From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

Xu Shiming's voice was the same as the one he heard on television, authoritative yet composed.

Li Qixuan swallowed hard and reported, "Chairman, a small company has approached Kangtao's branch, wanting to cooperate with us. The product they're offering is 'Methanol-2 Rice'."

Xu Shiming was silent for a few seconds, then his tone became more serious: "Have you gotten the goods?"

"Yes, it's right here in my hands. They provided plant samples and gene templates, but they also added an anti-theft measure."

"What about people?"

"No... they didn't bring them back. They only sent one person in charge. I didn't dare to alert them, so I sent people to keep an eye on them and make an arrest at any time."

"Yes, your decision is very sound. Just come to headquarters as planned. I will arrange for researchers and equipment to wait for you here."

"Yes! Promise to complete the mission!"

"Dudu..."

"Dudu..."

"call--"

Li Qixuan finally breathed a long sigh of relief long after the call ended.

Very safe... With this assessment, his minor overstepping of the bounds can be considered a thing of the past, and he even managed to make an appearance in front of the top leader!

He won this gamble!

All we can do now is wait patiently and hope that the Chun-2 rice that Leo has produced is as good as he claims.

In the anxious wait, every second felt like it had been paused, or like it had been stretched out by an invisible hand.

A 40-minute journey brought a feeling of exhaustion that had kept me awake for three days and three nights.

The pilot's warning had no effect on Li Qixuan until the cabin door opened and armed headquarters security personnel saluted him. Only then did he snap out of his daze and realize that he had arrived at his destination.

Forcing himself to cheer up, he raised his hand in return.

He dared not look around, but simply gripped the handle of his suitcase tightly and followed the staff quietly forward.

The surroundings were silent, and everyone moved forward in silence.

Footsteps echoed in the circular corridor, creating hollow reverberations.

Li Qixuan recognized this as Kangtao's true headquarters in Shenyang, but he couldn't determine which area he was in.

Security checks along the way were extremely strict, with a post every ten steps and a sentry every five steps, as if countless eyes were watching him from all directions.

The group walked for more than ten minutes before taking the internal elevator directly to the underground research institute.

The number of accompanying personnel decreased, but their ranks increased.

Finally, the security personnel leading the way suddenly stopped, and a thick alloy door, half a meter thick, slowly slid open.

"Deputy Director Li Qixuan, please come in alone."

A gentle female voice came from above; it was Xihe, the super AI at Kangtao headquarters.

Li Qixuan nodded, perked up, and stepped into the laboratory.

Looking around, the first person he noticed was his old leader, Ling Xiaohan. However, the next second, his gaze was drawn to another tall figure in military uniform.

That was Xu Shiming, the founder of Kangtao!

When their eyes met briefly, Li Qixuan lowered his head as if he had been electrocuted, not daring to look at his expression any further.

"What are you standing there for? Come here right now!"

Ling Xiaohan's greeting brought him back to his senses, and he quickly walked over.

Two middle-aged men dressed as researchers excitedly approached and reached out to take the suitcase from his hands.

Li Qixuan's mind was a bit confused at this moment, and he instinctively wanted to raise his hand to push them away. Fortunately, he managed to see the face of the person in front of him in time, and quickly lowered his raised left hand.

That person was Huo Yuan, the head of the intelligent weapons research and development department, whose position was chief scientist.

The other one is the technical director of the same department.

Although they are both directors, these two big shots at headquarters are not on the same level as him and are completely untouchable.

During the break between handing over the materials, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

Besides Xu Shiming, Ling Xiaohan, and the two experts from the Intelligent Weapons R&D Department, there were three other people present, namely—

Head of North American Division, International Business Department.

Head of Government Relations and Strategic Cooperation Department.

Production and Manufacturing Department, Head.

They were all genuine senior executives of Kangtao Company.

Several years later, Li Qixuan once again experienced the humiliation of standing like a lackey.

He lowered his head, obediently waiting for the big shots to ask him questions.

Chapter 375 Secret Meeting, The Real Big Shots

踏—

tread--

The footsteps approached from afar, and the first thing that caught the eye was the Type 75 combat boots, followed by crisp military trousers, neat and tidy.

"Don't be so reserved. After a few years of experience, why have you become so timid?"

The old leader's voice reached my ears, easing the tension in my heart.

Li Qixuan raised his head and revealed a polite smile.

He knew his own situation best; he was simply too used to the feeling of being constantly constrained in China after living in a remote, high-powered place for so long.

Lately, he's been hanging out with people in military science and biotechnology every day, and sometimes he thinks, what if Kang Tao could also... Stop, this isn't the right occasion, don't do something reckless.

He regained his composure, quickly reached out and took the military-grade portable SuperDream editor from his old leader, and proactively connected the data cable to his neural port.

Please don't be nervous, stay relaxed. I will extract your Mewtwo data, and I guarantee it will not have any impact on your health.

The prompt from the super AI Xihe appeared directly in the center of the retina.

Li Qixuan nodded, already prepared for this routine procedure.

Since the recording technology of Mewtwo has matured, major companies have embedded Mewtwo recording devices in all advanced military implants, with the purpose of which is self-evident—to control more intelligence.

In this technologically advanced age, the dead can talk. Not only can they speak, but they can also preserve everything they see, including information they themselves are unaware of, providing the company with an immersive, firsthand account.

Li Qixuan knew that the scene of his recent meeting with Li Ao would soon be transmitted to the AI's database through the implant. Afterward, this data would be analyzed frame by frame, using big data analysis to uncover all potential intelligence.

The implant in the head and neck area feels slightly warm; this is a normal phenomenon caused by the electromagnetic sensor.

He focused his mind and quickly recalled his every word and action: every word he had spoken and every response he had made since he first met Leo.

Ok…

There shouldn't be any problem. He had already reported to headquarters beforehand, mentioning that mysterious but arrogant family member from Night City. The whole process left no evidence and there was no personal connection involved, so there shouldn't be any issues.

He doesn't have a big problem, but the two senior researchers have a much bigger problem.

Their shouting and yelling never stopped from the beginning.

The difference was that at first, it was all excited shouts of delight at seeing a prey. Gradually, the voices lowered. In the end, only muttered "Ah," "Huh," and "What is this?" full of doubt remained.

Fifteen minutes later, the data extraction for Mewtwo was completed, and the two researchers returned looking bewildered.

Xu Shiming remained calm and asked, "How is the situation?"

The head of the intelligent weapons R&D department hesitated for a moment, then glanced at his deputy, signaling him to "make a fool of himself."

The technical director's face twitched, and he answered with a forced smile:

"It is indeed a new type of alcohol-2 crop. We have found bio-alcohols in plants at all stages of growth."

After comparison, this alcohol-2 rice and alcohol-2 wheat have significant genetic differences, making it highly likely that the patent barriers imposed by biotechnology companies on the cultivation of alcohol-2 wheat can be bypassed.

"Oh?" Xu Shiming's tone changed noticeably for the first time. "That should be a good thing. Why do you two look at each other like that? Now that you have the gene template, are their anti-theft measures difficult to crack?"

The technical director of "Strong Hairstyles" nodded: "To be precise, we simply don't understand the genetic model of this rice; it's too bizarre..."

"How to say?"

“Uh…” The technical director scratched his head and passed the buck to the AI, “Xihe, report on our findings.”

"Understood. After comparing it with the rice genes collected in the gene bank, we found that this is a completely different rice. We suspected the presence of animal genes in its genome map."

"Genetically modified species? That sounds like a biotechnology approach."

"No, after comparison, we suspect that this is a previously unseen cross-domain gene fusion species, which is different from the research direction of biotechnology, and no comparable technology has been found yet."

"A new technology..."

Not only Xu Shiming, but everyone who heard this realized the promising future of this thing.

Science and technology are the primary productive forces—this statement will remain undisputed in 2076, and may even be more accurate than before.

Excitement (Part Two) - After the dance party, new questions arose in everyone's minds:

Where did this emerging technology company come from, all of a sudden?

Judging from the growth of the rice, this company has obviously been developing this type of rice for some time now; they've really been patient.

How stable are the genes?

"Roughly estimated, the success rate is over 99.9%, meeting the needs of large-scale planting. Apart from the strange gene model, no intentionally created disease-causing genes have been found."

"Based on the gene template, produce a batch of seeds as soon as possible for further research."

"Understood, it's already being done."

After assigning the task, Xu Shiming did not rush to check the image of Chao Meng, but turned to look at a middle-aged woman present.

Pu Donghan, head of the Department of Government Relations and Strategic Cooperation.

As you can tell from the name of this department, it is a "supervisor" placed by the government in Kangtao, with a status equivalent to the former party branch, only with an international name.

"Ms. Pu, send a message to the government departments and several other large companies. Now that it has been confirmed that this is a new ethanol-2 crop, we should come up with a plan as soon as possible. Speed ​​is of the essence."

"Understood. The invitations have been drafted. We'll begin sending them out now."

Xu Shiming nodded. "Remember to invite Researcher Yuan from Zhongsui Group. She's an expert in this field and might be able to glean more information."

Kangtao is, after all, a company focused on intelligent weapons and intelligent machinery, and it cannot compare with Zhongsui Group, which was formed by the reorganization of several large state-owned grain and oil food companies, in terms of plant research.

Thinking about it carefully, this is actually quite interesting.

Growing ethanol-2 wheat requires a large amount of arable land, which falls under the jurisdiction of Zhongsui Group.

Refining alcohol-2 fuel and processing various alcohol-2 derivatives are the core business of Dongfang Petrochemical.

Why choose Kangtao, a seemingly unrelated entity, over more suitable partners? Is it because Kangtao is the only place within Night City with military deployments?

The other person doesn't seem to want to go back to their country...

Time flew by as I pondered these thoughts.

Before long, several influential government and company representatives gathered at Kangtao's underground research institute.

Li Qixuan stood obediently behind Ling Xiaohan, and took a quick look around while the big shots were greeting each other.

Those qualified to attend the meeting were all of higher rank than him, and without daring to turn on the scanner, he couldn't recognize all their names, only their general identities.

The government, Zhongsui Group, Dongfang Petrochemical, CITIC International, pharmaceutical groups... all the big companies sent people, even though they actually had nothing to do with the alcohol-2 crop.

Things have escalated far beyond expectations. With so many forces vying for power, we might end up kicking Kang Tao out first…

Chapter 376 Xu Shiming: Li Ao is indeed not Kang Tao's man, but he can be!

The high-ranking attendees, having confirmed the information with the two technical experts from Kangtao, revealed their predatory eyes.

The secret meeting was tense from the very beginning.

The two loudest and most aggressive representatives were naturally the representatives of Zhongsui Group and Dongfang Petrochemical.

These two companies, one responsible for agriculture and food production and the other for petrochemicals, are the undisputed super giants in their respective fields after the reform of state-owned enterprises.

The significance of alcohol-2 rice to them is immense—with this, at the very least, they can break free from the patent and technology controls of biotechnology companies and develop China's own alcohol-2 industrial chain.

This isn't even about money; it's about energy security and international standing.

The representatives of the two large companies argued for a few minutes, but then they looked at each other and, as if on cue, joined forces to confront the outside world together.