Chapter 1625: Misrepresentation
Inside the virtual world, at the entrance to a copy of the Calan Empire.
The players who were sitting on the stars.h.i.+p waiting for the start of the game completely ignored the NPC sitting next to them as they began to chat amongst themselves.
A player wearing a silver helmet suddenly raised his head and talked about real-life news.
“Have you guys heard? John Griffin’s painting exhibition!”
Sitting opposite the player with the silver helmet, a player who was wearing power armor touched the back of his head and spoke.
“The painter who claims to be a surrealist artist? The anarchist Martian?”
“What do you mean by ‘claims’? He is a recognized tyc.o.o.n in the art world, ok? As for his political views, I don’t care, I only heard that he seems to be wandering around on Mars.”
“I don’t know, I don’t understand art, so what happened?”
“Just yesterday, he held a painting exhibition at the Central Museum to raise funds for the Alpha Centauri colonial project, and he displayed his work that took a year to complete at the exhibition! Apparently, the artwork displayed and the layout of the exhibition were revolutionary… But this is not the point!”
A man in a brown jacket and fas.h.i.+onable clothes sitting next to him couldn’t help but speak anxiously, “What’s the point? Get on with it!”
“The point is that Lu Zhou went too!”
Not just the man in the brown jacket, but everyone sitting next to him was shocked.
Even the NPC officer who was still wiping his electromagnetic rifle showed a surprised expression on his face, as if he was very familiar with the name Lu Zhou.
“You mean… Academician Lu?” Looking at the silver helmet player with a dumbfounded look, the man in the brown jacket couldn’t help but ask, “The greatest scholar of the 21st century?”
“Not just the 21st century!” He cast a slanted look at the guy, as if he were mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded. The player wearing the silver helmet continued in a calm tone, “He solved the second-generation controllable fusion and faster than light technology. Even though the 22nd century has only just begun, there might not be a scholar this century who will be greater than him!”
Having said this, a mysterious smile suddenly appeared on his face. He glanced around at everyone sitting next to him, lowered his voice, and said, “And I heard that in the exhibition, Academician Lu gave a high evaluation of Mr. Griffin’s paintings and artistic ideas and also expressed his approval of the Star System Colonization Plan. You know, his judgment is rarely wrong; it can even be said that he has never been wrong so far.”
As soon as this sentence was spoken, everyone in the cabin was shocked, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively.
“F*ck! Really?!”
“He’s not lying, is he?!”
“F*ck! I would have grabbed two tickets if I knew!”
“You’re overthinking! Unless you go to Mars in advance or find a reliable agent, there will be a delay of nearly 20 minutes on Earth. By the time the website loads, the tickets will be all gone!”
Looking at the people who were talking, the player in the silver helmet gave a dry cough, raised his hand to signal them to be quiet, then continued to a.n.a.lyze the gossip.
“I don’t think it is a lie! After all, the president of the Tiangong Bank was on the scene. He later approved the application for 100 billion credit points in corporate bonds that were issued by the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation. They used the land of the new world as collateral. One can redeem the permanent land rights of the corresponding area, and they can convert shares or redeem interest directly! No one can guarantee that they will make a profit, but I can be sure that with the support of Academician Lu, they will be able to drive the s.h.i.+p there!”
Listening to this convincing speech, many people sitting in the cabin held their breaths.
Several players even simply went offline and stopped playing the game.
The stars.h.i.+p tickets were not easy to grab, but there should still be a chance to grab the 100 billion credit points in corporate bonds that were guaranteed with the land of the new world.
Even if those financial giants and bankers were also interested in these corporate bonds, they would not eat the entire cake; there would always be some crumbs leftover.
It wasn’t that no one was concerned about the risks. However, when they thought about how Professor Lu was optimistic of the Star System Colonization Plan, their remaining worries disappeared with the wind…
Outside of the Calan Empire in the virtual world, a storm that swept the financial world had already been brewing for a long time.
A series of official websites of local banks on Earth, including the Pan-Asian Bank, Shanghai Capital Bank, etc, had shut down by the sudden increase in traffic.
Although the problem was solved in a timely manner and did not cause any information security incidents, it still shocked the managers who were responsible for the agency sales of these corporate debts.
Prior to this, although they had expected that the 100 billion corporate bonds would be s.n.a.t.c.hed up in the same way as the tickets that were issued in advance, they did not expect that people’s enthusiasm would grow exponentially.
The Pan-Asian Cooperation was really too rich; the 100 billion corporate debt was not even enough for them to share.
Not just Pan-Asian companies, but also hundreds of millions of families. After the development of s.p.a.ce resources for nearly a century, the wealth of the entire society had been rapidly expanding. Whether it was enterprises or individuals, whether it was related or unrelated to industries, they had acc.u.mulated more or less huge wealth.
Therefore, those who had tasted the sweetness of this pie were afraid that they would miss this opportunity to make a fortune in front of them.
In less than two hours, 100 billion corporate bonds were robbed.
Just a few days ago, the construction of this “Noah’s Ark” was still the work of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation, but now, this dream had been taken over by the citizens and enterprises of the Pan-Asian Cooperation.
Everyone hoped that this big s.h.i.+p would be built as soon as possible, and everyone hoped that the colonists who opened up the new world would set off as soon as possible to bring them endless gold and silver treasures from the land of the stars…
By the time Lu Zhou learned of the whole story from the email sent by Xiao Ai, it was already nighttime…
…
Star Sky Hotel.
After watching the Martian news on the holographic screen, Lu Zhou stretched out his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose with a headache.
“I never said that I am optimistic about the colonization plan of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation. At most, I just said that I agreed with Mr. Griffin’s artistic ideals.”
Looking at Lu Zhou with a headache, Professor Wu Qinglai, who was standing tremblingly at his desk, had an embarra.s.sed expression on his face.
“Sorry… I seem to have caused you trouble.”
When he thought of how this guy seemed to have bought several ferry tickets, Lu Zhou raised his head and glanced at him.
“I’m sure you have made a lot of money.”
The expression on his face was one of slight embarra.s.sment.
“Uh, I can give you half,” Wu Qinglai said with a dry cough.
“F*ck off.”
Seeing that Academician Lu showed signs of anger, Wu Qinglai, who knew he was in the wrong, quickly closed his mouth and turned around to prepare to leave.
However, before he could take two steps, he was called back by Lu Zhou.
“Wait a second.”
Wu Qinglai quickly stopped. He asked with an embarra.s.sed smile on his face, “Uh, what’s the matter?”
“Who sold you the art exhibition ticket?”
Wu Qinglai was slightly taken aback. He then shook his head.
“Actually… I didn’t buy it with money. It was given to me when I bought the stars.h.i.+p tickets.”
Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows.
“Given?”
“Yes…” Seeing that Lu Zhou had a suspicious look on his face, Professor Wu suddenly whispered, “Is there any problem?”
“Nothing, you can go.”
Wu Qinglai turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Inside the empty room, Lu Zhou touched his chin and thought for a moment. He soon fell into contemplation.
If he remembered correctly, the painting exhibition was aimed at the upper-cla.s.s citizens of Mars. He didn’t see any plainly dressed citizens at the museum.
He really couldn’t imagine why the tickets for this kind of exhibition would be bundled with the stars.h.i.+p tickets…