Golden Cicada

America, San Francisco International Airport.

The plane touched down.

Lin Yulong, who had been in charge of arranging the itinerary, took them to their prebooked hotel to rest for three days and get over their jet lag.

Their destination, however, wasn't San Francisco.

This time, their mentor Tie Dongqing was meeting with an old friend, Doctor Zhang Feng of MIT.

Zhang was highly accomplished in CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Recombination Technology and was among the first researchers to apply CRISPR-Cas9 technology to human and animal genes.

In his own research on CRISPR-Cas9, Li Qingye had drawn on many of Zhang's papers and ideas.

Since MIT was in Boston, on America's East Coast, while San Francisco was on the West Coast, they still needed to catch a connecting flight to Boston.

In his hotel room.

Li Qingye had a room to himself. As soon as he entered, he opened his suitcase and took out three miniature bugs.

Then he pulled out his phone and switched it to silent mode. Checking his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock in the afternoon, North American time.

A little while later, the hotel brought him lunch. He casually handed the server a note and a hundred-dollar tip.

[My throat is inflamed, so it's inconvenient for me to speak. I need to rest and adjust to the time difference tonight, so there's no need to bring dinner. Thank you.]

The blond server smiled and slipped the tip into the dimensional pocket at her chest. "OK, I'm happy to be of service. Enjoy your lunch."

Li Qingye waved, and the blond server closed the door behind her.

He quickly finished the milk and bacon sandwich. He knew Blondie and Squinty were in the rooms downstairs, while Tian Nanxing was in the room next door.

He drew the curtains, showered, changed his clothes, and left a letter for his mentor. About twenty minutes passed.

He set his suitcase aside, took out a small recorder, and pressed play. A steady snoring sound filled the room.

Standing in front of the door, he activated Super Senses.

Six minutes later, he gently opened the door, then closed it just as quietly. Without making a sound, he went into the fire escape and left through the hotel lobby on the first floor.

Under the shade of a tree outside the hotel.

He hailed a taxi.

"Where to, buddy?"

"The nearest UBS branch."

"OK." The driver could tell Li Qingye wasn't in the mood to chat, so he didn't ask any questions and simply hit the gas.

California Street.

A UBS branch.

After paying the fare and leaving a ten-dollar tip, Li Qingye entered the UBS branch with only his ID and bank card.

"Sir, how may I help you?" A short-haired female clerk in uniform came over with a smile.

"I'd like to make a large withdrawal."

At the words "large withdrawal," the clerk's smile immediately grew sweeter. "This way, sir."

In the VIP room, the short-haired clerk was joined by a chubby middle-aged man with a receding hairline.

The man smiled. "Sir, please enter your card number."

[601277-6]

"Please enter your account number."

[CH04-0015-5713-7706-7410S]

"Oh..." The man's eyes lit up, and his smile grew even brighter. "Please enter your password."

[387****371]

[Password correct.]

"Sir, your account balance is 183,672,300 US dollars. How much would you like to withdraw?" the man continued.

Li Qingye remained calm. "Issue me an internationally accepted bank card, and transfer ten million US dollars to it."

"OK." The man immediately instructed the female clerk to issue Li Qingye an anonymous UBS bank card.

As Li Qingye sipped afternoon tea, the man handed him the freshly issued card and asked obsequiously, "Is there anything else UBS can do for you, sir?"

"How does the immigration process work?"

"Immigration? No problem. Though I wouldn't recommend America. Canada, New Zealand, or Northern Europe would be more suitable."

"Then Northern Europe. How soon can I get it?"

"I can arrange our VIP channel for you. One month."

Li Qingye continued casually, "Right. I'd like to go to Transvaal today. I don't want to take a regular flight, and I need it kept discreet. Money is no object."

"Leave it to our company. I'll arrange a private jet for you. It can take off within two hours, and no one will know where you've gone. Our company's motto is to keep our clients satisfied."

As expected of capitalism. Money could make the devil turn the mill.

Of course, he would take their promise of absolute discretion with a grain of salt.

Ordinary organizations might not be able to pry open UBS's lips, but when it came to bullies like America, UBS couldn't refuse to provide information unless it wanted to go out of business.

Still, Li Qingye knew that at least Du Shuping and the others couldn't reach as far as North America and Europe.

The sun sank toward the horizon.

A special new flight was quickly added to San Francisco International Airport's schedule. A Gulfstream private jet landed and took off without a sound.

Back at the hotel, Blondie and Squinty were still listening to the endless snoring. They were taking turns monitoring the room, but the uninterrupted snores still made their ears ache.

The next day, around noon.

The server's knock and her uncertain voice made Blondie, who was on monitoring duty, feel that something was wrong. "Something's happened. Get Tian Nanxing to go check it out."

Squinty quickly texted Tian Nanxing.

Still groggy, Tian Nanxing heard his phone alert and woke up a little. He grabbed his phone, saw the message, and sprang up in alarm.

Without even changing, he dashed out of his room in his pajamas.

The door to Li Qingye's room next door stood wide open. The female server was speaking into a walkie-talkie, reporting the situation to the hotel manager.

"Excuse me, what happened?"

Seeing that Tian Nanxing was Asian, the female server asked, "Sir, is the guest in this room your companion?"

"Yes, he's my classmate."

"Oh, thank God." The female server patted her chest. "This guest left a letter, along with his suitcase and a recorder. You'd better take a look."

A flicker of panic crossed Tian Nanxing's eyes. He entered the room and saw the recorder and letter on the bedside table, along with the suitcase nearby. He felt that things had gone far beyond anything he'd imagined.

He hurriedly opened the letter.

[Don't worry about me, boss. I've already headed to Toronto. I'll meet up with you in Boston later. I'll leave my suitcase in your care. —Li Qingye, May 23.]

Damn it... Tian Nanxing wasn't stupid.

Soon, their mentor Tie Dongqing and Lin Yulong arrived at the room as well. After reading the letter, the mentor said nothing. He only instructed them, "Pack up Qingye's things. He's in a bad mood, so let him go."

Downstairs, Blondie and Squinty received Tian Nanxing's report. Their faces immediately darkened.

Thinking of how he'd spent the whole night listening to snoring, Blondie couldn't help cursing, "Fuck!"

"We've been exposed," Squinty said with a frown.

Blondie knew they'd been exposed. If Li Qingye had simply left without telling anyone, that might not have meant anything. But he'd deliberately played snoring through the recorder, which clearly showed he'd found the bugs in the suitcase.

"What now? Should we go to Toronto?"

Squinty shook his head. "Do you really think he went to Toronto?"

Blondie's expression stiffened.

Squinty waved a hand. "Report back to the boss. We'd be searching for a needle in a haystack across North America. Better to let them deal with the headache."

"Shit... There goes my bonus..." Blondie looked utterly dejected.