Chapter 8: Chapter 3: The Sprout of Entrepreneurship 3.2 Build a team
2 AM, Abandoned Subway Station Laboratory
Lin Mo placed the plutonium bacteria petri dish into a lead-lined safe. The screen flickered with an encrypted file sent by Lao Zhou: "Team Candidate List". Each name was followed by "Junyao Victim" or "Nuclear Contamination Survivor", except for a woman named Su Wan, whose note read "Former Junyao Chief Scientist, Imprisoned for Leaking Experimental Data".
"She was your mother's attending physician," Lao Zhou's holographic projection flickered on the lab bench. "And the founder of the plutonium bacteria project."
Lin Mo's finger paused on Su Wan's photo—she wore a prison uniform, but her eyes resembled his mother's gaze out the window during chemotherapy.
First Member: Su Wan
Lin Mo's face was reflected on the bulletproof glass of the visiting room. Su Wan, however, stared at the plutonium bacteria petri dish in his hand. "Do you know why Junyao is after me?"
She tore open the sleeve of her prison uniform, revealing a fluorescent mycelium tattoo on her forearm. "Because I discovered that plutonium bacteria can not only cure cancer but also rewrite human DNA. They want to use it to create super soldiers, and I destroyed all the experimental data."
Lin Mo taped his mother's chemotherapy report to the glass. "Now we have a chance to make plutonium bacteria save lives, not take them."
Su Wan's pupils glowed blue under the radiation detector. "The condition is that I become the CTO with a 20% stake."
"15%, plus a promise," Lin Mo showed a copy of his father's last letter. "Help me uncover the truth about the tunnel collapse."
Second Member: Hacker "Ghost"
In the dark web chat room of an underground hacker forum, Lin Mo uploaded a video of plutonium bacteria purifying nuclear waste. Ten minutes later, an anonymous ID sent a message: "Your server has a backdoor. Junyao is already onto you."
"Ghost" was a wheelchair-bound teenager named Chen Xing. His legs were paralyzed in a fire at Junyao Education's data center, but he honed his skills in hacking into global nuclear power plant systems.
"I can help you hack into Junyao's plutonium bacteria database," Chen Xing tapped on his modified mechanical keyboard. "But I need you to promise one thing."
He pulled up an encrypted file—Junyao was secretly developing climate weapons using plutonium bacteria to alter the atmospheric structure.
Third Member: Former Special Forces "Blade"
In the underground boxing ring of a slum, Lin Mo found Li Feng, a retired special forces soldier. His right eye was a military-grade prosthetic that could see through radiation sources.
"I met your father," Li Feng placed a bullet casing on the table, with a microchip embedded inside. "On the day of the tunnel collapse, I was ordered to clear the evidence, but your dad hid this data in my ammo clip."
The chip was inserted into a reader, projecting Junyao's high-level meeting minutes: Gu Zhenting personally ordered the replacement of the tunnel's support beams and planned to blame the accident on Lin Jianguo.
"My condition for joining is simple," Li Feng's prosthetic eye flashed red. "Make Junyao pay for their sins with blood."
Fourth Member: Financial Journalist An Ran
An Ran was the first journalist to expose the dark side of Junyao Education and was subsequently blacklisted in the industry. She handed Lin Mo a document in a café: "Junyao is transferring assets through shell companies, preparing to sell plutonium bacteria technology to foreign arms dealers."
"I need you to do two things for me," Lin Mo pushed the plutonium bacteria patent application towards her. "First, package our technology as an environmental project. Second, expose Junyao's scandal the day before their IPO."
An Ran stirred her coffee, and fluorescent mycelium emerged from the bottom of the cup. "Do you know this could cost me my life?"
"That's why you're getting a 25% stake," Lin Mo placed his father's work badge on the table. "Ten times more than Junyao's hush money."
Team Formed, Danger Lurking
The first full meeting was held in the abandoned subway station. Su Wan adjusted the bio-server, Chen Xing's hacking programs flickered on the screen, Li Feng's prosthetic eye scanned for radiation sources, and An Ran organized the IPO roadshow PPT.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded. Chen Xing's surveillance footage showed Junyao's armed team approaching.
"They've found our location," Li Feng drew his modified electromagnetic pulse gun. "I'll cover the rear."
But Lin Mo pressed the emergency button, and a roar came from deep within the subway tunnel—he had already converted an abandoned train into an escape pod.
"Remember," Lin Mo opened the holographic projection on the speeding train. "We're not avengers; we're entrepreneurs."
The screen flickered with the new company's logo: a fluorescent mushroom with roots entwined around a fractured Earth. The company name was "Dawn Bio", symbolizing the rekindling of hope amidst the ruins of nuclear contamination.
First Product Launch
Three days later, An Ran posted a video on the black market forum: Lin Mo stood on the ruins of a nuclear-contaminated area, with the plutonium bacteria petri dish in his hand purifying turbid sewage into clear water.
"This isn't science fiction," his voice came through the gas mask. "This is Dawn Bio's first product: Eco-Restorer 1.0."
At the end of the video, a line of text flashed: "Seeking Global Partners to Save the Polluted Earth Together."
The link led to a dark web page designed by Chen Xing with an anti-tracking system. Any IP attempting to invade would be redirected to Junyao's server.