lcionline Chapter 1818 Ambush 1
Chapter 1818 Ambush 1
On the eve of National Day, the framework of the pharmaceutical factory building was completed, and the walls were also built. Currently, the installation of doors and windows and the leveling of the ground are underway.
The first batch of trained workers, filled with anticipation for the new factory, began cleaning the factory area.
Meanwhile, at the research institute, Li Xiangnan, in his spare time, specifically sought out Dean Wang of the medical school and asked him to help find several pharmacy graduates to see who intended to stay in Yanjing after graduating next year, so as to prepare talent reserves for the research institute in advance.
Security at the Snake Venom Research Institute has been greatly enhanced compared to before.
All the keys to the entire place were in Jiang Qitao's possession. Even the cleaning lady had to wait for Taozi to arrive and personally open the door for her if she wanted to come in.
We should do our best to ensure that everyone entering and leaving the research institute is aware of the situation.
Once the personnel are in place, this part of the work will not be so demanding. At that time, there will be a dedicated reception room and security department on standby to ensure strict control over the coming and going of people.
That morning, while cleaning the corridor, the cleaning lady unexpectedly found a small shard of glass bottle that had been deliberately buried in the soil of the green plants. She picked it up and smelled it; it still had a pungent odor. The cleaning lady, who had been warned before, quickly reported the situation to Li Xiangnan.
Jiang Qitao also rushed to the scene and carefully inspected the area.
"This looks a bit like... some kind of highly corrosive or interfering chemical reagent!" Li Xiangnan had always been sensitive to this kind of thing. He looked at the green plants in the corridor used to remove formaldehyde and waved his hand, saying, "Brother Guoqing, please move all these green plants outside and check again to see if there's anything similar! This batch of green plants is unusable!"
After searching for a while, the group finally found a similar item in a potted plant.
The green plant where the glass shards were found was placed near the window. Li Xiangnan opened the window and looked outside. "It must have been thrown in from here. We can't rule out the possibility of poisoning!"
"What are these people trying to do! Are they trying to scare us?" Even the usually calm Yuan Guoqing couldn't help but curse.
Li Xiangnan shook his head, his expression somewhat grave. "Taozi, immediately check all areas of the research institute, especially the ventilation system, water supply, and the animal husbandry area, to see if there's anything abnormal!"
Jiang Qitao nodded with a start, and immediately began a thorough search with Yuan Guoqing.
Li Xiangnan walked out of the research institute and only felt relieved after watching the aunt place potted plants in the medical waste disposal area behind the building.
Looking up at the two-story laboratory building, he narrowed his eyes slightly, his heart sinking.
It seems that besides stealing the snake mother fluid, the other party's actions have not stopped, and they still have designs on the research institute.
"Dean, what's wrong?"
Yuan Hongjun happened to be patrolling nearby when he saw Li Xiangnan standing there deep in thought, so he came over to ask him what was going on.
"Have you noticed anything unusual during your night patrols these past few days? Or any strangers loitering around?" Li Xiangnan turned to ask.
"No! I'm sure!" Yuan Hongjun frowned and quickly replied, "After the security department expanded its staff in September, I specifically implemented shift work in this area to strengthen vigilance, and I didn't find anything like this! Apart from some truck drivers coming and going from the construction site, there was no one else!"
Li Xiangnan nodded, and was about to speak when a voice called out from upstairs.
"Come up quickly!" Jiang Qitao's voice came from the railing.
Li Xiangnan and Yuan Hongjun exchanged a glance and quickly ran up to him.
"They're inside!" Jiang Qitao pointed to the animal enclosure, her face pale. "Near the ventilation shaft, there are several cages with eight rabbits and mice. They're showing varying degrees of lethargy and convulsions, and two of them are foaming at the mouth! They... they've probably been poisoned!"
Li Xiangnan took out a mask from his pocket, covered his mouth and nose, went inside for a look, looked up at the ventilation opening, and then glanced at the area near the feeding port.
“It’s not yet time for the daily midday feeding,” Li Xiangnan glanced at his watch. “The ventilation system must have been poisoned! It was most likely last night!”
Upon hearing this, Yuan Hongjun's face immediately darkened. He had just said that no one had been entering or leaving the research institute recently, but now the facts were right in front of him, which was a real slap in the face.
Seeing that he was about to speak, Li Xiangnan waved his hand, "Don't rush to conclusions, this is just speculation for now. Go check the ventilation shafts."
The group opened the window and looked outside. Sure enough, they saw footprints outside the wall.
The research institute is surrounded by pharmaceutical factories on three sides, with only the breeding area of the laboratory against the wall, which is also the only area that is in contact with the outside world.
Li Xiangnan climbed onto a stool and onto the window. He wiped the vent with a rag and found some orange particles that smelled like rodenticide.
He jumped off the table, threw away the rag, frowned, and instructed, "Hongjun, go to my office and bring the electric fan over. Let it blow in this duct for a day to disperse the toxic fumes in the room and the duct!"
Jiang Qitao asked with some concern, "Can this breeding room still be used?"
"Don't use it! It's not safe here. Let's wait until things calm down before using it again!" Li Xiangnan waved his hand. "Go call General Manager Gong; we need to have a short meeting!"
A short while later, Gong Kaijiang also rushed over, bringing with him a floor plan of the research institute and a list of recent supplies entering and leaving the institute.
“The methods used in this poisoning incident were very professional and vicious,” Li Xiangnan said calmly, pointing with his pen to the corridor where the bottle was found. “They put chemicals in the first-floor corridor, most likely to affect the minds of our researchers coming in and out! And poisoning the ventilation system was to affect the laboratory animals in the core area. This shows that they are familiar with the internal structure, airflow circulation, general layout, and even daily routines of our institute!”
Jiang Qitao said with lingering fear, "Luckily we discovered it early, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable! If we had recruited all the personnel in advance, I really don't know what would have happened!"
As she finished speaking, her tone still carried a natural air of anger.
Yuan Guoqing clenched his fist and said indignantly, "Xiang Nan, we can't wait for them to make another move!"
Li Xiangnan raised his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.
“Anger won’t solve anything now. Our opponent is in the shadows, while we are in the open! Conventional defenses are no longer sufficient!”
His gaze swept across the entire room before landing on Jiang Qitao. "Taozi, I mentioned the Illusion and Reality Plan to you before. We must activate it immediately!"
Jiang Qitao nodded, "Okay, I've called Grandpa and asked him to transfer a few members of the Jiang family in Donghai to help with the initial setup. The list of equipment and instruments to be transferred has also been drawn up, and the key equipment can be secretly moved in overnight!"
"Okay!" Li Xiangnan instructed, "Hongjun, tonight you take two reliable security officers and help Taozi move her things into the basement!"
"We have a basement here?" Yuan Hongjun was taken aback.
The internal structure of the research institute is top secret. When it was built, Li Xiangnan had Gong Kaijiang's people secretly renovate it. There are two basement levels, and ventilation, water and electricity, and basic protection are all in place.
It's secluded enough there.
Jiang Qitao can continue to optimize and explore parameters of basic processes such as extraction, purification, and inactivation using other snake venom samples that can be found.
In the early stages, all the common technical aspects can be refined to perfection! Once the new mother liquor arrives, or an alternative solution is found, it can be seamlessly integrated immediately, making up for lost time!
Li Xiangnan smiled but didn't answer him. Instead, he turned to Gong Kaijiang and said, "Old Gong, find some more reliable experienced workers over there. They need to be proficient in water and electricity. Get them here as soon as possible. Check all the equipment and consumables in the research institute and pharmaceutical factory, anything that's connected to electricity or water, even a single screw, to see if there's been any tampering!"
"Don't worry! I have a few experienced craftsmen with very sharp eyes!" Gong Kaijiang assured him.
"Defa," Li Xiangnan instructed him again, "another batch of incubators and chromatography columns will be arriving soon. These are the most important items in our preliminary preparations, so please keep a close eye on them for me!"
"I know!" Seeing his extremely solemn expression, Wang Defa couldn't help but swallow hard.
“Guoqing, Hongjun,” Li Xiangnan looked at the two of them again, “Now, we must keep an eye on all external personnel in every link of the supply chain we come into contact with, whether they are transport drivers, warehouse managers, or cement loading and unloading workers. Everyone must remain vigilant! I don’t want another poisoning incident to occur. This is the only one I’ve discovered. If there are others that I haven’t discovered, then we’re doomed!”
"Understood!" The two nodded nervously.
Seeing Li Xiangnan finish giving instructions and stand up to leave, Wang Defa was still a little stunned. "Dean, where are you going? Is the meeting over?"
"What else?" Li Xiangnan shrugged. "Let's adjourn the meeting. I have something to take care of!"
Wang Defa caught up, excitedly asking, "Did Xiao Song find out something?"
"It won't be that fast!" Li Xiangnan shook his head. "I'm going to call Xu Jiaxin. I need to repay her for what I promised her! Now, I need her to do me another favor!"
"What kind of help?" Wang Defa scratched his head.
Li Xiangnan stood at the entrance of the pharmaceutical factory and turned to look at the research institute.
He laughed and said, "You'll see when she gets here! We have to force Sun Qisheng to come see me himself!"
"..."