Chapter 327: News From the Otherside

"It’s not too much, Mr. President. We also have visual records. If you still have doubts, we can go over them again," Dr. Hampton calmly replied.

"I know! But... haa..." The president let out a sigh, not knowing how to describe what he was feeling. He didn’t want to believe that one strong man from the Otherworld could easily erase them.

At this time, one of the generals spoke.

"I suggest we use a nuclear weapon to blast the portal, shutting it down permanently."

Dr. Hampton turned toward the general.

"General, that proposal is not supported by any scientific evidence we currently possess. We still have very limited data on the structure and stability of the spatial gate. We have no reliable model that can predict how it would respond to an energy release on the scale of a nuclear detonation."

"A nuclear weapon could potentially destabilize the gate, but we cannot determine whether that would cause it to collapse, remain stable, or undergo an uncontrolled expansion. In the worst-case scenario, the gate could become even more unstable and expand the spatial distortion, potentially affecting Mississippi and the surrounding region. Without a reliable understanding of its physical properties, attempting to destroy it with a nuclear weapon would be an unacceptable risk."

"So, it might blow up the entire state. Thank you, Doctor. We won’t be doing that," the National Security Advisor concluded.

Faced with such a rational objection, the general immediately fell silent.

Looking at the exchange between his two advisors, the president sighed as thought appeared in his mind.

’Why did I run for this presidency again?’

He was starting to feel like accepting the presidency this time had been a mistake. Sure, he had gotten many nice things from his term, but he still felt that this was more than he had asked for.

To make matters worse, his supporters, namely the many groups of elites and interest groups, were very interested in the resources from the other side of the portal.

They could resort to normal trade, but ideally, they would prefer to obtain things from the other side as cheaply as possible.

But it seemed that door was permanently closed. The easiest way to acquire things cheaply when you desperately wanted the other side’s goods was through a great disparity in military power.

Yeah... there was a disparity in military power all right, but they were on the weaker side this time.

Now, they could only hope that the other side was interested in the goods from their side because... the demand from their side for the goods and resources of the other side was very difficult to conceal.

If this overwhelming demand were to become known to the other side, it would be very detrimental to them at the negotiation table.

No matter.

This would be the last term he served in this office.

"Do we know what kind of goods the other side lacks? Can we introduce something to the other side that might become a hot commodity there?" the president asks.

"According to our observations and interviews with the people there, they lacked entertainment. But now they already have it. It’s just the beginning, but they already have something called the Spirit Net, along with many forms of media and entertainment that have started to develop around it," Dr. Hampton replies.

"Spirit Net? What’s that?"

"It’s like the internet, Mr. President, but they don’t rely on infrastructure or data centers like we do. They have it, literally, in the air, or perhaps in a subdimension that connects the world together. As long as they have a receiver called the U-Phone in their hands and access to spiritual qi, they can use it."

The president frowned. "Are you joking with me, Dr.? The what? U-Phone? Is that some kind of knock-off iPhone?"

Dr. Hampton did not reply. Instead, he reached inside his coat and pulled out a phone. It was blue in color. He then handed it to the president along with a blue crystal and a gadget that looked like a socket with a cable that could be plugged into the phone.

The cable was connected to the object that looked like some kind of socket, which was perfectly sized for the blue crystal.

"What’s this?" the president blurted out as he flipped the phone back and forth. The soothing, cool touch of the phone’s case made the president realize that it was neither plastic nor metal.

The texture was more like jade. Yes... jade, that beautiful green or white stone he had seen in Chinatown and that his wife had once bought expensively from China.

"How much is this? Is this a new model from China?" he asks, as the appearance of the thing was almost ninety percent identical to the smartphones found in stores.

"This is the U-Phone, Mr. President. To use it, you need to plug the cable into the phone and place the small blue crystal into the socket," Dr. Hampton explains.

The president was confused, but he followed Dr. Hampton’s instructions, connecting the cable and placing the small blue crystal into the socket.

Click...

With a soft click, the phone started up. The logo appeared, followed by a few Chinese characters and the logo of a chest filled with gold and treasure dropping down from above. It was the phone’s start screen.

Then the phone quickly started up the apps. The interface was not complicated. There were several icons, but none of them seemed to be anything more than the main functions of the phone.

But the problem was... the apps were written in Chinese.

"Anyone good at Chinese? I can’t read it," the president asks.

One of the people in the room came forward. She was a Chinese translator.

She then began to explain the function of each icon to the president.

Then he clicked on the icon called "Azure City News Channel."

A hologram-like projection immediately popped up into the air and displayed the news for everyone in the room.

The phone itself seemed to be able to position the screen so that everyone in the room could see the news.

The screen showed a beautiful news anchor in a blue suit, smiling at the screen as if she were looking directly at the audience while she read the news.

She was Xiao Qing, one of the most popular news anchors on the Azure City News Channel. Yes, it was the news channel established by the Li Clan, the city lord’s clan.

Her voice was calm and professional as she began reading the day’s most important news.

"Good evening, everyone. Our top story tonight concerns the Cloud Seeking Manor, one of the most influential orthodox sects in the Azure City region."

The president leaned closer to the holographic screen. He felt like he had just discovered a new continent.

This meant... the Spirit Net signal from the other side had even reached this side!

The news anchor continued.

"The young master of the Cloud Seeking Manor, Yun Tianming, has become the center of a major scandal following revelations concerning his relationship with the wife of his own master."

The president’s expression changed after he listened to the translator, who translated the report for him.

He felt like this was a scandalous news report about some horny Hollywood actor who loved partying and had a history of involving underage children as the... subjects of his parties.

The kind of party where there was no party like this horny Hollywood star’s party.

Someone in the room coughed, trying to restore the solemn atmosphere.

Xiao Qing continued with the same professional smile.

"According to multiple sources, Yun Tianming had been secretly involved with his master’s wife for an extended period of time. The relationship was eventually discovered when the master himself returned to the manor earlier than expected."

The president blinked.

He glanced at Dr. Hampton and gestured toward the screen with his face, as if asking, *Is it just me, or is this news basically like those evening scandal reports back home that target some old wife who stays at home?*

Dr. Hampton merely shrugged, as if saying, *It’s not my doing.*

On the screen, Xiao Qing continued.

"However, the scandal did not end there. Following the discovery, Yun Tianming reportedly claimed that the entire incident had been orchestrated by a demonic-path cultivator known as the Lust Demon."

The president’s eyebrows rose.

"Lust Demon?"

"Yes, Mr. President," the Chinese translator quietly replied.

Xiao Qing continued.

"According to Yun Tianming’s statement, the Lust Demon had used demonic techniques to manipulate the situation and create the appearance of an improper relationship between him and his master’s wife."

She paused for half a second.

"The claim, however, has been met with considerable skepticism."

"Several witnesses have since come forward, claiming that Yun Tianming and his master’s wife had been unusually close for some time. Some witnesses also stated that the young master had frequently visited his master’s private residence when his master was away."

"Furthermore, the Cloud Seeking Manor has yet to provide any evidence supporting the existence of the Lust Demon or proving that Yun Tianming was under the influence of demonic techniques."

Xiao Qing’s smile remained professional.

"Most importantly, investigators discovered that Yun Tianming had apparently blamed the Lust Demon only after the relationship was exposed."

The news went on, but the gist of it was that this was not much different from the Hollywood scandals reported in their world.

No... this was even more direct.

The news anchor actually spoke the names of the people involved directly. There was no fake name like Mr. A, no vague reference to a certain influential star, and no Ms. K.

The president felt like he had just discovered that an ancient Chinese dynasty had Wi-Fi.

That kind of absurdity.