"Elder Jiang, why do you say that?" another investigator asked.
The investigator, known as Elder Jiang, replied, "Think about it. If cultivators and immortals truly existed, why would technology dominate the world today?"
"In today's society, these mythical beings haven't established themselves in the clouds, looking down on all beings. Instead, we humans have taken control of our own destinies... This indirectly proves that cultivators, or immortals, even with their miraculous abilities, are ultimately no match for modern technology."
"Otherwise, why wouldn't they emerge to contend for world dominance, but instead hide themselves away?"
A younger investigator chimed in, "Perhaps it's the resurgence of spiritual energy..."
Elder Jiang scoffed, "Nonsense! If they existed in this world and chose to hide, it means they are absolutely not strong. Unless they came from other planets, anyone with power on Earth would inevitably seek control..."
"Judging by his actions, his objective is definitely not money, or at least not solely money. Otherwise, an item like the Water-Repelling Pearl wouldn't be a matter of one million Blue Star Coins... I suspect he intentionally exposed himself to achieve a certain goal he desires."
The consensus among many present, after understanding the situation, was that the young man was selling the Water-Repelling Pearl for a specific purpose.
The crowd's discussions and speculations primarily focused on the number of such extraordinary individuals and the extent of their capabilities.
As for whether the young man was truly as old as he appeared, some believed he could be an ancient being of a thousand years, while others thought he might be a modern person who stumbled upon some incredible fortune, perhaps alien black technology, and was now boasting with borrowed power, pretending to be a god.
All these conjectures were gathered and recorded.
Some investigators even proposed the idea that perhaps the world itself was an extraordinary realm, filled with countless supernatural beings and events, and that their perception of it as a technological world was merely due to their low rank, lacking the qualification to view records of supernatural beings...
Everything that had happened before, such as the events of 1999, had been covered up by their superiors.
Upon hearing this, Elder Jiang considered it a wild speculation, but such a guess did not need to be included in the records.
"Don't overthink it. As for other speculations, forget them. If you were to submit this kind of guess to your superiors, would they dare to see it?"
"Erase this speculation yourself."
"Our job is mainly to collect existing evidence and report it to our superiors. It's not for everyone to let their imaginations run wild."
"All of this is unrelated to our investigation bureau's team. We are only responsible for submitting the report."
With Elder Jiang's words, the investigators naturally ceased their wild conjectures.
Their duty was indeed to collect evidence and submit reports; the analysis was handled by other departments, so they had no need to worry about it.
Investigators are also human.
Naturally, completing the tasks assigned by their superiors was sufficient. Anything beyond that was none of their concern.
It was outside their job responsibilities.
...
Several hours later.
In an undisclosed office in the capital.
In the center of a lake.
An old man was in his office, reading a report submitted by his subordinate.
His gaze was extremely focused, having read every line and every word of the report.
He was carefully pondering the meaning behind each detail.
His secretary, seeing the old man's demeanor, was inwardly astonished.
The old man's position in the Elder Council was second to none in the Dragon Country, with only one or two individuals comparable.
Even when the Dragon Country faced direct provocations from enemy forces in the past, and military reports were presented to him, she had never seen the old man appear so solemn.
Was the report before him more profoundly impactful than those past events?
"Extraordinary beings..."
"Confirmed. Among our country's 1.6 billion people, has there been no record of this young man?"
The old man's eyes scanned the results of the report in his hand.
The report indicated that there was no trace of the young man's past in the Dragon Country's gene database or under the surveillance of the Sky Eye.
It was only noted that someone in a coastal city had seen this young man and even taken photographs, but any records prior to that were unknown, as if he had suddenly appeared.
After the money was received from the auction company, the young man had vanished without a trace, his whereabouts unknown.
Tracing back yielded no records.
Looking forward—the person could not be found.
The young man's record in the report was like a ghost, suddenly appearing and then disappearing after a few days.
This had brought the investigation bureau's efforts to a standstill.
Furthermore, the young man's past was completely undocumented in the Dragon Country.
The intelligence department had proposed two possibilities.
Either his appearance was fabricated to deceive people, not his true appearance, akin to a highly advanced disguise mask—if his appearance was not real, it was natural that no records of him would exist.
Or, the young man came from another planet or some other blessed land—in any case, it was impossible that he had lived on Earth.
"I see immense storms ahead, affecting the international landscape..."
The old man spoke, then paused.
He had a premonition that this matter was not an ending, but merely a beginning.
...
The world was not at peace.
Storms never ceased.
Although the Water-Repelling Pearl was miraculous and classified as a national secret in the Dragon Country, with severe penalties for disclosure, akin to treason, in the beginning, too many people had not believed it.
From the city to the province, and then to the capital, there had been numerous reprimands from superiors and countless instances of subordinates personally demonstrating the Water-Repelling Pearl's authenticity to their leaders.
Such things had happened many times before.
Frankly speaking, after so many people had been privy to the information, even with subsequent attempts to rectify the situation, it was impossible to achieve perfect containment.
Secrets should only be known by a select few. When the majority of people became aware of them, and the information was passed up layer by layer, the secrets known by the majority were no longer secrets.
Even if it was classified as a national secret—by then, it was too late. Some individuals had already discovered certain things.
Traces of these discoveries were eventually found by other forces.
In the United States' intelligence department in Asia.
Several high-ranking intelligence officers were in discussion.
"Water-Repelling Pearl? Control water and repel it? That's preposterous! Gentlemen, I must remind you, today is not April Fool's Day, and the world we inhabit is a scientific one!"
"Human technological development is based on the fact that a person cannot grasp a fireball with their bare hands and cast a fire spell."