When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

Harbin Institute of Technology, Laboratory Building.

In the super laboratory on the second basement floor, Lin Yu stared at the sample data inside the vacuum chamber, having worked continuously for eighteen hours.

She is a materials science PhD whom Chen Yang recruited from overseas. She is under thirty years old and is in charge of leading the mass production project of a new stealth coating for drones.

The entire laboratory is equipped with the world's most advanced testing equipment, and the research and development team consists of 47 people, each of whom has undergone three rounds of background checks.

"Dr. Lin, the data from the seventh round of coating tests is in. The reflectivity has dropped to 0.03%."

Lin Yu took the report, flipped through two pages, and nodded. "Prepare for the eighth round; lower the base temperature by another fifteen degrees."

Unbeknownst to her, less than 300 meters away in the sewage pipe, two people were crawling forward.

-

11:40 PM.

In that gray residential building in the old town of Harbin, "Old Zhou" turned off the desk lamp in his study.

He took a spare cell phone from a hidden compartment in the wardrobe and dialed a number.

"The piping drawings are confirmed to be correct. The maintenance shaft in Zone C leads directly to the foundation of the laboratory building. The window is only open tonight; the campus security shift change is from midnight to 12:15."

The person on the other end of the phone only replied with two words in English before hanging up.

Old Zhou removed the SIM card from the phone and flushed it down the toilet. He sat back down at his desk, opened an academic paper, turned on the desk lamp, and continued grading.

-

00:02.

The municipal sewage manhole cover outside the west wall of the campus was silently pushed open.

Two people emerged, moving extremely quickly, and within three seconds they had scaled the wall.

Both were of Asian descent and held student IDs from the university—one was registered as a master's student in the Computer Science department, and the other was an exchange student in the Environmental Engineering department.

I spent eight months at Harbin Institute of Technology, my grades were average, my social life was normal, and I never attracted any attention.

The backpack contained four directional high-explosive C4 charges, with a total yield enough to flatten the underground laboratory along with the three floors above it.

The two followed the route they had scouted beforehand, bypassing blind spots in the surveillance system by the landscape lake on the west campus, and arrived at the sewage maintenance well behind the laboratory building.

The welded manhole cover had its hinges pre-corroded with acid—it could be opened with just a gentle lift.

At 00:08, the two entered the underground pipe.

-

At the same time, in the main building of the Snow Palace territory.

Lei Zi pushed open the door to Chen Yang's study.

"Boss, the information network just intercepted a set of abnormal electromagnetic signals."

Chen Yang put down the documents in his hand. "Where?"

"At Harbin Institute of Technology, around the laboratory building. The frequency band is military-grade, and it lasted for about nine seconds, indicating a shortwave encrypted communication. We also detected two mobile signal sources on the west side of the campus, approaching the laboratory building."

"When did this happen?"

Six minutes ago.

Chen Yang picked up the phone on the table and dialed Chen Yue's number.

"Feed? Bro, it's almost midnight—"

"Is Lin Yu in the lab now?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Yes, she's doing her eighth round of testing all night. What's wrong?"

"Have her immediately stop all equipment and take the core data to the ground safe house. Start attacking now."

Chen Yue didn't ask any more questions and hung up to contact Lin Yu.

Chen Yang looked at Lei Zi. "How many people would it take to seal off the entire campus in five minutes?"

"Forty people."

"Block all entrances and exits, including the underground pipe network. I'll go personally."

Lei Zi turned and left. Thirty seconds later, eight black SUVs in the Snow Palace underground parking garage started up simultaneously.

-

00:11

Two agents have arrived at the pipe junction directly below the laboratory building.

One of them took out C4 from his backpack and precisely installed it against the base of the load-bearing column. The four explosive charges were distributed on the four main load-bearing columns, and after detonation, the entire building would collapse towards the center.

Another person checked the indicator light on the remote detonator—a green light, indicating a normal connection.

"Finish in three minutes, retreat two kilometers away and detonate."

-

00:14

Sixty Black Kite security guards arrived at the four gates of Harbin Institute of Technology in eight SUVs.

The convoy silently glided into the campus.

Chen Yang sat in the back seat of the third car, holding the thermal image that Lei Zi had handed him.

"There are two heat sources in the underground pipes, located directly below Section B of the laboratory building."

"Has Lin Yu left?"

A reply came through Lei Zi's earpiece: "Evacuated. Chen Yue directed the operation remotely; they brought the person out four minutes ago. The core data hard drive was also taken."

Chen Yang nodded. "Seal off all exits of the pipeline and let them finish loading."

Lei Zi glanced at him. "Why not arrest them beforehand?"

"Trying to plant the bomb is the only real evidence. Arresting someone empty-handed means the other embassy can get them out within 48 hours."

-

12:19 AM.

After the two agents finished loading the last piece of C4, they returned along the same route.

The moment they climbed out of the maintenance well, six beams of flashlight shone on their faces simultaneously.

The twelve Black Kite members formed a semi-circle, each holding a weapon.

The two reacted very quickly and pressed the remote detonator at the same time.

There was no explosion.

There wasn't even a sound.

"Press it again?" one of them asked in a low voice.

Another person frantically pressed the button, and the detonator's indicator light had changed from green to red—no signal.

Lei Zi emerged from behind the encirclement, carrying a gray metal box. The box was unmarked.

"Don't bother." He put the box on the ground. "All radio signals within a three-kilometer radius were cut off fifteen minutes ago. Your remote control is no different from a brick."

That gray box is a military-grade electromagnetic shielding device, a system reward. Chen Yang had Lei Zi install it on the security vehicle three months ago, and tonight is its first practical use.

The two agents exchanged a glance and simultaneously reached for their waists.

They didn't find anything—their backup weapons had been rendered ineffective by the magnetic field interference while they were climbing the pipes.

Lei Zi took out his phone and filmed a video: the facial features of the two people, their student ID cards, the C4 residue packaging bag in their backpacks, and the remote detonator.

"Take the person and the bomb away together, leaving no trace at the scene."

The Black Kite team members took control within thirty seconds, and the two agents were stuffed into a car and taken away from the campus.

-

At one o'clock in the morning, Chen Yang's car was parked at the school gate.

Chen Yue called.

Chen Yue paused for a moment, "I checked the international student registration information of those two people. Their applications for admission were submitted eight months ago, and the recommender was Zhou Zhiyuan, an associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the university."

"Old Zhou."

"Do you know him?"

"I don't know him. Have the information team investigate him thoroughly."

"receive."

Chen Yang hung up the phone.

Lei Zi turned his head from the passenger seat. "Boss, I took pictures of the batch numbers on those four C4 cartridges. They're NATO standard equipment; you can't get them through civilian channels at all."

Chen Yang took the phone, sent the number to Chen Yue, and added four words: "Check the supplier."

The convoy turned around and drove out of the campus.

Behind me, the lights were still on in the teaching buildings of Harbin Institute of Technology. Security guards were patrolling as usual, and the student dormitories were quiet.

Nobody knows what happened here ten minutes ago.