Chapter 876 Suspicious figure Lu Qingyang participated in the special cushioning composite material project. After initial laboratory verification and small-scale trial, the effect exceeded expectations and he was added to a higher-level list of people to watch.
Codenamed "Resilient Shield".
With the arrival of the new generation, in addition to more resources and support, there is also quietly approaching pressure.
It started with letters.
Several invitation letters from overseas universities or research institutions were sent, with enthusiastic wording, praising his related papers published in the Journal of Materials Science and inviting him to conduct in-depth academic exchanges overseas. The conditions were so generous that they left people speechless, and even implicitly mentioned that his family could be arranged to go.
Lu Qingyang handed over all the letters, which were then processed and politely declined by the school's foreign affairs department according to procedure.
Then came the chance encounter.
At a light industry technology exhibition organized by a ministry and attended by foreign guests, Lu Qingyang attended as a specially invited expert.
During a break, a Mr. Anderson, who claimed to be a senior representative of a European chemical company and spoke fluent Chinese, happened to be passing by. He praised a certain civilian plastic product on display, and the conversation naturally veered towards the forefront of materials science. His words revealed his strong interest in Lu Qingyang's research direction and his deep willingness to cooperate with him.
Lu Qingyang was meticulous, only discussing publicly available technologies. After several attempts to probe the other party's intentions, the other party finally handed over his business card with a smile that remained unchanged: "Dr. Lu, we greatly admire your talent and welcome you to contact us anytime."
What truly alerted Lu Qingyang was a minor anomaly in the project team's laboratory.
It was Friday evening, and most people had already left.
Lu Qingyang stayed a little late because he was checking a batch of data.
As he left, he habitually checked the lock on his personal filing cabinet. The lock was intact, but along the edge of the cabinet door, there was a tiny, unseen, dark blue synthetic fiber thread that didn't belong to any of the group's clothing, caught in a small gap.
There were no missing documents in the cabinet, and the order of everything was still intact.
But he clearly remembered that before leaving for lunch, he had tucked a handwritten draft of a test record on the high-temperature resistance of raw materials into a stack of publicly available documents.
Now, that draft is correct.
Someone has tampered with it, and very professionally at that, going to great lengths to conceal the traces.
He kept quiet and the next day, under the pretext of organizing archives, applied for a metal safe with an individual lock, moved all the key manuscripts and core experimental records, and kept the key only for himself.
At that time, he reported the situation to the relevant security department through the school.
The turmoil seems to have subsided.
Two weeks later, on a sweltering, stormy night...
Lu Qingyang was rushing to complete an urgent report in the school laboratory.
Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and torrential rain poured down. The entire laboratory building was almost empty, except for his office at the end of the corridor, where the light was still on.
The report was finished around 1 p.m., and the rain subsided slightly.
He turned off the lights, locked the door, and walked into the quiet stairwell. The motion-activated lights turned on one by one with his footsteps and then turned off one by one behind him.
When he reached the lobby on the first floor, he subconsciously glanced at the side door, which led to a small equipment warehouse at the back and was rarely used.
The door was slightly ajar, revealing a sliver of darkness.
He remembered that the security guard, Lao Zhang, had said that the door had recently become a bit warped and the lock was not tight, and that it had already been reported for repair.
Perhaps it's the wind.
As he turned to leave the building, a "click" sound came from the side door, like metal gently clashing.
Lu Qingyang stopped in his tracks, his entire body tensing instantly.
Listen closely, and all you can hear is the sound of rain pattering down.
Lu Qingyang silently retreated into the shadows of the pillars in the hall, his eyes fixed on the door.
A few minutes later, the door was pushed open very slowly, opening a wider gap.
A figure dressed in dark blue overalls and wearing a hat appeared sideways, carrying a seemingly heavy tool bag, yet moving nimbly.
The man lowered the brim of his hat, quickly scanned the empty hall, and then walked towards the main entrance of the building.
That place is near where Lu Qingyang was standing just now.
Just as the man passed in front of the pillar's shadow, Lu Qingyang, taking advantage of a flash of lightning outside the window, caught a glimpse of an item peeking out from the side pocket of his tool bag.
A few minutes later, the person seemed to realize that someone was in the shadows and suddenly turned their head.
In a flash, Lu Qingyang didn't choose to hide. Instead, he took half a step forward, exposing himself to the dim light. He then spoke in a slightly doubtful and wary tone, "Who is it? So late, the repair team? Master Zhang?"
The person was clearly not expecting anyone to be in the shadows, and their body stiffened for a moment.
Beneath the brim of his hat, a pair of eyes swept across Lu Qingyang's face, as if making a quick identification.
Lu Qingyang was wearing an ordinary white shirt and glasses, and carrying only a briefcase. He looked like an ordinary researcher working overtime.
"Oh, Dr. Lu? I'm a new guy in logistics. Wang asked me to check the side door lock because he's worried about leaks when it rains."
He waved the toolbox in his hand, the black device cleverly concealed by his arm.
“Wang Ren?” Lu Qingyang sneered inwardly. There was indeed a Wang Ren in the logistics department, but he would never send a new person to repair the door at one o'clock in the morning, much less someone with a toolbox containing suspicious equipment.
He suddenly realized, "It's Old Wang. He's always so worried. There is a problem with the door. Thank you for your hard work. It's raining heavily, so please be careful."
The man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, gave a mumbled reply, and quickened his pace toward the door, but his direction deviated slightly, as if he wanted to distance himself from Lu Qingyang.
Just as the two were about to walk out the door one after the other, Lu Qingyang suddenly cried out "Ouch!" as if he had tripped, and his briefcase slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a "thud," scattering the papers inside.
"Excuse me!" Lu Qingyang quickly bent down to pick it up, his movements appearing somewhat clumsy, which happened to block the person's path.
The man was forced to stop, but was eager to leave. However, Lu Qingyang blocked his way, with documents scattered around him.
"It's alright, I'll help you." The man had no choice but to squat down and quickly gather up a few sheets of paper for Lu Qingyang.
"Thank you." Lu Qingyang took the paper and quickly glanced at the other person's hand.
Thick calluses on the web of the thumb and the inside of the index finger are the result of holding a specific tool or instrument for a long time, indicating that the person is not an ordinary repairman.
The two of them stood up after a few minutes.
In that instant, by the light of the street lamp outside the door, Lu Qingyang saw a small, dark mark on the back of the man's collar, like a corner of a tattoo.
Here, very few ordinary workers have tattoos.
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