Memory inheritor

Chapter 79 Chopping Off the Hand

The core members of the task force were overjoyed when they saw the latest interpretation of the dream narrative report. Even the usually composed Director Liang and Director Shi couldn't help but show their delight.

This report is absolutely crucial!

However, its value lay in allowing the investigation to continue, not in making any substantial progress. So, after a brief moment of excitement, everyone quickly calmed down and began to carefully study and analyze the report.

Without a doubt, the "young man" and "Professor Finch" in the report are both Mu Jie's accomplices.

While Mu Jie was hiding in the safe house, the "young man" met with him. The "Professor Finch" probably didn't come; his image came from Mu Jie's imagination after seeing the "young man."

However, it is certain that Mu Jie and "Professor Finch" have met before and should be quite familiar with each other.

The task force's current goal is clear: to find these two people as soon as possible, then continue to investigate leads from them, and bring down their accomplices in Yuecheng and even across the country.

"This 'young man' is referred to from Mu Jie's perspective, and I think he shouldn't be older than thirty." Seeing that no one else spoke, Yu Zhen started first, "Judging from Mu Jie's psychological gap in 'Narrative Reconstruction-1,' that 'Professor Finch' should be much older, I think at least forty years old."

Everyone else nodded, basically agreeing with his conjecture.

"So, is this 'professor' his code name in the criminal organization, or is he a real professor?" The speaker was named Du Heng, in his forties, from the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, and was at the same rank as Yu Zhen.

After posing the question, he speculated, "Based on the content of 'Narrative Reconstruction-3,' the 'professor's' appearance has relatively obvious Caucasian features. Could he be a foreign teacher hired by some university?"

Wei Hongbo agreed, saying, "Very likely. As far as I know, 'Professor Finch' is a very formal title in Western society. Mu Jie has overseas study and living experience, so he should be familiar with the relevant etiquette, which also fits his identity as a 'facilitator' in 'Narrative Reconstruction-3'."

He had overheard his wife and younger brother discussing the topic, so he was more inclined to believe that "professor" was the real title. He then suggested, "We can try to find out how many 'Professor Finch's' are in the universities in Yuecheng."

Director Liang nodded and said, "Yes, we can start here. I'll coordinate this matter." He then got up to arrange the relevant matters.

The others continued the discussion.

Du Heng said, "Look at the content of 'Narrative Reconstruction-2,' doesn't it resemble a mysterious ritual? Mu Jie hopes that the 'professor' will arrive and act as a 'guide' to preside over this ritual for him. What is the specific purpose of this?"

Yu Zhen clicked his tongue and said, "This looks a lot like a brainwashing tactic used by an evil organization. But judging from the content of 'Narrative Reconstruction-3,' it should require some kind of equipment. If we can find that 'pod,' we might know what's going on."

Du Heng pondered for a moment and said, "But so far, we haven't found any of the carbon nanotube implantation devices or skill infusion devices used by this organization. We also haven't found anything in that 'safe house' that corresponds to the 'pod'."

"They were probably using a relatively small, portable device," Yu Zhen said, picking up a page of material from beside him. "This is the power consumption of the 'safe house' where Mu Jie was hiding. There's nothing particularly unusual about it. I reckon even just turning on the air conditioner would use more electricity than this."

"The carbon nanotube implantation device should be some kind of small, disposable device. I consulted Professor Feng from Yuecheng University about this," Wei Hongbo said. "The criminals should have made the necessary preparations during the planning stage, as the equipment related to their core technology is easy to disassemble and destroy."

"Even if it's destroyed, shouldn't there be some trace left?" Du Heng frowned. "Could those things just vanish into thin air?"

Yu Zhen said optimistically, "Maybe if we find the 'professors' and 'young people,' we can find the equipment."

Wei Hongbo nodded secretly, hoping that Yu Zhi's prediction would also be well-prepared this time.

After more than ten minutes, Director Liang returned and sat down, saying, "We have the results. We found three 'Professors Finch' in Yuecheng."

This speed amazed everyone present, once again demonstrating the exceptionally high efficiency of high-level resource coordination.

There are more than 50 universities in Yuecheng. If we contact each one to inquire about or request information on foreign professors, it would not only be time-consuming and laborious, but we might also alert them.

Director Liang used the channels of the National Police General Bureau, through the regular cooperation mechanism with the Ministry of Science and Technology, to directly initiate a data docking request to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

All legally employed foreign teachers will have their information entered into the Foreign Personnel Employment Management System, which is managed by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

Accompanying Director Liang was a technician who projected the materials onto the large screen and presented them one by one.

—William Finch

Nationality: Country A (a certain Western superpower)

Age: 56

Employer: Yuecheng University - School of Foreign Languages

Position/Title: Professor, Doctoral Supervisor in Western Literature and Culture Studies

Length of employment: 10+ years

Note: Excellent performance record in school evaluations; has received the "Outstanding Foreign Teacher" award multiple times. Active in academic activities and has a considerable number of publications.

—Lucas Finch

Nationality: Country B (a Western European island nation)

Age: 46

Employer: Yuecheng Normal University - School of International Business

Position/Title: Associate Professor (Contractual), Lecturer: International Business and Cross-cultural Communication

Length of employment: 3 years

Note: Previously taught at Huacheng University of Finance and Economics for 4 years. Teaching evaluation was above average, academic output was average.

—Evan Finch

Nationality: Country A

Age: 53

Employer: Yuecheng University of Science and Technology - College of Physics and Electronic Engineering

Position/Title: Professor (introduced talent), Head of Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Doctoral Supervisor

Length of employment: 5 years

Note: The university prioritizes attracting talent, has numerous research projects, and collaborates with many laboratories both domestically and internationally.

Upon seeing the introduction of Professor Finch, everyone's hearts skipped a beat. Could it be that the person they were investigating had been right beside them all along? Had he noticed their recent collaboration with Yuecheng University?

After giving a brief introduction, the technician placed three photos of Finch side by side on the large screen.

Finch is a relatively uncommon surname. If it were a surname like Smith or Jones, you would probably find quite a few at universities in Yuecheng.

It's certainly a good thing that fewer people are being screened. However, it's difficult to make a proper identification based solely on the physical description provided by "Narrative Reconstruction-3".