Chapter 82: A Visit from Chang Weisi_1

Operation Center.

Chang Weisi, seated on the sofa, was flipping through a file in his hands, his brow furrowed in a long silence.

About half an hour passed before he finally looked up at Shen Yufei in front of him.

"Professor Shen, are you sure?" Chang Weisi asked incredulously.

"Chief Chang, I am sure," Shen Yufei replied seriously, nodding.

"If that's the case, I can send someone to talk to Cao Ge, but don't get your hopes too high."

"With my current authority, this is all I can do; Wallfacers' actions are not to be interfered with," Chang Weisi thought for a moment and then said.

"Chief, I understand, but I still hope you can do your best to persuade Mr. Cao to lift the game time restrictions, which are very important for our research," Shen Yufei stated.

"I'll do my best," Chang Weisi nodded.

"All right, get back to work," Chang Weisi said with a wave of his hand.

After giving Chang Weisi one last look, Shen Yufei turned and left the office.

Shen Yufei had come to Chang Weisi for no other reason than to lift the time restrictions on the game world.

The space migration game involved traversing through the transmission of brain consciousness, a process that made the user's brain all the more fatigued.

Cao Ge, taking into account the rest cycle of the human body, thus made a rule allowing each person to log in for only eight hours a day.

But Shen Yufei wanted to remove this restriction to allow her to stay in the game world indefinitely.

Shen Yufei was not like other scientists, who were at most amazed by the game's incredibility.

As a former ETO member, after visiting that world, Shen Yufei became convinced it was a farm created by Cao Ge, and that he was its master.

He had been a devout member of the "Three-Body Church," worshipping the Trisolarans to an extreme degree.

The two hypotheses were originally just diversions created by the ETO to confuse Earth's scientists, but now they seemed to have a chance of coming true.

How could Shen Yufei restrain herself, being a member of the ETO's rescue faction? She would have chosen to commit suicide rather than be forcibly conscripted by the Operation Center if she didn't believe in Cao Ge's ability to solve the three-body problem.

She was extremely concerned about Cao Ge's affairs; if not for state protection, she would have sought him out directly long ago.

Threats were not a new tactic for her either.

.........

Villa district.

"Mr. Cao, General Chang from the Operation Center would like to speak with you. He asked me to come over and see if you have the time," Li Qiu approached the second-floor balcony and spoke to Cao Ge, who was resting under a parasol.

"Who?" asked Cao Ge, dressed leisurely in shorts and a T-shirt, lounging beside the pool as he lifted his sunglasses to look at Li Qiu.

"Chang Weisi."

"General Chang," Cao Ge said as he sat up from the lounger and removed his sunglasses. "What does he want from me? I'm no longer serving at the Operation Center."

"It's not about the scientific advisor position; he mentioned it has to do with space migration," Li Qiu replied.

"Something to do with the game?"

"Mr. Cao, will you meet him?" Li Qiu asked.

Cao Ge looked at Li Qiu, pondering for a moment: "Then arrange a time to meet."

"I'll go set it up," Li Qiu nodded.

Li Qiu was in charge of Cao Ge's schedule, so she knew exactly when he was available.

After Li Qiu left, Cao Ge slowly reclined in the bamboo chair again, then picked up a cold cola from a stool beside him and took a sip.

Since the game had launched, he had been at leisure.

These past few days, he had been considering whether to go and check on Logic.

Among the five Wallfacers, only Logic knew how to play the best.

Three hours later, it was dinner time.

A middle-aged man in casual dress entered Cao Ge's villa.

"General Chang, long time no see," Cao Ge said with a smile as he greeted him.

"Mr. Cao, long time no see," Chang Weisi responded with a smile as well.

"General Chang, have you eaten yet?" Cao Ge asked as he led Chang Weisi inside.

"Not yet," Chang Weisi replied with a smile.

"That's perfect, I was just about to have dinner. Why don't you join me?" Cao Ge said, looking at him.

Chang Weisi smiled and did not refuse.

The two of them moved to the dining table in the hall.

"General Chang, please," Cao Ge said as he picked up the bowl and chopsticks from the table and started to eat.

Seeing Cao Ge wasn't speaking facetiously, Chang Weisi naturally picked up the bowl and chopsticks placed in front of him and began eating the dishes on the table.

During the meal, Cao Ge asked, "General Chang, may I know the reason for your personal visit? Is there something you need me to cooperate with?"

Hearing Cao Ge's question, Chang Weisi paused his movements and looked at Cao Ge, quickly saying, "I wouldn't dare speak of cooperation."

Chang Weisi paid a lot of respect to Cao Ge. Although Cao Ge had worked at the operation center before, he had now become a Wallfacer, one of humanity's top five leaders.

After thinking for a bit, Chang Weisi then said, "The thing is, I'm here because the scientists at the operation center wanted to ask if Mr. Cao could lift the game duration restriction."

"Game duration?"

"It's the restriction that only allows eight hours of login per day for the space colonization game," Chang Weisi reminded him.

"I remember now. I set that rule to ensure that players had time to rest. After all, people need to work and live, and can't spend all their time on the game."

"How is eight hours not enough?"

Cao Ge had set the eight-hour limit by considering people's daily schedules—eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and the remaining eight hours of free time could be properly used to play the game. This divided the twenty-four hours of the day in a scientifically sensible manner.

Chang Weisi nodded and then said, "Mr. Cao, as a Wallfacer, surely you didn't create this game just for simple entertainment. As for the specific reasons, it's not convenient for me to speculate."

"But I think the overall goal must be similar, to deal with the Trisolarans."

"The technology contained within the game created by Mr. Cao doesn't need to be mentioned—it's far beyond human capabilities."

"What Mr. Cao intends to do is not my place to ask."

"I am just wondering, Mr. Cao, if our request doesn't interfere with your plan, could you perhaps lift the restriction? After all, we're all working for the benefit of humanity."

"However, you can rest assured, Mr. Cao, we will absolutely not pry into the intentions of your plan. We simply want to carry out some fundamental investigations on our research subjects. You can assign someone to monitor our work, and if it involves your plans, you can ask us to stop at any time," Chang Weisi said.

"The scientist you are referring to must be Shen Yufei, right?" Cao Ge suddenly asked, looking directly at Chang Weisi.

Chang Weisi's eyelids jerked up, somewhat surprised.

Facing Chang Weisi's surprised expression, Cao Ge smiled and then said, "I've had a few dealings with Professor Shen, and she's the only one who would have such a thought and the courage to act on it."

After thinking for a moment, Cao Ge then said, "Your request, General Chang, isn't difficult. I can agree to it."

Just as Chang Weisi was about to explain, he held back his words before speaking, not expecting it to be so simple.

"Mr. Cao, thank you very much," he said, with what was initially a request turning into words of gratitude.

Cao Ge waved his hand dismissively, then continued eating his meal.