Homo Sapiens

America. San Francisco International Airport.

The plane touched down.

Lin Yulong, who had been in charge of arranging the itinerary, took them to their pre-booked hotel. The plan was to rest for three days and get over their jet lag.

San Francisco, however, was not their final destination.

This time, their mentor Iron Holly’s academic exchange was with an old friend of his, Dr. Zhang Feng from MIT.

The man was highly accomplished in CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology and was one of the first researchers to apply it to human and animal genes.

In his own research on CRISPR-Cas9, Li Qingye had drawn inspiration from many of Dr. Zhang Feng’s papers and ideas.

Since MIT was in Boston on America’s East Coast, and San Francisco was on the West Coast, they still needed to catch a connecting flight to Boston.

In his hotel room.

Li Qingye had a room to himself. As soon as he entered, he opened his suitcase and pulled out three miniature listening devices.

He then took out his phone, set it to silent mode, and glanced at his watch. It was 1:00 PM, North American time.

A short while later, the hotel delivered his lunch. He casually handed the server a note along with a one-hundred-dollar tip.

My throat is sore, so it’s hard for me to speak. I need to rest and adjust to the time difference tonight, so you don’t need to bring me dinner. Thanks.

The blonde server smiled as she tucked the tip into her blouse. ”Okay, my pleasure. Enjoy your lunch.”

Li Qingye gave a wave, and the blonde server closed the door behind her.

He quickly finished the milk and bacon sandwich. He knew Golden Hair and Squint were in the room below, while Tian Nanxing was in the room next door.

He drew the curtains, showered, and changed his clothes. He then left a letter for his mentor. About twenty minutes passed.

Setting his suitcase aside, he took out a small recorder and pressed the play button. The sound of heavy snoring filled the room.

Standing before the door, he activated his extrasensory perception.

Six minutes later, he gently opened and closed the door, then silently made his way to the fire stairs and left directly through the hotel’s first-floor lobby.

Under the shade of a tree outside the hotel.

He casually hailed a taxi.

”Where to, pal?”

”The nearest UBS branch.”

”Okay.” The driver could tell Li Qingye wasn’t in the mood to chat, so he didn’t ask any questions and just hit the gas.

California Street.

The UBS branch.

After paying the fare and adding a ten-dollar tip, Li Qingye, carrying only his ID and bank card, entered the UBS branch.

”Sir, how may I help you?” a smiling, short-haired female employee in a uniform approached him.

”I need to make a withdrawal. A large sum.”

Hearing those two words, the employee’s smile grew even sweeter. ”This way, sir.”

In the VIP room, in addition to the short-haired employee, there was a portly, middle-aged man who was bald on top.

The portly man smiled and said, ”Sir, please enter the card number.”

[601277-6]

”Please enter the account number.”

[CH04-0015-5713-7706-7410S]

”Oh...” The portly man’s eyes lit up, and his smile became even brighter. ”Please enter your password.”

[387****371]

[Password correct.]

”Sir, your total account balance is 183,672,300 US dollars. How much would you like to withdraw?” the portly man continued.

Li Qingye was perfectly calm. ”Set me up with a bank card that can be used internationally and transfer 10 million US dollars to it.”

”Okay.” The portly man immediately instructed the female employee to issue Li Qingye an unregistered UBS Bank card.

As Li Qingye sipped his afternoon tea, he received the brand-new bank card. The portly man then asked attentively, ”Sir, is there anything else UBS can do for you?”

”How does your immigration service work?”

The portly man replied with practiced ease, ”Immigration? Not a problem. However, I wouldn’t recommend America. Places like Canada, New Zealand, or Northern Europe are more suitable.”

”Let’s go with the Northern Europe region, then. What’s the fastest I can get it?”

”I can arrange it through the VIP channel. One month.”

Li Qingye continued nonchalantly, ”Mm, I’d like to take a trip to Transvaal today. I just don’t want to fly commercial. It needs to be confidential. Money is not an issue.”

”Please, leave it to our company. I will arrange a private jet for you, taking off within two hours. Absolutely no one will know your whereabouts. Customer satisfaction is our company’s mission.”

’So this is capitalism,’ Li Qingye thought. ’Money really does make the world go ’round.’

’Of course, the so-called ”absolute confidentiality” should be taken with a grain of salt.’

’Perhaps lesser powers couldn’t pry information from UBS, but if a global heavyweight like America wanted to know something, the bank couldn’t possibly refuse—not unless it wanted to go out of business.’

But Li Qingye also understood that, at the very least, Du Shuping and his people’s reach didn’t extend to North America and Europe.

「As the sun set.」

A new, special flight was quickly added to the schedule at San Francisco’s international airport. A Gulfstream private jet landed and took off discreetly.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Golden Hair and Squint were still listening to the endless snoring. Although they took turns monitoring the feed, the incessant droning was starting to get on their nerves.

「Noon the next day.」

The sound of a server knocking on the door, followed by a surprised and uncertain voice, gave Golden Hair, who was on monitoring duty, a bad feeling. ”Something’s happened. Quick, get that kid Tian Nanxing to go check it out.”

Squint quickly sent a text message to Tian Nanxing.

The groggy Tian Nanxing, hearing his phone’s notification sound, sobered up a bit. He grabbed his phone to look, then shot up with a start.

Without bothering to change, he ran out of his room still in his pajamas.

The door to Li Qingye’s room next door was wide open. A female server was holding a walkie-talkie, reporting the situation to the hotel manager.

”Excuse me, what happened?”

Seeing Tian Nanxing’s Asian face, the server asked, ”Sir, is the guest in this room with your party?”

”Yes, he’s my classmate.”

”Oh, thank God.” The server patted her chest. ”The guest left a letter, a suitcase, and a recorder. You’d better take a look.”

A flash of panic crossed Tian Nanxing’s eyes. He walked into the room and saw the recorder and a letter on the bedside table, along with the suitcase to the side. He had a feeling that things were far beyond what he had imagined.

He quickly opened the envelope.

Boss, no need to worry. I’m on my way to Toronto. I’ll meet up with you all in Boston in a little while. Please look after my suitcase for me. —Li Qingye, May 23.

’Damn it...’ Tian Nanxing wasn’t an idiot.

Soon, his mentor Iron Holly and Lin Yulong also rushed to the room. After reading the letter, the mentor didn’t say much, only instructing, ”Put away Qingye’s things. He’s in a bad mood. Just let him be.”

Downstairs in their room, Golden Hair and Squint’s faces darkened the moment they received Tian Nanxing’s report.

When he thought about how he’d listened to snoring all night long, Golden Hair couldn’t stop himself from swearing, ”Son of a bitch!”

”We’ve been made,” Squint said, his brow furrowed.

Golden Hair of course knew they’d been made. If Li Qingye had merely left without a word, that might not mean anything. But the fact that he deliberately used a recorder to play snoring sounds obviously meant he had found the bugs in his suitcase.

”What now? Are we supposed to go to Toronto?”

Squint shook his head. ”Do you really think he went to Toronto?”

Golden Hair’s expression froze.

Squint waved his hand dismissively. ”Let’s just report to the boss. Trying to find him in North America is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Better to let them deal with the headache.”

”Fuck... there goes my bonus...” Golden Hair said, looking utterly dejected.