Chapter 19: Coming to the Door

At this moment, Xu Chen sat in a conference room, rubbing his hands nervously as he looked at the gathered dignitaries, especially the leader. Dressed in a military uniform, the two vertical bars and two stars on his shoulder clearly marked him as a high-ranking officer.

That morning, during class, someone had called him out and brought him here. As soon as he entered, two soldiers standing rigidly at the door startled him.

Inside, five officers in distinctly different uniforms sat around the conference table, all watching him with keen interest, while other soldiers stood around the perimeter.

Xu Chen was then invited to sit among these bigwigs.

“Don’t be nervous. You must be Xu Chen, right? We’re here just to ask you some questions,” the leader said kindly.

Xu Chen’s tension deepened, especially with the entire room’s gaze fixed on him.

Damn, even the armed soldiers in the internship group hadn’t made him this nervous.

He glanced around; the only difference was these five dignitaries. Though they showed no hostility, there was an undeniable oppressive aura.

“Alright, you’re scaring the kid,” a bespectacled officer sitting beside Xu Chen said disapprovingly. “Don’t mind us, young man. I’m Staff Officer Xu from the 122nd Regiment, and this is Deputy Regiment Commander Feng.”

The leader nodded in greeting.

Xu Chen relaxed a bit. If they were willing to introduce themselves, it was a signal of goodwill—much better than just talking without substance.

“That one is Captain Zhu, leader of the Special Operations Unit,” Xu added.

Xu Chen looked over; Captain Zhu was the youngest among them and nodded a greeting. Though his uniform was military style, it was entirely black, seeming somewhat outside the regular military system.

“That’s Captain Chu. Call him Captain Chu for short. His specific role is classified but is related to you,” Xu said.

Captain Chu sized Xu Chen up, then smiled and nodded. “You probably don’t even realize how much attention we’re paying to you… cooperate well later.”

“That gentleman is Mr. Ge, his position is also classified. He’s here as an observer,” Xu continued.

Xu Chen looked at Mr. Ge, who appeared gentle and refined. Though not visibly old, he had white hair and smiled briefly at Xu Chen. Xu noticed that despite wearing an officer’s uniform, Mr. Ge’s details differed from Feng and others—no rank insignia on his shoulders or collar.

“Now that you know who we are, and we know who you are without you saying a word, what do you think it means that we’ve come to see you?” the lead officer asked.

Xu Chen was baffled. He recalled carefully if he had done anything wrong recently—nothing. He racked his brains for any major misdeeds that might have attracted the attention of high-ranking officials.

Naturally, there was nothing.

Since his reincarnation, his parents had cherished him, granting every wish. He had an adult’s soul, never cried or caused trouble, and lived harmoniously—never stepping out of line.

Recently, he had only participated in the internship group and the excavation of the Taihao Mausoleum. The internship group incident was long over, with all involved dead, and that was his only military contact.

Could it be because of the Taihao Mausoleum excavation?

Xu Chen thought hard but found it unlikely. Archaeology seemed unrelated to the military, and the matter was so aboveboard he was confident no one could find fault.

“I can’t think of anything. The only big thing I’ve done recently is the Taihao Mausoleum excavation. You wouldn’t be here to award me, would you?”

Staff Officer Xu was momentarily stunned, then smiled. “Well, that’s not impossible. Just to be safe, I’ll ask: you’ll cooperate with us, right?”

Xu Chen didn’t foolishly promise “next time for sure,” but simply nodded.

“Alright then. Captain Chu, Captain Zhu, it’s your turn to speak. Explain to this young comrade.”

Captain Chu nodded, took a case from a soldier behind him, and placed it on the table, opening it.

Inside was a military-grade rugged laptop—the entire case was the computer itself. Its interface was unlike any graphical system Xu Chen had seen: efficient, minimalist, with no superfluous decorations.

Such military-grade laptops were fireproof, waterproof, drop-resistant, could even withstand rocket attacks and electromagnetic pulses. Their cost was enormous.

As for performance, they were extremely basic—good enough for all military operations but unable to run ordinary software.

“About a month ago, an atypical infectious disease broke out at the coastal city of Fangjiang’s meteorological station. Subsequently, three more coastal meteorological stations detected infected individuals. These stations are strange; the disease cannot be explained by normal medical science. It seems more like a phenomenon of disease spread rather than a true infection,” Captain Chu explained.

Xu Chen listened, puzzled.

“You might not realize it, but I remember you joined the internship group. Guess why we were able to detect this fungal infection in time and halt its spread at an early stage?”

Xu Chen’s eyes brightened with sudden understanding. “You warned the coastal local officials or hospitals?”

“Exactly. I can even tell you this was a last resort. We didn’t specify the exact type of pathogen in our warnings to avoid panic because… up until now, none of the infected have shown any signs of recovery. If neglected and allowed to spread, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Now Xu Chen was intrigued.

“You mean this disease is like a fungal infection? Untreatable?”

“Yes, but the symptoms aren’t highly aggressive. At least for now, it’s controllable.”

“You’ve said so much—won’t you tell me what exactly this disease is?”

“You can see for yourself. All records are on this terminal.”

With that, Captain Chu flipped the rugged laptop around and pushed it toward Xu Chen. Curious about this suitcase-style military-grade notebook, Xu Chen immediately began to explore.

At first, he eagerly examined the sturdy trackball and ultra-quiet engineering plastic keyboard, reading the text. But after a few glances, he was too shocked to continue playing and stared at the records in disbelief.

He learned that previously there had been an outbreak of a disease called Taihao, which he had a particular interest in, explaining why he was summoned.

The disease was extremely strange—not a biological infection, featuring bizarre mental symptoms, odd outbreak locations, and sources. Medical students would dismiss it as fantasy.

However, looking at the officers calmly sipping tea around him, Xu Chen felt these people weren’t here to waste time. This document was likely authentic.

The records didn’t even hide the presence of Director Yang. Many documents bore the signature of Yang Tianyou himself, clarifying where he had gone and what he was doing.

In short, this information answered some questions but raised even more mysteries.

For now, the priority was to deal with these military dignitaries. Though Xu Chen’s official rank was only deputy regiment commander at most, he didn’t believe the deputy commander had no real authority or wasn’t involved.

Besides, they could have sent lower-ranking officials to question him.

The only reason they didn’t was that they believed this was necessary.

Certainly, someone higher up cared enough to deploy these people as frontline operatives.

Whether it was a captain, a company commander, or even a lieutenant platoon leader, the upper echelons might not be concerned, but Xu Chen could not afford to be indifferent.

Their high rank had its purpose—they had immediate access to intelligence and could make decisions swiftly, demonstrating the gravity with which this matter was regarded.