Chapter 1159

"Hello everyone, I am Yu Dong."

Following a sound of tapping sticks, the screen gradually brightens. Countless people watching the video see a white cane tapping on the ground, walking along a tactile paving path, and people realize this is a first-person perspective Vlog of a blind person.

"Today I am going to do something big, something especially important for many blind people like me. I don't have many followers, but there are friends who often watch my videos and encourage me. Thank you all for your support.

Everyone knows that I am a smart-response customer service agent for the Long Teng Group. Perhaps because the Long Teng Group is quite a hot topic, videos like mine, which aren't very interesting, have gained some traffic, which is how you all came to see me.

So please allow me to introduce the Long Teng Group once again. This is a high-tech group company dedicated to improving human health and lifespan, insisting on high-tech innovation and development, and spanning many fields such as artificial intelligence, smart homes, life sciences, computer science, and aerospace. The group's highest vision is to head toward the stars and the sea."

The bullet comments are full of mockery, saying that someone selling snake oil is talking about the stars and the sea, all in jest. Of course, in the process, there is no lack of people posting comments criticizing the occupation of tactile paving and the like.

Yu Dong in the video continues to speak.

"I know everyone jokingly calls the group a seller of snake oil, but I will clear the group's name once again. That is because the snake oil's effects are too good, masking the achievements the group has made in other fields.

Alright, back to the big event. Just five days ago, I received an invitation sent from within the company. The content was that the group had made a breakthrough in optic nerve interaction and needed a batch of blind test subjects. As everyone knows, big companies all provide jobs for disabled people. In the customer service department where I work, two-thirds are disabled, and there are dozens like me who are blind. I have filmed videos of how we work before; those interested can go take a look.

This first batch of test candidates was selected from blind people in the customer service departments of various businesses within the group. Some of us lost our sight later in life, and some were born blind. The internal letter said there is a certain possibility of achieving restored sight, but currently, everything is unknown, and there may be certain life risks, so they let us choose freely. As you might have guessed, not a single person who received the invitation refused.

Four days ago, the list was confirmed. Three days ago, the laboratory took us to the hospital for a full-body checkup, which I also filmed; everyone can go take a look. The checkup results came out these past few days, and I met the criteria. Yesterday afternoon, I received the notification that the experiment would officially begin today. I am now on my way to the laboratory."

As Yu Dong's video plays, the people watching follow Yu Dong's perspective and listen to his rambling. People roughly witness the environment in the laboratory, see the experimental process, and see Yu Dong's excitement.

"How does it feel?"

"Numb, tingly, and a little itchy."

"Alright, if you have any issues, call out at any time. Don't try to tough it out; if you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, you must say so."

"Let's do it."

The scene is very quiet, and outside the frame comes the sound of a few keyboard taps, thanks to a microphone Yu Dong bought with his own money.

Immediately after, Yu Dong, who is lying back in a chair with electrode patches all over his body, suddenly shudders, and then Yu Dong purses his lips, and tears stream from his eyes.

"What's wrong?" The researcher's voice sounds from off-screen; he actually knows why.

The next second, Yu Dong's choked-up voice sounds: "I saw a photo of a seascape, but there's no color, though I feel it should be a sunset..."

"How does it feel?"

"Feels good! Feels like there's hope for restored sight!"

Following that is a whole bunch of edited dialogue, mainly asking about specific perceptions and the like.

Finally, there is Yu Dong crying with emotion, talking about the scene of being able to see the light again, inviting everyone to look forward to it together.

Once this video was released, it was sent to the hot search list by kind-hearted people with healthy eyes. Not to mention on the internet, even in real life, people almost never see blind people.

And according to statistics, our country has about 17 million visually impaired patients. Visual impairment, as the name suggests, means having obstacles in vision. For example, color blindness, color weakness, and so on; the number of true patients who are congenitally or acquired blind certainly isn't as high as 17 million, but it is definitely in the millions.

Some of them don't understand Braille, some don't know how to use smart devices, or don't understand how to use various software. Traveling outside also has various troubles, the most classic being the unreasonable design of tactile paving, as well as people mindlessly occupying tactile paving, causing great inconvenience to the travel of visually impaired patients.

And the breeding, training, and cultivation of guide dogs all cost time, and the price is not cheap.

A considerable portion of them cannot do any work because they lack education; even if they have a healthy body, they cannot see, making it difficult to even exert effort. So basically, blind people are poor people.

Under such various reasons, it leads to blind people not wanting to cause trouble for themselves and not going out to wander around.

This time, the news hit the hot search list, and the impact can be imagined. Some leaders and departments from above called to inquire, reporters booked interviews, and so on; for a time, it was extremely lively.

However, the content revealed by the relevant experts in charge of the project did not meet everyone's expectations. This is normal; if it cannot solve the problems of all 17 million people, it does not meet everyone's expectations.

Currently, the technology is indeed passable, but the impact on humans is unknown and requires long-term observation. But this technology is not perfect; for example, color cannot yet restore the effect of the human eye. Moreover, the application of this technology is not suitable for everyone; this is a nervous system issue and requires continued in-depth research to overcome.

Of course, the long-term vision was definitely depicted. This is not designed specifically for blind people, but can be applied to AR and VR. The project team even specifically made a video to show people what the scene would be like after it is implemented.

And they also gave a definite answer on the spot: in half a year, the first generation of glasses for blind people will be produced, launched, and sold. Like this, nothing more was revealed.

But what was said is already shocking enough, because this is not just a matter of restoring sight for blind people, but a huge industry about to rise, and the change to society is absolutely subversive.

Since visual information is connected, allowing for AR and VR, then the holographic entertainment and gaming industry will rise later. On this basis, can more signals be connected to truly create a virtual universe? Can a deeper connection with robots be achieved? Can military war exercises be more realistic, with planes and cannons directly bombarding in the virtual universe?

And so on, the application scenarios are extremely rich and extremely terrifying; the future really seems to be coming.

Influenced by this, there are naturally various actions at home and abroad again, and it has become lively again...

Wang Yan smiles as he watches the various videos, then tosses his phone aside and continues to play with the children.

Wei Lan asks from the side: "This leaking out won't have any impact, right?"

"The impact hasn't it all come already? It's just that people are still unsure about the truth of the matter. After all, this thing is indeed a bit sci-fi, but that's also a normal situation."

Wang Yan says with a smile, "It can't be called a leak, after all, no technology was leaked; it's just firing blanks, nothing big. It also gives blind friends some hope and gives the people of the whole country some expectations. It's quite good."

"Will it really be the same as that promotional video in the future?"

"If it continues to develop, it certainly won't be much worse, and it might even be better than the promotional video. But development takes time, right? Who knows when that step can be achieved? The current plan is to first make the glasses for blind people, and during that time, research AR interaction technology; it's expected to take one to two years, and by then, the first generation of finished products will be launched.

Didn't we also develop that community game? We have already started researching interaction now. In addition, more neural signal connection has also increased investment for research, accelerating the pace of advancement, making this world truly sci-fi; the stars and the sea are already calling to us."

Wei Lan laughs: "I didn't expect it to develop so quickly. How did you grow that brain of yours? We're all human, how can the gap be so big?"

"Didn't they all say before that I had an epiphany, and suddenly a fool turned into a genius?" Wang Yan smiles, then waves his hand, "Alright, hurry up and get to work; there's a lot to do at the end of the year, the sooner you finish, the sooner you'll be free."

When the long holiday arrives at the end of the year, work in all aspects must be done well before that, and many miscellaneous matters must be handled.

He has to communicate well with the leaders above; in terms of actual administrative rank, he belongs to the ministerial level, which is something that cannot be avoided. In addition, the various projects of the company also need to be summarized at the end of the year; Wang Yan is almost always in meetings, and when he is in meetings, he still has to handle a huge number of emails.

His management ability is of course maxed out, but this cannot strictly be called management; rather, he is dragging hundreds of large project teams to charge forward—it's technical work. Only when he has basically created everything he has mastered will he detach from this life and start comfortably being a hands-off manager.

But this has a contradictory point: his technical improvement is carried out in the film and television world, while in the real world, he controls the speed, trying to implement it in a reasonable way, which leads to him always being in this role of leading technical progress in the real world, unable to detach. However, he doesn't care, after all, he doesn't feel tired either.

Besides these things, there are some employee-related issues. The company has many people, so he didn't hold an annual meeting, but just had meals with people from various companies and project teams before, unifying their spirit.

But on the other hand, he also approved money for the project teams of each company, letting them organize their own year-end gatherings to eat and drink well.

When there are many people, it's easy for things to happen. Some are fights between people inside the company, some are frictions with other people in society, and in the end, they come to blows.

The group has tens of thousands of employees, so it's not strange for anything to happen, and these messy problems must also be solved well. After all, employees are employees of the group; let alone problems during the annual meeting, even if problems happen in their hometown, it still involves the group.

Wang Yan of course faces problems head-on and never covers anything up; he is also not afraid of any so-called bad influence. If it's someone else's problem, then see how the employee intends to handle it. If it's his own problem, then see what the problem is. If it's not serious, then let it go. If it's serious, then the company's guidelines must be executed. At the lightest, demotion and pay cuts; at the heaviest, dismissal from the company and a record in their file.

Time flies by, and it is time for the New Year.

This year, Wei Lan's parents are not coming over; after all, there are elderly people at home to take care of, and it's just for the New Year period, with many people and many cars, and the back-and-forth tossing is also uncomfortable. They will wait until the weather is good next year to take their annual leave and come over to play, staying for a longer time at once.

The parents, who had been traveling outside for a while, returned three days before the New Year. As soon as they entered the door, they held the children and wouldn't let go.

"Oh my, it has to be my big grandson and big granddaughter; I only saw them for two days when they were born, and they don't even act like strangers." Zhang Xia holds the children.

"Big son is usually so busy, maybe it's because there are many people coming to the house, and they see them a lot, so they aren't afraid." Wang Dong says the opposite.

Seeing the mother-in-law's gaze look over, Wei Lan says from the side: "Dad, you really said it wrong. We all work on computers, and we don't want too many people coming to the house; usually, nobody really comes over, it's just occasionally there are some documents to sign, or people from the company coming to deliver something or other, and they leave as soon as they arrive."

"Look at that." Zhang Xia hums, "It's just that my big grandson and big granddaughter are sensible and easy to manage. Unlike the one at your big sister's house, who cries at the drop of a hat."

After finishing, she looks at Wang Yan, who is smiling on the side, "What are you giggling about there? Hurry down and bring the things up; you cook well, see what kind of stuff can be made, hurry up and cook, your dad and I haven't eaten yet."

"Got it."

Wang Yan nods with a smile, obediently gets up, goes out, goes downstairs, asks the property management for a small cart, and brings up a pile of things that filled the car. After that, he starts cooking with a big ladle.

Wang Dong and Zhang Xia each hold a child and won't let go, loving them to death.

Actually, regarding Wang Yan not letting them help look after the children, the old couple both have quite a few complaints and are very unwilling. Now that they have finally gotten their hands on them, naturally, there is endless love.

Wang Yan of course has his considerations; after all, taking care of children is a job that consumes both spirit and physical strength. The old couple is older, and although they have lived a good life and been nourished for two years, they still can't stand the children's tossing. And they aren't as proficient at taking care of children as he, the son, is. Not wanting to leave it to a nanny, Wang Yan naturally does it himself.

The truer reason is that Wang Yan treats the time in the real world as a comfortable pastime. Because he is often a salted fish in the film and television world for a long time, he also needs to have some things to do to keep busy and activate his inner self.

If he didn't continue to travel and still had the power he has now, he wouldn't want to stay at home taking care of children all the time; he would have found a nanny long ago. After all, it's not like he hasn't taken care of children before, and it's not like he's lacking children...

After frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying, the sumptuous meal is set on the table.

The two little things each hold a milk bottle, lying in the crib and drinking away, staring at the four people on the dining table.

Wang Yan starts drinking little cups of wine with his father, while Wei Lan asks about the situation of her parents-in-law traveling outside—warm and comfortable.

Wang Yan raises his wine glass and takes a sip of white liquor...