bad seeds - Chapter 10
I gestured for him to continue.
“I remember telling you about the nature of my work before.” His tone was somewhat serious. “Being a teacher at the School of Life Sciences at B University is just a front. In fact, I work for the government, under the Tenth Branch of the National Security Bureau—you can probably guess that every major country’s national security department has such a branch, which specializes in the research of paranormal phenomena. The project I’m in charge of is extraterrestrial life and civilization.”
At this moment, I noticed that Ye Tong also became a little unnatural, and she adjusted her posture.
Liang Yingwu ignored all of this and continued talking to himself:
“The 10th branch, the Roman numeral for it is ‘X’.” He shrugged. “Actually, my colleagues and I are more used to calling it ‘Agency X’—you’ve probably seen ‘The X-Files’.”
"There are some things you might not know yet. Actually, we've been watching you for a long time. If you could see one of our files, you'd be amazed at how important you are. You're among the top ten most likely to encounter supernatural events. Have you seen the movie 'Unbreakable'? Similarly, we believe in encountering supernatural events..."
The probability of an event is related to an individual's specific physical condition, meaning it contains a certain degree of inevitability within its randomness. Of course, that's outside the scope of my research. But I think you'll never have the chance to see that file; it's top secret." — His tone was starting to sound like a secret agent.
"So you found this place through me?" I felt that he had taken the initiative, and I was trying to turn the tables.
"That's right. I should apologize to you here; we had people following you and your friends."
"This is a violation of human rights!" Ye Tong said sharply, not backing down an inch.
"I hope you can understand our work, which is related to national security."
"Nonsense!" I said.
The conversation reached a stalemate, and the atmosphere became somewhat tense.
"Dr. Liang!" someone called from outside the tent, interrupting our conversation. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come in!” Liang Yingwu replied.
The tent zipper was unzipped, and a middle-aged man wearing glasses walked in, his white lab coat covered in dust. When he saw Ye Tong and me, he was clearly surprised. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over to Liang Yingwu and whispered a few words in his ear. Liang Yingwu's expression became somewhat tense, and he said softly, "Continue the experiment, observe closely, and report to me every two hours."
After the middle-aged man left, Liang Yingwu made the first concession:
"Okay, I apologize again for this and promise that it will not happen again. In fact, I invited you in because I hoped you could assist us with our work."
"Haven't you already taken the situation under control? What help do you need from us?" I said.
"That's not the case. In fact, we know nothing about certain aspects, and those are precisely the crucial ones. For example, the information you obtained from Ye Tong's clan."
"Then you have to let us know what you know first!" Ye Tong pressed on relentlessly.
Liang Yingwu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Perhaps you should reconsider. I don't want any more unpleasant things to happen between us." — This sounded like a threat, and Ye Tong immediately shut up. I knew it was time for me to step in.
"Liang Yingwu, we're old classmates, aren't we?"
"certainly."
“But what you just said sounded like you were threatening us!” I said, staring into his eyes.
"You should know the nature of my job; I have the right to do that!"
“If we keep quiet, it won’t benefit anyone. Would you kill us?” Although I was very nervous, I didn’t back down in the slightest.
Liang Yingwu paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "I think there's been a misunderstanding between us. We're not those cold-blooded agents in Hollywood thrillers who kill without blinking an eye and are quick to silence witnesses. We're all rigorous scientists, and to a certain extent, we're just like you—ordinary people—even though we're engaged in clandestine work. And I assure you, our research is absolutely not for war; it's an agreement reached between research institutions on supernatural phenomena among major powers. In fact, this isn't the first spaceship discovered by humankind, but it's undoubtedly the best-preserved one."
"You mean it really is a spaceship?" I asked.
"Yes, the preliminary research results are as follows: the spacecraft has a complete system including piloting, a recyclable ecosystem, a power system, and a positioning and pointing system. We believe that the spacecraft uses nuclear energy for anti-gravity and space-folding flight, and we also believe that the aliens piloting this spacecraft have a physiological structure that is extremely similar to ours. However, with our current level of technology, we still cannot read the information stored in the spacecraft's computer. But strangely, we only found a tiny amount of plutonium as the power source. Logically speaking, the spacecraft's energy should not be depleted so quickly. According to our calculations, the energy it carries can support us for at least another 17,000 years, but it seems that it did not carry enough energy, or that the energy was taken away—of course, this possibility is unlikely."
After he finished speaking, he added:
"You should be able to see my sincerity. I hope you can seriously consider my suggestion. Na Duo, we're old classmates. It's only right and reasonable for you to help me with this."
"Okay, but only if you let us participate in the entire process and tell us what you know."
"I said.
Liang Yingwu said decisively, "That's probably impossible. This is top secret. I have no right to let you know anything. Letting you stay in the camp is already the biggest concession I can make."
"Then you can forget about getting anything from us!" Ye Tong said.
"That much?" Liang Yingwu's gaze fixed on me. I remained silent, only smiling and raising my eyebrows in silent resistance.
Liang Yingwu's face darkened: "Na Duo, you've been a reporter for so many years, haven't you gotten any smarter? Under these circumstances, I have the right to use extraordinary measures."
I looked at him as if he were a complete stranger.
At that moment, he seemed to realize that such a blatant threat was indeed going too far for his old friend, so his smile immediately returned to his face: "Alright, it seems we don't need to talk anymore for now. Nado, you and your friend are free to move around this camp and talk to anyone you want, but you cannot leave here, nor can you re-enter the underground spaceship—don't try, it won't do you any good and could be dangerous, that's my advice as a friend. Also—" He pressed a button on the intercom on the table, and two guards immediately appeared in the tent, "You'd better hand over your communication equipment and photography gear to them for safekeeping, I guarantee they'll be returned intact before you leave here."
I lost my digital camera, cell phone, and laptop. Ye Tong also had her cell phone and a camera taken away. They actually used body search on a girl. Although it was a female soldier who did it, I still felt extremely rude. I never thought that Liang Yingwu would treat his old friend who had gone through thick and thin with him like this over a mere spaceship. I suddenly felt that the pitiful smile on his face was very stiff, as if it was fake.
For the next three days, Ye Tong and I were both in low spirits. The key parts of the camp were heavily guarded, leaving no opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Although we were treated to good food and drink in this vast Gobi Desert, the iron fence still made me feel like two imprisoned monkeys.
When I occasionally bumped into Liang Yingwu at the camp, I couldn't even be bothered to greet him, but he always greeted me politely. From his embarrassed smile, I could tell that his research hadn't made much progress either—just this morning, as I passed the command post tent, I heard him angrily yelling into the phone:
"...I told you, that's completely unworkable...No, have you considered the consequences...We'd better meet and talk again..."
I had a feeling that he would eventually come looking for me and Ye Tong—but to my surprise, it happened so quickly.
On the night of the third day, in the command tent.
Liang Yingwu was still sitting alone in the chair next to the computer desk, looking somewhat haggard. He kept switching the way he was holding his left and right hands, as if some kind of unease was tormenting him.
The silence between us lasted for about 30 seconds. Liang Yingwu seemed to be weighing something, and in the end, I was the one who broke the silence first:
"Liang Yingwu, what do you want with us now?"
He smoothed his face with both hands, and a smile returned to his face. He said:
“I think I should first apologize for my attitude three days ago. You know, I had just encountered some problems and was in a bad mood at that time.”