212: Chapter 212 Kadena, First Look, Then Fate Verify
The restroom door opened.
"Zhang Nan" walked out, tucked his floral shirt back into his waistband, and pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head.
Mina leaned against the corridor wall, clutching her phone, the screen already black.
She looked up at him.
"Stomach not feeling well?"
"The coffee was too acidic."
He rubbed his stomach and walked toward the door.
His pace was a beat faster than before.
Mina followed, tapping a finger against the back of her phone.
The two messages in the encrypted channel were still weighing on her mind.
[Have Zhang Nan enter the base immediately for an examination.]
[We suspect he is not Zhang Nan.]
Suspicion.
Those two words were troublesome.
Mina watched the person in front of her.
Floral shirt, jeans, sneakers.
He walked with a slight slouch, his right hand habitually tucked into his trouser pocket.
Everything matched.
When he came out of the plastic surgery clinic in South Korea, she had personally picked him up.
His face hadn't fully recovered; the bridge of his nose was slightly swollen, and his jawline hadn't completely settled. A few days ago, when applying medicine, she touched it, and he was in so much pain he almost cursed.
She had spent ten days with this person.
She had noted his eating habits, walking posture, and speech pauses.
"Zhang Nan" pushed open the glass door of the coffee shop, and the Okinawa sun beat down directly on them.
He squinted, took his sunglasses out of his pocket, and put them on.
Mina stared at his right hand.
There was a small scar on the second joint of his index finger.
From when he cut open packaging in South Korea.
It was there.
The position was correct, too.
She shoved her phone back into her pocket.
Suspicion was one thing.
The order was to have him enter the base.
As long as he entered Kadena, someone would eventually verify whether his identity was real or fake.
——
On the perimeter of Kadena Air Base.
Three layers of barbed wire were stretched out, with vibration sensors sandwiched in between. There was a guard post every so often, with armed soldiers guarding the road direction.
Mina presented her pass.
The gate lifted.
The military jeep drove onto the road on the perimeter of the runway area.
"Zhang Nan" pulled his sunglasses down a bit, leaned against the car window, and turned his head left and right.
"Is that an F-22?"
Mina glanced at him.
"Zhang Nan" pointed at the gray fighter jet on the distant tarmac, leaning his whole body toward the window.
"Holy shit, thrust vectoring nozzles! I've only ever seen those in videos before."
He pointed to the other side.
"Is that an F-35B over there? The vertical takeoff and landing variant?"
Mina didn't answer immediately.
She was observing him.
"What are you looking at?"
"Looking at the planes."
He turned back, his tone quite justified.
"When have I ever seen them this close? The videos online are so blurry you can't even see the tires, and now they're parked right in front of my face—you expect me not to look?"
He turned back again.
"The F-22's radar cross-section is ridiculously small; with this thing sitting right here, how could anyone resist looking?"
Mina's shoulders relaxed slightly.
This reaction was correct.
Zhang Nan was a military enthusiast.
The first time he was recovering at the clinic in South Korea, she had confiscated his phone to make him behave.
As a result, while the nurse was changing his dressing, he used the front desk computer to browse military forums for three days.
His browsing history was full of 'Fifth-generation fighter comparison,' 'Who is stronger, F-22 or J-20,' and 'Global fighter jet rankings.'
Mina had almost had the clinic cut off its internet access at the time.
This reaction now was fine.
"Sit back properly once you've seen enough."
Mina rolled the car window halfway up.
"You'll get targeted if you gawk around here."
"Zhang Nan" pulled his head back in, still muttering.
"Is that an E-3 in the bunker over there? That radar dish is huge... If I go down and touch it, will I get shot?"
"Yes."
Mina replied with one word.
He quieted down.
The jeep stopped at the west entrance of the main building.
Two military police were guarding the door.
Mina got out of the car and showed her badge. After checking it, the military police stepped aside to let them pass.
"Zhang Nan" followed her into the building.
The air conditioning was on full blast.
The corridor walls were gray and white, and the overhead fluorescent lights hummed. There was a security camera every few meters, their red lights blinking.
He took off his sunglasses and hooked them onto his collar.
They reached the end and turned left.
A thick steel door blocked their path.
There were two identification devices on the right side of the door.
The top one was a fingerprint panel.
The bottom one was an iris scanner, with a blue light glowing in the center of the lens.
"Zhang Nan" stopped.
"I've never been here before; can I scan this too?"
Mina stood next to him.
"Your data has already been entered into the backend. Fingerprints, iris, facial model—the whole set."
She tilted her chin.
"You have Level C clearance now; you can enter the main building's interior area."
"Zhang Nan" looked at the fingerprint panel.
"So I just press it?"
"Fingerprint first, then iris."
He stepped forward and raised his right hand.
Just as his index finger was about to touch the panel, Mina suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist.
"Zhang Nan" froze.
The back of his neck tensed, then relaxed quickly.
Mina ignored his reaction.
She pulled a wet wipe from her pocket, held his fingers, and wiped them one by one.
"What are you doing?"
"You were holding a coffee cup just now; there's coffee stain on your hand."
Mina turned his hand over and wiped his fingertips a couple more times.
"If the first verification fails, the system will flag it as an anomaly. It'll be a hassle to investigate later."
She crumpled the wet wipe into a ball and tossed it into the trash can.
"All right."
"Zhang Nan" flexed his fingers.
"You intelligence types even micromanage this?"
"I only care that you don't die because of the protocol."
Mina stepped back half a pace.
"Press it."
"Zhang Nan" raised his hand again.
He pressed his right index finger against the scanning area.
The panel lit up with white light.
The scanning line moved down from his fingertip.
One second.
A beep sounded.
A green checkmark popped up on the screen.
Fingerprint verification passed.
Mina let out half of the breath she had been holding.
Next step.
The camera above the door glowed blue.
The screen switched to the identification interface, prompting him to face the camera directly.
"Zhang Nan" stepped forward half a pace.
No hesitation.
No adjustment.
He faced the camera directly and opened his eyes.
Scanning began.
One second.
Two seconds.
The progress bar reached sixty percent and stopped.
Mina's hand reached toward her chest.
Her backup communicator was clipped there.
Three seconds.
The progress bar still hadn't moved.
No one spoke in the corridor.
"Zhang Nan" stood very steadily and even yawned.
"Shouldn't you guys upgrade this internet speed?"
Mina ignored him.
Four seconds.
The screen flickered.
The progress bar continued to move forward.
Seventy.
Eighty.
Ninety.
Five seconds.
A beep sounded.
A green checkmark popped up.
Iris verification passed.
A unlocking sound came from inside the steel door.
Click.
The door opened a crack inward.
"Zhang Nan" looked back at Mina.
"Were you more scared than me just now?"
Mina took her hand off the communicator.
"The system lags occasionally."
"Zhang Nan" pushed the door open and went in.
"Then your system doesn't have a very good temperament."
Mina followed behind.
The steel door closed.
The latch clicked into place.
The corridor inside was narrower.
The lighting changed to warm white, and the walls changed from gray-white to light blue. The floor was covered with non-slip rubber, making no sound when footsteps landed.
"Zhang Nan" walked a dozen steps and stopped at a fork in the road.
A group of people approached from the front.
The person leading them was a Lieutenant Colonel.
He was in his forties, with a buzz cut, his military uniform pressed perfectly flat. The oak leaf insignia on his shoulder straps gleamed under the lights.
Four people followed behind him.
White coats.
Not military uniforms.
Nor were they ordinary clerks.
The relaxed look on "Zhang Nan"'s face faded a little.
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds walked up to him, looking first at Mina, then at him.
"Mr. Zhang Nan?"
"Zhang Nan" nodded.
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds from the base's Medical Security Department."
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds did not reach out his hand.
The white coats behind him didn't move either.
Mina stepped forward half a pace.
"Lieutenant Colonel, my mission is to escort Zhang Nan to complete the check-in process. The medical examination is scheduled for tomorrow."
"The protocol has been adjusted."
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds interrupted her directly.
"Headquarters just issued a new directive: all new personnel must complete a comprehensive medical examination and identity verification before entering the functional area."
Mina paused.
"When was this directive issued?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
Mina didn't speak again.
Twenty minutes ago.
She had received those two messages at the coffee shop twenty minutes ago as well.
"Zhang Nan" stood there with his hands in his pockets.
He looked at Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds, then at the white coats.
"Fine, a medical exam is a medical exam, what is there to check?"
He pulled his hands out and patted his chest.
"I'm in great health, it's just that my face is still in the recovery period, so don't touch my nose. I just spent a lot of money on it—if you bump it crooked, will you compensate me?"
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds didn't take the bait.
He stepped aside, clearing the path behind him.
"Please follow me."
The four white coats split into two groups.
Two in front, two behind.
Sandwiched "Zhang Nan" in the middle.
Mina followed a step.
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds turned back.
"Ms. Mina, from here on, we will take over."
Mina stopped.
"I need to ensure his safety."
"He is inside Kadena Air Base."
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds's speaking pace didn't change.
"This is one of the safest places in the world."
Mina didn't back down.
Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds added.
"This is an order."
Mina stood where she was.
She watched as "Zhang Nan" was led deep into the corridor by the white coats.
He even turned back and waved at her.
The hem of his floral shirt swayed.
His mouth moved, but there was no sound.
Mina understood.
——Wait for me to finish, and let's go for a drink at the bar tonight.
She was almost amused to the point of laughter.
The next second.
The door at the end of the corridor opened.
A fifth white coat was standing inside.
Holding a silver tray in their hands.
On it lay a syringe.