Chapter 397: Paul
Chapter 397: Paul
“Master, slow down, be careful you don’t fall...”
The old gray-haired butler supported a dignified-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair as they slowly stepped off the plane. Seeing that the man’s pace was a little faster, the butler quickly chided.
“Becker, you don’t need to support me.”
The dignified man pulled his arm away and said wryly, “Old man, I’m not the same Paul Blanc as before.”
“Alright, Master.”
Seeing this, the gray-haired butler released his grip.
Looking at this stubborn butler, the man with a dignified expression just shook his head helplessly. The other man was five years older than him and had served him all his life. It was difficult to blame the butler’s old habits.
Under the plane, there were already a dozen bodyguards standing with their hands behind their backs. When they saw him getting off the plane, they all moved forward, shielding him with their bodies, and then led him to the airport.
“Master, look over there, it’s Felix Munster...”
Just as they were leaving the plane, a group of people also rushed out of the plane on the runway next to theirs. The one at their head was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his 40s or 50s at most.
Not only that, but someone on their side also seemed to have nudged Felix, so these two parties looked over at almost the same time and their eyes made full contact.
Looking at this old adversary who was of utmost familiarity to him, there was a flicker of gloom in Paul’s eyes. Then, he burst into laughter.
“Hahahahaha! Felix, to think that I’d meet you here?”
“I’m the one who’s surprised. Paul, I didn’t expect you to come to Namibia yourself!”
The two walked in quickly and embraced each other enthusiastically.
“I haven’t seen you in four or five years. I heard that you’ve already passed on all your work to your son. Are you coming to Namibia for vacation this time?”
Paul enthusiastically said, “Namibia is indeed a great place for a vacation!”
“Isn’t it the same with you? I heard that your son Sloane had a major operation two years ago and even replaced both kidneys. Was it because of this that you were forced to show your face again?”
The other man’s words carried a hidden sting too. Upon hearing this, Paul’s face darkened.
The reason he had greeted Felix in this manner was that Felix was the founder of the Munster Financial Group, but as early as four or five years ago, this old man withdrew from the management of the company because of Alzheimer’s disease. His son Adrian thus took charge of the board of directors.
Usually, with this kind of disease, one would have barely a few years left to live, but unexpectedly, this man had chosen the path of Blackwatch Corporation. Not only was his Alzheimer’s disease cured, but he also went through the age-reversal treatment and gained the appearance of a forty or fifty-year-old young man, just like Paul himself. Paul was practically beside himself with rage.
As for why Felix had made that remark to Paul, it was because Paul had once made a move against the chairman of Blackwatch Corporation. In the end, he could do nothing to his opponent and instead, the kidneys of his son were cut out. This had become an inside joke within the plutocrats’ circle.
“God bless! But my son later not only got new kidneys but also kept six mistresses and has now given birth to eight heirs.”
Paul laughed. “I wonder how your son Adrian is doing?”
“My son isn’t brave enough to change his kidneys like your son and the heirs of our family are also excellent. So, we won’t have to keep popping them out like pigs.”
Felix also retorted sarcastically.
The exchange between the two then broke up in an unhappy atmosphere.
When Paul got into his car, he was a little out of breath. If he had not undergone the age-reversal treatment, he might have suffered from high blood pressure earlier.
“Master, calm down, be careful with your health.”
The old butler on the side kept comforting him.
“Humph, isn’t he in the same boat, pledging allegiance at the feet of Blackwatch?”
Paul was still indignant and said quickly, “Ask the driver to drive faster. We must arrive at the Biological Research Center before them and meet Chen Chen.”
“Yes.”
The old butler nodded.
The car quickly started and drove along the VIP passage away from the airport.
Half an hour later, the vehicle drove into the Biological Research Center of the Eco Science City and stopped at the bottom of a tall diamond-shaped building.
The building was extremely tall, almost surpassing the other skyscrapers in the entire Eco Science City by more than one-third. It could be seen from the Walvis Bay International Airport, for this was the new landmark building of the Eco Science City — Blackwatch Corporation’s headquarters in Africa.
This building was 230 meters tall, with a total construction area of 150,000 square meters and the main building had 62 floors.
“We’re here, Master.”
As the vehicle stopped in front of the building, the butler immediately said, “Master, although the bodyguards can’t follow, surely I should be allowed to go up with you?”
“No need for that, I’ll go up by myself.”
Paul pondered for a while, then waved his hand. He got out of the car alone and walked into the headquarters building.
This was the first time Paul had been to this newly built headquarters building. When the building was not completed before, he had always gone to the old office building of the Biological Research Center to see Chen Chen.
The decoration of the building, strictly speaking, was not luxurious, and was even rather minimalistic and futuristic. The floor, paved with huge squares that looked like white ceramic, could practically reflect everyone’s figures. Similarly, the walls’ pattern was made up of large tiles of green and white. Besides the paint, there was even a layer of decorative glass, creating a pleasant sensation of cleanliness and transparency.
Paul understood that, at their level, the luxurious style of decoration could no longer satisfy them. Instead, they were more inclined to a simple yet remarkable aesthetic. The huge hall’s decoration in front of him showcased an extremely simple futuristic style.
All this scenery was taken in by Paul in a single glance. Following that, he did not linger on but headed straight for the lobby’s reception desk.
The reception desk in the lobby was a green glass counter that blended in with the rest of the lobby. Behind the counter was a Chinese girl with a poker face. The girl’s eyes moved along with Paul’s every movement, and Paul thought this was a little strange. He started to scrutinize her blatantly.
Unlike most people, the girl in front of him had an indescribable vacuity in her eyes as if she was not a real person. Not only that, but the corners of her mouth were also slightly raised in an apparent smile, but when he looked closely, Paul felt his blood run cold.
This was because the more he stared at this smile, the faker it seemed.
As Paul got closer, he could also observe her overall appearance more clearly. He had to admit that the appearance of this girl in the reception uniform was almost flawless. She was as beautiful as a perfect crystal and her skin was without the slightest blemish. However, all this only exacerbated the eerie feeling in Paul’s heart.
When Paul had reached the desk, the girl before him finally spoke, “Honorable sir, hello. I’m Android Receptionist No. A0003. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Paul could hear an electronic tinge in this voice...
Wait!
Paul’s eyes bulged suddenly. He stared at the young female receptionist in front of him in disbelief as if he wanted to see what she really was. “What did you just say, who are you?”
“I’m Android Receptionist No. A0003. Is there anything I can help you with?”
The girl before him repeated robotically.
“Android?”
Paul gasped sharply. He raised his hand in disbelief and slowly reached for the girl opposite the counter until he touched her cheek and felt the cool texture that was not like human skin. Then he was sure.
No wonder he had felt something was off with this girl, she was not a real person!
“My God...”
At this moment, a hundred thousand exclamations thundered in his mind like wild horses. An android? He had only seen this in a movie — more than 40 years ago, when he was in his prime, he took his mistress to the cinema to watch a movie called Alien...
After he shook his head ruefully, Paul then looked around. Was there no human receptionist here?
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
Seeing that Paul did not answer, the female android before him asked again.
“Huh?”
Paul’s attention was finally drawn to this question. At this moment, he seemed to recall something.
Just when the android in front of him was about to ask more questions, he finally said tentatively, “I want... I have an appointment with Chen Chen. I’m going to see him now. Can you confirm this for me?”
After Paul finished speaking, he stared at the android in front of him.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Three seconds had passed and the android in front of him seemed to be stupefied. There was no reaction or any movement at all, not even a blink of the eyes.
Seeing this, Paul could only shake his head. “Sure enough, how could Blackwatch Corporation possibly make such an advanced android...”
“Mr. Chairman has been notified and he has approved your visit. Please head to the top floor, which is the 62nd floor.”
Before he finished speaking, the android in front of him spoke again.
At this point, Paul finally raised his head abruptly and looked at the android in disbelief.
The android in front of him understood his request!
Assuming that it was not just this company being bored and scaring visitors with a secretly remote-controlled robot, did this not mean that Blackwatch had the technology to manufacture androids that could communicate smoothly with humans and were more than 95% realistic-looking?
When the world’s best robotics and AI technology was still at the level of the robotic dog BigDog, had this amazing company already reached this level?
Although Paul was more than eighty years old, he was originally a product of elite education. Even though he was this old, his ability to accept new things had far exceeded that of some middle-aged people who were only forty-five. It was this ability that allowed him to preserve his own family for such a long time.
Coupled with the age-reversal treatment now, his mentality had become younger and more active. Therefore, faced with this ordinary-looking, even slightly daunting android, Paul knew very well what the implications were for the world...
“Please head to the 62nd floor.”
Just as Paul’s heart was trembling violently, the android prompted him again.
“Yes, yes!”
Paul came to his senses. He took one last look at the android, then turned and walked toward the elevator.
As there were too many floors, there were a total of five elevators in the building, each of which had a huge capacity that could carry twenty people. At this time, Paul chose an elevator at random and then went in directly.
Right as he walked into the elevator, Paul saw that the android was still staring at him, with that same stiff smile on its mouth...
“G*dd*mn...”
Paul frowned, and then the elevator door closed, completely blocking his line of sight.
Shaking his head and casting the weird android out of his mind, Paul pressed the button for the 62nd floor. All of a sudden, he only felt a burst of gravity gripping his body. This was an increase in weight caused by the rapid acceleration of the elevator, but this feeling soon disappeared completely.
On the display, Paul could see that the elevator was moving extremely fast, almost rising at a speed of one floor every two seconds. In less than two minutes, he had reached the top floor.
“Ding, you’ve reached the 62nd floor.”
There was a notification from the elevator, then the elevator doors slowly opened, revealing the space outside.
After seeing the layout of the entire 62nd floor, Paul inhaled sharply.
He saw that the entire 62nd floor was empty. There were no corridors nor so-called offices, only a massive hall that spanned the entire floor!
However, the decoration here was simpler. Both the floor and the ceiling were paved with a blue-gray PVC material. There was also a layer of highly transparent glass covering the PVC material and everything looked sleek and shiny as if it was made of crystal.
The entire 62nd floor had done away with all supports and was transformed into an office of gigantic scope. Around this oversized office, there were no walls, only floor-to-ceiling windows that enclosed the entire space!
At first glance, Paul had the feeling that he was suspended high in the sky.
When the entire space was this empty, the only furnishings became very conspicuous. The only furnishing on the 62nd floor was a huge silver-gray metal desk placed near the floor-to-ceiling windows.
At this time, a young man was sitting before the desk.