Invasion of America

Chapter 39 Cruise Ship
In the evening, the golden sunset slowly sinks into the end of the sea and sky, casting the last ray of afterglow on the sparkling waves.

The Caribbean cruise ship slowly set sail in the twilight, its gilded bow breaking through the rosy sea, stirring up ripples.

The eighteen-deck ship towered into the clouds, and was covered with a layer of golden gauze under the afterglow of the setting sun.

On the third-floor main deck, Zhou Qingfeng leaned against the railing, facing the salty and humid sea breeze, admiring the sunset and gazing at the boundless darkness covering the world.

Morris from 'Apocalypse Creatures' was a bit sneaky, looking around Zhou Qingfeng, as if he was afraid of being seen.

A few days ago, Zhou Qingfeng found this guy and was willing to provide some help in exchange for him being an insider - no need for technical information, because ordinary people couldn't understand that stuff and it could easily cause trouble.

I just hope he can provide some inside information.

Morris also comes from a "small town test-taker" family. He is not lacking in intelligence and has a high salary, but he really lacks connections that can "help" him.

He was cautious and called Zhou Qingfeng with an unfamiliar number that night, but Zhou Qingfeng hung up immediately.

FBI Deputy Director Carl may still be monitoring the two people's numbers, so we must be on guard.

Zhou Qingfeng now has several mobile phones and corresponding numbers. One is public and can only be used to discuss general topics.

A Diaz from the Department of Homeland Security, with great confidentiality, but no secrets for Diaz.

There was also a handmade one from Gray Shark, a bit crude, that only allowed for making calls, sending text messages, and receiving emails. The encryption program was written by Gray Shark himself.

Zhou Qingfeng uses different mobile phones in different scenarios.

After the two reconnected, they chose a time to appear on the Caribbean cruise ship.

The band on the boat was playing a melodious tune, the notes drifting with the sea breeze and blending with the rhythm of the waves.

The lights on the deck lit up one after another, decorating the entire ship like stars in the night sky, bright and dreamy.

According to Morris's description, Apocalypse Bio's scientific research capabilities are actually very weak and it does not have much R&D capabilities. If you spend more than one billion US dollars to buy it, you will definitely be wasting your money.

Because there are too many Indians in the lab.

At the beginning, there was only one Indian person in the laboratory management, Professor Aamir Khan. Four years later, the number of Indian people in the laboratory reached three digits.

These guys made the lab a mess, with few results and a lot of trouble. If it weren't for the military's covert support, the lab would have closed down long ago.

The military's Project X was actually being conducted elsewhere, and Apocalypse Biotech was simply using illegal immigrants from White Beach to help conduct cheap "clinical trials."

This work is very "dirty" and seriously violates medical ethics. Any scientific researcher with a conscience will avoid it.

Therefore, there are not many valuable things in the laboratory, but Professor Aamir Khan borrowed military resources to set up a secret team to do private work.

That team is working on an extension of Project X. In the past six months, they've come up with some particularly interesting things, including a body-strengthening preparation that's worth paying attention to.

When Zhou Qingfeng heard the word "body strengthening," many memories flooded his mind. The mRNA vaccine for the X virus had a "body strengthening" effect, and he had been injected with it before.

This is also the reason why he brought Morris to the Caribbean cruise ship - Professor Aamir Khan would come to the cruise ship for vacation on the last weekend of every month for two days and one night.
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The casino on the cruise ship was extremely noisy, but it turned into annoying noise in Professor Aamir Khan's ears.

He stared at the bad cards in his hand, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead - he lost again. In less than half an hour, he had already thrown two or three thousand dollars on the table.

Just as he was tugging at his tie irritably, a waitress in a neat uniform quietly appeared beside him with a professional smile.

"Are you Mr. Aamir Khan? Congratulations on being the lucky customer on this Caribbean cruise. You will receive a free upgrade to a first-class ocean view cabin."

The professor in front of the gambling table was stunned for a moment, his aching head suddenly relaxed, and a look of surprise flashed in his cloudy eyes.

He looked at the waiter, then stood up suddenly, ignoring the harsh sound of his chair scraping against the floor, and shouted, "Free upgrade? Really? Hahaha!"

The laughter was particularly abrupt in the casino, attracting the attention of several gamblers nearby.

As a native Indian, Professor Aamir Khan has always believed in the philosophy of life that "if you don't take advantage, you will suffer losses" and he will not refuse any benefits.

He was completely immersed in his sudden good luck. He trotted out of the casino with the waiter and couldn't wait to pack his luggage in the second-class cabin.

When he pushed open the walnut door of the first-class cabin, an intense joy overwhelmed him.

The dazzling crystal chandelier illuminates the entire space, and underfoot is a soft pure cashmere carpet, making every step feel like stepping on clouds.

In the spacious living room, a set of leather sofas are elegantly placed in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, through which you can see the boundless sea.

"Sir, do you like it?" The waitress's voice was particularly sweet at this moment. She unbuttoned two buttons on her chest, revealing her hot body, and her every move exuded a fatal attraction.

"I like it, I like it very much." Aamir Khan felt his throat dry. He had long dreamed of staying in a first-class cabin like this, but the price of $10,000 per night was still a bit expensive.

At this moment, he looked at everything in front of him greedily, and the desire in his heart was like a Pandora's box that had been opened.

"Would you like a drink?" The waitress walked to the mini bar and took out a bottle of vintage brandy and two crystal glasses.

"Of course, of course!" The professor nodded hurriedly, grinning from ear to ear. As he took the glass, his fingers brushed against the waitress's hand, intentionally or unintentionally, and an indescribable sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart.

However, after drinking a glass of wine, his vision began to blur and his consciousness gradually became blurred.

Before falling completely into a coma, he vaguely saw the sweet smile on the waitress's face slowly disappear, replaced by cold sarcasm and anger that made him want to wash his hands immediately.

"The target you're looking for has been apprehended," the waitress said into the intercom. "I guarantee he won't wake up before dawn."
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These words were transmitted over the radio, coming from the intercom on Zhou Qingfeng's chest. But he didn't say anything, just checked the time on his watch.

Morris muttered beside him, "There's at least ten hours until dawn. That should be enough time."

Another man's voice came from the intercom, responding to the waitress, "Roger that. I'll be in first class right away."

Five minutes later, one of Zhou Qingfeng's bodyguards, Luxor, who came from the CIA, disguised himself as a room cleaner and appeared in the first-class cabin.

The waitress, who had been paid for the service, had already left. Only Professor Aamir Khan was lying on the sofa in the living room, sound asleep like a pig.

Luxor put on gloves and searched the professor's body thoroughly, and soon found an exquisite and special door card.

He carefully identified the contact points on the door card, took out a card reader from the tool kit he carried with him, and inserted it into the card slot.

The card reader automatically identifies the chip and communication protocol in the door card and copies the information in the card.

In addition to the door card, Luxor also used the professor's finger to unlock his mobile phone, but was stopped by a system password when opening the phone storage.

But who is he? A former CIA agent.

A call was made to Diaz, who followed the other party's instructions to connect the phone to a special decoder - Apple claims that its encryption method cannot be cracked, but a backdoor must be left for the Department of Homeland Security.

At this point, Professor Aamir Khan had no secrets to keep, and all the information in his mobile phone was copied.

But that wasn't enough. Luxor also found the professor's suitcase—according to Morris, he always carried a large hard drive with him. Inside the hard drive was all the research data the professor had accumulated over the years, much of it stolen from the military, including core information on Project X.

The hard drive is plugged in and connected to the computer, but it is encrypted.

Luxor pressed the intercom and said, "Boss, we found the thing, but it's hardware-encrypted, which limits the number of inputs and can't be cracked by brute force.

However, the location of the secret laboratory was also found, and the list of laboratory members and their contact information were in the target's phone."

Zhou Qingfeng glanced at Morris beside him and patted his shoulder, "It's your turn."

The latter was a little trembling, but he took the intercom with all his strength and replied, "This is Morris, I'll be right there."

"Remember to change your clothes." Zhou Qingfeng reminded.

According to Morris's description, Professor Aamir Khan has always wanted to start his own biochemical company, and has been taking advantage of the resources of Apocalypse Biology and the US military for free.

If you want to look up information about Project X, you can definitely find it by asking the professor, including the secret R&D team he secretly set up, and their results are definitely there.

Instead of taking a big risk to steal things from the 'Apocalypse Creature', it is better to deal with the professor himself, which greatly reduces the risk and difficulty.

In Morris's opinion, Zhou Qingfeng must be heading for the "promising" X project.

This thing is used by the US military to create super soldiers. Once the side effects are eliminated and commercialized, it will definitely make a lot of money.

Imagine that there is a product that allows people to still have the energy of a 20-year-old at the age of 40, and just enter middle age at the age of 60, bringing the average life expectancy to over 120 years.

This thing sells for trillions of dollars a year like a piece of cake. Who wouldn't be jealous?!
Zhou Qingfeng had no way to deal with the U.S. military, nor could he stop the research of Project X, or even the leakage and spread of the virus.

But Virus X is like a double-edged sword and is not completely useless.

At this moment, a helicopter was already on standby on the top flight deck of the cruise ship.

If the plan goes well, Zhou Qingfeng and his men will get what they want from Professor Aamir Khan and immediately escape by helicopter.

The professor would wake up dazed the next morning and find that he had probably fallen into a trap, losing his money and possessions, and would not be able to confirm immediately that his secrets had been stolen.

Whether he called the police or not, it would be difficult to determine who was behind the stabbing and whether Zhou Qingfeng could get away with it.

The plan is not going smoothly now, but it is still within the expected range.

Morris is a professional biochemical researcher with extensive clinical experience. At worst, he can use a truth-telling agent to make the professor reveal the password to the encrypted hard drive.

Even if everything doesn't go well, the worst that could happen is that the professor will have a stroke and die on the cruise ship, or even be thrown directly into the sea.

However, just when Zhou Qingfeng felt that his plan had a high tolerance for error, Professor Aamir Khan's cell phone rang.

Luxor glanced at the number note and immediately realized that the situation was very bad.
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Next to Aamir Khan's first-class cabin, Florida Governor Weston's assistant called for the third time.

The phone kept ringing, but no one answered.

The assistant frowned, moved the phone away from his ear, and stared at the flashing "Calling" on the screen.

Governor Weston was sitting in the reception area of ​​the suite, his portly body nestled in the crimson leather sofa, his gloomy expression making the atmosphere a little heavy.

The office staff was sorting the documents on the coffee table, and the rustling sound of the papers was particularly clear in the quiet environment.

Two security guards in dark suits stood guard at the suite door, their eyes warily scanning the corridor outside the first-class cabin.

"Still no one's answering?" Weston put down his whiskey glass, clearly unhappy. "What's wrong with this Indian guy? He always makes people wait when we meet."

The assistant walked forward quickly and bowed slightly: “Your Excellency the Governor, Professor Aamir Khan’s phone call has not been answered.

However, according to the boarding records, he was indeed on board, staying in second class as usual."

Weston tugged at his tie and said sternly, "Then go find someone and don't waste time here. I'm very busy and don't have time to waste here."

The assistant nodded knowingly. He certainly understood that the governor and the Indian were discussing the confidential topic of how to share the profits from the Apocalypse Creatures.

Project X had made some progress, attracting the attention of many "carnivores." Such sensitive topics were always discussed face-to-face, with minimal effort required to leave behind any correspondence or written documentation.

Ten minutes later, the security personnel sent to search for the person returned empty-handed.

"The professor is not in his cabin," the security chief reported. "The cruise ship has casinos, theaters, and other entertainment venues. I've contacted the ship and sent someone to retrieve the surveillance footage."

In the cruise ship's monitoring room, dozens of screens flashed simultaneously, recording the movements of thousands of passengers on this giant cruise ship.

The staff skillfully called up the footage of the second-class area, found the footage of the Indian professor, and tracked his whereabouts.
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Zhou Qingfeng started to get anxious and angry.

Luxor reported on the intercom: "Boss, a number marked as 'Assistant to the Governor' has made several calls to the Indian.

A message was also sent, asking where the Indian was, and asking him to come to the first-class cabin as soon as possible, saying that Governor Weston was very angry with him for the delay.

When I arrived at the first-class cabin, I saw several State Police Secret Service officers in the corridor. So, Governor Weston is most likely next door, and the situation is more troublesome than we thought.

The governor wants to meet Professor Aamir Khan on a cruise ship? And it seems like it's a private meeting.

Zhou Qingfeng was also caught off guard by the news. His first reaction was to "evacuate quickly", but he soon realized that the current situation was completely different from what he had expected.

There are surveillance cameras everywhere on the cruise ship, especially in the first-class corridors.

Therefore, when planning the operation, except for the temporarily recruited waitress who actually showed up, both Luxor and others would put on makeup and change their facial appearance.

This trick was more than enough to confuse Professor Aamir Khan, but it was different when facing the governor.

The governor is a genuine frontier official with police and army under his command. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a local tyrant.

If they really want to investigate, they can turn the entire cruise ship upside down, and both personnel and technology will be exposed.

"Luxor, take Morris away immediately."

"We haven't got the password to that encrypted hard drive yet."

"Take it away."

"Where's the professor himself?"

"Get rid of it."

(End of this chapter)