Chapter 16: The Technology Conference

At first, her parents didn’t take her seriously. But after she mentioned it repeatedly, they started to worry. As a result, they sent her to the train station, believing she was a little monster.

She never saw her parents again.

Later, she was taken in by an old woman who scavenged for a living. But when she was 13, the old woman died, and she lived alone.

She had a photographic memory and could see through things. She could have lived a very good life, no matter what she did.

It’s just that she didn’t live long. She was hit by a car at the age of 18.

Damn! Her great life was just beginning!

Pulling herself back from her thoughts, she went to the military district, took a plane from there to Fanzhou in the south, and then from Fanzhou to Xiangcheng.

Recently, there was a technology conference in Xiangcheng, attended by almost all foreign scientists. During major events, security is very strict. There are double the number of people patrolling at all entrances to the docks. It is said that there have been no illegal immigrants recently.

The security was indeed tight. As soon as she got off the train, she heard a voice saying “NoNo…” She turned back and saw a foreigner being taken away because a bottle of medicine was found in his bag.

She pushed up her glasses, scanned the people at the station, and then left.

Old Bai told her to settle in and then find Professor Wen of Xiangcheng University.

Professor Wen was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, short and stout.

Seeing that the woman who came to find him was unremarkable, he frowned:

“The conference is being held at the Guest Hotel. There are guards inside and out. Most of those people’s accommodations are arranged by their embassies. Those without embassies are staying at the Linhai Hotel, which is also guarded. I don’t know your purpose here. I’m only responsible for getting you into the conference hall. I don’t care about anything else. Just don’t get anyone killed.”

Ye Qinglan smiled: “Look at what you’re saying. I’m a good person. How could I just go around killing people? I’m just going in to learn.”

Professor Wen snorted.

“Come find me at seven tomorrow morning. Don’t bring any weapons. There will be a check before you enter.”

“Okay, thank you.”

After saying goodbye to Professor Wen, she returned to her temporary residence, a private house near Xiangcheng University, only two miles from Professor Wen’s neighborhood.

The next morning, she put on makeup and went to find Professor Wen.

Before they left, Professor Wen told her: “Just pretend to be my temporary assistant. I used to have an assistant, but she happened to be sick these past few days. You’re temporary.”

“Okay.”

“Once you’re inside, if you want to meet someone, I’ll take you there.”

“Thank you.”

At 8:10, she and Professor Wen arrived at the conference venue.

Sure enough, there were guards, and two people were checking the belongings and bodies of those coming and going.

Professor Wen showed his invitation, and Ye Qinglan handed their bags to them for inspection.

After the inspection, they entered the conference hall. Ye Qinglan glanced around and thought to herself, “Wow, this is a place worthy of being compared to a spy movie. Behind the wall paintings, on the ceiling, in the flower pots… there are listening devices everywhere.”

It made sense that their mainland researchers didn’t come to participate. There were absolutely no secrets.

She and Professor Wen arrived early. There were only staff members in the hall. But as soon as they sat down, others came in.

Each person entering had two or three assistants with them, but half of these assistants weren’t really assistants.

They were all so impressive. The woman in front of her was an assistant to an S-country scientist, but her earrings were hiding poison, the lipstick in her bag was actually a gun, her watch was a miniature camera, her cufflinks were hiding miniature film, and her underwear was hiding a pistol…

Damn, the thing stuffed in her boots that was about the size of a pigeon egg was a miniature bomb! This woman was either here to kill someone or to take something.

But compared to the guy in front of her, she was weak. The guy in front of her was with a Country Y professor, and he actually put his tool kit in his anus.

And the guy to her left, this guy was so impressive that even the best would have to call him dad. He actually tied something to his butt. How the hell did he walk???

…

Ye Qinglan thought to herself, “People in later generations rarely use these things, so I’ve never seen this butt guy’s operation before. I’ve learned something new.”

After scanning the room, she decided that the S-country woman had the most equipment. If something happened and she didn’t have enough, she would just steal from her.

The butt guy’s buttonhole camera was pretty good. It looked smaller than her pen camera. If she had the chance, she would steal his stuff and give it to Old Bai to make one for her.

The cigarette pistol on Brother Dan’s body was average, but the folding recorder was really good, and she wanted it.

And the guy in front of her, in his hair…

…

She was lost in her thoughts when there was a commotion at the entrance to the hall.

Professor Wen said in a low voice, “That’s Professor Ma Wenhai. I met him once in a foreign country three years ago. He’s been working on precision machinery for a long time…”

Oh, this was her target. He was more explosive than the others. He brought six people with him, four men and two women.

Old Bai said that the documents were in the hands of someone attending this exchange conference. The original owner of the documents, Mei Hanzhi, was already dead.

While Mei Hanzhi was alive, he sent a message to his contact in Country W, saying that he would give the documents to him. But before he could do that, he died suddenly at home.

The last person he saw before he died was Ma Wenhai. They were friends.

The day after Mei Hanzhi died, Ma Wenhai was secretly detained by Country W.

Their people had been looking for him, but they couldn’t find him. Now, they suddenly found him on the list of attendees at the technology conference. Maybe he couldn’t hold out and handed over the documents. Or maybe he didn’t, and Country W used the technology conference as bait to see if anyone would come looking for him and see if he would bring the documents out.

The conference began at 9:00, with a 10-minute break after an hour. When Professor Ma went to the bathroom, his six people followed him. She saw them checking inside and outside the bathroom next door before Ma Wenhai went in.

During the break, others were chatting, but he had six people standing in front and behind him, so no one dared to approach him.

For lunch, they went back to the rest room. One of them even removed a listening device.

Ma Wenhai looked unhappy: “Can you stop following me all the time? I’m a researcher. I need to talk to other people. This is a good opportunity. You may not understand, but can you please stay away from me?”

“You can talk to people,” said the black woman.

“But your eyes are like knives, stabbing at everyone who tries to talk to me. And you’re surrounding me from front to back. How can I talk like this?”

The six people remained silent.

Ma Wenhai grabbed his hair in frustration: “I’ve said it countless times. He didn’t give me anything. He was already dead when I arrived.”

The black woman said again, “You should have been at your workplace that day.”

“I went to his house because it was his birthday!”

The conversation ended, and Ma Wenhai was furious.

After a while, two of them went out to get lunch.

After the afternoon session ended, Ma Wenhai didn’t stay at the place arranged by Country W. He went to the Linhai Hotel.

Ye Qinglan thought to herself, “This guy is waiting for someone to take the bait.”