107: Chapter 107 The Big Event Arrives as Expected

Zhao Yang could not fall asleep.

America's logic, when viewed from the top of the industrial chain down, was actually quite simple.

Before Joining the WTO, they would knock on the southern door to test the Dragon Empire's sincerity.

After Joining the WTO, when the Dragon Empire joined the international supply chain and started making money—they would create trouble in the west and deploy troops there. In the east, they would unite several lackeys and, with their world-leading navy of this era, completely surround the Dragon Empire.

Then, they would use a medical storm to tell the Dragon Empire: regardless of your Nukes, America has a level of deterrence even higher than Nukes.

The Dragon Empire would then be forced to stay at the low end of the industrial chain, doing hard labor for all eternity.

Of course, these were all just Zhao Yang's speculations based on fragmented information from the future; there was no concrete evidence.

But what if it were true?

If that medical storm was a conspiracy, the best way to defuse it was to bring the conspiracy into the sunlight.

But he had no evidence now, and the timing wasn't right yet.

All he could do was prepare medical equipment and medicine in advance while simultaneously gathering evidence—waiting for the right moment to make it public.

The next day, the sun was bright. Zhao Yang stretched and got busy again.

The people connected to him were also busy.

Huang Yimei was busy preparing for a new play.

Gao Qilan was busy negotiating with Tianxin International.

Besides the negotiations, Gao Qisheng was also busy with Hongdou Technology's affairs.

Bai Xiaohe was busy setting up the pharmaceutical laboratory while preparing for industrialization to produce the "Hepatitis C Miracle Drug."

...

The busy days passed quickly.

In July, the Olympic Bid was successful, and the whole country rejoiced.

On September 11th, the large planes arrived as scheduled. The Twin Towers collapsed in flames.

Zhao Yang watched the overwhelming news with a cold expression.

At this moment, perhaps no one knew that a sudden and massive test would fall upon the Dragon Empire in less than a year.

America was determined to enter the "Graveyard of Empires," and it was irreversible. To gain the Dragon Empire's support, America had to make concessions and let the Dragon Empire join the international supply chain as it wished. By the end of the year, the Dragon Empire would inevitably join the WTO.

Zhao Yang turned off the TV.

Joining the WTO was a certainty; he couldn't change it, nor did he need to. What he had to do was something else.

Then, the "Sorrow of a Lifetime" had also reached the time to be resolved.

October in the Imperial Capital had a perfect autumn feel. On this day, Zhao Yang didn't go to the Third Institute but stayed in the Shuimu Expert Apartment, connecting to his dedicated server in the computer room.

Besides serving as the Director of the Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Investigation, he also served as a visiting professor in the Shuimu University Department of Computer Science.

A doctoral student of the Shuimu Computer Science Department, by virtue of his status as a PhD in Criminal Investigation from Handong University of Political Science and Law, had become a visiting professor in the Department of Computer Science—this was truly a unique case in the history of Shuimu.

What Shuimu valued was naturally Zhao Yang's talent.

Just in June, the three Computer Science papers he published in the "journal of shuimu university" directly set the global Computer Science community ablaze. Programmers cheered for the efficiency of the Go Language, while scholars in the field of Artificial Intelligence felt as if they had seen a beacon pointing toward the future.

The citation count for the "journal of shuimu university" in international journals subsequently skyrocketed; especially in the field of Computer Science, it rose from obscurity directly to the T0 throne.

Along with it, Shuimu's international reputation soared, and it became the absolute leader in the domestic Computer Science community. Some estimated that for this year's Gaokao, the admission score for the Shuimu Computer Science Department would rise to a level that would make people despair.

Now, even when the President of Shuimu stood before Zhao Yang, he didn't dare to speak loudly.

Zhao Yang knew what to do regarding the computing cards—Qilan Investment and Hongdou Technology were already the second-largest shareholders of Tianxin International. When the hardware developed to the right point, he would naturally guide Hongdou Technology to set up a computing center early. Poking through the veil of Large Models now was just the right rhythm.

Zhao Yang squinted his eyes, looking at the characters flickering on the screen, frowning slightly. He typed a few lines of commands, the screen changed, and a Russian article appeared.

This was internal data from a certain research institute of the northern neighbor. The institute was founded during the Soviet era and was responsible for infectious disease research. Their servers stored a large amount of intelligence from America regarding viruses during the Cold War.

Regarding that health incident, Zhao Yang wanted to find information in advance, but it was truly too difficult. America naturally hid such secret research desperately. Much of the internal data wasn't online, and it was hard to find valuable things in peripheral information or even academic journals. Moreover, it was currently 2001; the internet wasn't that developed, and information wasn't that open.

However, Zhao Yang took a different path, starting with the northern neighbor. During the decades of the Cold War, with the two camps in opposition, they had gathered plenty of dirt on each other. Additionally, the northern neighbor was currently weak and their management in this area was lax, which actually allowed Zhao Yang to obtain a lot of useful things.

It had to be said that the one who knows you best is always your enemy.

For example, the one he was looking at now.

America's research institutes had always used "preventing cross-species transmission of viruses" as a topic, searching for various viruses globally. In the direction of Southeast Asia, they focused on searching for coronaviruses existing in cave-dwelling creatures that had the potential for cross-species transmission.

Zhao Yang couldn't help but curse: "They're fucking insane! They definitely have too much time and money on their hands! Acting like this, something going wrong is only a matter of time!"

He silently turned off the computer, and a general direction gradually formed in his mind—he needed to give a reminder here in the Dragon Empire and also speak out internationally.

After pondering for a while, he dialed Bai Erru's number: "Uncle Bai, it's Zhao Yang."

"Zhao Yang, how do you have time to call me today?"

"I saw the news reports about Xiaohe's laboratory. Is the launch of the new drug going smoothly?"

"Hahaha, very smoothly! The higher-ups gave us immense support and gave us the green light all the way! It can be launched globally by next March at the latest. Our country has just joined the WTO and is bringing such a valuable product to the world; the higher-ups are very pleased!"

"That's good," Zhao Yang smiled. "Please remind Xiaohe that she can take advantage of this momentum to upgrade the laboratory, at least getting it recognized as an Imperial Capital Municipal Key Laboratory."

"Um... Xiaohe, that child, sigh!"

Zhao Yang heard the wrong tone in Bai Erru's voice and asked doubtfully, "Uncle Bai, did something happen to Xiaohe?"

"I won't hide it from you. That boy is about to leave the Imperial Capital, and Xiaohe is also packing her things, planning to secretly follow him back to his hometown."

"Huh?" Zhao Yang was stunned. "Xiaohe is going to give up the laboratory?"

"Not exactly. She just wants to go and see why that boy insists on leaving the Imperial Capital. Zhao Yang... I only have this one daughter. I'm really worried about her going to such a remote place like Pingkang County alone. Could you accompany her for a trip? If you're too busy, forget it; I can also arrange for bodyguards to follow her secretly."

"Pingkang County?" Zhao Yang pondered for a moment. "I'll accompany her for the trip."

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Uncle Bai."

Hanging up the phone, Zhao Yang pulled out a map and found the small county town that straddled Zhechong Province and Huining Province.

The part in Huining Province was called Kanghui County, while the part in Zhechong Province was called Pingkang County—it was precisely where the main plot of the world of "the silent truth" began.