I handed over to another world

The rainy season always comes suddenly. The heavy rain in the central city makes the streets wet and reflective. The lights are blurred in the rain, adding a hazy color to this city that never sleeps.

Chen Lin stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor of the Red Dragon Association headquarters, playing with an old copper coin in his hand.

The copper coins fluttered between his slender fingers, sometimes disappearing and sometimes reappearing, just like the huge organization he controlled - appearing and disappearing from time to time, but everywhere.

"President, something happened."

Secretary General Zhao Yan pushed the door open and walked in, his voice low but clear enough.

Chen Lin did not look back, the copper coins were still dancing between his fingers.

"explain."

"News just came from the Seventh Division that a prosthetic limb rampage occurred in the Nangang District, resulting in at least seventeen deaths and more than thirty injuries. Regional media have begun reporting on this."

The coin suddenly stopped on Chen Lin's thumb.

“Our products?”

"It has been initially confirmed to be the 'Dragon Scale III' combat prosthetic arm, a test model provided to the field team last year."

Chen Lin lightly flicked the coin, watched it draw an arc in the air, and then caught it steadily.

"Pass the message to the relevant senior executives and inform them that the council will hold an emergency meeting in half an hour."

Zhao Yan nodded and left, the sound of the door closing was almost inaudible.

Chen Lin turned and walked towards his mahogany desk, which was empty except for a jade-carved ashtray.

He pressed the button hidden under the table, and the holographic screen lit up, showing real-time surveillance images of various areas. Three of the windows were playing on-site images of the Nangang incident in a loop.

In the video, a field worker equipped with a mechanical prosthetic limb was shooting crazily on the street, and the prosthetic limb was flashing an abnormal red light.

Eventually the field officer was shot dead by the security team, but the mechanical arm was still twitching as if it had a life of its own.

The corners of Chen Lin's mouth rose slightly, and a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes.

He knew that the balance of power within the association was about to be broken because of this accident.

Two hours later, members of the Red Dragon Association's Supreme Council arrived at the headquarters building one after another.

Chen Lin still stood in front of the window, observing the situation in the parking lot through the one-way glass.

The first to arrive was Zhao Tiancheng, the head of the technology research and development department. He was in his early fifties but maintained the appearance of a 30-year-old due to genetic modification technology.

He strode towards the elevator, followed by two heavily armed security guards.

Zhao Tiancheng is a radical representative in the association. He has always advocated speeding up the application of high-risk technologies. He always calls for mankind to speed up all progress because time is running out.

Next came Lin Mingyuan, Director of the Safety and Compliance Department. He was a white-haired old man who got out of the car and walked slowly forward with an ebony cane.

This guy is a representative of conservatives, almost the same character as the original Zhang Shouren, who opposes any adventurous behavior that may undermine the association's rule.

The last person to arrive was Qin Xue, who is now the head of the intelligence network after Chen Lin was transferred.

She arrived in an ordinary internal vehicle, dressed simply and looked like an ordinary staff member.

But Chen Lin knew that this woman controlled the association's largest surveillance network, and even he sometimes had to admire her methods.

The copper coin flipped between Chen Lin's fingers again. The three directors represented three different positions, and a good show was about to begin.

The atmosphere in the conference room was already tense.

"I've said it before, those combat prosthetics are not mature yet!" Lin Mingyuan slammed the ground with his cane. "Now, all the branches are asking where these high-risk equipment came from!"

Zhao Tiancheng sneered: "Technology always has risks. This is just an isolated case. Our products are already ten times safer than those of any vassal association."

"Safe?" Lin Mingyuan said sarcastically, "The families of the deceased may disagree with your point of view."

Qin Xue sat quietly by the side, tapping her fingers on the data pad, seemingly oblivious to the quarrel between the two.

Just then Chen Lin pushed the door open.

The conference room immediately fell silent, and everyone stopped talking. Chen Lin simply walked to the main seat and sat down, gently placing the copper coin on the table in front of him.

"Everyone understands the situation."

Chen Lin's voice was calm and almost indifferent. "Now we need a solution, not blaming each other."

Zhao Tiancheng spoke first: "President, I think we should send a technical team to Nangang immediately to control and inspect all products from the same batch. At the same time, we should use media channels to characterize this incident as a system failure to calm the doubts of all parties."

Lin Mingyuan immediately objected: "This will only make things worse! We should recall all leaked equipment and suspend related R&D projects until the cause is found."

"pause?"

Zhao Tiancheng raised his voice, "Do you know how much resources have been invested in this project? Conservatism is harmful to people!"

Chen Lin raised his hand and the two of them immediately fell silent.

He looked at Qin Xue who had been silent the whole time: "Minister Qin, what do you think?"

Qin Xue put down the data tablet and spoke in a calm and clear voice: "According to the surveillance, the Nangang branch has reported the incident to the headquarters inspection team. What's more troublesome is that according to the tip-off receipt, the Black Snake Society's agents have infiltrated the area where the incident occurred."

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze. The intervention of the Black Snake Society meant that things might develop in the worst direction - the association's technical secrets might be leaked.

"Also," Qin Xue continued, "our on-site inspectors reported that the runaway prosthetic limb had sent out an encrypted signal before it was recovered. The signal pointed to the Black Snake Society's dedicated frequency band."

A sharp light flashed in Chen Lin's eyes: "An insider?"

Qin Xue nodded slightly.

Zhao Tiancheng stood up suddenly: "This is impossible! Our system has the most advanced protection!"

Lin Mingyuan sneered: "It seems that your 'advanced technology' not only killed your own people, but also may give some of our opponents an opportunity to take advantage of it."

Chen Lin raised his hand again to stop the quarrel that was about to break out.

He picked up the coin and turned it gently between his fingers. "Everyone, we are facing a few small problems now, and arguing will not solve any problems."

He paused, and glanced at everyone present: "Minister Zhao, you are in charge of the technical team. Go to Nangang immediately to recover all the evidence."

"Minister Lin, contact the heads of each branch and control the direction of public opinion."

"Minister Qin, I want to know the role that the Black Snake Society played in this matter, and the extent to which they have infiltrated our ranks."

The three directors nodded in agreement, but the atmosphere remained tense.

Chen Lin pressed the copper coin on the table, and the slight sound of metal hitting wood made everyone's back shiver.

"Before the meeting ends, I would like to remind you all - you all know the rules of the Red Dragon Association better than I do."

"If anyone crossed the line in this incident..."

"I don't mind cleaning up the mess myself."

……

After the meeting, Chen Lin stood alone in front of the French window, the rhythm of the copper coins flying between his fingers a little faster than usual.

The heavy rain was still raging, and the sound of raindrops hitting the glass was like some ominous omen.

"President, everyone is here." Secretary-General Zhao's voice came from behind.

Chen Lin put away the copper coin, and when he turned around, his face had regained its unfathomable calmness.

"I've kept you waiting for a long time."

He pushed open the side door of the conference room, and five figures in the circular dark hall stood up at the same time.

There was no projection equipment or recording instruments here, only a blue flame lamp suspended above the table, illuminating the five faces in varying degrees of light and darkness - the five vice presidents of the Red Dragon Association were all present at this moment.

"sit."

Chen Lin tapped the table with his fingertips, and the blue flame suddenly jumped three points higher. "I believe you have all read the information about the Nangang incident."

The oldest Vice President Zhou stroked his white beard and spoke in a hoarse voice like frosted sand: "The prosthetic limb going berserk is fake, but it is true that someone wants to take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble."

"The technical department solved the problem of neural link overload last year."

"The Black Snake Society has overreached."

Su Rui, the only female vice president, turned her jade ring, the bioluminescence on her nail glowing green in the dark. "But what concerns me more is how they knew the transportation route of the batch of prosthetic limbs?"

Chen Lin's eyes swept across the crowd, and the copper coin appeared in his hand again at some point, shining with a cold bronze light under the reflection of the blue flame.

"Three days ago, the monitoring group intercepted an encrypted communication."

Vice President Zheng, who is in charge of internal security, pushed a memory chip over and said, "Someone provided the Black Snake Club with the duty roster for the Nangang Field Team."

The chip projected a holographic image on the desktop: a blurry figure was destroying a communicator, and a mechanical prosthesis was revealed in the corner of the screen - the unique diamond-shaped pattern at the elbow joint of the left arm was clearly visible.

"interesting."

Chen Lin gently scratched his chin with the edge of a copper coin. "This is a custom model that is only provided to managers above level 3 in the R&D department."

The temperature in the conference room dropped suddenly. The five vice presidents exchanged glances. They knew better than anyone what this discovery meant - there were no more than twenty people in the entire association who had access to prosthetic limbs of this level.

"President, I suggest an immediate and thorough investigation."

The youngest Vice President Cheng leaned forward and said, "Start by investigating those around Zhao Tiancheng."

Su Rui suddenly sneered: "Vice President Cheng is really anxious. I remember you had dinner with Minister Zhao last month?"

"Oh, it's just normal business."

"But what does Vice President Su mean by this? Does he suspect that I'm the one who leaked the information?"

"Calm down."

Vice President Zhou tapped the table with his knuckles, and veins popped out on the back of his age-spotted hands. "The most urgent task is to identify the leaker."

Vice President Zheng pulled up another surveillance video: "According to the analysis of the movement trajectory, the leaker is between 178 and 182 cm tall, right-handed, and walks with a slight left deviation - a physical characteristic caused by long-term use of heavy prosthetics."

The holographic image rotated and zoomed in, locking onto the suspect's left shoulder.

Su Rui suddenly narrowed her eyes: "This shoulder tilt angle... is a compensatory posture for people who have been shot."

Five eyes turned to Cheng Ye at the same time - his mechanical right arm was installed after the attack three years ago.

"Ridiculous!" Cheng Ye's electronic eyes glowed red, "There are at least thirty people in the association who have been shot!"

"But there are only five people who have access to the transportation plan and meet other characteristics," Vice President Zheng swiped the data pad.

The blue flame suddenly made a crackling sound, and Chen Lin's copper coin had stood in the center of the flame without anyone knowing when, and everyone's argument came to an abrupt end.

"List."

Chen Lin's voice was very light, but it made the air freeze instantly.

Zhulong AI directly called up five files and projected them in front of everyone: Zhao Tiancheng (Director of Science and Technology R&D Department) - Cheng Ye (Vice President) - Wu Ming (Director of Transportation Department) - Lin Xia (Chief of Security Section) - Qin Xue (Director of Intelligence Department).

"Minister Qin can be ruled out."

Su Rui suddenly spoke up, "She was discussing the quarterly budget in my office when the incident happened."

Cheng Ye immediately counterattacked: "What about Minister Zhao? The prosthetic limb they developed is the one that went berserk!"

“But the transportation routes are set by the Security Department.”

Vice President Zhou looked at Vice President Zheng meaningfully, "And Section Chief Lin... seems to be your favorite student?"

The conference room fell into dead silence.

Chen Lin suddenly chuckled, and the copper coins fell on the table with a "ding".

He slowly pushed out a paper document - which seemed particularly abrupt in this holographic age.

"Three days ago, Nangang Customs intercepted a batch of smuggled neural interface chips." Chen Lin flipped open the document and revealed the special number on the photo of the chip. "After verification, the original order for this batch of chips came from..."

He paused deliberately, his eyes scanning everyone's tense faces.

"…It's a shell company under the name of the Black Snake Society, but the payment account is linked to the private fund of one of our senior executives." Chen Lin closed the file. "Interestingly, this senior executive has been in frequent contact with people from the Transportation Department recently."

Cheng Ye sneered, and Vice President Su beside him also spoke again.

"What is the president going to do?"

Vice President Zheng's voice was dry.

Chen Lin stood up, and the copper coins were arranged in a fan shape in his palm: "First, Zhao Tiancheng continues to lead the technical investigation, making him think that we are still tracking down product defects."

"Second," he put away a copper coin, "Vice President Zheng should personally monitor Section Chief Lin, but don't alert him."

"Third," he put away another one, "Vice President Cheng will take a leave of absence starting today."

The last two copper coins were placed on the table by Chen Lin: "Vice President Su will be responsible for connecting with Minister Qin and announcing to the public that we are preparing for the annual technology summit."

"I will let Zhulong send you all the details one by one. Let's adjourn the meeting now."

After he finished speaking, the door of the conference room opened, and two special agents walked in indifferently and went straight towards Vice President Cheng.

"I didn't expect that this would happen to me in the end."

Vice President Cheng's voice was cold, but Chen Lin continued, "Don't worry too much, Vice President Cheng. Many things are not initiated by you, so when your vacation is over, you will most likely be asked to return to the association to continue working."

"Let's take a rest for a while."

Chen Lin waved his hand, and Vice President Cheng was immediately "invited" out by the special agents. Everyone at the scene also stood up and left.

At this time, Zhulong transformed into a holographic projection of Qin Hongzhu and appeared in front of Chen Lin.

"Father……"

"Just call me President Chen. Father always thinks it sounds a little weird."

"Vice President Cheng is not actually a key player in this struggle. He just leans towards one side in a certain way and has not shown any dissatisfaction or betrayal towards the association."

Chen Lin sighed slightly: "How could I not know this? This is actually a fight between radicals and conservatives, but it is now showing up like this..." (End of this chapter)