If the private jet made a turn toward another location, this aristocratic friend, who came from a very powerful political family in Country B, would surely be offended.
“This is indeed very good news,” Jeff exclaimed while suppressing his excitement.
“I’d love to see it now, but sadly, I’m currently not in an ideal place to open encrypted files.
I’ll be back at my office tomorrow evening, so you can send the files at seven.
Just call me to confirm.”
Sadly, due to the rules of the other party’s organization, he could only wait for a phone call from them.
They were never allowed to call them back, and even if they did try, they would not be able to reach them.
Those who tried had allegedly been blacklisted.
Jeff knew it was to ensure a high level of anonymity and security, so even if it was a pain in the ass, he still abided by the rules.
“As you wish, Mr.
Jeff.”
The call soon ended.
Jeff paced back and forth, feeling excited.
Finally!
His company could finally see the fruits of the long-term investments he had painstakingly fought for!
A few years ago, soon after he secured the investor slot for Phase 1 of the Neural-Link Project, Jeff began building a shell R&D facility to embezzle company funds so he could pay the investment rounds of this secret project.
Jeff endured the pressure from the board of directors, and at one point, he even had to pay a huge price to buy a BCI peripheral product from this secret organization operating in the dark web just to show the board of directors some results, which bought him some time.
Fortunately, he had gradually equipped the shell R&D facility in preparation for what was to come.
The organization would provide him with the encrypted data that contained the complete technology-transfer package.
According to the agreement, it would detail the technical specifications, manufacturing requirements, protocols, software, clinical data, and all other information that was necessary in order to reproduce and implement the groundbreaking technological product of Phase 1 of the Neural-Link Project.
From there, it would be Jeff’s responsibility to build the technology within the initial shell R&D facility, prepare the required documentation, and establish a legitimate framework.
Once everything was in place, Jeff would be able to present the technology to the public as an independently developed and legally compliant medical project, paving the way for officially sanctioned clinical trials, which were guaranteed to produce only good results, thus minimizing the ethical questioning from the public.
This Phase 1 Neural-Link technology could solve all his current problems, and those stinky old men who were busy causing trouble could finally shut up.
Jeff was very happy that his ambitions were finally about to be fulfilled.
His hard work in establishing connections just to receive an invitation from this organization finally paid off!
Humming a tune, Jeff went out with a wide grin.
Tony, holding the woman named Janet, who was now completely naked, on his lap, looked up with a lipstick-stained face and saw his friend’s happy expression.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Just a phone call and your mood changed so much.
You must have received some good news.”
Jeff laughed heartily.
“I have to thank you for this.
Remember the referral invitation you gave me back then, when you first introduced me to your dolls?”
Tony remembered.
The dolls at that time were especially beautiful and young, so fun to play with.
Sadly, they couldn’t last for a whole night.
But he had been so happy at the time, and seeing that his friend Jeff also enjoyed himself greatly, he felt that he had met a kindred spirit, so he introduced him to the black market organization where he ordered the dolls.
Tony knew that the products sold there were no simple things, so his interest was piqued.
“I remember.
Is that the time-limited project investment slot they sold?”
“It’s that one.
“Well, that project is totally unrelated to any of my businesses, and that was a wild card, with no estimated completion date.
It even asks for quarterly investments as a requirement.”
“Knowing you, you don’t care about those requirements.”
“Alright, you got me.
It’s because I’ve got something better I’m waiting for from them.
But isn’t it too fast?
The project is already done?”
Jeff looked at the backs of the two perceptive women who had retreated to the private bedroom.
They closed the door to give the two of them some privacy.
The attendant had also left the lounge.
Jeff picked up the remote on the table and turned on the flat-screen television embedded in the wall.
The sound of the evening news filled the air, covering the sounds of their conversation.
“I’m honestly surprised too.
I expected it to take at least a couple more years to start showing results, but to think they wrapped it all up so fast.
Their resources must be much more powerful and extensive than I thought…” Jeff’s voice trailed off, his gaze staying on the evening news playing on the television.
Tony nodded in response and pointed downward.
The underworld.
The dark side of society.
“They work down there, where laws can’t restrict them.
Naturally, they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Well, not that we plan to go against them.
My dad will kill me before they do.”
Tony’s father was also a customer of that organization operating on the dark web, and even held a higher VIP level.
“For it to be successful so fast, they must have a lot of resources at their disposal…” Jeff murmured again.
Resources like test subjects.
He stared meaningfully at the piece of news airing on the screen.
“Another missing-person notice.
There have been quite a lot these days.
The police must be under pressure.”
This sudden comment distracted Tony.
He glanced at the screen with disdain.
“Just small ants.
Who cares about them?
As long as the government doesn’t need to cover up any scandals, they won’t even bother paying attention to this trivial stuff.”
Jeff finally smiled again.
Indeed, who would care about ants?
If they were found useful, then that was their fate.
He did not do it himself, and the shell R&D company would only transform into a veritable laboratory that rigorously followed the rules that never once violated human rights.
….
….
Water filled every corner of her vision, but through the shifting refractions of light and shadow, Alice could vaguely see a large, spacious chamber filled with rows upon rows of sealed containers.
Each sealed container was filled with the same blue liquid.
On top of each container, a clear tube extended up and was attached to a long, enclosed glass pipe at regular intervals.
These long glass pipes reached to the center of the chamber, where a larger glass container was located.
The glass container was divided into two separate sections.
The upper section contained the blue liquid being fed to the glass pipes connected to the sealed containers, while the lower half looked like deeper and more viscous liquid, connected to another enclosed duct extending to somewhere else outside the chamber.
In the middle of the large glass container, embedded right on the thick glass panel separating the two sections, was a spherical vessel, and inside it was a blue gem with a jagged surface, as if it had been broken off directly from a raw ore.
Her pendant!
Gurgling out water, Alice’s cold and prone body came to life, and she struggled towards it.
A slender, fair hand slammed on a clear glass panel, entering her vision.
Alice froze suddenly, staring at the back of her hand.
These hands…
they did not belong to the hands of a child.
Her gaze lowered.
It was an unfamiliar female body, fair, smooth, and naked.
It was unlike the rough and scarred body she had in her previous life, nor was it like the small and undeveloped body of a child she had woken up in in this world.
Alice unconsciously opened her mouth in surprise.
Gurgle, gurgle.
Bubbles of blue water filled her vision, and she finally looked up.
How was she able to breathe underwater?
Where was this place?
Then her eyes settled on the other sealed glass containers neatly lined up in rows on both of her sides.
Her pupils dilated.
Inside each sealed container was a human body.
Alice was surrounded by countless human bodies floating in liquid.
Like her, they were all naked.
There were men and women, and the ages varied.
Everyone’s skin was pale white, as if they had not seen any sunlight at all.
What was strange was that each row that she could see was distinct from the others.
Alice’s row belonged to people with black hair.
The next row was blonde.
She could not see the other rows, but just as she tried to turn cautiously behind her—
She heard a faint knock.
The sound passed through the liquid around her, so it was muffled, but Alice stiffly turned her head over her shoulder to look behind her.
Outside the sealed glass container where she was, a magnified face was peering right at her, observing her with wide eyes, as if fascinated with what he was seeing.
Without thinking, Alice’s body tensed, her hands clenched into a fist, and using the momentum of her upper body turning around, she slammed a fist towards the face—
The glass container did not crack at all, but Alice’s consciousness began to turn hazy.
Amidst the bubbles filling the container, she clutched at her throat and bent down, and she lost consciousness.