Chapter 145: Sweep Them All! Thoroughly Cleaning the Interior

In the main conference room of the Dragon Chant Research Institute, Wang Hao slumped in his chair, playing Candy Crush on his tablet, chewing gum with a "pop-pop" sound.

Chen Guang was quietly organizing data reports at the other end, his fingertips sliding nimbly across the virtual keyboard.

Li Yang and Zhao Kaiyuan were huddled together, discussing the details of some blueprints in low voices.

Zhao Gong held his thermos, slowly blowing on the steam.

Feng Yan walked in and saw this scene of "everyone busy with their own things".

A faint smile appeared on his lips; he didn't rush to speak, but walked to the main console and pulled up a situational map of the entire institute that had just been generated.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat.

Everyone looked up.

"The internal cleanup operation, the final report is out." Feng Yan opened, and the screen simultaneously displayed clear data.

"Based on 'Torch Dragon's' behavioral prophecy algorithm and the dual-track audit of materials by Zhao Gong and Master Li Kui."

"Out of the 1,427 personnel on duty in the entire institute, five were confirmed to have security risks."

"Except for Zhang Mingyuan, the other four have been dealt with separately; two have been handed over to national security agencies with conclusive evidence."

"The other two have also been transferred away from sensitive positions and moved into the ordinary research sequence for continuous observation." Feng Yan paused.

"The key point is, after backtracking and investigation by 'Torch Dragon', it was confirmed that there was no horizontal connection between these five people; they were all independently infiltrated or incited."

"In other words — the 'Confluence' organization's espionage network in Dragon Chant has been uprooted, with no fish slipping through the net."

Wang Hao put down his tablet and blew a bubble: "Beautiful! One pot!"

"Not only that." Chen Guang took over, pushing up his glasses.

"'Torch Dragon-Defender' system successfully identified and intercepted forty-three external penetration attempts in its trial run over the past seventy-two hours."

"Twelve internal abnormal behavior warnings, all handled properly without manual intervention."

"Among them, seven marked as 'high risk' potential threats were all false alarms upon verification."

"But the system followed the principle of 'warning without blocking' before final judgment, not affecting normal scientific research activities."

Zhao Kaiyuan nodded: "The energy pipeline network is also clean."

"Since adding harmonic analysis and abnormal injection detection, those sneaky tapping attempts haven't succeeded once."

"Now the energy flow of the entire base is as transparent as glass; 'Torch Dragon' can mark it for me wherever an extra kilowatt-hour is consumed."

Li Yang added with a smile: "The daily patrol routes of the 'Insect Legion' are now fully automated."

"Yesterday a stray cat slipped in; from climbing over the wall to being politely 'escorted' out by a 'Lurker', the whole process took only two and a half minutes without alarming anyone." He looked at Wang Hao.

"Haozi, that 'Firefly' light bomb you designed scared the cat quite a bit, but it really didn't hurt it."

Wang Hao grinned triumphantly: "That's right! Produced by Brother Hao, it must be a boutique! Non-lethal, but the presence is absolutely full!"

Feng Yan looked at the team members' relaxed expressions filled with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that the victory of this counter-infiltration war was solid.

He pulled up the next report: "Technical achievement solidification list."

"First, 'Torch Dragon-Defender' AI active defense module, officially becomes the basic security architecture of the research institute, running 7x24 hours fully automatically."

"Second, 'Insect Legion' first-generation combat system, including twelve models such as Lurker, Hunting Bee, Beetle reconnaissance group, etc., completed actual combat verification and transferred to normalized defense duty."

"Third, the base's multi-layer physical-digital defense protocol passed stress testing and officially took effect."

The three-dimensional defense system schematic appeared again, but this time real-time data was scrolling next to it:

Monitoring coverage of various areas, communication link status, number of online 'Insect' units, energy shield field strength... everything was in order and lush green.

"In other words," Feng Yan concluded.

"From today on, the Dragon Chant base officially enters the daily operation stage of 'Fortress State'."

"Unless strategic-level force is used for a frontal assault, any petty theft or peeping will be caught in the net as soon as they enter."

A burst of pleasant laughter and applause rang out in the conference room.

Several months of tense preparation and high-intensity confrontation finally bore solid fruit.

"However," Feng Yan changed the subject, and the screen switched to the South Sea maritime map, "with the house guarded, eyes should look outward."

The relaxed atmosphere tightened slightly, and everyone focused.

"Chen Guang, synchronize the analysis conclusions of deep-sea signals to everyone."

Chen Guang nodded and pulled up the data: "'Torch Dragon' captured seven sets of special intermittent deep-sea communication signals while cleaning up residual external electronic reconnaissance over the past week."

"Characteristic analysis shows that they do not come from any known national scientific research or commercial equipment."

He zoomed in on the spectrum chart: "Frequency is 30-300 Hz, typical underwater long-wave communication."

"But the modulation method is very strange, mixed with a large amount of redundant verification and frequency hopping, clearly to resist interception and cracking."

"More importantly, signal source positioning shows they come from three different deep-sea trench areas in the South Sea, all at depths of over 1,500 meters."

Zhao Kaiyuan continued: "I cooperated with energy correlation analysis here."

"The time points when these deep-sea signals appeared exist in high time correlation with the abnormal fluctuations of the base's outer energy pipeline network we monitored before, and it is not a coincidence."

Li Yang frowned: "Deep-sea equipment, can energy fluctuations travel hundreds of kilometers away? And just happened to interfere with our power grid?"

"Not interference, more like an 'echo'." Zhao Kaiyuan pulled up a complex waveform simulation.

"We speculate that these deep-sea devices release specific energy pulses during periodic self-checks or signal relaying."

"The pulses themselves are not strong, but their conduction, reflection, and superposition in complex seabed terrain and strata finally formed an extremely weak harmonic resonance that could be captured by us remotely."

"Like ringing a bell in the deep sea, and we heard the echo on the shore."

Wang Hao scratched his head: "So... something is in the South Sea, 'clocking in' regularly?"

"You can understand it that way." Chen Guang said.

"And 'clock-in' records show that this activity has lasted for at least three months, and the frequency is still slowly increasing."

"Combined with the residual receiving records matching its characteristics in the equipment of the 'Confluence' contact person captured before, it can basically be concluded:"

"This deep-sea communication network is related to the 'Confluence' organization."

Feng Yan tapped the table with his finger: "An international tech black market organization supported by the West, after its tentacles on land were cut off by us..."

"... yet in the deeper, darker ocean, there is such a stronghold that seems to have been running for a long time."

"Everyone, what does this explain?"

Li Yang answered first: "It explains that they have big plans and deep layout."

"The deep-sea environment is extreme, the cost of building and maintaining a stronghold is extremely high, it is definitely not for small trouble."

Chen Guang added: "It also explains that the underwater engineering technology they have mastered may exceed our previous estimates."

"Being able to establish stable communication nodes in kilometer-deep trenches is not something an ordinary gang can do."

"Also," Wang Hao's eyes lit up.

"They hid so well, they must have hidden a lot of 'good stuff' on the seabed! Maybe there are some black technologies we haven't even seen!"

Feng Yan nodded: "So, we cannot be satisfied with just discovering it."

"The defense system is built, meaning we have a stable rear."

"Then the next step should be to expand our technological frontier and extend our tentacles to those unknown areas that may hide threats or opportunities."

He looked at Li Yang: "Brother Li, from today on, the 'Deep Blue' project is officially established, and the preliminary research phase is initiated."

"I'll give you a month, not requiring a complete design plan, but must produce a convincing technical feasibility report for deep-sea extreme environment operation equipment, clarifying core difficulties and breakthrough paths."

Li Yang took a deep breath, the light of facing a brand-new challenge burning in his eyes: "Understood! Guarantee to complete the task!"

"Guangzi, Kaiyuan, you continue to deepen the analysis of deep-sea signals."

"I want more precise source positioning, possible equipment types, and energy model inference."

"At the same time, start researching detection, communication, and energy technologies applicable to the deep sea."

"Received."

Feng Yan finally looked at the eager Wang Hao: "Haozi, haven't you always complained that 'insects' can only be horizontal on land?"

"Now give you a new playground — underwater."

"Think about your 'brain holes', in the environment of water pressure, corrosion, and darkness, how can they become practical 'little toys'?"

"Whether it's reconnaissance, interference, or... ways to 'say hello'."

Wang Hao slapped his thigh: "Brother Feng, just watch!"

"I'm going to study 'underwater skyrocket monkeys' and 'deep-sea double-kickers', guaranteed to prepare some 'surprise gift packages' for those guys hiding at the bottom of the water!"

Laughter rang out in the conference room again, but this time the laughter was full of eagerness to try.

Feng Yan closed the projection and looked around at his team: "The nightmare of spies on land, we turned it into reality."

"Now, it's the deep sea's turn."

"'Confluence' thinks it's safe hiding in high pressure and darkness?"

"Then we will build eyes and claws that can tear through the darkness and withstand the pressure."

His tone was calm, but carried unquestionable power: "Build our fortress to the seabed."

The meeting ended, and everyone dispersed with new tasks.

Wang Hao hooked his arm around Li Yang's neck, already chanting about the supercavitation principle;

Chen Guang and Zhao Kaiyuan discussed the possibility of laser relay for deep-sea communication while walking;

Zhao Gong and Li Kui fell behind, discussing which new materials could withstand deep-sea corrosion.

Feng Yan left the conference room last and walked to the viewing platform at the end of the corridor.

Outside the window, the lights of the research institute connected into a sea of light in the night, and further away, the halo of the city illuminated the sky.

He opened encrypted communication and contacted Lei Jindong.

"Commander Lei, the 'Fortress' is built."

"Next, we plan to go to the sea to 'stroll'... By the way, we need some basic data support for the marine environment, especially historical hydrological data of those points in the South Sea... Okay, many thanks."

Hanging up the phone, Feng Yan overlooked the growing city of technology under his feet.

The house is guarded, it's time to go see what is hidden under that deep blue.

And in a laboratory on the third underground floor of the research institute, Li Yang had opened brand-new 3D modeling software, and the background image had been changed to a high-precision South Sea seabed topographic map.

He moved his fingers, his eyes focused, and began to outline the first stroke.

The prologue of the deep blue quietly opened on this calm night. ===== CHAPTER 146 =====