Chapter 70: Arithmetic

Three days later, sharp at noon. Chen Chen sat backstage of a podium constructed for the occasion. He silently listened to the host providing a careful description of Namibia’s future.

The host was Wharton. He spoke with a grandiose tone and provided a lively description of the good things to come. The crowd cheered and hollered along with every word he said, their eyes were full of hope and longing.

Chen Chen, who was waiting backstage, shook his head. He figured even he might have bought the speech if not for knowing that it was them who had been begging him to construct a nuclear power plant.

Chen Chen looked at the time and suddenly retrieved a packet of chewing gum from his pocket. He opened the cap and poured out a black pill.

After that, he nonchalantly tossed the pill into his mouth, barely paying any mind to the vomit-inducing bitterness of the pill.

When he looked at the date on the phone, he suddenly realized that it had been exactly a year since the day he had acquired the USB drive.

Looking back at the past year, Chen Chen felt a swell of emotions. Who would have thought that his life would undergo such a drastic transformation in just one year?

From a mere university student to being one of the wealthiest men in the world. To think that all of these had stemmed from a sack of tiny pills.

Yet, he had barely explored the potential of the USB drive.

If he had not happened to drop his pen below the table last year, perhaps he would still be seated in the classroom of Shangdu University now. Who knew, maybe he would be having the time of his life, living a carefree university life?

Maybe he would have a girlfriend by now...

Ahem!

Chen Chen immediately silenced the thought. How very foolish, what good was a girlfriend for anyway. As long as he had the USB drive, he had power and power led to money. What else could he not get with money?

NZT-48’s effect slowly kicked in.

In an instant, Chen Chen’s mind directed him away from these strange, rambling thoughts, and continued pondering on the meaning of life.

[Who am I, where am I, what will I do?]

Plato’s three philosophical questions could be summarized as one question questioning human life: What was the meaning of life?

After acquiring the USB drive, Chen Chen felt he was gradually becoming more qualified to provide an answer to such a question.

The meaning of life was to continuously delve into the unknown. In the process of coming to terms and understanding the unknown, the growing knowledge became a strength for one to continue seeking for a higher plane of the unknown.

Science itself was like a sphere. The more you knew, the larger the sphere expanded, and so shall the surface of the unknown grow exponentially.

The more that humans as a whole understood, the more they found themselves awed by its complexity and mystique. Science was human’s device to reach into the unknown. At the same time, it was the process of endlessly edging in closer to the truth of all things and yet never completely attaining it...

“Mr. Chen, you’ll be up soon.”

It was then when a staff member suddenly appeared backstage to give him a gentle reminder.

Chen Chen nodded in response. He got up and tidied up his suit to make himself presentable. A phone seemed to have appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

Chen Chen gave it a gentle tap and the phone immediately dialed a number.

After the call had been connected, Chen Chen tucked the phone back into his pocket. After that, he headed to the exit of the backstage, toward the podium.

There was an electrifying presence of a crowd by the stage. The host had pushed the afternoon’s atmosphere to its climax.

“And now, I present to you the chairman of Blacklight Biotechnology Company – Mr. Chen Chen to give you a picture of the exciting, glorious future to come!”

The moment Chen Chen stepped foot on the stage following the grandiose introduction of the host, the crowd erupted into a passionate bout of cheering.

“Dear citizens of the city of Windhoek and citizens of the country Namibia. I’m Chen Chen from Mainland China. It’s a pleasure to be with you today to make a small presentation for my Blacklight Biotechnology...”

While on stage, Chen Chen’s temperament was light and natural. He was completely unnerved by presenting himself before thousands of people.

Chen Chen scanned the thousands of people below the stage. If his foe wanted to assassinate him, it would not be a wise choice to do so from among the crowd. There were hundreds of armed soldiers stationed on both sides of the crowd, keeping their eyes on them.

Therefore, the only possible angle of the assassination would be from the city’s direction.

Chen Chen raised his head and cast his gaze in a faraway direction.

“I know that when the topic of nuclear power plants comes up, most people tend to think of nuclear weapons. Weapons of mass destruction, terribly large scale nuclear radiation, contaminating the surrounding air and water sources...”

“However, I’d like to clarify that this is a common misconception...”

Chen Chen continued narrating and explaining on stage. The pace of his presentation was perfectly adapted to cater to the crowd. It served to completely draw the crowd into the scenario he was getting at.

As Chen Chen raised his head while he was giving his speech, he caught a glimpse of a reflection of a mirror in his eyes.

The reflection was not a strong one. It was so dim that if you were not paying attention, you would not have noticed it at all.

If someone was standing beside Chen Chen at this moment, the said person would be able to immediately notice Chen Chen’s pupils contracting slightly for just a brief instant!

[Perfect, they did show up.]

Chen Chen smiled. He continued his speech on stage. Unbeknownst to anyone present at the moment, his brain was currently operating on overdrive!

[If they’re planning to assassinate me, this speech would be the perfect opportunity for them to do so. If they let this chance slip by them, I’d likely have signed the official agreement with Namibia. Therefore, the chances of them attempting to assassinate me during this speech are above 95%.]

[With that said, there are many forms of assassination. Under the circumstances where they want to kill me and slip away from countless armed soldiers, there’s only one ideal option – no need for a large amount of personnel or immense funding. All they need is a rifle and a befitting sniper to get the job done.]

[The chances of them employing a sniper for this job is up to 90%.]

[Once they decide to go with using a sniper, they’ll need a scope. In weapons manufacturing, there are three primary scopes for daytime usage: telescope sight, collimator scope, and reflective scope. These days, collimator scopes are slowly fading out. It’s rarely if ever used at all.]

[Besides, collimator scopes and reflective scopes are more suited for close combat, they have next to zero long-distance aiming functionalities. This way, I can conclude that they’ll be employing the use of telescope sights.]

[The optical functionalities of telescope sights are achieved using the Kepler telescope system alongside with the use of a rotational system. The outermost layer is a convex spherical mirror which is a subclass of divergent type mirrors. It’s able to reflect light at an approximate angle of 120° in front of it.]

[Using the universal laws of reflection, my speculation is as follows. As long as I stand in this location on stage around noon today, the angle of the sunlight will align with the 60° angle which I’m facing and create a pincer angle. If there’s a convex spherical mirror placed in an angle facing toward me, a faint beam of reflection will be reflected in my eyes.]

[I’ve already deduced from the map that in the 60° angle from where I stand, there are three high-rise buildings. If they plan to snipe me, the sniper will use one of the three buildings as a vantage point.]

[And now, I know exactly which building they have chosen...]

“Everyone, there’s a bright future ahead for nuclear power plants. As a form of clean energy, nuclear power plants will prove to be several folds more efficient than thermal power plants...”

As Chen Chen kept going on with his narration, he lowered his right hand. He repeatedly tapped his pocket from an angle obscured from the audience.

It looked as if he was typing out a string of code...