Chapter 386 - Failed Project
Chapter 386: Failed Project
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the beginning of the night, the capital’s steel forest was lit up by countless electric lights.
Under the flashing neon lights, the city was still bustling with traffic and people.
Standing in front of the glass window on the 27th floor, Zhang Hui looked out of the window at the main road.
Few people knew that the capital had entered a period of full alert.
Hundreds of thousands of military and police officers were patrolling the streets, nightclubs and night markets.
Countless cameras were monitoring every intersection and street in the city.
Several supercomputers had been activated.
Data was flowing through them.
Experts were examining the data and making plans.
Tens of billions of funds had been allocated.
And all of this was for the upcoming sorority.
Thinking of this, Zhang Hui sighed.
“General...” His personal secretary walked behind him and said softly, “The meeting you arranged is ready!”
“Okay!” Zhang Hui nodded and turned around to look at the other party, “Then let’s begin!”
He walked to a conference room in front and pushed the door open.
The people in the conference room stood up one after another.
There were more than twenty men and women.
“General!” The people saluted one after another.
Zhang Hui raised his hand in return, then walked to the main seat and sat down.
He pressed his hand down, “Sit down, everyone!”
The people sat down neatly in unison.
“Tell me...” He looked at these people, “Has anyone made any progress since the ‘Failed’ project started?”
The ‘Failed’ project was a top-secret project led by Zhang Hui.
All the organizers were personally selected by him.
All the participants were selected from closed environments such as the Blackguard, the army and the prison.
The so-called ‘Failed’ was taken from ‘Book of Rites’: Gentle and honest, the teachings of ‘poem’ were far-reaching and the teachings of ‘book’ were taught, so ‘poem’ was lost in foolishness and ‘book’ was lost in slander.
Therefore, it was actually the ‘Book’ project.
To be more precise, it was a research project for an online novel.
This project had been launched more than twenty days ago.
Half a month ago, Zhang Hui had officially listed it as a top secret project and named it ‘Failed’.
Now, the ‘Failed’ project had become the largest research project of the Blackguard.
Just the participants alone numbered in the tens of thousands.
And the organizers were all colonel.
They were all the elites and backbone of the Blackguard, candidates who had gone through layers of examinations and tests.
“General!” A delicate and pretty woman stood up and replied, “We have basically obtained a basic understanding of some of the transcendent being’s characteristics...”
Zhang Hui looked at her.
This was his former adjutant, Zheng Qinghe, from the royal family of the Xisong Kingdom.
In terms of rank, she was also a princess!
“Colonel Zheng, please continue!” Zhang Hui picked up a notebook seriously and began to record.
“Yes!” Zheng Qinghe puffed out her chest and bowed, then reported, “According to the analysis of the comparative situation...”
“We are certain that the target has some sort of automatic screening ability...”
“If it wasn’t specially reminded...”
“About half of the test subjects would ignore the existence of the target on the web page...”
“And among those who noticed it, another one-third of them did not have the intention to open it at all...”
“And among the remaining people, after reading it, less than one-tenth of them were willing to take the initiative to open it...”
“We asked them...”
“We got the following answers...”
“About 20% of them don’t know what the author is writing...”
“About 40% of them have doubts about the plot...”
“The rest basically don’t feel anything...”
“But there are a few cases where they often have nightmares after reading it...”
“They told us that they dreamed that they were in the world described in the novel...”
“They mentioned the words ‘alien’ and ‘engineer’...”
“This is a survey of ordinary people...”
“And when the subjects of the survey turned to extraordinaires and foreign species...”
“80% of people would ignore the book on the web page...”
“Among the rest, only about a hundred or so people clicked on it and read it...”
“And these people basically said that the book was quite novel. It should be a fantasy work of a mortal...”
“There were two cases where they appeared in the world described in the novel while they were sleeping..”
“The Arctic, which was covered in ice and snow..”
“They told us that they fought with ‘iron blood’ from outer space in their dreams”
“There was even a person who found himself holding an alien weapon in his hands after he woke up...”
Zheng Qinghe took out a box from under the table.
She pressed it lightly and the box opened.
Inside was a metal spear, but it was filled with a sci-fi vibe.
Zheng Qinghe picked it up and the spear immediately shrunk to less than an inch. With a gentle wave, it turned into a spear again, incomparably sharp!
“According to the assessment, the alien creatures they encountered can be invisible, and they have the technology to scan and lock on to them...”
“Their miniaturized missiles are not bad for close combat!”
“Their overall combat strength is about the same as a first lieutenant...”
Zhang Hui listened and tapped the table lightly.
Even though he already knew that the ‘book’ written by that person had transcendent being characteristics.
But...
To let people enter another world in their dreams and even bring back their spoils of war...
This was really a little out of Zhang Hui’s expectations.
It was a little similar to the characteristics of the realm of nightmare that was listed in the top-secret archives of the Federal Empire.
No..
The realm of nightmare was afraid of being known by the outside world.
Therefore, its participants were prohibited from revealing any information to the outside world and those who violated it would be ‘killed’.
Zhang Hui had seen a few cases where the relevant information was reported to his superior and then suddenly disappeared.
However, this person who pulled people into dreams did not have these taboos.
This meant that he did not care about being known by others.
Thinking of this, Zhang Hui looked at another person in charge and asked, “Colonel Yangbo, what about you?”
The bald colonel stood up and reported after saluting, “Reporting to general... the part that I am responsible for also has relevant progress and reports... I have already written the specific content into a document...”
He handed a data storage card to Zhang Hui.
“Here, I’ll briefly introduce our progress to you...”
He said, “I’m responsible for the research portion that is consciously guided...”
“With the cooperation of the prisons, the army and a large number of state agency staff, I’ve organized nearly 10,000 people’s tests...”
“Under the condition of actively guiding them to read without setting any conditions...”
“The survey showed that most ordinary people said, ‘although this author’s writing is very absurd, it’s quite interesting.’
“However, in the end, they all chose to give up their collection!”
“In the survey that asked why, 70% of people said that they chose to do so because of physical and psychological reasons...”
“And they couldn’t accurately describe these reasons...”
“And the remaining 30% indicated clear reasons...”
“These reasons can be roughly divided into five categories...”
“Dread and fear are the majority of reasons!”
“There are also a few people who said that they heard strange whispers...”
Zhang Hui’s eyes slowly lit up when he heard this.
Strange whispers?
Was it similar to the spirit language?
Therefore, he asked, “Did the readers who heard the whispers have any abnormalities?”
Yangbo shook his head.
“So, harmless spirit language?” He thought.
Yangbo continued to report, “And in the relevant transcendent being investigation, we found something more interesting...”
“Almost all the transcendent being who participated in the reading said that they experienced psychological or physical pleasure during the reading process...”
“About thirty percent of them indicated that their cultivation process was smoother than usual after reading... Moreover, some people indicated that they had entered a state similar to ‘Epiphany’!”
Zhang Hui raised his head, “The written form of the spirit language?”
“And is it a harmless written form?”
As he thought of this, he asked, “Colonel Yang... then, can any of them keep it?”
Yangbo shook his head, “Compared to ordinary people, the descriptions of transcendent being are more accurate...”
“Most of them said that the moment they wanted to collect them, they received a warning that a crisis was coming...”
“A small number of people reported that they felt as if they were treading on thin ice, as if they were falling into an abyss!”
“What about the comments?” Zhang Hui asked the key question he wanted to ask, “And the rewards?”
Yangbo shook his head, “According to my research, no one is ‘willing’ to do these things!”
“The relevant experts say...” He said, “This may be the effect of some large-scale mental magic art!”
“Some experts say that the author may be consciously screening readers...”
“Only the fated ones are allowed to...”
Zhang Hui looked at Zheng Qinghe, “Colonel Zheng, what about you?”
Zheng Qinghe replied, “General, on my side, there was someone who successfully left a message before...”
Zhang Hui nodded.
He began to ponder.
With the degree of arrogance of the ancient god, it was completely predictable for him to do such a thing.
But...
Zhang Hui thought of a crucial point.
He looked at Zheng Qinghe and Yangbo and asked, “In other words... the author did not forbid the readers from reading, no matter what kind of reading it is?”
The two nodded.
Zhang Hui smiled, “Then let’s continue...”
“How many words has the ‘Failed’ been written now?” He asked.
“More than 100,000!” Zheng Qinghe answered.
“Okay!” Zhang Hui said, “Then let’s wait... continue...”
“Let’s see what kind of story the author wants to tell!”
Perhaps, they could get more from the story.
...
It was late at night.
Ling Ping’ an stretched himself and made himself a cup of tea.
He raised his head and looked at the time.
It was past ten o’clock.
The street outside was cold and quiet. The evening wind blew and rolled up a few withered leaves.
He tightened his clothes and exhaled, “Looks like I’ll have to wear cotton-padded shoes in the future!”
Although he had not felt the cold yet, he was used to it.
Before the cold arrived, he was already prepared to ward off the cold!
After drinking a mouthful of tea, his body immediately warmed up.
Meow!
The little cat, Bastet looked at Ling Ping’ an with eager eyes. The little guy’s eyes were filled with longing and pleading.
Ling Ping’ an smiled and shared half of the tea with Bastet.
Then, the cat and the human started to enjoy the tea.
Ling Ping’ an refreshed the backstage.
1432.
He smacked his lips and sighed, “The result seems to be a little bad...”
It had been more than 20 days since the upload.
After last week’s test, there were no more recommendations.
As dismal as his previous books!
The sixth white of the Central Plains, was also awaken but he didn’t lose heart!
“Gold always shines!” He encouraged himself.
Meow!
Bastet, the kitten, meowed softly and praised her master.
“I certainly can!” Ling Ping’an clenched his fist.
At this point, his eye corners to the upper left of the backstage, seems to have an unread text message.
He clicked on it and saw the text.
“New book push!” He excited, “I have such a good recommendation next week!”
“Really thanks to the editor!”
In his mind, the results was so poor and he simply couldn’t expect any recommendation. He could only slowly endure, endure until the book was on shelf and then gain some full attendance and author’s renumeration.
He has already acquiesced to this ending.
But who would have thought that there would be a recommendation?
It was very good!
It must be because the editor took care of him but he didn’t know that his superficial data was very poor.
Now was the era of big data.
Backstage, the website had already monitored and counted tens of thousands of users and tourists who read regularly.
They read daily but they didn’t collect, recommend, or leave messages.
Just like the silent majority!
Such a strange phenomenon made the website hesitate to make such a decision after observing it for a while.
After all...
In the era of the Internet economy, traffic was money!
No one would go against money.
Ling Ping’an sat up straight happily. In order to celebrate the next week’s push, he planned to write more today.
Thus, the sound of typing rang out again.
The little cat, Bastet was lying on the counter, drinking tea while playing with the bronze taotie. She was having a great time.
...
Mei Qing carefully glided over the filthy Poison River.
In the Poison River, countless vengeful souls and evil spirits sensed the presence of a stranger and came to life.
Unfortunately...
They were too late!
Mei Qing landed steadily on the other side of the river.
She looked ahead.
This was her destination.
The Leopard Head Mountain in Yuhua Province!
Legend had it that a great demon once occupied this place hundreds of years ago.
Later, the master, who was a monk and his disciples from the eastern lands passed by this place. The great demon and the monsters on the mountain all were defeated by them.
Thinking of the legend of the divine monk, Mei Qing’s brows locked tightly together.
“What divine monk?!” She cursed fiercely, “The source of all the troubles in the world!”
The divine monk from the eastern lands went to the Great Thunderclap Temple in the western to get the scriptures.
This was supposed to be a good thing!
But unexpectedly...
What the divine monk took back was not the true scriptures and good methods that saved the world.
Instead, it was the evil scriptures and bad methods that had endless poison and corrupted people’s hearts.
No one knew whether it was the Western Heaven’s Buddha who gave them the evil scriptures and Dharma, or whether it was the divine monk and his disciples who substituded it with some other thing and turned the true scriptures and dharma upside down, distorting the scriptures and causing chaos in the world. This led to the current situation where all the Gods and Buddhas died and the world was thrown into chaos!