67: Chapter 67: A tough nut to crack meets a clever trick

Wu Jianming was nearly driven to death by money.

He was the Deputy Director of the Municipal Planning Bureau, and originally, his life was quite comfortable—drinking tea, reading newspapers, and occasionally visiting construction sites.

But six months ago, in a moment of impulse, he went to Macau with some people, lost all his savings, and ended up in debt up to his ears.

The debt collectors called every day, and he was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Just at this time, his son studying in Country M called again; if he couldn't pay the large tuition fee, he would have to drop out and come home.

Wu Jianming was so worried that a patch of his hair turned white.

Just when he was at his wit's end, an "old friend" came knocking.

The man didn't say much; he simply played a video of Wu borrowing money at a Macau casino and then pushed an anonymous Swiss bank card across the table.

"Director Wu, I know you're short on cash. There's one million dollars in this card; let's be friends. You don't have to do anything, just wait for our call."

Wu Jianming's legs went weak; he couldn't afford to provoke these people.

Besides, this card could fill all his holes, including his son's tuition... In the end, he reached out.

He thought this would be the end of it; the other party was probably just placing a chess piece for fun, one that might never be used in his lifetime.

Who knew that this morning, the fatal call would come.

The voice on the phone had been modulated, and it was impossible to tell if it was male or female: "Director Wu, do us a small favor. Your son's school foundation is looking forward to your contribution."

As soon as those words were spoken, Wu Jianming's palms were covered in cold sweat, and his hand holding the phone was shaking. "What... what do you want me to do?"

"Simple. The 'Pearl of the East Sea' project is laying underground pipes, and there is a node on Binjiang Road that needs to be installed at 3:00 PM today. We have a new 'geological environment monitor' here; use the name of a municipal inspection to install it onto the reserved interface at that node."

"A geological environment monitor?" Wu Jianming's heart skipped a beat. "That project is under militarized management; I can't get in!"

"Of course you can't get into the core area. But that node is on the municipal road outside. You are the Deputy Director of the Planning Bureau; you have the authority to supervise any municipal project. We've checked; the person in charge of that construction site is a foreman, and he won't dare to stop you."

The voice on the other end was icy: "Remember, 3:00 PM. The item will be in your office locker. If you mess this up, photos of you and your son might end up on certain websites."

The call ended, and Wu Jianming collapsed back into his chair, his back soaked with sweat.

He had no choice.

At 2:30 PM, Wu Jianming drove to Binjiang Road. He picked up a briefcase from the passenger seat; the case wasn't heavy, but as he carried it, his arm kept trembling.

At the construction site, Li Qiang, the apprentice of Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, was busy with a few workers. They were preparing to hoist a large component carved with complex patterns into the dug-out pit.

This component was one of the 108 foundation array points.

"Stop! Everyone stop!" Wu Jianming, wearing a hard hat, walked over with a haughty air, his driver following behind.

Li Qiang felt annoyed the moment he saw him. He recognized this man—Director Wu from the Planning Bureau—who had visited a few times before, always bossing people around and stealing things before leaving.

"Director Wu, why are you here? We're rushing the work; is there something you need?" Li Qiang's tone was not very polite. Working with Chief Engineer Wang and Engineer Jiang, his standards had risen, and from the bottom of his heart, he looked down on this kind of bureaucrat who just coasted through life.

"Xiao Li, is that any way to talk?" Wu Jianming pulled a long face. "I received a report that your construction is affecting the geological environment. The city takes this very seriously and sent me to inspect. This is the latest geological environment monitor; according to regulations, it must be installed on this node to collect twenty-four hours of data."

As he spoke, he had the driver open the case, revealing a strange-looking box inside with lights blinking on it.

This gadget was the EMP jammer that Snake Eye and his team had prepared. They had calculated that an official of Wu Jianming's rank, when making things difficult for a lowly site manager, would likely be met with silence.

Li Qiang looked at the box, feeling suspicious.

He hadn't received any notice about installing new equipment. Besides, Engineer Jiang and Chief Engineer Wang had instructed countless times that all array point construction must strictly follow the blueprints 100%, and not a single hair could be changed.

"Director Wu, this matter... I haven't received any notice. How about I report it to our Chief Engineer Wang first?" Li Qiang wanted to use Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo to pressure him.

"Report what?" Wu Jianming glared, though he was actually very nervous inside. "This is a municipal regulation! You, a construction foreman, want to disobey orders? Can you bear the responsibility if something goes wrong? Install it for me immediately! If you delay the monitoring and affect the city's environmental assessment, you'll be in big trouble!"

His bureaucratic bluster actually intimidated the workers nearby.

Li Qiang was also unsure. He was just a small engineer; offending a Deputy Director meant trouble in the future. Besides, the other party sounded convincing—what if it was true?

Just as he was struggling with the decision, a voice exploded from behind: "Who the f*** dares to move anything on my construction site?!"

Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, wearing muddy work clothes, strode over. Behind him followed several sturdy engineers, all looking aggressive.

Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo had been very irritable lately. To meet the construction schedule, he ate and slept at the site, getting less than four hours of sleep a day. To him, Engineer Jiang's blueprints were imperial edicts; each array point was like his own child, and he couldn't tolerate the slightest mistake.

He had been inspecting nearby and saw something wrong through his binoculars, so he immediately rushed over.

"Chief... Chief Engineer Wang?" Seeing Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, Wu Jianming's legs nearly cramped up.

He knew who this was. A national-level titan of engineering; even the Municipal Party Secretary had to be polite to him. In front of this man, he was nothing.

"I was wondering who it was; it turns out to be Director Wu from the Planning Bureau." Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo walked up to him, half a head taller, and glared at him with a ferocity that could eat people. "My people just told me you want to install some unknown gadget on my 'children'?"

"No, no, no, Chief Engineer Wang, you've misunderstood," Wu Jianming said, sweating, and quickly explained, "This is a new municipal regulation to conduct geological environment monitoring..."

"Bullshit regulation!" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo spat on the ground and pointed at Wu Jianming's nose, cursing: "Don't you dare use that bureaucratic nonsense from the city to pressure me! Let me tell you, from the day the higher-ups ordered this project under our control, on this turf, Engineer Jiang's word is law! If it's not on the blueprint, even if you invite the Jade Emperor himself, don't even think about touching a single screw!"

Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo had seniority and a foul, stubborn temper; he gave no face when scolding people.

Wu Jianming's face turned the color of pig liver from the scolding; he couldn't squeeze out a single word.

"And this thing of yours," Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo turned his head to look at the briefcase, looking disdainful. "What kind of bullshit 'geological monitor' is this? It's made like a toy. The spirit particles detector our project team developed is a hundred times more advanced than this! This piece of junk you have, the internal wiring is a mess, the energy conversion efficiency is abysmally low, and there are several risks of short circuits. You have the nerve to bring out this garbage to embarrass yourself?"

Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo had been in engineering his whole life. Although he didn't understand EMP, he could tell the quality of equipment structure and craftsmanship at a glance. In his eyes, this precision instrument concocted by the Obelisk experts was nothing but substandard industrial waste.

Wu Jianming was completely stunned. He hadn't expected this old man to be so fierce, and his eyes to be so sharp.

"Get lost!" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo pointed to the road. "Take your garbage and get off my turf! Don't let me see you on this construction site ever again! Li Qiang, mark this down: from now on, this man surnamed Wu and his car are blacklisted. They are not allowed within a hundred meters of any of our construction sites!"

"Yes! Chief Engineer Wang!" Li Qiang stood straight immediately and responded loudly, feeling incredibly satisfied.

Wu Jianming, drained of color, scurried away with his driver, clutching the case, amidst the laughter of the workers.

This scene was seen clearly through high-powered binoculars from several kilometers away.

Rhino muttered nearby: "Boss, it failed. This old man is even fiercer than the General."

"No, this doesn't count as a failure." Snake Eye lowered the binoculars and laughed instead. "This is called... a new discovery."

"What discovery?"

"I've spotted their weakness." Snake Eye perked up. "That old engineer shouted, 'Engineer Jiang's word is law' and 'If it's not on the blueprint, nothing can be moved.' This means the key to this system is the woman named Jiang Ning and her blueprints. Executors like Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, while stubborn, are rigid in their thinking—they only recognize blueprints and orders."

"How is that a weakness?"

"A system that only rigidly executes orders and cannot adapt is actually the easiest to deceive." Snake Eye walked to the map. "We tried to put something 'outside the blueprints' inside, which is why we failed. But what if we find a way to make the thing we want to insert become something 'on the blueprints'?"

"Witch" understood immediately: "Boss, you mean... we go and change the blueprints?"

"Change? No, we don't have that ability." Snake Eye shook his head. "I mean, what if something was already part of the blueprint from the moment it was manufactured?"

He pointed to a spot on the map; it was a processing plant that provided special alloy components for the "Pearl of the East Sea" project.

"If we can't do it during installation, then we do it before it reaches the construction site. The pawn Wu Jianming is useless now, but he did us a favor. With this commotion, the other side will definitely focus their attention on the 'outsiders planting devices' route."

Snake Eye narrowed his eyes and began to ponder.

"They will strengthen site patrols, guarding against all outsiders and foreign objects. But they will never imagine that our real attack will come from their own supply chain, from the 'qualified products' they trust the most."

He turned to look at Chameleon and Rhino.

"The next core node requires an energy convergence ring numbered 'G-37'. This thing will be produced at that processing plant three days in advance. I want you to find a way to seamlessly stuff our 'gift' into it before it leaves the factory. It must be done so that even an X-ray cannot detect it."

"This job is difficult," Chameleon said.

"I am aware." Snake Eye's tone brooked no argument. "But we don't have a second chance. This is the only way to deliver the 'bomb' to their heart."

"Yes!"

The Ghost Squad changed direction and headed toward their new target.