Inside a building in Langley, USA.
When the personnel responsible for the twenty-four-hour duty received Ben Ronny's urgent reply message and delivered it to the intelligence analysis department, the elites here felt it was quite odd.
What was strange was that the guy targeted for the operation seemed too cooperative.
It was like a perfect persona crafted just for being targeted.
To be honest, it's hard to find such a young person in a university like Xilin University of Technology. Moreover, a star student who has nearly gotten everything he wanted at school and bared his soul in front of Ben Ronny, a rookie, at their first meeting...
It was somewhat unsettling.
Not until someone asked, "So if this is a trap, what do we stand to lose?"
After this question ran through the minds of the elites, many of them felt relieved instantaneously.
There wasn't really much to lose.
Aside from a non-official operative who couldn't even be considered a fringe agent, they really didn't have much to lose.
Trying to dig out any secrets from Ben Ronny was naturally impossible.
This guy simply didn't know anything valuable.
Surely colleagues from the mainland wouldn't be interested in such garbage, from whom no oil can be squeezed even with effort.
At the most, the most, they might be duped out of some money.
But even if Chen Yiwen did con some money out of them, it wouldn't be a big deal. Langley had mysteriously spent far more than that elsewhere.
On the off chance they could get some valuable intelligence, they would directly make a killing.
In this manner, although the rear echelon felt something was amiss, the messages sent to Ben Ronny were all praises without any warnings, just encouragement. They encouraged him to redouble his efforts, to strive to develop Chen Yiwen into his subordinate and thereby step onto the pinnacle of his life.
Xilin was suddenly heating up as it entered May.
Generally speaking, the temperature in May was the most suitable in Xilin, with a refreshing coolness of tens to over twenty degrees Celsius.
But during the entire Labor Day holiday, the weather remained clear, and the temperatures soared, directly hitting over thirty degrees Celsius.
It was as if the friendship between Chen Yiwen and Ben Ronny, like Xilin's temperature during May Day, was also heating up crazily.
To describe the relationship between the two men as inseparable might not be quite accurate, yet they were already starting to become inseparable.
This was also the reason Deng Tingting decided to go home during the Labor Day holiday. Otherwise, Chen Yiwen might really have had to sacrifice a pure romance prematurely for the sake of the mission.
The Mathematics Research Institute remained as tranquil as ever.
The impacts of the holiday did not spread here; the professors were even busier than usual.
Xu Dajiang had already notified the professors of the Mathematics Research Institute that two special classes would be set up in the School of Mathematics for the new semester, and they would all have to take up undergraduate teaching responsibilities.
Teaching undergraduates was different from doing research.
The professors needed to decide on the courses to teach, familiarize themselves with the textbooks ahead of time, and prepare their teaching plans meticulously. This was a task for the century and could not be taken lightly.
The professors were struggling inwardly, but Xu Dajiang was notifying, not seeking their opinion, so they had no choice but to endure the hardship.
Considering how Xu Dajiang had pushed his scheming nature to the limit, everyone had affectionately given him the nickname "Xu the Skinner."
Although the professors knew very well that without the approval of Qiao Ze and Li Jian Gao, Xu Dajiang wouldn't dare to stretch his hand so far, what could they do? They couldn't really go and make a fuss with Li Jian Gao and Qiao Ze, could they?
That would really sever their connections with the academic circle.
They could only tough it out themselves, as the first year would be the hardest.
Once the teaching plans were well-established in the first year, the subsequent work would also get easier.
For Qiao Ze, all these were minor issues. What troubled him was that, even though he had repeatedly made it clear that he didn't want to be involved in any decisions outside of academia, there were always matters seeking him out, even during holidays.
This time Chen Yuanzhi sought him out due to a provincial government plan.
The material base of Xilin Licheng had been approved and had already begun its vigorous construction.
The provincial government's conception was to build a new high-tech research park around the material base. Leveraging the influence of the new material base, it aimed to attract a host of high-tech enterprises to construct various research institutes and industrial bases in the vicinity of the material base.
This plan actually made a lot of sense.
It was already confirmed by all levels that the future would see a surge of new materials emerging. To seize the market first, there had to be a way to stay one step ahead of the competition, right?
Conveniently, Xilin's material base was definitely the place with the most up-to-date news. Just ask those enterprises dependent on new materials whether they would come or not?
It's no exaggeration to say that the provincial government had high-end aspirations for the future of this high-tech park.
No matter the industry, if companies didn't reach the pinnacle of quality, they weren't worth attracting.
It could be viewed as a very confident investment attraction.
If Dou Dou were appointed as the responsible person for attracting investments, this feisty little guy would probably keep the phrase "I'm giving you the opportunity to invest, I advise you not to be ungrateful" on the tip of his tongue.
The only issue was that for this project to get off the ground and achieve the desired effect, it really needed to use Qiao Ze's reputation. Then those large enterprises might consider it worth their while.
Chen Yuanzhi had come several times to discuss this matter with Qiao Ze.
It wasn't that the provincial government didn't value Qiao Ze enough; mainly, with the lesson learned from the Capital's bigwig, everyone was uncertain about Qiao Ze's thoughts. Naturally, they dared not send just anyone, fearing they might botch things up.