Chapter 251: Arrangements For The Exploration Force
Captain Noah’s sharp questioning made the meeting room tense.
Li Wei was overwhelmed by Captain Noah’s presence, finding it hard to breathe. He could only take small sips from the water cup to stay as alert as possible. Kenny was in a better state than him. He met Captain Noah’s gaze directly and spoke:
“So, you intend to use the ancient technology shared by that girl to change modern food processing technology? Is that why you’re holding back our entire troop?”
Captain Noah said, “At the current stage, ancient food processing technology is indeed our top priority. The new regulations are only in preliminary draft form. If the First Fleet and Eleventh Fleet hear any rumors beforehand, it would disrupt our plan.”
Kenny questioned, “How can there be absolutely confidential information in modern times? I heard from the students that your entire main ship is eating products made with the new food processing technology. Many people from other fleets come and go through your port. They absolutely cannot fail to notice these changes.”
Captain Noah smiled: “As I just said, only your fleet and the First Fleet are strictly complying with those ridiculous control regulations. The other nine fleets, though not all explicitly opposing ancient technology controls like the Twelfth Fleet, at least hope for fresh blood to stimulate all industries. As long as we can ensure the new food processing technology brings profits, stimulates the market, and improves residents’ happiness index, why would they refuse to help us keep this secret for a while?”
Kenny asked in doubt, “But there are people from our fleet and the First Fleet among them too. I remember Captain Lin Yu just returned to the First Fleet from the Third Fleet not long ago…”
Lin Yu, captain of the First Fleet’s first production escort ship, and also Lin Ming’s dad, who freeloads meals at the Xiang Family.
“That one, of course I remember.” Mentioning Lin Yu, Captain Noah sighed: “If the First Fleet Central Government were all open-minded people like Captain Lin, we wouldn’t need to be wary of you and the others from the First Fleet. As for the others, they naturally received the same treatment as you, Captain Kenny.”
The implication was that Captain Lin Yu stood on the Third Fleet’s side.
Upon hearing this news, Kenny felt angry inside, but then he thought: As captain of a production escort ship, Lin Yu must prioritize the interests of his production escort ship. With the Third Fleet’s ancient food processing technology being vigorously promoted, Captain Lin must want to find a new path for his own production escort ship, which is why he was swayed by the Third Fleet. Thinking this way, Kenny instantly felt sorrow: How could such a responsible captain be fooled by these people from the Third Fleet?
Residents and officials from the First Fleet and Eleventh Fleet who returned from the Third Fleet were also injected with surveillance nanomachines like them, directly eliminating the possibility of them leaking information to the Central Government. Moreover, there are Third Fleet officials in other fleets too. As long as the Third Fleet cooperates with these dispatched officials, sealing the information for fifty years might really not be difficult.
After seeing the current situation clearly, Kenny felt a sense of powerlessness. Just one ancient food processing technology had driven the Third Fleet leadership to trample on the privacy and human rights of people from other fleets like madmen. This was simply outrageous!
Captain Noah saw the flames of anger in Kenny’s eyes. He showed a somewhat apologetic smile and said, “Things have come to this, and I don’t expect the two of you to understand our difficulties. But for insurance, we may need the members of the Third Pioneer Force to be stationed in our fleet for a while. If you two have military escort ships you want to station, contact my deputy officers in advance, and I’ll arrange it for you ahead of time. Or you can come directly to our main ship.”
Hearing this, Kenny’s fist clenched under the table was almost digging his nails into his flesh. He said, “I wonder how long you plan to keep us here, Captain Noah?”
“Until the nanomachines decompose.” Captain Noah chuckled lightly. “After all, these are machines we implanted. At least let us take good care of the soldiers from your pioneer force.”
——
Evening, outside the First Canteen of the Third Military Escort Ship.
Li Wei walked heavily toward the canteen.
After Captain Noah ended the conversation with them, he immediately returned to the Third Fleet Main Ship without delay. It had to be said that as the highest person in charge of a fleet, Captain Noah still fit the image of being dutiful that he and Kenny had in mind.
But he seemed a bit too dutiful.
Li Wei touched his right wrist, where his personal terminal’s biometric authentication chip was located.
At birth, newborns are implanted with this biometric authentication chip. As the child grows, the chip gradually fuses with the wrist bones until it spreads throughout the skeletal system. At age seven, they can go to government departments, authenticate via the chip in their bones, and obtain their own personal terminal.
The personal terminal often accompanies a person for life and only stops operating completely upon the user’s death. Because the chip covers the entire body, even if an accident causes limb loss, as long as other bones are intact, the personal terminal can continue to operate.
He never imagined that one day his personal terminal would become something threatening his life.
The conversation between Captain Noah and Kenny in the meeting room that afternoon was really beyond his acceptable range, so he was still feeling dizzy. After leaving the meeting room, Kenny was also sullen and finally said, “I want to be alone for a bit,” before disappearing somewhere.
Li Wei sat alone on a chair outside the government building for a long time before feeling hungry, so he headed to the canteen absent-mindedly.
“Huh, isn’t this the guy from the pioneer force at noon…?”
A voice suddenly came from behind. Li Wei turned and was almost startled.
Xiang Chuan, whom he had met briefly at noon, was standing not far behind him. Behind Xiang Chuan was a large crowd from Class Eight Grade One, and behind Class Eight Grade One was another large crowd of students from other classes.
They were all staring at Li Wei curiously because he was the only one wearing a blue military uniform different from the other soldiers. The blue military uniform was the standard uniform for the entire fleet’s pioneer force. Except for differences in arm and chest badges between fleets, the style was uniform.
Officers on military escort ships mostly wore green or brown military uniforms, which were the marker colors for ground combat troops and air combat troops. The blue military uniform unique to the pioneer force stood out particularly on this military escort ship.
“Are you going to the canteen too?” Xiang Chuan smiled and bowed in greeting. “We’re going to do some cooking now. Would you like to come taste it? The kitchen AI prepared quite a bit tonight, so the instructors can try some too.”
Hearing it was ancient food and thinking of the conversation in the meeting room that afternoon, Li Wei instinctively wanted to refuse. But seeing the spirited Xiang Chuan and the eager crowd from Class Eight Grade One behind her, he couldn’t bring himself to say the refusal at the tip of his tongue.
In the end, Li Wei nodded.
