Chapter 115: Ouyang Chen (Part 1/2)
Translator: Strivon
"Good evening, Red Fox."
"Good, good evening." Red Fox's mouth responded instinctively. Actually, he had been dumbstruck for a full five seconds before he came to with great difficulty. He bowed and said, "President. Sir... you've arrived?"
This middle age man behind him was none other than the president of the Wilderness Explorers Society's Xia City Branch. He was the nominal leader of all the ability users in the city—Ouyang Chen.
Practically everyone of the Xia City Branch knew where to find this President with the nickname ‘The Gentleman of the Lab’. Just go to the branch's office, the Shanding Tri-Towers and knock on the laboratory located on the thirteenth floor. He will be there nine times out of ten.
After the HexaEar was introduced to the world and the Psychic Wave Network was gradually completed, Ouyang Chen held several job responsibilities simultaneously. He was the Lead Engineer, the Chief Operating Officer, the Project Manager, and several other positions. He spent entire days calibrating the network, resolving bugs, and increasing the quality of service through in-depth research. There were many who suspected that Ouyang Chen never even took a single step outside the office for the 365 days in a year and the 24 hours in a day.
He wore the same tuxedo for many years without change. He had only shown himself in front of a crowd a few times for rare formal meetings and nothing more.
Because Red Fox knew all this about the President, Red Fox's brain was filled with confusion when he saw Ouyang Chen appear outside Frost River Reality. Additionally, the President’s initial words. What was the meaning behind them?
Ouyang Chen wore a faint smile like this was a chance encounter while crossing an intersection. He waved at Red Fox. "I interrupted you all in the middle of your chat. That was rude of me."
Having heard his words, Red Fox immediately looked at the encrypted channel. However, there were not any eye-catching indicators of there being any super admins in the channel. Ouyang Chen was not currently in the encrypted channel. But switching his trains of thought, the entire Psychic Wave Network was single-handedly constructed by Ouyang Chen. He had supervisor privileges toward all official operations coordinated by the Society. It was quite normal for him to have seen their contention.
Those words just then, had he seen them all?
Red Fox was a bit dazed but he could feel his burning fury of emotions miraculously start to plummet ever since Ouyang Chen had arrived. All that remained in the pit of his heart was a faint warmth.
He Yueyin's voice continued to be transmitted through the HexaEar. "... I don't want to give you the impression that I'm being emotional. I just hope to relay the facts. The metropolises of the world are nominally under the jurisdiction of the united government. In truth, the metropolises are in half-independent states. Every metropolis had a different ecology. This applies to the normal, secular world, and the inner world is no different. There isn't a true unified order and logic. I really don't like these kinds of circumstances but the resulting facts are as follows: No matter what Headquarter's verdict is, no matter what outcome you had in Hu City, it is meaningless to apply them to Xia City."
Red Fox did not have a stable mind right now. Most of her words had entered one ear and left the other. Red Fox's reaction towards Ouyang Chen's appearance was quite an intense one, even though Ouyang Chen had not entered the encrypted channel. However, it seemed like those over at Frost River Reality had not received any news of his arrival at all.
There was not any puzzlement, shock, or greetings, it was completely dead on that front! It was as if they were completely unaware of Ouyang Chen's arrival. Or perhaps this President Ouyang Chen only existed in his world!
Could it be? Was this Ouyang Chen an illusion?
Red Fox's consciousness grew even more fuddled. He could not refrain from looking once again at Ouyang Chen. The President appeared clearly and distinctly and he even raised his hand in indication. Ouyang Chen wanted him to listen earnestly.
Some highly sensitive vocabulary pierced his eardrum from He Yueyin right at this time. "I'm not too clear on what a 'death list' is but I believe that the core-most Self-Logic of an Awakened can't be distorted by external threats."
President Ouyang, the man who had proposed the Three Levels of Logic Theory, was right next to him. Red Fox obviously knew the meaning of Self-Logic. It was when an ability user influences the external world, enabling one's own strength to have its effects truly displayed.
Distorted? This was not a good word at all in this context!
First, he had been smacked in the face by his own words. Then he had a fright from Ouyang Chen's appearance. The current Red Fox was not in the mood to get into a tangle. He just sneered and was ready to tell the others of Ouyang Chen's arrival when...
"Aren't the people around here quite stupid?" Ouyang Chen asked suddenly.
"Huh?" Red Fox heard his words and subconsciously twisted his head and looked all around. He observed the surrounding people coming and going restlessly but he did not know how he should answer Ouyang Chen.
Ouyang Chen reached out with his right hand and his arm slightly swayed. It was like he was marking a rhythm as he drew a triangle high up in the sky. Then he suddenly changed the topic. "The three First Oblatums of the Order of Justice stand at the three corners of a triangle. Their Evolution Field envelopes the area, acting as the initial step in their magic spell. Among them is one Secretbound First Oblatum and two Clearsworn First Oblatums. Their strength in order from high to low is B+, C+, and C+. According to the Evolution Spell Theory, their practical range of control has the triangle as their innermost nucleus. Their range of control has a maximum median radius of 3.2 times that of the nucleus to cover a vast area.”
Red Fox felt like an idiot. He was completely unable to follow Ouyang Chen's train of thought.
"Let us translate the range to something more concrete. These three buildings, including Frost River Reality and the adjacent two blocks, are all within the direct lock-on range of the magic spell. All the people here, standing and watching and all those people in the adjacent blocks are in life-threatening danger. Isn't it quite stupid of them to still remain in the area?"
Ouyang Chen looked gravely around him. He no longer had a smile on his face and a calm and cold gaze could be seen behind those glasses. Such an image was the usual appearance of the Gentleman of the Lab.
Red Fox was more familiar with this image but it made him more nervous. He hesitated before replying, "Is it because that they're ignorant about the danger?"
"Pretty much, but that answer isn't sufficient." Ouyang Chen reached out with his hand and pointed outward. It was as if he had stirred the surface of a body of water. His hand streaked across the pushing and rushing flow of people and fine ripples diffused through this medium.
Red Fox's eyes bulged wide in an instant. In this very moment, he finally discovered the oddities of the flock of people in their surroundings... No this was wrong. The issue laid in himself and Ouyang Chen.
The two were clearly standing within a stream of people, yet every one of these people ignored them!
Even if these people's attentions were gathered on Frost River Reality, bumping into people was unavoidable in such a crowded stream. However, in their current situation, not a single person made contact with them. The people went around them, went between them and even went through them. It was as if Red Fox and Ouyang Chen had turned into formless ghosts. Their bodies lay in the world of reality, existing along with the surrounding stream of people yet an insurmountable distance was pulled between them.
Then Red Fox saw something quite clearly in the encrypted channel. The clock in the corner of the interface. How the heck did it stop!
"T-This is...."
"Reality projection, spacial manipulation, or whatever you want to call it but I'm used to calling it 'Logic World'." Ouyang Chen reached out, pointed at his temples and added, "It is the world interpreted by my logic."
Was this none other than the power of the Extraordinaries?
In face of this inconceivable power, Red Fox lost all thoughts of courage. He could only bow in defeat. "President sir, enlighten me."
Ouyang Chen did not believe that Red Fox was being rude, so he explained using terms like he was teaching a high-level course in the Society. "It is because these people are ignorant to our logic, ignorant towards the logic of the inner world... The scope of thought for ordinary people are mostly limited to their sights, so they are unable to see the danger. Some people may consider thoughts of whether or not they are in range of guns, explosives, and so on, but this isn't enough. To truly avoid troubles, they need to go at least two blocks away. This is the scope of danger that they can't imagine."
Ouyang Chen's explanation was undoubtedly true.
As Red Fox nodded, Ouyang Chen inexplicably changed topics once again. "Though they may be stupid, you're not too clear on things yourself. In a certain sense, you are as stupid as them. No, you're even more stupid! Why is that?"
"..."