China Doll

The Center for Cognitive Studies at Miu Zhi, Hunan Province, China was the most fascinating place that Bi En Wei had visited in his 25 years of life.

It did not exist.

Miu Zhi Hospital existed, of course: everyone knew it as the premier medical center for Zixing city and the southern reaches of the Province. Everyone, too, knew that it housed the Institute for Neuroscience of the First Military Medical University, a prestigious research institute with obvious and extremely beneficial ties to the People's Liberation Army.

Citizens and soldiers buzzed mason bee-like about the sprawling, modern Miu Zhi campus to seek treatment, deliver supplies, and perform their duties as staff.

This very abundance of activity, coupled with the site's unquestionably justifiable need for highly educated medical staff and technologically advanced equipment, and the presence of a mainstream PLA-funded research institute, made Miu Zhi the ideal location for a medically related Chinese Military Intelligence operation.

An hour ago Bi En Wei had known only two things about this operation: that it was code-named "50,0000 Blossoms," and that his new orders made him part of it.

Now, he knew more.

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