Light Fortress-Chapter 54 - 52 Requirements
54: Chapter 52 Requirements
54 -52 Requirements
“Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
The last dozen or so pages took Cui Zhongcheng more than an hour to read; after the sunlight shifted away, only remnants of dappled light fell upon them both.
The man closed the book and began with an apologetic tone, “I had thought that your assessment…
wouldn’t be finished until the evening at the earliest.”
Dream Interpretation was the test that took the longest.
He hadn’t expected Gu Shen to complete it so quickly.
“You’re too kind,” Gu Shen quickly shook his head: “I’ve always wanted to come here to read, so it didn’t feel like a long time at all.”
Cui Zhongcheng glanced at the books beside Gu Shen.
His own reading pace was slow, whereas Gu Shen was the exact opposite; he had already finished two books since sitting down across from him.
“Electromagnetic Topology?” Cui Zhongcheng smiled; it was an old discipline that had long since been conquered, and the person who did it was quite famous: “Why did you choose this one?
Did you pick it at random, or are you interested in Allen Turing?”
“Actually, I’m interested in Deep Sea…”
That statement sounded a bit arrogant, and Gu Shen quickly corrected himself: “To be precise, I’m curious about the research and development process of Deep Sea, so whenever I have time, I read a variety of related books, all sorts.”
“Then you shouldn’t have chosen this one; it’s too outdated.
Topology doesn’t have much to do with Deep Sea,” Cui Zhongcheng smiled slightly: “Perhaps you should read about cloud computing, Deep Sea languages.”
“Logic and algorithms should just be the framework…” Gu Shen pondered and scratched his head: “Mr.
Turing once said that the true flesh and blood of technology lies in the knowledge and truths that have not been entered into the database.
I know I’m not particularly smart, so I usually choose books like this… once a discipline has been conquered, all the difficult questions have been marked, and there’s hardly any confusion left after reading.”
Cui Zhongcheng fell silent for a moment, looking meaningfully at the youth: “Gu Shen…
you’re not what I imagined.
Don’t sell yourself short, perhaps you’re much smarter than you think.”
Gu Shen, slightly embarrassed by the praise, candidly responded: “You’re also different from what I imagined.
I thought you would be…”
He paused.
With a keyboard-tapping gesture, he laughed and said, “Busy.”
Who would have thought that the assistant to the legislator, busy with daily affairs, would spend an entire day leisurely reading paper books in a library?
“Today is an exception, because I was meeting you.” Cui Zhongcheng stood up, gathered the books on the table, placed his monocle into his coat pocket, then draped the coat over his arm, smiling: “Let’s walk and talk.
I’ll show you my alma mater.”
The two left the library, walking and pausing along the way.
“I studied at Da Teng Academy for six years, my dream was to become a teacher.
If nothing unexpected had happened, I would likely have achieved that dream,” Cui Zhongcheng recalled his past, his eyes swirling with complex emotions, guiltily smiling: “I’m rather ashamed to say, I’ve been too tied up with parliamentary affairs, and more than a decade has passed in the blink of an eye, and this is my first time back at my alma mater.”
“Unexpected?” Gu Shen inquired cautiously.
“At that time, my mother who raised me on her own fell seriously ill, and we needed a lot of money.
Huazhi Group was offering high salaries to recruit talents, Mr.
Zhao took a liking to me, offering me a good position and an extra large sum of money,” Cui Zhongcheng spoke softly: “With that money, my parents were able to spend their twilight years in peace.
Sometimes you need to bow to reality; ideals can’t feed you nor cure you.
I’ve read your file; you joined Judgement Institute because of money, right?”
Gu Shen stayed silent for a moment, then nodded.
“There’s no shame in it,” Cui Zhongcheng said indifferently: “Humans die for wealth, as birds die for food.
There’s no one in this world who’s a clear-hearted and desireless Saint.
The tasks of Judgement Institute are very dangerous, ask for whatever you need.
Being able to satisfy you with money now is a good thing.
Perhaps in the future, you may no longer care for such worldly things…”
“I hope my Granny, as well as the little ones at Chenguang Orphanage, can have a better life,” Gu Shen knew that since Mr.
Xiao Cui had proposed to meet with him alone after the review, it wouldn’t just be for small talk.
Only with the approval, would there be a chance to meet.
So now, it was his time to set the terms.
“No problem,” Cui Zhongcheng said calmly, “It wasn’t easy for Granny Xu Ya of Chenguang Orphanage to bring you up.
If she wants to move to a big city, I will send someone to arrange it anytime.
If she wishes to stay in Wulaoshan, I will allocate funds directly from the Group.
Their educational resources, social welfare, and future employment—all of these, the Group can resolve for them.”
“…”
Gu Shen thought for a moment, then seriously said, “Can the funds be transferred directly to my card?
I hope Mr.
Xiao Cui won’t inform Granny about this…
As for those kids, ensuring their education resources is enough, they can solve other issues on their own.”
“Okay,” Cui Zhongcheng still agreed neatly, “We’ll do as you say.”
It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury but hard the other way around.
Those children who grew up in remote mountains often have more perseverance and resilience than their peers, but if that spirit is corroded by comfort and enjoyment, they may never be able to return to it.
“Any other requests?”
Gu Shen took a long time to think this time.
He paused in front of a lake, with the light of the waves reflecting countless images of himself.
“I told Granny that I work at a research institute, and I need your help to back this story up and make her believe it,” Gu Shen said slowly.
“That shouldn’t be hard, right?”
“Don’t worry,” Cui Zhongcheng said lightly, “I will make your research institute background more authentic than that of an actual researcher.”
With this promise, Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mr.
Xiao Cui, I’d like to ask about the next task,” he said earnestly.
“I’ve experienced the A-009 incident, so I know what a Transcendent task entails…”
He knew he would be dealing with many dangerous people in the future, including out-of-control individuals, sealed entities, and probably many supernatural phenomena that science could not explain.
“You will be leaving Qinghe District for a while.”
Cui Zhongcheng stood beside Gu Shen, looking at the thousands of reflections in the lake, and said softly, “You’ll be given a task…
It’s not as dangerous as you imagine, dealing with ‘normal people.’ Of course, it won’t be easy either.”
“Sometimes normal people are much more terrifying than the out-of-control ones.”
Gu Shen laughed self-deprecatingly.
Everyone thought that A-009 was a fearsome beast, but only he knew that the tall lady had been gentle with him at least.
On the contrary, those two unknown Transcendents from the arson case who burned down the building were brutal and infuriating.
“One last request…
I don’t want the arson case to be turned over or forgotten by everyone.”
As the ripples in the lake subsided, returning to a smooth mirror surface, the calm face of the youth was reflected: “This turmoil was caused by the decree of amnesty, and those who tried to assassinate me were obviously organized and premeditated.
I can’t forgive the actions of those behind the scenes.
They took innocent lives and escaped the sanction of the law.”
