Chapter 146 What a weird thing. If the mountain doesn't come to me, I will go find the mountain...
Following the Tomato Nation's joining of the Interstellar Alliance, the biggest news event this week was the publication of Interstellar Times Weekly.
Originally, Interstellar Times was the most influential news magazine in the universe. Whether it is the volume of electronic publications or column views, it has always been the leader in the last century.
Especially its old column, "Man of the Week", with its profound picture selection and composition and meaningful copywriting, is deeply loved by middle and lower-level intellectuals and professors.
However, in recent years, this "Titanic" of the press, which claimed to be "never bankrupt", has unexpectedly hit the iceberg of the times.
Although he looks bright and glamorous on the outside, he has actually already encountered a predicament unknown to others - no one is paying attention.
The reason is simple.
Today, the interstellar virtual industry has reached its peak, and various major entertainment companies are desperately trying to produce fragmented videos and reading in order to make quick money. In this way, Star Citizens will get the brain's stimulant hormone reward from the fast-switching interface and become addicted.
Therefore, the number of people who read weekly articles seriously is decreasing.
Originally, this was just an inevitable stage in the development of the entertainment industry. New models replaced old ones, and there was nothing to regret.
But the editor-in-chief of StarTimes magazine didn't think so.
Due to the declining traffic, he has developed severe anxiety. He can't fall asleep every night and wants to jump off the building and die when he wakes up.
He felt so aggrieved. How did he fall from the top to this point? Is it really like what netizens say, that their stuff is outdated and can no longer keep up with public demand?
But it’s not that they didn’t try.
Not only did they conduct multiple satisfaction surveys, they also gave up the column for influential figures and replaced it with the most popular and hottest virtual idols of the time.
However, what was unexpected was that the editorial department's action actually drove away the original group of loyal readers.
"Are you sure? Is this Newsweek or a fashion magazine?"
"The last bit of original intention is gone."
"Boring, TD, unsubscribe."
…
The editor-in-chief felt very disappointed when he read these comments.
But he didn't know that worse was yet to come - just this month, the parent company that holds shares sent a warning that if the Weekly could not attract advertisers, it would simply axe the old magazine, which has a history of 310 years.
The editor-in-chief was taking drugs while lying down and waiting to die.
despair.
He was so desperate that he didn't even want to review the manuscripts for this issue. He just threw it all to his subordinates. As for whether it was good or bad, he didn't want to care, nor did he have the energy to do so.
He also heard that the photographer who passed the review this week was an unknown one. How obscure? I have been working in the industry for more than 20 years, and I only won one major award, and that was just in the first half of the year.
The editor-in-chief couldn't help but think that this must be a lucky prize, and he wanted to touch their weekly magazine again.
...But it doesn’t matter. A weekly magazine without traffic is just a pile of shit.
But this morning, what woke up the editor-in-chief was not the alarm clock shouting "Don't die! Don't die!", but the assistant's series of life-threatening calls:
"Editor-in-chief!! It's explosive, we've exploded!!"
"What exploded?" The editor was confused and subconsciously crawled into the kitchen to feel for liquid gas.
“Look at the email I sent!”
The editor-in-chief turned on the light computer and took a look at the quantitative data chart. A straight line rushed up the vertical axis, and the number of views soared 90 degrees, severely beating the cheating incidents of virtual anchors in the entertainment industry.
Looking at the cover of the weekly magazine, under the very contagious photograph is a deafening subtitle:
[He is hegemony, he is rebellious spirit]
It turns out that people are not indifferent to current affairs, but are tired of the old-fashioned mutual flattery.
There are brief appearances of influential figures from the political, military, and literary and art circles, but they are all carefully retouched portraits, and all of them have fake smiles that are so fake. Who would want to watch this?
On the contrary, this photographer was a war correspondent. He doesn't understand the entertainment industry's stuff, so the photos he takes are simple, real, and have a tense sense of capturing the moment the shutter flashes. The action of putting a Band-Aid on a painting was turned into a picture within a picture, and a person within a person.
It is indeed refreshing.
Starnet real-time tag: #On the oil painting sense of the old-fashioned weekly magazine's aesthetic# (explosive)
The editor's head was buzzing, and by the time he reacted, his eyes were filled with tears. He almost knelt down on the spot and kowtowed to Commander Bai and the old emperor.
Come back to life, you two! Thank you!
The editor-in-chief got up and frantically called his assistant: "Exclusive interview, it must be an exclusive interview, clear the column for Person of the Year for me, I want to go to Yexing to collect the information myself!"
Not dead, alive, hahahaha.
The assistant was stunned: "But Boss, the Person of the Year was originally given to the Imperial Golden Eagle Marshal."
The editor-in-chief hesitated and said, "Indeed, Golden Eagle is a veteran of the empire, with far more military exploits than Commander Bai, and he is easier to attract traffic..."
But as the saying goes, the waves behind push the waves ahead. Don't underestimate Bai Ling because he is young. He might be able to attack him unexpectedly.
Anyway, the editor-in-chief is very optimistic about him.
The editor-in-chief waved his hand and said, "Never mind. Anyway, let's prepare first. Whoever has more traffic will be promoted. I won't tell you now. Hehe, the advertiser is here--"
·
"Star Times Weekly" has a huge traffic, and North certainly can't miss it.
In the early years, North was also a loyal reader of this e-magazine, but later the content became more and more formulaic, so he became too lazy to read it.
But this time, after taking two glances, he actually let out a "huh" and stopped to look carefully.
There are corresponding character background comments on the inner pages. In the past, whenever there was content involving national leaders, some ambiguous clichés had to be used. This time the article is different. It is written incisively and with solid reasons.
In just 800 words, there are enthusiastic praises and objective suggestions.
For example, the article says:
"The lack of educational resources is actually the biggest problem facing the current development of Wild Star. For such a large planet, there is not even a university. We cannot say that there is a lack of talent, but that the planet is extremely poor."
There are particularly many comments on this sentence. When I clicked on it, I saw netizens making black humor:
"It will definitely wither away. All the talents in the empire are in prison (snickering.jpg)"
"@Commander Bai, would you consider holding a job fair outside the prison?"
Seeing this amazing statement, North slapped his thigh and couldn't help but exclaim:
"Hey, netizens really win my heart."
The article is very short and I finished it in two seconds. North felt a little unsatisfied and thought that this special commentary was quite consistent with his own values, so he searched for the author. Results of the search——
North:?
Click on the homepage photo, confirm it twice, and then click on the private message:
[……coral? ]
Coral: […Little mentor? ]
The master and the apprentice sent each other crazy cartoons, had a passionate electronic hug, and cried with joy.
Coral: [Teacher! Weren’t you arrested for opposing the tyrant? How are you doing in there? It seems like you can still access the Internet.]
North: [Well, your mentor, I was able to release him a long time ago due to my special abilities]
Coral: What are your specialties? Teach me]
North: [Standardized weak O beauty]
Coral: […The term “weak O” is really not very expressive when it is said by Xiao Dao]
North asked the key point: [By the way, how was your thesis after I was arrested? Has the department assigned you a new supervisor? ]
Shanhu nodded hurriedly: [Yes, I have assigned it. Fortunately, you have informed Vice President Chen. I graduated smoothly.]
North's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down. At least I did not mislead the students and delay their graduate studies because of my fault. He said casually:
[That’s good, that’s good. Although Professor Chen is a little timid, his academic level is very good and he won’t pua anyone. How is he doing lately? Does he still frequently appear on TV as a guest expert? ]
Shanhu: [I said the wrong thing on TV a few days ago and was arrested]
North: “…”
Wow, it turns out that the entire college went to the prison for a reunion. Now, there are so many talented people at the prison party that even the choir can’t get the microphone.
North glanced over the passage that evaluated the shortage of educational resources again, rolled his eyes, and some thoughts emerged in his mind.
He ended the conversation: [Xiao Shanhu, work hard, I will give you a position tomorrow]
coral:[! ! ? ? Director, while others send their papers as first authors in SSCI, you send your papers as editors, and you get everything done in one step. I will never forget your great kindness. By the way, I would like to ask you quietly, when will you fulfill this promise to your disciple? ]
[Well, the day we counterattacked and returned to the Empire? ]
[I took it seriously]
·
North organized the content to be reported today and went out to attend the meeting.
After three months of intensive reconstruction, a group of buildings have been transformed from the abandoned radiation area.
The original old buildings that were still usable were retained, while those that were dilapidated were demolished and rebuilt on the spot. Although it is still small in scale, the necessary offices such as the Finance Department, Education Department, and Health Department have already taken shape.
The meeting was held in the brand new cafeteria, and it was still a small canteen representative meeting.
North touched his chin. He always felt that Niao Niao had a unique passion for food. He was the kind of person who would get excited when seeing a refrigerator full of food. Well... from this point of view, it was in line with The One's hobby.
Sava smelled the aroma of rice coming from the kitchen and made a solemn suggestion:
"Since we are here, why not have the meeting while having lunch?"
Bai Ling crossed his arms and said indifferently: "You guys eat, I won't."
Sava pricked up his ear feathers: "Why do you insist on not fitting in?"
Bai Ling responded sharply: "My family members have to watch me eat."
The other three people present: What a weird quirk!
After the joke, North got down to business:
"Although we are now legal, according to the national development guidelines issued by the Interstellar Alliance, our education level is still far behind. In fact, saying we are behind is an exaggeration, it is basically equal to zero.
"There is only one junior high school in this town, and it has to share the same grounds as the primary school. Many people in the town study through StarNet correspondence courses. But there is another problem - experimental courses like medicine and engineering must be practiced, and they need to be equipped with corresponding experimental equipment. So we have neither equipment nor teachers."
"Therefore, I propose that we should find a way to get some high-quality and low-cost talents here. Teachers, workers, engineers, everything is needed."
Savoy was thinking about the budget and asked, "Can the town afford so many people?"
"We can afford it. Wild Planet is so big, and there is more than one human settlement in Potato Town. Several nearby towns are eager to join the independent movement. At worst, there is still Metropolis."
Everyone nodded. Yes, the money that the bald peacock has extorted from the people is enough to build many schools.
Bai Ling felt that this proposal was very necessary, so he tapped his ballpoint pen and wrote down the matters in his notebook.
On the other side, Huo Yuan reported: "There is one more thing worth noting. Today our space satellite observed that there seemed to be a fierce exchange of fire 530,000 kilometers away from us."
530,000 kilometers, this distance is neither short nor long. To use the Milky Way as an analogy, it is roughly equivalent to the distance from Earth to Mars. Of course, in the technologically backward 21st century, a Mars probe would need to fly for a full four months, but now with the help of interstellar point-to-point jump technology, this distance can be reached in four hours.
After hearing this, everyone instantly realized the problem.
It's too close, it's like a fight going on in the next street, and if the chase continues for a while, they might end up on Yexing.
So they had to figure out one thing: who were the two sides in the war? Why fire?
At this moment, the cafeteria aunt happened to turn on the TV, interrupting their conversation.
Everyone turned to the screen and saw the latest news from the Empire:
"... A fierce conflict broke out on the border between the Empire and the Niu Niu Country. It is reported that the conflict was caused by pirates robbing passing ships. At present, the Imperial military has issued an order to send a task force to suppress the bandits in the near future..."
Pirate robbery? That’s it?
North calmed down and said, "That's fine. Those interstellar pirates come out every few days to rob people. It's become a routine. Our Wild Planet is on the border of several countries. Twenty years ago, this place was as chaotic as Somalia. It's not surprising if something happens or a shooting occurs."
Having said that, Bai Ling still took another look at the screen.
On the screen is a 3D map of the star system. The vast territory of the Empire is in the upper right, the Federation is in the front left, and the Niu Niu Country is sandwiched in the lower position. Their wild star was squeezed into an inconspicuous corner, and even the star name on the map was not lit up.
The wild star is sandwiched between big countries and is really insignificant.
"…This conflict has resulted in 32 injuries and 26 deaths."
Compared to conventional wars, this death toll is nothing. But Bai Ling is a veteran on the battlefield. Having been in the war zone for a long time, he is very sensitive to various casualty figures.
In his opinion, robbery by space pirates is indeed common, but that group of people also has principles in doing things. They only rob money and do not kill people. One reason is that corpses are difficult to deal with in the space environment. The second reason is that if too many people are killed, they will be wanted and will be jointly eliminated by various countries.
It is obviously abnormal that so many people died this time.
Bai Ling has a keen sense of smell. He thinks there might be someone trying to take advantage of the situation and stir up bigger trouble.
As for what the incident was... he recalled that in his previous life, the Federation instigated small countries to stir up regional disputes, and then found an excuse to send troops and forcibly occupy the imperial land, which triggered a 20-year history of humiliation for the empire.
This time, could it be a test from the Federation?
Bai Ling was eager to get more information. But the imperial military spoke in unison, saying they had no inside sources and had no way of getting more information except official news.
——It would be great if there was an insider.
Every time this happened, Bai Ling would think of the group of righteous men in his previous life. They seek no reward, lurking in the Imperial Army, selflessly passing on intelligence to the Revolutionary Army.
One of them was code-named Land.
Although Land was unwilling to reveal his name, his sources were very reliable and he was able to provide timely assistance and turn the tide almost every time.
Bai Ling once guessed that this Land should be a military personnel of the intelligence department. He had ideals and insights, and he couldn't stand the behavior of the veteran aristocrats in the imperial military, so he risked his life to help the revolutionary army.
And the timing of Land's appearance was also very coincidental.
It happened to be the critical moment when Huo Yuan disappeared in the previous life and the power of Yexing was gradually weakening.
But according to the timeline, that was 6 years later. At this time, Land is nowhere to be found, and he probably can't be relied upon...
Bai Ling held his forehead and just when he felt that he was at his wits' end, an idea suddenly came to his mind.
wrong! If the mountain doesn't come to me, I will go find the mountain.
Take the initiative——
Others don’t know that Bai Ling actually has a little skill that he developed later in life—he can remember digital codes at a glance. Coincidentally, he forced himself to develop this ability in order to increase his computing power when playing chess with Mr. D.
He remembered that Land's encrypted mailbox mechanism was complex and used E2EE end-to-end technology to evade technical tracking. And he just happened to remember the key.
Bai Ling picked up the terminal, read the password twice, and entered the international encrypted email address: [Login successful! 】
He suppressed his excitement and sent a message.
He thought that if Land had already opened a secret mailbox, then the other party's terminal would definitely receive the message at this moment.
·
Imperial Government Building.
Heinz and Cade's trip to the Interstellar Alliance was a complete failure. Being slapped in the face outside was not enough. The most infuriating thing was that when the two of them returned, even the military's accompanying mecha didn't come to pick them up.
Upon asking, I found out that Duke Swordfish had married a new wife, and the entire military had come out to serve as the wedding procession.
Military: I won’t pretend anymore~ Isuparaiso is gone anyway, why should I give face to Cade?
"How ridiculous... these bastards are actually bullying others by taking advantage of their power!"
Cade stood in the summer rainstorm on the capital planet, letting the cold icy rain hit his face. He felt miserable, helpless, and weak.
The world is fickle and the nobles collude with each other and don't even give face to the emperor. Only then did Cade realize why Isupalaiso had to use such an iron fist and why he had to cultivate the civilian general Schlolan.
These nobles are like dogs that have never been tamed. Without chains, they will become more arrogant and take advantage of others.
Cade was silent for a while, and for the first time in his life he had the idea of building up power.
Heinz bowed and said, "Please rest assured, I will take care of this matter."
Many years later, history books recorded: The first step of the alliance between the most incompetent emperor and the most treacherous minister in history -
Select a good general and send him to the top of the military as an undercover agent.
It’s a pity that this “good general” already has someone he loves.
Heinz flipped through the documents while instructing his secretary:
"Go find me a junior officer, born in aristocracy, but not too high. He must be upright, but have a certain taint. Most importantly, he must keep his mouth shut and never betray anyone no matter how much torture he endures."
That afternoon, a rare officer visited Lord Heinz's luxurious office.
The calm alpha, holding his military cap, politely knocked on the open door.
Heinz raised his head, his long aqua blue hair sliding down his suit shoulders. He showed his signature modest smile and made an inviting gesture:
"Please take a seat, Major of the Army Aviation Corps."
As he spoke, Heinz stood up and personally poured half a glass of whiskey for the strange officer, as if he had met an old friend for many years, and said meaningfully:
"However, I believe you will be promoted to lieutenant colonel soon."
Lu Hang did not take the glass of wine, but put his general's cap on the corner cabinet beside him, indicating that he could leave at any time.
"Mr. Chief of Staff, with all due respect, a lieutenant colonel is far from enough to bribe me."
Heinz raised his eyebrows slightly, "Oh? Then tell me your conditions?"
With a 98% mental stability rate, Heinz couldn't see through his thoughts. Lu Hang's words were calm, as if he was stating:
"I want an eagle. Wildstar's eagle."
Heinz narrowed his eyes instantly: "Which one, the strongest one?"
He was referring to Bai Ling.
Lu Hang corrected with a smile: "No, the best-looking one."
Heinz: ? He covets my young master!
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