I handed over to another world

Chen Lin motioned for Li Changhu to sit down in the soundproof area in the corner of the study, and the quantum shielding field was immediately activated, completely isolating the conversation between the two from the outside world.

"Old Li, how many years have we worked together?"

Chen Lin asked suddenly, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of the teacup.

Li Changhu was slightly stunned: "If we count from Anyun Base, it has been eight years and four months."

"There wasn't even a Planetary Development Agency at that time, and the place I worked at was just a geological survey office."

After Vice President Li finished speaking, he looked at Chen Lin. He realized that Chen Lin asked this question with other ideas in mind, otherwise the conversation would definitely not start in this way.

Chen Lin looked out the window and was silent for a while before speaking to Li Changhu, "Zhang Feng spent five years turning it into the second most powerful department of the Red Dragon Association. Do you know why I never intervened?"

Li Changhu tightened his knuckles on his knees: "Because he does have the ability, but this time-"

“Because we need this radical pioneering spirit.”

Chen Lin interrupted him and called up a set of encrypted data, "But you still need to be cautious. Take a look at this."

The holographic screen displayed the complete structure of the Ark. Chen Lin zoomed in on the engine. "Three hours ago, the engineering department discovered that there was a design flaw in the quantum core of the main engine. There was a 23% chance that it would collapse under continuous warp speed."

Li Changhu took a breath and said, "Does Zhang Fengwu know?"

"This is where the problem lies."

Chen Lin's pupils reflected the flickering data stream. "In the technical blueprint provided by the Development Agency, this defect was deliberately hidden. If Xu Ruolan's team had not discovered the abnormal parameters during cross-validation, if the Ark ship was really activated, then the 5,000 people on the ship might have turned into space dust as soon as they jumped."

The constant temperature system in the study seemed to be out of order, and Li Changhu felt a chill on his back: "So he proposed to dismantle the engine..."

"Either they took the opportunity to destroy the evidence, or they really were unaware of this flaw."

Chen Lin turned off the projection. "But no matter what, the Ark Ship project must continue—the association's direct team will take over."

"I'm going to let you supervise it personally."

Li Changhu suddenly stood up, his tall and straight figure casting a long shadow under the light: "President, the expansion of the Development Agency's power has threatened the association's principle of checks and balances. This year alone, they have arbitrarily modified the Mars atmosphere transformation plan and taken over one-third of the mining rights in the asteroid belt. This was not allowed and would not have happened before. This is extremely harmful to the management of the association. I think you should pay serious attention to this kind of information!"

He pulled up a list. "What's even more suspicious is that the analysis results of these so-called 'reaper technologies' have never been verified by a third party!"

Chen Lin listened in silence, then suddenly asked, "Do you think the Devourer's threat is fake?"

"No, the warning from the Morning Star Community should be true."

Li Changhu lowered his voice and said, "But the Development Agency may be using the crisis to seize power. If they dare to ask for a quantum computer array today, they may ask to take over the defense force tomorrow. We must pay attention to this!"

The holographic billboard outside the window changed colors, and the blue light shone through the curtains and cast mottled shadows on Li Changhu's face. Chen Lin noticed that his old partner had a few more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes than he had ever had before.

"A closed-door hearing will be held in three days,"

Chen Lin finally decided, “I want you to be responsible for setting up an independent technical review team. I want to know the specific details and all expenditures of all major projects of UNDP over the years.”

He paused, "As for the Ark, continue to build it according to the original plan, but switch the main engine to the backup plan designed by the association."

Li Changhu was obviously relieved, but then his face tensed again: "Zhang Fengwu will not give up power easily, especially now that he still has the Special Powers Act in his hands."

"Then give him a more important task."

A subtle smile appeared on Chen Lin's lips. "Since he is so confident in controlling the Devourer, let the Development Agency focus on this project. There will be enough resources, but they must report directly to the Strategy Office every week."

Li Changhu immediately understood - this was both a test of Zhang Fengwu and a disguised form of surveillance.

But when he was about to leave, Chen Lin suddenly called him again.

"Don't tell anyone about our conversation after you get out. You should understand that."

That night, Chen Lin discovered that encrypted files of unknown origin were mixed into the "alien jellyfish" data stored by Xiaoxiao on the home server.

After decryption, what was presented was actually the discussion record of the "artificial devourer signal" within the Development Agency.

In the holographic image, Zhang Fengwu's voice was clearly audible: "...As long as we maintain the low-frequency pulse, we can at least gain an eighteen-month time window..."

……

Lin Yun appeared at the door without knowing when, holding the same data chip in his hand: "Director Zhang in the study secretly gave me this this afternoon."

Chen Lin turned off the projection and found that his hands were shaking slightly. All the clues were suddenly connected into a terrifying picture: the Development Agency may have forged some of the Devourer threats in order to promote some secret agenda.

The next morning, Chen Lin modified his itinerary on his way to the association's headquarters.

When the hovercraft landed at the headquarters of the Planetary Development Agency, Zhang Fengwu obviously did not expect this surprise inspection.

"President! You should have informed us in advance to prepare the report materials..."

Zhang Fengwu came up quickly, with coffee stains on the collar of his uniform, but Chen Lin led the crowd straight to the central control room: "It's a good opportunity to see your daily operations."

He ran his fingers across the console, calling up the real-time data stream. "What are the test results of the gravity distortion device?"

Zhang Fengwu's pupils shrank slightly: "20% slower than expected... Mainly due to the delay in the transportation of materials near Neptune's orbit. Oh, I have something else to report..."

This answer was exactly consistent with the briefing Chen Lin had, but he noticed that two engineers in the corner of the control room suddenly lowered their heads.

“Show me the quantum computer array.”

Chen Lin suddenly requested, "It's the group that analyzes the Reaper signal."

After passing through three airtight doors, what appeared before his eyes was a huge ring-shaped device composed of thirty-six quantum bit modules, but Chen Lin's eyes were immediately attracted by the auxiliary terminal on the side - there was a storage device connected to a completely different model from the association headquarters.

"What is this part used for?"

Chen Lin pointed at the unfamiliar device and asked. Zhang Fengwu's Adam's apple rolled: "Temporary...temporary data backup."

Just then, Xu Ruolan walked in with her gravitational wave research team.

The female scientist was obviously surprised when she saw Chen Lin, but she quickly calmed down: "President Chen, we found some unusual fluctuations this morning. It's a good coincidence that you are here. Would you like to take a look?"

Chen Lin glanced at Zhang Fengwu but said nothing. Then he turned and nodded to Xu Ruolan.

Xu Ruolan pulled up a set of data and displayed it in front of Chen Lin. She said, "These are the movement trajectories of the Devourer provided by the Development Agency, but there are some arcsecond deviations from the gravitational lensing effect observed by our observatory."

The air in the control room froze instantly. Arc seconds are insignificant on a cosmic scale, but they are enough to prove that the two are not the same celestial body.

Zhang Fengwu suddenly laughed: "Dr. Xu, have you calibrated your observation equipment? Interstellar dust outside the Kuiper belt will cause..."

“The equipment is fine.”

Xu Ruolan said decisively, "In fact, we found that the so-called Devourer signal is highly similar to the waveform when the Development Agency tested the deep space communicator seven years ago."

This sentence exploded like a bomb in the control room. Chen Lin saw Zhang Fengwu's fingers quietly move towards the bottom of the console, and immediately winked at the guard.

The two agents beside him instantly grabbed the shoulders of the Director of the Development Agency. Their actions were so fast that even the other guards present did not react. Zhang Fengwu wanted to struggle, but found that the two agents who captured him were incredibly strong and he could not even move.

"Director Zhang, I think we need to talk again."

Chen Lin's voice was unusually cold at this time, "What on earth are you hiding in the Oort Cloud?"

Alarms suddenly rang throughout the UNDP headquarters, and all exits were automatically blocked with red lights.

Chen Lin's terminal also received an urgent communication from Li Changhu: "President, the Ark ship dock was attacked by a swarm of drones!"

The holographic image showed that hundreds of engineering drones marked with the Planetary Development Agency emblem were attacking the dock defense system, and even more frightening was the space fleet looming in the background - those were definitely not any ships registered by the association.

"I see."

Chen Lin looked at Zhang Fengwu who was restrained, "The Devourer is fake, and seizing power is real?"

Zhang Fengwu was pinned firmly to the console by two agents. His face was pressed against the cold metal surface, but he still struggled and screamed, "Chen Lin! Do you think this is the end? I have already implanted a backdoor program into the entire Development Agency's intelligent mechanical system!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the robotic arms, drones, and even cleaning robots inside and outside the control room suddenly stopped working. Red warning lights flashed on every device, as if some dormant virus was instantly activated.

The engineers of the Development Agency retreated in panic, and someone shouted: "All intelligent machine systems have been hijacked! The security protocol is invalid!"

Chen Lin just calmly raised his wrist and entered a sixteen-digit key on his personal terminal.

"You think I don't know you did something?"

Chen Lin's voice was terrifyingly calm. "Since the first time you modified the Martian atmospheric parameters without authorization, the Star Eye system has been keeping an eye on you."

The next second, all electronic equipment in the entire UNDP headquarters flashed a silver-blue light at the same time - that was the association's highest level of security certification.

All the hijacked omnics suddenly stopped and then restarted, their indicator lights turning from dangerous red to gentle green.

"Impossible!" Zhang Fengwu's eyes widened. "I used a quantum encryption algorithm, it's impossible to be cracked!"

Chen Lin walked up to him and looked down at his former capable subordinate. "Have you forgotten who approved the Development Agency to use quantum computers? When each device leaves the factory, the underlying protocol of 'Star Eye' is already engraved in the chip."

The holographic projection suddenly unfolded, showing the real-time situation of the entire solar system - the drone swarms controlled by the Development Agency were collectively shut down in space, the rebel fleet at the Mars base was locked by the suddenly activated orbital gun array, and the mercenary fleet disguised as "Reapers" was now surrounded by three Association stealth warships that had never been made public.

"Your plan was very thorough," Chen Lin said with a hint of regret in his voice, "but your mistake was that you relied too much on technology."

Zhang Fengwu's face turned from red to white, and he suddenly laughed wildly: "Do you think you have won? The hidden chess piece I planted in the top management of the association has not yet been activated!"

"Are you talking about Vice Minister Liu of the Ministry of Finance? Or Commander Zhou of the Third Fleet of the SADF?"

Chen Lin shook his head slightly, "They explained everything in the special court last night."

At this moment, Xu Ruolan suddenly exclaimed: "President! The real space fold reaction was detected at the edge of the Oort Cloud!"

On the holographic star map, a dark red light spot is moving slowly - this time it is not a fake signal, but a real cosmic threat approaching.

Chen Lin's eyes suddenly became sharp: "It seems that your farce has delayed our precious preparation time."

He turned to the guard, "Take him to the 'Silent Room'. I want to know all the secret dealings between him and the Morning Star Community."

When Zhang Fengwu was dragged away, Li Changhu's holographic image was urgently connected: "President, the Ark ship has been modified as planned, and the "Spark Plan" can be launched at any time."

"No," Chen Lin stared at the threat that was getting closer and closer on the star map, "Now we have to implement another plan - since the enemy is really coming, let the entire solar system become its grave."

He took one last look at Zhang Fengwu, whose face looked ashen. “As for you, you will live to see how humans win this battle for survival using the technology you tried to steal.”

Zhang Fengwu retreated directly without being pressed, while Chen Lin asked Xu Ruolan, who had been stunned, "Is Professor Sun here?"

Xu Ruolan was stunned for a moment and then nodded. Chen Lin hummed: "Let Professor Sun come to see me. Don't tell anyone what you saw at the scene for now. I don't want the news of Zhang Fengwu's arrest to spread so quickly."

"All of you who are here are elite researchers of the association. I don't want to say more about the extra things. Those who have no connection with Zhang Feng before or have any specific content will be dealt with in detail later. For now, just work as usual."

Chen Lin spoke to the people around him, his complexion recovered a little at this time. Zhang Fengwu was originally observed and trained by him as the future president of the association, but the Star Eye System soon noticed this guy's ambition - after all, Zhang Fengwu's means of winning over the crowd were really superb, and after seeing it, Chen Lin couldn't help but sigh at how powerful this man was.

Zhang Fengwu is definitely beneficial to the association, but the harm he can cause is even greater, and basically the harm is greater when the association is in this stage of development.

Before, Chen Lin had planned to turn a blind eye and let Zhang Fengwu play his core role - after all, this guy is really capable.

But now it seems that if we keep him to continue to mess with the Planetary Development Agency, this behemoth will inevitably try to separate from the association and set up its own business in the future.

This is terrifying. (End of this chapter)