Rebirth 2014: I, the King of Criminal Investigation

Chapter 480 The All-Powerful STEM Dog
"Have you been in contact with that education foundation?" Yu Dazhang asked.

He felt that Liu Hai's words had gone astray, and that in the end, they were all about his dissatisfaction with society.

I'm a fine young man, I can't let him lead me astray.

Besides, Chen Yang was still present, so it's best not to say anything that could be considered an act of revenge against society.

So he quickly steered the conversation back on track.

"Yes."

Liu Hai nodded:
"And they made it clear that they would continue to support me as long as I continued to study."

His eyes were gentle as he spoke, clearly showing no resistance to the aid.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Yu Dazhang once saw a quote online that fits perfectly here.

The gifts that fate bestows always come with a price tag attached.

Moreover, such funding is itself a conspiracy.

"I bet they went beyond just sponsoring your tuition later on..."

Yu Dazhang looked at him with a half-smile:
"As your education level improves, their financial support for you will certainly increase accordingly."

"When your standard of living is maintained at a certain level, you will find yourself gradually getting used to this relatively comfortable life."

"The days of hardship you once lived in are becoming more and more distant, even somewhat unfamiliar to you."

At this point, a hint of melancholy crept into his voice:

“You might even be afraid, afraid that they will stop funding you.”

It is easy to corrupt a person with money.

Many people even choose to take risks and do illegal or disorderly things in order to maintain their quality of life.

Yu Dazhang has seen far too many cases like this.

Young people like Liu Hai, who come from rural areas to study in the city, simply cannot resist the temptations of society.

Having grown accustomed to a life of glitz and glamour, sending him back to rural life would be worse than killing him.

"Yes."

Liu Hai readily admitted:

"Especially after I took the postgraduate entrance exam, their support for me was no longer limited to my studies."

“They rented an apartment for me and hired a housekeeper to take care of my daily life.”

"That beautiful housekeeper can even meet all my needs."

A faint smile appeared on his face, a smile that conveyed a deep sense of contentment and happiness.
"That was the first time I felt that life was so wonderful, that people could live like this, so comfortably."

I've also thought about that kind of life... Even Yu Dazhang was moved by what he said.

He turned to look at Chen Yang and found that Chen Yang also had a look of longing on his face.

"After that, it's time to take the doctoral entrance exam."

As Liu Hai recalled, he said:
"On the day I successfully passed the doctoral entrance exam, they secretly arranged a celebration for me and gave me a bonus of 50 yuan."

His voice was slightly agitated:
"The money was given to me in cash; it was the first time I had ever seen so much money."

"It was also on that occasion that they told me that if I were to join a research project in the future, I must inform them first."

He didn't need to tell him what happened next; Yu Dazhang already knew.

Six months ago, Liu Hai passed through layers of review and came to the 53rd Institute. Before that, he told the people at the education foundation about the news.

"How did you know where this place was?" Yu Dazhang asked.

He didn't believe Liu Hai had the ability to know the exact location of the place.

Even if Liu Hai found out through some means, he couldn't get the news out.

"I don't know where this place is."

Liu Hai answered very decisively:

Even now, I don't know where I am.

His answer surprised Yu Dazhang, who seemed not to have expected such a response.

After a moment, Yu Dazhang frowned and asked, "How did those people outside find this place? Don't tell me it has nothing to do with you."

"Use this." Liu Hai pulled a black plastic box about the size of a matchbox from his pocket. There was a small antenna at one end of the box.

He handed the small black box to Yu Dazhang:
"Satellite signal locator, manually assembled version."

Seeing that Da Zhang didn't understand, he continued his explanation:
"Before coming here, I broke this locator down into several components to effectively avoid inspection. I even removed the power supply from it separately."

"After arriving here, I made one again."

"However, in order not to arouse suspicion, I spent more than two months making this new power supply."

This is almost like hand-crafting a missile... Yu Dazhang could imagine the difficulty involved.

Unlike outside, you can't just buy whatever materials you want here.

All materials in the test area are subject to strict standards; any excess or deficiency will be quickly detected.

He could hardly imagine what material the locator power supply was ultimately made of.

He truly is an all-around STEM student.

Miracles can be created under any circumstances.

"Can this little gadget really transmit signals?"

Yu Dazhang picked up the small black box and examined it closely. There was a small switch on the side of the box, and next to it was an indicator light the size of a grain of rice.

"Similar to a satellite phone."

Liu Hai explained:
"However, this locator has only one function; it can only emit signals."

"All I need to do is turn on this locator when someone else is using a satellite phone, and people outside can pinpoint my location."

So that's how the location information was leaked... This is quite different from Yu Dazhang's previous guess.

However, this method is indeed the simplest and most effective.

In this way, there's no need to find out the location information; you just need to turn on the locator.

"How did you keep in touch after that?" Yu Dazhang asked again.
"Now that they've infiltrated, you need to send out some substantial information."

To coordinate from the inside out, it's essential to establish a means of communication; otherwise, Liu Hai, this hidden agent, will be unable to function effectively.

In his view, the point of contact was that grove of trees, but the initial method of conveying the message was not through squirrels.

"Tree hole."

Liu Hai replied:
“I dug several tree holes for the squirrel before, but I only made a special mark next to one of them.”

"This mark is very well hidden; only I and people from the foundation can identify it."

"Even if an outsider accidentally discovers the tree hole, it would be absolutely impossible to identify that special mark from the bark."

That makes sense... Yu Dazhang immediately connected all the information in his mind and quickly sorted out the clues.

The other party's first entry into the grove wasn't for infiltration, but for rendezvous.

The reason that person lingered in the woods for so long was that he was looking for the tree hole with a special mark.

After finding the coded message left by Liu Hai in the tree hole, the person was about to leave when he was stopped by the National Security Bureau.

This unexpected turn of events led to the first firefight between the two sides in the woods.

Everything that seemed like a coincidence was actually interconnected.

Liu Hai's choice to transmit messages in encrypted form was clearly a well-thought-out decision.

If someone were to accidentally discover a note in a tree hole, they would have no way of knowing if it contained important information, given only the coded text.

Something's not right... Yu Dazhang suddenly remembered the murdered researcher.

"How did you manage to get the information about Researcher Zhang's leave out?" he asked, staring at Liu Hai.

Judging from the timeline, Liu Hai had just finished making the power supply for the locator when Researcher Zhang disappeared.

Time was too tight, and neither side had a chance to exchange information.

The ensuing firefight in the grove also occurred after the researcher's death.

“I did not betray Researcher Zhang.”

Liu Hai looked bewildered.
"I've always been curious too, how did he get exposed?"

(End of this chapter)