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

"You need to be careful of Jiacheng."

Wang Dexin's words kept echoing in Chen Ping's mind until he returned to his car parked at the alley entrance.

He did not start the car immediately.

Han Zhengke.

Chen Pingfang muttered the name to himself. Three months ago, in the factory area of ​​Jiacheng Precision, two hooded men pinned Han Zhengke to the warehouse floor, their knees pressing against his back, their wrists bound with duct tape. When Chen Pingfang brought Ma Donglin in, Han Zhengke had a three-centimeter-long gash on his temple, and his eyes were bloodshot.

That miserable state looked really real at the time.

But now that he thinks about it, Chen Ping lightly tapped his thumb on the steering wheel, making a dull sound.

The two kidnappers chose to strike when Han Zhengke was alone in the factory, but their methods were so crude that it seemed like a spur-of-the-moment decision. There was blood on the ground, but only a small patch near the wound; it didn't look like someone who had been held captive for almost two hours had struggled.

He didn't think about it too deeply at the time.

Now that I think about it, that flavor comes to mind.

Chen Ping started the car and drove directly to the Municipal Government Service Center without returning to the Management Committee. Using his identity as the deputy leader of the Provincial Industrial Leading Group, he logged into the internal network system to retrieve the overseas financial transaction records of Jiacheng Precision and all its affiliated companies under Han Zhengke's name over the past ten years.

The system indicates that it will take forty minutes.

Chen Ping found a chair in the lobby, sat down, and took out his phone to send a message to Jiang Fan.

"Please compile a list of the key equipment needed for the second phase of Jiacheng Precision and submit it to me today."

Jiang Fan replied instantly.

"Understood. Is there anything I should pay special attention to?"

Chen Ping stared at the screen and replied with three words.

"All of them."

Forty minutes later, an electronic document was sent to Chen Pingfang's internal network account. He opened the document layer by layer, starting from the outermost layer of the company structure and working his way up to the seventh layer.

His hand stopped.

On the seventh floor, a technology company registered in the Netherlands, Nexvance BV, holds 11.3% of Jiacheng Precision's shares through a shell company in Singapore.

The information about the actual controller of this Dutch company was vague; only a list of board members was provided. Chen Ping scrolled to the bottom of the list, and the third director's name made his pupils shrink.

Meridian Capital Group.

The full name of Company M.

Chen Ping saved the screenshot to an encrypted folder, exited the system, put his phone in his pocket, and stood up.

Company M.

It turns out that Veridian was just the visible player; Company M was the one truly pulling the strings behind the scenes. One company swallowed patents, while the other infiltrated the supply chain to control equipment—a clear division of labor.

Han Zhengke was a nail that had been planted in advance.

That kidnapping was merely a pledge of allegiance offered by Jiacheng Precision before Chen Pingfang was to make contact with them, a gesture intended to gain their trust.

Chen Ping parked the car in the parking lot, got in, and without starting the engine, pulled up the organizational chart of the Dutch company again and looked at it twice. Company M invested in October 2021, a full fourteen months earlier than Jiacheng Precision obtained the qualification as a supplier for the second phase of Chipfire.

This arrangement wasn't made on a whim. They had been waiting for over a year, waiting for Han Zhengke's equipment to arrive, waiting for the supply chain to be breached, and then they would shove their own stuff in.

The question is, how much have they already crammed in?

Chen Ping turned off his phone screen and started the car.

Just then, the phone rang.

The caller ID showed Han Zhengke.

He didn't answer immediately, letting the phone ring three times before slowly pressing the answer button, setting up the phone, and placing both hands on the steering wheel.

"Director Chen, I'm sorry to bother you."

Han Zhengke's voice still carried the smoothness characteristic of a businessman, polite yet warm.

"I'd like to visit you today, but I don't know if you have time?"

"What is it?"

"I have some good news to share with you in person, Director Chen. The second phase of Jiacheng Precision is scheduled to officially start production next month, and we would like to hold a donation ceremony to donate a batch of precision measuring equipment to Xinhuo High-tech Zone. I have already drafted the agreement, with a total value of about one billion yuan. I think it is best to ask you, Director Chen, to review this matter in person."

One billion.

Chen Ping's thumb remained firmly on the steering wheel, motionless.

He went over Han Zhengke's words in his mind.

It's a donation, not a sale or a collaboration. Equipment worth one billion yuan is being given away for free, practically delivered to the production line in the Xinhuo High-tech Zone.

The larger the gift, the dirtier the contents.

"Okay, come over here." Chen Ping gave an address, "3 PM, small conference room on the second floor of the management committee."

Han Zhengke paused for a moment, seemingly surprised that Chen Pingfang would agree so readily.

"Okay, I'll be there on time this afternoon."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Ping didn't go directly to the management committee, but instead went to Ma Donglin's office at the municipal bureau.

He pushed the screenshot of the Dutch company's shares onto Ma Donglin's desk.

"Jiacheng Precision has shares in M ​​Company hidden on the seventh floor, very deep inside. I'm meeting Han Zhengke this afternoon; he brought a donation agreement worth one billion yuan."

Ma Donglin picked up the screenshot, stared at the letters "Nexvance BV", flipped the paper over, and then flipped it back over.

"Is he trying to use the equipment to infiltrate the supply chain?"

"The specific method is still uncertain." Chen Ping sat down, his hand resting on the edge of the table. "But giving away equipment worth 1 billion yuan for free is definitely not charity. They can leave vulnerabilities in the hardware, or install special interfaces and firmware backdoors. Once this equipment enters the pilot production line, all our process data will be exposed."

Ma Donglin put the screenshot back on the table.

"How do you plan to respond?"

"I'll accept it for now." Chen Ping stood up. "If he wants to donate, I'll accept it. But none of his equipment will make it onto the actual pilot production line."

He picked up his briefcase, walked to the door, and then stopped.

"Contact the technical security personnel in advance. After the meeting this afternoon, I need them to conduct a comprehensive firmware check on all the device models specified in the agreement."

Ma Donglin nodded and picked up the phone on the table.

At 2:50 p.m., Chen Ping sat down in the small conference room on the second floor of the management committee and pushed a cup of tea to the empty seat opposite him.

At exactly three o'clock, Han Zhengke pushed open the door and came in, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, with a blue folder in his hand, and walked forward with a smile.

"Director Chen, it's been a long time."

"sit."

Han Zhengke sat down and pushed the folder over.

Chen Ping opened the agreement, which began with a total price of one billion yuan, followed by a list of forty-two items, all of which were supporting equipment for precision measurement and epitaxial processes.

He flipped through the pages one by one, reading each line very carefully.

Turning to page seventeen, there was a batch of 3D topology scanners, model TPS-9X, made in Germany. Chen Ping glanced at it and immediately realized that this model had been transferred to a Singaporean contract manufacturer eighteen months ago.

Singapore.

He closed the agreement and pushed it towards the edge of the table.

"President Han's gift is quite substantial."

Han Zhengke reached for the teacup and smiled.

"Director Chen, you're too kind. The industries in Nanzhou are thriving, and we, who provide supporting services, are also benefiting from it."

Chen Ping picked up the agreement again, flipped to the equipment list pages, and turned the folder vertically toward Han Zhengke.

"On page seventeen, this TPS-9X, I remember the ownership changed last year. Where did you get this batch of goods from?"

Han Zhengke paused for a moment while holding the teacup before steadily lifting it and taking a sip.

"Director Chen has a good memory. They did change the ownership, but the production line is still in Germany; we are purchasing directly from them."

Chen Ping placed the agreement back on the table, pressed it down with his hand, and his lips twitched slightly.

A cold smile flashed across his face.

Direct sourcing.

Han Zhengke's story of "directly sourcing" from a German production line whose ownership had been transferred to a Singaporean OEM is very convincing, but it's too convincing and therefore seems fake.

Han Zhengke put down his teacup, looked up, and met Chen Ping's hand that was pressing down on the agreement.