55: Chapter 55: Thirty Million Netizens Are Keeping a Close Watch!

G-0001.

Li Li's gaze lingered on that work badge for two seconds.

She wore a rice-white long dress, her black hair draped loose, and her smile was dignified.

Her walking rhythm was neither fast nor slow, with every step landing precisely on the intersection of the carpet's hidden patterns.

This was not a gait acquired through training.

It was something in her bones.

An ordinary florist wouldn't walk with such precision, nor would they be so steady, as if rooted to the ground, while arranging flowers.

This woman had a background.

Li Li withdrew his gaze and picked up the crystal glass in front of him, taking a sip.

The sparkling water hit his palate.

It was cold.

Jiang Rumu turned her head.

"You were staring at that florist for a long time just now."

"The flowers are pretty."

"Since when did you start caring about flowers?"

"Just now."

Jiang Rumu raised an eyebrow slightly and said nothing more.

Just then, a great commotion came from the direction of the banquet hall's main entrance.

The security personnel, who had been patrolling the perimeter, quickly and neatly lined up on both sides.

At the end of the red carpet, three people walked over quickly.

Fahd was on the left, his gold-trimmed formal wear reflecting light under the twenty-four crystal chandeliers.

On his right, he was supporting a middle-aged man with graying hair.

He wore gold-rimmed glasses, and his white robe was embroidered with delicate gold-thread emblems.

His walk was steady, but his knees turned slightly outward.

This was the characteristic posture of someone who has sat in high positions for many years.

The person further to the right was older.

His face was gaunt, his cheekbones high, and his short beard was meticulously trimmed.

Most eye-catching of all was the palm-sized, pure gold falcon emblem pinned to his chest.

The national emblem of Ala Country.

Li Li put down his glass.

He sat up straight.

In the outer area of ordinary seats.

Gu Zeyan's silver fork hung in mid-air, his eyes locked on the direction of the red carpet.

Yin Ruoying sat beside him, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Although they were celebrities, in this setting, they didn't even have the qualifications to go up and strike up a conversation.

They could only watch helplessly as those three men, representing the highest power in the Middle East, walked straight toward the core table.

Walking toward that Chinese civilian wearing a brand-new suit.

Fahd walked in quick strides to the core seating area, naturally placing one hand on Li Li's shoulder and gesturing with the other toward the two elders.

He spoke Arabic, his speech rapid.

"Uncle, Father, this is the one I told you about—Li Li. The Chinese man who discovered 'Dolphin-III'."

He turned his head to look to the side.

"This is Ms. Jiang Rumu, a guest of the Production Team, who was injured at Water World yesterday."

The middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses spoke first.

It was also in Arabic.

"Mr. Li."

His voice wasn't loud, but every syllable was articulated with great emphasis.

"I am Mohammed, Fahd's father."

The Ruler of Dubai.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Ala Country.

He nodded slightly toward Li Li.

"I have seen both yesterday's events and today's. Thank you."

Li Li stood up, pressed his right hand to his left chest, and leaned his upper body slightly forward.

An extremely standard Arabic salute.

"You are too kind, Deputy Prime Minister; it was just a small effort."

Mohammed's eyelid twitched.

Clearly, he hadn't expected this Chinese civilian's Arabic accent to be even more authentic than a local's.

The elder next to him also spoke.

His voice was extremely deep, carrying the heavy nasal tone characteristic of a Riyadh accent.

"Young man."

As soon as these three words were uttered.

The entire core seating area, along with the guests at the nearby tables, instantly fell silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Zair bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The President of Ala Country.

The Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Fahd's distant uncle.

One of the most powerful men in the Middle East.

He didn't use any honorifics, nor did he use hypocritical diplomatic rhetoric.

"You used a toy airplane to save me twenty million dollars in anti-submarine patrol costs."

He paused for a moment.

"I owe you a meal."

Li Li rotated his left wrist.

The President of Ala Country saying in public that he owes you a meal.

The gold value of this meal, if taken to Wall Street, could directly exchange for half the shares of a Dubai shopping mall.

Gu Zeyan at the outer table was clenching his teeth so hard they were almost breaking.

Li Li, however, just smiled.

"Mr. President, we're having Hotpot tonight; it's on me."

Zair was stunned.

Two seconds later.

He burst into laughter.

The laughter wasn't loud, but Fahd and Mohammed simultaneously relaxed their shoulders.

This uncle, who controlled the lifeblood of half the Persian Gulf, hadn't laughed for three whole months.

Fahd quickly introduced Jiang Rumu formally as well.

Zair glanced at the white gauze exposed on her right shoulder.

"Injured?"

"A shrapnel graze; it has already been treated. Thank you for your concern, Mr. President."

Jiang Rumu replied in fluent English, her voice steady, without a hint of stage fright.

Zair nodded.

He turned and walked toward the main seat.

Mohammed followed behind; as he passed Fahd, he reached out and patted his son's shoulder heavily, giving him a low-voiced instruction.

Fahd's back immediately straightened another two notches.

Everyone took their seats.

The seating arrangement was seamless and strictly hierarchical.

The main seat was Zair.

On his left was Mohammed.

Beside Zair was Fahd.

Beside Fahd was Li Li.

To Li Li's right was Jiang Rumu.

The absolute core of the core.

In the center of the long table, the beef tallow base in the purple copper pot was already churning.

Sichuan peppercorns and dried chili peppers were spinning wildly in the red oil.

Steam, wrapped in a domineering spicy scent, surged upward, forcefully coating the priceless Swarovski crystal chandelier overhead with a layer of oily mist.

Fahd leaned toward Li Li, lowering his voice.

"How do you feel? Are you nervous?"

"Not nervous."

Li Li picked up his teacup, using the action of drinking tea to cover the lower half of his face.

"My uncle said he wants Ms. Jiang to become the tourism ambassador for Ala Country later; we'll discuss the details later."

Fahd said in Arabic, his voice lowered to a decibel only the two of them could hear.

Li Li did not pick up on that thread.

He put down the teacup.

"Fahd, there is something I must tell you now."

The smile was still hanging on Fahd's face.

"What is it?"

"There is a spy in your banquet hall."

The smile froze on his face.

Fahd's body didn't sway, his head didn't turn, and his expression was controlled flawlessly.

But under the tablecloth, his fingers were digging tightly into his thigh.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure."

Li Li stared at the red oil Hotpot directly in front of him.

"I went to the restroom just now, and at the doorway of the fire exit in the east corridor, I heard two people wearing logistics uniforms talking."

"They were using Hebrew."

The fingers Fahd had been digging into his thigh suddenly lost their strength.

He slowly turned his head to look at Li Li.

"You know Hebrew?"

"Fluently."

Fahd swallowed his saliva.

"How many languages do you actually know?"

"Enough to be useful."

Li Li picked up his chopsticks and tapped them against the edge of the bowl to align them.

"They mentioned a codename—'Gardener'."

"They said 'Gardener' is in charge of me."

"And asked 'When does it start'."

Fahd fell silent.

"Gardener?"

"Yes."

Li Li's gaze swept over the churning Hotpot toward the side of the banquet hall near the wall.

"Look at the floral area, that woman in the rice-white long dress."

"Work badge number G-0001."

"G, Garden."

Fahd did not turn his head to look.

He closed his eyes.

"Delia."

Li Li waited for the rest.

"Princess Delia, a distant relative of the Sultanate of Oman."

Fahd's Arabic speech suddenly accelerated.

"My cousin. She has always liked floral art and started working as a floral consultant for royal banquets three years ago."

He paused for half a beat.

"You're telling me now that my cousin is a spy?"

"And a spy for our mortal enemy, Israel?"

"I am only telling you that the person codenamed 'Gardener' is in charge of watching me."

Li Li's tone was flat, as if discussing how many seconds to boil the tripe tonight.

"Calculate the probability of coincidence yourself."

Fahd's jawline was pulled tight.

Three seconds later.

He made an extremely subtle movement.

He reached his left hand inside his gold-trimmed formal wear and pressed a certain device.

From the outside, he was just elegantly adjusting his lapel.

"Emergency button."

"Within thirty seconds, the security level will be raised from S2 to S4."

"Two sniper points will be added to the perimeter, and the number of plainclothes officers in the inner hall will be doubled."

Fahd's voice returned to a steady tone.

"But the banquet cannot stop."

Li Li did not answer.

"It cannot stop, Li Li."

Fahd stared at the boiling copper pot.

"The whole world is watching."

"Yesterday we had our water park bombed, today we captured a submarine."

"If the banquet is canceled halfway through, with alarms blaring—"

"The whole world will say that Ala Country can't even protect its own dining table."

He picked up the teacup in front of him.

"Us sitting here, smiling and eating Hotpot, is the biggest counterattack."

Li Li rotated his wrist.

The logic was sound.

The face of Middle Easterners is just like the Hotpot of Chongqing people.

It cannot get cold.

"Fine."

Li Li nodded.

"Then have your security keep a close eye on those two in gray uniforms."

"Work badge numbers S-0117 and S-0223."

"The surveillance at the east corridor fire exit has footage; pull it out for comparison."

Fahd looked at him again.

"You even memorized the work badge numbers?"

"Occupational hazard. Back when I was moving bricks, the construction site safety officers all had numbers; I just remembered them after one look."

Fahd's mouth twitched.

"Also—"

Fahd put down the teacup, staring at Li Li with burning eyes.

"Turn on the live stream."

Li Li raised an eyebrow.

"Now?"

"Now."

Fahd swept his gaze across the guests from various countries who were taking their seats in the banquet hall.

"Tens of millions of people watching this banquet online is the best security."

"The whole world is watching the live stream; whoever dares to make a move will be socially executed on the spot."

Li Li pondered for two seconds.

Fahd's brain is not bad.

He took out his phone and opened the live streaming software.

He flipped the camera to face himself.

Start streaming.

The moment the screen popped up, the number of online viewers jumped from zero directly to two million.

Three seconds later, five million.

Ten seconds later, twelve million.

The comments flooded the screen like a burst dam.

[Holy crap! It's here, it's here! Brother Li started streaming!]

[What's the situation with this background?! Crystal chandeliers?! Hotpot?!]

[Am I seeing this right? He's really sitting next to the King eating Hotpot, ahhh!]

[What a flex! This is what you call a flex! Those domestic entertainment celebrities walking the red carpet are pathetic compared to this!]

[Chongqing beef tallow Hotpot base in a state banquet! Peak cultural export!]

Li Li propped his phone next to the crystal glass on the table and adjusted the angle.

In the camera lens.

The purple copper Hotpot was steaming with red oil heat.

The background was a magnificent dome, twenty-four crystal chandeliers, and top-tier dignitaries wearing traditional costumes from various countries.

He cleared his throat.

"Good evening, everyone."

"Abu Dhabi Royal Banquet, Hotpot Special Session."

The speed of the comments doubled again, and the entire screen was covered in dense text.

[Is the one in gold-trimmed clothes next to Brother Li, Prince Fahd!]

[The Prince looked at the camera! Ahhh, so handsome!]

Fahd leaned over and waved at the camera.

He used Chinese with a heavy Arabic accent, popping out one word at a time.

"Hel—lo—ev—ry—one."

"Wel—come."

"Eat—hot—pot."

The live stream room completely exploded.

[Fahd can actually speak Chinese!!!]

[This pronunciation, hahaha, it sounds like he's casting a spell!]

[The Prince is so cute! Say another sentence! Please, say another one!]

Fahd looked at the frantically scrolling comments and squeezed out another sentence.

"Ve—ry—spi—cy."

The number of online viewers skyrocketed, breaking through thirty million.

And it was still jumping up at a rate of hundreds of thousands per second.

Li Li leaned back into his chair.

The camera was steadily propped on the table.

The frame was wide, capturing most of the core seating area.

Eighty million eyes were about to pour in.

Every pair of eyes was an all-weather, no-blind-spot surveillance camera.

He picked up the strainer and stirred in the pot.

His peripheral vision swept calmly toward the floral area in the distance.

The woman in the rice-white long dress was adjusting the last set of flowers on the main table.

She held a sharp pair of floral scissors in her hand.

That pair of hands holding the scissors didn't have even a trace of trembling.

Click.

A thorny flower branch was cut off at the root.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror.