146: Chapter 146 Craig's Utter Defeat
In Switzerland, deep in the Alps, the secret safe house that once belonged to James Craig now looked more like a magnificent tomb.
Outside the heavy blast-proof door, the roar of an engine approached from afar and finally stopped. Immediately after, there was the clear, unmistakable sound of an electronic access control being hacked and the muffled thud of a mechanical lock disengaging. Craig didn't move, still slumped in the high-backed chair facing the shattered screen, an empty whiskey bottle in his hand, staring blankly at the radial crack on the wall where the bottle had struck.
Four people walked in. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a dark suit with an expressionless face, followed by two sturdy, alert plainclothes guards and a technician holding an encrypted tablet with a constrained expression. A small, almost invisible badge was pinned to the middle-aged man's chest—the symbol of the Pretty Country government's internal investigation and accountability department.
"Former Director James Craig," the middle-aged man's voice was as flat as his expression, devoid of any pleasantries. "I have been ordered to convey certain decisions to you and execute the relevant procedures."
Craig's eyes rolled extremely slowly, glancing at the speaker, his lips curling into a half-smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Oh? Mr. Special Envoy? Finally here... slower than I expected. Has the one in the White House finally made up their mind to kick me out as a scapegoat, or have those gentlemen on Capitol Hill finished their bickering?"
Unmoved by his sarcasm, the Special Envoy walked straight to the center of the room, took the tablet from the technician, pulled up a document, and began to read in a businesslike manner:
"Based on the preliminary investigation results into a series of recent major failures involving intelligence operations against the Dragon Country, the unauthorized activation of high-risk sleeper assets (referring to 'Scavengers'), abuse of power, and allegations of potentially endangering national security, and under the joint authorization of the White House, the Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committee, and the Department of Justice, the following decisions have been made:"
"First, effective immediately, all public offices and security clearances of James Craig are suspended, and he is to undergo a comprehensive isolation review."
"Second, all officially issued safe houses, communication equipment, and database access rights under his name are to be revoked."
"Third, the 'Pandora' and 'Ragnarok' projects he previously led are to be sealed immediately, and all relevant operational records are to be handed over to the investigation team."
"Fourth, regarding his suspected illegal acts, the Department of Justice has formally opened a case, and the possibility of criminal prosecution is not ruled out."
With every point read, the muscles in Craig's face twitched, but his eyes grew increasingly numb, as if he were listening to someone else's sentencing.
After finishing, the Special Envoy put away the tablet and signaled to the technician: "Begin the cleanup. Take all electronic devices, storage media, and paper documents. Scan the room thoroughly to ensure no information remains."
The technician and one guard immediately set to work, skillfully dismantling servers, collecting scattered documents, and checking every corner where items might be hidden. Various rustling sounds filled the room.
Craig suddenly chuckled dryly, his voice raspy. "Cleanup? What's the point? What needs to be known, the Dragon Country already knows. What was meant to fail has already failed. What was meant to debut... is already standing in the world's spotlight." His gaze turned back to the shattered screen, though there were no images on it. "Lin Mo... hehe... Lin Mo..."
The Special Envoy frowned, clearly not wanting to engage in this topic, and merely added coldly, "Former Director Craig, please cooperate. Medical personnel will arrive shortly to conduct a full physical and mental state assessment. During the review period, you will have no contact with the outside world."
"Mental assessment?" Craig snapped his head around, his bloodshot eyes staring intently at the Special Envoy, his voice suddenly rising with a manic sharpness. "You think I'm crazy? No! I'm not crazy! I'm perfectly sane! It's you who are crazy! It's those fools in Washington still dreaming their old imperial dreams! It's our entire system! We thought we were hunting, but we're actually just bugs being toyed with by a higher-dimensional civilization! Look at him! Look at that Lin Mo! Is that technology a human can master at that age? Huh?!"
He waved the whiskey bottle and stood up excitedly, but his steps were unsteady, and he stumbled. "You come to clean up after me now? What's the use? I lost, I admit it! But our failure was predestined the moment 'Guanghan Palace' rose! It became irreversible the moment 'Jinwu' was lit! All our calculations, all our blockades, all our spy operations—before him, they're like children's tricks! No, not even tricks, they're dust!"
The two guards immediately stepped forward, watching him warily. The Special Envoy took a half-step back, expressionless, though his eyes held a trace of imperceptible disgust and... pity?
"Sit him down; use sedation if necessary," the Special Envoy ordered the guards, then turned to the technician. "Speed it up. Also, prioritize checking the final communication records on his personal terminal, especially any possible links to the 'Scavenger' captured by the Dragon Country and the previous 'Ghost' team. We need as complete a chain as possible to deal with... potential diplomatic challenges and internal accountability."
"Diplomatic challenges?" Craig was pressed back into his chair by the guards. Hearing this, he laughed neurotically again. "Haha... challenges? Does the Dragon Country even need to 'challenge' us anymore? They only need to show off, just like today, to bring out their 'treasures,' and the whole world will vote with their feet! Just you wait and see—Europa, Neon, Goryeo... even our own domestic capitalists will soon swarm over like sharks smelling blood! Technology! Markets! The future! It's all in the East now! And us? What do we have left? Outdated aircraft carriers? Flooded dollars? Or that bunch of actors bickering in Congress?"
His words were full of doomsday-prophecy-like despair and biting irony, causing the other Pretty Country people in the room to feel a sense of extreme discomfort and chill.
Just then, the technician's encrypted tablet emitted a sharp alarm. The technician's face changed; he operated it quickly, then looked up at the Special Envoy, his voice a bit dry. "Sir... it's been detected... the outer network defenses of this safe house were just violently scanned by an extremely powerful data stream. The scanning pattern... has an 87% match with the known characteristics of the Dragon Country's 'Weaving Net' system. They... they might have already located this place."
The air in the room instantly froze.
The faces of the Special Envoy and the guards turned extremely grim. Craig, however, seemed to have heard the funniest thing in the world, laughing uproariously, doubling over until tears came to his eyes.
"Hahaha! Locating? Scanning? Coming only now? Too late! Way too late! All my cards are played! All my pieces are lost! I'm just a commander without an army now, a piece of trash waiting for judgment! What are they here for? To see me as a joke? Or to take this dilapidated safe house as a trophy? Hahaha!"
His laughter echoed in the room, filled with endless mockery and self-destructive pleasure.
The Special Envoy took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and said sternly, "Initiate the emergency evacuation procedure immediately! Destroy all core data that cannot be carried! We must leave before the other side's possible next move!"
The guards immediately hoisted up the still-laughing Craig. The technician began pouring physical destruction agents onto the servers and main equipment and activated the electromagnetic pulse devices. A pungent smell of burning and chemical agents filled the room.
Just as they were hurriedly preparing to evacuate, the room's backup, independently powered broadcast system suddenly turned on automatically.
A clear, steady male voice, electronically synthesized but still carrying the phonetic habits of the Dragon Country's language, spoke in fluent English throughout the safe house:
"Mr. James Craig, and everyone else in the safe house."
"This is the Dragon Country 'Weaving Net' Cyber Security Center."
"We have confirmed this location as one of the command nodes for illegal, hostile intelligence activities and the planning of terrorist attacks against our national security and our citizen, Mr. Lin Mo."
"Based on conclusive evidence and our country's laws, you have been placed on the persona non grata list. Evidence of the relevant crimes has been submitted to your government and international organizations through appropriate channels."
"This announcement is for notification only. No reply is necessary."
"We wish you a 'pleasant' journey back to your country."
The broadcast stopped abruptly.
A dead silence filled the room, broken only by the final hum of the destruction equipment and Craig's laughter, which gradually subsided into a raspy rattle.
The Special Envoy's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. Not only had the Dragon Country located them, but they had also directly hacked the broadcast system to make a blatant, contemptuous announcement! This wasn't just a slap in the face; it was making their failure and pathetic state public (at least within this room) with the loudest possible voice!
"Go! Now!" the Special Envoy almost roared.
The group dragged the limp, still-cackling Craig and fled the safe house, which was thick with the scent of failure and humiliation. They boarded the off-road vehicles waiting outside with engines still running and quickly disappeared into the vast twilight of the Alps.
Behind them, the safe house that once symbolized power and conspiracy billowed with thick smoke under the internal destruction procedures. Finally, with a muffled bang, all electronic equipment was completely destroyed, turning into a pile of expensive ruins.
Craig's political life, career, and even personal dignity were completely reduced to ashes on this day, along with the smoke from the safe house and Lin Mo's world-renowned debut. His madness, his calculations, and his all-or-nothing final gamble ultimately proved to be nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a carriage, becoming the dimmest and most ridiculous backdrop to the rise of the Dragon Country and Lin Mo's brilliance.
Total failure, nothing less than this.
And the shadow of the old-era hegemony he represented was also accelerating its dissipation in this undeniable failure. The world's spotlight had already turned ruthlessly toward the East, toward that young figure.