A few minutes later.
Zhang Yuli hurried over as well, with only a thin coat draped over him.
The exhaustion on his face made it clear that he had just been dragged out of bed too.
"Old Liu, what email did that mysterious person send?" Zhang Yuli grabbed a towel and quickly wiped his face before urgently asking.
After so many days, the mysterious person had written again. What exactly had been said in the email? That was what concerned him most right now.
"I haven't looked at the contents of the email yet." Liu Zhixue shook his head.
"Why haven't you looked at it? Isn't that wasting time?" Zhang Yuli frowned.
At such a critical moment, wasting even a second was an enormous waste.
Could there be something suspicious about it?
Liu Zhixue moved aside from the seat and said irritably, "You think I don't want to look? I need permission to open the mailbox first."
On the screen, a large notice was displayed.
[This matter involves top-secret information. Please complete identity verification to unlock access.]
Zhang Yuli immediately slapped his forehead. "Look at me, how could I forget about that? My fault, my fault."
Only then did he remember that Liu Zhixue did not have sufficient clearance to fully unlock the mailbox backend.
He sat down in the chair, entered a long string of passwords, and completed multiple verification procedures involving his iris, fingerprints, and more.
Only then was the previously locked interface finally unlocked, granting access to the mailbox backend.
This mailbox backend, used solely to receive messages from the mysterious person, had been reset earlier. Normally, the personnel on duty here could only tell whether an email had arrived.
For example, basic information such as when an email had been sent and whether there was a new reply would be displayed on the front end.
But if someone wanted to enter the mailbox backend and view the specific contents, they had to complete a whole series of verification procedures to lift the lock.
Before those multiple verifications had been completed, even if someone maliciously broke into the room, they would be unable to obtain any information. Furthermore, the backend sent a verification signal every thirty seconds. If that signal was interrupted, the mailbox system would immediately notify the highest authorities, and all document data would be physically wiped.
With all these layers of security, the possibility of information leaks had been fundamentally eliminated.
The two men stared intently at the screen and clicked on the newest email at the top.
However.
When Zhang Yuli opened the email and examined it closely, both men instantly froze.
A line of large text was written in the subject line.
[May I ask what kind of technology Great Xia still needs?]
"Old Liu, what do you think this mysterious person means?" Zhang Yuli asked uncertainly.
He recognized every word in it, yet when they were put together, they felt so unfamiliar.
Liu Zhixue frowned. "What kind of technology we need... Why is he asking that? Is he trying to convey some kind of message?"
"That makes sense."
Zhang Yuli nodded.
Then he typed a line of text and sent it directly.
'For the time being, we do not yet know what field of technology we need.'
It was the safest reply he could think of. After all, if something had happened to the mysterious person and this email was a deliberate probe by Eagle Sauce or others, acting rashly could lead to a disastrous mistake. This response, however, did not reveal any obvious weakness.
However.
A brand-new reply arrived very quickly.
[If you haven't thought of anything yet, contact me once you have selected technology you like. Preferably something Eagle Sauce already has.] [My surroundings are safe. Please decide on the technology you need as soon as possible over the next few days. Do not delay.]
As they stared at those words, both men were dumbfounded.
"What does he mean by that?? He's telling us to pick technology we like!?" Zhang Yuli pointed at the screen, his face full of disbelief.
"Decide what technology we need as soon as possible? Can he get us any technology we want?"
The expression on Liu Zhixue's face was truly something to behold; his eyes were practically popping out of their sockets.
Whatever technology Great Xia lacked, this mysterious person could get it? And they could freely choose whatever technology they liked?
What did he take Eagle Sauce for? A grocery market outside his front door?
"This is just too absurd," Liu Zhixue complained.
They had thought that directly sending over the F-22 fighter jet blueprints last time had already been absurd enough. They never expected that to be only the beginning—now he was simply letting them choose whatever technology they wanted.
"Director, what should we do now?"
"I don't know either." Zhang Yuli shook his head. "No matter what, report this to the highest authorities first."
What technology did Great Xia need? And how should they continue communicating with this mysterious person?
Even as the director of the Great Xia Academy of Sciences, he had no idea how to handle this situation. It was better to let the highest authorities decide.
After a while, the brief phone call ended.
"Understood!"
Zhang Yuli put down the phone and stared straight at the screen, seemingly lost in thought.
"Director, what did they say? What kind of technology does Great Xia need?" Liu Zhixue leaned over and asked curiously.
"They didn't say what technology we should need... They told us to decide for ourselves."
Zhang Yuli rubbed his brow, feeling a headache coming on.
Letting the Great Xia Academy of Sciences decide for itself sounded like a very brief order, but it was far from an easy task. On the contrary, it was the hardest one to fulfill.
"They really know how to give us difficult problems. What am I supposed to say?" Zhang Yuli let out a deep sigh.
First, Great Xia needed countless technologies. Which one could possibly be so easy to choose?
Second, if their technological demand was too excessive and offended the mysterious person, or placed him in danger, that would not serve Great Xia's interests either.
After thinking for a moment, Liu Zhixue said, "Should we inform Old Song? Maybe he has some ideas?"
After all, the F-22 fighter jet blueprints from the first email had been directly related to Song Qinyi's current primary research direction.
As for what technology the mysterious person should provide next, Song Qinyi arguably had the greatest right to speak on the matter.
"There's no need. His research is currently at a critical stage." Zhang Yuli directly rejected the suggestion.
According to the latest information he had received from Great Xia Aviation Corporation, the J-20 project was progressing extremely well.
It was said that under Song Qinyi's leadership, they were already carrying out major revisions and adjustments based on the existing technical data.
At such a critical time, there was no need to disrupt his research progress.
Besides, Institute 611 already had the complete set of F-22 fighter jet blueprints. What other technology could they possibly still want? That would be like a snake trying to swallow an elephant out of greed.
And if Institutes 601 and 603 learned about this, they would probably have major objections as well.
Was the J-20 important, while their next-generation transport aircraft, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, and other projects were not?
At the same time.
Far away at Institute 611 in Shu.
"Achoo!"
Song Qinyi sneezed hard several times in a row. "Who's talking about me behind my back? Why do I keep sneezing?"
Before he could figure it out, a notification suddenly rang throughout the testing grounds.
[J-20 aerodynamic improvement simulation wind tunnel verification test, commencing for the 39th time!] [1098]
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