American comic: From Beijing with Love, starting with a mutant.

The blue light faded completely.

Stephen Chow released Pele's hand, his shoe sole firmly planted on the yellow line of the 749th Inning's medical reception area, and his tense shoulders and back relaxed.

It feels so damn good to be home!

Storm, Garg, Bailey, Ethan, and Olivia are all standing inside the yellow line.

Including myself, all six passengers were present.

Looking at the girl, she's already taken the second cup of milk tea from the staff next to her.

"Cross-border dispatch order number?"

Secretary Liu arrived with documents in hand, checked the receiving terminal first, and didn't rush to join the new employees.

"749 Cross-Regional Temporary Number 187, six passengers, one crew member, the mission recorder is still in my pocket."

Edith bit the straw and handed over the recorder.

After confirming that the list matched the original record, Xiao Liu turned to the personnel placement page in the document: "Director Zhou, what's this person's name?"

"Robert Herman, codenamed Gegebu, his personal ambition is to raise chickens."

Xiao Liu nodded, "Understood. We'll each have our own plan, and everyone should get checked first."

Gegebu stared at him for a long while. "Aren't you going to cut off a piece of me and send it to the lab?"

"No, it won't." Xiao Liu smiled gently. "No, the project list has both Chinese and English versions. You can cross out any projects you disagree with on the spot."

"Any organization that takes samples must sign a separate document. Without your voluntary signature, no one can carry out the sampling without authorization."

Stephen Chow continued, pointing to Storm and introducing her: "This is Ororo Monroe, a former X-Men member. She's currently in China for an inspection tour and won't be officially hired yet."

After the introductions were finished, Bailey hesitated for a moment and asked, "Will they test your abilities during the physical exam?"

"No testing."

Xiao Liu closed the folder. "The information that Director Zhou sent back clearly states that you only have one chance to prove your abilities. We cannot afford the test results, and you yourself cannot afford to bear the consequences."

Pele was in a bad mood. "Then how can you be sure I'm useful?"

Stephen Chow patted him on the shoulder. "The company only assesses whether the position is suitable. We don't need your life to fill out forms and data. It's okay if you never use your abilities. Relax."

Ethan couldn't help but ask, "My ability is to find flaws. What do you intend for me to do?"

"After the routine check-up is completed, a career assessment will be arranged, and finally you can choose the direction that you are willing to accept."

After handing the group over to Xiao Liu, Zhou Xingxing headed straight for the bureau chief's office.

Director Wang is checking the seals on the evidence. A briefing on the operation and a handover form are spread out on the table.

"Did you bring the person back?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I trust you to handle things? They're having Xiao Liu take over arranging the medical examinations now."

Stephen Chow pulled out a chair and sat down, placing his suitcase beside his feet.

"Muller is nowhere to be found, Silver Peak's algorithm is still not available, and the New York branch has also been put into a purge."

Director Wang nodded. "Ling Lingwu is investigating that woman, and at the same time, he's checking which non-public files from Bureau 749 have been leaked. What do you think?"

"The other side knows the code name of the second brother, and Yin Feng was able to smuggle SBT09 into the country. On our side..."

Director Wang grunted in agreement, wrote a few words in the corner of the briefing, and then destroyed it.

Old Zhou knew that the bureau had already started screening people.

"By the way, how are those guys doing lately? Have they caused any trouble?"

"You're worried about others causing trouble? They're much less troublesome than you!"

Director Wang pushed the scheduling sheet forward a bit: "Polaris and Soft Ice Cream were transferred to work on the Qiongzhou Cross-Sea Channel project a few days ago."

"Polaris is responsible for the correction of the immersed tunnel structure, and Soft Ice Cream is responsible for supplying the high-temperature work area. The two have signed a secondment confirmation letter for the same station."

"Why did Xiaoruan go along too?"

Director Wang glanced sideways at Zhou Xingxing: "Otherwise what?"

Stephen Chow chuckled awkwardly.

Indeed, ever since the two reunited, Xiao Ruan has been sticking to Xiao Luo.

While working during the day, the soft-serve ice cream vendor would also take time to check what the North Star was doing.

Stephen Chow glanced at the schedule and couldn't help but whistle.

"Look how capable the men Old Zhou brought back are! They've already made a name for themselves in such a short time!"

"While he made significant contributions, the evaluation from the aerospace sector was that he made significant contributions to the verification of key technologies, but his personal abilities could not be integrated into the regular engineering system."

Stephen Chow frowned; he roughly understood the problem.

Aerospace engineering requires verifiable processes and backups of the same level.

Xiao Luo can complete the mission, but the country's existing system cannot replicate a second her, so it is not advisable to permanently tie the entire key link to one person.

"Publicly, we will only give the Chinese government a Friendship Award, and the details of the event will be completely anonymized, not associated with any specific model, and no media publicity will be arranged."

Director Wang tapped on the table.

"Internally, the aerospace system will give corresponding level of classified commendations. National-level science and technology awards are applied for in the name of the project as a group, and individual contributions are only recorded in classified files."

Stephen Chow scoffed, "So, after all that, you're still working anonymously?"

"What do you think? Let her accept the award publicly and give interviews, waiting for the international media to expose her identity completely?"

"Alright, Xiao Luo doesn't care about these empty titles anyway."

Stephen Chow leaned back in his chair. "By the way, where's Lao Jin? I heard from Lao Er that he has a secret mission?"

You can't understand what he's doing.

Old Zhou was unhappy. "Sir, I'm also a field operations supervisor! My security level isn't lower than those few goji berries in your jar, is it?"

"I can tell you, he went to the archives to give an oral statement."

Director Wang said slowly, "The archives department has discovered several batches of conflicting modern North American documents, and we need surviving eyewitnesses to provide testimonies."

Stephen Chow gave a thumbs up.

"As expected of the director, others recruit Wolverine to fight, but you send him to find typos in history books. You've really mastered the art of productivity development."

"Stop flattering me! Finish the New York operation report, especially the part about you blowing up the shipyard! Oh, and write out the reports about the previous times you sent Edith out!"

"That was Yin Feng's own doing! What does it have to do with me?"

"Lingling said you should write the report."

"He's maliciously shifting the blame! He even claimed one person surrounded twenty clones—can you really believe someone like that?"

Just as Director Wang was considering whether or not to use the deadly scissor kick, a familiar figure burst into the office.

His reading glasses were askew on his nose, and Leonardo da Vinci was holding a soldering iron in his right hand.

"Ah Xing, give me the briefcase!"

Zhou Xingxing clutched the box warily: "What are you going to do? Explain yourself first, I have some unreimbursed invoices inside!"

"Forget about the invoice, just give it to me! I need to make the modifications!"

Da Vinci grabbed the other side of the briefcase. "I've had a new idea lately: I can compress clothes. So what if I compressed this briefcase to the size of a cigarette pack?"

"What will happen? Will my invoices be compressed to the size of a postage stamp?"

"Science requires sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice your head, I need invoices for my reimbursement."

Director Wang slapped his forehead helplessly; these two blockheads always bickered whenever they met.

"Wenxi! Go back to your lab and get back to your work! Don't cause trouble here!"

"But Director Wang, if this technology succeeds, field personnel will be able to carry more equipment with them in the future."

"Just imagine how convenient it would be to fit a first-aid kit, or even a surveillance system, into a space the size of a cigarette pack!"

Stephen Chow's eyes lit up. "That sounds great! Are you sure the compression technology won't burn the invoice?"

"I'm not sure, we'll only know after we try."