You're a US police officer, what are you thinking about going back to the East for?

Chapter 225 Five Years of Technological Breakthroughs

The folder in Zhao Qiming's hand contained the results of the domestic intelligence network's rapid cross-referencing of fragments of information transmitted from Seattle within just half a day across various databases.

The document details the academic background of the former Pfizer researcher, the flow of funds for the projects he led, and a summary of his papers published in major core journals. However, specific names, dates, locations, and other information that could confirm his identity have been removed due to confidentiality regulations.

"The foundation is indeed solid. If it's true, then we've hit the jackpot."

Zhang Jianguo looked through the complex academic charts and gave a pragmatic assessment.

"Now it's not just about making big profits; the problem is that our operations in North America are expanding too much, and the risks are increasing exponentially."

Zhao Qiming put down the resume in his hand and pulled out a document stamped with a red "Top Secret" seal from the bottom of the folder.

This morning Seattle time, after Alex left the safe house in Lyon, he immediately hung up the urgent mail that Red Underpants had sent through the dead mailbox. In addition to the contents from Christopher's notebook, it also contained his supplementary information on the emergency.

Zhao Qiming pulled out a sheet of paper from the stack of thin papers that smelled of ink and pushed it in front of Zhang Jianguo.

"Take a look at this. An emergency just came in."

Zhao Qiming's tone became somewhat serious, no longer the casual tone he had just used.

"Raytheon's security department has a keen sense of smell. Following the path Old Bill took before his disappearance, they've already found their way to the old apartment building where RayFong used to go."

Zhang Jianguo's previously cloudy eyes instantly sharpened as he quickly scanned the few lines of brief, encrypted text on the paper.

In the intelligence report, Alex detailed the probe call from Agent Thor and the significant exposure he had caused as an Asian while doing charity work in the redneck community.

"Currently, it seems that Ray Fong's people only regard him as a helpful local police officer and have not yet connected him with international agents."

"But if we let them dig deeper into the people on the scene that day, our little comrade who's in charge of running errands definitely won't be able to withstand the investigation by those detectives."

As Zhang Jianguo read the last paragraph of the intelligence report, his previously tense expression relaxed slightly.

"However, our frontline comrade RayFong is quite responsible."

Zhang Jianguo pointed to the words on the paper.

"To cover for the middleman on the dedicated line, he took the thunder himself."

"I've arranged to meet Thor's agents at the coffee shop tomorrow to mislead them, and at the same time, I've asked the middleman to go into hiding."

Zhao Qiming nodded, expressing great approval of this ability to make decisive decisions that take the overall situation into account in the face of a sudden crisis.

"Being able to calculate the pros and cons within seconds of answering the phone, just based on this composure under pressure, I at least agree with Lao Zhou's assessment that he is a comrade, in terms of professional competence."

Zhao Qiming picked up his teacup, preparing to discuss with Zhang Jianguo in depth the follow-up response plan regarding Lyon's strategy of lying low and misleading others.

Just then, the heavy, soundproof wooden door to the conference room was forcefully pushed open from the outside.

Assistant Li Hao led an elderly man in quickly.

The elderly man was about seventy years old, with half black and half white hair. He was wearing a simple gray coat and ordinary gray trousers, and carrying a badly worn black briefcase.

Although he looked tired, clearly having just been brought over by a secret service vehicle from a high-intensity laboratory, his eyes remained sharp.

Li Hao quickly guided the academician to sit in the empty seat opposite Zhao Qiming, deftly filled a paper cup with hot water and placed it in front of him, then took his notebook and stepped aside, ready to take notes at any time.

Zhao Qiming stood up and extended his hand across the conference table to the elderly academician. "Academician Chen, thank you for coming all this way so late."

The man referred to as Academician Chen simply shook hands with Zhao Qiming briefly before placing his briefcase on the chair next to him.

"You're welcome, Director Zhao. I knew there must be important technical data that needed to be evaluated when the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics drove right into the compound to ask for people."

"Let's get straight to the point. Where is it?"

Zhao Qiming nodded and sat down again.

He pushed the resume with Christopher's name and other specific information erased, as well as the top-secret document that had been deeply anonymized, reformatted, and incorporated some of the core data from Christopher's original notebook, in front of Academician Chen.

"This is a document on cutting-edge biomedical technology that we just intercepted through special channels."

Zhao Qiming placed his hands on the table, crossed them, and looked directly at Academician Chen.

"The core content involves next-generation CRISPR gene editing technology and a novel LNP, or lipid nanoparticle carrier technology."

"I need you to provide an assessment of the true level of this data within the current international biological community."

Without wasting any words, Academician Chen immediately took out his reading glasses from his shirt pocket, put them on, and opened the top-secret document.

Initially, he simply skimmed through the first few pages of the theoretical overview with a critical and routinely rigorous attitude.

But after only two minutes, his page-turning speed noticeably slowed down.

His body began to lean forward involuntarily, his brows furrowed tightly, his gaze fixed intently on the complex molecular formulas of polypeptide ligand modification and the calculations of the proton sponge effect.

The meeting room was so quiet that the only sounds were the rustling of papers and Professor Zhou and Wang Peilin arguing in hushed tones in the distance.

Academician Chen suddenly pulled a pen from the inside pocket of his jacket, grabbed a blank sheet of draft paper from the table, and began to quickly perform calculations.

The pen tip scratched rapidly across the paper, and his breathing gradually became heavy.

About ten minutes later, Academician Chen suddenly raised his head, took off his reading glasses, and exhaled a long breath.

He looked at Zhao Qiming, his eyes filled with barely suppressed shock.

"The theoretical framework and logic of this material are not only mature, but also revolutionary."

Academician Chen tapped the documents on the table forcefully with the tip of his pen, his tone professional and resolute.

"Director Zhao, it is an objective fact that China started later than Europe and the United States in the research and development of targeted drugs and gene therapy."

"In recent years, we have indeed caught up in target discovery and drug synthesis capabilities, but the biggest bottleneck has always been the delivery system."

Academician Chen pointed to a set of data on the document and spoke faster.

"Foreign giants, such as Pfizer and Moderna, firmly control the most advanced LNP carrier patent barriers."

"Every time domestic pharmaceutical companies develop a new drug, they either have to pay exorbitant patent licensing fees or are forced to take huge detours on carrier patents."

"This not only keeps the cost of our domestically produced targeted drugs high and prevents us from lowering the price, but also often results in a significant reduction in efficacy due to the low efficiency of the delivery vector."

He took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in his voice.

"But this document proposes a completely new approach to peptide ligand modification. It perfectly circumvents existing foreign patent pools!"

"Moreover, based on these original trial-and-error matching data, it can theoretically deliver gene editing tools to specific organs, such as the liver or tumor sites, with efficiency improvements of several orders of magnitude."

Academician Chen stared into Zhao Qiming's eyes and asked in return, "Who exactly came up with this theory and this raw trial-and-error data—ah, never mind."

"In short, if we can bring this person here, our domestic innovative drug research and development progress can be advanced by at least five years, breaking the patent monopoly of Europe and the United States in one fell swoop!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qiming turned and exchanged a glance with Zhang Jianguo.

Discipline is paramount in the intelligence system; they would never reveal any information about "Seattle," "the former Pfizer researcher," or the frontline agent using the alias "RayFong" to any assessment experts, and the experts on the other side were clearly aware of this as well.

"Academician Chen, so you're saying the person behind this information is someone the country should spare no expense to win over, right?"

Academician Chen nodded solemnly and answered firmly, "The commercial value of this thing is in the hundreds of billions of US dollars."

Its strategic value is immeasurable.

Upon hearing this definitive assessment, Zhao Qiming nodded in satisfaction.

He stood up, walked around the conference table, and shook hands with Academician Chen again.

"With your words, we know how to proceed with our work. Thank you for your professional assessment."

Zhao Qiming turned to Li Hao in the corner, "Xiao Li, arrange a car and someone to take Academician Chen back to rest. Be careful on the road."

He then turned to Academician Chen, his tone gentle but very serious, "Academician Chen, according to the confidentiality regulations, you cannot take away even a single word of what you see here today."

Academician Chen was stunned for a moment. He looked at the data on the table that he had not yet fully studied, his eyes filled with resentment.

For a pure researcher, the pain of seeing novel research but only being able to see half of it is worse than death.

But he was well aware of the Bureau of Secrecy's rules, so he could only sigh heavily, put his reading glasses back in his pocket, pick up the old briefcase, and follow Li Hao out of the conference room.

The heavy wooden door closed again.

Only Zhao Qiming, Zhang Jianguo, Professor Zhou, and Wang Peilin, who were looking in this direction from a distance, remained in the conference room.

Zhao Qiming turned around, his gaze passing over the long conference table and locking onto the huge world map on the wall, his eyes settling on Seattle on the west coast of North America.

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