100: Chapter 100 Preparing for Promotion

[The Host's actions have had a tremendous impact on the side-story world "Three Major Brigades," significantly altering the fates of key characters such as Cheng Bing, Wang Dayong, and Wang Eryong.]

[Hidden task completed: The Vicissitudes of the Righteous Path]

[The Vicissitudes of the Righteous Path: Help Cheng Bing capture the fugitive Wang Dayong at an early date.]

[Task completed, settling directly.]

[Task reward: 1 General Attribute Point, randomly increase two mastered skills by 1 level.]

[Automatic selection: Upgrade skill — Shooting (Level 5)]

[Automatic selection: Upgrade skill — Shooting (Level 6)]

As it turned out, the first batch of data received by the Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Investigation happened to be submitted by the Three Major Brigades.

They were in the middle of hunting down Wang Dayong and Wang Eryong, but were struggling to locate them.

Having received a notice to provide data to the Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Investigation, they decided to try their luck, organizing their data and submitting it with the mindset of a desperate attempt.

After receiving the System's analytical conclusions, they followed the clues and actually managed to capture the Wang brothers.

The plot of "Three Major Brigades" was effectively over before it had even begun.

Looking at the System's rewards, Zhao Yang rolled his eyes inwardly.

This luck... if you say it's bad, well, it hit the same skill twice; if you say it's good, what's the use of leveling Shooting to level six?

He was neither a soldier nor a police sniper.

Is he supposed to have a sniper duel in the middle lane with Director Qi once he gets to Handong Province?

Sighing, he added the General Attribute Point to Intelligence.

Looking at the [Intelligence: 8] on the panel, he nodded inwardly; he was finally catching up to his Physical Body.

In fact, he had taken a bit of a loss on this deal.

If he had followed the normal sequence—first meeting the protagonist of "Three Major Brigades" to trigger a System reward, then intervening in the plot to complete a task for a second reward, and finally helping Cheng Bing make up for his inner regrets to snag a third—the total rewards would certainly have been much richer than this one-off deal.

But then Zhao Yang thought about it: since the Wang brothers had been captured so early, that girl named Zhao Xiaomai wouldn't die.

In the original story, she died tragically; a budding flower withered just like that, lying cold in the morgue.

For this case, Cheng Bing lost his police uniform, destroyed his family, and exhausted half his life.

Although he eventually caught Wang Dayong, the price was the most valuable time of his life—it was too heavy a burden.

Now, none of that would happen.

The corners of Zhao Yang's mouth twitched slightly.

What were a few missing skill points?

This was all quite good.

The slight regret in his heart immediately dissipated, replaced by a sense of relief.

A month later, the "Cross-Regional Criminal Organization Identification and Early Warning System" passed the Ministry of Public Security's acceptance inspection and was listed as a "Technology-Empowered Policing" demonstration project.

As soon as the acceptance meeting ended, Director Gao Wenbo called Zhao Yang into his office and handed him an appointment letter.

Zhao Yang was stunned: "Director Gao, didn't you say to wait until the second half of the year last time? Why are you letting me go full-time so quickly?"

Director Gao Wenbo pointed to the silk banner on the wall—sent by Cheng Bing of the Three Major Brigades, thanking the Third Institute for providing key technical support.

"See that? That is its function."

"But at my age..."

"Your rank won't change for now, but you'll take on the responsibility."

Director Gao Wenbo patted his shoulder. "The stage is set over at the Information Security Research Center, and I need to go over there and get busy.

I trust you to handle things here.

Besides, who doesn't know that you personally pulled this laboratory together?

I was only here to back you up.

Now that the task is complete, it's only natural for me to move on."

Zhao Yang smiled bitterly: "Director Gao, if you leave, I'm afraid my credentials won't be enough..."

"Don't play coy with me."

Director Gao Wenbo gestured with his chin toward the door. "Everyone in this laboratory, every single one of them, hasn't been managed clearly by you? Even including me!

Young man, you must have the courage to take responsibility.

After your thesis defense, I can go to Shanghai with peace of mind."

"The Information Security Research Center is based in Shanghai?"

"Yes. Although the institution is based there, the research focus for the next two years is still the project you gave to Lu Xiaofei, so it will be based in the Imperial Capital for now."

Director Gao Wenbo smiled. "Alright, the appointment letter will be posted tomorrow. In half a month, you will be Director Zhao in name and in fact."

Coming out of Director Gao Wenbo's office, Zhao Yang suddenly felt a stir in his heart; a System prompt had arrived.

[The Host's actions have impacted the national destiny of the Dragon Kingdom in the current world. Reward obtained: Safe Travels.]

[Safe Travels: The Host will not suffer any personal injury caused by traffic accidents (excluding those actively caused by the Host).]

This reward was basically a minor version of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

In modern society, traffic accidents have always been a primary method for making someone "reasonably disappear."

With this talent, Zhao Yang would never have to worry about "running into luck" when going out again.

However, he was still a bit puzzled.

How could a smart analysis System that seemed crude by the standards of the future rise to the level of affecting the national destiny?

As soon as the thought arose, the System's response arrived.

[Consultation fee: 1000 emotion points]

"Take it."

["The Cross-Regional Criminal Organization Identification and Early Warning System" will accelerate the improvement of the Dragon Kingdom's public security level and significantly increase the happiness of its citizens.]

["The Cross-Regional Criminal Organization Identification and Early Warning System" serves as an enlightenment for the Dragon Kingdom's tech circle regarding large AI models and will accelerate the development of the Dragon Kingdom's technological level in related fields.]

Zhao Yang realized.

Especially the second point; he hadn't really thought about it, because he had only viewed it as a tool to assist in solving cases.

In reality, the core algorithm of this System did indeed come from the large model concepts of the future, but limited by current hardware conditions, its performance was much worse and required a great deal of manual correction and intervention.

But measured by the standards of this era, it was indeed quite forward-looking.

After the acceptance meeting came the celebration party.

Director Gao Wenbo didn't assign Zhao Yang any new work, letting him focus on writing his doctoral thesis.

The thesis was already ready-made, so Zhao Yang had a rare few days of relaxation.

It just so happened that "the smiling, proud wanderer" had just wrapped up filming, and Huang Yimei had a short vacation.

The two made plans to stroll through all the parks, big and small, in the Imperial Capital, soaking up the warm spring sun and whiling away a few good days at a leisurely pace.

During this lull, Zhao Yang handed her the adapted script for "Brotherhood of Blades."

Huang Yimei loved the character Ding Baiying immensely.

She wasn't the protagonist, but she was the ceiling of martial arts power in the entire drama; she had few lines, was ruthless in her strikes, and the moment she held her blade horizontally, the sense of oppression on the entire screen would surge.

Once such a character is firmly established, it's hard for the audience to forget her.

Zhao Yang dumped the entire operation of this drama onto Meimei.

The current Tomorrow Culture was no longer the amateur setup it once was—music copyrights were selling like crazy, Phoenix Legend's schedules were packed, the cash flow on the books was overflowing, and they could pick and choose good directors and actors at will.

Although it was Tomorrow Culture's first film, the starting point was so high that it made their peers green with envy.

The few days of vacation passed in a flash; as soon as the promotional period for "the smiling, proud wanderer" arrived, Huang Yimei had to follow the crew to run promotional appearances.

At the same time, she used the breaks in promotions to practice basic blade techniques with the martial arts instructor, preparing for "Brotherhood of Blades."

On Zhao Yang's side, he contacted Professor Sun from the Handong University of Political Science and Law to finalize the date and committee members for his doctoral thesis defense.

Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, a call from Gao Qilan came in.

Her voice sounded a bit tense: "Brother Yang, something isn't right. America seems to have noticed us."

Zhao Yang frowned: "Is someone watching you? If it doesn't feel right, come back to the country immediately."

"It hasn't reached that point yet. It's just that the business review time has suddenly lengthened. Processes that used to be completed on the same day now take two days. Although they gave a reason, I just feel like something is wrong."

"Something is definitely wrong."

Zhao Yang said as he opened his computer, his fingers resting on the keyboard. "Tell me every business transaction where the review time has been extended; I'll check them immediately."