Chapter 71: Logic_1
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Startled awake, Cao Ge abruptly sat up in bed and began pressing down on himself to make sure he hadn't lost an arm or a leg.
Drenched in sweat, his head was steaming, and beads of perspiration kept dripping from his neck.
Realizing he was in his sunny bedroom, Cao Ge let out a sigh of relief.
In the black hole, he had no control over his life or death, and that feeling was terrifying.
Cao Ge slowly got out of bed, pushed open the glass door, and stepped onto a large terrace.
Standing at the edge of the terrace and looking up, he could feel the distant breeze sweeping past him.
"It's great to be alive," Cao Ge sighed.
"Ring Ring Ring!!!"
Just then, the ringing of his mobile phone filled the room.
Cao Ge frowned, turning to look inside the room.
"Who would call at this hour?" he muttered to himself. Then he turned back, walked to the bedside, and picked up his phone.
After pressing the answer button, he put it to his ear.
"Hello!"
"Brother Cao, it's Shi Qiang. I'm right outside your house," came Da Shi's rough voice from the other end of the line.
"Da Shi," Cao Ge mumbled, then opened the door leading to the hall, and followed the stairs down to the first floor.
He crossed the living room all the way to the front door, pulled down the handle, and opened the door.
Outside stood three plainclothes officers, two of whom Cao Ge did not recognize, beside Da Shi.
"Whoa! Brother Cao, you're sweating buckets in the middle of the day!" said Da Shi, walking in and slapping Cao Ge on the chest.
Following Da Shi's gaze, Cao Ge looked down at his sweat-soaked clothes.
"Ah! Right, just did some... workout."
After brushing it off casually, Cao Ge led the three men inside.
"Wow, Brother Cao, your place is quite impressive," Da Shi said as he entered, glancing around indiscriminately and engaging in small talk.
"Team Leader Shi, it's been a while, and you're still as humorous as ever," Cao Ge said, leading them to a table by the floor-to-ceiling windows and pouring each of them a glass of mineral water.
"So, what brings Team Leader Shi here this time?" Cao Ge asked, finishing the water in his cup in one gulp.
"Here's the deal, the higher-ups have something for you, so you need to come with us," Shi Qiang said, suddenly serious.
"Did they say what it's about?" Cao Ge filled his cup again and took another drink.
"That's confidential. I can only tell you it's very important," Da Shi said seriously, for once not reaching for his cigarette case.
Cao Ge caught Da Shi's stern gaze and nodded.
"Alright, I'll go with you, but let me take a shower first," Cao Ge said.
"Please hurry, Brother Cao, others are waiting," Da Shi urged.
"That urgent, huh?" Cao Ge expressed surprise with a look.
"Brother Cao, I have my orders, and I can't disclose anything," Da Shi replied.
"Okay, I'll make it quick."
With that, Cao Ge grabbed a set of clothes and headed into the bathroom.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"
The cold water from the shower poured down quickly, cooling the surface of Cao Ge's body and bringing him a sense of refreshment he hadn't felt in a long time.
Twenty minutes later, Cao Ge emerged from the bathroom dressed in casual attire, drying his wet hair with a towel as he approached Da Shi and the others.
"Team Leader Shi, there's time for a meal, right? I'd like to grab something to eat," Cao Ge tossed the towel casually onto a chair and then addressed them.
"No time for that, we'll eat on the way," Da Shi said.
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Having said that, he ushered Cao Ge out the door.
Once outside the yard, they got into the operation center's black car and drove off towards an unknown destination.
"Team Leader Shi, you guys are getting more and more mysterious," Cao Ge said, sitting in the center of the back seat and looking at Da Shi, who was driving.
Da Shi, while driving, kept looking back from the rearview mirror, proceeding with normalcy that was frightening.
The car was quiet; the sharp-tongued Da Shi, surprisingly, did not speak much but concentrated on driving.
Although Cao Ge was curious about where they were going, seeing their serious demeanor, which did not seem to indicate they would tell him, he decided not to ask and spare himself the embarrassment.
The car drove normally on the road until, two hours later, Da Shi drove it into a military base on the outskirts.
"It really is as they said; you're different from them."
"Who said the same," Brother Cao asked, puzzled.
"Brother Cao, please get off the car. Someone has been waiting for you for a long time," Da Shi, after parking the car, turned around to look at him and smiled.
After he spoke, he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car first.
"Clang!"
The plainclothes men sitting on either side of him helped pull open the car door.
With curiosity, Cao Ge also got out of the black car.
Looking at the tunnel built into the mountain, Cao Ge was filled with wonder; everywhere were armed personnel on patrol.
This wasn't just a tunnel; it was clearly a highly secured military stronghold.
"Team Leader Shi."
At that moment, seven or eight fully armed special forces soldiers came walking from the other side of the tunnel.
"Hmm, I've brought the person," Da Shi nodded.
"Brother Cao, what are you looking at? Let's go," Da Shi glanced back and, upon seeing Cao Ge still at the car door, called out to him.
And so, Cao Ge followed Da Shi and the group to the end of the tunnel, and then they entered a door. Beyond it was a different world,
A vast space with all kinds of facilities; any military installation that could be imagined was here.
The bustling crowd made the place very busy.
Observing the clerks going back and forth clutching documents, Cao Ge gained a rough idea of this place.
He just didn't know why Da Shi had brought him here.
Soon, Cao Ge followed Da Shi and the group into an even larger space.
The space was over ten meters high, more than two hundred meters long, and a hundred meters wide. At the center, several enormous aircraft were parked.
The base staff led them to the one at the very back.
Cao Ge had seen this type of aircraft before, but only on the news; these were the planes used by national leaders when traveling abroad.
"Brother Cao, keep up, the person's been waiting almost a day for you," Da Shi said as he climbed the boarding stairs and then turned to Cao Ge.
Cao Ge looked around at the base personnel, then followed up the stairs.
"Come, let me introduce you."
"This is Cao Ge, the deputy director of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Center."
"Hello, Director Cao."
"Hello," Cao Ge replied, reaching out his right hand to the extremely handsome man in front of him.
"This is Professor Luo from Tsinghua University, heading to the same destination as you for this mission."
Despite having been prepared, hearing Da Shi tell him it was Logic, Cao Ge was still somewhat shocked.
"Professor Luo, hello, I'm Cao Ge. Just call me Cao Ge; there's no need to use 'Director Cao' like they do," Cao Ge said, firmly shaking Logic's hand in greeting.
"Director Cao, I have heard of you. I am familiar with your design, the artificial intelligence Murphy. It truly is a great invention," Logic appeared somewhat excited, which Cao Ge hadn't anticipated.
Cao Ge just smiled and said nothing.