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"Sujiang Province, their plane is turning around and heading to Sujiang International Airport."

The voice on the other end of the phone continued, but Chen Pingfang could no longer hear it.

Jiangsu Province.

He knew very well that this was no coincidence.

Wang Meng's line had just been severed, and the other side, unwilling to give up, launched an interception at the last moment. Not daring to do anything on Nanzhou's territory, they forced the plane to their home turf.

While the plane is still in the air, once it lands in Suzhou, Gu Weizhen will be faced with a set of prepared legal procedures. At that point, whether it's considered talent recruitment or commercial espionage will depend entirely on their word.

Chen Ping hung up the phone and, without the slightest hesitation, pressed the speed dial button for Governor Liu Mingyuan.

"Governor, this is Chen Pingfang. There is an emergency."

The call was answered almost instantly, and Liu Mingyuan's calm voice came through.

"explain."

"Air China flight CA942, carrying Dr. Gu Weizhen, was scheduled to land at this airport in ten minutes. We just received a notification that the Northern Theater Command Air Traffic Control Bureau has requested the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Sujiang under the pretext of a temporary military exercise." Chen Pingfang spoke quickly, but every word was clear.

He didn't analyze; he simply stated the facts.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Liu Mingyuan's slightly heavier breathing.

"Military exercises?" Liu Mingyuan repeated, a chill running through his voice. "How come I didn't know?"

"I just found out too," Chen Ping added.

"I'll coordinate with the military region right away, you stay calm," Liu Mingyuan said before hanging up the phone.

Chen Ping put down his phone and immediately dialed Qin Yu's encrypted line.

"Qin Yu, activate all reserve forces in Jiangsu Province."

"What's going on?" Qin Yu's voice was calm.

"The target is currently on Air China flight CA942, which has been forced to divert and prepare to make an emergency landing at Suzhou International Airport. I don't care what method you use, send someone to the airport immediately. When the cabin door opens, my person must be the first to make contact with Gu Weizhen."

Chen Ping's instructions were devoid of any emotion.

"Do they dare to make a move at the airport?" Qin Yu asked.

"They won't dare to act openly, but they'll use other pretexts to take people away. Your task is to prevent them from doing so." Chen Ping stared at the parking lot outside the car window. "Keep the people under control and wait for my further instructions."

"clear."

For his last call, Chen Ping flipped through his contacts and found a number he had never dialed before.

Zhang Chengan, Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then pressed the dial button.

The phone rang for a long time before being answered, and a male voice with an official tone came through.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Secretary-General Zhang, hello, I am Chen Pingfang from the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Nanzhou Province." Chen Pingfang's tone was very flat, with the respect due to his superior.

The other person was clearly taken aback for a moment, probably searching their mind for the name.

"Director Chen, is there something you need?"

"Excuse me for bothering you." Chen Pingfang's wording was very polite. "There's a small matter I'd like to share with you. Dr. Gu Weizhen, a very important overseas-trained expert in our province, is on Air China flight CA942, which is making an emergency landing at Sujiang Airport due to a temporary military exercise in your province's airspace."

Zhang Cheng'an gave a vague reply: "Oh, is that so? We locals aren't very clear about the military's arrangements."

Trying to distance yourself?

Chen Ping sneered inwardly, but became increasingly polite verbally.

"Yes, we understand. However, our Party Secretary Deshan and Governor Liu Mingyuan have been paying close attention to the introduction of Dr. Gu. Just now, Governor Liu personally went to the Northern Theater Command to verify the so-called exercise situation."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.

Chen Pingfang could imagine that Zhang Chengan's expression at this moment must have been quite something. A mere department head had directly brought up the provincial party secretary and the governor, even specifying that the governor was verifying information with the military.

"Secretary-General Zhang, as you know, our two provinces are brother provinces, and industrial collaboration is of paramount importance. It would be terrible if a misunderstanding arose over an expert, affecting the cooperative atmosphere between our two provinces," Chen Pingfang continued calmly. "The person was practically at our doorstep, so why did they fly to the neighboring province? Our Party Secretary and Governor are also puzzled. Therefore, we would like to ask for your help in coordinating to get the plane back as soon as possible. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, I'm afraid no one can bear the responsibility."

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Cheng'an's breathing became somewhat heavy. He finally spoke, his voice no longer carrying the previous official tone, but rather a hint of panic.

"Comrade Pingfang, don't worry! I'll go right away! I'll go and find out what's going on! I will absolutely ensure that your experts encounter no problems in Sujiang!"

"Then thank you very much, Secretary-General Zhang."

Chen Ping hung up the phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat.

Meanwhile, at Sujiang International Airport.

The control tower's phones were ringing off the hook. Then, the airport group chairman's phone started vibrating too. One after another, names he usually looked up to came roaring commands from the other end of the line.

"Who authorized you to pick up that CA942?"

"Make it roll back to the sky right now!"

"Secretary-General Zhang personally intervened! What is your airport trying to do?"

The airport chairman hung up the phone, his shirt soaked with cold sweat. He grabbed the walkie-talkie on the table and roared in a distorted voice, "Attention all units! Attention all units! Air China CA942, which just made an emergency landing, clear all obstacles, contact the crew, refuel, and prepare for a go-around immediately! I'll go to the tarmac myself!"

He rushed out of the office, got on the shuttle bus, and drove towards the distant helipad.

When he arrived, CA942 was quietly parked by the jet bridge. Several men wearing airport ground staff uniforms, but whose demeanor was clearly not that of ground staff, were already guarding the exit of the jet bridge, their sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

The chairman recognized him at a glance; he was from the provincial department.

He dared not approach, and could only stand far away, watching the plane restart its engines and, led by the guide vehicle, slowly taxi towards the runway.

This scene was captured entirely by a telephoto lens from a vehicle disguised as a luggage transport truck in the distance.

Forty minutes later.

Nanzhou International Airport.

Flight CA942 landed smoothly on the runway.

Chen Pingfang stood at the exit of the VIP passage, watching that familiar yet unfamiliar figure walk towards him step by step, accompanied by Zheng Xian.

Gu Weizhen looked somewhat tired, but was in good spirits. He walked up to Chen Pingfang and extended his hand.

"Director Chen, we've finally arrived."

Chen Ping grasped his hand and said only one sentence.

Welcome home.

After some twists and turns, we finally escaped unharmed.

Back at the expert apartment arranged by the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, Zheng Xian led the security personnel to check every corner of the room before leaving, leaving the two of them alone.

Gu Weizhen took off his coat, carefully took something out of his briefcase, and placed it on the coffee table.

It was a seemingly ordinary encrypted USB drive.

"Director Chen," Gu Weizhen's face was no longer tired, but serious, "this is what AetherX and the FBI want to find from me."

He pushed the USB drive in front of Chen Pingfang.

"This contains the complete chain of evidence that AetherX used a hardware backdoor in their chip to secretly steal the personal data of millions of users worldwide over the past five years, and even operational data of critical infrastructure in some countries."