episode_0577
by admin
The scenery of Shanghai was more spectacular than I expected.
The image I originally had of China was mostly negative, like a government that monitored its citizens or a country with abnormally unbalanced development where there were still villages in the mountain valleys where people lived at the level of indigenous people.
But the scenery of Shanghai was truly breathtaking.
Even from my perspective, having been involved in several productions and even been to a planet of the human empire that operates in space, I found this to be a city with quite an interesting emotional feel.
It is basic to see skyscrapers of various shapes crowded together, such as buildings that resemble sky-piercing tang-hoo-ru and buildings with exterior walls made of mirror-like glass. The skyline formed by these skyscrapers is not something that can be easily seen in Korea or other countries.
There, across the river, buildings that looked like something you would see in Europe were lined up in a row, perhaps because Britain had leased land in Shanghai after the Opium Wars.
It feels like the vitality of a modern city and China’s traditional sensibilities coexisting together.
If Shanghai is like this, I think I should visit Hong Kong at least once, either in real life or here.
Of course, apart from that scenery, there might be a CCTV at the end of the alley that uses facial recognition, but Maria doesn’t have to say anything, so it’ll be fine since it’ll block that automatically.
I felt like a tourist and walked out of the alley and pointed to the river flowing next to it.
‘What river is that?’
-It’s the Huangpu River.
‘Is it a river similar to the Yellow River?’
-They are completely different. The Yellow River is a river in northern China, and the Huangpu River is a river that branches off the Yangtze River in central and lower China.
I tilted my head at the similarity in tone to the Yellow River, but I understood after hearing Maria’s explanation.
It was a river that branched off from the Yangtze River.
I often saw the Jang River in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. I remember using it when I was moving, and subduing the enemy with Baek Geon there.
-Based on the Huangpu River, the place where the owner is is the Pudong area, and the other side is the Bund area.
‘Hmm… Chinese regional names are hard to remember. Unless you read them straight out in martial arts style.’
I just input the basic idea that the regions are divided roughly based on the river and checked the location of the street I had set foot on.
-The building with the glass exterior that you saw is the Shanghai Tower. The building that resembles a Tang-Hulu is called the Oriental Pearl Tower. If you move a little further from here, you will see buildings built in a European style, most of which are currently used as banks.
Perhaps because there were so many buildings with a modern yet unique style, the street didn’t look particularly strange, except for the wafting smell of spices.
‘I’ve been to China many times in my travelogue, so I intentionally included it after India, but there was more to see than I expected.’
Well, there are probably quite a few differences between martial arts novels set in the Ming Dynasty and modern China.
‘Well, we didn’t really come here to sightsee, so we’ll just look around here.’
Sightseeing is something you can do later on when you take the girls out on dates.
First of all, securing the meteorite as originally intended was the priority.
I came to my senses and followed Maria’s instructions to the location where the meteorite was.
The place we arrived at was the Bund Finance Center across the Huangpu River, as Maria had mentioned.
Naturally, I couldn’t help but feel doubtful.
“… There’s a meteorite here?”
-Yes! To be exact, it’s in the basement of an art center built as an independent building.
According to Maria, there is a secret research institute run by the Chinese government there.
‘The art center… I can tell just by looking at it.’
As she said, a four-story building appeared, built independently from the financial center.
The building had a very artistic appearance, befitting its name as an art center.
Throughout the building, golden brass curtains reminiscent of bamboo or panpipes were hung, and the sight of the metal curtains slowly rotating caught the attention of passersby.
Not only foreigners who appeared to be visiting Shanghai for tourism and business, but also Chinese people who appeared to have jobs nearby quietly watched the building’s curtains rotate, which in a way seemed like they were literally appreciating a work of art.
-Officially, it’s a building with 4 floors above ground and 4 floors underground.
So that means there’s a secret government research lab hidden on the 5th basement floor of that strangely shaped building.
Although it was called an art center, I was lost in thought as I couldn’t guess what it was used for because of its strange appearance, so Maria gave me some more explanation.
-There is an exhibition hall and an event hall inside. It is mainly used by companies for brand events and product launch promotions.
‘Is there really a research lab in a place where so many outsiders come and go?’
– Rather, I think it’s because of that. After all, most researchers live in the lab, and even if you place people with superpowers around in the name of maintaining the city’s security, it won’t be noticeable. Villains, that is, unregistered people with superpowers who oppose the government, won’t be able to obtain information that there’s a lab here, and even if they do, it’ll be nearly impossible to break in.
‘Now that I hear it, it makes sense… I’ve been seeing people with different prayers than the average person around that art center.’
Still, it’s better to be sure.
I quietly spread the rumor because I was afraid that if I kept looking around for no reason, people would suspect me. Even if Maria prevented me from being caught on CCTV, if I acted suspiciously, someone would inevitably see me.
Maria spoke quietly to me as I was concentrating so intently.
-There’s a description of the Valkyrie family of the Nova Empire using combat suits that use active camouflage technology, so if they had that, things like this would probably be a little easier.
‘Next time I go in, I’ll definitely get it.’
Anyway, after examining the situation, five people with supernatural powers and twenty soldiers or what appear to be police officers were detected only near the art center.
There is no need to worry about the number of soldiers or police officers, because the means of combat that can be used in the city are limited anyway.
There were five superpowers to worry about.
When I relayed that fact to Maria, she gave me an answer as if she had been waiting for it.
-It’s an organization called the Blue Dragon Corps, which is comprised of government-affiliated superpowered individuals.
‘The Blue Dragon Squad?’
-On paper, they are public security officers for local defense, but in reality, they are hunting dogs that take care of miscellaneous tasks for the government.
At the same time, various materials come into view.
According to the data, the Chinese government was using the media, including the news, to create an image of the Blue Dragons as heroes.
By actively promoting videos of the Blue Dragons appearing in areas hit by earthquakes or floods, risking their lives to save citizens, or of them beating up criminals like robbers.
But there was a reason Maria called them hounds.
-If that’s true, then there’s no problem. At least they’re doing what they have to do for a minimal cause.
‘Then, surely not?’
– The video of the person being swept away by the water was manipulated. It was a scene intentionally staged in a safe place. The criminals who were caught were subversive elements who had openly shown anti-government speech and behavior.
A production that creators like me often call a fabrication.
The Chinese government was carrying out such manipulation at the national level.
‘You didn’t really think about sending support while you were filming that fake video, did you?’
– You probably thought that sending people with superpowers to the actual scene would be inefficient in capturing good scenes. There are a lot of people with superpowers because there are a lot of people, but in terms of the ratio to the population, it’s quite low, so they’d be busy just using them to do what the government tells them to do.
A decision that cannot be made without viewing the people as something less than human.
But do you think that even manipulated honor is honor?
The Blue Dragon members standing guard nearby occasionally smiled and chatted with citizens who recognized them.
‘Are the Chinese people completely unaware of this fact?’
-Of course, on Chinese sites, information other than what the government spreads cannot be posted. There is some talk going around on the Hero Live site, but since they are intentionally waging a war of wits, it will be difficult for the general public to sort out the real information.
Hero Live is a site built on superpowers. The government cannot do anything about the information posted there, but conversely, the government is also mobilizing a huge amount of manpower to work on asking about the truth about China.
It seems that even government-affiliated superpowered individuals are actively participating in the suppression to prevent their own corruption from being revealed.
‘It’s a great country in many ways.’
While I was shaking my head and thinking about how to invade the art center, something suddenly occurred to me.
‘Wait a minute, what if I could use this?’
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