novelhk Chapter 96 They're making a movie
Chapter 96 They're making a movie
Chen You looked at Hill's standard professional smile and felt a wave of disgust.
"That mysterious merchant..." he pressed, "When will he appear? Are the things he sells genuine?"
"When the threads of fate intertwine, he will appear."
Hill's answer was cryptic and meaningless, as if he hadn't said anything at all.
Chen You finally understood.
This is an NPC whose respawn time is unpredictable and whose location is unknown; there's no use in rushing it.
"Alright."
He waved his hand, too lazy to ask any more questions.
Thinking back to when I was strolling around the city, I didn't have any impression of the mysterious merchant at all.
and many more……
Chen You suddenly had another idea.
"Let me log off and ask for instructions first."
……
Meanwhile, on the other side of the real world.
United States, the Hexagon.
The atmosphere inside the meeting room was so oppressive it felt like it had frozen in time.
The cigar smoke lingered, mixed with the rich bitterness of coffee.
President George stood with his back to the crowd, his hands resting on the huge, curved floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the distant obelisk, his figure appearing particularly desolate.
Behind him, on the long conference table, lay only a satellite image magnified countless times.
The central image is a majestic mountain range shrouded in thick fog.
Deep within the rugged, treacherous, and sparsely populated Qinling Mountains, a magnificent city, sculpted from white jade, stands quietly.
The city walls soar into the clouds, and the pavilions and towers exude an ethereal beauty, full of the charm of classical Eastern mythology.
"Everyone."
George finally turned around, his deep-set eyes revealing heavy dark circles, and his voice was hoarse and tired.
"Can anyone tell me what this thing is?"
There was dead silence in the conference room.
Defense Secretary Holman, CIA Director, National Security Advisor...
These powerful figures, who could shake the world with a stomp of their feet, were now like elementary school students being questioned by a teacher, collectively falling silent.
Just then, there was a gentle knock on the conference room door.
The president’s chief secretary walked in, pale-faced, holding a freshly printed document in his hand; the paper seemed to still be warm.
"Mr. President," the secretary's voice was somewhat hoarse.
"The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just given an official response to our inquiry."
George's eyes sharpened instantly. "Speak!"
The secretary took a deep breath, and spoke with difficulty, enunciating each word clearly:
"They said...that's the newly planned 'Kunlun Mythology' themed film and television city in China."
"We are currently filming a large-scale epic mythological film and television drama, and in order to prevent spoilers, the area is under lockdown."
"puff--"
Someone couldn't hold back and spat out a mouthful of coffee.
An eerie silence fell over the entire conference room, followed by a low murmur of suppressed discussion.
Film and television city?
Making a movie?
You call that a film and television city?!
Which film crew could create such a ghost town out of thin air in the Qinling Mountains?
Is this God's film crew?!
This is practically rubbing their intelligence into the ground repeatedly!
"Hahaha……"
George suddenly chuckled softly, the laughter growing louder and louder until it turned into an almost manic roar.
He grabbed the satellite image from the table, crumpled it into a ball, and slammed it onto the ground!
"Fuck!"
"They are humiliating us! They know we're watching, and they're doing this to blatantly humiliate us!"
Last time, it was the Ghost fighter jets that hovered like ghosts over the USS Ronald Reagan, turning the most advanced radar into scrap metal.
This time, it's a mythical city emerging from the depths of the Qinling Mountains, and a dismissive reply: "We're making a movie."
The series of defeats instilled in the leader of the world's leading superpower an unprecedented sense of frustration and fear.
What he feared was not the city itself, but the unknown power it represented that they could not understand or control at all!
Defense Secretary Holman broke the tense atmosphere with a loud cough.
He stood up and distributed a new document to everyone.
"Mr. President, gentlemen, perhaps... we should take a look at this."
Holman's expression was extremely solemn.
"According to our latest intelligence, before that city appeared..."
"The Chinese military, some universities, and even some civilian organizations are promoting a kind of... gymnastics with extremely high efficiency."
"Gymnastics?" George frowned, his rage subsiding slightly.
"Yes, a very strange kind of radio calisthenics."
Holman pressed the remote control, and the large screen on the wall lit up.
In the video, thousands of Chinese soldiers in military uniforms are performing a slow and graceful exercise on the parade ground.
Those movements are unlike any known martial art or training method.
Sometimes it resembles a crane spreading its wings, sometimes an ancient ape stretching its arms, full of a certain indescribable sense of rhythm and... antiquity.
The scene shifts, showing people practicing what looks like gymnastics moves, from the military to schools.
"Our linguists and behavioral analysts have already conducted preliminary studies," Holman said in a deep voice.
"They believe that the commands in this set of gymnastics... are less of a training guide and more of a spiritual guide or a meditation incantation."
"Focusing the mind on the dantian, sinking the qi to the Yongquan point, circulating the qi throughout the body..."
Holman read out a few translated words, and the people in the conference room looked at each other, their faces full of confusion.
What is all this about?
"The CIA's psychological assessment report concluded that this was a form of collectivist psychotherapy adopted by the Chinese authorities after suffering significant external pressure."
"It aims to enhance national cohesion and self-confidence."
An intelligence chief added.
"Bullshit!" George slammed his hand on the table and growled.
"Psychotherapy? I think we're the ones who need psychotherapy!"
He stared intently at the slow movements on the screen, then glanced at the crumpled satellite image on the ground.
An absurd yet chilling thought popped into his head uncontrollably.
Could these two things be related?
A fairyland city rising from the ground in reality.
A mysterious "gymnastics" promoted among millions of people.
Is there some kind of causal relationship between them that they cannot understand?
"Holman," George's voice was hoarse as he tapped the screen with his finger.
"I need to know everything about this gymnastics routine! Every detail of every movement, the original pronunciation of every command!"
"I want our biology lab to immediately organize real people to simulate these scenarios, monitoring all physiological data 24/7!"
"And another one!" he said, turning to the CIA director.
"Dispatch our top agents, at all costs, to infiltrate the Qinling Mountains region!"
"I want a living, breathing person standing beneath the walls of that 'film studio' to tell me what it really is!"
"Mr. President, the defense level there..."
"I don't care!" George interrupted rudely.
"This is a top priority order! If conventional methods don't work, then we'll use unconventional methods!"
"I need to know what cards they're holding!"
The atmosphere in the meeting room plummeted to freezing point once again.
Everyone understood what the president meant.
A secret war surrounding "Baiyujing" and "mysterious gymnastics" is about to begin.
George slumped back into his chair, running his hands through his graying hair, his eyes bloodshot.
"Gentlemen," he murmured, as if asking himself, or perhaps asking everyone present.
"Have they... already found... a way to communicate with 'God'?"
No one can answer this question.