Chapter 462: Now It's My Turn to Size You Up

Those military companies abroad don't care what country you're from—as long as the money is in place, they'll provide the corresponding service.

There's a line in a movie: "The homeland is forbidden ground for mercenaries."

Take that kind of talk with a grain of salt.

Mercenaries have committed plenty of crimes in the homeland; it's just that some of those cases are too high-level for the public to know about.

"We can't look at the problem that way."

Li Mingzhao looked at Yu Dazhang and said:

"It's like you criminal cops—can you catch every criminal?"

"The slogan about eradicating crime at the root has been chanted all along, but we all know in our hearts—can crime really be eradicated?"

"It's precisely because it will always exist that we law enforcers exist."

I was just venting a little complaint, how did it turn into a lecture for me… Yu Dazhang nodded with a solemn expression, looking like he'd learned his lesson.

"Actually, the time left for us isn't much."

The moment Li Mingzhao said this, the atmosphere instantly grew heavy and solemn; everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

After a moment, he sighed:

"This place has actually already been exposed. For a top-secret unit like this, once the location information leaks, regulations require an immediate relocation."

He paused briefly, then continued explaining:

"The reason we haven't moved is that someone has been eyeing this place covetously."

"Unless we round up all those with ulterior motives in one sweep, even a relocation will be tailed."

"The current situation is that the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. Without absolute certainty, attempting a relocation right now would be too dangerous."

Finally, his tone grew stern:

"The researchers here are the nation's precious wealth. If anything happens to them during the relocation, no one can bear that responsibility."

What came next didn't need to be said by him; everyone present could figure it out.

The higher-ups won't keep allowing these scientists to be watched by outsiders.

If the Ministry of State Security can't track down those with ill intentions in a short time, the research project will be temporarily suspended.

The state will first place the researchers under protection.

This is a last-resort measure.

Compared to the ongoing research project, the safety of these scientists is clearly more important.

But if it really comes to that step, it will also cause enormous losses to the country.

You have to understand, the research project is the nation's top priority.

So right now, the burden on Li Mingzhao's shoulders is extremely heavy; every minute and every second is precious to him.

Just then, a burst of urgent knocking suddenly sounded at the door.

"Come in," Li Mingzhao turned his head and answered.

The meeting room door was pushed open from outside, and a guard strode in:

"Leader, your phone call."

From his manner, he was signaling Li Mingzhao to step out and take it.

"Bring it in."

There wasn't a single outsider among those present, so Li Mingzhao didn't avoid anything.

He reached out, took the satellite phone, and placed it to his ear.

"Go ahead."

Whatever the other party said, Li Mingzhao's expression gradually grew ugly.

After a long while, he finally hung up.

After that guard left the meeting room, he finally spoke:

"The police surrounded the hideout Wang Ze gave up, but it turned out to be a wasted trip. Before leaving, the other side had cleaned the place thoroughly—clearly they'd anticipated the police would come knocking."

They sure moved fast… Yu Dazhang calculated the time in his head.

From Wang Ze's capture to his giving up the hideout, it had only been a little over an hour in total.

In such a short time, how did the other side know Wang Ze had been caught?

The Ministry of State Security didn't personally carry out the arrest; they let the local police step in precisely to save time.

For the other side to still escape under these circumstances clearly defies common sense.

"Shoot once, move to a new spot."

Yu Dazhang spoke up:

"Every time an operation begins, the existing hideout is abandoned by the other side. If the operatives return safely, they'll be informed of a new hideout."

"Only this way can they ensure absolute safety."

In his view, only this could explain why the other side withdrew so quickly. This method looks troublesome, but it's actually very effective.

Someone like Wang Ze, hired for money, is a pawn in the eyes of those real agents—discardable at any moment.

Mercy has no place in command.

More often than not, cannon fodder exists to scout and wear down the enemy's effective strength.

The encounter in the small grove a few days ago was most likely a probe by the other side using cannon fodder.

It both achieves the goal of warning the tiger and tests the armed strength on the experimental zone's side.

"Makes sense," Li Mingzhao nodded in agreement:

"Judging from our several engagements, the other side prepared in advance every time. Their leader is not only skilled at commanding and laying out plans, but also extremely cautious."

Someone who dares to wrestle with the Ministry of State Security—could they be ordinary? … Yu Dazhang added silently in his heart.

At the same time, he could sense that this Squad Leader Li was starting to feel a bit discouraged.

Multiple clashes with the opponent had yielded no advantage, and on top of that, time was tight and the pressure immense — it was only natural for his mood to be affected.

If it were someone else in his place, they'd probably be having a mental breakdown by now.

The meeting room fell silent, as if everyone was mulling over their next move.

Yu Dazhang, however, was different.

What he was thinking about right now was how to kidnap those two academicians.

A frontal assault was out of the question.

Given the current armed deployment of the test zone, even if Iron Man himself showed up, he wouldn't necessarily leave in one piece — let alone those foreign agents.

Strength is the only hard truth.

Since a frontal assault wouldn't work, the only option was to use wits.

Besides striking during the transfer, was there any other way to get close to those two academicians?

If he had to guess, the other side was probably wrestling with the same question right now… At this thought, a smile unconsciously crept onto Yu Dazhang's face.

Whenever he ran into a seemingly unsolvable problem like this, it was also when his brain was at its most active.

It looked like the only path left was to disguise himself and sneak in.

Find a chance to take out the armed police on the outermost perimeter, or just throw on their uniform and blend in.

No — just blending in directly wouldn't work.

The outermost ring of armed police was deployed in a fixed pattern, one slot per man; if someone extra suddenly appeared out of nowhere, it'd be spotted right away.

Patrols usually went in pairs, which meant that if the other side wanted to sneak in, they'd have to take down both of them.

Just sneaking in wasn't enough, though.

The armed police wouldn't take long to notice two of their own were missing.

So they wouldn't have any extra time to search the test zone.

And so the question arose.

How could they quickly and accurately pinpoint the exact location of those two academicians within such a limited window?

Yu Dazhang stared blankly ahead, his fingers unconsciously tapping the tabletop.

This manner of his quickly caught Li Mingzhao's attention.

But Li Mingzhao only glanced at him once, then immediately looked away and signaled the others not to make any noise and disturb him.

At this moment, Yu Dazhang's brain was like an overloaded computer, running at full throttle.

All sorts of possibilities flashed through his mind, only to be dismissed one by another.

It has to be both fast and accurate.

It's simply impossible.

Unless…

Yu Dazhang suddenly raised his head, his eyes regaining their spark, and the jumbled thoughts in his mind gradually began to clarify.

Right — this is the only way.

Work from both inside and outside!

(End of this chapter)