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

Han Zhengke's pupils contracted, but his body hadn't had time to move yet.

The image on the big screen changed.

The macro photograph of the gray ceramic wafer disappears, replaced by a 3D animation. The animation is extremely detailed, with data parameters labeled for each frame. The scene begins with a cross-sectional view of the wafer's internal structure, with four flying wires highlighted in red, connecting to the physical layer of the power supply circuit along the underlying data bus.

The animation has started.

The red signal propagates along the flying wire, and in the simulation of wafer epitaxial growth, the voltage curve jumps abruptly. The jump is extremely small, less than 0.3 volts, but on the crystal structure diagram on the right side of the screen, a dislocation defect is clearly seen spreading out from the growth interface.

Speed ​​up the animation.

One defect becomes ten, ten become a hundred. The simulation cuts to a terminal application scenario: the inverter of a new energy vehicle suddenly fails on the highway, the traction system of a high-speed train alarms and stops, and the power modules of a 5G base station burn out.

A collective gasp filled the auditorium.

Some of the entrepreneurs in the first three rows stood up, then sat back down. Zhou, the deputy secretary-general of the provincial government, turned to look at the director of the Industry and Information Technology Department next to him; both of them turned pale.

Han Zhengke raised his right hand from his knee, touched the inside pocket of his suit jacket, and then withdrew it. The movement was very subtle, but Ma Donglin, sitting in the last row, noticed it and nodded to the young man in casual clothes next to him.

The Dutchman's faint smile froze completely. He turned to the translator beside him and whispered something in Dutch. The translator opened his mouth but didn't dare to translate.

The large screen switched again.

The equity penetration diagram of Jiacheng Precision covered the entire LED screen.

From Han Zhengke to the Hong Kong investment company, from Hong Kong to Singapore Nexvance B.V., from the board structure of Nexvance B.V. to Company M, each layer of relationship is marked with a red arrow, and the logo of Company M is enclosed in a striking red circle.

The auditorium was so quiet that you could hear the hum of the air conditioning vents.

The video continued.

On the right side of the equity chart, the flow of funds in the offshore accounts gradually emerges. Three shell companies, four transit accounts, all ultimately pointing to the end of the domestic line, where a name is enlarged to fill the bottom right corner of the screen—He Hongru.

The next thing that popped up was a scanned copy of the approval document. The document number, the date of issuance, and the signature at the end were circled in red. The strokes of He Hongru's three characters were clearly legible.

On the right side of the first row, He Hongru separated his hands, which had been clasped on his knees. His left hand rested on the armrest of the chair, and his five fingers slowly closed. Below the collar of his Zhongshan suit, two blue veins bulged on his neck.

The screen continues to scroll through pages.

An overseas inspection itinerary has surfaced. The dates point to three months before Yan Qinghua's downfall, and the destination is the Netherlands. The itinerary is detailed down to the hour, except for one day, which is blank. The blank space is marked with a red dotted line, and next to it is a line of small print: On the same day, the board of directors of Nexvance B.V. passed a resolution to inject capital into Jiacheng Precision.

Next page.

Two handwritten documents were placed side by side on the screen. The left document was labeled "Code Name YQ Communication Record," and the right document was labeled "Yan Qinghua's Private Notes." The handwriting on both documents was stamped with a red seal by a professional forensic institution, indicating that they were written by the same person.

The words "Old Musician" remained on the screen for a full five seconds.

People in the auditorium began to talk in hushed tones, the buzzing growing louder. Deputy Secretary-General Zhou's secretary had already taken out his phone and was making a call, his voice low.

Chen Ping stood in front of the microphone the whole time, without moving or saying a word.

He waited.

As those images were etched into the minds of everyone present, one by one, Han Zhengke's face turned from astonishment to ashen, the Dutchman's blue eyes shifted from confusion to fear, and the beads of sweat on He Hongru's forehead grew from a single drop to a thick layer.

enough.

Chen Ping raised his right hand and gestured towards the backstage area. The large screen froze on the last image: a photograph of the physical evidence from hard drive No. 074, the first page of Liu Chang's confession, and the original hand-drawn sketch of the offshore structure provided by Wang Dexin. The three documents were displayed side by side, each stamped with the seal of the Provincial Department of National Security across the bottom right corner.

Chen Ping picked up the microphone.

The lecture hall fell silent instantly.

"Today, we caught a termite that was trying to hollow out the pillars of the nation."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word bounced off the floor. In the auditorium with over two hundred people, even breathing became soft.

"Now, I declare."

Chen Pingfang's gaze swept across Han Zhengke's face, moved to the Dutchman's face, and finally landed on He Hongru.

"In accordance with the National Security Law of the People's Republic of China, and with the approval of the Provincial Party Committee, a joint task force was established by the Provincial Department of National Security, the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, and the Provincial Public Security Department to arrest criminal suspects involved in endangering national security and engaging in economic espionage activities."

The moment the words were spoken, all six side doors around the auditorium opened simultaneously.

Ma Donglin was the first to stand up. The four plainclothes young men behind him stood up in unison, their law enforcement badges and handcuffs gleaming under the lights.

Meanwhile, twelve state security officers who rushed in through the side door had already blocked all the exits of the auditorium. They were wearing dark jackets, and their steps were quick and steady, without making any unnecessary noise.

Han Zhengke suddenly jumped up from his chair.

Before he could even stand up straight, both his hands were handcuffed behind his back. An economic crime investigation officer twisted his right arm behind his back and snapped the handcuffs on.

"Han Zhengke, you are suspected of economic espionage and are hereby detained in accordance with the law."

Han Zhengke's suit collar was askew, and the Jiacheng Precision company emblem fell off the open lapel, bounced on the ground, and rolled half a meter away.

The Dutchman jumped up from his chair and shouted something in English. Before the translator could even speak, two state security officers were already standing on either side of him.

"Mr. Van der Berg, please cooperate with the investigation."

The Dutchman turned his head, his blue eyes darting around in the auditorium lights before finally settling on Chen Pingfang's face. That face was devoid of any polite smile, only the bewildered look of someone stripped of their cards.

First row, right side.

Two staff members in dark gray suits walked up to He Hongru, one on his left and one on his right. The one on the left bent down and lowered his voice.

"Director He, please come with us."

He Hongru did not move.

He sat in the chair, his hands resting on the armrests, his back ramrod straight. The collar of his gray Zhongshan suit was fastened meticulously, and his hair was still neatly combed.

But his Adam's apple bobbed.

Then it rolled again.

Three seconds later, He Hongru stood up, supporting himself on the armrest. He didn't look back at Han Zhengke, nor did he look up at the screen. He simply reached out and smoothed the hem of his Zhongshan suit before taking two steps out of his seat.

The staff members from the Discipline Inspection Commission followed on either side, their footsteps echoing rhythmically on the stone floor of the auditorium.

The side door closed.

A huge commotion erupted in the auditorium. Entrepreneurs stood up in twos and threes, whispering amongst themselves. Deputy Secretary-General Zhou's face turned from pale to ashen; he called his secretary to his side and whispered a few instructions. The two division chiefs from the Industry and Information Technology Department exchanged a glance and simultaneously picked up their phones.

In the fourth row, by the aisle, Su Qingwan turned off the recorder, opened her interview notebook, and quickly wrote a line on a blank page:

Within National Borders: A Silent War on Chips

She closed the notebook, stuffed it into her canvas bag, and got up to walk towards the exit. As she passed the stage, she glanced up at it.

Chen Ping stood in front of the microphone and did not leave the stage.

The lights in the auditorium came back on, and all the light shone on him. His hands rested on the edge of the podium, his ten fingers spread out, in the exact same posture as when he announced Jiacheng Precision as a "strategic partner" five minutes earlier.

But this time, his gaze passed over the more than two hundred faces below the stage, and over the still-flickering LED screen, landing on the side door at the very back of the auditorium that had just closed.

A sliver of sunlight shone through the crack in the door; it was extremely thin and extremely bright.