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

Su Qingwan placed her hand on Chen Pingfang's hand; it was warm and comforting.

Chen Ping didn't pull away, but that hand wasn't on his mind.

Be careful of the people around you.

The note was pressed stiffly against his chest, in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. The note itself wasn't scary; what was scary was that the person who put it there knew where his car was parked and which restaurant he'd been to that evening.

The red light turned green, and the car slid forward.

Chen Ping drove Su Qingwan to the entrance of the residential area. After she went upstairs and the living room light came on, he put the car in gear and drove away.

Back at his residence, Chen Ping didn't turn on the main light. He sat in his study and spread the note out on the table.

Printed text. Plain A4 paper. Cut with a paper cutter.

Every office in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has a paper cutter, and every printer can produce this kind of text.

Chen Ping picked up his phone and sent Zheng Xian an encrypted text message: "Come to my office tomorrow morning, bring two men with you, in plainclothes."

Zheng Xian is the deputy director of the Provincial Security Department, in charge of classified information security. The two do not keep their relationship public; their only means of communication is this encrypted channel.

The reply came quickly: "Received."

Chen Ping locked the note, washed his face, and lay on the bed staring at the ceiling.

people around me.

The Science and Technology Division, General Office, and Confidential Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have no more than fifteen people in total who have access to the core information of the Chipfire project.

Of the fifteen people, whose hand reached outwards?

Chen Ping turned over, closed his eyes, and began to plan and strategize in his mind.

~

The following morning at 9:00 AM, in the conference room on the sixth floor of the Industry and Information Technology Department.

Chen Ping convened a small, impromptu meeting. The attendees were few: Lin Shaofeng, Director of the Science and Technology Department; Wu Jianping, Director of the General Office; Chen Shu'an, Head of the Confidential Affairs Office; and Yang Fan, Deputy Director of the Information Technology Promotion Department.

The four people sat down, and Chen Ping stood in front of the whiteboard and picked up a marker.

"Professor Gu's team completed the final compilation of the core code module for the Chipfire Phase II project last week. According to the security protocol, this code cannot remain on the lab's servers and must be transferred to a classified storage node under our own control."

Chen Ping wrote down an address.

"High-tech Zone Data Center, Room B3, Server Rack 7. The migration must be completed before 4 PM today."

Lin Shaofeng noted down the address, then looked up and asked, "Is the relocation plan following the standard procedure?"

"Standard procedure. The Confidential Affairs Office is responsible for escorting the shipment, and the Technology Department is responsible for liaising with the technical personnel at the Data Center."

Chen Shuan opened his notebook and began taking notes.

Yang Fan leaned back in his chair without saying a word.

Wu Jianping took a sip of his tea: "Director, should we inform Professor Gu about this?"

"No need. Code migration falls under the security jurisdiction of our department; the lab is only responsible for research and development."

Chen Ping put down the marker and tapped the table.

"The four of you who attended today's meeting, please don't divulge the content. You may leave now."

The four people left the meeting room one by one. Chen Pingfang stood by the window, watching their retreating figures in the corridor.

The address on the whiteboard is fake.

In rack number seven of the B3 server room in the High-tech Zone Data Center, there are three old, obsolete servers, with no power cords even connected.

The actual code migration was completed early yesterday morning. Gu Weizhen personally led the team to import all the core modules into the offline storage node of the military's classified network. Only Chen Pingfang and Gu Weizhen knew the physical location of that node.

Today's meeting is for fishing.

Of the four people, one will bite the hook.

~

Zheng Xian arrived at the Department of Industry and Information Technology at 10 a.m. He didn't go through the main entrance, but came up from the freight elevator in the underground parking garage. He was wearing a gray jacket and carrying a backpack, looking no different from the technicians who came to deliver equipment.

Chen Ping received Zheng Xian in his office. The door closed, and the blinds were tightly shut.

"Arrange for someone to keep watch over Room B3 of the High-tech Zone Data Center tonight. Set up surveillance around all three entrances and exits around rack number seven."

Zheng Xian took out a tablet from his backpack and brought up the building floor plan of the data center.

"The B3 server room has two access control systems, one for card swiping and one for facial recognition. Outsiders cannot enter."

"What if it's an insider?"

Zheng Xian looked up and met Chen Pingfang's gaze for a second.

"Understood. I'll take three people, divided into two groups. One group will be inside the server room, and the other group will be in the parking lot."

"Call me before you take action."

Zheng Xian put away the tablet and left the way he came.

The whole process took less than eight minutes.

Chen Ping sat back down at his desk and turned on his computer to process daily documents. Beside him was a glass of ice-cold tea; he picked it up and took a sip, finding it so bitter it made his tongue numb.

The afternoon passed very slowly.

Lin Shaofeng came at 2:30 to report on the audit progress, saying that another unit had run into problems with its use of funds. Chen Ping listened, gave a few comments, signed the report, and sent him away.

Wu Jianping came over at four o'clock to deliver the documents and casually asked about the relocation.

"Director, the confidential office says the materials are ready. What time will the transport vehicle depart?"

Five o'clock.

After Wu Jianping left, Chen Ping contacted Chen Shuan's inside man.

"Shu'an, have you arranged the armored truck?"

"It's all arranged, Director. I'll go with the car and keep a close eye on things."

"Hard."

The phone hangs up.

Chen Ping opened the drawer and glanced at the photocopy of the note inside.

Four people.

Lin Shaofeng, Wu Jianping, Chen Shuan, Yang Fan.

If the fish don't bite tonight, it means the leak isn't from one of these four people, and we'll have to come up with a new plan.

If they take the bait...

Chen Ping closed the drawer.

~

At 11:40 p.m., my phone vibrated.

Zheng Xian.

"Director Chen, the man has been apprehended."

Chen Ping sat up from the sofa without even putting on his shoes.

"Who?"

"The one in the confidential office is Zhou Zhixing. He's 28 years old and was just transferred here from the Provincial Archives Bureau last year. He used the confidential office's spare access card to enter the B3 server room. He was carrying a portable hard drive with him, and we apprehended him on the spot when he connected it to server rack number seven."

Zhou Zhixing.

Chen Ping mentally reviewed the man's appearance; he recognized him. Tall and thin, quiet, he usually worked in the confidential office, responsible for document filing and destruction records.

Temporarily transferred personnel. Not part of the official staff of the Department of Industry and Information Technology.

"Did he say anything?"

"They're denying everything right now, saying they forgot something while working overtime and came back to get it. But the external hard drive came pre-installed with a data copying tool, the kind commonly used overseas, which isn't available in China."

Chen Ping put on his shoes and picked up his car keys.

"I'm coming over here."

~

On the basement floor of the High-tech Zone Data Center, a temporary equipment room was set up as an interrogation site.

When Chen Ping released him, Zhou Zhixing was handcuffed to a metal chair.

He was so thin and pale, his forehead was covered in sweat. When Chen Ping let him in, he shrank back.

Chen Ping didn't sit down, but stood in front of Zhou Zhixing, less than a meter away.

"Zhou Zhixing, did you buy the copying tool on the external hard drive yourself?"

"I...I don't know what tool it is, it's a USB drive my friend gave me..."

"What's your friend's name?"

"I..." Zhou Zhixing's lips trembled twice, unable to utter his name.

Chen Ping took a document from Zheng Xian, opened it, and placed it in front of Zhou Zhixing.

"You have a bank card with an account opened overseas, and in the past six months, you've received three remittances totaling 470,000. The remitters are a consulting company registered in Singapore. Do you know the actual controller of this company?"

Zhou Zhixing lowered his head and stared at his knees.

"I'll give you one more chance." Chen Ping squatted down, lowering his gaze to be level with Zhou Zhixing's.

"Who bribed you? Was it He Qishan?"

Upon hearing the name He Qishan, Zhou Zhixing immediately raised his head. His face looked flustered, but there seemed to be some more complex emotions in his eyes.

"It's not He Qishan."

"Then who is it? Tell me."

Zhou Zhixing licked his chapped lips, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and he made a sound.

"I've never met that person. All communication was through that encrypted email, and each mission instruction was very brief, never exceeding three lines."

"What's his name? Tell me quickly."

Zhou Zhixing closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, when he opened them again, the struggle in his pupils was gone.

Chen Ping straightened his body.

The room suddenly became very quiet.

Zheng Xian suddenly turned his head and looked at Chen Pingfang.

Chen Ping put his hands in his pants pockets, his thumb pressing on the crease of the note, pressing it repeatedly.

"shadow."

There is another person lurking in the shadows. He is neither He Qishan nor Zhao Yiming, nor any of the clues that Chen Pingfang has now obtained.

Zhou Zhixing hung his head, the chains on his hands constantly clanking against the armrests of the metal chair.

A series of soft, intermittent sounds emanated from the enclosed equipment room, one after another.