70: magnetic levitation?

"Ma... glev..."

Chen Mo's voice was like a faint thread, scattering in the cold air.

Then, everything returned to silence.

Nightingale's gaze moved from Chen Mo's bloodless face and settled on Su Qingxue beside him.

That gaze was like two precise scalpels, carrying an undeniable scrutiny.

"What did you hear?"

Su Qingxue's body remained in a rigid posture.

She slowly raised her head, meeting eyes colder than the Arctic ice and snow.

"Maglev."

"Very good."

Nightingale nodded, devoid of any excess emotion.

She turned and issued concise orders to the four team members behind her, who resembled black specters.

"Target locked: 'The Listener.' Transfer immediately."

"Clear the scene."

"Erase all traces."

Two team members immediately stepped forward, preparing to take Chen Mo off the stretcher.

"Stop!"

Zhao Dahai roared like a fully enraged lion, blocking the stretcher in one swift stride.

His bloodshot, tiger-like eyes glared fiercely at Nightingale, and he roared, "He is not some damn 'asset'! He is my subordinate!"

"Captain Zhao."

Nightingale's voice was completely flat.

"Please mind your language. From this moment on, everyone and everything here is under my jurisdiction."

The two team members behind her.

The sound of the safety mechanisms being flipped off their weapons was terrifyingly clear in the silent corridor.

"You!"

"Old Zhao!"

Bureau Chief Zhou grabbed him, shaking his head.

He knew what the four words "project heavens condemnation" meant.

It meant that...

The woman standing before them possessed the power of life and death, superseding all of theirs.

"We are going with him."

Su Qingxue suddenly spoke.

Her voice was hoarse, yet exceptionally firm.

She stood up, blocking Chen Mo's stretcher like a protective mother wolf guarding her cub.

Nightingale's gaze rested on her face for the first time for more than a second.

She saw what was in those eyes.

It was not a plea, nor a negotiation.

It was the madness that promised, *If you dare touch him, I will take you down with me.*

"You may."

Nightingale nodded, surprising everyone.

"But on the plane, I need to know what those three words truly mean."

...Twelve hours later.

An unmarked black Gulfstream G650 tore through the clouds ten thousand meters high.

Like a black bolt of lightning, it streaked toward the East.

Inside the cabin.

Chen Mo lay inside a specialized medical hibernation pod.

Various precise instruments monitored his every weak vital sign.

His fever had broken, and his breathing had stabilized, but there was still no sign of him waking up.

"Team Leader Chen still isn't awake?"

Li Hu paced anxiously back and forth in the cramped cabin.

"His brain has initiated deep sleep protection. The doctor said no external force can wake him."

Li Ke adjusted his glasses.

In front of him were three super laptops, their screens displaying cascading streams of data.

"What do we do now?" Zhao Dahai looked at the unconscious Chen Mo, his face filled with helplessness.

"That damned countdown has less than sixty hours left."

The cabin fell into a heavy silence.

"Maglev..."

Su Qingxue sat beside the hibernation pod, softly repeating the three words.

Her eyes were bloodshot.

But those eyes, like two black gemstones, shone with focused light under the illumination.

"Maglev train? No, the scope is too small, and the commotion would be too great."

"Railgun? Also wrong. That is a military weapon; it doesn't fit 'The Emperor's' artistic aesthetic."

"What exactly is it..."

"Perhaps..."

Bureau Chief Zhou, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

He looked at the endless sea of clouds outside the window, his voice carrying the gravity typical of a high-ranking official.

"We should change our approach."

"The doomsday clock is a person, and also a biological signal detonator."

"This means he is a moving coordinate."

"And 'The Emperor' needs to use a method we cannot stop to deliver this coordinate to a location capable of detonating the entire city the moment the countdown ends."

Everyone's gaze focused on him.

"Beijing."

Bureau Chief Zhou uttered the two words.

"That is the cultural heart of our nation."

"And one of the most densely populated cities!"

"'The Emperor' isn't trying to detonate a bomb; he's trying to detonate panic, chaos..."

Zhao Dahai's expression instantly became extremely grim.

"Then how will he send that doomsday clock in? All transportation hubs nationwide have activated the highest level of security checks!"

"This is the key to 'Maglev.'"

Bureau Chief Zhou's gaze fell on the computer screen in front of Li Ke.

"Li Ke, check if there are any large-scale infrastructure projects in Beijing recently that involve 'Maglev' technology?"

Li Ke paused for a moment, then his fingers flew across the keyboard.

A few seconds later, he abruptly looked up, his face as white as paper!

"There is!"

His voice was trembling!

"Beijing is secretly testing an underground super high-speed rail line that runs across the entire city!"

"It is two hundred kilometers long, and it uses... vacuum tube maglev technology!"

"Project codename... 'jingji express line'!"

Boom!

The entire cabin felt as if it had been struck by an invisible bomb!

Everyone's minds buzzed and went blank!

They understood!

They understood everything!

"The Emperor" intended to send the person acting as the "biological detonator" through this unused underground super high-speed rail line, delivering him straight to the heart of Beijing the moment the countdown ended!

That location was a gathering spot for millions of tourists and citizens!

And what that detonator would set off was not explosives.

But something... far more terrifying.

Something capable of instantly crippling all communications, releasing a deadly virus,

Or... triggering an unprecedented financial storm!

On Nightingale's perpetually frozen face, an expression named "gravity" finally appeared.

She abruptly turned and picked up the red satellite phone.

"Block all entrances to the jingji express line! Immediately!"

"It's too late."

A weak voice suddenly echoed in the silent cabin.

Everyone whipped their heads around!

Inside the hibernation pod, Chen Mo had opened his eyes without anyone noticing!

His dark eyes no longer held the madness and coldness from before.

Only a chilling calmness remained, the result of seeing everything clearly.

"He is already inside."

Chen Mo struggled to sit up, and Su Qingxue immediately stepped forward to support him.

"How do you know?" Nightingale's voice was cold as ice.

Chen Mo did not look at her.

His gaze seemed to pierce the cabin, pierce the clouds, and see the steel behemoth buried deep underground.

"Because..."

"I heard it."

"I heard his heartbeat."

"The heartbeat of a devil, currently accelerating toward our heart at a speed of one thousand kilometers per hour..."

Everyone gasped sharply!

"What do we do?! It's too late for us to turn back now!" Zhao Dahai's roar was filled with despair!

"No."

Chen Mo shook his head.

He looked at Li Ke, and a flame of madness ignited in his calm eyes!

"Li Ke!"

"Here! Team Leader Chen!"

"Give me a terminal that can connect to the 'Tianhe' supercomputer."

"What?! 'Ti-Tianhe'?!" Li Ke's eyes nearly popped out of his head!

That was the nation's most critical strategic resource!

"I need its full computing power!"

Chen Mo's voice brooked no argument!

"Before he reaches the destination..."

"I want you to build me... an identical Beijing!"

"A... digitized, virtual Beijing!"

"He wants to play Fast and Furious?"

The corner of Chen Mo's mouth curled into a cold, devilish arc!

"Then I'll play until the very end!"

"I want to race him on this track leading to hell..."

"A race!"