"This area seems to be a restricted zone!" a parent remarked as the bus passed a checkpoint.
"Yes, and the security level appears to be quite high. What exactly is this place?" another parent wondered, more perplexed.
"How did our children even think of coming to a place we don't even know about?" The parents on the bus were increasingly confused. Sitting in the front, Old Chen smiled at Huang He and asked, "How is it, it's your first time here too, right?"
"Yes, this is nominally my territory. I spent billions to build it, but I haven't even taken a look. You guys spent all the money, and I still owe the bank 60 billion!" Boss Huang grumbled.
"You're the one who never had the time to come, not that we stopped you!" Old Chen chuckled. As the vehicle entered the back mountain, a parent suddenly pointed to a dark area in the distance, exclaiming in surprise, "Look, is that a big round barrel over there?"
"A barrel? What barrel?" Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the finger. Indeed, they saw a massive cylindrical object wrapped around the mountainside.
The cylinder seemed endless, and under the dim moonlight, it resembled a terrifying primordial serpent coiling around the mountain as if it were a boulder. From a distance, it was quite frightening.
A timid parent even let out a scream.
"Everyone, please don't panic. That's not a giant snake, it's just our passage. Perhaps in the future, such passages will be all over China, becoming a common sight!" Old Chen said cheerfully.
"A passage? What does that mean?" The parents were even more confused, but a few of them, realizing something, wore expressions of understanding.
After all, their status was not low, allowing them access to much information unavailable to ordinary people.
Soon, the vehicle arrived at a large gate. After passing the final inspection, the gate slowly opened, welcoming the vehicle inside.
However, to their surprise, even after entering the base, the vehicle continued to travel for a full twenty minutes before finally entering a mountain tunnel.
At this point, the vehicle stopped, and over a dozen staff members greeted them at the exit. They escorted all the parents and Boss Huang, along with their group, and conducted a full-body security check. They also asked everyone to hand over their mobile phones, including Huang He and Elder Chen.
"Where are the children?" Huang He asked immediately, which was also the most pressing question for all the parents.
"They are all in the cafeteria. The children were hungry, so I asked the cafeteria to make them some noodles!" a base official who greeted them said with a smile. Then, they boarded several electric shuttle buses and traveled for about five minutes within the tunnel, finally reaching the cafeteria. There, they met the thirty-one audacious children.
The children finally saw their parents after a day. The two sides embraced each other excitedly, leading to a scene of paternal affection and filial piety. Well, some parents directly raised their hands and spanked them, making the scene quite touching.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on here?" Huang He also saw Leng Zhiting, but he didn't hit her. After all, she was his sister-in-law, not his child, so Boss Huang found it difficult to lay a hand on her. He only asked with a stern face.
"They all wanted to come here for a visit. As the eldest sister, I naturally had to bring them!" Leng Zhiting said meekly, looking down.
"Nonsense! If this place were a battlefield, would you have brought them here too?" Huang He scolded. "Also, I never mentioned coming to this place to you!"
"I overheard you and Second Sister talking in bed!" Leng Zhiting said in a voice like a mosquito. "Last week, when I went back to Wenzhou for New Year's Day, I was thirsty late at night and happened to pass by your room. I accidentally overheard your conversation with Second Sister. You said you planned to visit this base and see if that big thing could really operate!"
"You were outside at the time!" Boss Huang's old face turned red. He had been doing some interesting things then and habitually bragged. He had indeed told Leng Zhiruo many things about this base.
Of course, Leng Zhiruo was also aware of the existence of this base, so there was no issue of leaks. She just never expected these words to be overheard by Leng Zhiting.
"Alright, even if I accidentally told you, how would your classmates know about these things? You must have been bragging in class and told them yourself!" Huang He said.
"Actually, it wasn't entirely me telling them proactively. They were the ones who brought up the topic in class. They said that last week, some of them came here to play and discovered a terrifying monster winding its way up the mountain. They only managed to take a few photos before being discovered, and all their photos were deleted."
"So, they started guessing what this monster was, some saying it was Yamata no Orochi, some saying it was a dragon, and even some saying it was Empress Nuwa. Seeing their wild guesses, I corrected their mistakes!" Leng Zhiting said.
"Yes, so you told them that what was winding up the mountain wasn't a giant snake or a monster, but the vacuum tunnel your brother-in-law built, right?" Huang He continued. Leng Zhiting giggled and nodded, implicitly admitting it.
Huang He could basically guess what happened next.
After Leng Zhiting leaked the secret, it must have ignited the intense curiosity of these children.
These children were in the second year of junior high, the most active, curious, and audacious period of their lives. They feared nothing and believed they were invincible, daring to try anything.
Moreover, they had a powerful backing. When these thirty-one individuals decided to act together, they truly became fearless.
If ordinary students were discovered, they would undoubtedly be taken to the police station for re-education. Instead, these children were caught, treated to good food and drinks, and even served late-night snacks. In the end, their parents had to be personally invited to pick them up. This was the privilege of causing trouble!
So, these children must have instigated Leng Zhiting to bring them for a visit. As the ringleader, Leng Zhiting, while leading them, was actually being pushed by them. When others decided to act together, Leng Zhiting had no choice but to go along with their mischief.
"How did you manage to evade our security, escape school, and sneak in here? My goodness, the security guard told me you broke through three checkpoints! It was only at the last one that our people realized something was wrong. You guys are quite resourceful!" Huang He said, grinning.
"Actually, escaping school was very simple. You've probably already discovered it. We took advantage of the opportunity to sneak into that refrigerated truck in the school cafeteria."
"When the refrigerated truck returned, it was empty. The driver didn't need to turn on the air conditioning, so we could safely stay in the refrigeration unit. We also knew that the driver always went to a small restaurant for dinner after leaving school, and since the truck was empty, the cargo compartment was usually unlocked, so we managed to get out smoothly."
"What if the driver had locked the compartment today?" Huang He couldn't help but ask.
"That wouldn't matter either. We arranged for a backup. Da Da Bing's older brother was responsible for our pickup. He would wait near that small restaurant. If he found the truck door locked from the outside, he would open it for us. If it was locked from the outside, that's fine too, just call the driver to open the door. We'd just tell them someone was hiding inside, and would the driver dare not open it?"
"We're too many for them to catch us, and we could seize the opportunity to escape!" Leng Zhiting said.
"Then how did you get here?" Huang He asked again.
"We rented a school bus in advance and waited there. We told the driver that we were from the school going on a spring outing and had booked a hotel nearby, and asked him to drop us off near the hotel. The driver wouldn't suspect anything!"
"Okay, then how did you pass through the checkpoints?" Huang He's forehead was laced with dark lines.
"Brother-in-law, don't be angry when you hear this. I know you have a spare identity card that you always keep at home, so I secretly took it and said that we were family members of the researchers here, and that you had personally approved our entry."
"Also, we wanted to give our family a surprise, so we hoped the checkpoint personnel wouldn't notify headquarters, because the children of the person in charge there were also present, and it would spoil the surprise in advance."
"We even specifically asked the checkpoint personnel to use a car to send us in. They believed us, and they sent us through three checkpoints by car. When we reached the last checkpoint, the administrator insisted on verifying with someone inside and insisted on calling you. They didn't want to give them a surprise, so we were exposed!" At this point, Leng Zhiting spoke indignantly, clearly disliking the administrator who had caused their premature exposure.
"Then I should give him an award and commend him!" Boss Huang rolled his eyes, but the matter was essentially cleared up. Leng Zhiting's methods weren't particularly brilliant, but she had exploited the blind spots in many people's thinking.
The escape using the transport truck was another matter. Leng Zhiting didn't foolishly try to scale walls or cross isolation belts to enter the base. Instead, she went directly through the checkpoints, which was quite clever.
This was because all the walls and isolation belts had strict monitoring equipment. Thirty-one children, unless they could all fly and burrow through the ground, could not possibly bypass them without alerting anyone.
Instead, going directly to the checkpoints, using her title and the guise of surprising the staff, she actually managed to trick the personnel at the first three checkpoints into actively concealing information and letting them sneak in.
For a second-year junior high student, this method and way of thinking were already quite remarkable.