Ten minutes later, Jennifer had already sorted herself out. She silently snuck back and stood behind Qian Wenhuan as if nothing had happened.
“You’re back.”
Just as she silently heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that Qian Wenhuan did not notice her, Qian Wenhuan suddenly addressed her with his back facing her.
“President Qian?”
Jennifer put on an innocent expression and looked at Qian Wenhuan strangely.
“Got into some trouble with the boss?”
Qian Wenhuan turned around and remarked briefly.
Jennifer opened her mouth. The first thought that came to mind was to explain herself but she did not know what to say.
“Don’t be nervous, I’m just asking.”
Qian Wenhuan checked the time and saw the promotional clip was already playing on stage. He took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage without turning around for one last look.
“D*mn, this Qian Wenhuan had been playing dumb all this time. He knows what my real profession is, he knew everything all along!”
Jennifer broke into a flurry of curses in her mind as she spiraled into panic…
Meanwhile, Qian Wenhuan was heading to the center of the stage via the tunnel…
Just five months ago, Chen Chen also took the same tunnel to the center of the stage where he gave the speech that shocked the world — the Technology-driven Evolution Theory. The speech he gave was torn apart viciously by the religious parties of the Western community. There were even protests held in North America against Blacklight Biotechnology. However, since Blacklight Biotechnology did not have any significant ongoing businesses in North America, the protests did very little harm.
However, the speech had earned the support of people. It even earned the support of the church of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster”[1].
On YouTube, the video of Chen Chen’s speech had reached more than 10 million views. It was where countless people were first exposed to the mysterious and elusive president of Blacklight Biotechnology.
“Five months ago, it was the boss who stood here and presented that fabled speech. Although I can never accomplish a similar feat, I’m not going to disappoint the boss anytime soon…”
Qian Wenhuan told himself as he stepped on the stage with a pious expression. He timed it just right so that just as the hexagonal screen overhead finished playing the promotional clip, the display switched to the cameras of the drones centering in on him stepping onto the stage.
The moment the audience saw Qian Wenhuan, a thunderous clap echoed across the venue before he could even get a word out.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all to the Eco Science City and the product launch conference of Blackwatch Corporation.”
Qian Wenhuan flashed a smile oozing confidence. After being a part of the higher society for so long, he had also come to develop an air of nobility around him. With a simple smile, the audience immediately felt a sense of prestige washing over them.
“I’m sure everyone present here is well-acquainted with me by now as I’ve represented Blackwatch on many events countless times in the past. For those who don’t know me yet, allow me to introduce myself.”
Qian Wenhuan bowed. “My name is Qian Wenhuan, the CEO of the Blackwatch African branch. I’ll be your host for today’s conference. Allow me to host the product launch conference of our esteemed Blackwatch over the next hour and a half!”
After Qian Wenhuan had wrapped up his introduction, the hexagonal screen overhead lit up and displayed the blackhole-like logo of Blackwatch at its center. It was accompanied by a grandiose musical that inspired the crowd to clap along.
“What you folks may not know is that Blackwatch will be announcing three products today. This is left out of the previous promotional clip so it can be revealed here and now as a surprise.”
Qian Wenhuan said in a playful tone, “Of the three products, two of them will be VR devices while the last one shall remain a secret for now. What I can tell you is that it’s also an electronic device. This shall be Blackwatch’s first venture into the electronic luxuries market!”
This quickly inspired another fervent round of clapping and people voicing their awe. Many members of the audience had their amusement written across their faces. Nobody had expected Blacklight Biotechnology to reveal three products today.
What was more surprising were the representatives of various electronic technology companies in attendance today. In addition to the members of major media outlets, the representatives of technological giants like Apple and Google were sitting in the front row of the conference.
Their minds were a mixture of a thousand different emotions. One thing that was clear to all of them was that they were going to be witnesses to a historical event.
“Alright, let me tell you all about VR.”
Qian Wenhuan made a gesture like he was drawing across the string of an accordion with both hands to quiet the crowd. “Frankly speaking, VR isn’t exactly a novel piece of technology. If you’ve been paying attention to the development of industry, you should know that this technology has surfaced as early as the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, they were extremely bulky and clumsy equipment, only seen as prototypes in laboratories.
“Subsequently, as semiconductor and optical technology started to make major advancements, militarized versions of VR began to appear. They were used to simulate sequences of flight missions. As the use of VR started to become streamlined, the technology officially became inducted in hundreds of thousands of households by mid-2010. This had people proclaiming — the VR era is here!”
When Qian Wenhuan saw that he had captured the attention of the audience again, he resumed. “By now, the trajectory of VR is well defined. It’s the display device of the next generation. If Moore’s Law is any indication, VR shall become a mixed integration of user interaction, calculation, and perception capabilities over the next few years. By then, only calling it VR would be a disservice. It should instead be labeled as: the successor to computers, the second generation intelligent platform.
“With that said, it’s not enough yet. We humans rely on physical behaviors in reality to communicate. There are also the five senses which are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.”
Qian Wenhuan suddenly pointed at an elderly man with a gray-white beard sitting in the front row and smiled. “Mr. Cameron, something you said at the Google Developers Conference some years ago left a strong impression on me — you said that humans are an advanced species with distinct perceptions such as sight, hearing, touch, behavior, and taste. True virtual reality can only be achieved if all these perceptions can be simulated in a virtual reality simulated environment!”
All of the audience quickly turned to look at the elder politely addressed as Mr. Cameron. The elder only nodded and returned a dignified smile.
Qian Wenhuan spread out his hands again. “We know that there are endless VR products on the market. But at the root of it, these technology implementations only fulfill the user’s visual and auditory sensations. The remaining three perceptions are still completely unfulfilled as there’s no way to do so due to the technical limitations.
“Despite this, we continue to seek a solution on this journey of discovery in the VR realm. We at Blackwatch are no exception to this rule. We continued to look for a breakthrough until today…”
As Qian Wenhuan arrived at this note, the background music playing on stage had reached its climax point. He made an inviting gesture and shifted the audience’s focus to the stage behind him. “And now, Blackwatch has finally done it. Two brand-new technologies to invent a brand-new VR equipment. Allow me to present to you the first product of this conference — V.1 Haptic Shock Chair!”
At the drop of his sentence, five egg-shaped devices rose from underneath the platform behind him. Their reveal was accompanied by a cloud of mist, adding to the mysteriousness of the revelation.
Beside each of the equipment were two female assistants standing with their hands on their sides.
Among the audience, the group of electronics manufacturers squinted their eyes and looked at the stage, scrutinizing what they were seeing.
The egg-shaped devices came in two different colors. Three of them were pure black while the other two came in pure white texture. The five eggs were positioned in the center of the stage and immediately demanded the attention of everyone present.
“I’m sure every one of you here has seen our promotional clips. In that case, I’m sure you know that this haptic shock chair comes with fully-fitted holographic projection and brainwave control technology. Apart from that, it’s also a full-fledged smart device that can be used to browse the web, watch regular movies as well as VR movies. It can also be used to play triple-A games on the market and accepts brainwave signals as input. All you need to do is configure its frequency to your preference.”
Qian Wenhuan explained in crisp, elaborate terms, “I can go on for days to list its countless features, but I don’t want to be the one telling you all this. This is why I’d like to invite several members of the audience to give us a presentation.”
The audience below was already cheering excitedly as he said this. However, Qian Wenhuan seemed to intentionally shift his focus to one of the high-ranking executives from Apple. “Mr. Lawrence?”
The executive quickly held his hands up and waved them side to side, reluctant to step on stage.
“Come on, Mr. Lawrence! You’re my senior and if it’s one person who is most qualified to give an in-depth review of Blackwatch’s product, it’s you.”
With that, the executive finally stepped onto the stage reluctantly. The two assistants helped him into the haptic shock chair.
“Mr. McHarry?”
Qian Wenhuan went to another executive from Google.
The man called McHarry stepped onto the stage as well.
After that, Qian Wenhuan specifically named high-ranking executives from the VR field to have them perform a demonstration on the haptic shock chair. First and foremost, they would not dare voice harsh criticisms since they were flanked by countless media outlets all over the world. Secondly, they were the elites of relevant industries and also the competitors of Blacklight Biotechnology. Any praise coming out of their lips would have a magnified effect.
With that said, the precedent had to be that the haptic shock chair debuted by Blacklight Biotechnology must be what it claimed to be — a revolutionary product. Otherwise, this demonstration could sabotage them instead.
After all five executives sat into the haptic shock chair, they activated it under the guidance of the assistants. A semi-transparent screen immediately appeared in front of each haptic shock chair.
It was like a transparent light film that directly wrapped around the exposed section of the egg-shaped chair. It immediately enveloped the entire field of vision of the executives on the chairs. This strange presentation quickly drew the “oohs” and “ahhs” of the crowd below.
The hexagonal screen on the stage displayed the cameras inside the chairs, providing an angle from the inside of the chair. From the screen, it could be seen that the five of them barely made any movements. All they did was shift their eyes around, which caused the display to move automatically and shift its focus to wherever they darted their eyes to. When they evoked a thought with their mind, they got to click wherever they intended.
It was evident that these controls were enabled by their brainwaves.
After a little over ten minutes when the five men stepped off the stage seemingly still wanting more of that experience, the stage erupted into cheers.
“Mr. McHarry?”
Qian Wenhuan approached McHarry who was the first to step off the stage. He tried to quiet down the crowd and asked, “What do you think about the haptic shock chair?”
McHarry gathered his thoughts for a moment before declaring, “All I can say is that this product is ahead of its time. This haptic shock chair designed by Blackwatch immediately surpassed all the VR equipment seen anywhere else in the world, including our VR products at Google…”
After he said this, he only sighed before stepping off the stage.
After that, the rest of them also voiced their input, none of them provided any negative feedback. At this point, there was already thunderous applause coming below the stage The atmosphere of the night had reached its absolute peak.
“I’m sure everyone here has a better understanding of our V.1 Haptic Shock Chair by this point, but I do believe that everyone is being too generous with your critique.”
It was then when Qian Wenhuan continued. “Did everyone notice that despite being equipped with two revolutionary technology implementations, there’s still something missing from our equipment? For example… Touch, smell, and taste?”
Qian Wenhuan paced around slowly. “I regret to inform you that in the current VR scope, smell and taste are still difficult to achieve. A further technological breakthrough would be required to accomplish it. This is something that we at Blackwatch are constantly working toward. However, our company has something that can emulate the sense of touch…”
As he said this, the five V.1 Haptic Shock Chairs descended below the stage. When the platforms rose again, five metallic gray jumpsuits that looked like they came straight out of a sci-fi film appeared.
“Now, we shall present the second product we have in-store today — V.1 Tactile Suit!”
[1] a social movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion found in 2005.
