"Now, we're going back in history, to use science to research why humans can live underwater without any tools, just by holding a bead?"
"Am I going crazy, or are you all crazy?"
"How can I explain such an outrageous matter to the President in the White House?"
An intelligence chief, rarely angered, lost his temper.
The intelligence department sends spies to enemy countries to collect intelligence on economic, technological, military, strategic, and various other aspects.
Not to collect mythological stories, then believe them as truth, and research the scientific basis of these myths!
What on earth is this report transmitted by the spy?
A Water-Repelling Bead?
A mythical item from Dragon Country?
Suspected to be a pearl from a true dragon, a dragon's inner elixir?
Holding a dragon pearl, one can swim freely underwater, unimpeded, living like a fish?
Who is this genius who submitted a novel story as intelligence just to swindle funds?
Are they treating us intelligence chiefs as idiots?
Do Americans really not see that this is an adaptation of Monkey King's journey to the sea? Americans have also read Journey to the West!
A Water-Repelling Bead? Dragon King? Dragon Pearl? Who are they kidding? Such a low-level trick, and it's still being submitted. How are the people below doing their jobs?
The intelligence chief was furious, but not everyone in the room was his subordinate; several were intelligence officers of the same rank.
At this moment, another intelligence officer chimed in, "This intelligence has been verified through numerous channels."
"The spy in the enemy country has already arranged green cards for his entire family of three, making them citizens of the free world."
"As you know, our review process is extremely strict. If he hadn't truly provided useful and genuine leads, his family of three would never have obtained our country's green cards."
Upon hearing this.
The intelligence chief who had been furious calmed down somewhat.
He had only lost his temper momentarily.
Now, after calming down slightly, he also knew that this intelligence might not be what he initially thought, and it wasn't a low-level trick.
He was one of the top figures in the intelligence department, with countless subordinates.
A piece of intelligence had to go through multiple layers of transmission and verification before reaching him.
If one person had gone mad and transmitted false intelligence, it would theoretically be understandable.
But it was impossible for everyone, all these intelligence personnel layer by layer, to have gone mad, right?
This didn't make sense logically.
From a logical standpoint, it also didn't make sense.
But why did something like this mythical story, a fantasy, appear before him, in the intelligence agency, instead of in a TV show or movie?
The intelligence chief couldn't figure it out.
Even though his anger had subsided slightly, he still couldn't understand.
Another senior intelligence officer, seeing this, continued, "If a ridiculous piece of intelligence, which was originally public, is suddenly covered up by the Dragon Country's government, shouldn't we explore what they are trying to conceal and hide, rather than sitting here and ignoring the intelligence?"
"Just because it seems absurd?"
"Have you ever considered why a piece of intelligence that seems absurd and unbelievable would be deliberately concealed?"
Although the intelligence chief's anger had subsided considerably, after hearing this sentence, he still said, "The Dragon Country has an old saying, 'act contrary to expectations.'"
"I think you've fallen into their trap."
"A piece of false intelligence, deliberately concealed, to trick us into using a large number of spies to obtain its secrets. When we get it, after investing a lot of effort and money, we'll discover it was a hoax, and our intelligence personnel will become laughingstocks!"
The intelligence chief said earnestly, "We must focus our limited intelligence resources on areas worthy of attention, not on these bizarre incidents just because the enemy is concealing them?"
Although the intelligence department had ample funding, it was still limited.
With ample funding came equally ample expenses.
Whether it was developing more spies or the expenses required for operations, these were normal expenditures for the intelligence department.
For fake or real intelligence, some secondary-level ones that were clearly tricks didn't need further investigation.
At any other time, the intelligence chief would have classified this intelligence about the Water-Repelling Bead as the lowest form of deception.
But now, his colleagues of the same rank, precisely because the trick was so low-level, believed that the enemy wouldn't use such a low-level trick to deceive him? Therefore, they believed the intelligence was real?
The intelligence chief shook his head. He felt there was no need to argue with his colleague any further on this matter.
His colleague also didn't want to argue with him anymore and directly said, "Finish reading the intelligence first, the evidence is inside."
"There are pictures, as well as audio and video recordings."
The intelligence chief, no longer caring about anything else and just wanting to quickly end this farce, opened the documents and evidence.
As he watched the materials and videos, delving deeper.
The intelligence chief's expression kept changing.
From disbelief, to half-belief, and finally to wide-eyed astonishment, as if he had seen something incredible.
"Oh! My God! This is impossible!"
The intelligence chief exclaimed, shouting and yelling.
The evidence recorded in these videos was irrefutable!
The senior intelligence officer reminded him, "You should be able to tell if there are any special effects in here, right?"
The intelligence chief nodded with a complex expression, "There are no signs of video manipulation here. I can technically authenticate it... But how is this possible? Is this bead some kind of black technology developed by Dragon Country?"
Being able to discern special effects and authenticate manipulation in videos and images was a basic skill for intelligence personnel; it was tested during recruitment.
As an intelligence chief, he naturally possessed this appraisal ability.
Therefore, seeing videos of a person being able to survive underwater freely for over ten hours without an oxygen tank... and those pictures of private conversations among high-ranking Dragon Country officials, as well as the fearful eyes of researchers in the laboratory.
The intelligence chief's worldview had been completely shattered.
The intelligence chief was a high-ranking figure in the US intelligence community. Precisely because of his high position, he knew very well that there couldn't be any secrets or classified information in this world that someone at his level wouldn't have access to.
This world was materialistic and technological; there was no mysterious world or supernatural forces behind it.
The intelligence chief could ascertain and confirm this.
But now, an item from legend, a mythical artifact, had actually appeared, and there was sufficient evidence, documentation, and video footage to prove its existence.
The intelligence chief's materialistic worldview was now beginning to crumble, and he believed that even the President in the White House would have his worldview shattered upon seeing this.