"Should we take the initiative to contact that 'Mysterious Organization' now?" Zheng Lixing frowned.
"It's too late." Zhang Yuli checked the time. "Let's contact them when it's dawn over there."
If it was noon in Great Xia, then it should already be late at night in Eagle Sauce. Contacting them rashly at a time like this would not be a good idea.
It was not that Zhang Yuli was overly cautious about everything. They simply needed to be extremely careful when dealing with this Mysterious Organization.
It was a mysterious entity that could casually obtain F-22 fighter jet technical blueprints from Eagle Sauce and might even continue providing plenty of technology in the future.
Great Xia could not afford to lose him, much less offend him carelessly. That was a price they could not bear at present.
Zheng Lixing nodded. "True. It should already be two or three in the morning over in Eagle Sauce."
Time differences were troublesome, especially when Eagle Sauce and Great Xia were usually more than twelve or thirteen hours apart.
It was daytime in one place and nighttime in the other, so they had to take the current time into consideration.
"Then there's still a long time to wait."
Zheng Lixing suddenly felt playful. "Let's play a few rounds of chess. I'm still not convinced about losing to you last time. You only captured my cannon by taking advantage of me."
"That one doesn't count. It doesn't count."
"Old Man Zheng, can you beat me twice in ten games?" Zhang Yuli was interested as well. "This time, I'll give you a three-move handicap."
The two drank tea, played chess, and chatted in the director's office as they slowly waited for nightfall.
Early Tuesday morning.
California, LLNL Laboratory employee dormitory.
Lu Ze, whose biological clock had always been extremely accurate, woke beneath the eight o'clock morning sun. After washing up, he quietly sat in the chair by his bed.
With some time left before clocking in, his mind began working rapidly.
It's time to properly plan what comes next. Lu Ze thought to himself, his expression utterly serious.
First, gain LLNL Laboratory's trust as soon as possible. I need access to core technological items, but I can't participate in important projects.
Gaining trust was Lu Ze's foremost goal. He needed everyone in the laboratory to mistakenly believe his abilities were quite ordinary and lower their guard, allowing him to better duplicate high-level technological items.
Second, find a way to get out in time. Once I've copied most of the high-tech items here, I need to leave LLNL Laboratory as soon as possible.
I absolutely cannot wait until graduation to leave.
He had roughly a year left before finishing his graduate studies, two years at most.
So he absolutely could not remain at LLNL Laboratory for too long or participate in critical core projects. He had to leave within a year at most. One year was enough to take everything here worth duplicating.
When the time came, he would either find a way to transfer to another laboratory or be reassigned to another research institute.
If he stayed at LLNL Laboratory for too long, it would be too late when he wanted to leave.
Great Xia was his homeland. No matter how prosperous Eagle Sauce was, it did not belong to Lu Ze, nor did it belong to Asians or Chinese Americans. It did not even belong to most of the people living on this land.
It belonged to Wall Street, or to that small group of people in Washington.
"Still, I can hand some things over when I return home during summer break." Lu Ze glanced at the two physical F-22 fighter jets in his system inventory and muttered softly.
Leaving these things there was still just leaving them there. They might as well be put to good use. Was he really supposed to smash them up and sell them for scrap? Would anyone even dare buy them?
And if these things showed up in Great Xia's ranks, wouldn't Eagle Sauce go completely insane?
Of course, the prerequisite was that his identity could absolutely not be discovered. Otherwise, there would be endless trouble afterward.
Just as he finished sorting out his future plans and prepared to head to the laboratory—
Suddenly.
A cold notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Host, your mailbox has received a new email.]
"Great Xia sent me another email? Did something happen?" Lu Ze raised an eyebrow. "Could it be that there's already preliminary progress on the school construction?"
The only one who could email him was the Great Xia Academy of Sciences.
Under normal circumstances, they would not take the initiative to send him emails. It was probably about the matter he had mentioned before—using the one billion US Dollars reward to build a thousand schools.
The moment he opened the email, he saw that it was indeed from the Great Xia Academy of Sciences.
[Following your instructions, we have commissioned the eight engineering bureaus under Xia Construction to begin building a total of one thousand primary schools, middle schools, and high schools. The estimated time for all construction, topping out, inspection, and completion is approximately nine months.] [School locations will prioritize impoverished areas in Northwest Province, and all teaching staff will be arranged for these schools.] [The one thousand schools will officially begin fully accepting all students in Northwest Province in September 2010. —Great Xia Academy of Sciences.]
We are very satisfied with the valuable 'reward' Great Xia has provided.
Lu Ze smiled and typed that line as his reply.
As expected, this was Great Xia's response regarding the construction of one thousand schools. Construction had already begun across the board.
They were even rapidly recruiting teaching staff, which proved that Lu Ze's decision had not been wrong.
He had not directly demanded that all one billion US Dollars be used to subsidize education in Northwest Province.
That was because he clearly knew that once the schools were built, whether for their own "merits" or for education throughout Northwest Province—
They would inevitably recruit enough teachers to provide schooling for every student.
Seeing that there had been no reply for a long time, he thought Great Xia was merely giving him a routine progress report.
If there is nothing else for the time being, we will contact the Great Xia Academy of Sciences when we send the next batch of technology.
That will not take too long. Please wait patiently.
Lu Ze sent the reply and was about to close the mailbox.
Suddenly, it seemed that the Great Xia Academy of Sciences on the other end had become anxious. In less than a few seconds, a new reply arrived.
[There is one more important matter we would like to ask you about.] [If you do not wish to answer, you may simply ignore it.]
That's fine. What do you want to ask? I'll see whether I can answer it. Lu Ze narrowed his eyes, curious about what Great Xia wanted to know.
Vaguely, he had already formed a guess.
Soon, a brand-new email popped up.
[May we ask whether 'you' belong to an organization? Are you from a 'Mysterious Organization'?] [May we know the name of your organization?]
"Mysterious Organization? Great Xia really thought deeply about this." Lu Ze laughed in surprise.
He had originally only used a vague designation as a smokescreen, intending to keep Great Xia from knowing whether he was one person or a group.
Yet he had never expected Great Xia to think he was a Mysterious Organization hidden deep within Eagle Sauce.
However.
Are you a Mysterious Organization? I think I am!
He decisively replied to the email.
Yes, I come from a 'Mysterious Organization'.
Its name is: Great Wall Watchers.
(Please keep reading! Please vote with monthly and recommendation tickets!)
Before you continue