Chapter 105: The Black Hole Organization

Wang Bowen glanced at him sideways. “You’ve been watching too many melodramatic TV dramas.”

Then he sighed. “Although we don’t know exactly how the two of them fell out, there are rumors that it was over Bei He San.”

“Bei He San? Why?”

Wang Bowen replied, “You don’t know that Jin Yaowen was strongly opposed to the construction of the ‘Ocean Voyager’.”

“Huh?”

Zhang Mingyang was surprised that Jin Yaowen would oppose it. “Grandpa Wang, why? Wasn’t the preliminary design of the ‘Ocean Voyager’ created by Jin Yaowen?”

Wang Bowen said, “He did design it, but at the start, he was firmly against the project. He believed that with current technology, humanity shouldn’t venture that far. The proper path, he argued, was to first explore the solar system step by step, methodically. He favored caution.”

Zhang Mingyang asked again, “Then how did Jin Yaowen eventually agree?”

Wang Bowen answered, “He agreed because of Wang Huairen’s arrival. He didn’t expect Wang Huairen to be so brilliant—he built a spaceship in less than two years.”

“Jealousy!”

Zhang Mingyang looked at Jin Yaowen’s photo with sarcasm. “Jin Yaowen must have seen Wang Huairen as more talented and feared losing the chief position at the future base, so he schemed to drive him away.”

Wang Bowen countered, “If his goal was to push Wang Huairen out, why did he leave first? Also, after Wang Huairen disappeared, Jin Yaowen didn’t return either.”

“This...!”

Zhang Mingyang was puzzled. Grandpa Wang’s words made sense—if it wasn’t jealousy, what else could it be?

Wang Bowen took the photo album from Zhang Mingyang and looked thoughtfully at the pictures of Wang Huairen and Jin Yaowen. He murmured, “Perhaps they represent the clash between conservatism and radicalism.”

“Conservative? Radical?”

Zhang Mingyang pondered those words. “Grandpa Wang, do you mean they stand for two extremes?”

Wang Bowen sighed. “Perhaps. Jin Yaowen was steady and prudent in his work. He didn’t oppose the ‘Ocean Voyager’ project itself, but he opposed Wang Huairen’s rush for change, his relentless pursuit of speed and transformation. Wang Huairen once said humanity would inevitably explore the universe—so why not now?”

“Yes! Exploring the universe!”

Zhang Mingyang gazed out at the sky. “Many want to know who else might be out there beyond.”

***

Wang Bowen closed the album and put it back in the cabinet. “Mingyang, I called you here today to talk about something.”

“What is it?”

Wang Bowen said, “Remember the Black Hole organization I mentioned at the meeting?”

Zhang Mingyang nodded. “Of course, wasn’t that founded by Jin Yaowen?”

Wang Bowen pulled out a tablet and played a video for Zhang Mingyang. In it, a man sneaked into the Ministry of Energy late at night and approached a containment unit storing antimatter. Just as he was about to sabotage it, several people rushed in and pinned him down.

“Oh my!”

Zhang Mingyang was terrified watching the video. Luckily, the containment unit had safety mechanisms. Otherwise, a matter-antimatter collision would have devastated the entire base—no, a radius of hundreds of kilometers would have been leveled.

“Grandpa Wang, what is this?”

Wang Bowen replied, “This was a Black Hole organization member we caught a week ago in the Large Hadron Collider laboratory.”

A week ago? That was the same day Zhang Mingyang went on his business trip.

“How did they get in, Grandpa Wang?”

Wang Bowen shook his head. “If we knew, the Space Force wouldn’t have been called in. It was precisely because of this incident that the government redeployed all troops and air-dropped the Space Force here.”

Watching the video again, Zhang Mingyang felt a chill. He hadn’t expected the Black Hole organization to have infiltrated so deeply—right into the core of the Ministry of Energy. With Zhang Mingyang’s current status, he couldn’t even enter that area.

“Grandpa Wang, is this Black Hole organization really that powerful?”

Wang Bowen smiled bitterly. “Powerful is an understatement. When Jin Yaowen left, he didn’t go alone—he took most of the top scientists with him.”

“Oh my god!”

Most of the top scientists? Zhang Mingyang couldn’t imagine how formidable the base must have been before. Even the current base can build the ‘Energy’ spacecraft. With a full team, who knows what they could achieve.

Wang Bowen added, “This spy wasn’t alone—there were over a dozen of them. Their goal wasn’t just to sabotage the containment unit but to steal it.”

“Steal it? Why would they steal it?”

Zhang Mingyang’s expression turned fearful as he pondered. “Grandpa Wang, could it be they’re building their own spaceship too?”

***

Wang Bowen nodded. “Exactly. We caught fifteen of them in total. At first, none would talk. After three days, one broke down and revealed that the Black Hole organization planned to steal the containment unit. And their spaceship has long been completed!”

“No way!”

Zhang Mingyang couldn’t believe it. The technological prowess of one organization rivaling a whole nation? “Grandpa Wang, if they can build spacecraft, why would they steal energy? Wasn’t Jin Yaowen, together with Wang Huairen, called the Twin Stars?”

Wang Bowen tapped his head. “Did you forget the special device on the Large Hadron Collider?”

“You mean the splitter?”

“Yes!”

Wang Bowen pulled up a picture of the splitter on the tablet. “Only Wang Huairen can build this device, and only it can separate antimatter. No matter how skilled those Black Hole members are, they can’t compare to Wang Huairen.”

Hearing this, Zhang Mingyang understood. “Grandpa Wang, you’ve called me here to watch over the splitter?”

Wang Bowen shook his head. “Not the splitter, nor the antimatter containment unit. I called you here to fish.”

“Fish?”

Zhang Mingyang looked around. “There’s no fishing rod here.”

“Why are you so dense?” Wang Bowen gave him a light kick. “I mean use the containment unit to fish.”

“You mean use the containment unit to lure out the remaining Black Hole members?”

Wang Bowen smiled. “Exactly. They’re short on energy, right? So we’ll give it to them. I plan to transport the containment unit to the Southern Desert Base, citing safety concerns. We’ll transport it in two ways—land and air—and use a fake containment unit to bait the remaining Black Hole members.”

Hearing Wang Bowen’s fishing strategy, Zhang Mingyang nodded. “Alright, Grandpa Wang, tell me how I can help.”

Wang Bowen pulled him to the computer. “Look, the three of you were elected by all factions within the base to form the inspection team. We plan to have your team execute this operation. It shows the base’s seriousness, and since you’re all young scientists, they’ll underestimate you, thinking you don’t know much about counter-espionage and are easy to deal with.”

“This way, they’ll fall right into the trap we’ve prepared. Don’t worry, someone will secretly assist you when the time comes.”