Luo Nan did not expect that the atmosphere within the conference hall would be this sensitive, that he would become the focus of everyone in an instant. Then again, this was to be expected. After all, he was the focus and core of all the recent problems of the world.
Right now, he was quite dissatisfied with his current state.
Luckily, he had acted as the host of the auction not too long ago, so he had retained some of his habits. He raised his hand and used a familiar tone to greet everyone.
"Sorry, something came up, I'm late …"
The true host, Abner, displayed his abilities at this time. He revealed a smile and chose a not-so-neutral form of address. "Everyone knows the reason why Professor Luo is late. It really is an unstoppable force..."
"Who said that? Didn't we just endure it?" A fellow spoke in a roundabout manner. It seemed like he was targeting Abner, but it was also a bit provocative to Luo Nan. In short, it was a tone that made both sides unhappy.
"Shao Sato is an old lecherous man." Blood Demon promptly reminded him from the side. "He holds the title of Deputy Secretary-General of Headquarters, but he actually walks closer to the capital side."
"I know. He's always been neither lecherous nor masculine." Luo Nan knew that this fashionista had never gotten along with Her Majesty Empress Wu. He didn't play a good role in the appraisal meeting last time either.
Luo Nan only cared about recognizing people. He didn't care about anything else. Abner acted as if he didn't hear anything. He signaled for the Secretary-General behind him to step forward.
"Roman?"
Romanus didn't speak. He didn't have any expression. He just sent Luo Nan a draft of the meeting minutes he had done earlier through the conference system.
Luo Nan raised his head to look at this Extraordinary whose name sounded a bit similar to his own. He had heard of Romannus before. He was one of the new Extraordinaries in recent years. He was said to be an astute and low-key fellow. Now it seemed that he really was low-key.
"You guys chat. I'm going to take a look." These weren't polite words. Luo Nan still needed to adapt to his new environment.
He definitely wouldn't have received this treatment before tonight. He would have been greeted with questions the moment he entered the conference hall. Now, he took the initiative to withdraw from the focal point. It was as if he was giving face.
What Luo Nan needed to do right now was indeed related to face. He needed to clearly distinguish the faces and basic information of these Extraordinaries who stood at the peak of the world.
Truthfully speaking, there were over a hundred people in this high-level conference, including the spectators. For Luo Nan, who wasn't good at interpersonal relationships, it was a bit difficult to clearly remember so many faces.
"At this time, you need a deck of cards." Blood Demon sent over an electronic file. It was a copy of the classic Extraordinary poker card set that he claimed he was going to release. Yes, it was the version that included Gong Qi and Jin Tong.
He flipped through it and found that the index was quite complete. After a brief search, he found out that Romanus was the Two of Spades. He belonged to a more comprehensive or dominant Extraordinary. Saucedo, on the other hand, was the Three of Clubs. He was a classic psychic.
Not only did Blood Demon provide the information, he also took on the responsibility of explaining. "Basically, the circle in the middle of the round table is arranged according to the '16 strongest Extraordinaries'. Of course, some people basically won't appear in this kind of occasion, so it's only natural that there will be more and more people. "
Just as Blood Demon had said, there were two criteria for the 'Strongest Sixteen'. One was to include all the flower A cards and character cards, and the other was to slightly relax the criteria, and also include the number 10 card for even goalkeepers.
No matter which criteria were used, the core area of the round table was occupied by these sixteen to twenty people in this highest level meeting. The other people's seats were more random. Plus, this was a virtual venue. Everyone here wasn't a primary school student, so the seating arrangement was even more chaotic.
Under Blood Demon's intimate explanation, Luo Nan immediately gave up on the delusion of recognizing everyone. He just looked at the card deck and examined the people in the core circle first. It didn't matter if there were twenty people or sixteen people; not everyone was present.
Luo Nan counted. There were only eighteen seats in the core circle, but there were only thirteen people, including himself, that was all. The ability user society occupied a considerable portion of these people:
Abner, the current President of Headquarters, the convener of the meeting, the host, and the King of Spades.
Vice President Malun, who Luo Nan had fought with for a short period of time. He was a powerful fleshly expert. He was the Jack of Hearts.
Constance Dalei, the mystic and mental side. He was the Master of Enchantments. He was the Jack of Clubs.
Yes, President Ouyang could be counted as well. This was the Jack of Spades.
Luo Nan waved his hand, and Ouyang Chen adjusted his glasses and smiled in response.
Her Majesty Empress Wu was behind President Ouyang this time. Her head was still lowered as she read her book. She didn't pay attention to Luo Nan at all.
The remaining people Luo Nan was more familiar with were Blood Demon and Black Lion. One of these two had the Ten of Hearts, and the other had the Ten of Diamonds. Both of them had the nature of a goalkeeper. Black Lion was a bit further away, but he waved his hand at Luo Nan in greeting.
Luo Nan wasn't familiar with the remaining people, but even with his meager knowledge, he had long heard of their great names. Of course, there were two leaders of secret orders among them.
Impartial First Oblatum, the Ace of Spades.
Speaking of which, this wasn't the first time Luo Nan had dealings with this person. Back at the flagship store of Frost River Reality, when he wiped out the main force of the Order of Justice's branch, Luo Nan had made contact with this person through space. Of course, President Ouyang and Her Majesty Empress Wu were the main combatants back then.
But who would have thought that this powerful ruler of the most powerful secret order was actually a woman who looked gentle and amiable?
Directions were not distinguishable within the virtual venue. If the host, Abner, was facing the North, then the Impartial First Oblatum was facing the West. He was facing Luo Nan at a small angle. He cast his gaze over at this time. It seemed that he was observing the changes in Luo Nan's expression. He was extremely focused and … … interested.
High Lord Secret Deed, Ace of Hearts.
This old gentleman looked to be quite old. His hair was snow white, and the quality of his hair was quite hard. It stood up very tenaciously. A white beard grew by the side of his mouth, and it was neatly groomed. He looked hale and hearty. He kept flipping through the materials. His eyelids were drooping, and his expression was calm. Luo Nan couldn't see anything else. The only thing that was rather eye-catching was the several dark lines on his face. They looked like faded tattoos, but they didn't look like patterns.
As for why Luo Nan could see them so clearly, aside from the degree of restoration of the virtual venue itself, it was also because this old gentleman was on the other side of Luo Nan. He was sandwiched between Blood Demon and Luo Nan. Even though the diameter of the central round table was enormous, the distance between each side should be quite wide. But Luo Nan thought about Blood Demon's previous proposal, which was flatly rejected by Blood Demon. Luo Nan couldn't help but feel that something was off.
High Lord Secret Deed minded his own business, flipping through the materials. This gave Luo Nan a buffer and leeway to think.
They were both old men. The one who was as old as High Lord Secret Deed, or even older, should be Necromancer. This person was the J. of Clubs. She looked to be a level lower than the junior Constance, but she was quite a dangerous character. Her head was nearly half bald. She had very few strands of hair, and she didn't even have many eyebrows left. She glared at Luo Nan with a very unfriendly gaze.
Then there was Mou Zhengye, Director Mou. In a sense, he was the most powerful capitalist in the world. He was the K of Hearts. Luo Nan had never interacted with him before, but he barely knew him.
There were also two other people whom Luo Nan had never met before.
One of them was the number two figure of the Order of Justice, High Priest Lanier. He was the K of Clubs. Legend had it that he was a powerful Extraordinary who specialized in entering dreams. He was able to steal away a person's soul while they were asleep.
The other person was a powerful person who belonged to the Eye of Secret Deed in name. He was the Emissary of Hell, Apollon. His card position was the J. of Diamonds. He looked very young, around thirty years old at most. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was so gloomy and cold that it made people tremble from the bottom of their hearts.
Luo Nan had heard that this person was absolutely not someone who was easy to deal with. He was normally arrogant and unruly. He always listened to orders but never listened to orders. Luo Nan didn't know why he had come to the conference today.
As for the few people who didn't come, Luo Nan flipped through the deck of cards. He determined that they either belonged to the Star Alliance and the military, possessing the nature of public authority. This included Lieutenant General Joseph, the cornerstone of the Aerospace Army; An Dongsheng, who had been overseeing An City for many years; and the retired high ranking officer of the Star Alliance, Bai Hao. They could come or not come. Or they were powerful people from the Wilderness who would never participate in the conference. This included the clown Rabi, the formidable Rust Steel of the Northern Territory. Oh, and there was also Poseidon.
As for the true gods and the Pope, they didn't come today. That was a different story.
While Luo Nan was sizing up these people, these people were sizing him up as well. These people weren't the only ones sizing up Luo Nan. No matter what Luo Nan said just now, he was still the focal point of the entire venue. The heated discussion from before did not come back to life because of his suggestion of everyone continuing.
The venue returned to silence once more. It was hard to stir up any more waves. There was no other direction other than to officially proceed.
Only now did Luo Nan have the leisure to look at the agenda. The first two items on the agenda were related to Gong Qi: the search for the murderer and the filling of the power vacuum after Gong Qi's death. Both of them could be considered resolved. Next was the third item … … The seemingly academic item proposed by Lord Secret Deed.
Luo Nan's gaze shifted to the side. Lord Secret Deed was still flipping through the documents in his hands. He was calm, focused, and solemn.
Abner began to push forward. "Then we will now move on to the third item on the agenda. Lord Secret Deed, please inform us of the latest observations and research results of the Abyssal Region. The data inside corresponds to the special nature of supernatural powers. It is highly specialized and exceedingly precious. The relevant documents have already been sent to everyone before the conference … … Do you still want to read them? "
Abner displayed an exceptionally respectful attitude, even though the two were about the same age.
Lord Secret Deed shook his head slightly. "There's no need to read them. Those who are interested will read them. Those who aren't interested won't read them. You won't understand them even if you read them … … Professor Luo, have you read them?"
Luo Nan never expected that his first conversation with Lord Secret Deed would be like this. He blinked his eyes. "I read a bit, but not in detail. Yes, it's as you said. I really don't understand them.
"For example?"
Lord Secret Deed inquired.
"......"
Luo Nan shot a glance at Blood Demon. He really suspected that it was because he refused to cooperate with this group of people and was embarrassed in front of them.
Of course, this was just a thought. Luo Nan wasn't lying. Under Blood Demon's strong recommendation, Luo Nan really did find the time to look at Lord Secret Deed's draft motion. He had a memory of the continuously changing trends of the Abyssal Region, as well as some numerical descriptions.
It was precisely because it was too numerical that it made it hard for him, and probably the vast majority of people, to have an intuitive impression of it.
Luo Nan laughed. "Actually, I hope to have an intuitive schematic diagram, or a clear conclusion. Conjectures are fine too … … For now, I have an impression of a concept called a trendline. That's what it's called, right? In the end, I still don't quite understand what kind of substantive meaning it corresponds to. "
"It corresponds to the relationship between the aberration process of the Earth's biosphere and the change in a certain amount of radiation in the Abyssal Region. Due to the complexity of the Abyssal Region, it is very difficult to carry out precise quantification. One can only carry out a comprehensive consideration of the relevant elements and observe the general trends and dynamics. "
Luo Nan actually understood this rather awkward phrase. While he was muttering to himself because of this meaning, Lord Secret Deed continued to explain.
"This concept originates from a hypothesis. Suppose that the chaotic energy turbulence of the Abyssal Region, or a certain element within it, is the main factor that triggered the Age of Aberration. Moreover, it is still in effect. The direction of observation and research is to find this element and conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis. "
Luo Nan frowned. "This hypothesis seems to be … …"
"The results of observation aren't able to prove this hypothesis. However, we have indeed discovered a subtle correlation between the intensity and nature of the energy turbulence of the Abyssal Region and the current aberration process."
"The amount of radiation in the Abyssal Region has increased, and the rate of aberration infection in the Earth's biosphere has also increased. The trend line has increased. The amount of radiation in the Abyssal Region has decreased, and the rate of aberration infection has also begun to decrease. The trend line has decreased. There is a clear positive correlation."
"It's just that we aren't sure which is the cause and which is the effect … … In particular, if we believe in the logic that the exhaust emissions from the breathing of humans and livestock will cause global warming, then it will be even harder to distinguish the position of cause and effect."
The master of the secret deed spoke unhurriedly. He took care of the priority and urgency extremely well. It was very easy for people to understand the key points within his words.
Luo Nan immediately knew that this old gentleman was more inclined to believe that the changes in the Abyssal Region were the cause and the aberration was the effect. It was just that he didn't explicitly state it due to his strictness.
The perfectly good agenda inexplicably turned into a private conversation between the master of the secret deed and Luo Nan. However, the people present were able to accept this mode … … Any situation that made it convenient for them to observe and examine Luo Nan was acceptable.
Needless to say, the master of the secret deed touched upon the two explosive topics of the Abyssal Region and aberration.
Luo Nan's interest was piqued. "Let's not talk about the observation of the Abyssal Region. The aberration process of the Earth's biosphere … … How is it quantified?"
"Of course it's the number and spread range of the aberration infected." Blood Demon opened his mouth to speak in support. He exposed his position in an instant.
"The number. Is there any data?"
"The statistical data is basically reliable?" Blood Demon answered, but he himself wasn't too sure. After all, the current research on aberration was not deep enough. Traditional statistical techniques and sample selection might not conform to reality.
Luo Nan didn't pursue the master of the secret deed. Mathematics wasn't his strong suit. He simply raised a question … … Speaking of which, looking at the master of the secret deed deed's appearance, he didn't really want to give him or the other Extraordinaries present a course in statistical analysis.
Everyone was very realistic. It was just as Luo Nan had said before. They just wanted to hear the conclusion. Guesses were fine.
"Then, the performance of the trend line is … …" Luo Nan was suspicious of asking a question he already knew the answer to.
"It continues to rise." The master of the secret deed deed raised his head. His gaze started from Luo Nan's face, sweeping across the entire round table and even the venue. "The data for this material only ends on the 31st of December 2096. In fact, since the beginning of this year, the trend line has completely entered an exponential growth mode. It behaves more and more like a virus that has gone out of control. It should be said that the range and quantity of the infection have already gone out of control. "
"Is there any clear evidence?" Abner asked with a frown.
The master of the secret deed didn't respond. But on the other side of the master of the secret deed deed, the young white man who had been sitting quietly all this time, the Emissary of Hell, Apollon, casually raised his hand.
"Here."
"Mr. Apollon?" Abner's frown deepened.
Apollon raised his head. His eyes were like burning charcoal, radiating a heat that made one's heart palpitate. His words were ice cold to the bone.
"The measurable infection rate of the citizens has exceeded 10%. It has exceeded the scope of control. Starting today, Ha City will abandon all measures to control the aberration infection. This will save medical and survival resources to deal with the following events … … That's all. "
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