Chapter 121: Cause, or Effect

Chapter 121 – Cause, or Effect

“Chief Lei.”

Inside the police command vehicle, the middle-aged team leader sat opposite of Lei Jun. Opening up a faxed document from the patent department, he silently pondered a moment before asking, “In 2018, you registered a patent for this phone model, correct?”

“Yes.” After regaining his senses, Lei Jun said thoughtfully, “In fact, we’ve registered related patents as early as 2017. The MIX Alpha model has adopted a part of this batch of patents. It seems the model Transdimensional Review’s UP is holding focuses more around the

surround display

technology. This is a patent we registered last year.”

“Does your company have any plans to manufacture this flexible folding phone?”

“We did. I’ve previously discussed it with several technicians in the technical department. We even held a meeting for it during the first half of this year. I’ve also asked my secretary to bring the minutes of that meeting.”

“Is it convenient for me to look at it?” Although the middle-aged team leader worded his sentence as a question, he had already stretched out his hand before even receiving an answer.

“Of course.”

Quickly, Lei Jun stepped out of the command vehicle and received a document envelope from the male secretary standing outside the car. He then passed the folder to the middle-aged team leader.

“Thank you.”

Opening the envelope, the middle-aged team leader promptly pulled out the documents and started carefully reading through them.

Meanwhile, Lei Jun returned his gaze toward the screen displaying Chen Yu’s livestream. However, despite his eyes focused on the screen, his brain processed none of the information his eyes saw as it was already overloaded with other thoughts.

Roughly 10 minutes later, the middle-aged team leader returned the documents into the envelope and asked, “Do you still have copies of these documents?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, I’ll be taking this set.”

“No problem.”

“Hmm.” After pondering for a moment, the middle-aged team leader said, “Looking at your meeting content, the discussed phone’s appearance looks quite different compared to Transdimensional Review’s phone.”

“That’s right.” Lei Jun nodded. “For flagship or concept products, we generally have to go through extensive research, experimentation, and engineering to determine the final version. According to our original plans, the final version of this phone model should only come out five years later. We still need to undergo many testing sessions.”

“What about now?” The middle-aged team leader’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

“…” Lei Jun raised three fingers after pondering for a long time and said, “Three years.”

“Will it be exactly the same?”

“It can only be exactly the same. If we make any alterations, the production date will have to be delayed.”

“In other words…”

Nodding, Lei Jun said, “In other words, without Transdimensional Review, this phone may not appear until a later date. The project might even get called off due to budgeting and technical difficulties. However, after watching this livestream, if we mimicked the showcased phone’s design completely, we can create an exact replica within three years. Other major phone manufacturers should also have the same standards after watching this livestream.”

Upon hearing these words, the middle-aged team leader tightened his grip around the document envelope.

Was it because of this smartphone review that led to Xiaomi Corporation manufacturing the phone in the future?

Or was it because of Xiaomi manufacturing this phone in the future that led to this smartphone review today?

Cause and effect. Which came first? And which came after?

Or maybe cause and effect are mutually affecting each other?

For a time, similar to Lei Jun, a chaotic storm started raging in the middle-aged team leader’s mind.

After a long time had passed, Lei Jun tentatively asked, “Do you want to cancel this project?”

“If it is canceled, won’t the cycle of time be broken?” the team leader asked.

“It might not be broken.” Lowering his head, Lei Jun said, “Three years later, this flexible smartphone will definitely appear. You should know of the grandfather paradox.”

“…This is no longer something we can discuss. It also isn’t something we can decide upon. Let’s leave it to the ones above to ruminate over it. However, I feel that the higher-ups will definitely ask you to manufacture the smartphone. You won’t be allowed to cancel the project even if you wanted to,” the middle-aged team leader said as he massaged his swollen temples. Afterward, he stood up and stretched out his hand, “Thank you very much for your cooperation, Chief Lei. I will have to trouble you again afterward.”

Sensibly standing up as well, Lei Jun reached out to grab the other party’s calloused hand. “This is what I should do. If there is nothing else for the time being, I have to deal with the company’s problems.”

“Go on. Pay attention to the emotions of your employees. Make sure chaos doesn’t occur.”

“Okay.”

After seeing off Lei Jun, the middle-aged team leader looked down at the document envelope in his hands before shifting his gaze toward the screen.

A moment later, he pulled out his phone and said, “Stay concealed and start taking probing actions.”

…

“And with that ends the performance testing segment. The screen’s resolution is genuinely high. Moreover, I found a particularly inter