studiobondurri Chapter 107 101 Rumors
Chapter 107 101 Rumors
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Xiang Fei felt that going to work now not only required going from home to the office, but even Ruyi City had become his workplace.
The people of Iridium Star had indeed prepared a place for members of the negotiation team, a separate office building. Although not very large, it was spacious enough to accommodate several hundred people working there. As a key member of the negotiation team, Xiang Fei also had an office here.
"Xiao Ming, check my schedule," Xiang Fei said very naturally as he entered his office.
He had begun to get used to some of Iridium Star's technological achievements. Xiao Ming was his personal artificial intelligence assistant, providing assistance with many of Xiang Fei's tasks. Xiang Fei was one of the few who had already received intelligent tools gifted by the people of Iridium Star.
However, due to security permissions, his artificial intelligence assistant wasn't authorized to provide him with important information about Iridium Star.
The artificial intelligence assistant connected to all of Xiang Fei's compatible devices, and his office was controlled by Xiao Ming. It displayed Xiang Fei's schedule as a holographic image. Xiang Fei, sipping his tea, glanced over it briefly.
"Director Xiang, you have a call, it's Xiao Liu from the negotiation team."
"Put it through."
The holographic image changed, showing the figure of Xiao Liu, who worked in the Foreign Affairs Department. The young man looked rather panicked, and went straight to the point with Xiang Fei, "Director Xiang, you should come down quickly. That female general from the Iridium Star military has come to our doorstep, making a fuss about an accusation."
Xiang Fei was surprised; he had learned quite a bit about Iridium Star and knew that there was only one general in their military, whom he had met once before—the stunning Xu Lanzhou.
He hadn't thought of Xu Lanzhou as genuinely young, since he had discovered that the life span and youth of Iridium Star people were different from Earth's, and he had concluded Xu Lanzhou must also be a "middle-aged person" in her forties or fifties.
Typically, state-to-state interactions were handled by governments, and military-to-military interactions by armed forces. Xu Lanzhou shouldn't be coming to them with issues, and Xiao Liu mentioned she was coming to seek accountability, leaving Xiang Fei puzzled as to what could have offended Xu Lanzhou.
"Two regimes that know nothing of democracy are colluding. What's the use of Iridium Star's technology if citizens' rights cannot be asserted, and the fats and oils of the people are plundered by those with vested interests? The disgraceful faces of some vested interest groups are repulsive, fawning over aliens the instant they arrive, hoping to gain favors from them.
Are they not aware that at this time, developed Western countries proceed calmly and gracefully, soliciting public opinion, conducting diplomacy in a polite and measured manner, showing true quality by neither being servile nor arrogant?"
"Wasting taxpayers' hard-earned money on Iridium Star's smog treatment without guarding against their malicious intents. Iridium Star is secretly sampling and treating air and water sources all over the country, which doesn't seem like pollution control at all, but more like they're poisoning the air and water sources we depend on for survival! Everyone must be vigilant."
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Xu Lanzhou said with a stern face, "Much of this is complete nonsense. Take this, for instance; we Iridium Star have not at all assisted with your water pollution treatment."
Xiang Fei said helplessly, "Yes, so it's a rumor."
Xu Lanzhou frowned deeply, "Does your country not have control over public sentiment? To let such rumors spread everywhere, at least a million people have seen this Weibo, causing serious damage to the reputation and image of my United Empire. This is something my United Empire cannot tolerate.
If your country is incapable of dealing with this situation, then the United Empire will take it upon itself to deal with the criminals tarnishing my empire's reputation and image."
Xiang Fei was startled and quickly waved his hands, saying, "General Xu, that would be too rash. We will immediately deal with the rumors seriously. You should not take it too much to heart, uh, things like this are quite common in my country, just acts of unscrupulous individuals, and some are even funded by foreign opposition forces, it's probably, probably just part of our national condition."
Xu Lanzhou's face was as cold as frost, "Forgive my frankness, although His Majesty is very friendly to your country, and I understand so-called intellectual diversity, this kind of thing cannot be called diversity at all. I am deeply concerned about the intelligence of some people in your country. It seems that His Majesty's proposal for the Star Alliance education program is truly necessary."
The descendants of the Knights of Destiny have never seen a social form like Earth's current one. Born into the advanced society of Iridium Star, and accustomed to seeing Iridium Star people with deep knowledge reserves, good upbringing, and who know how to seek common ground while reserving differences, Iridium Star's values are extremely homogeneous.
Even though there are different interest groups within the nation, they are united on fundamental issues.
If Bai Zhongqi were to see this, he would naturally not consider so-called public intellectuals to be of any concern. But to Xu Lanzhou, a purebred citizen of Iridium Star, it was simply inconceivable.