Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“What are you saying?”
Dlamini felt his heart skipping a beat. He suddenly recalled how he had been thwarted in his political career.
Six years ago was the closest he had ever been to becoming the Mayor of Cape Town. As the representative of the African National Congress (ANC) political party in Cape Town, he was practically guaranteed to become the next mayor.
However, what a shame that, during that year, the ANC suffered its biggest hit in 94 years. It had not only lost Cape Town but also its political stronghold in Pretoria and Johannesburg...
“Mr. Dlamini, if your contributions to the organization are sufficient, it’d be nothing for us to make you the leader of the ANC or even the president of the Rainbow Nation,” the voice said lightly.
“How can I trust you?” Dlamini narrowed his eyes and retorted.
“You don’t have to trust me.” The voice chuckled. “It’s a bit early to be discussing all this. Sooner or later, you’ll understand the power of God’s Forbidden Zone. Let’s talk about your compensation first. 1000 information points or a one-time stem cell age-reversal treatment that will be developed soon. Pick one.”
Dlamini frowned at once. “What are ‘information points’ and what’s a ‘stem cell age-reversal treatment’?”
“Information points are the main currency in God’s Forbidden Zone. Its functions aren’t varied, but it is very useful. For example, you can buy any information that you wish to obtain.”
The voice thought about it, then continued explaining, “For instance, who supports your political opponent, why your votes are always fewer than theirs, who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes... As long as you have enough information points, you may purchase all this information to understand your enemy and yourself better.”
“God’s Forbidden Zone even knows about the internal affairs of the Rainbow Nation?” Dlamini asked incredulously.
“We know more than you think.”
The voice continued. “If you don’t believe me, let me give you a piece of news. Because you haven’t shown yourself for some time now, your subordinate, Freid has secretly made an agreement with your political enemy, Hoffman. In the next few days, the three companies under your name will fall into their hands.”
As the voice spoke, the laptop automatically displayed a few videos, all taken from surveillance. All of them featured Freid meeting another man.
“Freid...”
Dlamini’s pupils shrank and an icy chill could be felt in the air. As he recalled Freid’s recent strange behavior, he immediately knew that the person on the other side of the laptop was right.
“Every victory and failure in this world is caused by information asymmetry. The advent of the Internet has left everyone with no place to cover their tracks. As long as there’s a network, that’s where God’s Forbidden Zone is omnipotent.”
Dlamini fell silent at once. After a long time, he composed himself and inquired, “So, can the information points be exchanged?”
“Information points cannot be obtained with money for the time being. They can only be acquired through tasks or transactions with other members.
“Of course, you can take on the missions of other members to earn information points. Presently, God’s Forbidden Zone estimates the value of one information point to be — ten thousand USD.”
“One point is worth ten thousand USD?” When Dlamini heard this figure, he could not help inhaling sharply, even though he was worth billions. “Are you serious?”
“Are there any other questions? If not, then make your choice.” The voice was unwilling to explain further.
“Stem cell age-reversal treatment, that’s what you mentioned!” Dlamini hurriedly asked, “what’s this technology? How can it compare to information points worth ten million USD?”
The voice did not respond immediately. Dlamini thought that his question was not heard and was about to repeat himself when another file was sent over.
“You may take a look at this if you can understand it.”
Dlamini looked at the file at once and saw that it was a biological analysis report.
Although the technical terms and the accompanying biological gene maps were rather confounding, all this aside, the remaining content was truly astonishing.
Ten minutes later, Dlamini’s eyes shimmered with excitement, which quickly faded away. “I can understand some of this. But the technology has only been successful in animal test subjects. Are there no successful cases with humans?”
“According to the data, this technology is two-thirds completed.”
The voice explained, “Currently, the age-reversal treatment for chimpanzees is ninety percent successful. The only chimpanzee that died was the oldest one among those that went through the experiment. It was akin to an old person above eighty years old. Besides that one, the other nine chimpanzees were a success.
“As for the human cases you speak of, God’s Forbidden Zone estimates the completion of this project to take half a year. In other words, in just around six months, this technology could be fully developed.”
The voice added one more caveat. “This project isn’t suitable for people of all ages. Doing it too young would be a waste, doing it too old would be too risky. Mr. Dlamini, you’re sixty years old now, which happens to be the most appropriate age.”
Dlamini was tempted once again.
He silently spread his hands, looking at the aged rough skin of his palms, then the drying, flaking skin on the back of his hands. There was an irrepressible glint of desire in his eyes.
No one wished to become old.
He looked into the mirror every day, watching that familiar face changing from childhood to youth, then from youth to middle age. When even the middle-aged face began to sag and wrinkle, humans became suddenly conscious of the fact that they were no longer young...
When their once-energetic body became injured or sprained after a single round of exercise, when their physical strength could not hold up any longer, that was when people received a rude shock — it turned out that they were no longer young.
No one liked to watch themselves grow old bit by bit, but so what if they did not like it? Besides getting used to it, there was no other way...
However, now this mysterious organization was telling him that they could reverse aging?
“If this technology actually succeeds...” Dlamini could not help but murmur.
“If it does, Mr. Dlamini, your bodily functions can be restored to the twenty-year-old version of you within three months. At the same time, your lifespan would easily surpass a hundred years, unless some other disease crops up halfway, such as cancer.”
The voice added. “Still, it doesn’t matter. God’s Forbidden Zone is also actively deciphering the genetic chain of cancer. It’s expected that all cancers will be cured at the genetic level in the future.”
“Can you guarantee that there’s no hidden risk to this technology?” Dlamini wanted further affirmation. After learning about the future of this technology, he had forgotten all about the information points for now.
“It’s not like there aren’t any examples of bone marrow transplantation in reality.”
The voice chuckled. “You should know that people who’ve successfully gotten a bone marrow transplantation would even experience a genetic change. However, the age-reversal treatment itself wouldn’t have any hidden dangers at the genetic level. Its only difference from bone marrow transplantation is that you’d be using your own, cloned stem cells to replace the senescent stem cells in your body. That’s all.
“Moreover, this technology is only the beginning. God’s Forbidden Zone has many cutting-edge technologies. As long as you have information points, you can achieve any dream you want.”
After hearing this explanation, Dlamini finally made up his mind. His eyes lit up like the fierce gaze of a lion. “Mr. Judas, I hope that you haven’t deceived me in all that you said. I choose the second option.”
“Understood,” the voice replied.
“Also, I hope to acquire more information points.”
Dlamini continued. “How do I actively take on more tasks in the organization?”
“What a coincidence. I happen to have a task here that suits you well.”
The voice laughed softly. “I’ll send you a name list. They’re all employees of your Tara Private Security Company. If you can get them out, I’ll give you 1000 information points as compensation.”
With that said, a short list of names appeared on the screen.
When Dlamini heard this, he took a look, only to discover that the names listed were all the trump cards of his own company...