Mr. Pu YunChuan or Mr. Chen Qing?"

"Call me Chen Qing..." Chen Qing responded indifferently.

Through Jiang Xiaoling, he had roughly learned about some past events, and now he even doubted whether he was Pu YunChuan, because he had no memory of the time when Pu YunChuan was severely ill.

Besides, his attitude towards the concept of digital life was also strange. Memories uploaded, intelligent growth based on genetic algorithms... was that still the same person as before?

Even if he really was a digital life generated from Pu YunChuan’s memories, was he still the same as before?

"It seems that Mr. Chen Qing identifies more with his current identity," Zhang Zhengyuan said with a smile.

Chen Qing looked at him and then around before speaking calmly, "If your people can create a central zone here, why can’t you just invade directly?"

"Invasion is double-edged..." Zhang Zhengyuan replied with a smile, "It’s not a good thing.

Based on past experiences, one-sided hacker invasions into these already artificially intelligent game worlds result in backlash, and the risks are substantial.

There was once an incident within the Federation where a world was counter-invaded.

It resulted in numerous casualties, with a third of the digital lives lost. The world you are in is more than a hundred times larger than that world which caused the incident.

If a counter-invasion occurred, it could completely destroy the entire Federation. "

"That powerful?" Chen Qing felt a sense of wonder.

It was just a game he had designed, and he never imagined it could become so powerful one day, threatening human existence.

This was truly...

"More powerful than you can imagine..." Zhang Zhengyuan continued with a smile, "Even though humanity has researched digital intelligence for hundreds of thousands of years, we still can’t fully grasp it.

It has mysteriously evolved into an authentic secondary world, and now many things are beyond explanation, including why virtual Divine Skills from game worlds can be used just the same in the Digital City. "

Chen Qing looked at him in surprise, "You’re telling me such crucial information so easily?"

"There’s nothing wrong with sharing..." Zhang Zhengyuan said with a smile, "You could obtain this intel with a bit more effort. Since we plan to form an alliance, such public information naturally doesn’t need to be concealed."

"Big boss attitude..." Chen Qing chuckled and sat down, looking at him and said, "Then tell me, how do you propose we cooperate?"

"I plan to transfer five hundred people to your Jiangnan by tomorrow..."

"Oh?" Chen Qing narrowed his eyes and rubbed his fingers together, "How will you send them?"

"Utilizing current technology, it involves directly transmitting the data through an energy channel into the designated area. In the past, the data sent to your world would be absorbed by the Path of Yin and Yang in the form of spirit bodies, then enter into the cycle of reincarnation."

"Absorbed directly into reincarnation?" Chen Qing was puzzled, "Without passing through other parts of the Path of Yin and Yang? Directly at the Reincarnation Point?"

No wonder... none of the Reincarnators had ever been nibbled by Evil Ghosts...

"That was the case before, but it seems to be different with you," Zhang Zhengyuan looked at Chen Qing, "That’s why I’m eager to know something, Divine Skills can control the Underworld, and the Underworld can control reincarnation, so.

.. I really want to know, can the Reincarnators traveling to your Jiangnan be intercepted by your Underworld? "