Chapter 107: The Transport Convoy

"Senior brother, let’s go get some food quickly; we need to inspect the convoy again in a little while."

"Alright."

The three of them had been busy all afternoon and hadn't eaten lunch, so they were already famished. By the time they arrived at the cafeteria, the peak hours for meals had passed, and the three of them were served quickly.

While eating, Tian Wenyuan asked Zhang Mingyang, "Junior brother, it seems your relationship with Director Wang is quite special! He notifies you whenever there is important news."

"That's right."

Peng Dongli added, "I heard your father was a student of Director Wang back in the day?"

Zhang Mingyang nodded and replied, "You could say there's a connection, but it's not much of one. My father was indeed Director Wang’s student, but he passed away a long time ago."

"Your father passed away?"

Peng Dongli looked apologetic and quickly apologized, "Junior brother, just pretend I didn't ask. Oh dear, why did I bring up your father?"

Zhang Mingyang smiled and replied, "It's fine, Senior Brother Peng. Actually, I never even met him. I don't know what his voice or personality was like. In the end, I have no impressions of him at all, other than knowing he was my father."

"You don't say?"

Tian Wenyuan looked at him, "You never met your father?"

"Hmm."

Zhang Mingyang looked at the food in front of him, thinking of the photos of his parents. "My mother died during childbirth, and my father was killed in a car accident while escorting a document. To others, the words 'mother' and 'father' are memories; to me, they are merely an imagination."

Seeing Zhang Mingyang's expression, Tian Wenyuan nudged Peng Dongli, "Old Peng, change the subject."

Peng Dongli quickly said, "Hey, junior brother, let’s hurry up and discuss work..."

...

After eating, Zhang Mingyang led the two of them to the location of the convoy as planned: the Nanshan Underground Garage.

The Nanshan Underground Garage was managed by the base's logistics department. It was used for parking logistics vehicles and handling supplies. The vehicles provided for this mission were the heavy-duty trucks usually used by the logistics department to transport proton clusters.

They took the elevator down, and when the doors opened, the three of them stepped out. As soon as they entered, Zhang Mingyang saw three massive heavy-duty trucks and over a dozen black SUVs.

"This is our convoy?"

Peng Dongli looked at the vehicles in front of him with disappointment. "This is a bit embarrassing. You could at least use a few armored vehicles to save face. What’s the point of using these beat-up SUVs?"

"Hey! Watch your mouth!" Tian Wenyuan interrupted him. "Have you forgotten the plan? The air transport is a decoy, while our land transport is the real objective. Air transport is in the open, while our land transport is in the shadows. We need to appear low-key to make them believe the air transport is the ruse and that we are truly moving the antimatter by land."

"I know, I’m just venting."

Just then, a young man walked over and asked, "Which one of you is Mr. Zhang Mingyang?"

Zhang Mingyang stepped forward and replied, "That’s me."

The young man shook his hand. "Mr. Zhang, I am the team leader for the convoy. You can just call me 'Beer'; we use codenames here."

"Beer? Got it!"

Beer led the three of them to the heavy-duty trucks intended for the antimatter transport. "Mr. Zhang, our convoy consists of twenty vehicles. Three are heavy trucks carrying the antimatter magnetic boxes, and seventeen SUVs serve as escorts. The one in front of you is one of the heavy trucks."

Looking at the three-story-tall truck, Zhang Mingyang asked, "Let me ask, how would the Black Hole organization know whether there is antimatter in the trucks?"

Beer explained, "Mr. Zhang, every heavy truck’s cargo container holds a one-to-one scale magnetic box. The fake vehicles weigh exactly the same as the real ones. Furthermore, inside each fake magnetic box, we have placed an emission device that mimics real antimatter. When the Black Hole organization scans the vehicles with their instruments, they will indeed detect what appears to be antimatter."

As he spoke, Beer opened the rear door of the truck, revealing a fake magnetic box identical to the real one.

"Wow!"

"The base really spared no expense. If you didn't look closely, you’d think it was the real thing."

After closing the door, Beer led them to the escort vehicles in the back.

"Mr. Zhang, these seventeen black SUVs are standard commercial models. To remain inconspicuous, we haven't modified their appearance, but we have installed special equipment inside. You can drive these into any city without attracting any attention."

Peng Dongli opened the driver's side door and climbed in to test it. "Hmm, you're right, junior brother. These cars only cost a little over a hundred thousand on the market; they’re quite entry-level."

Zhang Mingyang looked at Beer and asked, "We know the route, but has there been any prior deployment regarding our formation and the arrangements for the three of us?"

Beer nodded and pulled out a tablet to show them the convoy formation. "Gentlemen, the convoy will have the three heavy trucks in the middle in a vertical line. The seventeen escort vehicles will move in a formation of four in front, four in the back, and nine in the middle. We have arrangements for all three of you. Mr. Peng, you will be at the front of the convoy responsible for reconnaissance. Mr. Tian, you will be at the rear. Mr. Zhang, you will be in the middle, responsible for flank defense. The entire convoy consists of eighty people, including twenty-three drivers, four medics, and forty-three security guards..."

Listening to Beer’s report, Zhang Mingyang nodded and looked at his two senior brothers. "Senior brothers, do you understand?"

Both nodded to indicate they understood.

"However!" Tian Wenyuan asked Beer a question. "I have to ask, what should we do if the enemy has weapons?"

Hearing this, Beer handed each of them a black briefcase. "Gentlemen, this is both a weapon bag and a bulletproof shield."

As he spoke, he opened one and pulled out a handgun. "Gentlemen, this is a 9mm caliber pistol. Each magazine holds thirty rounds, and there are five magazines in the bag. Furthermore, when this briefcase is fully unfolded, it reaches a height of 1.5 meters, allowing you to use it as a ballistic shield."

Zhang Mingyang watched the demonstration and pulled his own pistol from the bag. "Senior brothers, do you know how to shoot?"

Peng Dongli replied, "Of course! Our group has military projects; getting to shoot a gun isn't difficult."

Tian Wenyuan was already skillfully disassembling the pistol. "You don't need to worry about Old Tian; this kid came from the military, so shooting is second nature to him."

Seeing that both of them knew how to use guns, Zhang Mingyang felt awkward. He pointed his pistol at Peng Dongli, who was so startled he quickly snatched it away. "Whoa! Junior brother, don't you know how to use a gun? During training, you never point the muzzle at anyone!"

Zhang Mingyang scratched his head in embarrassment. "I actually haven't learned that."

Tian Wenyuan shook his head and took the pistol back. "Come here, I'll teach you."

Tian Wenyuan started from the basics of loading and using the pistol, teaching Zhang Mingyang how to shoot step-by-step.