Capital, State Security Building.
Liu Wenjun, the head of State Security, was frowning as he looked over some documents.
With Great Xia’s rapid development in recent years, the United States had recently been putting pressure on Great Xia repeatedly. Tensions between the two countries had steadily escalated, leaving the situation rather strained.
Korea and Sakura Country, those two guard dogs, had also been making quite a racket lately, and spies from various countries had become increasingly active in Great Xia.
If things continued this way, it would likely be very unfavorable for Great Xia...
Liu Wenjun rubbed his brow in frustration. Just then, the phone suddenly rang.
The caller was none other than Academician Wu, chief designer of the Shenzhou Series spacecraft.
“Academician Wu, it’s been a while. The rocket test launch is tomorrow. How are things coming along on your end?”
Liu Wenjun asked with a smile.
However, as he listened to the explanation on the other end, the smile on his face gradually stiffened, and his eyelids twitched a few times.
What did he mean, there was a student at First National Defense University who might be a Reborn, and that student had reported a senior spy the United States had planted in the project team?
“Academician Wu, you’re not joking with me, are you?”
“Everyone selected for the project team has had their identity and background thoroughly vetted... What? You’re saying the core component of the rocket engine really was replaced, and one of the engineers has already fled in fear of being held responsible?”
“All right, I understand. I’ll send someone over to meet him right away. We’ll take this Reborn’s existence very seriously!”
He hung up.
Liu Wenjun felt his head buzzing.
According to Academician Wu, it was only after this Reborn shared the intelligence that he discovered someone had tampered with the rocket scheduled for its test launch.
However, as a staunch materialist, Liu Wenjun wasn’t about to believe in the existence of a Reborn without question.
He sent someone to First National Defense University in Jiangcheng to pick up Lu Yang, while also having staff investigate Lu Yang’s identity and background.
Just five minutes later,
a report was delivered to Liu Wenjun.
“Lu Yang, twenty-one years old, currently a second-year student in Class Three of the School of Engineering at First National Defense University. He has demonstrated excellent conduct from childhood to the present, with no criminal record. Both parents work at an electronics factory and come from an ordinary working-class family. His Bloodline has been verified as pure for three generations. Overall assessment: an ordinary university student.”
The report was extremely detailed.
It included not only Lu Yang’s grades in every subject from elementary school onward and everyone he had interacted with over the years, but even which websites he had browsed at two in the morning.
After reading the report, Liu Wenjun knitted his brows deeply and said nothing more.
He simply issued an order in silence: raise Lu Yang’s security level and bring him to the State Security Building as quickly as possible.
............
At six that evening,
inside a sealed room in the State Security Building,
Lu Yang sat in a complex-looking device, with more than a dozen sensors attached to him and wires connected to the polygraph behind him.
After the staff made their adjustments, a green light came on in the indicator above the polygraph.
“Commander, the polygraph is calibrated and ready. If its indicator flashes red, it means the subject is lying. If the color doesn’t change, that means the result is normal.”
After receiving the staff member’s explanation,
Liu Wenjun nodded slightly and reached out his right hand to Lu Yang, who was seated in the device.
“Comrade Lu Yang, on behalf of the Ministry of State Security, I’d like to thank you for voluntarily reporting the senior spy the United States planted to sabotage the rocket test launch.
However, we still need to verify your claim that you’re a Reborn. After all, something like this is too extraordinary for us not to confirm it thoroughly. I hope you don’t mind.”
“It’s all right. If I hadn’t experienced all this myself, I probably wouldn’t believe that being reborn could happen to me either.”
Lu Yang smiled candidly and shook hands with Liu Wenjun, who was dressed in military uniform.
At his words, Liu Wenjun instinctively looked toward the polygraph. The indicator was still green, and the heart rate on the screen hadn’t changed at all.
The three microexpression experts standing behind him also gave a slight shake of their heads, indicating that the other man showed no signs of lying.
That meant the other man truly believed he was a Reborn, rather than having made up a lie!
“To prove who I am, I’ll tell you some news stories I saw in my previous life. You can verify them one by one in the coming days.”
“Around nine tonight, Fu City Volcano in Sakura Country will erupt. It was widely reported online in my previous life, so I remember it clearly.”
“Around ten, hackers will attack the domestic short-video platform Slow Hand. Several accounts will livestream pornographic videos, and tomorrow, many citizens who click on links will discover their Green Bubble accounts have been stolen.”
“At two in the morning, a street shootout will take place in Button City in the United States. Terrorists will fire machine guns from a rooftop. A male legislator who publicly claimed to be gay but suffered from gender dysphoria will die in the attack.”
“......”
“Those are the events I remember happening soon. As long as no one interferes, the timing shouldn’t be too far off.”
After saying all that in one breath, Lu Yang picked up his tea and wet his throat.
Liu Wenjun’s expression had gone rigid. He stared fixedly at the indicator on the polygraph.
From the moment Lu Yang began speaking until now, the polygraph’s light had remained green. That meant he wholeheartedly believed what he was saying was true!
He had just taken the trouble to check with the geological bureau, and they had told him they’d detected no signs of tectonic activity near Fu City Volcano in Sakura Country. There was no possibility of a sudden eruption.
A volcanic eruption alone was beyond the control of any person.
If the events Lu Yang had just described came true one by one, that would be more than enough to prove he was a Reborn!
“The situation is urgent. I need you to verify my identity as soon as possible. We may not have much time left.”
Setting down his teacup, Lu Yang said gravely,
“In nine days, I’ll transmigrate to the otherworld alongside contestants from other countries. Every second counts now. I need to meet with Great Xia’s highest leadership as soon as possible!”
“Also, I need you to investigate whether people in other countries on Blue Star are seeing a ten-day countdown before their eyes. Like me, they’re all selected Transmigrators.”
The conversation ended.
Under the protection of several security guards, Lu Yang went to the dining hall for a meal. The long flight that afternoon and the conversation just now had left him mentally exhausted.
Liu Wenjun, however, didn’t have time to rest.
To confirm whether other countries also had Transmigrators, he issued a top-secret order. The entire Ministry of State Security immediately went into overdrive.
A global intelligence network quietly sprang into action.
The forces lying low in countries overseas slipped into major information sites without a sound, searching for posts containing relevant terms...
Time passed slowly, second by second.
Liu Wenjun sat in the middle of the hall, messages from countries around the world appearing on the giant screen in front of him.
“The North Bear Country branch reports that a search of relevant information turned up an active member of Alpha Squad who went to an eye clinic this afternoon. The complaint: a ten-day countdown had appeared before his eyes!”
“The United States branch reports that a Black man named Aodebiao in Florida went to the police station and reported that he would transmigrate in ten days. The police have since jailed him for disturbing public order.”
“We’ve received a report from Pasta Country...”
As one report after another was confirmed, Liu Wenjun’s expression grew increasingly grave.
People in countries across Blue Star had all begun seeing a ten-day countdown before their eyes that very afternoon. It matched Lu Yang’s account perfectly!
As the clock hand moved toward nine,
Liu Wenjun instinctively glanced at his phone. A news notification suddenly appeared on the screen.
【Great Xia News: At 8:56 p.m. Capital time, Fu City Volcano in Sakura Country suddenly erupted. This is its first eruption in more than three hundred years. Many residents have already died, and our station’s reporters are continuing to cover the situation on the scene...】
Looking at the news notification on his phone,
Liu Wenjun’s breathing grew increasingly rapid, and the hand holding his phone trembled slightly.
It matched... It really matched!
“Elder Wang, this is Xiao Liu from the Ministry of State Security. I have an important situation to report to you!”