Chapter 102: Pawn?

As Du Qiu began demonstrating for the people at Feiyu Technology this morning, on a boat at the mouth of the Yangtze River, Imanka was feeling restless.

In fact, according to the original plan for the cooperation project, this survey activity should have already ended.

But Imanka had not yet received instructions from Nesta, and according to the rules, she couldn’t end the mission on her own initiative.

Left with no choice, Imanka deliberately ‘accidentally’ deleted some original data, artificially prolonging the project.

Since the accident was caused by Imanka and naturally, the two local volunteers from Tang Country could not extend their time to continue the work, the task of data re-collection and supplementation could only be completed by Imanka herself.

As for the accompanying personnel originally assigned by the Environmental Protection Bureau, they had been withdrawn some time ago; the Environmental Protection Bureau was only responsible for continuing to provide the ship, as the expenses were paid by the Natural Force.

Previously, Imanka had been very careful, as the bionic fish—a tool used for collecting environmental data—was tough to get close to the shipyard under the watchful eyes of the other two locals accompanying her.

Recently, however, with only her left on the ship to do the survey work, it was more conducive to controlling the bionic fish to conduct reconnaissance on the shipyard.

This had emboldened her, allowing her to get the bionic fish closer to the shipyard.

However, these past few days, Imanka had discovered that the data collected by the bionic fish contained abnormal noise.

At first, she didn’t take it seriously, but after it happened consecutively, she only realized today that the bionic fish must have been affected by some sort of electromagnetic interference.

In other words, the bionic fish must have moved within the electronic warning net range set up by Tang Country for the shipyard.

As the bionic fish also emitted electromagnetic signals, this meant there was a significant chance it had been discovered.

This set off alarms in her mind, and she immediately booked the earliest flight back to the United States while also reserving a car to wait for her at the dock.

Imanka packed up her things and didn’t dare to retrieve the bionic fish; instead, she directly informed the Captain that her work for the day was finished and that she needed to return to the hotel early to organize data.

After some thought, Imanka took the opportunity when the crew was not paying attention to throw her laptop into the Yangtze River.

On the ship’s return journey, Imanka was extremely uneasy.

Why, when the time for the mission had expired, had Nesta not issued the order for her to withdraw?

Could it be that she, as a pawn, had been abandoned by the intelligence agency?

Imanka was beginning to regret not using the emergency communication channel to report her situation to the intelligence agency’s headquarters when the mission was about to expire and she had not received the order to withdraw from Nesta.

If there was still no response, then she would truly be treated as a pawn.

At this moment, she also remembered something strange: why didn’t Walkerson force her to return to her home country when he knew she insisted on completing the survey task?

After all, her main mission in Magic City had been completed, and since that time, he seemed to have stopped asking about her.

At the time, Walkerson even said that her extended stay in Magic City could be considered a vacation for completing the task.

Previously, Imanka had believed these words, but now, comparing all the details, she felt something was hidden.

That’s how people are; when you start thinking about something in a bad direction, you tend to find evidence that it’s the case, and the situation seems to continue to deteriorate.

Once the ship docked, Imanka, with her backpack now lacking the laptop, hurriedly disembarked.

After walking out of the dock area briskly, she found the car she had reserved.

“Pudong Airport, please hurry!” she urged the driver.

Imanka didn’t dare waste time going back to the hotel to retrieve any useless carry-on luggage, as the most important items—the notebook computer and the bionic fish—were already disposed of.

Without these, there would be no evidence to prove she had conducted reconnaissance on the shipyard.

Imanka looked at the rapidly receding scenery outside the car window, her heart chilling.

This city, which had been filled with pleasant memories for her, might now be a place she could never set foot in again.

She took out her phone, opened WeChat, and began to message Du Qiu.

After writing, she deleted the message, wrote it again, and deleted it once more…

After several attempts, Imanka uninstall WeChat from her phone in a resigned manner and then took out a new SIM card to replace the old one.

At this time of day in Magic City, it was not rush hour, and the car smoothly drove her to Pudong Airport.

With less than an hour left before the take-off time of her scheduled flight, Imanka hurriedly processed her check-in and passed through security.

Once she smoothly passed the security check and entered the waiting area, Imanka’s tense mood finally eased a bit.

She waited close to the boarding gate, feeling anxious and silently praying that she could board the plane and take off without issue.

In a room at a certain shipyard in Magic City, a group of people was gathered around a table inspecting an object.

The object, which was conspicuously shaped like a pomfret, had been opened up to reveal the intricate electronic components inside.

Just then, a middle-aged man entered the room, asking, “I hear you guys have caught a fish?”

A young man approached and replied, “We’ve been detecting abnormal electromagnetic interference in the past two days, initially thought to be emitted from passing ships.

But after some measurements, we found that it often appeared from a fixed direction, and today we targeted that area and eventually retrieved this bionic fish.”

Mo Bureau, with a stern look on his face, chuckled coldly and said, “Well, this bionic fish is pretty well made! Have you figured out where it was released from?”

“We traced from where we retrieved the bionic fish all the way to the main channel. We identified only seven vessels that have lingered in the area within a 5-kilometer radius and are currently investigating each one,” the young man reported.

“Don’t worry, Mo Bureau. Maybe this fish is actually helping us,” remarked a middle-aged man wearing glasses among those examining the bionic fish, stopping his work and walking over to speak.

Mo Bureau raised an eyebrow and asked, “How so?”

“Based on the detection methods of this bionic fish, the locations it had explored match precisely the spot we displayed for others to see.”

“Oh, so it might help reinforce impressions, then?”

“Exactly. We’ve set up a whole scene; if they don’t fall for it, all our efforts would be in vain.”

“Hmm. Although that is the case, we still need to unravel this trail. It’s fine to cast a long line, but we have to be able to catch the fish at any moment,” Mo Bureau remarked and then instructed the young man who had spoken earlier, “Once you find any suspects, don’t act rashly. Leave it to the cleanup team to monitor them.”

“Yes,” the young man replied and left the room.

Knock, knock, knock—a series of knocks came at the door.

“Come in!”

A female officer entered.

“Mo Bureau, there’s an urgent message from intelligence for you to receive,” she reported.

Mo Bureau took the tablet handed to him, entered his password, and saw the message from intelligence. His expression changed, and he immediately connected to a video call.

The person who appeared on the screen was none other than Ning Shuangshuang.

“Mo Bureau, is there a task?”

Mo Bureau stated, “I’ve just sent you an overseas intelligence report. The American woman mentioned in it, you must arrange for her to be closely monitored immediately.”

“Yes.”

Mo Bureau ended the video call and looked towards the man with glasses, saying, “Lao Qiao, we might have found the person operating this bionic fish.”

Lao Qiao pushed his glasses up and asked, “That quickly?”

“A coincidence, really. Intelligence indicates that a woman intelligence operative from the United States arrived in Magic City months ago, just after we cleared out the American intelligence network near the shipyard. This woman’s cover identity just so happened to be involved in environmental survey work at the mouth of the Yangtze River.”

“Oh, it must be her, then.”

“Mo Bureau, Chief Ning is requesting a video call,” the female officer, who had just reached the door, returned and handed the tablet to Mo Bureau.

Mo Bureau, somewhat surprised that Ning Shuangshuang might have questions about the intelligence, which seemed quite clear, connected the call.

Upon connecting, Ning Shuangshuang reported, “Mo Bureau, I know the woman mentioned in the intelligence. She’s acquainted with Du Qiu—she was Du Qiu’s first love.”

“Oh, what a coincidence?” Mo Bureau said, somewhat taken aback. After a moment, he continued, “In that case, bring Du Qiu to the bureau. We need to understand some situations from him.”

“Alright, I’ll go right away.”