Chương 105: Taped Duffel Bag

Leo, Thad, and Ella ended up spending their rest of their day in their hotel and skipped the IMO entirely. T hey felt awkward about attending and stealing the spotlight. If anything their absence let the students who had earned their places by sacrificing their childhoods to formation textbooks have their moment to shine.

Leo flipped through the hotel television channels and found only two stations, both broadcasting the same footage of factory workers exceeding production quotas while a narrator praised socialist achievement in German. Ella spent most of the evening staring at her phone's dead signal with visible distress. At least Thad got a break from the g-force training machine. Mr. Morimoto gathered them in the hotel lobby the morning after the IMO.

"Today is important," he announced.

"The full MOP team will assemble for the first time. The Soviets have arranged a special welcome for you all. A field trip to the Central Institute of Electron Physics." Leo had known this was coming. Technically, MOP had already started back in June, with him, Thad, and Ella training under Morimoto's supervision. Now that the IMO was concluded they would be joined by the top six finalists.

"You all did excellent work yesterday. But today, in addition to the field trip, I have an important task." He turned to Thad.

"For you specifically, Mr. Nyxalis." Thad perked up.

"Me?" Morimoto pointed at the diplomatic duffel bag slung over Thad's shoulder. The yellow tape reading DIPLOMATIC POUCH had grown somewhat battered from Thad carrying it around all day, but the official markings remained intact.

"Mr. Nyxalis. It is absolutely critical that you carry that bag with you at all times today. And under no circumstances allow anyone to look inside." Thad shifted the bag's weight with a grimace.

"This thing is killing me. It has to weigh over a hundred fifty pounds. Leo's bags were a fraction of the weight."

"If it's too heavy for you, I'm sure Leo can help carry it from time to time." Thad's grip tightened on the strap.

"I can handle it."

"Are you certain? It is quite a burden. No shame in asking for assistance."

"I said I can handle it." Thad straightened his posture and adjusted the bag like it weighed nothing.

"What's even in here?" Morimoto ignored the question.

"How about we make this interesting? If you can get that bag onto our return flight with the main zipper still sealed, I will give you everything inside." Thad's complaints died mid-breath.

"Everything?"

"Everything." A grin spread across Thad's face.

"Deal." Morimoto reached for the bag. Thad's hand shot out to block him.

"Ah ah." Morimoto held up a finger.

"Just the side pocket." Thad gave him a suspicious look but lowered his guard. Morimoto unzipped a small compartment on the bag's exterior.

"This zipper doesn't count toward our wager." He gestured for the students to gather closer.

"Now. Helga was generous with us yesterday. Let us not repay her kindness by getting her in trouble. Put your contact lenses away." Thad's face fell.

"What? I didn't even get to try them yet!"

"They go in the bag."

"But..." Ella shut him down.

"Stop complaining. You will have plenty of time to experiment when we return to America."

"Easy for you to say." Thad crossed his arms.

"You two wore yours all night. The ortho-k already kicked in for you. You get all the good stuff while I get left out." Leo smiled and handed his lens case to Morimoto, who tucked it into the side pocket.

"Tell you what. I'll describe everything I see today, and we can compare notes afterward. You can be our control group."

"Fine." Thad passed his own case over.

"But I want detailed descriptions. None of that vague 'it looked interesting' nonsense." Ella deposited her lenses, and Morimoto zipped the pocket shut.

"Excellent! One last thing." He clapped his hands together.

"Everything that transpired yesterday with our friends Viktor and Helga? Let us keep that between ourselves, shall we?"

"What happened yesterday?" Thad asked with exaggerated innocence. Morimoto beamed.

"Perfect. Now let us go meet our teammates." They headed downstairs and found six teenagers waiting in the hotel lobby. Two government handlers in dark suits flanked the group. Leo recognized Vivian immediately. She looked up as Leo's group descended the stairs and offered a small wave. Given how quickly Leo and Ella had picked up the Inverse Derivation Technique, the selection committee had decided against choosing any dedicated esoteric derivation specialists.

"Ah, wonderful!" Morimoto strode forward and clapped his hands.

"Everyone is here. Allow me to make introductions. I am Kenji Morimoto, esoteric derivation instructor for the MOP program."

"Convicted counterfeiter," one of the handlers muttered.

"Exonerated visionary," Morimoto corrected without missing a beat.

"Now, my students. Leo Chen, Thadelion and Ellaraeth Nyxalis. Your future teammates at the Grand Formation Summit and your formation inscribers." Leo offered an awkward wave. Thad shifted his diplomatic bag to a more comfortable position. Ella inclined her head with practiced grace.

"And our esteemed colleagues." Morimoto gestured at the waiting students like a game show host revealing prizes.

"Please, introduce yourselves." A boy with sharp features and an expensive watch stepped forward first.

"Wang Liyang. Beijing. First place in Chinese Classical Formation Theory." He let the ranking hang in the air for a moment before giving a curt nod.

"Park Junhyun. Seoul. Also Chinese Classical." He had an easy smile and fashionably styled hair. He seemed relaxed, like he was here on vacation. A girl with bright blue eyes and a blonde ponytail bounced on her heels.

"Natasha Zabiiako. Moscow. European Legacy Sect traditions." She spoke English with barely any accent and kept glancing at Ella's outfit with obvious admiration.

"Danyl Shevchuk. Kyiv. First place in European Legacy." He had dark hair and stood slightly apart from the others. He offered a friendly wave.

"Arjun Krishnamurthy. Mumbai. Second place in Modern Formation Theory." He stood with his arms crossed, surveying the group like he was sizing up the competition. His gaze lingered on Vivian for a moment before moving on. She didn't look up from her notebook.

"You all know me." Leo hadn't expected everyone to look so normal. Somehow he'd pictured formation prodigies as cultivation nerds hunched over inscribing desks. Instead he saw sneakers, hoodies, one guy with great hair, and a new girl Kim Yuna would not be happy about. These were the people he'd be spending the next few months with. He hoped at least a few of them would be easy to get along with.

"A fine assembly of talent. Under my guidance, you will all achieve greatness." Morimoto paused.

"Well. Most of you. Statistics suggest at least one of you will turn evil and betray humanity. But that is the nature of genius." The handlers exchanged weary glances.

"Transportation is waiting outside," one of them said firmly.

"Excellent!" Morimoto clapped his hands.

"Off to the ZIE!" Leo fell into step beside Vivian as they headed for the doors.

"What's the ZIE?" he whispered.

"I thought we were going to some electron physics center." Vivian snapped her notebook shut and tucked it under her arm.

"ZIE. Central Institute of Electron Physics. It's a secret Soviet facility. We'll be the first Americans to ever step inside."

"Seriously?"

"The Soviets have been running classified formation research there for decades. I've heard rumors about what they're working on." Thad appeared at Leo's shoulder.

"What kind of rumors?" Natasha inserted herself into the conversation with ease.

"Fusion energy," she said cheerfully.

"They say the ZIE found a way to use formations to stabilize plasma at temperatures that would melt any physical containment." Thad whistled.

"That sounds expensive."

"Very. It will be our little secret." She gave Leo a wink. Vivian turned to Ella, who had caught up to them. She held out her notebook.

"A gift. Interesting formation problems from the IMO, with my commentary on the solutions." Ella accepted the notebook with both hands.

"Thank you. This is very thoughtful."

"I included some thoughts on the contour integration approaches for the pivot transformation problems," Vivian continued as they stepped outside. A convoy of black sedans waited at the curb.

"The residue theorem applications..." Ella nodded along, already flipping through the pages. The two of them climbed into the nearest car without breaking conversation. Leo and Thad exchanged a glance and made for a different sedan.

The convoy of black cars deposited them at a complex of brutalist buildings surrounded by chain-link fencing and guard towers. Soviet flags hung from every available surface. Signs in German and Russian warned against unauthorized entry. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A man waited for them at the main entrance. He was stocky and solid, with silver-threaded hair and burn scars marking his knuckles.

His lab coat was immaculate despite the industrial surroundings. Morimoto strode ahead of the group, arms open.

"Taras! You old pyromaniac. Still have all ten fingers, I see." The man laughed and clasped Morimoto's hand with both of his own.

"Kenji. You look terrible. America is not treating you well."

"At least America has given me wonderful students." Morimoto turned back to the group.

"Everyone, this is Dr. Taras Shevchuk, director of Soviet research into fusion energy applications. A brilliant man and an even worse poker player."

"Lies." Taras spread his arms wide and addressed the group.

"Welcome to the Central Institute of Electron Physics! You may all call me Taras." Danyl stood a little taller.

"He's my grandfather." Taras clasped his grandson's shoulders warmly, pride visible on both their faces, before turning back to the group.

"Yes, yes, Danyl is family. But today I am your host, not his grandfather. Come! I am very excited to show you what we have accomplished here." They started toward the entrance. Two KGB officers materialized from a guard station, their attention immediately fixed on Thad's giant duffel bag.

"Halt." The lead officer stepped into their path.

"We must inspect all items brought into the facility." Thad shifted his stance, positioning the bag behind him.

"This is a diplomatic parcel. United States government property."

"We must still inspect."

"No." The officer's eyes narrowed.

"This is Soviet territory. Diplomatic status does not exempt security protocols."

"It absolutely does. And if you insist, I won't go inside." Thad crossed his arms.

"In fact, none of us will." Most of the group exchanged uncertain looks. However Leo had already stood beside Thad without hesitation. After a moment, Ella joined them. The others shrugged and followed suit. The officer hesitated. His partner murmured something in Russian. Taras intervened smoothly.

"Gentlemen, please. These are our honored guests. I will personally vouch for their conduct." He placed a hand on Thad's shoulder and guided him past the checkpoint.

"Come. We have much to see." The officers let them pass. Thad shot Leo a triumphant grin. Behind them, Morimoto gave a cheerful wave from the other side of the checkpoint.

"Have fun! Learn something! I will be right here when you get back." Leo glanced over his shoulder.

"You're not coming?"

"I am not on the guest list." Morimoto had already produced a newspaper from somewhere and was settling onto a bench.

"Besides, someone has to keep our friends in the dark suits company."

The interior of the ZIE sprawled across multiple levels, connected by corridors lined with spiritual qi pipes and electrical conduits. Warning signs in German and Russian decorated every junction. Taras led them to a viewing gallery overlooking the first of three massive chambers.

"This," he announced with obvious pride, "represents the pinnacle of Soviet engineering. Our tokamak fusion reactor." Below them, a donut-shaped machine dominated the chamber floor. Magnetic coils wrapped around its circumference like the ribs of some metal beast. Technicians in white coats moved between monitoring stations, checking readouts and adjusting dials. Thad squinted at the device.

"What is it?" Wang Liyang answered before Taras could.

"A mortal energy reactor. They heat plasma to extreme temperatures and try to generate power from the reaction."

"Does it work?"

"It's perpetually five years away from working." Wang Liyang's tone carried the dismissiveness of someone who had heard this pitch before.

"It has been five years away for the past fifty years." Thad laughed.

"I've heard that excuse from a lot of people." Leo tuned out the conversation. His attention had fixed on the tokamak, and more specifically, on what his newly enhanced perception revealed about its construction. The ortho-k lenses had done something to his vision. When he focused on the tokamak's housing, his perception shifted. The distant formation lines snapped into clarity as if he had pressed his face against them.

He could see individual array runes etched into the magnetic coils, could trace the micro-brushwork where Soviet formation masters had laid down spiritual ink decades ago. And beneath all of it, something deeper. A quality to the spiritual architecture he had never perceived before. The way certain configurations created resonance patterns. The way energy pooled at specific junctions before flowing onward.

"Mr. Chen?" Taras's voice pulled him back.

"You seem particularly interested." Leo relaxed his focus, and his vision returned to normal. It was like having a formation inscription scope built directly into his eyes.

"It's remarkable. The engineering, I mean. The way the magnetic containment interacts with the plasma confinement arrays..." Taras smiled.

"A keen eye. But this is only the beginning. Come. Let us see the good stuff." He led them down a corridor and through a set of reinforced double doors. The second chamber dwarfed the first. Where the tokamak had been an engineering marvel, this was the pinnacle of modern technology and formation theory working in concert. Massive formation arrays covered every surface. Spiritual monitoring equipment lined the walls. At the center stood a crystalline structure that pulsed with energy.

"This," Taras announced, "is our spiritual qi fusion test laboratory." He paused for effect.

"Here, we have achieved controlled fusion of Tier One spiritual qi into Tier Two. Eleven seconds of sustained conversion under laboratory conditions." Silence. Then Ella spoke, her composure cracking for the first time since Leo had met her.

"That's impossible."

"And yet." Taras gestured at the equipment surrounding them.

"The evidence speaks for itself." The MOP students erupted into motion. Vivian rushed toward the nearest monitoring station, her notebook already out. Wang Liyang and Park began circling the central apparatus, their rivalry forgotten in the face of genuine wonder. Natasha grabbed Arjun's arm and pulled him toward a display panel, chattering excitedly about the readings. Leo stood frozen, his mind racing through implications. Tier One to Tier Two conversion. Spiritual qi elevation.

If the Soviets could do this at scale... He activated his enhanced perception and scanned the crystalline structure, searching for something that might explain the breakthrough. Formation lines ran through its interior in dense, layered patterns. Conduits linked back toward the tokamak chamber. But nothing jumped out at him. Whatever made this work, he couldn't see it. His mind raced anyway. Spiritual qi could be degraded. Everyone knew that. Tier Two could be broken down into Tier One. But upgrading?

Fusing lower-tier qi into higher-tier? That violated every principle he had ever been taught. If the Soviets could scale this, cultivation itself would change forever.

"I cannot answer detailed questions about the process," Taras said, clearly enjoying their reactions.

"Much of this remains classified. But yes, it works exactly as well as you imagine." He grinned.

"And wait until you see the next machine. It will knock your socks off." Taras ushered them through another set of doors. The third chamber was smaller than the others but somehow more imposing. Military guards flanked the entrance. Warning signs covered every surface, their messages in three languages all conveying the same thing: DANGER. RESTRICTED ACCESS. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

"And now, my favorite." Taras spread his arms wide as they entered the third chamber.

"Soviet research into pure fusion weaponry."

"Fusion bombs like the hydrogen bomb?" Leo asked.

"I thought those were banned by the Treaty of Great Restraint."

"The Treaty prohibits weapons that contaminate spiritual qi and damage spirit veins," Vivian said.

"The atomic fallout is what's restricted. The explosive force itself is perfectly legal." Taras's smile widened into a satisfied smirk. He said nothing, but gave Leo a wink.

"A pure fusion bomb wouldn't need a fission ignition stage," Vivian continued.

"No fission means no contamination. No contamination means no treaty violation. Weapon that could eliminate Deity Transformation cultivators without violating the Treaty."

"So it's a loophole." Vivian smiled.

"Eight hundred years of common law tradition has to be good for something." Everyone stood stunned for a moment, processing the implications. Ella moved toward the central apparatus with sudden intensity, her violet eyes scanning every formation she could perceive. Leo followed, his enhanced vision picking up details that normal perception would have missed. Most of the equipment in this chamber matched the same aesthetic as the other two. More mortal engineering supplemented by formations.

The formations were very complicated, but they all fell within the Seven Systems and carried nothing conceptually new. Except for one machine tucked in the corner. It was compact, perhaps three meters in diameter, housed in reinforced spiritual bronze. Conduits fed into it from all directions, and the formation work covering its surface used techniques Leo had never encountered in any text or lesson. The formations weren't just complicated, they were mystical in some way he couldn't understand.

His enhanced perception revealed more qualities about the strange formations. Energy emanated from it in frequencies that felt wrong. Not dangerous, exactly, but fundamentally different from any spiritual qi he had experienced. The energy carried a quality of absence. Of ending. Ella noticed it at the same moment. Her hand shot out to grip Leo's arm.

"Do you see that?" she whispered. Leo nodded.

"The energy coming from the the formations on that device. It's like..." Ella put a finger to her lips, silencing him. She turned to Thad.

"Can you perceive it?" Thad squinted at the machine, his expression growing frustrated. He shook his head.

"I don't see anything special. Just looks like more formation equipment to me." The ortho-k difference. Leo and Ella could perceive something that Thad, without the enhanced vision, could not even detect. Taras had been watching them. His smile remained fixed, but his eyes tracked their movements with sharp attention.

"Ah, you've noticed the Chernobyl Well." He approached the central machine and placed a hand on its housing with almost paternal affection.

"This is the key to everything. You see, the problem with fusion has never been achieving the reaction. Any fool can smash atoms together. The problem is containment." He traced a finger along the Well's housing.

"The Well creates a negative pressure zone. A vacuum that pulls inward with enough force to counterbalance the fusion expansion. It holds the reaction together from the outside." He patted the machine fondly.

"Without the Well, the fusion process in chamber two would last milliseconds before tearing itself apart. With it, we achieved eleven seconds. And we are only beginning to optimize." He gestured broadly, encompassing all three laboratories.

"We must complete the Well's development before the systems in the previous chambers can begin production." The students crowded around the Well, peppering Taras with questions. Taras fielded each question with patience, though he deflected anything too specific with a cheerful "classified."

Back at the hotel, most of the students talked about the ZIE late into the night. Ella and Thad excused themselves early, unsettled by the Fusion bomb in ways they couldn't discuss with the others. The rest kept the discussion going well into the night. Everyone in this group was smart enough to know that Earth was almost certain to lose the war with the Catacombs. They'd grown up on propaganda about eventual victory, and none of them bought it. But pure fusion bombs and spiritual qi elevation? That was new.

That felt like an actual chance. The next morning, everyone split off to return to their home countries before MOP officially resumed the following week. They arrived in Berlin for formations. They left thinking about fusion.

Vivian joined Leo's group for the return trip. The American government had arranged a private jet from Berlin to Pittsburgh. The group had made it through most of the terminal without incident. Passports checked. Luggage scanned. Mr. Morimoto had distributed small gifts to the checkpoint staff with practiced ease, and Thad's yellow-taped duffel bag had passed through without comment. Until now. A Soviet inspector blocked the final security gate.

He was a heavyset man with a thick mustache and the kind of rigid posture that suggested decades of bureaucratic authority. Two armed guards flanked him.

"The bag." He pointed at the massive duffel still slung over Thad's shoulder.

"It must be inspected before boarding." Thad shifted his stance.

"We've been through this already. Multiple times. This is a diplomatic pouch. United States government property. It doesn't get inspected."

"Procedures have changed." The inspector's English was heavily accented but precise.

"New directive from Moscow. All oversized luggage must be verified before international departure."

"That's convenient timing."

"I do not make the rules. I enforce them." Thad adjusted the bag's strap. The diplomatic tape had grown battered, but the official markings remained visible.

"Look at the tape. Look at the seals. This is protected under international law."

"International law does not supersede Soviet security protocols on Soviet soil."

"Actually, it does. That's literally what international law means." The inspector's mustache twitched.

"Open the bag."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen." Mr. Morimoto appeared between them.

"There is no need for such unpleasantness."

"Mr. Nyxalis, I must apologize." Morimoto placed a hand on Thad's shoulder.

"I'm afraid we will be unable to bring our new friend back with us to America." Thad frowned.

"What new friend? What are you talking about?" Morimoto reached into his coat and produced a pair of scissors. He crouched beside Thad's duffel bag and began cutting away the yellow tape. The strips fell away one by one, revealing the heavy-duty zipper beneath.

"Mr. Morimoto." Thad's voice rose.

"What are you doing? We had a deal."

"I apologize for the deception, Mr. Nyxalis." Morimoto gripped the zipper.

"It seems our Soviet friends have misplaced one of their colleagues." He pulled the zipper open. Viktor Volkov, Senior Inspector of the KGB, tumbled out unconscious and hit the terminal floor with a heavy thud.