136: Chapter 136 Lin Mo's Anger: No Longer Hiding!
Inside the carriage of fortress-1, the air seemed to have frozen.
On the screen, the terrified faces of the kindergarten children, the rough figures of the kidnappers, and the scenes of children crying loudly as they rushed to their parents after being successfully rescued flashed alternately. The sounds from the scene came through the monitoring equipment—it was not just the joyful crying of being rescued, but a catharsis after extreme fear, the sound of young souls being torn by trauma.
Lin Mo sat at the workbench, his body ramrod straight, but his hands were tightly clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white from the force. His face was terrifyingly calm, but deep within those eyes that were always serene and rational, it seemed as if black flames were burning silently.
Looking through the rearview mirror, Shan Xiao felt that Engineer Lin at this moment was like a volcano that could erupt at any time; beneath that calmness was a rage sufficient to melt steel.
"They used children..." Lin Mo's voice was very soft, almost inaudible, but every word was as cold and sharp as an icicle. "They used the lives of dozens of four- or five-year-old children as pawns for testing, as tools to create chaos."
Before his eyes, the thermal imaging outlines of those children huddled together and covered in tears flashed again. That was not just an image; those were the treasures of dozens of families, the future, and the bottom line that could not tolerate the slightest defilement or threat!
"Ghost" and his mastermind had crossed this line. They were no longer just hunters chasing technology, no longer agents in the secret wars between nations; they were scum who would use any means to achieve their goals, dragging the innocent into the abyss!
Just then, Long Zhantian connected with a suppressed, wild rage: "Engineer Lin! The children are all safe; they are shaken, but uninjured! The three bastards have been apprehended. Preliminary interrogation shows they are local thugs who were bought off; they have no idea who is behind it and only received anonymous instructions and money. Typical pawns!"
He paused, his voice becoming even heavier: "But... analysis of the peripheral surveillance at the scene found that before and after the incident, on the top floor of a logistics warehouse about eight hundred meters from the kindergarten, there were abnormal reflections and traces of high-powered observation lenses being used. When our people rushed over, they only found a temporary observation point; the person had already fled. Based on the trajectory, the system inferred that the other party likely witnessed the entire rescue process."
Lin Mo slowly raised his eyes and looked at Long Zhantian's ashen face on the screen: "In other words, he saw the drones, saw the abnormal way the kidnappers were instantly subdued, and deduced that unconventional forces had intervened."
"Yes!" Long Zhantian gritted his teeth. "He must have guessed that it was you or a force directly related to you that took action! Your location risk..."
"My location has already been exposed," Lin Mo interrupted Long Zhantian, his tone so calm it was chilling. "From his creation of chaos, to the precise selection of the kindergarten, to confirming the results at the optimal observation point... all of this was a series of traps. The chaos was the prelude, the kindergarten was the stage, and his eyes were in the audience. He is waiting for me, or for my power, to step onto this stage."
He loosened his clenched fists and moved his stiff fingers. The black flames in his eyes gradually settled, turning into a colder, more determined color of cold iron.
"He succeeded," Lin Mo continued, his voice no longer wavering but carrying a decisive finality. "He succeeded in angering me. He also succeeded in making me understand that continuing to hide like a shadow will only lead to more innocent people being caught in danger because of me, becoming chips for him to test, provoke, and coerce."
"Engineer Lin, you mean..." Long Zhantian felt a tightening in his heart, sensing something.
"What I mean is," Lin Mo stood up and walked to the center of the carriage, looking around at this mobile fortress that had protected him for a long time but also restricted him. "The game of hide-and-seek should end. He wants to find Patriot X, he wants to confirm my value, he wants to use the most despicable means to force me to appear..."
He turned back, his gaze like a torch, looking at Long Zhantian on the screen, and seemingly piercing through the screen to look at that "Ghost" hidden in the shadows.
"Then, it shall be as he wishes."
"Shan Xiao, contact Engineer Su. I want to use the system's highest analysis permissions, combined with all the data feelers of Weaving Net, to perform an ultimate backtrack and pattern lock on all of 'Ghost's' possible activity trajectories, contact points, and behavioral habits since entering the country. Doesn't he like to hide in the data shadows? I will use the light of data to make him have nowhere to hide!"
"Director Long, I need you to coordinate all available ground and air forces, no longer with the sole purpose of protecting me for passive defense and searching. I want to radiate outward from my current area as the core and execute a 'Reverse Sweep'—isn't he looking for me? We will do the opposite, using the most high-profile method to clear all nodes where he might be lurking, contacting, or utilizing, compressing all his space for activity, forcing him to move, forcing him to make a mistake!"
"At the same time," Lin Mo's voice carried a trace of chilling killing intent, "prepare the second set of hummingbird drones, equipped with enhanced infrasound and nerve interference bombs that are non-lethal but sufficient to incapacitate any elite. Isn't he good at hiding and sudden strikes? I will use technology he cannot understand or defend against to set a dragnet in any place he might appear."
"Engineer Lin, this is too risky! This will leave you completely exposed under the opponent's crosshairs!" Long Zhantian said anxiously.
"From the moment he laid a hand on the kindergarten, I stopped considering my personal absolute safety," Lin Mo shook his head, his tone brooking no dissent. "He trampled on the bottom line, so he must pay the price. Moreover, blindly hiding is just stalling for time, giving him more opportunities to cause trouble and harm the innocent. The best defense is to actively drag him out and crush him before he causes greater destruction!"
He took a deep breath: "I am not a soldier, but there are some battles in North Heaven Gate that cannot be avoided and must be fought. Some lines, once crossed, must be repaid with blood. Doesn't he want Patriot X? Fine, I'll show him. But the price of seeing it is likely more than he can bear."
At this moment, the calm temperament of a top scholar on Lin Mo quietly faded away, replaced by a sharp and peerless majesty and determination born from the will to protect. Anger did not make him lose his reason; instead, it tempered his will, turning him from a provider of technology and a protected person into a player who actively stepped to the forefront to command the counterattack in this deadly game.
"Execute the order, Director Long," Lin Mo said finally, his voice as steady as a mountain. "Tell 'Ghost' and the people behind him—the rules of the game are now set by me."
The communication ended.
Lin Mo sat back at the workbench and opened the highest authority interface for direct dialogue with "Fuxi". He began to personally input a series of extremely complex tracking and countermeasure algorithm instructions, applying the information warfare and data analysis knowledge he had learned from the system—which far exceeded this era—without reservation.
fortress-1 no longer deliberately avoided main roads and surveillance. Instead, according to Lin Mo's instructions, it began to drive along a carefully calculated route that would pass through the edges of several areas where "Ghost" might be interested or had previously been active, like a moving magnet attracting iron filings in the dark.
The city's surveillance network, communication data flows, and even some civilian sensor data began to operate with unprecedented precision and breadth under the coordination of "Fuxi" and Weaving Net, with the target aimed directly at that shadow codenamed "Ghost."
A frontal counterattack of technology and will, initiated by Lin Mo himself, thus began. Because the hunter touched the reverse scale, he finally drew the most sharp and reckless counterattack from the prey.
Somewhere in the city, "Ghost" had just physically sent an encrypted information package hidden in a concealed compartment of a freight truck about to leave the city. He suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable palpitations, as if he were being locked onto from afar by something extremely dangerous.