Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 196 The Desperate Illiterate

7:58 in the morning.

Zhou Yi stood outside the Ministry of Energy office building.

Under the gray clouds, there were far fewer cars on the roadside than usual.

A few cars occasionally drive by, with blue identification marks affixed to their windshields.

Millimeter-wave security gates and radio frequency detection stations have been installed in the security checkpoints.

Several Federal Protective Service officers stood on either side, fully armed, with temporary identification tags on their uniforms.

Zhou Yi swiped his card, and the camera immediately pointed at his face.

Fortunately, due to a lack of federal funding, the system cannot be updated in a timely manner and remains a static model based on image comparison.

Three seconds later, the terminal displayed that the match was successful.

The man on the left stared at Zhou Yi for a few more seconds, then nodded.

"Welcome back, Dr. Stafford."

Zhou Yi nodded without saying a word.

The corridor was covered with a light gray checkered carpet, the lighting was yellowish, and a file cart was parked against the wall.

The most obvious change is in people.

Much less.

As Zhou Yi passed by the first open office, he saw that five of the eight seats were empty.

The remaining three sat upright, neatly dressed, with solemn expressions, as if they had just come from some hearing.

A notice bearing the federal emblem was nailed to the door frame:
"The internal briefing system will be standardized and synchronized, and all suggestions and feedback must be approved by superiors before being archived and submitted."

Following the route he remembered, Zhou Yi walked smoothly to "his" workstation.

The room was equally empty.

There was only one other person sitting next to them.

He was young, of medium build, and his desk was spotless.

"Good morning, Ben." The man greeted him proactively, his attitude quite friendly. "I heard you weren't feeling well last week?"

“It’s an old problem.” Zhou Yi pinched the bridge of his nose a couple of times, his voice muffled by a nasal tone, “Allergies.”

"Yeah, I can see that."

The man glanced at him and smiled. "But you'd better take better care of yourself and not sneeze in public like that."

Zhou Yi paused for a moment: "In which situation?"

"You haven't received the notification yet?"

"I thought the list had been sent out almost completely."

The man was somewhat surprised, but still explained, "I don't quite remember the official name, but the location is on Capitol Hill."

At this point, he looked around to make sure no one was watching before moving slightly closer:

"It is said that the person above will personally show up at that time."

Zhou Yi nodded, showing little interest, and began to look for documents in the drawer.

The man wasn't offended. After the casual remark, he wisely turned around and started typing on the computer.

After all, this is very "Stafford".

As always, lukewarm.

Zhou Yi was still pretending to casually flip through the pages.

Soon, they discovered a note tucked inside the top document.

"Maya/Forward before departure"

This appears to be a draft of internal technical recommendations.

The title reads "Redundant Architecture of Cross-Regional Transmission Nodes in Emergency Response".

The "Suggested Implementation Path" section at the end of the article was mostly filled in.

The "Reference Comments/Technical Notes" section remains blank.

It's clear that the case hasn't gone through the full legal process yet.

Perhaps, it will never end.

Because of the departure of Maya Green, a senior engineer in the systems group.

Two weeks ago, the woman applied to HR to "go to Massachusetts to care for her elderly mother".

Then, it never appeared again.

Her workstation was at the end of the corridor, and her desk had long been cleared away. No one mentioned why she left, and no one showed any extra concern.

Recently, more and more people have been disappearing from this building.

Some were "sick," some were "transferred," and some were simply "absent without leave."

Those who remained became unusually quiet, unusually efficient, and unusually loyal.

Zhou Yi closed the document and carefully put it back in its original place.

But he knew very well that he couldn't just sit idly by and let others think he was waiting for something to happen.

So, to cope, Zhou Yi casually pulled out a few stacks of blue-edged manuscript paper from the side.

After looking for less than two seconds, he came to a very realistic conclusion—

damn it.

I can't understand it at all.

Draft Recommendations for Voltage Fine-tuning at Northwest-Great Lakes Interconnection Nodes (Version 7D-Green)

"Considering the regional low-frequency oscillation risk pointed out in the previous RAB3.2 group report, it is recommended to introduce DVAR based on a three-node, one-loop architecture, while also introducing TSC/STATCOM joint compensation logic."

Zhou Yi stared at those words for a long time, studying them.

I had no idea whether they were physical concepts, electrical terms, or some kind of abbreviation or code I had never encountered before.

Turn the page again, and it gets even more outrageous.

A differential equation written in professional mathematical notation in dozens of lines.

Four solutions are marked next to it.

Euler-LR, Adams-Bashforth, Gear-type implicit, and NN-based extrapolation.

Zhou Yi had no choice but to pretend to write "To be verified" in the blank space as a note.

Fortunately, this torment didn't last long.

A few minutes later, a series of noisy footsteps sounded in the distance.

Hearing the noise, the colleague next to him looked outside and unconsciously straightened his back.

A man with gray hair then appeared at the door.

He was wearing a dark gray federal jacket with a metal tag hanging on his chest.

Following closely behind were two Federal Protective Service agents, carrying standard-issue rifles on their shoulders, their eyes alert.

The man's gaze lingered briefly on Zhou Yi.

"Dr. Stafford?" Though it was a question, the tone was firm.

Zhou Yi quickly stood up and bent over awkwardly.

The other person lowered their head, pulled a paper invitation from their bag, and said briefly:

"With the approval of the National Security Affairs Bureau, you have been included in the seventh round of Congressional support list."

"This round of tasks involves inspecting, recording, and technically reviewing the deployment status of the B1 layer redundant power and data backup system."

"The arrival time is 7:00 AM on Thursday, through the third passage."

"The route and accompanying personnel will be coordinated on-site. Please keep your communication channels open."

After giving his instructions, the man didn't exchange pleasantries and simply turned and left.

The military boots trod on the carpet, and the footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

At that moment, it seemed as if the room could finally breathe again.

My colleague turned around, his voice filled with undisguised surprise: "They actually made you do this?!"

However, before Zhou Yi could speak, he sighed and said, "That's true, you're the only one still in office in Washington."

“Angie left, Joe moved to Kansas, and I heard Mike was transferred to DHS as a temporary consultant last week.”

His lips twitched, carrying a hint of self-mockery.

"I thought it would be my turn. But it seems I'm still a bit short of qualifications."

There was a brief silence.

Zhou Yi finally spoke, his tone calm: "You're very lucky."

The other person was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: "Really? I really can't tell now what counts as good luck."

A breeze was blowing outside the window.

The federal flag flies high atop the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.

Zhou Yi stared at the half of the white star, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded.

(End of this chapter)