Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the first of January 2025, Qian Wenhuan led the negotiation team and carried the banner of Blacklight Biotechnology to Washington, Northern America to conduct the first round of negotiations.
At this point, there had been more than thirty million people in the continent that reported dreaming of This Man. Although various research had been conducted and verified that these dreams did not affect the physiological state of a person in any way, the truth still proved otherwise as it imposed a significant mental burden on its victims all over the country.
Some who were met with this never-seen-before phenomenon began to idolize it as a Godhood figure. Some began to form hallucinations and delusions. There were even some who formed a cult revolving This Man and recruited hundreds of members…
When these unstable factors reached a certain threshold, the avalanche effect may be enough to topple an entire country.
Up till this point, there had been a total of thirteen religious groups associated with This Man formed. Under the covers, hundreds of thousands of such cults were being formed, recruiting tens of thousands of members each day that engaged in activities that ranged from parades, gatherings, rituals to violent riots.
The ongoing chaos in Northern America had the rest of the world floored.
Facing a situation such as this, the Northern American government was entirely helpless. When Blacklight Biotechnology stepped up and claimed that they could solve this issue, the Northern American government took it very seriously.
It did not take long before a negotiation known only to the top members of the Earth Federation was conducted in the White House.
“Ladies and Gentlemen.”
On the side of Blacklight Biotechnology, one of Qian Wenhuan’s subordinates stood in front of a projector and announced gravely, “Allow me to extend my most sincere sympathy for what has happened to Northern America over the last month. It’s an indisputable fact that ever since the day mankind was born, we had to face the world with fear stamped in our hearts.
“In the early ages, humans feared storms and thunder. We feared the sky as much as we feared the vast ocean. This was how humans came to reinforce the idea of religion. We were able to find a sense of comfort by entrusting our fate to the hands of the divine.
“As we humans continue to evolve and start to construct the foundations of civilization, we start to gain a newer perception on everything. For example, we understood the concept of gravity and how electricity was generated. This was how thunder no longer became something that inspired fear. We conquered the ocean, the sky, along with every sheltered corner and edges of the world.
“And so, we no longer had reason to fear. We no longer had to cower at the sight of the unknown. This is a product and sign of civilization’s evolution, but it’s also to the detriment of civilization…”
“Ahem!”
While this member was giving out his sermon, one of the officials from the White House briskly interrupted him. “What are you guys at Blackwatch trying to say? We’re losing our sanity by the minute thanks to this ‘This Man incident’. We’d appreciate it if you would cut to the main point right away.”
“Apologies, I’ll skip to the primary subject immediately.”
The negotiator nodded and smiled subtly. “As many of you here should be aware of, there are still countless supernatural phenomena appearing in the world today. Some of these phenomena have been thoroughly dissected and explained from a scientific perspective. Take the ‘spontaneous human combustion phenomenon’, for example, this phenomenon had been occurring for three centuries but has only recently been dissected by scientists over the last few decades. Still… There are still many phenomena that cannot be explained even with the prospect of science.”
The negotiation looked across his audience before revealing his subject. “For example… There’s the premonition of the former president of Northern America, Mr. Lincoln and the current ongoing phenomenon known as This Man!”
This statement caught many of the negotiators from the Northern America faction off guard, one of them spoke up, “That may be true. But could you clarify what this event with Mr. Lincoln has to do with today’s meeting?”
“To explain this, I’ll have to start with our company’s research.”
The negotiator declared gravely, “Our company’s biological research department found that humans can ‘hear’ other people’s thoughts. This sense of hearing is extremely vague and is only magnified when we’re dreaming. If someone constantly echoes thoughts of you, it makes it easier to dream of this person. Perhaps on the year Mr. Lincoln was assassinated, the reason he dreamt of his assassination was precisely that he ‘heard’ the intentions of his killer?”
At this note, the projector behind the negotiator suddenly activated and cast an image of a laboratory with several men lying on top of medical beds. There was a device shaped like a helmet strapped to each of their heads.
These machines are hooked with wire, each of them connected to a piece of unknown machinery.
“The reason that people can ‘hear’ other people’s thoughts is probably attributed to a very common function of the human brain – the ‘Quantum Effect.’”
The negotiator said with an outstretched finger, “Our thoughts are the result of the interaction of countless chemical signals. In 2015, the famous condensed matter physicist, Matthew Fischer, already published a thesis on the Annual Report of Physics. It’s a thesis dedicated to discuss the possible operation of a quantum neural mechanism caused by phosphorus nuclear spin.
“The most enchanting part about this article is his proposal of a complete neural quantum information system. It includes qubits, the generation of quantum entanglement, quantum transmission and storage, quantum measurement, and quantum coherence and measurement at a molecular level. He also discussed the influence that the mechanism of nerve impulse activity has at a cellular level and more. These processes all use biomolecules and related enzymatic chemical reaction processes as carriers. All of the arguments he raised are clear, concise, and convincing.”
As he said this, most of the Northern American officials looked at him with a face full of daze.
“Alright, let’s go back to what we were discussing.”
The negotiator explained, “After This Man incident began occurring in Northern America, our biology department started analyzing the brains of the people who have been exposed to the picture. We found that the reason so many locals started experiencing vivid dreams of This Man is that this picture carries a peculiar psychological hypnotic pattern. The people who have been exposed to this picture will experience a symptom wherein their brains will constantly emit this particular quantum signal which connects to others who have also been exposed to this picture.
“It has a similar principle as Lincoln’s prophetic dreams, except this time the affected ones are all of the people in Northern America. Following the widespread exposure of the picture, the entirety of the Northern American Continent becomes a transmission field for This Man. You can imagine it as a laser beam being projected in a room full of mirrors. This causes the laser to constantly reflect across the room and linger in the room forever…”
“In that case, who is the perpetrator and how do we deal with it?”
Someone in the crowd asked.
“I have no idea who is behind all this, but it has to be an organization that is familiar with the underlying principles of this particular behavior. It will be easy to solve this. Our company can create a reverse-image specifically designed to counter the effect of the original picture. Its effects can be easily reversed just by looking at this picture.”
The negotiator responded. Immediately, the image on the screen behind him shifted to an unorganized, messy pattern.
“This is the pattern that can be used to alleviate This Man incident occurring in the continent. The White House only has to start spreading this image across all platforms. Anyone who is affected by the original This Man pattern will be cured of their symptoms and no longer dream of This Man…”
This immediately prompted a wave of murmured discussion among the officials below the stage. Some of them even tried to use their phones to sneak pictures of the pattern cast on the screen in front.
“One moment!”
It was at this moment when one of the high-ranking officials of the White House stood up and asked suspiciously, “We’ll still have to look into this theory you mentioned. This also raises another question. Why is it that Northern America is the only continent where this phenomenon is occurring out of all the continents in the Earth Federation?”
“This is all due to the intricate planning of this unknown force behind This Man pattern.”
The negotiator answered without skipping a beat, “I’m sure a lot of you have seen This Man pattern. In that case, you should know that despite the image merely looking like a simple picture of a man, if you zoom in closer, you’ll notice that it’s made up of countless unorganized lines and shapes.
“This collection of thousands upon thousands of lines and segmented shapes comes together to form This Man pattern as we know it. This pattern can only be effective in the Northern American region, which is the very intention of the perpetrators.”
“In other words, this vile organization deliberately targeted Northern America?”
Another official of the White House asked.
“Of course.”
The negotiator immediately replied with a confident nod.
Qian Wenhuan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly got up and announced ceremoniously, “Everyone, Blackwatch has expressed great sincerity in showcasing the cure image without stating any condition beforehand. We hope that this has been a good representation of our goodwill and willingness to commit to further internationalism. We hope that you’d extend us the same kindness as well.”
“Naturally.”
The official responded, “As long as this pattern proves to be effective, I give you my word that the White House will begin discussing the terms of the agreement. However, there’s one further condition, which is that we hope that your party would be so kind as to share this relevant technology for the good of mankind and for the sake of preserving the stability of the world in the future.”
Upon hearing this, Qian Wenhuan curled his eyebrows into a frown and wanted to say something to protest. In the end, he only sighed and said, “We can discuss this matter further…”
…
For the sake of alleviating This Man incident as soon as possible, it only took three days for the Northern American government and Blacklight Biotechnology to finalize the Mutual Cessation of Sanctions Agreement with the Earth Federation acting as the facilitator.
However, since there was no press conference of any form, news of the agreement was not publicized.
After receiving word of the result of the negotiation, Chen Chen felt the weight lifted off his heart as well. With that, the conflict with Northern America had come to an end without the need to escalate the situation to an unrepairable state.
“I can’t believe the Northern American Continent with some of the most respected scientists and sophisticated technology were so easily convinced by the theory I simply strung together.”
Little X was especially baffled by how things have turned out. All the squabble about neutral quantum and psychological hypnotic patterns were made up by her on the spot.
The scientist Matthew Fischer’s research was real, but that was all there was to it. Besides, his research was mainly based on theory-crafting and conjecture and was largely unconfirmed speculation.
Which was why Chen Chen had Little X use this research thesis as a baseline to string together a stack of complete research and analytical report. Extra effort was put into adding experiment footage to manufacture a convincing research report.
Little X was concerned with how foolproof this tactic was since the Northern America Continent was unlike the Africa Continent. There was no chance of them not seeing through the lies. To her surprise, Northern America immediately perceived it as the gospel.
“Which is why they say that the most convincing lies in the world aren’t made out of thin air, but are sprinkled with bits of truth instead.”
Chen Chen shrugged and explained, “Don’t forget, this is the true nature of men. Confronted with This Man incident and this immunity pattern that can alleviate the memetic effect, even the best scientists will find themselves at a loss for what to do. Even if some scientists somehow stumbled into the questionable gaps in your theory, they’ll choose to question their judgment instead since the truth is evident and laid out before them that the immunity patterns are effective.”
As Chen Chen said this, he suddenly altered his tone, “Of course, this can only last in the short term. After some time has passed, they’ll notice that these documents are falsified, but what does it matter at that point?
“Since This Man incident is solved and the agreement has already been signed, there’s little else the Northern American government can do other than keep their head down and relaunch a research on This Man incident.”
Little X became enlightened and began to nod. “But what chances do they have at understanding memetic technology in the first place? I’d say it’d take a decade before they barely manage to scrape its surface?”
“A decade is being too generous, I wouldn’t bet on their success even if they had two decades.”
Chen Chen shook his head. “Of course, the context being that memetic effects don’t occur in the real world just yet. From what I understand, as society becomes more digitized and information-oriented, memetic effects will emerge sooner or later. It’s just like how everyone has a certain chance of contracting cancer. It’s merely a matter of probability.
“When the earliest form of memetic effect begins to emerge, the official parties will be the first to notice and begin to conduct research. As they start to understand the nature of memetic science, they’ll eventually realize that not only messages can be used to kill but it can also change the very essence of the world…”
As Chen Chen said this, he closed his eyes and wondered, what form of memetic effect would be the first to emerge in this world which he resided in?
“Sir Godfather, we received news from the Earth Federation.”
Little X suddenly informed, “Our list of technology has passed the review process of the Earth Federation. They have concluded that we don’t have implementations of any nuclear-form or weapons of mass destruction and we’re now cleared to conduct commercial exchange with the listed items.
“Currently, several continents and regional countries including the Central Continent have submitted applications to send someone over to take a look at our products.”
