Chapter 366: Veto (Part 2)

The rapid-fire clacking of a keyboard finally woke Fang Ze.

Fang Ze rolled over, yawned, and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at Jiang Ran, who was pulling an all-nighter by the coffee table.

“What’re you up to?”

he asked, confused.

“What homework are you working on? Is it that urgent?”

“It’s not homework…”

Jiang Ran kept typing.

“I’m thinking about going abroad, so I’m doing some research.”

“Going abroad?”

Fang Ze froze, then sat up in bed.

“I’m an expert on going abroad… You have a living, breathing textbook right here in the dorm, and you’re looking up stuff online instead of asking me?”

Jiang Ran looked up at Fang Ze.

‘Right.’

Here on the East Sea University campus, in their dorm room, he often forgot that Fang Ze was a foreigner.

“You must be pretty familiar with the process of going abroad, right?” Jiang Ran asked.

“Haha, of course I am. What a silly question.”

Fang Ze chuckled, amused.

“I mean, I’m already abroad right now, you know? So, where are you thinking of going?”

“Switzerland,” Jiang Ran replied.

“Switzerland?”

Fang Ze climbed out of bed.

“Why would you go all that way for no reason? I went to Switzerland as a kid. It’s cold and bleak, nothing like the filtered photos you see in travel blogs… You’ll definitely be disappointed.”

“I’m not going as a tourist,”

Jiang Ran stated flatly.

“I want to attend a lecture at Zurich Polytechnic Institute that I’m interested in.”

“Remember that lecture Teacher Yan Chonghan gave us on the Consciousness Upload procedure? The research he did at Dartmouth College.”

Fang Ze nodded.

“Yeah, I remember. I even complained about it, saying the tech just traps a person’s consciousness in a computer like a digital pet… Why the sudden interest?”

Jiang Ran pursed his lips and said slowly,

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what Teacher Yan said. It’s given me a few new ideas about the technology, and I want to learn more.”

“On October 27th, Professor Noah is giving a lecture at Zurich Polytechnic Institute. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but he used to be a big shot at Dartmouth College. His main field is also Consciousness Upload, so I’m guessing he’s from the same school of thought as Teacher Yan.”

…

Fang Ze watched Jiang Ran, his face illuminated by the glow of the computer screen, and his eyes gradually narrowed.

“Ooooh…”

He let out a long, knowing “oh,” then smiled, slipped on his slippers, and walked up behind Jiang Ran.

“I get it now. I never knew you had such a passion for research. I really have to see you in a new light.”

“But back to the topic at hand. To go to Switzerland, you’ll need to apply for a Schengen visa for Europe. Once you have that, you can travel to most countries in Europe.”

“But October 27th… that’s only a week away. Getting a visa in such a short time definitely takes some finesse.”

Jiang Ran looked up.

“You must be an expert at it, right? It seems like you’re always flying all over the world.”

“Nope. I’ve never applied for a visa in my life.”

Fang Ze threw up his hands.

“I have a United States passport. It’s visa-free for 186 countries.”

“…Right.”

Jiang Ran went back to looking at his computer screen.

“Of course, Master Mei,” he teased.

“Hey, come on, don’t say that.”

Fang Ze waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s not like I could decide where I was born. My parents had me in New Zealand, so I first got New Zealand citizenship, and then I got my US citizenship… Both countries recognize dual nationality.”

“A Dragon Country passport might not get you visa-free entry to many places, but you should know that Dragon Country citizenship is the hardest in the world to obtain. Unless you achieve some world-class honor or produce groundbreaking research, there’s no way to become a citizen.”

“For someone like me, getting Dragon Country citizenship is a complete pipe dream. Even if I married a woman from Dragon Country, the most I could get is a permanent residency permit. I could forget about a national ID card; I’d never get one in my lifetime.”

Jiang Ran chuckled softly.

‘That’s true.’

It was easy to renounce one’s Dragon Country citizenship—all it took was filling out a form. But getting it back… that was next to impossible. You’d have better luck being reborn.

But none of this solved the immediate problem.

He had to get a Swiss visa—the European Schengen visa—within seven days.

“I’ll help you,”

Fang Ze offered.

“I may not have any experience applying for visas myself, but I have way more experience traveling abroad than you do. Plus, I know a lot of people who can help. I should be able to get it sorted for you within a week.”

“Really? Thank you, I’d appreciate that.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Fang Ze smiled and sat down across from him at the coffee table.

“Teacher Yan Chonghan may not have taught us for very long, but we still have that student-teacher connection. I miss him, too.”

“If you don’t mind… how about I go with you on this trip to Switzerland?”

“For one, it’s your first time abroad, so I’m a little worried about you. For another, I’m also kind of interested in Teacher Yan’s Consciousness Upload research. Listening to the ‘founding father’ of the field might lead to some unexpected insights.”

“No, no, that’s okay.”

Jiang Ran waved his hand, politely declining.

“That would be too much trouble. I can go by myself. I may have never been out of the country, but my English is excellent. It’s the only reason my college entrance exam scores were so high.”

“English isn’t an official language in Switzerland, you know,” Fang Ze reminded him.

“It’s fine.”

But Jiang Ran still insisted he didn’t need anyone to go with him.

“English is widely spoken, so getting by with just English in Switzerland won’t be a problem. If there’s something I really don’t understand, I can just use a translation app. Technology is pretty amazing these days.”

“Besides, Professor Noah’s lecture is in English. As long as I can understand what he’s saying, that’s all that matters.”