Dusk. The setting sun turned the sky into a blood-red pastel.
In the coastal area that connected Namibia with the Atlantic Ocean, there was a wondrous harbor known as Walvis Bay.
It was a unique place that could not be found anywhere else in the world. One of its most magical sights was where the desert connected with the sea to form an image only seen in fantasies.
This was also where Blacklight Biotechnology built hundreds of sanatoriums. At maximum capacity, they were able to provide top-of-the-line healthcare services to five thousand people at a time. Despite this volume, the sanatorium’s schedule for the next half of the year was full.
Instead of saying that the sanatorium was an extension of Eco Science City, it would be more accurate to say that the sanatoriums were the true central part of Eco Science City.
Without all the wealthiest members of the world pouring into the sanatoriums continuously, Eco Science City would lose at least sixty percent of its income revenue.
This meant that the generated income from the gigantic Blacklight Biotechnology industrial park along with the vast resource chain generated by Tara Strategic Resources combined still paled in comparison to the sanatoriums.
This was a testament to just how much cash flow there was in the healthcare industry.
With that said, the landscape may shift once the V.1 series and the environmental holographic simulator began selling. It was still uncertain at this moment.
Additionally, there was also a large villa section located right next to the sanatoriums. These villas were also Blacklight Biotechnology’s properties and were designated for the professors that Chen Chen had recruited from all over the world.
At the present, inside the room of one of the villas sat a fair-skinned and blond-haired European girl who was silently playing with her phone.
The sunset cast a gentle beam through the windows and shone onto the girl’s cheeks. There were little spots of freckles seen on her face.
These little spots of freckles did not take away from her beauty. On the contrary, they made her appear even more beautiful and cute. She was like an angel who had descended to Earth.
However, the angel’s eyes were filled with drops of tears like tiny pearls reflecting light away from them. She silently brushed her fingers across the picture of a man on the display of her phone while she whispered, “Brother Fisher, why haven’t you contacted me up till now? Could it be that it’s just as Father said, that you’ve been held hostage by this evil company…
“Don’t worry, I’ll use the communication channels mentioned in the past to contact the remaining surviving members of White Embers. I’ll find some way to infiltrate the company and save every one of you!”
A flash of determination greeted her eyes. Just as she was about to turn off her phone, she heard a gentle tap on the windows of her room.
It sounded like someone was throwing little rocks against the windows to get her attention.
When she heard this sound, she quickly responded accordingly and turned on the flashlight on her phone. She pressed the flashlight against the window and turned them off and on repeatedly in sporadic pulses to mimic morse code messages. After she was done, she shut the curtains in her room and went outside.
The villa was five hundred square meters large but was mostly empty nonetheless. Needless to be said, her father was still in the research center and had not returned from work yet.
The girl changed into sportswear before leaving the villa. She chose a bicycle inside the garage and left the villa under the guise that she was going out to exercise on a bike.
Twenty minutes later, the girl arrived at the sports park of Eco Science City.
When she arrived, she immediately surveyed her surroundings. After that, she parked her bicycle beside a bench in the park and picked up a magazine to begin reading.
Without anyone noticing, she slid her slender fingers into a gap between the bench and extracted a piece of Bluetooth earphone that was attached under the bench with chewing gum.
The girl used the magazine as a cover while she placed the Bluetooth earphone into her ears. She then used her hair to hide the earphone.
After she did that, she immediately heard a faint voice coming from the other end that sounded like the buzzing of a fly. “Long time no see, Annie[1].”
“Danny, we only just met last month.”
Annie answered icily, “Didn’t I tell you to not contact me unless you’ve discovered major leads. Don’t forget that we’re in the main camp of this evil company. One misstep and we’ll be at the point of no return!”
“Of course, I know that!”
The person on the other end of her phone sounded very nervous. He tried to suppress his agitation and continued patiently. “I received the news from other agents. Starting from earlier this afternoon, the company has begun purging the spies from the city. I just lost contact with another one of my friends.”
“Then why are you still contacting me?”
The girl was starting to lose her patience, “It’ll be more difficult to rescue Fisher and the rest of them if even you’re captured.”
“Currently, several spies have successfully made it out of Eco Science City. I contacted our superior and they think that this is a good window for us to make a move since we have your father’s DNA and palm prints. If we can get your father’s access card, we can infiltrate the research center and inject a virus into their internal network to cripple Eco Science City’s defense!”
The voice said persuasively, “Blackwatch will never expect us to infiltrate their headquarters now, of all times…”
“Don’t think that I’m an idiot. You guys are after the technology announced in today’s conference, isn’t it?”
The girl scoffed. “Do you have any idea how difficult it will be to infiltrate Eco Science City’s internal network? No, do you have any idea how proficient Blackwatch’s network control is? Inject a virus into their internal network, that’s a cute idea you guys came up with.”
“Don’t worry…”
The voice coming from the earpiece paused for a moment before assuring. “They say that this is a brand new variant Trojan virus that belongs to a subclass of a quantum virus. It’s designed by the only quantum computer existing in the world. Even the most sophisticated security system in the world doesn’t stand a chance against it.”
After the girl heard this, she seemed to be slightly convinced. She gritted her teeth. “In that case, I can try to steal my dad’s access card. But there’s one condition, you guys must use this opening to rescue Fisher as well!”
Silence on the other end of the earpiece.
“This is my condition. I will not do whatever you ask of me if you cannot promise me this.”
The girl refused to budge.
“But, what if Fisher is already…”
The voice from the earpiece suddenly turned hoarse. “What if Fisher is already erased by Blackwatch, then what happens?”
“Shut up!”
The color on the girl’s face was drained away when she heard this. Her hands holding the magazine trembled uncontrollably. She spoke coldly, “No, nothing is going to happen to Brother Fisher. He’s currently the only heir of Oppenheimer. Are you telling me that this evil company would dare to incur the wrath of Brother Fisher’s family? Danny, I won’t forgive you either if you continue spouting your nonsense!”
The voice on the other end remained silent.
“Alright, this is how it’s going to go down. I will get my dad’s access card somewhere around nine tonight. You guys can get the other preparations underway in the meantime.”
Annie had made up her mind. After that, she pulled the earphone out of her ear and tossed it into a nearby trash can before getting on her bicycle and left without looking back.
It was only after Annie had left when an average-looking European young man wearing jeans stepped out of the bushes. His face was written in disappointment as if he had just been broken up with.
Annie cycled back home all by herself and went straight for the kitchen when she returned. She opened the refrigerator and saw that it was full of vegetables and various foods.
She then opened the topmost rack in the kitchen where she found a bottle of sleeping pills.
“Sorry, Dad…”
There was a shadow of hesitation in Annie’s eyes. When she saw a mirage of Fisher appearing in her mind, her hesitation quickly vanished and turned into stoic determination again. She proceeded to prepare dinner.
According to the usual schedule, the research center should be closing somewhere around eight. Her father usually went straight home after work and should be back around eight-thirty.
After checking the current time, Annie started to wash the vegetables and prepared dinner. It had always been either her father or the nanny preparing dinner. Things changed when they came to Africa. Since Annie had to regularly liaise with the White Embers members, she told her father to not hire a nanny.
It was only now when Annie realized how much work went into preparing meals.
Annie clumsily washed the vegetables and cut them as best as she could. She then poured in nearly half a bottle of salad dressing and proceeded to stir them violently.
Midway through her stirring, she suddenly stopped and went to get the bottle of sleeping pills. She crushed them up and mixed them into the vegetable salad.
After the preparation was complete, Annie nodded to herself contently and went to prepare the next dish — tomato soup.
Half an hour later, the soup was ready as well. Annie went to get two more sleeping pills and mixed them into the soup.
After this was ready, she looked out the window and saw the sky outside had turned dark. The clock hanging on the wall ready eight-thirty.
Just as she set the food on the table, she heard the unmistakable sound of a car’s engine coming from outside.
Her father had returned.
Annie took a deep breath and put on her most genuine smile to greet her father at the entrance. The father and daughter duo quickly started conversing at the door.
“Hey honey, is today some kind of special day?”
When Samuel saw the dinner and candles set on the table, he was visibly surprised. “Annie, this is the first time I’ve seen you making dinner at all. Is this a special surprise for me?”
“That’s right, Dad.”
Annie enthusiastically brought Samuel to the table and served a bowl of soup for her father as she said, “Dad, this is the tomato soup I made, give it a taste.”
“Of course, I’d love to try out the soup that my dearest daughter made for me.”
Samuel felt his cheeks flushing red. He gave it a gentle sip and immediately went into praising. “My dear Annie, I have to say that this is a true delicacy you’ve made!”
“Help yourself to more.”
Annie urged her father to eat more as she pushed the salad bowl on the table toward Samuel. “There’s also the salad I’ve made, try it.”
“It’s delicious.”
After Samuel took several bites, he noticed how Annie was just silently staring at him at the table. He found it strange and asked, “My dear, are you not eating?”
“I don’t eat much dinner these days, I’m on a diet.”
Annie brushed the topic aside. “I’ve made all this for you.”
“I see.”
After that, the father and daughter continued making small talk when in truth, Annie was trying to spy whatever information she could get regarding the research center.
Samuel never doubted his daughter in the slightest and answered whatever questions she had patiently and in detail.
After around twenty minutes had passed, Samuel suddenly started to look tired. He started to rub his forehead suspiciously and yawned several times.
“Dad, you look tired.”
Annie smiled. “Go get some rest, I’ll clean everything up.”
“You’re a wonderful daughter. I do feel quite tired.”
Samuel nodded, full of emotions. “I’m probably overworked by today’s research. In that case, I’ll go catch some sleep now. See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Dad.”
Annie waved her father goodbye. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her father returning to his bedroom.
Within ten minutes, Annie heard the sound of her father snoring coming from his room.
“Now!”
Annie saw her opportunity. She gently pushed open the door to her father’s room. Before she could step inside, she heard a round of shuffling footsteps approaching from behind her. Before she could react, she felt a hand reaching for her from behind and covered her mouth!
“Mmmf!”
Annie was horrified. The very next second, she felt the foreign hand turning her around to face the stranger. It was only then when she noticed that it was Danny who she had only just made contact with earlier this evening.
“Shh, it’s me…”
Danny kept his hands over Annie’s mouth and urgently gestured for Annie to stay quiet before slowly removing her hands.
“Oh my god, why are you guys here?”
Annie instinctively stumbled backward when she noticed another unfamiliar man standing behind Danny. Both of them are wearing yellow-colored uniforms.
“Annie, please calm down. There’s a good reason for us coming here.”
Danny tried to calm Annie down and explained, “We need to collect biological samples from your father for the next part of our mission.”
“Haven’t I already given you my dad’s DNA sample and palm print?”
Annie hissed.
“DNA and palm prints aren’t enough.”
Danny explained, “We also need samples of your father’s facial structure and iris samples, otherwise, it won’t be enough to bypass the identity verification test of the Blackwatch’s biological research center.”
As he said this, he took out an arm-length device that looked like a printer. He glanced at Samuel who was sleeping soundly in bed and placed the device over his head.
“What are you guys doing?”
Annie was shocked by the sudden turn of events.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
Danny smiled before pressing a button on the device. Immediately, there was a low rumbling voice as a ray of light shot out from the bottom of the device and scanned Samuel’s face.
Meanwhile, the other man produced a device shaped like a torchlight. After Danny was finished with the device, the man stepped to the side of Samuel’s bed and gently pried the sleeping professor’s eyes open.
He aimed the torchlight at Samuel’s eyes and shone over them briefly.
After everything was complete, the three of them retreated from Samuel’s bedroom.
“It’s about to be showtime!”
Danny smiled at Annie before pressing another button on the device that looked like a printer. The device slowly printed a flesh-colored object when it was activated.
“3D printer, you guys are trying to…”
Annie held her mouth agape.
“That’s right, we need to make a thorough copy of your father’s facial structure to help us pass through the biometric identification system of the biological research center.”
Danny nodded. Meanwhile, the other man produced two contact lenses from his device. “This contact lens is designed with the same iris as your father, I also have a sticker with your father’s palm prints imprinted on my hand now.”
[1] Author actually wrote her name as ‘Alice’, but Samuel’s daughter was previously named Annie… We changed it to Annie to keep it consistent. A case of author forgetting their character’s name? >_<