Hidden moth

Chapter 3 The City in Concept
I remember a few months ago, when our leadership convened a meeting and announced the use of virtual digital technology to create an ideal city, everyone in the department was stunned. Our supervisor, Gao Xue'e, assigned us the task of coming up with a framework plan and an initial model within a week.

My colleague Huang Xiaopang immediately retorted, "Building a virtual city out of thin air, or an ideal city, and coming up with a framework plan in just one week? Why don't you assign us a task and ask us to land on Mars next month?"

How much are we being paid to do this? If we had such great abilities, would we still be sitting here? The country should at least appoint one of us as the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development!

Gao Xue'e said with a straight face, "You should take the position that matches your ability. The fact that you can only sit here and complain proves how incompetent you are. This is not just your job; it's a task assigned to the entire department by the group."

Huang Xiaopang: "Did the group ask for the overall framework to be produced within a week? That's your request, right? You just impulsively push tasks down. Have you ever estimated the workload and how many people we have?"

At this point, someone interrupted, "Ms. E, what is an ideal city? Everyone's ideal may be different."

Gao Xue'e frowned and said, "My understanding of an ideal city is one that has the most rational design and planning, retaining the advantages that people desire while eliminating the various flaws in reality..."

The meeting started in the afternoon and lasted until the early hours of the next morning. Gao Xue'e was determined not to give up until everyone came up with a satisfactory plan.

He Kao was a new employee at the time and had originally planned to watch more and talk less, but later he had to join the discussion. He talked a lot as soon as he started and quoted many creative ideas from other people present.

The workload of the Ideal City project is beyond the ability of their department to complete, but that does not prevent them from writing a very nice plan and allowing the supervisor to report to the company's top management.

The requirements for an ideal city are a bit excessive, so maybe we can just start with a virtual town? It's a digital scene, after all. As long as a local demonstration satisfies leadership and encourages increased investment, we can leverage AI technology to expand it in the future.

The so-called ideal city does not necessarily have to be a 100% restoration of the real scene, but it must also give full play to the fun and characteristics of virtual technology. It is like magic, and the scene space can be folded, nested and transmitted.

A small town can function as a city, or even the entire world. For example, when you walk into a shopping mall, each store can be expanded into a large hypermarket, with even warehouses and processing workshops on display, using VR technology to create an immersive experience.

First, propose the concept of an ideal city, introduce its development prospects, and its integration with the group's existing platform business. In short, the more beautiful the plan is written, the better, as this will also make the project team appear capable.

The actual project is based on a small town. Field research can be conducted, data and templates can be scanned and modified, and new staff with relevant expertise can be recruited. Within the empty shell of the small town, several pilot scenarios can be developed for presentation.

If all goes well and the group is willing to invest, we can reach this point in about half a year. It's like real estate development: first level the land, build a sales office, set up the model, and then build a model apartment.

At the end of the meeting, the old employees almost stopped talking, perhaps because they were sleepy. Instead, He Kao's speech seemed to have the effect of summarizing the meeting, and everyone expressed their agreement with his plan.

He Kao was puzzled. This wasn't his proposal, was it? He had indeed raised many points and filled in a lot of details, but he was just following everyone else's previous speeches, speaking whatever came to mind.

Regardless, the long meeting finally ended. Gao Xue'e took the last sip of her black coffee and nodded. "That's it. He Kao, summarize this discussion into a written plan and give it to me tomorrow during work."

He Kao was stunned. Before he could say anything, Fatty Huang glared at him and said, "Boss E, it's already three in the morning! Do you still want to live?"

He Kao finally realized what was happening and quickly said, "Even if I don't sleep, it will definitely be too late. Besides, I've been in such a long meeting, my head is so dizzy that I can't do anything."

Gao Xue'e also realized that this assignment was not right, and changed her words: "I'm not talking about working today, I'm talking about working tomorrow."

He Kao knew that Xiaopang was speaking for him, and was even more surprised by Xiaopang's style of behavior in the company. Xiaopang would argue with the boss whenever he wanted and didn't care at all, while other veteran employees seemed to have gotten used to it.

At this time, Huang Xiaopang said again: "Boss E, He Kao has only been here for three days. He is a programmer. He is a coder, not a secretary! You are the supervisor, isn't this what you should write?
Also, does it count as overtime if the meeting is still going on now? I'm applying for a morning off so I can catch up on some sleep."

He Kao didn't want to interrupt about whether to take a break in the morning, but since he was new there, he didn't want to make things awkward, so he quickly waved his hand and said, "I'll write it. I'm afraid I won't write well because I don't have experience. I can only try it out first and then ask the leader to revise it."

Perhaps it was because He Kao's performance at the meeting had pleased his supervisor, Gao Xue'e. Everyone else could see that Gao Xue'e valued He Kao very much and was always willing to assign him various work tasks directly.

He Kao himself can certainly feel this "importance", but this may not be a good thing for him. Not to mention what the old employees think, the newbie on probation is as busy as a team leader, which is a thankless job.

After a three-month probationary period, He Kao was successfully converted to a P2-level employee. His income was quite good, considering it was a large company. He then moved to a nearby apartment near the company.

During this period, the project team recruited a number of new employees, including new colleagues transferred from other departments. Gao Xue'e clearly paid more attention to the new recruits and assigned them as many work tasks as possible, at least on the surface.

Of these new employees, Gao Xue'e still favored He Kao the most, seemingly cultivating him into a key member of her team and a key business leader. Some colleagues even joked behind his back, saying he was being taken in as a "little puppy" by Gao Xue'e.

Gao Xue'e lives up to her name, she is a beautiful girl with skin whiter than snow.

She has a doctorate degree and is already a P6-level employee of Tengxin Group at a young age, in charge of a project team. She perfectly fits the image of the so-called White Bone Demon in contemporary cities.

It seems Gao Xue'e isn't incompetent, nor does she completely lack business skills. However, she often gives the impression of making decisions and assigning tasks without thinking. This may be due to other reasons or simply a habit.

A young woman like Gao Xue'e should have the greatest killing power on a young social infancy like He Kao.

This is indeed the case. When He Kao stayed in bed on weekends, he would occasionally think of a certain type of action movie he had seen, and unconsciously put himself into the role of the male actor in the movie. Sometimes he would also imagine Gao Xue'e as the female actress playing the opposite role.

But in reality, He Kao was increasingly reluctant to interact with Gao Xue'e. Every time Gao Xue'e assigned him tasks or listened to his business reports, He Kao felt immensely pressured.

He Kao always felt an inexplicable anxiety when communicating with Gao Xue'e, especially when they were alone. This anxiety probably came from Gao Xue'e, and He Kao, who had always been very sensitive, was invisibly affected by it.

He Kao didn't know what Gao Xue'e was anxious about, but the employees in the entire department could more or less feel her "unwillingness to be reasonable" at work. This might be a way to divert and release her inner anxiety.

Today, He Kao had another unexpected work assignment, all because of President E's criticism of Xiaopang. Last month, she criticized Huang Xiaopang at a regular work meeting, saying that the virtual store's live-action waiters were all women, a typical example of male chauvinism.

This is indeed the case. The virtual scene NPCs designed by Huang Xiaopang are basically the images of young ladies in the minds of otakus, including two types: two-dimensional and reality show.

The so-called "two-dimensional" (2D) world refers to anime characters rendered in three dimensions. When customers put on VR equipment and enter a virtual scene, it feels like they're actually interacting face-to-face. Reality shows are virtual reality shows featuring real people, sometimes even real-life celebrities. Tengxin Group also has an entertainment division with contracted partnerships with many celebrities, allowing them to incorporate their likenesses into virtual scenes.

For example, if a celebrity endorses a brand, the brand’s virtual store can use the celebrity as a shopping guide, providing services to customers just like the real celebrity himself.

The introduction of real stars into virtual scenes is still in the planning stage and has not yet been truly implemented.

The waiters, shopping guides, and tour guides designed by Xiaopang in various virtual scenes, whether in the two-dimensional world or reality shows, are basically beautiful and sexy young ladies.

Gao Xue'e thought this was not acceptable and that they should also provide handsome, sunny, and healthy male images so that customers could choose for themselves. The boss had the final say on this matter, and Huang Xiaopang accepted it.

The specific method involves hiring a model, signing an agreement to scan the data, and then having AI build and modify the model. All of this work has been done. However, after completing the preliminary design, President E found fault again at today's work meeting.

Virtual reality requires not only visuals but also sound. Xiaopang uses AI-generated voices. Gao Xue'e believes such voices lack soul and emotion, and are generally unpleasant. She requested a real-person voice instead.

This is obviously a layman's requirement. Fixed welcome words, introductions, etc. can play real-person recordings, but in random interactive scenarios, it is still necessary to synthesize AI voice based on the real-person sound quality and intonation.

Huang Xiaopang raised an objection on the spot, but President E insisted on first using real-person recordings of the prepared welcome and introduction messages to see how effective they were - this task actually fell on He Kao.

Gao Xue'e didn't ask He Kao to hire a voice actor to record the voice, but to let He Kao do the dubbing himself. He Kao even felt a little regretful when he heard this. He shouldn't have added unnecessary details to his resume, introducing himself as a broadcaster at the campus radio station.

However, the project team did not have a recording room, so Xiaopang gave He Kao an idea. He decided to find a quiet place to record a few clips with his mobile phone, and then use the computer to reduce the noise and adjust the sound. If the leader was satisfied with the effect, he could discuss it later.

So that afternoon, He Kao went to the coffee shop downstairs from his company and used the recording function on his phone to record a few voice messages. He Kao had worked in this coffee shop during his graduate studies and knew that it was usually quiet and deserted in the afternoon.

Because he had been in a daze since getting up today, He Kao subconsciously put his phone into his trouser pocket after recording the audio, but he didn't notice that the phone slipped out of his pocket when he stood up and fell into the gap between the chair and the wall.

After he returned, President E called him to the cubicle to discuss other work. They talked for a long time, and then he worked on the computer again. When Xiaopang came to record, he remembered to touch his mobile phone, but found that it was missing.

When he retrieved his phone in the cafe, he discovered he had recorded a long audio clip. When he put the phone in his pocket, the screen was still recording, and he accidentally pressed the record button, and it was still recording!
He quickly finished recording, as the total length of the audio was an hour and a half. He first sent the previously recorded audio file to Huang Xiaopang, and then curiously clicked on the last audio clip.

There were not many people in the coffee shop in the afternoon, and when he clicked on it, it was just white noise. He moved the progress bar back a long way as if possessed by a ghost, and when he released his fingers, he vaguely heard a conversation between a man and a woman.

Unable to hear the conversation clearly, he imported the file into his computer, amplified it with noise reduction, and put on his Bluetooth headphones...

After listening to only a few sentences, he was immediately attracted by the content of the conversation. He pulled the progress bar back to the front, found the time when the two people entered the store and sat down, and started listening from the beginning.

He Kao's mind gradually became absorbed in the conversation. Although he couldn't believe what the two were talking about, it didn't stop him from becoming more and more interested. People are often attracted to magical things, knowing that they are unbelievable but still hoping that they are true. He Kao was no exception.

For example, after seeing a fantastic magic show, the most common comments fall into two categories: The first type involves revealing the magic trick, speculating and analyzing how the magician did it, with "insiders" even posting tutorials to decipher the trick.

On the surface, this is done to show "I am smart and can see through tricks" or "I can do it too", but subconsciously, it is to maintain the existing cognition so that it can understand what it sees, and try to resolve emotional demands in a rational way.

If the "magic secrets revealed" were just that, there wouldn't be much to say, but a more common comment is another type, which is generally in the following form:

If someone can crack the magic trick or thinks he can, then he will tell the magician what he thinks the principle is, then criticize it as fake and tell everyone not to be fooled; if someone is not clear about the principle of the magic trick, then he will curse them as "all shills".

This is actually the real absurdity, because magic is called magic because it is a performance, and it excludes the use of "shills" as a form of performance. The magician's assistants who clearly identify themselves on stage are not shills, they are magicians who perform together.

The objects of the magic show, such as the audience in the audience, also include the audience or guests selected by the magician to participate in the verification. They cannot lie with the magician's collusion, otherwise the entire magic show will be a failure and meaningless.

Why? Because the premise of a magic show is that the subject can't lie to cooperate. To turn an apple into an orange, no matter what technique is used, it must turn into an orange, or at least resemble an orange.

An apple cannot remain an apple, but the audience must be forced to admit that it is an orange, or a few people must be found to say that it is an orange.

Zhang San struck out from the spot, and Li Si collapsed 150 meters away. Li Si was cooperating with Zhang San in a lie. Then Zhang San announced that he had mastered the Hundred-Step Wind-Facing Palm. This wasn't magic; it was pure deception.

The difference between magic and deception lies in this: the magician announces from the beginning that he is performing magic, not demonstrating magic. Magic only deceives the audience's eyes, not the audience themselves.

Why do so many people not appreciate the performance itself, but are keen to accuse magicians of deception? This accusation is absurd on the surface, just like accusing magicians of not being magicians!

In fact, this represents the disappointment in the subconscious mind, and this disappointment also means a desire: how great it would be if magic were real! People long for magic to really exist so that they can also master magic.

We can call this the magician phenomenon.

Some people take advantage of this psychological phenomenon and use magic tricks to perform various so-called "miracles", or even use simple and crude "Minteau" to achieve their goals by lying directly. This is common among various swindlers, cult leaders, etc.

But the two people speaking in the recording were not performing, nor did they have any need to deceive He Kao, the "audience." But for an ordinary person like He Kao, how could he not be interested in the hidden moth?

If cryptic moths really exist, it means that the world is more interesting, and it also means that I have the possibility of becoming a cryptic moth.

This was roughly He Kao's mentality. He listened with interest, his lips slightly raised. However, when the two men mentioned the "Zhou Du case" twenty years ago, his expression suddenly changed again.

He felt solemn, sad, shocked, angry... and so on. His face became paler and paler, his body was trembling slightly, and he inadvertently clenched his fists, his nails digging into his flesh.

At first he thought that the two were just telling an absurd story that could not be verified, but now he couldn't help but think - could what they said be true? And how could the truth be like this!

**
(End of this chapter)