Chapter 124 So that's who you are!

Late at night, Victoria Harbour.

The rain fell like beads from a broken string, pounding the Kwai Chung Terminal into a hazy blur.

Several heavy trucks without license plates were parked by the berths.

The pale beams of searchlights tore through the curtain of rain, illuminating a group of porters working busily like worker ants.

"Lift—!"

Following the rhythmic chant, six enormous wooden crates were slowly hoisted by the crane.

Each crate was stamped with the large word "Handicrafts," its heavy weight causing the steel cables to creak.

In the shadows far off, inside an inconspicuous black sedan.

Natasha held a slender lady's cigarette in her hand, the crimson ember flickering in the darkness.

"Have you confirmed it?"

She exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Confirmed."

The agent in the passenger seat put down his night-vision goggles, his tone excited, "There's no mistake, it's the Huo family's ship."

"The waterline is pressed right to the bottom; nothing else could be this heavy except for those machine tools."

Natasha chuckled, tapping her fingers lightly on the car window: "Pass the word down, don't make a move at the terminal."

"There are too many eyes here; it's easy to create a pretext for trouble."

"Wait until we are out in international waters, on our home turf, and then seize both the people and the ship."

"I want that oriental kid to know that some red lines will cost you your hands if you touch them."

The rain grew heavier.

Natasha watched the last crate of cargo disappear into the hold, her eyes flashing with satisfaction.

She could already see tomorrow's newspaper headlines: Chinese smuggling ring captured, attempted theft of Western industrial secrets foiled.

This script was perfect.

Meanwhile, on an airplane.

There were no conspiracies here, only fanaticism.

Klaus, the newly united Switzerland mechanical expert, was currently sprawled ungracefully over the small tray table, frantically flipping through a stack of manuscripts in his hands.

These were the subsequent algorithms that Lin Xi had completed after the napkin.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

Klaus shrieked while reading, occasionally grabbing a pen to calculate on the paper, "This is a line of thinking only a genius could have!"

"To hell with thermal drift!"

"As long as we introduce this third-order compensation matrix, all physical errors can be absorbed by the software!"

"This is practically raping physics with mathematics!"

"This is God's formula!"

Lin Xi sat opposite him, swirling a glass of sparkling water, his expression calm.

The few hours flying from Hong Kong to the mainland were enough to change many things.

For instance, the loyalty of a top-tier expert, or the future of a nation's machine tool industry.

"Lin!"

Klaus jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot with excitement, "I want to see Watermen! Immediately! Right now!"

"Watermen isn't important."

Lin Xi leaned forward, his voice calm, "What's important is, do you want to know where these formulas came from?"

Klaus froze for a moment, asking subconsciously: "Where from?"

Lin Xi extended a slender finger and pointed to his own temple.

"Here."

Only the roar of the airplane engines continued.

Klaus's mouth hung open; in that moment, he felt as if his brain had been struck by a heavy hammer.

He wanted to laugh, wanted to mock this arrogant kid for bragging.

Twenty years old? Knowing this theory that could trigger a nuclear explosion in the industrial world?

But he looked down at the manuscript.

That handwriting, that smooth, flowing deductive logic, even that unique writing habit of drawing a little circle behind the variable... it was identical to the one on the napkin at the café that day!

"No... this is impossible..."

Klaus muttered to himself, his worldview shaking violently between collapse and reconstruction, "I've fumbled around in my lab in Zurich for thirty years... I didn't even find a direction, and you..."

"Mr. Klaus, age is just a measure of time, not a boundary of wisdom."

Lin Xi's voice carried a strange magic.

"Klaus, the Western world treated you like an expired screw. But in my eyes, you are the final piece of the puzzle."

"There is no specific Watermen. Or rather, everyone who fights to build an industrial civilization on this barren planet, who fights so that humanity is no longer bound by gravity, is Watermen."

Lin Xi extended his hand, palm up.

"Welcome to the future, Mr. Klaus."

Klaus's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

He looked into Lin Xi's bottomless black eyes and suddenly felt an unprecedented tremor.

It wasn't fear, but the fanaticism of a pilgrim.

"Is this... the legendary mysterious oriental power?"

Klaus suddenly laughed, a laugh that was somewhat neurotic yet relieved.

He gripped Lin Xi's hand tightly, with enough force to crush bones.

"Looks like I've been kidnapped by a prophet. This feeling... is freaking awesome!"

【This old man is alright; he really gives his all when he has the tech!】

【I give the Streamer full marks for this act! Those words were so cool!】

【Section Chief Lin: Whether you were kidnapped or tricked, once you're in my factory, you're my person!】

【This isn't a united front; this is clearly a mutual pursuit of love (crossed out) career!】

Meanwhile. International waters.

"Clang!"

With a loud bang, the lid of the last wooden crate was pried open violently with a crowbar.

Natasha stood on the deck, letting the cold seawater and rain soak her expensive trench coat.

Her face was pale, and the cigarette in her hand had long been crushed to pieces.

All the crates had been opened.

No precision spindles.

No CNC chips.

Not even a single screw that could be classified as "confidential."

Only blocks of granite, angular, clunky, and crude, lay quietly in the wood shavings.

They seemed to be silently mocking the armed agents surrounding them.

"Ah!!!"

Natasha let out a shrill roar, her years of composure instantly thrown to the dogs.

She drew the pistol from her waist and pulled the trigger frantically at the granite block.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Sparks flew everywhere.

Aside from leaving a few white marks on the stone, it was meaningless.

She, an ace of the Intelligence Agency, had been played in circles by someone using a few broken rocks!

"Lin Xi—!"

Natasha gritted her teeth, every word a curse squeezed out from between them, "You used a whole ship of granite as bait... what on earth are you trying to hide?!"

"Is it because the south heaven gate project has reached a critical moment, and it needs Klaus to complete the final piece of the puzzle?"

"The south heaven gate project seems even more dangerous than we imagined!"

"I will definitely find the truth!"