I built an armada.

A few unusual pieces of intelligence were quickly gathered at the "Dragon Hunter Project" command center.

"Sir! We've intercepted encrypted data packets relayed by Donghuang Xunjie Technology through a third-country server!"

"Sir! Internal meeting minutes of Jinqiao Packaging show that its senior management frequently used special procurement groups to allocate funds and conduct encrypted communications!"

An intelligence officer with a scarred face and sharp, hawk-like eyes quickly scanned the report, a cold smile curving his lips.

"Humph!

A bunch of terrified fence-sitters! Trying to find a lifeline in the Longxia people? Want to steal their technology? Dream on!

He immediately pressed the internal communication button.

"Execute Barrier Plan No. 7! Give these disobedient friends from the Eastern Wilderness a memorable warning! Let them understand who truly rules this sky!"

The orders were issued with extreme speed and ruthlessness.

Shortly after those Eastern Wilderness technical teams returned.

Jinqiao Packaging received an "urgent notification" from a top-tier precision equipment supplier in Xiongying.

Due to "internal capacity adjustments and force majeure factors," the supply of spare parts for a batch of key packaging equipment has been indefinitely delayed, and all technical support and maintenance contracts will be terminated in half a month!

This was almost a catastrophe for Jinqiao, which was extremely dependent on imported high-end equipment.

The personal bank assets of a vice president of Xunjie Technology, who has permanent residency in Xiongying and whose children are pursuing doctoral degrees at top universities in Xiongying, were frozen overnight!

At the same time, a mysterious institution called "Phoenix Capital" filed a huge default compensation lawsuit against him, accusing him of "illegal securities transactions" through offshore companies and demanding immediate repayment of hundreds of millions of US dollars in "debts"!
This is a blatant, baseless accusation aimed at exerting pressure!

The heads of several other companies suspected of secret contact received "warning calls" at almost the same time, which were strongly worded, vague, and threatening.

The methods are simple and brutal, yet extremely efficient.

These Eastern Wilderness enterprises attempting to establish contact with Longxia were instantly doused with ice water! Immense fear crushed the nascent flame of hope. The Eagle Tribe announced this in this way.

The barriers to technology transfer are insurmountable! Anyone who dares to cross them will pay an unbearable price!

Their system, based on global talent poaching, technology blockade, and long-arm jurisdiction, remains powerful and terrifying.

Meanwhile, the Longxia tribe's defenses were more meticulous and "civilized," yet equally impenetrable.

The places visited by the engineers from the Eastern Wilderness appeared open, but were shrouded in a carefully crafted fog of mystery. The data displayed was authentic and the technology advanced, but the core process details? Don't even think about it.

Core technology documents and design software source code? Those are "tribal core assets," encrypted at a level equivalent to the highest military secrets, and all those who come into contact with them undergo strict confidentiality reviews and are monitored throughout the process.

A key technical staff member from "XunJie Technology" attempted to secretly scan the internal wiring layout of an equipment with a microscope. However, before he even left the industrial park, he was accurately identified and intercepted by Longxia's highly intelligent park security system. The illegal recording device was discovered on the spot, and after revealing his identity and confidentiality agreement, he was "politely" asked to leave and placed on a permanent blacklist.

This double pressure, like an iron barrel, forced the few entrepreneurs and technicians from Donghuang who had escaped punishment to fully recognize the cold reality.

Want to secretly learn techniques from Long Xia? Long Xia watches you more closely than the eyeballs, and all he sees is a gap that will only make you more desperate!
Want Longxia to share or "complement" your technology? The Eagle's sanctions could fall at any moment, crushing you to pieces!
"Despair... Neither side is offering a way out..."

In his luxurious office, Kobayashi Ichiro stared at the notice from Eagle that the equipment supply had been suspended and the strongly worded letter from Longxia that they were cutting off contact due to violations of regulations. He slammed a glass of expensive whiskey to the floor and let out a painful roar.

"The gap... will only widen! We're finished... utterly finished!"

Meanwhile, within the well-informed inner circle of engineers at Connie and Nengjia, a more somber and dejected mood permeated the atmosphere.

After returning from the secret expedition, several key technical personnel gathered privately and remained silent for a long time.

"Yamada-senpai... what do you think?"

"The most talented engineer of the younger generation, Hashimoto, asked in a low voice."

The old engineer, known as Yamada, took off his glasses and vigorously wiped them with a cloth, as if trying to erase some heavy mark. His voice was filled with weariness and unprecedented desolation.

"It's not a question of how to catch up, Hashimoto-kun... it's a question of how big the gap is."

He didn't look at anyone, but gazed out the window at the city buildings that Donghuang was so proud of.

"Longxia's technological ecosystem... is no longer simply about leading in a particular device or technology..."

He paused for a moment, as if searching for the right words.

"That's a leap across the entire chain, from theoretical origins, core materials, manufacturing processes, design tools to vertical integration of the industry!"

They...are setting new rules...

"The scariest thing is not what they have accomplished so far."

Another key engineer involved in the EDA "experience" spoke with a heavy tone.

"That's their speed!"

The speed of their iterative updates! While we're still clinging to processes from several years ago, patching things up and struggling to improve yield by a few percentage points, they're already on their way to the next generation.

He shook his head with a wry smile.

"The distance between us and them is like chasing a maglev train that's accelerating... The gap will only keep widening... widening..."

The conference room was deathly silent. The former technological arrogance and sense of superiority had long since vanished, leaving only a sense of bewilderment about the future and a profound feeling of powerlessness brought about by the ever-widening technological gap.

The technological gap between the Eastern Wilderness Tribe and the Dragon Summer Tribe, after this market storm and secret probing, has not only failed to narrow, but has become a chilling consensus in the hearts of every clear-headed person—and it is widening at an accelerated pace!
This realization, like a heavy boulder, weighed down on every soul concerned with the future of Donghuang Semiconductor.

Just as the business world of Donghuang was in dire straits due to technological suppression, market collapse, and the overwhelming pressure from the Eagle, Su Dingping devoted most of his time and energy to another great project that was equally crucial to the fate of the tribe—the Dragon Heart Laboratory—in the heart of the Longxia tribe.

A revolution in energy and water!
Thanks to the stellarator nuclear fusion power plant's continuous, almost inexhaustible supply of cheap and clean energy, Su Dingping has set his sights on higher-level industrial chain integration.

Inside a massive joint laboratory within the Longxin Laboratory, bearing the sign for the "Divine Dragon Scales" project, Su Dingping had just finished a summary meeting on key technological breakthroughs.

"It's done!"

His face, weathered but unable to conceal his excitement, pointed to a newly released set of thermal cycling experimental data. "The corrosion resistance of the electrode composite coating has improved by over 80%! Combined with the newly optimized ion-exchange membrane formula and the high-pressure pulse cyclic scouring design, the micro-nano structure coating technology transferred from the reverse-scale anti-missile system has truly made a significant contribution this time!"
We've basically eradicated the problem of those damned high concentrations of impurity ions and precipitates adhering to seawater!

"That's great, Chief Engineer Su!"

The chief materials engineer next to him, a middle-aged man with slightly curly hair and a determined look, excitedly slammed his hand on the table.

"This means that the lifespan of the core components of our electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution system can be extended by three to five years! Maintenance costs and downtime will be greatly reduced!"

"That's right!"

A sharp glint of ambition flashed in Su Dingping's eyes as he outlined his vision.

"cost!
This is the key! Leveraging the near-limitless clean electricity of our stellarator, we've already reduced electrolysis energy consumption to the lowest level globally. Now, the next step is to address the issues of long equipment lifespan and low maintenance rates…”

He walked up to the huge holographic projection of the simulated factory, waved his hand, and the projection suddenly enlarged.

"Tens of thousands of tons! The world's first truly commercial-scale seawater electrolysis hydrogen production plant! A comprehensive solution based on Longxin's entire self-developed technology system! Costs are more than 45% lower than traditional fossil fuel hydrogen production! Hydrogen purity reaches the ultimate industrial level of 99.9%!"
This will completely ignite the fuse of our hydrogen economy!

His words elicited a suppressed cheer from the laboratory.

Everyone knows what cheap, clean, and abundant hydrogen means—not only an energy revolution, but also the cornerstone that drives a massive industrial chain, replaces petrochemicals, and creates an infinite future!

At the other end of the laboratory, another silent but far-reaching transformation was taking place.

The "Qingyu-1" fully superconducting smart grid, an energy transmission monster built upon the stable magnetic field confinement of Su Dingping, a pillar of strength for the sea, novel composite superconducting materials, and a quantum-level intelligent control system, has emerged from the laboratory incubator of Longxin and begun its journey to cover a vast territory.

"Chief Engineer Su, the first phase of the Qingyu-1 Northwest Gobi backbone network project has completed its power-on test seven days ahead of schedule!"

The voice of the chief commander of the power grid project came through encrypted communication, carrying an excited hoarseness.

"All indicators are normal! Transmission loss! Measured less than 0.015%!"

"Great!"

Su Dingping shouted into the screen, "This result even exceeded the best expectations."

"Tell the guys on site, you've worked hard!"
They are writing history!

On the screen in front of him, the light representing the "Azure Phoenix Power Grid" was like a growing artery, rapidly advancing across the map.

The first to enjoy this near-zero-loss, incredibly stable, and clean electricity are precisely the areas in Longxia tribe that were previously most vulnerable to power shortages.

A large camp in the vast and barren Gobi Desert of Northwest China.

For the tens of thousands of soldiers in Longxia who have been stationed on the border year-round and whose barracks and radar stations are maintained by fuel generators and limited solar photovoltaic power, the lights in the barracks have for the first time broken free from their flickering and dimness and become as stable and bright as those in a city! Huge refrigerated and temperature-controlled warehouses have replaced the simple cellars, and remote high-definition monitoring equipment no longer loses connection due to voltage fluctuations.

"This electricity...it's awesome! It's fucking awesome!"

An old sergeant stood on the training ground, which was brightly lit all night and where the cold wind was no longer biting, touching the brick wall that had been warmed by the heater, and shouted into the satellite phone, his eyes filled with tears.

Many high-tech, low-water-consumption soilless cultivation projects that could not be supported due to power shortages are also being planned and rolled out.

An extremely remote highland pastoral settlement.

For generations, herders have relied on butter lamps to get through the long nights, but for the first time, they have turned on bright, energy-efficient LED lights in their tents, making their children's textbooks clear and legible. Powered by a stable electricity supply, miniature satellite communication base stations have made video calls with distant relatives a reality.

"Light... was brought by Long Xia!"

The old herders murmured ancient prayers, gazing towards the center of the tribe.

These corners, once forgotten by energy authorities, are being revitalized by the arrival of "Qingyue-1," connected to the pulse of modern civilization.

This was more than just providing electricity; it ignited hope for the future in countless people. The news, when relayed back to the rear, transformed into a powerful driving force and conviction to promote the nationwide expansion of power grid construction.

Just as Su Dingping was working intensively to finalize the parameters of the "Shenlong Zhilin" 10,000-ton hydrogen electrolysis plant and the next phase of the "Qingyu Power Grid" promotion plan, having stayed up for several nights in a row with bloodshot eyes, his assistant Wan Long hurriedly walked into his core operations room with a hint of doubt.

"Chief Engineer Su, there's a report from the reception area... saying that someone claiming to be... the director of the 923 Research Institute, surnamed Zhang, named Zhang Cheng, insists on visiting you in person, saying he has something very important to discuss."

Wanlong speaks a bit fast.

“We checked, and this 923 Institute is affiliated with the Joint Development Headquarters for Water Conservancy and Agriculture. It mainly works on seawater desalination and agricultural electrification. They usually keep a low profile and have no overlap with our energy and chip systems. We haven’t contacted them before… What do you think? Should we meet with them? Have them schedule an appointment for a while?”

Su Dingping's coffee cup, which he had just picked up, stopped in mid-air.

"Research Institute 923? Seawater desalination? Agricultural electrification?"

He astutely gleaned a subtle connection from these keywords.

He rubbed his throbbing temples and put down his cup. The director of the research institute, without any prior notice, just showed up at his door… Interesting.

"Let him in."

Su Dingping made a decision.

Even though he was exhausted, his mind was racing like a precision instrument. Seawater desalination? Wasn't this another strategic solution for the massive byproducts and electricity resources inevitably generated by hydrogen production plants? Although he didn't have the resources to implement it yet, this direction…

The door was opened gently. A middle-aged man of short stature but with a straight back walked in.

His name is indeed Zhang Cheng, just like his given name.

However, the years and arduous work have left overtly clear marks on him.

He looked to be in his early fifties, but his hair was completely white, and his wrinkles were as deep as ravines in the Gobi Desert. He looked weathered and worn, and he was wearing an old jacket that was a bit faded from washing. It seemed out of place in the command center filled with advanced computer screens and cool blue light.

His eyes, however, were unusually clear, revealing an intellectual's tenacity and... a certain intense excitement.

"Director Zhang?"

Su Dingping stood up, offering a smile he tried to keep gentle. (End of Chapter)