Great Power Reclamation

Chapter 2968 A Surprise for the Enemy
Harrington decided to stop waiting for legal proceedings and launched an extreme "cyber purge" operation codenamed "Purification".

The goal is to completely paralyze or destroy the data center through a cyberattack and obtain as much core data as possible from it.

A silent cyber war has begun in the virtual space.

A top-tier hacking team hired by Agshi launched a massive attack using an unknown zero-day vulnerability.

They attempted to hack into the server, tamper with, steal, or even directly format the data.

Ye Yuze's cybersecurity team, led by an expert codenamed "Firewall," was already on high alert.

Upon detecting the attack, they immediately activated a multi-layered defense and decoy system.

In the virtual world, data is transferred rapidly through encrypted channels, and attack traffic is directed to disguised "honeypot" servers.

The actual core database had been automatically sharded and transferred to backup nodes located in different corners of the world in the minutes before the attack began, according to the pre-set emergency plan.

The attack lasted for several hours, and the data center in Eastern Europe appeared to have been severely damaged, with service interrupted and some peripheral data lost.

However, the core data and algorithms of the "Digital Tower of Babel" remain intact.

Operation "Purification" failed. However, this attack also exposed Ye Yuze's cyber defense capabilities and organizational sophistication, making Harrington even more convinced that he was facing a professional adversary with state-level support.

“They are not ordinary corporate spies, Harrington.”

His technical advisor warned him, "Their reaction speed, defense strategies, and data migration capabilities far surpass those of typical commercial organizations. We may be embroiled in a more complex game."

Harrington's face darkened. "I don't care who's behind them. If cyberattacks won't work, let's deal with it physically. Find their people, find their hideouts, and do it the most direct way possible!"

Although the "purification" attack was thwarted, it signifies that the conflict has escalated to a new and more dangerous level.

The other party has begun to use unconventional cyberattack methods, and the next step may be a direct physical threat.

Ye Yuze knew that California, his stronghold which he had built up over the years, was no longer safe.

It's like a bright lighthouse, attracting the attention of all enemies. It's time to "shed our skin" once again.

This evacuation needs to be more thorough and more silent.

They began to manage the farm's assets in an orderly manner.

The dugout experience camp was "transferred" to a third-party cultural company that was secretly controlled by Ye Yuze and had no apparent connection with the company.

Most of the farm’s land and facilities were subdivided and sold, with only the smallest core area retained as “private residences.”

All sensitive equipment, data storage devices, and experimental materials were transported out of the United States in batches through different channels.

Some of the produce was transported to Chen Hao's ranch in South America by cargo ships, mixed in with ordinary agricultural products, while the rest was transported via more clandestine routes.

After transiting through a third-party country, the final destination was a highly confidential underground biosafety laboratory newly built by Junken Seed Industry in a certain location in Northwest China.

Personnel also began to disperse and relocate. Core technical and research personnel, using various "reasonable" reasons—

Due to family reasons, better job opportunities, and the desire for further education, many left the United States and returned to China, joining the military-affiliated seed industry or its related research institutions.

A small number of key members were dispersed to new locations in South America and Southeast Asia for the "Seed Ark" project.

Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong themselves planned a perfect "closing performance".

They made a high-profile announcement that they would be closing their California farm operations due to personal reasons and world travel plans, and held a grand "farewell carnival".

In front of the media cameras, they bid a reluctant farewell to tourists and employees, as if they were just two ordinary businessmen who had achieved success and were ready to enjoy life.

After the carnival ended, the two embarked on their "round-the-America trip" in a modified RV.

They knew that there must be someone, either an agent of Agshi or someone from some organization, following behind this RV.

Their travels were aimless, sometimes taking them to national parks, sometimes stopping in small towns.

The stalkers were exhausted from their efforts, but they could never find any evidence against them.

Several months later, on a stormy night, the tracking vehicle temporarily lost its target due to the weather.

When they re-locked onto the RV at the next intersection, they discovered through a telephoto lens that the driver's seat was occupied by two completely unfamiliar Asian faces wearing hats and with similar builds to Ye Yang and his companion.

Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong had already taken advantage of the rainy night and the pre-arranged rendezvous to slip away unnoticed. They boarded a plane at a small private airport, flew over the Caribbean, and finally arrived quietly in the coffee kingdom.

When Harrington received the report that the target had been lost, he angrily smashed the coffee cup on the table.

He knew that he had failed once again, and had failed even more thoroughly.

Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong vanished without a trace, as if they had evaporated. The California farm was reduced to an empty shell, and all clues had been lost.

Six months later, in the coffee kingdom of Mato Grosso.

Chen Hao's "Oasis Agriculture" ranch has doubled in size.

Deep within the ranch, a more concealed and advanced underground laboratory, converted from a natural cave, has been put into use.

Here, data from the global network is gathered to continue training the "Digital Tower of Babel" model, while also utilizing South America's rich biological resources to conduct new field verification studies.

Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong stood on the ranch's watchtower, looking at the boundless Serado grassland under the setting sun.

There is no hustle and bustle or showmanship of California farms here, only a more primitive and expansive tranquility.

"This is the real dugout."

Yang Geyong took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of grass and earth, and said.

Ye Yuze nodded: "Yes, deeper, more hidden, and closer to the 'seed' we need."

He opened his tablet, which displayed the latest progress report on the "Digital Tower of Babel".

The model has achieved an accuracy rate of over 80% in predicting the drought resistance of certain crops.

“Agassi will not stop, and other giants will join the encirclement.”

Ye Yuze said calmly, "But we have already established new positions outside their walls. From the Americas to Africa, from rainforests to grasslands, the 'Seed Ark' has set sail."

“What we need to do is to help these ‘dugouts’ scattered all over the world take root and grow, forming a forest that they can’t destroy.” Yang Geyong grinned and patted the modified equipment box next to him, which was now more suitable for field operations: “This time, the pits we’ve dug are spread all over the world!”

The setting sun cast their shadows across the vast South American landscape, their long shadows seemingly blending into this vibrant and challenging new land.

The California legend is now history, and a new, more secretive and magnificent chapter for the Seed Ark has just begun.

Using the technology of the barbarians to subdue the barbarians, and using global resources to nourish the crops of China, they will continue down this thorny path.

The "Oasis Agriculture" ranch in Mato Grosso, the coffee kingdom, is located 15 meters underground.

This place is completely different from the rudimentary "dugouts" on California farms.

After careful design and huge investment, an underground biological and information fortress covering nearly 1,000 square meters has taken shape.

The air is filtered through multiple layers to maintain a constant temperature and humidity, with the background being the low hum of the server cluster and the subtle sound of the liquid cooling system running water.

On the huge screen, countless gene sequences, protein structure models, environmental parameters, and algorithm iteration logs flowed like a waterfall.

This is the new core node of the "Digital Babel" project in South America, codenamed "Root Server".

Ye Yuze stood in front of the central control console, staring at the constantly fluctuating accuracy curve on the screen—that was the AI ​​model's prediction performance on a series of disease resistance traits of local South American crops, which had stabilized at over 85%.

This means one thing: the "Digital Tower of Babel" is no longer just a data warehouse and analysis tool; it has begun to possess a certain degree of "creativity".

"Old Yang, look here."

Ye Yuze pointed to a gene fragment highlighted by AI, "The model infers that this fragment, which comes from a certain wild Brazil nut, may be related to soybean's resistance to a new type of rust disease. This is an association that we have not noticed in any of our previous laboratory studies and literature."

Yang Geyong leaned closer to look at the string of base letters that looked like cryptic writing, then shrugged:

"I don't understand. Just tell me, can this thing help our soybeans produce more pods and require less pesticide?"

"Theoretically, yes. And if the model is correct, its resistance could be more durable than any existing commercial variety."

Ye Yuze's eyes gleamed. "This is just the beginning. The 'Tower of Babel' is helping us 'read' the 'code' written by nature over billions of years of evolution, which we have not yet understood."

Chen Hao walked out of the tissue culture room next door, holding a transparent petri dish containing several tender green seedlings.

"Boss, based on the third gene-editing protocol predicted by AI, our first batch of confirmatory soybean tissue culture seedlings, under simulated rust conditions, had a 70% higher survival rate than the control group! That's amazing!"

The results are encouraging, but the risks are also increasing daily. They can sense that the invisible search network is tightening.

After losing its target in California, Agassi's "Deep Plow" operation shifted its focus to unusual biological data flows and resource collection activities on a global scale.

Harrington firmly believes that Ye Yuze's team must rely on a vast network, and that this network will inevitably leave traces whenever it is active.

They have intensified their monitoring of access patterns to international academic databases, tracked the transnational movement of specific biological samples, and even begun analyzing satellite images of some remote areas (such as the Amazon basin and the Sahel region of Africa) to search for possible illegal field experimental fields.

One day, Chen Hao received a warning phone call from a "partner" in São Paulo.

The other party has an insider in the environmental protection department of the coffee kingdom, who revealed that someone is anonymously reporting "Oasis Agriculture," accusing it of illegally collecting and exporting protected Amazon genetic resources under the guise of agricultural development, and possibly conducting unapproved biological experiments.

"They don't have any concrete evidence yet, but the investigation process could begin soon."

Chen Hao reported to Ye Yuze with a grave expression, "Once the authorities get involved, even if it's just a routine inspection, it will be difficult for our underground facilities to be completely concealed."

Ye Yuze paused for a moment, then issued the command: "Activate the 'Root System Distributed' protocol. Synchronously back up the core database and algorithm model of 'Tower of Babel' to our nodes in West Africa and Southeast Asia."

All key physical samples, especially the descendants of the 'ghost cassava,' were immediately divided in preparation for transfer to alternative locations. Chen Hao, you're prepared to deal with the official paperwork; all formalities must be flawless.

"Understood!" Chen Hao nodded and immediately went to make the arrangements.

Yang Geyong stroked his chin: "Looks like Agxi's dog nose has caught on. Shouldn't we find them something else to keep them busy?"

Ye Yuze smiled slightly: "That's right. We can't always be on the defensive. It's time to give our old friend Mr. Harrington a 'surprise'."

Ye Yuze's so-called "surprise" was an extremely bold counterattack plan, codenamed "Mirror Image".

The core of the plan was "reverse data injection." Ye Yuze's team used the powerful simulation capabilities of "Digital Babel" and combined it with information they had about the technical weaknesses and research paths of companies such as Agxi to carefully fabricate a series of "research data" and "internal communication fragments."

These data were designed to be extremely enticing: they seemed to point to an “accidental discovery” of a new maize trait that could “revolutionize” reducing nitrogen fertilizer use while slightly increasing yield.

The data appears authentic enough, but it also contains several extremely subtle logical traps and experimental design flaws that are difficult to detect in the short term.

If the other party believes this and invests a lot of resources to follow up, they will either gain nothing and waste huge amounts of R&D funds, or they will continue down the wrong path and only discover the fallacy of the basic assumptions much later, thus missing the opportunity.

These fabricated data were "leaked" through several carefully selected "neutral" research forums and preprint server accounts that seemed to have no connection with Ye Yuze's team.

The leak was designed to mimic a scenario where an internal researcher is dissatisfied with company policy or makes an unintentional mistake, making it seem very natural.

At the same time, Ye Yuze also used some business-related interference methods.

Through a complex network of offshore companies, he quietly acquired minority stakes in several small South American seed companies that competed with Agssie in the seed sales market.

Then, using these channels, a limited batch of "basic improved" soybean seeds, produced using early technology from Junken Seed Industry and with extremely low cost, were released to the market.

These seeds are not particularly outstanding in performance, but their prices are extremely competitive. They are mainly sold in peripheral areas where Agshe has a low market share. The purpose is not to make a profit, but to disrupt Agshe's pricing system and market layout, and to distract them.

These combined attacks may not be able to deal a fatal blow to Agxi in the short term, but they are like a few grains of sand being sprinkled into a precision machine. Although they are small, they are enough to cause continuous wear and tear and noise.

Sure enough, Harrington's team quickly detected the "leaked" data.

Initial analysis has excited the scientists at Agshi University about its immense potential value, but some have also raised cautious questions.

Harrington is in a dilemma: what if he misses a major opportunity if he doesn't follow suit?
I'm hesitant to follow up, but I'm worried it might be a trap.

Ultimately, under immense pressure to achieve performance targets, he decided to establish a secret project team to "rapidly validate" this technological path.

This was exactly what Ye Yuze wanted; a portion of Agxi's research and development resources were successfully misdirected.

The appearance of low-priced seeds on the market has also attracted the attention of Agssie's sales department.

Although the quantity was small, this "unsportsmanlike" competitive approach annoyed and confused them, forcing them to allocate some manpower for investigation and response.

Ye Yuze's proactive attack successfully created chaos within Agxi, buying valuable time for his own relocation and deployment.