"How could this happen... My God! Oh my God!"
The Director of Intelligence wore a look of profound shock.
This shock lasted for a long time, at least three minutes. He couldn't recover his senses – the matter was simply too astonishing.
However, even the greatest shock has its limits; moods eventually settle.
Once his mood had calmed, he said, "I will immediately, right away, report this to the Grand Commander."
"Transmit the intelligence through covert channels... No."
The Director of Intelligence pondered, deeming that method insufficient. He then added, "I will personally go to the Black Palace to report to the Grand Commander. If I don't meet him in person, he will surely think I belong in a mental institution."
The Director of Intelligence recalled that he hadn't yet reviewed the evidence. Before reporting, he had been incredulous and hadn't intended to examine the copious amounts of data and evidence.
The Grand Commander was still operating under a materialist worldview. Upon personally seeing this report, he would undoubtedly react the same way he initially did.
Therefore, if he merely transmitted the intelligence covertly without a personal meeting, the Director of Intelligence, based on his own initial reaction, could infer the Grand Commander's stance.
He would likely toss the so-called intelligence straight into the trash, then contact him covertly to scold him about his work and how such absurd content could appear in the Black Palace, on his desk.
Considering the Grand Commander's personality, it was even possible he would post on Vitter, claiming he had a subordinate who had lost his mind.
The Director of Intelligence felt it was absolutely necessary to go to the Black Palace in person, to prevent the Grand Commander from dismissing this intelligence as a joke and to make him understand its importance.
...
The Black Palace.
This was the highest seat of power, hailed as the beacon of the free world, guiding the entire free world.
The Grand Commander, while reviewing the video footage personally delivered by the Director of Intelligence, asked, "Is this the latest movie from that ancient Eastern country?"
"Or a TV series?"
"Water-repelling pearls, Dragon Kings, inner cores... It all feels inferior to our superheroes!"
The Grand Commander continued to lament, "Look at our superhero movies, comics, and TV series; they generate billions, tens of billions of Blue Star currency in revenue every month. Now look at this plot involving water-repelling pearls; it's obviously too low-level."
"The plot lacks ups and downs. From my perspective as a businessman back in the day, this movie wouldn't break even; it would incur massive losses."
Before becoming the supreme ruler of the Black Palace, the Grand Commander had been a businessman. At this moment, he was analyzing the quality of the material from a businessman's viewpoint.
"I'll post on Vitter to criticize the backwardness of the Eastern film industry and promote the superiority of American cinema."
Having said that, the Grand Commander picked up his phone, skillfully logged into his Vitter account, and was indeed about to post.
The Director of Intelligence, hearing the Grand Commander's words, quickly stopped him from posting on Vitter. Working under a leader who constantly felt the urge to post on Vitter, and being periodically worried about him causing a major incident, was truly torturous for his subordinates.
The Director of Intelligence reminded him, "Grand Commander, this material is not a movie; it is real."
The Grand Commander gave him a look as if he were joking. The Director of Intelligence quickly used the evidence to explain. After about an hour of various forms of communication, the Grand Commander finally broke free from the shackles of his materialist worldview, shattered his old worldview, and loaded a new, mystical element-infused version of the Blue Star world into his mind.
"Alright, so what you're saying is, it's now confirmed that the Eastern Dragon Country has individuals akin to superheroes, and these water-repelling pearls, if held by any human, allow them to traverse the oceans?"
"And unlike our superheroes, our superheroes are fake, but the Eastern water-repelling pearls are real?"
The Grand Commander reconfirmed.
After an hour of discussion, his expression was no longer one of amusement but of solemnity and seriousness.
"I'm very sorry, Grand Commander. While I wish I could say the intelligence recorded is fake, regrettably, it is indeed real, and it happened in that ancient Eastern country."
"We cannot, because it doesn't align with our understanding or scientific laws, bury our heads in the sand and ignore or resist it."
The Director of Intelligence stated, "I believe what we should be doing right now is not questioning the reasonableness of the matter... as long as it exists, it is reasonable. Instead, we should discuss how to respond to this situation."
"How to resolve it."
The Grand Commander heard the Director of Intelligence's words again. He took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions. Why did such an unscientific event have to happen during his term? Wouldn't it be better for the next Grand Commander to deal with it?
This was clearly a major event with far-reaching implications. If he made the wrong choice in this situation, he would truly become a sinner for all time... He didn't want to be blamed! He didn't want to be responsible!
Though he thought this, since it happened during his tenure, the responsibility undoubtedly fell on him. He had to issue directives and formulate response measures for this event.
"Do you think this matter was obtained by the Dragon Country by chance, or did the Dragon Country itself develop some new technology, and these pearls are the crystallization of that technology?"
The Grand Commander asked.
Although he had a guess and was ninety-nine percent certain of the answer, he still wanted to discuss it with the Director of Intelligence. Reaching a conclusion after their discussion would be better than him confirming it alone.
The Director of Intelligence replied, "Whether it's from the private conversations of those purple-green high officials or from these pieces of evidence and data, it is fully evident that these pearls are not the crystallization of technology from the Dragon Country."
"If these water-repelling pearls were a new technology developed in a Dragon Country laboratory, the intelligence would have been classified as a national secret immediately. Even if we deployed spies, we wouldn't have found so much data, let alone obtained video and audio recordings."
"The intelligence wouldn't have leaked so severely."
"The only plausible and reasonable explanation is that the Dragon Country itself doesn't understand the technological content and level of these pearls. This can be seen from their laboratories attempting to reverse-engineer the method of making the pearls from the physical object; it shows they fundamentally don't understand how to make them."
The Director of Intelligence emphasized one point.
"Grand Commander, allow me to use an analogy. The current situation is akin to an alien spacecraft crashing on Blue Star, and then being seized by the Dragon Country."
"The Dragon Country is not the manufacturer of the alien spacecraft. The Dragon Country is merely the owner of the alien spacecraft. They may only understand how to use this alien spacecraft at a preliminary level, and are unable to delve into its essence to utilize the true technology contained within."