Chapter 24: The Mysterious Location
1440 Words
Chapter 24: The Mysterious Location
The vehicle drove for about two hours on the highway before they boarded a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. It was night, so Jiang Yue Sheng couldn’t make out much of his surroundings or tell where they were headed.
After about an hour of flying, they disembarked from the plane, and then took another car that twisted and turned through several roads before finally stopping.
Once they got out of the vehicle, Jiang Yue Sheng looked up, trying to gauge his surroundings, but all he saw were steel and concrete walls and roofs. It felt like they were inside some kind of underground facility.
"Mr. Jiang, for your safety, you’ll need to stay at the base for a while," said the officer accompanying them.
"Uh..." Jiang Yue Sheng nodded, still in confusion. He noticed a few military vehicles parked nearby and realized they seemed to be in some sort of garage.
The officer led them to a heavy, thick iron door beside the garage and opened it, revealing a long corridor that looked like an air raid shelter. There were a few cameras hanging from the ceiling, and the place felt eerily empty. The echoes of footsteps and speech amplified, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.
After walking for a while down the corridor, the officer led them to what seemed like a guesthouse. He arranged for them to stay in two rooms before leaving them alone.
For the next three days, Jiang Yue Sheng and his grandmother had little to do except eat and sleep. No one disturbed them during this time.
On the fourth day, a young officer came to tell them that someone wanted to meet with them.
Following the officer, they walked down the corridor for a while, made a turn, and arrived at a branch hallway with many rooms on either side. They entered one that appeared to be a conference room. At the head of the table sat a middle-aged officer, seemingly waiting for their arrival.
"Mr. Jiang, it’s a pleasure to meet you!" The officer stood up and extended his hand to Jiang Yue Sheng.
"Ms. Jiang, it’s a pleasure to meet you too!" He then shook hands with Jiang Hui.
"Please, have a seat."
Once they were seated, the officer smiled and said, "Mr. and Ms. Jiang, the other day, we were just following orders. The soldiers acted somewhat roughly, and we apologize for any inconvenience."
Jiang Yue Sheng gave a slight bow, smiling politely as he replied, "There was no inconvenience. Thank you for saving us."
The officer continued, "Mr. Jiang, the higher-ups have decided that for your safety, you will need to stay here a bit longer. Also, they’ve arranged for you to join a research team."
"Oh?" Jiang Yue Sheng looked at him, puzzled. "What kind of research?"
"It’s probably related to robotics. They told us you’re an expert in this field. Since it’s still dangerous for you to leave here, it would be better to use this time to help the military with some research. Would you be interested?" The officer asked with a smile.
"Sure, I’m pretty bored anyway." Jiang Yue Sheng agreed without hesitation.
The next day, someone brought a computer to his room and set up a terminal for him to use in software development. The terminal allowed him to communicate with the project team, access information, enter virtual meeting rooms, and conduct software tests.
They also set up a computer for Jiang Hui to help her pass the time.
Jiang Yue Sheng spent some time familiarizing himself with the workstation. To his surprise, a task had already been assigned to him in his inbox.
Opening the task, he found something oddly familiar: "Modeling the Hesitation and Decisiveness of Robots."
He thought to himself, why is everyone working on this kind of thing? Or did they just give this task to him because he knows a bit about it?
That day, Jiang Yu was at work when she noticed a new email in her inbox.
"Please download this terminal at the internet cafe of Guanghan Palace Nursing Home within two hours: download link, call xxxx."
Jiang Yu immediately realized that Jiang Yue Sheng might have been kidn*pped again. She rushed to the Guanghan Palace Nursing Home next door, found an internet cafe, and followed the link in the email to download a video call terminal. She opened the terminal and quickly made the call.
The video screen showed a familiar green glass panel, and a hand began to write on it with water.
"Your son is in my hands. Hand over the forbidden fruit plan!"
The hand wiped away the writing and closed the video.
Jiang Yu was too late; her son had been kidn*pped again. What should she do now?
With no other options, she decided to contact the organization. She knew the enemies were powerful, and her own abilities were limited. The only way to protect her son was through the organization.
She returned to her office and immediately reported the situation to Wu Peiyuan.
Wu Peiyuan told her to wait, as he also needed to report to his superiors.
The next day, Jiang Yu received another email instructing her to watch a video at the internet cafe in Guanghan Palace Nursing Home.
When she opened the video, she saw her son. Jiang Yue Sheng was sitting in front of a computer, focused on the screen as if working on software development. The video lasted only about thirty seconds, and at the end, there was another short clip of Jiang Hui playing a game at a computer.
It was clear now—both of them had been kidn*pped.
"Why is my life so miserable!?" Jiang Yue Sheng thought, as he pondered the situation.
Although he had never worked on modeling robots’ "hesitation and decisiveness," he was familiar with this type of task. Previously, he had worked on robot personality programs for emotions like shame, dignity, fear, and bravery. So, the progress on this new task was smooth.
One day at lunch, a worker brought him a meal. Among the food, he noticed a small animal—something like seafood—that he had eaten before. It was a local specialty from Xiapu in Fujian, probably called "goose barnacle," and it tasted very fresh. This suggested that he might be near Xiapu.
Later, while jogging down the hallway, he spotted something unusual. He saw a man and a woman, both soldiers, at an intersection in the distance. The man seemed to playfully nudge the woman’s rear with his knee.
Jiang Yue Sheng scanned the wide corridor and noticed several cameras overhead. Why would two soldiers dare to act so familiarly in front of the cameras?
Was something off about this place?
He began to suspect that he might be walking into a trap. He started to think about how to verify whether these soldiers were truly from the military or if they were impostors.
He tried engaging in conversation with a few people—one of the meal servers and two janitors—but no matter how he tried, they always gave vague, dismissive answers like "I don’t know," "I haven’t heard of it," or "No one mentioned that," leaving him feeling frustrated.
That day, while jogging in the corridor again, he noticed a new face. A man, dressed like a repair worker, quickly shut the door behind him after leaving a room and then left.
This piqued his interest. What was in that room? Why did it need repairs?
The next time he jogged past that room, he tried to peek inside. The door was solid metal, so he couldn’t see anything.
On his second jog past the door, he thought he heard a faint sound inside, like the hum of some kind of equipment.
That day, when Jiang Yue Sheng was finishing his program, a military officer came in and said someone wanted to see him. He followed the officer to a room.
The room was empty, with only a chair in the center. The officer instructed him to sit in the chair and then left.
Before long, the door opened, and two masked, muscular men carrying laser guns entered, immediately aiming their weapons at him.
"Stay still and raise your hands!" one of them ordered.
Jiang Yue Sheng, seeing the situation, complied and sat obediently, raising his hands.
"I’ve always liked climbing, even though I’m afraid of heights. I remember back in my first year of college, during a break, I climbed up an abandoned smokestack. To most people, it seemed brave," he thought, reflecting on his past.
- Writer
