Chapter 2: The supervisor does the work of a wage slave but has the mind of a spy.
Two agreements were laid out before Shi Wei. One was an application to join the Manla Empire as a citizen, which had already been stamped. The other was quite strange; it was an employment contract with a telecommunications company. Lu Qi said that this was just a pretext. Once she signed the contract, she would have to stay in the Manla Empire for ten years and would not be allowed to leave the empire even for a moment.
The first document was absolutely not to be signed, even though Lu Qi said that signing it would guarantee her life. But Shi Wei didn't believe it. If it weren't for the fact that she was from the Fran Empire, and her brother had made a big fuss about this, these people could lock her up until she died. If she signed it, wouldn't she be at the mercy of the Security Bureau?
The second agreement was a bit more complicated. This employment contract offered a very high salary and an outrageously high penalty for breach of contract, but it imposed very heavy restrictions on her personal freedom. She could only move around in the capital of the Manla Empire. The secret agreement even stipulated that she had to come to the Security Bureau for inspection every week, all her communication devices would be monitored, and she would have to report any trips she took.
There is absolutely no right to privacy.
Shi Wei signed the second agreement. Clearly, the Security Bureau needed to give her country an explanation and allow her to remain legally in the Manla Empire indefinitely under surveillance.
The secret left behind by that Beta has clearly not been solved. This person is very important to them. Shi Wei guesses that for the Security Bureau, these two agreements are also a helpless move.
The next morning, Lu Qi arrived on time. He glanced at the agreement and chuckled, "Actually, you should have signed the first one. Our people enjoy very good welfare benefits."
Shi Wei remained silent, then heard him continue, "The second one is not bad either, at least your life will be safe for ten years... if you behave yourself."
This was a warning to her; Lucia took her to another room where there was a woman.
“This is your friend from now on. She will explain the details to you in detail,” Lu Qi said. “In view of your cooperation these past few days, let me remind you—as long as you listen to me, you will regain your freedom once the suspicion against you is cleared.”
Shi Wei disagreed. Although she studied ancient history, she was not unfamiliar with modern history. The Manla Empire and the Fran Empire were among the few countries in the eight star systems that still maintained the ancient monarchical system. Unlike the Fran Empire's democratic governance policy, the emperor of the Manla Empire was more autocratic, and many aspects of the system continued the old system.
The woman in the gray uniform is a Beta, with a cold demeanor, named Susie, and is responsible for communicating with her.
Susie returned her three chips, removed the electronic lock from her body, installed a miniature locator on her, and told her that she would need to be audited by security personnel at irregular intervals for the next six months, whenever possible.
Shi Wei agreed to all the demands. She was just an ordinary person and could not fight against such a state apparatus.
She just hoped she could get in touch with her parents as soon as possible and let them know she was safe.
Having agreed to all the terms and conditions, Shi Wei received some basic necessities and was seen out the door.
Standing in front of this gray building, welcoming the new sunlight of this foreign land, Shi Wei was filled with mixed emotions. Behind her, Susie brushed a stray gray hair behind her ear and calmly said to her, "See you next Sunday."
Shi Wei re-registered a new communication ID card. Her original ID was "lost" when the computer was taken away. She had to explain to her parents that she had accidentally lost the computer, which was why she hadn't heard from them for so long. The excuse had already been prepared by the security bureau.
Next, she will go to Minka District for an interview with ADT.
ADT is a top-tier information agency of the Manra Empire, with a very wide range of operations, a powerful background, and a reputation throughout the entire universe.
She used to work at AC Information Technology, so she could be considered a semi-professional, but ADT's recruitment threshold was very high—if it weren't for this accident, she wouldn't have been qualified.
The three rounds of interviews were no different from regular interviews. Shi Wei felt as if the previous events were a dream. The interviewer's questions were very sharp, probably because he was puzzled that she had obtained the S-level visa of the Manla Empire so easily.
Shi Wei entered the company smoothly.
She didn't know how the security bureau managed it; ADT, based on her past experience, got her into the planning department—
ADT Company operates in a wide range of areas, and her part is mainly responsible for media promotion. She was assigned to Area A, which is responsible for publicity work related to national institutions.
...There are too many things to complain about, Shi Wei can't even begin to describe them. She doesn't understand why the people at ADT made her do this job. Do the people at the Security Bureau even know? If she secretly writes short essays criticizing the Emperor, won't she be arrested and taken back?
In an instant, I was transported back to my student days. It's amazing that after so many years, I'm starting to tinker with these things again.
Did they watch their own animation?
It is quite remarkable that Shi Wei, a history major, has been able to work in an information technology company for over twenty years.
She was also very lucky because, due to her major, she had a deep understanding of the history of various star systems and realized that seizing the opportunity was more important than anything else—she compiled the history of the Fran Empire during her studies and made a historical animation full of childlike fun.
In this century, the empire introduced a new childcare policy: children whose parents were unwilling to raise were raised by the state, and after graduation they could get a basic job without having to bear any responsibility for supporting their parents.
Although these children could receive a stable basic education from the Empire, they lost the important role of family education and ended up scattered across various star systems in the universe—they had no affection for the Empire.
This animation became a hit, shocking underage children who had been abandoned by their parents and accepted by the cold state apparatus, yet had never truly understood the history of this land.
Short-term population growth is not difficult; the challenge lies in education and training.
After leaving the Milky Way, human technology has seen explosive growth in every aspect. With the realization of space travel, the distance between star systems has become closer, but people have overlooked the history of the land.
Everyone is looking forward to the unseen future.
After this animation was made, many elderly people from the last century lamented that these things, which they were once so familiar with, were almost forgotten after only a century.
The efforts of generations of people on this land have been crushed into fragments by the rapid development of technology.
New media outlets have criticized the animation, saying it's incomprehensible to children, poorly made, unacceptable to mainstream media, and its outdated viewpoints—"the sentiments of a group of old people."
Initially, this anime didn't really get a response because the production style was indeed very rough, quite different from the recent SD audiovisual experience. If it weren't for the fact that the creators were all young people with bold ideas, unique evaluations of history, great use of internet memes, and just the right amount of emotional appeal, it would never have become popular.
However, the film still became a hit. In the Fran Empire, an empire with a new system established less than three hundred years ago, this animated film, which was only four hours long and was originally made for children, became a hit.
"It took us two hundred years to catch up with those alliances that had been established for thousands of years, even those that were once invincible. It took the efforts of two generations to get to where we are today," the Empire said. "Fortunately, this generation of young people has witnessed our history."
This speech quoted a clip from the animation.
Shi Wei's team became a sensation, with countless people contacting them seeking collaborations for the next project.
Finally, the college invested in the project, with a senior professor from the history department personally writing the script and the audiovisual department providing the best equipment. The animation was remade, incorporating more historical details.
Although many people say it's lost the feel of the original, the new film is even more popular and has spread throughout the galaxy.
In recent years, the Fran Empire has been able to take off in a short period of time thanks to the people's cohesion over the land. However, now that the young people have gone out into the world, they have been impacted by the new ideas of the Alliance, and their ideology has changed.
Shi Wei was lucky. The National Academy was full of talented people, and there was no shortage of geniuses in each major. She was just an ordinary student in the history department, but she had the honor of speaking at the academy's general meeting that year and receiving an award.
With this resume, Shi Wei easily received an offer from ACE after graduation, becoming a member of this huge technology company. Through her own efforts, she achieved financial freedom at an age when her peers were still constantly changing jobs.
...
Shi Wei's guess was correct. On her first day in the team, her direct supervisor, Sermo, told her that Shi Wei's resume had been posted on the intranet, and no department wanted her. He happened to have seen that animation, so he asked for Shi Wei.
For them, her more than twenty years working at ACE meant nothing.
"To be honest, this animation has been given too much political overtones, and I don't really like many of the arguments... but it's really brilliant and touching," Thermo commented.
“Because it is real,” Shi replied, her eyes slightly lowered. “When we create, we don’t do any artistic embellishment, we don’t exaggerate anything, we don’t cover anything up, we are just narrators.”
"I am proud that my motherland has such a splendid and glorious history," Shi Wei said calmly.
When she was isolated and helpless in the Manla Empire, imprisoned and controlled, it was her homeland that saved her.
Shi Wei finally understood Asta, why she had always had disagreements with the Manla Empire, yet chose to have the holy monument built in Manla after her death—it was out of longing for her homeland.
To be honest, although she had to report to the designated location of the Security Bureau regularly and lost most of her freedom, she miraculously survived, and Shi Wei herself felt very lucky.
She later learned that the young man she had been chatting with on the aircraft was Dekari Mien, a key political figure in the Manra Empire.
Although he was not yet 80 years old, he was already the royal chief secretary, assisting the emperor in handling national military affairs.
Lu Qi, who regarded her life as an ant, and the man who coldly decided her fate, was the head of the Security Bureau's secret service.
These were, in essence, top-level officials of the empire.
Through the Security Bureau's interrogation, she could roughly guess that this top secretary might have betrayed the Emperor.
Although this matter has not been made public yet, Shi Wei felt her chances of survival were slim just thinking about having any connection with such a powerful person.
She has already met the top secretary and the head of the security bureau's secret service; the only one she hasn't met yet is the emperor.
He was even under S-level supervision. In the past century, the people under S-level supervision in the Manla Empire were either rebel leaders or nobles who stole trillions of dollars in economic crimes. They were all big figures who stirred up trouble. Why did that Dekali betray the country?
She is innocent.
Who would send a weak Omega like her as a spy to carry out an SSS-level mission?
If she had known this would happen, she would have stayed at home obediently. Being forced into marriage would have been better than being arrested as a spy... I've never heard of someone arrested by the security bureau coming out upright.
Shi Wei went to work in despair every day, feeling out of place among the corporate slaves.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Please add this to your favorites as usual!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
