Rebirth in the Dragon Kingdom: The Strongest Blade

Dragon Kingdom, Beijing, Central Military Commission Command Center.

At 11 p.m., the command center was brightly lit. A huge electronic screen occupied an entire wall, divided into more than a dozen small windows—satellite images, signal monitoring, live news broadcasts, and even live footage of the White House exterior.

On both sides of the long conference table sat officers with their general's stars on their shoulders. At the head of the table was General Liu Zhenguo, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, next to him was General Zhao Tiesheng, Chief of the General Staff, and below them were the heads of various services and departments. Everyone had a solemn expression; no one smoked, no one talked, and the air was so oppressive it felt like you could wring water out of it.

In the corner of the screen, an encrypted communication window suddenly flashed red. The technician immediately connected.

"This is Longan, calling headquarters."

All eyes were instantly drawn to them.

"Longan, please speak!" Liu Zhenguo grabbed the communicator.

"Reporting to the commander, we... have lost contact with Lin Zhe and the others for two hours and seventeen minutes." Long Yan's voice was low and somber. "The last news was that they are trapped on the seventh basement level of DARPA, and the guards have sealed off all exits. Lin Zhe ordered us to evacuate and not wait for them."

The command center was deathly silent.

Liu Zhenguo's hands trembled slightly. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady: "Have you... have you confirmed their condition?"

"Unable to confirm." Longyan's voice was tinged with suppressed pain. "The monitoring signal from the control room was completely blocked. We could only see a large number of guards pouring in through the external surveillance, and then... the entrance was sealed off by explosives. Thermal imaging shows multiple high-temperature sources on the seventh underground level, which could be a firefight, or it could be..."

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood.

It's also possible that the self-destruct mechanism has been activated.

General Li, the Minister of the General Armaments Department, slammed his fist on the table: "Impossible! That kid Lin Zhe... how could he possibly..."

He couldn't continue. The old general, in his fifties, instantly reddened.

Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Wang Haifeng took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes vigorously: "Twenty-six years old... a twenty-six-year-old major general... not to mention he's also..."

"Not to mention he was key to our military's leap forward." Chief of the General Staff Zhao Tiesheng continued, his voice hoarse, "Without the technologies he provided, the 'Mighty Dragon' fighter jet, the 'Dragon Abyss' submarine, the holographic combat system... these might have taken another ten or twenty years to realize."

Liu Zhenguo slowly sat back in his chair, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant. He looked at the flickering satellite images on the screen, a night view of Wharton, dazzling and prosperous, yet like a man-eating beast, swallowing up the most elite warriors of the Dragon Kingdom.

"I approved it..." he muttered to himself, "I signed it... I told them to go..."

"Commander, this is not your fault." Major General Zhang Mingyuan, the head of the intelligence department, said with red eyes, "When Lin Zhe submitted the plan, we knew about the risks. But they insisted on going—they said that if they didn't do it this way, they wouldn't be able to curb the arrogance of the United States, and they wouldn't be able to gain space for the country's peaceful development."

"But those were eight lives loyal to the Dragon Kingdom..." Liu Zhenguo closed his eyes, "Eight of the most outstanding soldiers, elite soldiers trained by the nation with countless efforts..."

In the conference room, several veteran generals had tears in their eyes. These men had never flinched in the face of gunfire on the battlefield, nor had they backed down an inch in the heated debates at the negotiating table, but now, for those eight young men far away in a foreign land, their fates unknown, they shed tears.

Just then, the communication window suddenly flashed again.

The technicians were stunned for a moment, then overjoyed: "Report! Encrypted channel three, signal received! It's...it's Lin Zhe's identification code!"

"Answer it! Answer it quickly!" Liu Zhenguo suddenly stood up.

Lin Zhe's face appeared on the screen—though somewhat dirty and tired, he was still alive! Behind him, the figures of Long Ya, Long Zhao, and the others could be vaguely seen.

"Reporting to headquarters, the entire Qianlong Squad is safe and has evacuated to the backup safe point." Lin Zhe's voice came through clearly. "Mission accomplished, data successfully transmitted. Repeat, mission accomplished, all personnel safe."

The command center was silent at first, then erupted into a huge cheer!

"Good! Good! Good!" Liu Zhenguo said "good" three times in a row, tears finally streaming down his face. "You bunch of brats... you scared us to death..."

Zhao Tiesheng slammed his fist on the table: "It's good that you're alive! It's good that you're alive!"

Li Jianguo was so excited he could barely speak: "Quick...quick, report the details! How did you get out? Weren't you trapped on the seventh basement level?"

Lin Zhe briefly recounted the events—emergency railcar, evacuation through the cave, and temporary concealment. After listening, all the generals breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, in other words, the US is currently conducting a large-scale manhunt for you?" Liu Zhenguo asked.

"Yes. Martial law is in effect throughout the city, and the army has been deployed." Lin Zhe nodded. "However, we have already dispersed and are currently in a completely safe house. Once things calm down, we'll find a way to return home."

"No rush," Liu Zhenguo said immediately. "Safety first. You just stay there and report back immediately if you need any support. The government will provide full cooperation."

"clear."

After the communication ended, the atmosphere in the command center completely changed. The sadness and heaviness from before vanished, replaced by excitement and pride.

"I knew it!" Air Force Commander Wang Haifeng slapped his thigh. "That kid Lin Zhe is so cunning, how could he have been defeated so easily?"

"That's a hidden dragon," Zhao Tiesheng laughed. "The nation's sharpest sword, its edge can destroy anything it points to. The US's defenses are nothing to them."

Liu Zhenguo sat down again, a smile finally appearing on his face: "Did the data come back?"

The technical officer immediately reported: "Received and is currently decrypting. Preliminary analysis shows the data volume reaches 15TB, containing core technical information in three fields: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and bioengineering. The technical department says... this data can accelerate our related research progress by at least five years."

"Five years..." Liu Zhenguo murmured repeatedly, then slammed his hand on the table. "Worth it! Absolutely worth it! Let alone eight, even eighty or eight hundred technicians might not be able to produce this in five years!"

"Sir," asked Zhang Mingyuan, the intelligence chief, "so what do we do now...?"

"Wait." Liu Zhenguo regained his usual composure. "Wait until they return home safely. Until then, all relevant departments should enter a state of high alert, ready to provide support at any time. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be prepared—M country has lost such a large number of people, they are bound to cause trouble."

"clear!"

Across the ocean, in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

In an unassuming detached villa, Lin Zhe and his group of eight finally reunited.

This is another safe house set up by the Dragon Kingdom's intelligence department, more secluded and more comfortable than the one in Wharton. The villa has a complete underground shelter with enough food and water for a month.

"Damn, I can finally take a shower!" Longya rushed into the bathroom as soon as he entered the house. "I felt like I was going to rot away those few days on the mountain."

Dragon Claw lay on the sofa and let out a long sigh: "I've never felt a sofa this comfortable in my life."

Lin Zhe checked the villa's security system and, after confirming that everything was working properly, sat down. Long Qing had already connected to the internet and started monitoring the situation outside.

"The whole of M is looking for us now." Long Qing pulled up a news page. "However, the official statement from M is that we suffered a serious cyberattack and are investigating the hackers. They haven't mentioned a word about the physical intrusion."

"Would they dare to mention it?" Long Ying pushed up his glasses. "Admitting that someone could infiltrate DARPA's most critical labs, steal data, and then get away unscathed—that would be a devastating blow to their national security credibility."

The news was playing on television. The footage showed military vehicles and patrolling soldiers everywhere on the streets of Wharton, with checkpoints set up at major intersections and police checking vehicles one by one.

"Wharf Town is under temporary lockdown today..." the news anchor said gravely. "The Department of Homeland Security stated this is in response to potential security threats..."

Long Yan chuckled, "Do you think those soldiers even know what they're looking for?"

"They definitely don't know," Longyan laughed. "The higher-ups will only say 'search for suspicious persons,' but they won't say what the suspicious persons look like or what their characteristics are—because they themselves don't know either."

As they were talking, the news footage switched to a street interview. A citizen complained to the camera: "I've been stuck here for half an hour! Just asking for directions, they checked my ID, checked my vehicle, and even opened the trunk! Is there no freedom left?"

The reporter asked, "Do you know what happened?"

"Who knows! The government doesn't say anything, and there are all sorts of rumors online—some say it's a terrorist attack, some say it's espionage, and some say it's an alien invasion..."

All eight of them laughed.

"This is the effect we want." Lin Zhe took a sip of water. "Let them panic, let them speculate, let them scare themselves. When they're tired of making a fuss, that's when we should leave."

For the next few days, the eight people stayed in the safe house, taking turns to rest and monitor the outside world.

Long Qing discovered an interesting phenomenon—because of the large-scale search by Country M, not only did they fail to find them, but they also uncovered a number of intelligence personnel from other countries.

"We arrested three more today," Long Qing said, looking at the surveillance report. "One is from Country R, ​​posing as a journalist. The other two are from Country Y, posing as business representatives. They all slipped up during the thorough investigation."

"Serves them right." Longya munched on an apple. "They've been spying in our country all day long. This time, they'll get a taste of what it's like to be hunted down."

On the third night, Long Ying suddenly said, "Look at this."

He pulled up an encrypted intelligence report—sent from the Dragon Country's intelligence network. The report indicated that although the US had concealed the truth about the incident, intelligence agencies from various countries were not to be underestimated. By piecing together fragmented information, everyone had a rough idea of ​​what was going on.

"The F Country intelligence agency's assessment report believes that there are no more than three countries in the world capable of physical intrusion to this extent, and the one with the most obvious motive and the most matching capability... is us," Long Ying read aloud.

"An internal report from R country's military intelligence described it as a 'textbook special operation' that demonstrated 'unprecedented infiltration and withdrawal capabilities,'" Longyan added.

"The Prime Minister of Country Y has ordered a reassessment of diplomatic and military relations with our country, recommending that we 'maintain an appropriate distance to avoid provoking them,'" Long Qing smiled.

Lin Zhe nodded: "This is the deterrent we need. Let everyone know—the Dragon Kingdom is not to be trifled with, and the Hidden Dragon is even more so. Anyone who tries to provoke us should be prepared for retaliation."

"But the US has really gone mad this time." Dragon Claw pulled up another report. "Their global intelligence network is active, trying to find our trail. But unfortunately—"

He grinned: "From the moment we entered the United States, we used completely fake identities and took routes without surveillance. The place we're hiding in now is absolutely safe. Even if they turn the entire region upside down, they won't find us."

"So what do we do now?" Longya asked. "Just wait like this?"

"Wait," Lin Zhe said. "Wait until they tire of their search, wait until they relax their martial law. Long Qing, you closely monitor the air, sea, and land inspections. Once we find a loophole, we'll leave."

"clear."

So, in the days that followed, the eight of them enjoyed a rare period of "leisure." The villa had a gym, an entertainment room, a reading corner, and even a small movie theater.

Dragon Fang and Dragon Claw compete in the gym every day, seeing who can lift the heaviest weight and who can run the fastest.

Long Ying was in the reading corner, looking at the materials prepared by the Dragon Kingdom's intelligence department—all about the latest developments in world military technology.

Long Qing spends all day in front of the computer, monitoring the changing situation outside.

Longyan then began studying the various security devices in the villa, saying he wanted to "improve them."

Long Yan was in charge of cooking—and I must say, his skills were pretty good; he managed to fatten up all eight of them in just a few days.

Sometimes, Lin Zhe would stand in front of the observation window in the basement, looking at the night outside. He wondered what changes this operation would bring to the world, how much development time it would buy for the Dragon Kingdom, and what kind of future it would bring to the Hidden Dragon.

A week later, Long Qing reported some good news.

"Airline inspections are starting to ease," she said. "The continued high-intensity inspections caused numerous flight delays, leading to widespread public discontent. Now, except for international flights, inspections for domestic flights have returned to normal levels."

"What about sea freight?"

"Maritime inspections are still being strictly enforced, especially for ships heading to Asia. However, they have limited manpower and cannot thoroughly inspect every ship."

"By land?"

"Border checks have been strengthened, but there are many loopholes. The border is too long to be completely sealed off."

Lin Zhe thought for a moment and made a decision: "We won't take the air route, it's too conspicuous. We won't take the sea route, it's too slow. We'll take the land route—exiting through Heige."

"Black Song?" Longya was stunned. "That would require crossing half of the United States!"

"So the US didn't expect this," Lin Zhe laughed. "They must have thought we'd be in a hurry to leave the country from the East Coast. Instead, we went the opposite way, heading west, exiting through Hegelia, and then detouring back to China via South America."

"What's the route?"

"It's all planned out." Lin Zhe pulled up a map. "We'll split into four groups, taking different routes, and meet up in Black Song City. Then, through our channels, we'll arrange for them to return home."

He looked at the seven team members: "This operation was a great success, but it's not over yet. The final evacuation is equally important. We must return home safely and give a satisfactory answer to the country and the people."

"Understood!" the seven responded in unison.

Outside the window, night was deepening. But a bright light shone in the eyes of all eight people.

The mission is complete, but the battle continues.

And they will ultimately prevail.