The base was shrouded in darkness.
Just as Qian Siming’s fingers touched the yellowed leather notebook on Lin Su’s desk, several dark figures emerged from the corner of the office like ghosts.
Before he could even react, he was pinned to the ground, his cheek pressed against the cold cement floor, the blinding beam of the flashlight shining directly onto his face, which was contorted with terror.
Gu Beichen stepped out of the shadows with steady steps.
He didn’t look at Qian Siming, but instead looked at Lin Su, who came out from the inner room.
“Translator Gu, please check if any items are missing or damaged.” His voice was businesslike, devoid of any emotion, as if he had just apprehended not a lurking spy, but merely completed a routine procedure.
Lin Su stepped forward, her gaze sweeping across the table before finally settling on the miniature camera and magnetic storage device that had been confiscated by Gu Beichen’s men.
She picked up her notebook, checked it carefully, and then nodded slightly to Gu Beichen.
“The items are intact. Thank you for your hard work, Commander Gu.” Her response was equally concise and distant, just like she would to any colleague she had worked with to complete the task.
Between the two was Qian Siming, who had been subdued. The only thing in the air was the dust flying in the beams of flashlights; there was no extra emotional exchange between them.
The lights in the interrogation room were blindingly bright.
Qian Siming sat in the chair, and after the initial panic, there was a deathly silence.
Gu Beichen sat opposite him, his military uniform impeccably pressed, his face cold and stern, like an iceberg that would never melt.
Platoon Leader Zhan was taking notes, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
“Qian Siming, you’ve been caught red-handed. What do you have to say?” Gu Beichen asked, his voice low but carrying immense weight.
Qian Siming raised his head, his eyes flickering behind his glasses, attempting a final struggle: “I… I just remembered that some data needed to be checked, and when I saw that the translator’s office light was still on, I thought…”
“You think you can use special tools to pick locks and professional equipment to copy data?” Gu Beichen interrupted him, his tone devoid of sarcasm, only coldly stating his opinion.
“Do you think the base’s security is a joke, or do you think I, Gu Beichen, am a fool?”
He waved his hand, and Platoon Leader Zhan immediately laid out the evidence one by one: lock-picking tools, camera, and memory device.
The evidence is irrefutable.
Qian Siming’s shoulders slumped, but he was still unwilling to give up: “Who says these things can’t be brought to the office? Where is there a written rule?!”
“I’m a veteran researcher, after all. What could I possibly have to steal from such a young girl?”
Gu Beichen hadn’t expected Qian Siming to be so shameless. He sneered, “Your algorithm has a backdoor, doesn’t it? You mole?!”
The word “mole” made Qian Siming’s face turn pale instantly, and his hands and feet trembled. How could this person know?
But he still argued, “What mole? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Gu Beichen sneered: “If you weren’t a mole, you should have asked me, ‘What is a mole?’ instead of saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.'”
Qian Siming’s expression changed, his lips trembled, but he ultimately gave up.
He covered his face with his hands, letting out a sob like a trapped animal.
“Why?” Gu Beichen asked the most crucial question.
Given Qian Siming’s qualifications, there’s really no need for him to take this risk.
At his age, if he were to retire, he could enjoy the benefits of an academician. Why would he do something that would damage his reputation?
After a long silence, Qian Siming finally raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed and his voice hoarse: “My son… he’s abroad, being controlled by them…”
Gu Beichen flipped through the documents: “But your documents show that your son was reportedly already dead when he went abroad to study on a government scholarship.”
My son is dead, so how come there’s another son? Is he an illegitimate child?
Platoon Leader Zhan looked Qian Siming up and down without any restraint, as if he were looking at a scumbag.
Qian Siming’s face flushed red: “He, he didn’t die, but wanted to stay abroad.”
Gu Beichen understood. So he had gone abroad to study, but found the grass was greener on the other side and wanted to stay, so he faked his death.
This feigned death is tantamount to handing over leverage to others, so of course they’d have to help him out!
“They said… as long as I regularly provide information on the base’s technological developments, especially regarding the research direction of the ancient translators, they can ensure my son’s safety and provide him with the best research resources…”
Qian Siming’s voice was filled with pain and regret, “They’ve been pressing us harder and harder lately, specifically asking for Ms. Su Qingluan’s notebook… I, I had no choice…”
He confessed that the “shepherd” showed an unusual interest in the research legacy of Lin Su’s mother, Su Qingluan, believing that it contained a key technological breakthrough called “Project Dawn”.
His mission was to acquire it at all costs.
Gu Beichen sneered: “Maybe at first you were really doing it for your son, but later it was because of the high reward they offered? I suppose your son has a house and a car by now, right?”
Gu Beichen’s words shocked Qian Siming: “You, how did you know?”
“When you proudly left a backdoor and even provocatively wrote down your code name ‘Mole,’ and when you unreservedly taught your old friends how to leave backdoors, your conscience had already been corrupted by money.”
Qian Siming opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn’t say anything. If it was just to make his son feel better, he really didn’t need to go to this extent.
But he taught his skills to all the technicians, which meant he wasn’t leaving the base any way out.
He did everything he shouldn’t have, following orders from the other side, leaving a fatal hidden danger for the entire base.
If Gu the translator hadn’t come, if Gu Beichen hadn’t come, the base would be a sieve.
If the things we’ve painstakingly researched here are stolen by the shepherds, the loss to the country would be enormous.
Qian Siming broke down in tears. He felt ashamed of his teacher’s teachings; how could he have acted against his conscience?!
Initially, he was forced to betray his son because of his safety concerns, but the shepherd, with both the stick and the reward, gradually succumbed to the corrupting influence of money.
He gradually forgot his original intentions, and became complacent because no one had noticed him. His confidence swelled, and he went out of control.
The interrogation lasted until the early hours of the morning. When Qian Siming pressed his fingerprint on the statement and was taken away, he seemed to have aged twenty years in an instant.
Indeed, one wrong step leads to a series of wrong steps.
Gu Beichen walked out of the interrogation room, rubbing his temples. His eyes were bloodshot from the continuous high-intensity work.
He had just stepped into the corridor when he saw Lin Su standing by the window at the end, seemingly waiting for him.
She turned around, the moonlight outlining her slender figure, her expression remaining calm.
“He confessed everything?” she asked.
“Mm.” Gu Beichen walked to her side and stood shoulder to shoulder with her, looking at the night view outside the window, maintaining a just-right social distance between them.
“He was coerced by the ‘Shepherd’ for his son’s sake. The target was your mother’s notebook and the so-called ‘Dawn Project’.”
He briefly recounted Qian Siming’s confession without embellishment or showing any personal sympathy.
Lin Su listened quietly, and only let out a soft breath after he finished speaking.
“I understand. It’s a pity the shepherd discovered we were tracking him, otherwise we could have found him too.”
When Lin Su was tracking them, she must have alerted the shepherd. The shepherd probably knew that something had happened to the mole here, so he cut everything off over there.
The shepherds’ technology is better than theirs; once they cut it off, she can’t track it anymore.
What a pity!
However, Lin Su paused for a moment and then said, “Thank you.”
This “thank you” was still polite but distant.
“It’s my duty.” Gu Beichen’s response was equally restrained. He hesitated for a moment before reminding him in his capacity as the head of security.
“The ‘Shepherd’s’ target is clearly your and your mother’s estate. Security measures will be fully upgraded in the future, which may cause you some inconvenience. Please understand.”
“I understand, work comes first.” Lin Su nodded, indicating that she accepted the arrangement.
The conversation seemed to have reached a point where there was no need to continue. The two fell into a brief silence, with only the ticking of the second hand of the clock on the corridor wall.
“It’s getting late, let’s go back and rest.” In the end, Lin Su spoke first, ending this brief exchange.
“Okay,” Gu Beichen replied.
The two walked one after the other in opposite directions down the corridor, their footsteps echoing clearly and lonely in the empty hallway.
If Lin Su turned around, she would see that Gu Beichen was actually walking backwards, his eyes filled with longing as he looked at her back.
Gu Beichen waited until Lin Su’s figure was out of sight before returning to his office and beginning to write the case closure report for his superiors.
In his report, he objectively recorded the key role Lin Su played in this incident, including her accurate technical judgment and calm cooperation.
He wrote meticulously, with precise wording, as if he were describing a trustworthy comrade-in-arms.
When Lin Su returned to her dormitory, she closed the door and leaned against the cold door panel before allowing herself to show even a little bit of exhaustion.
She raised her hand, looking at her fingers that were trembling slightly from holding the pen for so long. What flashed through her mind was Gu Beichen’s bloodshot yet still sharp eyes outside the interrogation room.
But it was only for a moment. She took a deep breath, straightened her back, and suppressed all her chaotic emotions back into her heart.
The high walls built by the West will not collapse just because of a successful collaboration.
Between them lies too much of the past and an unspeakable present.
The immediate crisis has been temporarily averted, but they all know that an even bigger storm is yet to come.
One of them needs to hold fast to their scientific research position, and the other needs to defend the country’s security; that’s all.