170: Chapter 170 The Allure of Biotechnology

Imperial Capital, Courtyard House.

The night was as dark as ink, but the study was as bright as day.

Chen Fan hung up the call with Zhou Ming, the technical director of Huihuang Group, the lingering echoes of his instructions still hanging in the air.

"Department codename, 'Pangu'."

"Highest security clearance, maximum resource mobilization authority."

He knew very well that once that tiny vial of golden liquid, that technical data fifty years ahead of its time, was leaked even in the slightest, it would no longer attract commercial competitors, but rather greed and covetousness on a global, state-level scale.

This was no longer a game of wealth, but a contest of civilizational disparity.

Meanwhile, Huihuang Group, that sleeping financial behemoth, opened its eyes without warning.

Massive amounts of capital, like invisible tentacles, reached out toward the global market.

German-made high-precision centrifuges, Swiss mass spectrometers, American gene sequencing equipment... all the core hardware for top-tier biological laboratories was being swept up in a frenzy, regardless of cost, at a thirty-percent premium.

Top scholars and senior engineers in the global biomedical field began receiving emails in their inboxes from the headhunting department of Huihuang Group; the salary column contained a string of numbers that would make anyone's breath hitch.

Such violent and abnormal capital movements were like dropping a blockbuster bomb into the calm deep sea.

Soon, this abnormal undercurrent caught the attention of the Asian intelligence division of the international pharmaceutical oligarchy, "Prosus Company."

Prosus Company, headquarters, board of directors conference room.

An assessment report stamped with the words "Top Secret" was being projected onto a massive screen.

"...The conclusion is that Huihuang Group has most likely acquired some breakthrough biotechnology in the short term. Its capital behavior pattern fits the typical characteristics of shifting from the 'theoretical' to the 'experimental' stage."

A blonde, blue-eyed intelligence director spoke in a grave tone.

"We must find out exactly what they have mastered." The chairman of the board, a white-haired German old man, tapped his knuckles on the table and made the final decision: "Initiate the 'Prometheus' project."

The codename "Prometheus" meant stealing fire.

Their target was the Crown Prince of Huihuang Group, Chen Muyang.

In the intelligence assessment, this young heir was tagged with several labels: young, arrogant, lacking practical experience, and a possible breakthrough point for the family.

A photo of a blonde woman appeared on the screen.

"Anna, our top 'door-knocker,' has already obtained the identity of an exchange student at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. Her major is protein structural biology."

... Three days later, outside the library of Imperial Capital University.

Chen Muyang had just finished a day of classes and was preparing to return to the dormitory.

A slight gasp was heard, and a blonde girl wearing a white dress, carrying a stack of thick books, was "accidentally" knocked to the ground by a few students playing around on shared bicycles.

Clatter—books and printed materials scattered all over the ground. The girl sat on the ground, clutching her ankle, her delicate eyebrows tightly knit, her face showing just the right amount of pain and helplessness.

Chen Muyang walked over.

"Classmate, are you okay?"

He reached out his hand, politely helped Anna up, then crouched down to help her gather the scattered materials.

"Thank you, I'm fine." Anna thanked him in surprisingly fluent Chinese, her bright blue eyes carrying a hint of just the right amount of gratitude and shyness.

Chen Muyang's gaze swept over the covers of those materials, which were full of technical terms regarding "three-dimensional protein structure analysis."

The image of a simple, beautiful, academically-inclined foreign student who had encountered difficulties was perfect.

"Your foot seems to be sprained; let me take you to the school infirmary." Chen Muyang's tone was gentle, acting like a perfectly normal, helpful senior student.

"That's too much trouble for you."

"It's no trouble."

To bystanders, this was nothing more than a beautiful campus encounter.

But in the periphery of Chen Muyang's vision, not far away, two "shadow" bodyguards disguised as a couple looking at their phones under a tree had already transmitted Anna's full appearance and iris characteristics in real-time back to the security center of Huihuang Group headquarters via micro-cameras hidden in their collars.

Less than ten seconds later.

On the way to help Anna, a calm, low voice of the head of the security center came through the micro-earpiece tucked in his ear, which blended in with his hair color.

"Young Master, the target's identity is forged."

"There is no such person in the student database of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden."

"Her passport information was just generated by a third-party server three hours ago. It is a top-level forged document with a temporary entry record implanted."

"The target is a professional; threat level: high."

Chen Muyang's pace did not falter in the slightest, and the warm smile on his face did not change one bit.

He supported Anna as they walked toward the infirmary, the two of them chatting happily, from the weather in Stockholm to the Ramachandran plot of protein folding.

Everything seemed so natural.

During the wait outside the infirmary, Chen Muyang proactively took out his phone.

"My name is Chen Muyang. It's nice to meet you. Can we exchange contact information?"

"Of course." A glimmer of success flashed in Anna's eyes, but she masked it perfectly.

After exchanging contact information, Chen Muyang seemed to suddenly recall something, carrying a bit of that curiosity and show-off attitude typical of young people regarding family business, and spoke as if offhandedly.

"It's quite a coincidence; my father is also investing in a biological project recently, and it seems to be quite impressive. It's a pity I don't understand it at all, otherwise, I could have asked for your advice."

The bait had been cast.

Anna continued to play the role of a simple scholar who knew nothing about business, asking curiously: "Really? What is the project's focus?"

"It seems to be called... the application of highly active yeast in the health supplement field or something like that." Chen Muyang scratched his head, looking as if he were trying hard to recall.

He looked at Anna, his eyes filled with the sincerity of someone "seeking advice."

"I happen to have a project report they gave me, and I don't understand many of the technical terms. I wonder if you have time to help me take a look?"

"I'd be happy to." Inside, Anna was already celebrating her victory.

Chen Muyang immediately sent an encrypted PDF document that had been prepared long ago to Anna via a messaging app.

It was a fifty-page fake project report.

The data inside was detailed, cited sources, and the logical chain was seamless and airtight.

But its core technical route led to an absolute dead end from the very beginning.

That night, Prosus Company Asian headquarters.

Anna reported the success of the initial contact and the "core confidential materials" she had obtained through encrypted channels.

The Prosus technical team treated it like a treasure. They organized a dozen top experts overnight to analyze it, and the conclusion was: Feasible! This was a revolutionary technology capable of overturning the existing health supplement market!

The board of directors immediately made the decision, authorizing over two billion US dollars in initial capital to replicate this technology.

Meanwhile, in the study of the Courtyard House in the Imperial Capital.

Chen Muyang reported the whole process of the event to his father.

Chen Fan watched the surveillance footage of Anna leaving the gate of Imperial Capital University, limping but walking with a light gait, his expression calm.

He turned his head, looked at his son who was already capable of handling things on his own, and nodded slightly.

"Well done."

His voice carried a faint, indifferent tone, as if watching a play whose ending was already known.

"Let them run as much as they want along this dead end."

An invisible war of technology, with Huihuang Group in absolute control, had begun without the enemy even realizing it.

The roles of hunter and prey had been reversed from the very beginning.

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