Chapter 811

Chapter 811: Oak Ridge

Boom!

A loud sound erupted from the back of the business van, similar to a small earthquake, causing the van to shake slightly. Distant gasps could be heard in the background.

The two CIA agents fixed their eyes on the rearview mirror until the car door was pulled open again.

“Okay! Let’s go!”

Lin Mo stepped into the car with an expressionless face.

Boeing, bah!

“Uh! Sure, sure!”

Ivan Carter spoke with a trembling voice, still glancing nervously at the rearview mirror. The muscular man felt like Little Chicken in front of a fierce beast, dwarfed by the smaller Eastern man.

Charlie Mitchell swallowed hard, unable to speak as his legs trembled uncontrollably.

With the gear engaged, the van’s engine roared to life and sped away.

At the entrance of the lobby, a shiny black Audi A8 had a large terrifying dent on its hood, with a clear fist imprint at the bottom of the deep pit. Sparks flew from the car’s front, releasing smoke and a burnt smell.

The whole car seemed slightly warped.

“Hey! Sir!”

Airport security and police rushed over upon hearing the commotion. They pulled open the slightly deformed car door, releasing a choking foul odor. Inside sat a white man, as stiff as a statue, with a face locked in a terrifying expression.

If it weren’t for his chest rising and falling, one might think he died in the loud noise just moments ago.

“Brother? Are you Superman?”

Yang Shanshan covered her mouth, her eyes wide as she repeatedly glanced back at the poor Audi, which looked as though it had been punched by the Hulk, until it vanished from view. She clearly was extremely shocked.

What a nice car! And it was ruined just like that.

Not only her, but even the two CIA agents were visibly shaken. A sturdy Audi had been transformed into such a terrifying sight in an instant—it was hard to believe.

“Are you a bio-soldier or a half-mechanical warrior?”

Charlie Mitchell suddenly asked. In his pocket, a radio call device blinked with a signal light, relaying information to the business van and linking to satellites, collecting and sending clear sounds from within a two-meter radius.

How could a CIA business van be an ordinary vehicle? While it wasn’t a 007 Lotus, at least it had some special features.

“Bio-soldier? Half-mechanical warrior?”

Lin Mo looked puzzled; he had never heard these terms before.

Considering the vocabulary structure of English and Chinese, Charlie Mitchell repeated it in Chinese.

Now not only Lin Mo understood, but even Yang Shanshan also grasped the message, her eyes growing even wider.

Superman?

Bio-soldier?

Half-mechanical warrior?

Things were getting more absurd—maybe an Alien would show up next?

Was this still considered human?

The son of her stepfather went to join the army, and he ended up in such a terrifying profession. If he retired, would he even be able to come back to normal? If he gets married in the future, how could his wife handle it?

The little girl, who had never encountered the cruel side of the world, was frightened, her face turning pale. She couldn’t utter a word and quietly shifted back a bit, distancing herself from her brother.

Charlie Mitchell was astonished. “Aren’t you? You undergo biological genetic engineering to enhance your body, or you have mechanical limbs to become a half-robot, gaining great power.” Saying this, he couldn’t help but shiver, as if he was talking about something incredibly cruel and bloody.

If not, then what did he just witness? Was it a strange movie? A stunt? A special effect?

Or was that Audi simply made of paper?

Goodness!

They weren’t filming a Hollywood blockbuster.

Lin Mo rolled his eyes and said, “How is that possible! I am a pure human, Han ethnicity, not an elf, not a beastman, not a deity, and certainly not an alien, understand?”

Charlie stared intently at him, using his trained skills to closely observe Lin Mo’s micro-expressions, but he found no traces of deception, and Lin Mo’s reaction seemed completely normal—something he had never heard of.

“Really? Brother, you’re not kidding me, are you?”

Yang Shanshan let out a sigh of relief, her expression brightening considerably. She even recklessly wanted to pinch the Dragon Knight’s face to determine if this brother was, in fact, a Terminator, but she was met with Lin Mo’s glare and a light slap away.

The conversations inside the van rapidly got relayed outside and were transformed into text through a professional translation system. Along with the photos and recorded audio snippets taken from the airport entrance, it was all packed into an intelligence processing case and quickly forwarded to the department responsible for identification.

It was as if a production line was in action. A team of language experts and psychologists immediately started analyzing the case after receiving the relevant documents, ultimately concluding: Morin was not lying, the authenticity likelihood was 95%.

The CIA’s internal intelligence processing and analysis was highly efficient; it had only been one hour since Charlie asked Lin Mo these questions.

In the van, the silent Charlie Mitchell suddenly blinked as he received a command from headquarters: collect DNA samples from Morin, including hair, bodily fluids, or skin tissue.

Charlie Mitchell didn’t rush; he calmly exchanged a glance with the driver, Ivan Carter, in the rearview mirror.

An hour and a half after leaving the airport, the CIA business van, carrying Lin Mo and Yang Shanshan, arrived at a university on the outskirts of the city—George Washington University’s Vernon Campus.

As one of America’s top private universities located in the nation’s capital, Washington, it had students from over 130 countries, with more than twenty thousand students enrolled. Yang Shanshan’s mother, Yang Lian, had put in considerable effort to get her daughter into this university.

The Vernon Campus, where Yang Shanshan was enrolled, was established in 1997 following the merger of George Washington University and the Women’s College of Vernon.

With CIA agents paving the way, Lin Mo and Yang Shanshan had it much easier. Although the university didn’t know the true background of Yang Shanshan, they were cautious and treated her with utmost care, quickly processing her enrollment.

They spent some money to secure an independent dormitory, which was barely enough to fit all of Yang Shanshan’s luggage. It seemed that when the housekeeping company arrived, it would take at least a day to sort everything out.

The unfortunate younger sister’s college life had now officially begun, while the heartless brother left without looking back, following the two CIA agents.

With the CIA vehicle, Lin Mo felt at ease, heading straight to his destination.

The address Lin Mo was going to wasn’t particularly sensitive, yet it still made the two CIA agents break into a cold sweat.

In East Tennessee, in the emerging city of the Cumberland Mountains, Oak Ridge was where Lin Mo acquired the Ser engine.

To beat Germany in developing the atomic bomb, the United States initiated the Manhattan Project in 1942, with Oak Ridge being one of the primary locations. For a long time, workers here were completely isolated from the outside world, and the vast majority had no idea about the ultimate purpose of their work.

The level of secrecy surrounding Oak Ridge once surpassed that of Area 51; even though GPS systems could locate it, there were no correct address details. Earlier, the area was just left blank on maps.

It wasn’t until 1949 that the name Oak Ridge became public. Now, the city had over 30,000 residents and was mainly known for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which conducted research in nuclear energy and nuclear physics. There were also 45 universities collaborating on atomic research facilities and the American Museum of Atomic Energy.

Aside from still possessing some special military restricted areas, most of the region was no longer as secretive, allowing public access.

In fact, after completing the Manhattan Project, America’s nuclear industry facilities gradually moved elsewhere.

Americans understood the rule of not putting all their eggs in one basket.

Once they left Washington, Lin Mo called Bob Boyce, the seller of the Boyce Hydrogen-Oxygen Decomposition Tank. The seller was initially very cautious on the phone, but after confirming Lin Mo’s identity, he seemed to sigh in relief and his tone immediately warmed with surprise.

However, the seller’s situation had undergone some unexpected changes; a commercial energy company was pressuring inventor Bob Boyce to hand over the technology for the Boyce Hydrogen-Oxygen Decomposition Tank.

Their methods were quite underhanded, as they used various excuses through local banks to collect debts from Bob Boyce. They even involved the police in some bizarre cases, summoning him for questioning every few days, severely affecting his quality of life. His boss also unjustly fired him, and various pressures plunged his family into dire straits.

The message he conveyed was clear: they were only willing to pay a pittance or not at all to acquire the technology.

For unknown reasons, Bob Boyce could not apply for a patent, which meant the technology was not protected by the government.

The greatest threat to Bob Boyce came from the bank’s debt collection efforts. America has long been a country with a debt-consumption model; not carrying a burden of debt hardly made one a true American.

Ordinary people had long since grown accustomed to robbing Peter to pay Paul, earning some money only to see it vanish into the hands of bankers.

But Bob Boyce found himself facing a malicious “run on the bank.”

If he didn’t quickly repay all his debts, including his mortgage, within a month, it would not only tarnish his credit record but also lead to complete bankruptcy, leaving his family homeless.

Even then, with the miraculous 12-fold Hydrogen-Oxygen Decomposition technology at his disposal, it would be like sitting on a mountain of treasure that could not be used, and his own family would be dragged into it.