Chapter 64 George's New Mission

A country in Southeast Asia, late at night.

An inconspicuous detached villa was hidden among dense tropical plants. From the outside, it looked like just a vacation home for an ordinary wealthy merchant, but the interior revealed a hidden world—the basement had been specially renovated with lead plates embedded in the walls, all electronic equipment was treated with anti-detection measures, and communication signals were relayed through encrypted satellites.

George stood in front of a massive electronic screen, holding a cup of coffee that had already gone cold.

The screen displayed a satellite map with a red circle marking a spot in western China—at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, the base he had been monitoring for over half a year.

Two months ago, he had lost a chess piece.

The chef, who had worked in the base cafeteria for three years, had been completely uprooted. To this day, George couldn't figure out exactly where the flaw had occurred. The chef's cover had been excellent; he never initiated contact and never exposed any weaknesses. But one day, the signal simply vanished, and all preset emergency contact channels were met with total silence.

There was only one possibility: he had been caught, and without any warning.

George set down his coffee cup and slid his finger across the screen to zoom in on the map. The building layout of the base was clearly visible—the laboratory building, dormitory building, cafeteria, training grounds... He marked several key points: the greyish-white building where Lin Mo's laboratory was located, the security personnel's duty room, and the patrol routes around the base's perimeter.

"Still looking at that place?"

A woman's voice came from behind him. George didn't turn around, only nodding slightly.

Emily, his partner and the technical lead for this operation, walked over to George's side and handed him a newly decoded encrypted document.

"New instructions from headquarters."

George took the document and scanned it quickly. The content was brief, but every word carried weight:

"Breakthrough in China's Lithium-Sulfur Battery technology confirmed. The think tank report has caught the attention of high-level officials. You must obtain the core technical details at all costs. You are authorized to use all resources, including unconventional means. The time window is limited; act as soon as possible."

After George finished reading, a cold smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"At all costs," he repeated softly. "They're finally getting serious."

Emily asked, "The previous network infiltration failed, and the other side is alert. We fell for their honeypot, wasting three days and exposing our methods."

George nodded. "I know. Have you identified the person responsible for their network defense?"

Emily pulled up another file. "Li Xiao, female, 24 years old, computer science graduate, joined the project team less than half a year ago. Her previous resume was ordinary, with no special background. But in the last month, her technical level has improved rapidly, and the timing of our attacks being discovered coincides perfectly with her shifts."

George looked at the photo of Li Xiao on the screen—a young face with a student-like smile, looking completely harmless.

"It's her?" he said, somewhat surprised.

"The preliminary judgment is yes," Emily said. "She should be responsible for the daily maintenance of the laboratory's internal servers. She discovered our scan and reported it to her superiors. She was likely involved in the subsequent honeypot deployment as well."

George was silent for a few seconds, then said, "This person is useful. If we can get to her, we might find a breakthrough."

Emily shook her head. "She almost never leaves the base. Her range of activity is limited to the laboratory building, dormitories, and cafeteria. Occasionally she goes to the small town for supplies, but she's always accompanied by specific personnel. Zhao Gang—the security captain—stays by Lin Mo and the others' side constantly. It's hard to make a move."

George looked through the other data.

Chen Xueming, an electrochemistry expert who just returned from the United States, used to face rejection everywhere before recently joining Lin Mo's team. His background is complex; is there a possibility of exploitation? But George dismissed the thought—he had investigated Chen Xueming's experiences after returning to China, and those rejections and setbacks had instead made him hate external forces even more. Instigating his defection would be almost impossible.

Zhang Zhe, a materials expert, introverted personality, simple social relationships, no obvious weaknesses.

Zhao Gang, former special forces, head of security, highly experienced, and very vigilant. He was the one who discovered the chef, which shows this man has a sharp sense of smell and is difficult to deal with.

Finally, George's gaze fell on Lin Mo's photograph.

This young man was the true core.

A PhD student with no prominent background or study abroad experience, yet he managed to solve two major problems—Room-Temperature Superconductivity and Lithium-Sulfur Battery—in a short period. His profile was excessively clean—no suspicious overseas contacts, no financial issues, not even a single moral flaw could be found.

But it was precisely this cleanliness that made George feel something was wrong.

"He definitely has a problem," George murmured. "We just haven't found it yet."

Emily asked, "What do we do next? The network infiltration has already alerted the enemy; a direct attack won't work."

George turned around and walked to another screen. It displayed a 3D terrain map of the base's surroundings—surrounded by mountains and the vast Gobi Desert, with only one road leading to the outside world.

"What about physical infiltration?" he asked.

Emily shook her head. "The base perimeter has radar and infrared monitoring, with patrol teams 24 hours a day. Moreover, the surrounding dozens of kilometers are no-man's land; any suspicious person approaching would be detected in advance. Even special forces couldn't get in, let alone our people."

George pondered, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop.

Hard methods wouldn't work, and soft methods wouldn't work either.

Then they could only wait for an opportunity.

"What about the inside?" he suddenly asked. "They must need to deal with the outside world, right? Procurement, cooperation, exchange, vacations... as long as they are human, they have weaknesses."

Emily pulled up a long list. "These are all their external contact records from the past three months. Regarding procurement, laboratory consumables go through fixed suppliers, and every order is inspected by specific personnel, with the handover process monitored throughout. Regarding cooperation, there's only the connection with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, all through official channels that we can't infiltrate. Regarding vacations, the team members rarely go out; they occasionally go to the small town, but the timing is irregular and they are accompanied by security."

George looked through them one by one, and suddenly his gaze stopped at a certain entry.

"What is this?"

Emily leaned in to take a look. "Oh, a small town restaurant, 'Old Mas Mutton Restaurant'. Lin Mo and the others occasionally go there to eat. At the end of last month, after their project succeeded, they had a group dinner there."

George zoomed in on that photo—the restaurant's storefront wasn't large, located on the edge of the town, surrounded by residential areas with crisscrossing alleys.

"This location," George said, "is there surveillance?"

Emily pulled up more information. "The town doesn't have a Skynet System; there's only ordinary surveillance at a few major intersections. The area around this restaurant is a blind spot."

The corners of George's mouth curled up slightly.

"Here." He pointed at the photo. "If our people can get in ahead of time, posing as diners, or waiters..."

Emily understood. "You want to make contact with them the next time they have a group dinner?"

George nodded. "Direct contact isn't necessary. We just need to install some things—bugs or cameras. If we can record their conversations, it's possible to obtain valuable information."

He paused and added, "Even without technical details, as long as we can grasp their movements, plans, and psychological states, it will be important intelligence for our subsequent actions."

Emily thought for a moment and said, "We can try. But we'll need time to scout the place, and we can't alert the enemy. If they find something wrong with the restaurant, they won't go back."

George nodded. "Arrange for some personnel to scout that town first. Don't use locals; bring them in from abroad, preferably with a background in the catering industry. Infiltrate slowly; there's no rush."

Emily noted the task.

George looked back at the satellite map on the screen; the red-circled base lay quietly at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains in the night.

"Lin Mo," he said softly, "just who are you?"

The screen did not answer.

Outside the window, the night wind blew, making the leaves rustle. Faint barking came from the distance, soon returning to silence.

George picked up the cup of completely cold coffee and drank it in one gulp.

The bitter taste spread across his tongue.

He knew this game had only just begun.

Three days later, George received Emily's report.

"The personnel have been sent out," she said. "A three-person team, disguised as tourists, has first entered that town to settle in. We've investigated, and that town occasionally has out-of-town tourists passing through, so they won't stand out."

George looked at the three people in the photo—one man and two women, ordinary-looking, dressed casually, appearing to be typical backpackers.

"Tell them to be careful," George said. "That Zhao Gang is no ordinary person. If they are discovered by him, they should abandon the mission directly and not get entangled."

Emily nodded. "Understood."

George asked again, "Is there a way to plant someone at the restaurant?"

Emily pulled up a file. "The owner of 'Old Mas Mutton Restaurant' is named Ma, a local and a demobilized soldier who worked in logistics at the base; he has a wide network of contacts. He has a daughter who is studying at a university in the provincial capital and has recently returned for summer break. One of our people can pretend to be a tourist and make contact with her to see if they can become friends. If we can enter the restaurant through her, or obtain information about the restaurant's layout, it will be much more convenient."

George nodded. "That will work. But be fast, yet steady. Lin Mo and the others just celebrated, so the next group dinner might not be for a while. We have time to prepare."

Emily hesitated for a moment and asked, "What if this channel fails as well?"

George was silent for a few seconds, then said:

"Then use the most direct method."

He didn't explain what the most direct method was.

But Emily understood from the look in his eyes.

At all costs.

Meanwhile, ten thousand miles away at the Kunlun Base, Lin Mo was in the laboratory discussing the preliminary ideas for Lithium Extraction from Seawater with Chen Xueming.

"manganese-based adsorbent," Lin Mo drew a schematic on the whiteboard. "Theoretically, it can selectively adsorb lithium ions, but the problem lies in cycling stability and manganese dissolution loss. If we can find a way to maintain adsorption capacity while reducing manganese loss..."

Chen Xueming listened intently, nodding from time to time.

Li Xiao was recording on the side, occasionally interjecting. Zhao Gang stood at the door, vigilantly keeping an eye on the surroundings.

Everything seemed as usual.

But undercurrents were already surging beneath the surface.