"Gentlemen, shall we meet in Guangzhou?" Though only seven words, the statement landed with the force of a bomb in the ears of all the reporters.
Was this a mistake? Huang He was actually suggesting they meet in Guangzhou. Could this train really be heading there?
Was Huang He lying, trying to save face for the China High-Speed Rail Development Company?
There was a possibility, but it was unlikely. The world's media cameras were all focused here. Huang He had just made this statement in front of them.
If the train failed to reach Guangzhou, wouldn't this become one of the biggest blemishes on Huang He's record?
If Huang He were an ordinary person, it might not matter, but he was the richest man in the world. How could he tolerate such a stain on his reputation?
At this moment, many reporters began to waver, daring to speculate that the train might indeed arrive in Guangzhou.
Of course, some remained skeptical. Just as their minds were still buzzing, they suddenly heard the voice of the chairman say, "Dear reporters, we will soon begin boarding the train."
"Please take your seats and remain there. Due to limited space inside the train, please hand over your camera equipment and tripods to our staff. Each of you will only need a small to medium-sized camera. Large cameras cannot be brought aboard. These items will be stored by our company and returned to you after the journey. If any equipment is damaged, our company is willing to compensate you threefold, so please entrust your equipment to our staff with peace of mind."
As soon as he finished speaking, staff members appeared. Any reporter seen carrying large photographic equipment or tripods were immediately approached with offers of safekeeping.
The response was not entirely smooth. Many reporters expressed strong dissatisfaction with the request, and some explicitly stated they would not hand over their equipment to anyone.
Other reporters directly shouted, "Do you have some shameful secret that you don't want us to film?"
In response, the chairman explained that if there were indeed secrets, they wouldn't allow reporters to bring cameras at all. The reason was simply that the train's interior space was too small to accommodate bulky photographic equipment.
Then, a reporter retorted, "Nonsense! Is your train a capsule?"
The entire confrontation lasted for about twenty minutes. Approximately one-third of the reporters refused to hand over their equipment. Under the chairman's command to forfeit their boarding and interview rights if they didn't comply, all the reporters grudgingly handed over their equipment, as no one wanted to miss such an opportunity.
Regardless of whether the train reached Guangzhou, this was undoubtedly the world's first opportunity to ride a vacuum maglev train.
After handing over their equipment, some reporters left their seats, while others started doing warm-up exercises, excitedly asking when they would board the platform.
However, they were politely guided back to their seats by the staff. The staff also requested them to fully settle into their seats. Reporters who were on the heavier side were even assigned larger seats.
While the reporters were puzzling over these actions, something even more astonishing happened: the staff members pulled out seatbelts from the left side of the seats and securely fastened everyone in.
That wasn't all. After the seatbelts were fastened, two glass shields flipped out from the sides of the seats, encasing each seat and completely isolating its occupant from the outside.
The soundproofing of these glass shields was remarkably effective. Once the shields were closed, the reporters could no longer hear any outside sounds. Fortunately, there were two small speakers on either side of the seat headrests to transmit external audio.
"Is this chair an electric chair?" one reporter exclaimed in alarm, as the complete setup closely resembled an electric chair.
Unlike the United States, which still used the older method of hanging, electric chairs had become widespread in the US for executions, using high-voltage electricity to administer capital punishment and directly end the convict's life. It was indeed very high-tech.
These reporters, being well-traveled and experienced, naturally recognized the appearance of an electric chair and instinctively felt a surge of fear.
But fear was now useless, as everyone was firmly secured in their seats. Furthermore, the protective barriers prevented them from extending their arms outside the seats, leaving them trapped.
Then, amidst the reporters' screams, the chairs began to automatically recline, tilting the reporters from a seated position to a reclined one.
"Please do not worry. Our super vacuum safety seats are specially designed to protect passengers aboard our super vacuum maglev trains, even in the event of an air leak. Your safety is assured! Please do not be alarmed. We are about to board the train."
"So, this is a protective seat. The Chinese have thought of everything. This seat is more impressive than an airline seat!" exclaimed one reporter.
"But wait, we haven't even boarded yet, why are we already in the safety seats of a vacuum maglev train!" another reporter questioned.
"That's right! We haven't boarded yet!" Just as this doubt arose, the reporters suddenly saw that the leftmost and rightmost rows of seats began to move forward.
Simultaneously, two side doors of the VIP waiting lounge opened automatically, and the seats slowly glided out through these doors.
"The seats are actually mobile!" The reporters once again let out exclamations of disbelief. While they might have made predictions about the journey and guessed some aspects, they had never anticipated a chair that could move on its own.
Although the speed at which the rows of chairs moved appeared slow, they were proceeding in an orderly and efficient manner. Thus, even the two rows of seats in the center only waited for five minutes before leaving the VIP waiting lounge.
Then, the reporters witnessed a scene they would never forget. After leaving the VIP waiting lounge, they entered a transparent glass tube. Inside a tunnel filled with all sorts of mechanical structures, exuding a sci-fi aura, they could even see the wiring, various mechanical gears, and finally, below them, rows of silver-white trains parked on the ground.
"Is this the Chinese vacuum super high-speed maglev train?" Carlo asked in disbelief, looking at the train beneath him.
Unlike the Americans, who had extensively displayed the appearance and images of their own super high-speed vacuum maglev trains online, the Chinese trains had never appeared in the media. This was the first time they were seeing these trains with their own eyes.
"These trains are actually perfect cylinders!" Carlo muttered to himself. The most astonishing aspect of the Chinese vacuum maglev trains was their design, which completely departed from all previous train designs, becoming a perfect cylinder with no imperfect curves.
After all, high-speed trains, maglev trains, and even the vacuum maglev trains displayed by the American United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company were all similar in design to traditional trains, essentially being cubical.
But the Chinese vacuum maglev trains were cylindrical, which made a completely different visual impression.
Furthermore, the train appeared exceptionally long.
And as they looked closer, they understood why the train seemed so long. The train had a very short diameter, only a little over a meter, but its length was that of a normal train, naturally making the overall train appear extremely elongated.
At the same time, they finally understood why the Chinese had requested them to put away all large equipment, even stating that larger equipment wouldn't fit.
It was because large equipment genuinely wouldn't fit inside the train. All the reporters, through the automatic transport of their seats, arrived at the tail of various trains and were then automatically delivered inside. Once the seats locked with the train's base, the reporters had successfully boarded.
However, the interior of the entire train was incredibly narrow. The edges of the seats were less than twenty centimeters from the train's walls, making it a significant challenge for passengers to move around inside the train.
The only way to move within the train was likely to crawl over other passengers' heads, but that was clearly not something they could do.
And many large pieces of equipment would simply get stuck at the top of the train, creating a real predicament.
"My heavens, this is too futuristic! Have I already traveled to the future!" some reporters exclaimed. This method of arriving at the waiting hall and being automatically transported into the train by their seats offered an unparalleled experience and an unmatched level of coolness. They believed that even just this video footage posted online would make countless people desperately try to buy a ticket to experience this train-boarding-while-seated phenomenon.
"The construction cost of these seats must be at least a billion US dollars. Is it necessary to be so complicated and wasteful? Couldn't we just board like traditional trains?" one reporter questioned.
"Sir, it's like this. Since passengers cannot move around inside our train, if passengers were to board independently, it would inevitably cause great inconvenience to many passengers during the journey. Moreover, because the train seats are designed to also protect passenger safety, and to prevent damage during the boarding process, we have adopted this fully automatic boarding method to allow passengers to board our super high-speed vacuum maglev trains!"
A clear, sweet voice suddenly sounded in the reporters' ears. It was the train attendant explaining the reporters' questions.
It was then that they noticed that there was a female attendant seated at the very front and very back of the seats, presumably responsible for maintaining order inside the train.