Incredible Insight: Toy Factory Discovers Swarm Drones

Chapter 510 The hidden lines have all exploded, and the higher-ups are all looking rather sullen.Imperial Capital. In the conference room.

The water on the table has already gone cold.

There are no live feeds on the screen.

There are only sporadic intelligence reports just transmitted back.

A few street names.

A few vehicle trajectories.

A few suddenly interrupted pursuit routes.

And brief reports pieced together from the perimeter.

The more this happened, the uglier the faces of the people in the room became, because they all knew.

Every time another piece of such intelligence was transmitted back, it wasn’t just a lightweight summary behind it; it meant someone in the shadows had stepped up, someone who had voluntarily revealed a corner of an identity that should have remained hidden.

What is a covert line? Hiding in the shadows, undiscovered—that is what a covert line is.

But now, every time intelligence about a perimeter explosion is transmitted back, it means one line has been forced to stand from the shadows into the light.

To put it more bluntly: every time they move, they lose a line.

No one in the conference room spoke.

Elder Zhao, sitting in the main seat, had his fingers pressed against the tabletop, his gaze fixed on those few lines of brief reports on the screen.

After a moment, the leader in charge of intelligence, holding the materials just summarized, continued his report.

”Right now, this is all we can do on our end.”

After these words fell, the entire conference room became even quieter.

Everyone understood the meaning of this sentence.

Every covert line that could be mobilized had already been mobilized; in the true sense of the word, all of them.

To pull out any more would not be a rescue; it would be sending even more unexposed people into the fire.

An old comrade sitting on the side twitched the corner of his mouth upon hearing this and tapped his cup lid unconsciously, but in the end, he said nothing, because at this moment, anything said would feel dry and hollow.

The leader in charge of intelligence looked down at the materials in his hand and continued.

”According to standard procedure, once these comrades are mobilized, they should leave the scene immediately.”

”They cannot stay.”

”They cannot continue to operate.”

”This is the old rule.”

He paused here, as if suppressing the feeling in his chest, then continued: ”But this time is different.”

”In order to assist Professor Liu in getting away, after they were exposed, they did not evacuate according to the original plan.”

”Instead, they changed clothes, changed cars, and continued to circle the perimeter, waiting for the right moment to provide support.”

”Some have already moved more than once, and there are still people remaining on the perimeter.”

After these few sentences were spoken, the faces of the people in the room grew even darker, because they knew all too well what this meant.

A line is exposed, and they still don’t leave; this is no longer ordinary assistance.

This is knowing that if they stay a moment longer, they might lose their lives, yet they still grit their teeth and stay.

No one interrupted in the conference room, but that pressure weighing on their chests became heavier and heavier.

The leader in charge of intelligence raised his hand and turned to the next page of materials.

”According to the original arrangement, after they showed themselves once, they should have withdrawn.”

”People leave the scene, cars leave the scene, with no further participation.”

”But to buy a little more time for Professor Liu, they didn’t leave.”

”After being exposed, they continued to change disguises, continued onto the road, and continued to watch from the perimeter.”

”Whoever has an opportunity in front, they step up; whoever can disrupt the pursuit route a little, they do a little.”

When he said this, his voice lowered a bit: ”This is very dangerous for them.”

He didn’t need to explain any further; everyone in the room understood that this was more than dangerous—this was stalling with their lives.

An old comrade near the door moved his Adam’s apple upon hearing this, and after two seconds, he said in a low voice, ”They are stalling with their lives.”

Once these words came out, the conference room fell silent again, because this was the most realistic situation right now—stalling with their lives.

There was nothing to embellish, and it didn’t need embellishment.

The leader in charge of intelligence nodded gently: ”Yes.”

Just one word, but it pressed the atmosphere of this conference room down another notch.

Over these years, those lines on the outside were all nurtured bit by bit, and only they themselves knew how much time and energy had been spent.

It wasn’t visible usually, but only when it really came to this moment did they know how valuable these lines were.

But no matter how valuable, when it was time to pull them, they had to be pulled; if they didn’t pull them, there would be even less chance.

Elder Zhao finally spoke, his voice not loud, but everyone in the room heard it clearly: ”How many people are still left on the perimeter?”

The leader in charge of intelligence immediately looked at the latest summary: ”There aren’t many left who can still move.”

”There are a few groups that have just moved to the next position.”

”Some have already completed their exposure.”

”According to standard procedures, they should have left long ago, but now, they are still over there helping to stall.”

After listening, Elder Zhao did not speak immediately, just nodded gently, his gaze falling back to the screen.

The few lines of the latest intelligence added to the screen were not many words, but every single one made people’s hearts sink.

A certain district’s pursuit route shifted; a certain intersection’s blockade had a gap; a certain direction’s vehicles suddenly turned around.

It looked like just a few brief reports, but in the eyes of the people in the room, those were not brief reports—it was someone outside who had forcibly torn open a gap.

An old man sitting in the back row looked at those lines of text, his heart numbing, and finally asked one sentence: ”How much longer can they hold out?”

The leader in charge of intelligence was silent for two seconds, then said: ”It’s hard to say.”

”Right now, whoever catches an opportunity, they hold out for a bit.”

”But if they keep holding out like this, the road ahead will only get harder and harder to traverse.”

This was already said very restrainedly, but the meaning was very clear: drag it out as much as possible, but further on, the space that can be dragged out will only get smaller and smaller.

The old comrades in the room looked at each other and did not continue this conversation, because to say any more, it wouldn’t be a question of whether it’s difficult or not—it’s that there is simply not much room left.

The leader in charge of intelligence paused for a while, then added another sentence: ”Right now, this is all we can do on our end.”

The same sentence, spoken for the second time, but the weight was even heavier, because the previous situations had already explained this sentence thoroughly.

The covert lines that could be moved had all been moved; the people who should have withdrawn had not withdrawn; the people who had been exposed were still hard-pressed on the perimeter.

Any further, and there were no extra cards left.

An old comrade leaned back in his chair and exhaled a long breath, the grim look on his face unable to be suppressed no matter what.

”Those comrades far away on the other side of the ocean...” He stopped here, the words that followed unable to be spoken for a moment.

It wasn’t that he had nothing to say; it was that saying it would only make it heavier.

Elder Zhao lifted his eyes, looked at him, and also didn’t take up the conversation.

The conference room fell silent again, the light from the screen falling on everyone’s faces.

Clearly, no one was raising their voices, but the pressure in the room was getting heavier and heavier.

Everyone knew that those comrades far away on the other side of the ocean were now completely disregarding life and death, using their lives to help Professor Liu buy time.

But relying solely on these covert lines, it was impossible to bring the person out from the encirclement of the entire Country A state machine.