After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

Zhang Chao wrote the name down in his notebook, while the call hadn't ended yet.

Chen Ping's phone suddenly vibrated.

The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number with the prefix +65.

Singapore.

Chen Ping took the phone away from his ear, stared at the string of numbers for two seconds, switched calls with his thumb, and waved to Zhang Chao at the end of the corridor.

Tap your index finger twice in the air, then press it down.

Follow up on incoming calls and don't hang up.

Zhang Chao understood and immediately turned around and rushed to his workstation.

"Director Chen, it's been a long time since we last contacted each other."

The other person spoke Mandarin with a Cantonese accent, enunciating each word clearly. Their tone was relaxed, yet it betrayed ill intent.

Chen Ping stood still in the corridor, leaning against the wall, calming himself down and not rushing to speak.

"Who is this?"

The question was thrown out, and my mind was already racing.

+65, an anonymous overseas number, could be dialed from Singapore or any Southeast Asian registered location. The fact that the other party dared to make this call indicates that they know far more about the latest developments of the Chipfire project than anyone else.

It's no longer a question to guess who could simultaneously mobilize Zhao Xilai's plans in Nanzhou while also operating overseas.

"Zhao Bo".

The other person announced their name, raising the last syllable slightly, with a hint of smugness in their tone.

"Director Chen, there have been quite a few problems with Corefire lately, haven't there?"

"Are you referring to that report in the provincial newspaper?"

"It's not just about reporting."

The other person paused for a moment, then spoke slowly and deliberately, word by word.

"Director Chen, I have several sets of recent parameter data for your EUV light source system. Seventeen sets of parameters, and the magnetic field confinement configuration of the tin target, is that correct?"

The only sound in the corridor was the low hum of the air conditioner.

Chen Ping went over the sentence in his mind, but didn't reply immediately. He didn't move his feet, but instead pulled his phone further down the corridor, creating distance between himself and the glass door behind him.

The numbers they gave were accurate.

The numbers they provided were very precise. Seventeen groups, magnetic field confinement, tin target—every keyword fell into the exact same place in the laboratory's core files.

This is the actual data we have obtained.

Moreover, the data is very recent.

Chen Ping mentally reviewed every possible leak path. The conversation continued, but behind that calm, a sense of unease welled up inside him.

Don't respond too quickly, and don't let the other person think he's panicked.

"I don't know what Mr. Zhao is trying to say."

"I just wanted to talk to Director Chen about the possibility of cooperation."

Zhao Bo spoke the word "cooperation" slowly, "Your project needs money, I have money. Your technology is valuable, I have distribution channels. It's a win-win situation, no one loses out, right?"

Chen Ping listened to the passage in detail.

The fact that the other party knew the internal technical parameters was more important than anything Zhao Bo said. Zhao Bo's decision to reveal his hand might have meant he believed he had everything under control, or it might have been a stress test to see how Zhao Bo would respond.

Regardless of the reason, you can't reveal even a fraction of your secrets during this phone call.

"There are many areas for cooperation, Mr. Zhao, but given the nature of Corefire, there are some paths that cannot be taken at the national level."

Chen Ping calmly passed the sentence over, and before the other party could respond, he added another sentence.

"Besides, the data you have now doesn't seem to have a very good origin, does it?"

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone.

"Is Director Chen warning me?"

"Just a reminder."

"Interesting." Zhao Bo spelled out those two words, paused, and said, "We'll have another chance to talk before the Capital Expo."

The call was disconnected.

Chen Ping turned his phone over and glanced at the call duration.

Two minutes and seventeen seconds.

Chen Ping put his phone in his pocket, strode towards Zhang Chao's workstation, and pushed open the door.

Zhang Chao was staring at the screen, his hands never stopping, and his head never lifting.

"Have you caught the signal yet?"

"Location complete. The signal base station is on Singapore Island, but it was relayed twice and finally landed at a node of an offshore telecommunications service provider registered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia."

Zhang Chao turned the screen toward him and pointed the pen tip at a coordinate point.

"This service provider has server nodes in several offshore financial centers in Southeast Asia. It is impossible to trace the final device, but there is a unique code in the call data packets. It shares the same encryption protocol as the batch of offshore accounts that the Provincial Construction Investment Group connected with last month."

Chen Ping scanned the set of identifiers on the screen without saying a word.

"Can this encryption protocol be used to trace user records?"

"You can't directly reverse the lookup, but you can compare the results."

Zhang Chao switched to another page, "I did a cross-reference in the offshore communication logs over the past three months and found seven groups of communication nodes with the same protocol, two of which intersected with Huajing Technology."

Huajing Technology.

Chen Ping suppressed the name in his mind for a moment.

Huajing Technology is another semiconductor-related company in the province, and it competes with the Chipfire project at several nodes in the supply chain, but he hadn't paid much attention to it before.

"At what level of intersection does Huajing Technology represent?"

"A vice president of Huajing Technology has been communicating with these offshore nodes very frequently, with no fewer than eleven call records in the last three weeks."

Zhang Chao paused for a moment, then spoke the next sentence even more slowly.

"Also, Director, there's one more thing."

Chen Ping waited patiently without urging him.

"One of Lu Yuan's assistants has been seen at the same location twice in the past two weeks with people from Huajing Technology."

Zhang Chao retrieved the location data and displayed it in the corner of the screen.

In the old town of Nanzhou, there is a teahouse that is not in any blind spot of surveillance cameras, but it is not a public place either.

Twice, with a six-day interval.

Chen Ping stared at the coordinates, his hand resting on the edge of the table, without moving.

Let's revisit what Lu Yuan said in the cafeteria last week. "I casually mentioned tin targets."

Lu Yuan himself is probably clean.

But the people around Lu Yuan might not be.

"What's that assistant's name?"

Zhang Chao pulled out the file page.

"Yu Kai, joined the team seven months ago, is responsible for parameter recording and data archiving."

Data archiving.

These three words, placed next to the accurate parameters Zhao Bo had just reported, are closely related to each other.

Chen Ping removed his hand from the edge of the table, turned around, and walked towards the door.

"Send me all of Yu Kai's files tonight."

Zhang Chao has already started retrieving the files.

"Also, Lin's case should be included in the investigation."

"clear."

"Also," Chen Ping paused at the door, "I'm going to the lab tonight. I won't let you know, I'll just go straight there."

Zhang Chao raised his head and didn't ask any more questions.

Chen Ping walked out of the office; the corridor was empty.

Instead of heading for the elevator, he turned back, pushed open a side door, entered a small, unlit conference room, closed the door, leaned against the wall, and mentally reviewed the events of the past half hour.

Zhao Bo knew all seventeen sets of parameters accurately.

Yu Kai was in charge of data archiving and had two secret contacts with people from Huajing Technology.

The offshore communication nodes of Huajing Technology's vice president and Zhao Bo are directly intersected.

Chen Ping mentally went through the sequence of these nodes. Zhao Bo took the money, Huajing Technology acted as the middle layer, Yu Kai was responsible for relaying the information, and Engineer Lin provided cover.

This issue is no longer a problem of a single aspect.

Zhao Bo volunteered and revealed the parameters to make him panic, to make him anxious, and to make him exhaust all his energy while searching for the mole.

It cannot be moved. At least, it cannot be moved now.

Chen Ping turned on his phone screen, stared at Yu Kai's name for a moment, and then turned the screen off.

Yu Kai stayed in the group for seven months without making a sound, relying on his inconspicuousness.

But from today onward, every step he takes will be under the watchful eyes of one pair of people.

The city lights outside the window slanted in, casting Chen Pingfang's shadow long and close to the ground.