Kaza had delivered his harsh words, but there was no movement inside the truck.
The night wind blew past, dead silent.
Playing dead with him?
Kaza sneered, casually pointed at several soldiers. “You, go over there and drag that b*stard down!”
“Yes!”
The few received the order and cautiously approached, covering one another.
At the instant the driver’s door was about to be pulled open, the headlights suddenly blazed on, and the accelerator was slammed, the engine roaring fiercely.
Kaza’s expression changed abruptly. “Not good! He’s going to force his way through the gate!”
Hearing this, the men rolled on the spot to dodge. At the same time, the truck accelerated forward like an arrow released from the bow, charging straight into the gate.
Bang,
A tremendous crash, the ground trembling with it.
The gate was forced open by a quarter, the truck’s front crumpled halfway in, the windshield shattered into a spiderweb pattern.
Kaza: “Stop him!”
The five soldiers who had rolled aside earlier had already found their firing positions.
At Kaza’s command, they fired at the four wheels.
In just a few seconds, all the truck’s tires blew out, yet its speed did not drop. Under inertial force, it directly overturned.
With a clatter, sand and dust swept up, white smoke rising into the air.
The smell of diesel followed.
Several other soldiers rushed forward and hauled the young man, his face covered in blood, out of the driver’s seat.
Dragging him, they quickly retreated.
Ten seconds later, boom,
The fuel tank exploded, flames shooting skyward!
Meanwhile, Kaza, Xie Dingyuan, Jiang Fuyue, and Xin Hongcheng had already withdrawn to a safe distance, standing atop a sand dune watching the tongues of fire surge and then be swiftly extinguished.
Several soldiers dragged the culprit forward and then, like tossing a dead dog, slammed him onto the ground.
“Wei Yuan?!” Xin Hongcheng’s old eyes widened, crying out in shock. “How is it you?!”
Although blood covered most of the man’s face, having lived in the same experimental area for nearly two months, Xin Hongcheng recognized him at a glance,
One of Bai Chuanhao’s team members, and also one of the few young people who would usually take the initiative to greet their group of old men.
“You stole the materials? Why?” Xin Hongcheng was stunned, completely unable to understand.
In his impression, Wei Yuan was generous and cheerful, sincere toward others, and especially polite.
He got along harmoniously with the other members of Bai Chuanhao’s team, and had always maintained good relations with these old fellows as well.
How could such a positive, upbeat young man commit acts of theft, framing, slander, and entrapment?
Wei Yuan lay on the ground, eyes closed. If not for the rise and fall of his chest, he looked no different from a dead man.
Hearing this, he remained motionless, without any response.
Kaza stepped forward and kicked his thigh. Wei Yuan’s body curled, a muffled groan escaping his mouth.
“Looks like he’s not quite dead yet.”
Wei Yuan snapped his eyes open, ferocity flashing within.
Kaza sneered and kicked again.
The military boot was heavy and hard, and with eight-tenths of his strength used, Wei Yuan was in such pain that his expression twisted.
“Where’s the computer and the other materials?”
Wei Yuan turned his head away, refusing to answer.
Kaza expressionlessly stepped on his fingers, grinding down hard.
“Ah, ” a shrill scream.
Xin Hongcheng couldn’t bear to watch and quietly turned his back.
“I’ll ask one more time. Where’s the computer and the other materials?”
“They’re in the truck! Burned to ashes long ago!” Wei Yuan tried to pull his hand back, only to be met with even heavier pressure.
A soldier stepped forward and whispered something into Kaza’s ear. The latter squatted down, and regardless of the blood still on Wei Yuan’s face, patted his cheek. “Lying, are you?”
“They really were in the truck…”
“Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!” As he spoke, his right hand lifted high, ready to strike.
“Wait.” Xie Dingyuan suddenly spoke.
Kaza’s eyes showed inquiry: what’s with you? I’m interrogating just fine here, why interrupt?
Xie Dingyuan signaled him with his eyes to step back first and stop hitting him.
Then he walked over, stopped in front of Wei Yuan, and looked down at him from above. “Not planning to explain clearly?”
Wei Yuan still didn’t respond.
“Don’t you want to know why you lost?”
The man lying on the ground’s eyelids twitched slightly. He slowly raised his gaze and looked at Xie Dingyuan. “How did you discover it?”
Xie Dingyuan smiled. “What makes you think we wouldn’t discover it?”
“Xin Hongcheng already confessed, didn’t he?”
“If he didn’t confess, how would you have let down your guard and walked right into the trap?”
Wei Yuan’s pupils shrank sharply, realization dawning belatedly. “Everything was fake?!”
Kaza: “Of course! Did you think that just relying on those rumors, without solid evidence, you could convict Xin Hongcheng? Heh, naive!”
Xin Hongcheng was indeed suspicious.
From his emotional agitation and refusal to cooperate with questioning, to later a portion of the stolen materials being found at his residence, all clues pointed to him.
Not to say there was one hundred percent certainty he was the thief, but at least he was a suspect.
Clearly, Wei Yuan had also seen the aspects that could be exploited, which was why he ultimately chose to make Xin Hongcheng the scapegoat.
Originally, everything had gone smoothly, and the base’s reaction was within his expectations.
Who would have thought that compared to the suspicious points on Xin Hongcheng, those clamorous rumors were what truly aroused Kaza’s vigilance.
Overnight, it seemed all spearheads were focused squarely on Xin Hongcheng.
But the base had clearly made no moves at all; logically, it shouldn’t have caused such panic and speculation.
When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong.
Most likely, the person behind the scenes couldn’t sit still anymore, wanted a quick victory, and instead exposed himself.
At the time, after Jiang Fuyue listened to Kaza’s analysis, she suddenly raised a question: “The other party is in such a hurry to pin the hat on Xin Hongcheng, have you thought about why?”
Kaza shook his head.
What else could it be? To clear himself and make a clean escape, of course!
But Xie Dingyuan noticed there was something implied in Jiang Fuyue’s words. She said “in a hurry to pin the hat on Xin Hongcheng.” The focus wasn’t “pinning the hat,” but,
In a hurry!
Why the hurry?
Because there wasn’t enough time.
Not enough time to do what?
In a flash of insight, he suddenly reacted. “This person wants to send the computer and materials out of the base!”
If true, then this wouldn’t just be a simple theft case; it might even involve espionage organizations, or even international circumstances.
The former would bring criticism and punishment, no matter how serious, at most a few years’ sentence; but the latter was life-threatening work!
At this point, the high-level leadership on the Soviet side had no choice but to take it seriously.
Kaza was also under immense pressure.
After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Fuyue said, “…Doesn’t he want to get out? Then we’ll let him get out.”
Kaza: “How exactly do we let him?”
Jiang Fuyue: “First, arrest Xin Hongcheng.”
“……” I suspect you just want to take revenge on that old man.
Jiang Fuyue, however, shrugged indifferently. “Listen or not, up to you. Anyway, I wasn’t counting on the base to help me recover the computer and materials.”
Kaza didn’t immediately state his position.
Xie Dingyuan: “Listen to her.”
“……” Wife sings, husband follows?
In the end, Kaza still adopted Jiang Fuyue’s suggestion, first arrest Xin Hongcheng, then release news of his confession, and afterward lift the ban and open entry and exit.
Sure enough, the person behind the scenes couldn’t sit still.
Attempting to mix in among the procurement soldiers and leave the base, he was caught red-handed.
“So, this was all a setup? You were all actors, and I believed it, even stupid enough to walk right into the trap, hehehe…”
Wei Yuan laughed loudly, his whole body trembling.
Xin Hongcheng could no longer hold back, red-eyed as he rushed forward. “You, what were you after?”
Clearly, Wei Yuan’s theft of these materials was no longer simply out of personal dissatisfaction with Jiang Fuyue, or greed for research results.
From his attempt to send the materials out of the base, it already made people afraid to think further.
“You’re Chinese! These are our own research results, why?”
“Hahahaha…” Wei Yuan laughed even louder and more recklessly.
Xin Hongcheng: “You’re so young, with a bright future ahead, the road ahead is full of light. Was it worth it?”
Wei Yuan: “You have your persistence, I have my faith. Put away your cheap sympathy and regret. I, don’t, need, it!”
Seeing him in this scorched-earth, nothing-to-lose state, Jiang Fuyue suddenly felt something was off, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Until….
Three soldiers handling the explosion scene stepped forward to report the situation to Kaza. Only then did Jiang Fuyue abruptly realize: “Was a laptop found in the vehicle?”
The soldier was startled. “Wasn’t it burned?” With such a huge fire, let alone one laptop, even ten would have been burned to nothing.
Kaza frowned. “Why ask that?”
Xie Dingyuan suddenly realized something and quickly exchanged a look with Jiang Fuyue. “Even if it was burned, there would be traces left behind. When you were just clearing the scene, did you find any?”
Author: Seeing everyone guess Xu Kuan, that’s considered half right, knowing it was a young person, not Xin Hongcheng.
But if it really were Xu Kuan, wouldn’t it have been easier for him to directly request a transfer to Sister Yue’s team to steal materials? Why go around in such a big circle to steal instead?
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