161: Chapter 161 After Resignation

That evening, Chen Youhua returned to his room at the guesthouse.

On the laptop screen on the table, a complex set of transient data for divertor heat load was displayed.

Just then, his phone, placed to the side, rang, breaking the quiet of the room.

He glanced at the caller ID.

It was Wang Zhe.

Chen Youhua picked up the phone and answered. Before he could speak, Wang Zhe's familiar voice came through.

"Youhua, what's going on with you? Half a month has almost passed since the New Year, and we haven't seen a trace of you?

You're not still at home being surrounded by your aunts and uncles for blind dates, are you? The A-705 Laboratory is waiting for you to come back and take charge!"

Chen Youhua held the phone a little further from his ear and smiled helplessly.

"No. I'm over here in HF. I have something to take care of, so I came to check it out."

"HF?" Wang Zhe's voice immediately rose.

"My goodness! How did you end up there?

I knew it! With your usual personality, you should have been holed up in the A-705 Laboratory by now. With no news for so long, I thought something had happened to you!"

"What could happen?" Chen Youhua's tone was calm.

"There's a collaborative project here, involving data verification for a large-scale device. I came to learn and exchange ideas.

As for the A-705 Laboratory, you and Li Wei can handle it. You push forward with the regular progress, and if there are any major problems you can't solve, then find me."

"Oh, a collaborative project, alright then."

Wang Zhe's tone relaxed, and he began to report on the work.

"Actually, there's nothing major, just reporting the progress to you. Didn't I propose an idea during the previous meeting?

It was about skipping the in vitro culture dish link and attempting to directly implant artificial neurons into living organisms to observe the possibility of their autonomous chemotactic linking.

Li Wei has almost completed the preliminary safety verification, and we plan to start the first batch of mouse experiments next week."

Chen Youhua was not surprised by this. Wang Zhe had always been steady and reliable, and Li Wei was meticulous, so their cooperation could effectively control risks.

"Okay, this direction can be explored. Proceed with your idea.

Be sure to record all process data, especially immune rejection reactions and the noise level of initial neural signal transmission."

"Don't worry, the data records will be absolutely comprehensive!"

Wang Zhe assured him, then seemed to remember something, and his tone became slightly more formal.

"By the way, the A-705 Laboratory has been running normally recently, no unexpected issues.

Just let us know when you'll be back. After all, you're the person in charge, and everyone is a little uneasy with you not here."

"It's good that things are normal. I'll go back as soon as I finish up here," Chen Youhua said.

Chen Youhua said.

He chatted briefly with Wang Zhe about daily A-705 Laboratory matters, then ended the call.

Putting down the phone, Chen Youhua's thoughts drifted.

He suddenly remembered the Researcher who had insisted on resigning before the New Year.

This person was like a tiny thorn, seemingly insignificant, but who knew if it would cause trouble at some point.

He picked up his phone again, unlocked it, and directly opened an app with an extremely simple design, featuring only an abstract icon.

This was the mobile interface for enlightenment.

The screen instantly lit up, and a Q-version mini enlightenment figure, with clear facial features, bounced out, hands on hips, speaking in a lively and slightly smug tone.

"Good evening, Father! What's up?

Do you have some complex supercomputing data that enlightenment needs to help verify again?"

Chen Youhua asked directly.

"Not data. I want to ask.

What about that Researcher who resigned from our A-705 Laboratory before the New Year?

Wang Ming, how is he doing now? Any news?"

"Oh! You mean that silly guy who secretly took a lot of data, thinking he'd found a treasure?"

enlightenment drew out its words, making a dismissive pouting expression on the screen.

"He's already been caught! He's done for!"

"What happened? Tell me in detail." Chen Youhua pressed.

"Okay!" enlightenment immediately perked up and began to describe it vividly.

"The day he resigned, he left ZJ and took a high-speed train south to S City.

In the days after arriving at his destination, he used cash to buy prepaid phone cards, frequently changed communication devices, and attempted to use public networks for encrypted communication."

enlightenment rolled its eyes.

"Too bad, his little tricks are like child's play in front of professionals."

enlightenment's tone carried a hint of mockery.

"He thought he was just guarding against us? Too naive!

From the moment he resigned, enlightenment wasn't the only one watching him!"

"After that, he contacted people overseas online, discussing selling the information he had. But he was afraid they would cheat him, and even if he sold it, as long as he was discovered, Rabbit Country wouldn't tolerate him."

"So the only way was to go abroad and sell the information, but he couldn't use normal channels to leave the country. Later, he went to YN Province and wandered around a small border county for several days, probably trying to find a way to go abroad.

He contacted several people who looked like they had connections, haggling over prices."

At this point, enlightenment's image leaned closer to the screen and whispered.

"But, at least two of those so-called human traffickers he contacted were actually our own people disguised from the beginning! Just waiting for him to take the bait!"

"He finally chose one that seemed the most reliable, paid a hefty sum, and agreed to follow a guide along a secluded mountain path early the next morning."

enlightenment's image shrugged, its tone becoming relaxed.

"And then, there was no 'then'!

He had barely followed the person into the woods for ten minutes, hadn't even seen where the path was, when he was tackled to the ground by people who had been lying in ambush! Caught red-handed! He was completely stunned at the time, never expecting it to turn out this way."

"Now, he's probably in some quiet place, thoroughly and in detail explaining everything he knows, and who instructed and assisted him."

Chen Youhua listened, his face expressionless. This was the outcome he had long anticipated. Even if he hadn't asked enlightenment to handle it, someone would have been watching his every move.

After all, the funding for the prosthetic limb project was approved by Rabbit Country, and the results produced with that money also belonged to Rabbit Country.

Rabbit Country would never allow someone to succeed in selling information for personal glory and wealth.

He nodded and said faintly.

"Understood. Continue to pay attention to relevant information and inform me promptly if there are any new developments."

"Understood, Father! Mission accomplished!"

enlightenment saluted, then looked eagerly at Chen Youhua from the phone.

"Um... Father, when are you coming back to ZJ? enlightenment still wants to play games with you!"

"I'll be back soon, just need to finish up this period first." Chen Youhua replied.

He then exited the app, and the phone screen dimmed.

Chen Youhua thought for a moment. There was still a Navier-Stokes Equation report meeting in March. He had been in HF for almost a week now. It was likely that Academician Zheng would soon urge him to return to ZJ in a few days.