Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
Jiang Chen left the airport with Lawrence and the others through a special terminal.
The UA certainly did take his safety to heart, and there wasn’t the slightest news of his visit to Los Santos released. Otherwise, if nothing else, the airport entrance would’ve definitely been blocked by a large group of technology enthusiasts and reporters lurking around.
Phantom helmets had been incorporated into the lives of UA citizens. The influence had already surpassed Google, Microsoft, and Apple’s. Although the Capital was constantly having a headache over young people’s reliance on Future Group’s products, some things just couldn’t be resolved by thinking.
Especially in a country who voted for their president.
Regardless how much money consortiums paid for publicity, the final outcome of the election still depended on the ballots cast.
For various reasons, Jiang Chen didn’t sit in the same car as Mr. Pritzker but he sat beside Lawrence. Judging by their conversation, the former FBA agent appeared to be doing quite well and had climbed into a senior position.
Although the encounter between the two wasn’t friendly, they got along well surprisingly. Lawrence repeatedly emphasized several security precautions to Jiang Chen such as avoiding straying too far from the vehicle when going out and not panicking in the event of an emergency because a whole squad of Seals would ensure his safety in the periphery. Unless it was a last resort, he was not to let the girl agent shoot…
“How’s my old friend Robert doing?”
“He went from being an arms dealer to a big director, but the nature of a b*stard won’t change.”
Jiang Chen laughed and didn’t respond.
But really, compared to those politicians excellent at dodging questions, he preferred to spend time with more direct people. Although they were more vulgar, at least they didn’t annoy him.
When the fleet arrived at a bridge, there was a traffic jam.
It seemed there was a protest in front of them; people were holding green signs and shouting gibberish slogans.
Jiang Chen vaguely heard a guy using a megaphone and shouting a mouthful of broken English: “We refuse to work the arranged work and we didn’t come to work. We’re Hill’s guests!”
“We need more vines and camels in the zoo! Not pandas or alpacas!”
“Supermarkets aren’t allowed to sell pork!”
“Beef too!” It seemed that the “Indians” wearing turbans were also part of the protest, but no one noticed.
“What kind of degenerate manages this city? I’m protesting against the mayor of Los Santos! The mayor of Los Santos must resign!”
“…”
Perhaps this situation was too common; pedestrians walking around calmly watched them raising their placards and shouting slogans. Other than media reporters who wanted headlines, only a few people with travel bags took pictures.
“And they are?” Jiang Chen asked slyly.
“The ‘guests’ invited by the old lady with menstrual problems; there are probably also a few who just wants to make trouble. Ignore them; we’ll change lanes.” Lawrence cursed, closed the window, and turned the steering wheel.
According to traffic rules, temporary lane changes weren’t allowed, but the FBA car wasn’t the same as the average car. This kind of privilege was common in any country, especially for special personnel.
“Speaking of that, what’s the relationship between the mayor of Los Santos and the supermarket?” Jiang Chen gloated while laughing.
There wasn’t much trouble in Xin. Almost all villains went out of business since police drones were popularized from Penglai to Coro. Even transnational criminal gangs quieted down.
As for protests or riots?
All were deported and went back to where they came from!
“There’s no relationship, but some people live like dogs. There’s no contribution from this group – they steal your things, like locusts leaching from you, but they also act like they’re vulnerable. If there’s one less piece of meat in their lunch box, they’ll shamelessly pose as the victims and demand you must change things. If they encounter the slightest obstacle, they’ll put on a thuggish appearance and use their shallow intelligence and vulgar language to show how shameless and ugly they are.” Lawrence honked his horn and stopped in front of the red light.
“Is it really okay to say this?” Jiang Chen glanced at him.
“I’m not the president. I don’t care about some ballots,” Lawrence groaned. “I really don’t understand why I didn’t vote for Donny.”
After a short silence, Lawrence felt he might have gone over the line and added with a moderate tone, “Okay, I admit that not all refugees are like this… At least some people are still aware that it’s not right for them to do this.”
“There are many people like this, anywhere. Just get used to it.” Jiang Chen comforted him.
However, just as he said that, a “BOOM” rang out in the near distance. There were screams and cries, burglar alarms began to ring, and chaos filled the entire street, but the FBA official was rather calm.
He seemed to be used to it.
Lawrence stepped on the brakes, buried his face between his fingers and sighed out of exhaustion then picked up the intercom on the side.
“Carl, Jess, you go over there and analyze the situation. At least keep the situation under control then hand things over to the Los Santos police.”
“Roger.”
Lawrence continued driving after he ended the communication.
Jiang Chen asked: “What happened on the other side?”
Lawrence scoffed, “Somebody hid a bomb in his clothes? Or in a car? Who knows? Anyway, I only know that where there are refugees, there will be terrorist attacks. If we suspect it will happen, then it will happen. That’s Murphy’s Law.”
The fleet soon arrived at the Xin Embassy. The Ambassador of Xin had long been waiting and welcomed Jiang Chen and Mr. Pritzker, the Minister of Commerce from the Capital. Here, Jiang Chen also saw the mayor of Los Santos, the governor of Calif, and city officials.
Although the welcome ceremony wasn’t grand by any means, the officials who came to greet him were definitely at the national level.
After meeting all the eager officials, Jiang Chen went to his accommodations with Sun Yongcheng, the Xin Ambassador in Los Santos.
At the embassy, Jiang Chen’s security work was under the responsibility of Celestial Trade. Outside of the embassy, the FBA was responsible for his safety. In fact, in the beginning, the UA recommended he stay at a place like the Hilton Hotel. However, when he thought of being under the watch of FBA even in his sleep, Jiang Chen felt uncomfortable, so he declined this proposal and chose the Xin Embassy.
Before Jiang Chen entered the room he was staying at, Zhu Yu remembered Ayesha’s words and walked into the room with anti-reconnaissance equipment to conduct a full-scale inspection to ensure there were no devices such as a wire-tapper or pinhole camera.
After throwing his suit on a hanger, Jiang Chen rested on the big bed for a while then went out to find Xia Shiyu, who was organizing her clothes.
Considering how busy she looked, Jiang Chen couldn’t help laughing.
“Why don’t you just ask the embassy staff to help you?”
“I’m more used to organizing my own belongings. Right, there’s a party tonight. Are you not going to rest a bit first? After all, that was a 13-hour flight.” Xia Shiyu gently combed her hair then neatly put her clothes inside the wardrobe.
“Are you not going to go?” Jiang Chen asked with some regret.
“I won’t. That kind of occasion…I’m not very good in those situations. And for Silicon Valley’s Summit, I still have some work to do,” Xia Shiyu said as she pushed up her glasses.
“Thank you.”
“Not at all.” Xia Shiyu smiled.
Perhaps it was an illusion or perhaps not, but Jiang Chen felt that Xia Shiyu loved to smile more than before, and her distant attitude was no longer so distant anymore.
Could it be because of that night…
Jiang Chen thought about that and his face began to burn. He coughed a few times to push the thought out of his head.
However, there was one thing Jiang Chen was wondering about. In the car that night, they were already at that stage. However, Xia Shiyu seemed to pretend that nothing happened before. It was like she had forgotten everything since she never mentioned it.
Was it really because she was drunk?
