Chapter 447 The US Plan

He Yuzhu brought the note to his nose and smelled it, his brows furrowing. "The ink wasn't completely dry. It was printed less than half an hour ago and then stuffed in. They knew you'd rummage through trash; they even calculated your layover time in Chile." He looked at Yang Xiaobing, "When you got off the bus to buy things, your luggage wasn't in your sight?"

Yang Xiaobing's face paled for a moment. "I went to buy water during my layover, leaving my luggage on my seat. It was less than five minutes."

"Five minutes. Two people, one to keep watch, one to make the move." He Yuzhu folded the note and stuffed it into his system space. "You were already filmed while you were rummaging through garbage dumps in Antarctica."

Old Sun stood up. "I've brought Yang Xiaobing's family to the research institute's guesthouse."

He Yuzhu waved his hand. "No need. Yang Xiaobing, call your parents and tell them to go to Shanghai tomorrow and stay at the Peace Hotel. The research institute will cover the room fee. Lao Sun, have someone from the Shanghai office pick them up; don't have our people do it." He glanced at the clock on the wall; it was 9:40 PM. "Call now."

Yang Xiaobing dialed. His finger went into the dial pad and spun it three times. The phone rang many times, but no one answered. He dialed again, but still no one answered. His fingers began to tremble.

"It's one in the morning, my parents should be sleeping at home." His voice was dry.

He Yuzhu pressed the call button on the table. Old Zhao pushed the door open and came in. "Old Zhao, take my car to Yang Xiaobing's parents' house, pick him up and send him to Shanghai. There's a military overcoat in the trunk, it's for your wife, you can take it." He handed over the car keys, a copper bullet casing was attached to the keychain.

Old Zhao took the keys and ran out.

Yang Xiaobing stood in front of the table, his hands clasped together, his knuckles white. "Director He, when I returned from the Chilean airport, my checked luggage had been pried open. The lock was still intact, nothing was missing, only this note. I initially thought it was a routine customs check."

"Customs inspections don't slip notes. The KGB doesn't write 'You know too much,' that's a movie line. The CIA doesn't either—if they want to kill you, they won't give you a heads-up." He Yuzhu walked back to the table and spread out the stack of restored document fragments. "They want to scare you, to keep you from speaking. Aren't you scared?"

Yang Xiaobing remained silent for a long time. "I'm afraid. But even if I'm afraid, I have to do it."

He Yuzhu nodded. He arranged the fragments in three rows, pointing to the middle one. "The infrared scan from the Academy of Military Sciences revealed the most crucial sentence," he read aloud, "'Project Rebel-7 Phase II: Space deployment scheduled for 1980. Objective: seize low Earth orbit through enhanced combat units.'" He turned the paper over; on the back were several lines of blurry English. "The bio-warrior is equipped with a miniaturized electromagnetic propulsion device, enabling orbital maneuvering. The neural connection implant is integrated with the spacesuit, achieving human-machine integration."

Old Sun leaned closer. "Next year? The Americans are sending bio-warriors into space next year?"

"Next year. Their space shuttle will make its maiden flight next year. It will carry two to three at a time, making more than ten flights a year. In a few years, they will be able to build up a small force in orbit." He Yuzhu put down the paper.

Staff Officer Li from the General Staff opened his notebook. "Director He, our Kunlun-class spacecraft won't be able to make its maiden flight for at least another two years. During those two years, we won't have any support in the air."

He Yuzhu didn't reply. He walked to the whiteboard and wrote a line: "Kunlun's maiden flight—February 1981." He turned to look at Lin Jianguo. "Can the final assembly schedule be pushed back to September next year?"

Lin Jianguo flipped through the schedule. "The original plan was to complete final assembly by December next year. If we work three shifts and use the express delivery channel for materials, final assembly can be completed by the end of September next year. System testing can be compressed to four months, and completed by the end of January the year after. The launch window will be in February."

"Then next February. You can redo the project to make up for the increased budget due to the shortened project timeline."

Lin Jianguo nodded.

Deputy Director Zhao stood up. "Director He, the design, manufacturing, and testing processes for the Kunlun are fixed. Shortening the construction period means shortening the testing time, which is too risky!"

He Yuzhu tossed the marker in his hand into the whiteboard tray with a sharp crack. "Director Zhao, the Americans' bio-warriors will be in space next year. They've taken over low Earth orbit, and our spacecraft won't even be able to secure a launch window. At that point, you're going to talk to me about risks?" He walked back to the table, picked up the fragment, and pointed to the words "seize low Earth orbit." "'Seize.' After seizing it, our satellites, our spacecraft, our astronauts will all be under someone else's guns. Who will bear that responsibility, you or me?"

The meeting room fell silent. Deputy Director Zhao's lips moved a few times, then he sat down.

He Yuzhu turned to Qian Zhiyuan. "Director Qian, hold off on the 100-meter superconducting ring project for now. Transfer all your personnel to the Kunlun project."

Qian Zhiyuan took off his glasses and wiped them. "The equipment for the 100-meter ring has already been procured, and the advance payment has been made—"

"I'll cover the loss from the prepayment. You just need to get rid of the person."

Qian Zhiyuan nodded.

He Yuzhu picked up a marker and wrote two words on the whiteboard: Sky Shield. He then drew three lines below. "The Sky Shield plan has three steps. First, after the maiden flight of the Kunlun, test electromagnetic railguns and microwave weapons in orbit. Second, develop unmanned defense platforms, miniaturizing them for mass deployment. Third, establish an orbital patrol system to monitor near-Earth orbit 24 hours a day."

Staff Officer Li raised his hand. "What kind of weapon system?"

"Electromagnetic railguns for hard targets, microwave weapons for soft targets, and laser weapons for high-speed targets. Use all three."

Old Sun was taking notes quickly in his notebook.

He Yuzhu glanced at the clock on the wall. 10:15 PM. "Meeting adjourned. Starting tomorrow, the Kunlun's final assembly will operate on a three-shift system. Lao Sun, you coordinate logistics."

People stood up, the sounds of chairs shifting, footsteps, and hushed whispers mingling together. Deputy Director Zhao was the first to leave, his face ashen. Qian Zhiyuan was the last to go, glancing back at He Yuzhu at the door. "Dean He, should we report Yang Xiaobing's matter to the Ministry of Public Security?"

"Don't report it yet. Don't alert them."

Qian Zhiyuan left. Only He Yuzhu and Lao Sun remained in the conference room. He Yuzhu picked up the glass of ice-cold tea and took a sip; it was bitter and so cold it made his teeth ache.

Old Sun stood beside him and lit a cigarette. "Director He, who slipped that note to him?"

"I don't know. But they want to know two things. First, what did Yang Xiaobing photograph in Antarctica? Second, how will we react?" He Yuzhu put down his teacup. "The Russian on the note is a smokescreen. What they really want to scare him with is not a foreign language."

Old Sun exhaled a puff of smoke. "Then why did you have his family taken away?"

"Better safe than sorry." He Yuzhu stood up and erased the words on the whiteboard. The marker marks left a gray shadow on the surface. "Starting tomorrow, the research institute's security will be upgraded to the highest level."

"clear."

He Yuzhu walked out of the conference room. The motion-activated lights in the corridor came on, and he walked slowly. When he reached the office door, he pushed it open, but didn't turn on the light, and sat in the darkness.

The system interface pops up.

Side Quest: Biohazard Countermeasure Weapon Completed

[Mission Reward: 50,000,000 points]

[Current total points: 235,000,000]

He glanced at it, then turned it off. Outside the window, the lights from the assembly plant shone through in the distance, casting a blurry glow on the curtains. He took out the spent cartridge case that Old Zhao hadn't taken with him from his system space; its copper surface was polished to a shine. He squeezed it, then put it back.

He stood up, walked out of the office, and got into the elevator. The doors closed. He leaned against the elevator wall and closed his eyes.

The elevator arrived. He stepped out and pushed open the door. The night wind of the Gobi Desert rushed into his collar. He didn't get into the car; instead, he stood on the steps and lit a cigarette. The flickering light illuminated half his face in the darkness. Lights from the distant assembly plant peeked through the cracks in the door.

He flicked the cigarette away from his fingers, burned his fingers, and got into the car. The old Jeep's engine coughed several times before starting. The headlights came on, illuminating the bumpy dirt road ahead. He drove to the entrance of the final assembly plant, turned off the engine, and without getting out, looked through the window at the 400-meter-long keel. The beam of the searchlight swept across, and the surface of the carbon nanotubes gleamed coldly.

He sat in the car for five minutes, then restarted it, turned around, and drove back to his dormitory.