She Was in High Demand

Director Wang watched the three leave, then clasped his hands behind his back. "Da Vinci."

Da Vinci puffed out his chest. "Director, are you ready to approve the research funding for phase two of the Cellular Coexistence Persuasion Device?"

"First, wipe the plunger mark off my desk."

Da Vinci adjusted his glasses and sighed. "Science is always misunderstood at first."

"One more word and I'll pin you to the desk and wipe it with you!"

Da Vinci hugged the plunger to his chest and slipped out of the medical room.

"Ling Ling Qi."

"Here!" Sing Sing stood at attention.

"You did well this time."

"Director, since you've said that, about my reimbursement—"

Noticing Director Wang raise his right leg, Sing Sing quickly changed his tune. "My phone application form! I'll get all the signatures later!"

"Good. You know what's good for you."

With a bang, the door burst open.

A young staffer came running in, gasping for breath, and knocked his shoulder against the doorframe.

"Director! Bad news!"

"Why the panic? The 749 Bureau isn't a wet market. Even if the sky falls, knock first."

The staffer clung to the doorframe, panting. "Director Chen from the research institute is here!"

Director Wang froze.

"Which Director Chen?"

"The Director Chen who, over funding, dared to pound the table and curse people out at a budget review meeting!"

"What's he here for?"

"He heard about Comrade Polaris's ability yesterday and traveled overnight to headquarters to ask you for her!"

"He said talent like hers shouldn't be wasted on the ordinary placement process! He also said anyone who dared stop him was standing in the way of national progress!"

Polaris was leaning in a corner. Hearing her own nickname, she frowned slightly.

Sing Sing leaned over and looked at her with a smile. "You're pretty sought after, huh?"

"Is that funny?"

"Of course it is!"

Sing Sing stopped smiling. "The director of the research institute traveled overnight to snatch you away! Don't worry. Whoever wants you has to ask whether you're willing first."

"Of course, they also have to ask whether I, the person in charge of the overseas talent recruitment project, agree."

Director Wang let out a cold snort.

"And me, the director of the bureau."

"Right, and our director too."

Sing Sing nodded. "He's usually stingy and bad-tempered, and he likes to settle personnel disputes with a scissor kick, but when it comes to protecting his own, the organization has your back."

Director Wang glared at him.

"Can't you compliment someone without slipping in a few digs?"

"An honest assessment moves people the most!"

The group left the medical room and headed for the conference room.

"Director."

As they walked, Sing Sing asked, "Does this Director Chen have a bad temper?"

"Not quite as bad as mine."

"That's all right, then." Sing Sing nodded. "At least he can still be reasoned with. If it were worse than yours, he'd be a firecracker spirit!"

"Cut the crap. Watch what you say when we get in there. Director Chen is a pillar of the research institute, and he's in charge of a nationally significant project."

"I know, I know! People in charge of key projects usually have a key temper too."

Director Wang couldn't be bothered to answer him and strode ahead.

They arrived at the conference room.

A middle-aged man was sitting at the table.

He looked to be in his forties, with messy hair and black-framed glasses.

The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his forearms, and drawings and data reports were spread out in front of him.

Hearing them, he looked up, his eyes locking straight onto Polaris.

His gaze was direct and made no attempt at concealment.

"Director Wang, I'm not here to poach anyone! I'm here to discuss cooperation!"

"Cooperation?"

Director Wang pulled out a chair and sat down. "Director Chen, that's quite a distinctive way to cooperate. You opened by saying Comrade Polaris would be of great use to your research institute?"

Director Chen pressed his fingers down on the drawings.

The topmost blueprint was spread open, taking up more than half the table.

It was covered with drawings of straits, immersed tubes, artificial islands, shield tunnel shafts, undersea faults, and utility corridors.

A long string of technical parameters was noted beside them.

Polaris couldn't understand the annotations, but she could understand the look in Director Chen's eyes.

It was a strange look.

Like a carpenter who had found an exceptionally fine piece of wood, or a chef who had found a prime cut of wagyu.

It was burning and greedy, but held no malice.

Sing Sing leaned close to Polaris. "Don't worry, he doesn't want to draw your blood."

"Then what does he want?"

Sing Sing glanced over the drawings and let out a long sigh.

"Something even scarier than drawing blood..."

Polaris's gaze sharpened.

"He wants you to work overtime!" Sing Sing looked utterly grave.

Polaris was speechless.

"Director Chen, let me make this clear first. Comrade Polaris has only just returned to the country, and her health hasn't recovered yet. The organization is considering placing her in Jiuquan to work on heavy rocket recovery and precision landing."

Director Chen adjusted his glasses. "Jiuquan is important, of course! Aerospace is important, and so is rocket recovery. I acknowledge all of that."

Director Wang's brow relaxed slightly, only for Director Chen to push straight back with his next words. "But the Qiongzhou Strait sea crossing is just as important!"

Sing Sing reached out to flip through the drawings. "A sea crossing? A bridge? A tunnel? Or a bridge-tunnel combination?"

Director Chen turned his gaze to him. "You're the legendary Ling Ling Qi?"

"The very same!" Sing Sing straightened up. "Person in charge of the overseas special talent recruitment project! An outstanding field agent on a temporary contract who does a permanent employee's work and whose reimbursement claims are perpetually oppressed."

"You could have left out the second half," Director Wang said expressionlessly.

Director Chen ignored the nonsense and pushed the drawings forward.

"The Qiongzhou Strait has an average depth of over forty meters and a maximum depth of over a hundred meters. Its hydrology is complex, typhoons are frequent, and there are many geological fault zones on the seabed. Connecting the immersed tube sections is extremely difficult."

"Traditional construction methods require large floating crane vessels and positioning systems, as well as deep-water teams to survey and map the seabed and carry out long-term monitoring. We also have to contend with currents, sediment, settlement, typhoon windows, and other problems."

"Each steel immersed tube section weighs tens of thousands of tons. The joining tolerance has to be kept to the millimeter."

"To the millimeter?"

Toad craned his neck. "If I'm three centimeters off drilling an anchor bolt hole, Lao Liu will chew me out."

Sing Sing pushed his head back down. "They're putting together tens of thousands of tons like building blocks. You're drilling holes in a mountain gully."

"I'm a top ten model worker too..."

Director Chen stared at Polaris, his eyes growing brighter.

"Her ability makes her practically heaven-chosen for this! If the information isn't exaggerated, she could even change the logic of the entire project!"

"She could use a magnetic field from a barge to lower an eighty-thousand-ton immersed tube smoothly into a designated position on the seabed."

"She could also use magnetic field disturbances to detect metal pipelines, embedded components, reinforced steel structures, and abnormal mineral distributions within a hundred meters beneath the seabed. That would let us avoid faults and construction accidents at the source!"

"She could also take part in monitoring the structural health of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge throughout its entire life cycle. Cable fatigue, stress at joints, the spread of microcracks—she's more sensitive to them than any sensor."

Director Chen grew more excited as he spoke, his fingers trembling. "Director Wang! This would rewrite the technical approach to national infrastructure!"

"With Comrade Polaris, we could avoid ten years of detours!"

"Don't use that to pressure me!"

Director Wang slammed the table and shouted, "She's a person, not a piece of equipment!"

Polaris's eyelashes trembled.

"She only had her medical examination yesterday. Anemia, severe malnutrition, long-term traumatic stress!"

Director Wang stared at Director Chen. "That laboratory locked her up for a year! They drew her blood, held her prisoner, and threatened her. We only just got her to believe we weren't another laboratory. And the moment you get here, you use a major project to pressure her?"

"What? Are your priorities more important than a person?"

Director Chen panicked and waved his hands repeatedly. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?"

Director Wang leaned forward. "You opened by talking about major uses and priority allocation. Did you ask whether she was willing? Did you consider how long she'd need to recover? Have you arranged psychological support and living accommodations?"

The questions left Director Chen at a loss for words.

He looked at Polaris instinctively.

Polaris was looking back at him, her eyes utterly calm.

After a moment of silence, Director Chen softened his tone. "Comrade Polaris, I apologize for how I phrased that."

"I'm not trying to treat you like a machine."

"I've spent my whole life dealing with steel and concrete, and I'm not very good with words. I'm sorry! It's just that, to me, someone who can safely place components weighing tens of thousands of tons is incredibly important!"

"If you're willing to participate, we'll give you expert status, a formal contract, time to recuperate, dedicated medical coverage, and a psychologist. You and the medical team will assess your workload together."

"If you're unwilling, I won't tie you up and take you away."

The conference room fell silent.

At that moment, Sing Sing raised his hand. "Let me say a couple of things!"