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

"You need to be prepared for a protracted battle."

Secretary Deshan's words were still weighing on Chen Ping's mind when the first attack came from across the Pacific Ocean.

Three days after the research concluded, M~Tek held a press conference in Washington, D.C. A spokesperson, dressed in a grey suit, stood in front of the American flag and read a statement word by word to the cameras of more than sixty media outlets worldwide.

The core message is this: Nanzhou Province is using the "Core Fire Standard" as a pretext to engage in trade protectionism, set up technical barriers, and prevent compliant foreign-invested enterprises from competing fairly.

The statement was carefully worded, using "deeply concerned" three times, "non-transparent process" twice, and "politically motivated" once.

Reuters, Bloomberg, and Nikkei all reposted it. CNN produced a three-minute short film with a jarring title: "A province in China is driving foreign chips out of the market."

Chen Ping sat at his desk, finished reading the reports, and placed his phone face down on the table.

International propaganda warfare is M~Tek's old trick. First, they occupy the moral high ground, then use the rhetoric of "free market" and "fair competition" to criticize.

Once imposed, the CoreFire standard becomes a local government's exclusionary policy. Domestic provinces that were still observing will back down, and overseas companies intending to cooperate will hesitate.

This attack must be intercepted, and a counterattack must be launched.

Chen Ping dialed Su Qingwan's number.

"Did you see that CNN report?"

"I've seen it. The manuscript is already being written."

Su Qingwan reacted even faster than Chen Pingfang had expected.

Where do you plan to post it?

"The front page of the Nanzhou Daily. Su Qingwan applied for a full page with the editor-in-chief, and it's been approved. But I need one thing."

"explain."

"I need the original code screenshots and logic diagrams from the AetherX backdoor code comparison analysis that Gu Weizhen used during his blind testing. Readers won't understand every line of code, but they will understand one thing—what's hidden inside foreign chips."

Chen Ping was silent for two seconds.

Publishing the backdoor code publicly in the newspaper is tantamount to exposing the problem to the public. M~Tek's legal team will have a headache, but they cannot deny that the code is real, because the relevant vulnerabilities have been disclosed separately in the international security community, but no one has ever pieced them together into a complete network.

"I'll coordinate with Gu Weizhen. Please send me a list of which parts you need."

"Sent to your email within two hours."

The phone hangs up.

Chen Ping immediately dialed Gu Weizhen's number.

After hearing the request over the phone, Gu Weizhen did not hesitate.

"I can provide her with the backdoor activation logic for the AetherX 7200 and 5400 series after de-identifying it. These two models have been discontinued for three years, and the technical details do not involve the security of current systems. But they are enough to illustrate the point."

"How long will it take to finish organizing?"

Give me four hours.

~

Su Qingwan spent a whole day and night writing that article.

Chen Pingfang didn't bother Su Qingwan. The next day at six o'clock in the evening, Su Qingwan sent the final draft to Chen Pingfang's email. The main text was 7,800 words long, and fourteen technical screenshots were attached.

Title: Who is Installing Backdoors in Global Chips?

Chen Ping read it from beginning to end.

The article uses no emotional language. It begins by presenting screenshots of the firmware code for two discontinued AetherX chips, clearly labeling the location and triggering conditions of the backdoor instructions line by line.

The second part reviews publicly reported chip-level security incidents from around the world over the past decade, comparing them one by one with AetherX's architectural features and marking the relevant code segments with red arrows.

The third part is the most ruthless. Su Qingwan extracted a sentence from the statement at the M~Tek press conference—"Our products have undergone the most stringent security reviews in the world"—and then posted a picture below it.

That image is a screenshot of the backdoor activation data packet intercepted by Gu Weizhen's team during blind testing. The timestamp, source IP, target port, and payload content are all clearly identifiable.

Below the image, there was only one line of text: "This is what they call the most rigorous security review."

After reading it, Chen Ping replied, "It can be sent."

~

The Nanzhou Daily published the entire front page the following day.

That morning, major domestic portal websites reprinted the article in full. Within two hours, it surged to the top of Weibo's trending topics, with the hashtag "chip backdoor" trending.

At 3 PM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held its regular press conference. A reporter asked about M-Tek's statement, and the spokesperson's response was straightforward: "China welcomes companies from all countries to compete fairly in the Chinese market. However, the premise of fair competition is that the products you sell to Chinese users cannot contain a hidden weapon that could be used to stab you at any time. For specific technical details, I suggest our journalist friends refer to today's *Nanzhou Daily* report."

This statement is tantamount to an official endorsement.

M~Tek issued a second statement that evening, with much stronger wording than the first, using the phrases "defamatory," "baseless allegations," and "legal action."

However, they did not deny the authenticity of those code screenshots.

Because it cannot be denied.

The international security community reacted the fastest. That afternoon, the European cybersecurity agency ENISA reposted an English excerpt of Su Qingwan's article, adding the comment: "These findings are highly consistent with the conclusions of our previous internal assessment."

This is the finishing blow.

The Federal Office for Information Security of Country D followed up with a statement saying it would "re-examine" the AetherX-related components used in critical infrastructure within the country.

The tide of public opinion turned completely within 48 hours.

M~Tek has gone from being a "victim" to being questioned. At least seventeen mainstream media outlets worldwide have followed up with reports, shifting the focus from "Southern States erecting trade barriers" to "What exactly is AetherX hiding?"

Chen Ping sat in his office, flipping through a compilation of reports from various media outlets. He closed the stack of materials and picked up the internal phone.

"Qingwan, you saw the feedback on the report."

"I saw it. M~Tek's legal letter has also arrived at the newspaper, threatening to sue."

Are you scared?

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

"All the data cited is publicly available information and anonymized code. The technical verification is backed by Chipfire Labs. They can't win a lawsuit on the factual level. If you really want to go to court, then go ahead. But will they dare to hand over the complete firmware source code during the trial?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ping leaned back in his chair.

this woman.

"Be careful. Avoid walking alone at night lately, and contact me anytime if anything happens."

"Um."

The phone hangs up.

Chen Ping had just put down the receiver when the landline on the table rang again.

Lin Shaofeng.

"Director, we just received three official letters. They are from ASUS, Sakura Renesas Electronics Asia Pacific Office, and Kimchi Star Semiconductor Business Unit, respectively."

Chen Ping picked up his pen.

"The three letters contained exactly the same content—requesting formal consultations with the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Nanzhou Province regarding the Corefire standard compatibility certification."

Chen Ping's pen tip paused on the paper, and the ink splattered to form a dot.

Ames, Rissa, and the stars.

These three companies are not in the same camp as M-Tek. They hold important positions in the global semiconductor supply chain and have been observing the developments in Southern Europe.

Su Qingwan's report opened up the situation, and M~Tek's security reputation was publicly questioned. The three companies' plan was very clear—to take advantage of the window of opportunity when M~Tek was being scrutinized, to be the first to access the Chipfire Standard certification system, and to block the entrance to the future Chinese market.

The enemy of my enemy can be used.

"Reply to them. Inform them that Southern Province welcomes practical cooperation from all parties on technical standards adaptation, and the specific consultation time is set for next Wednesday."

"Where is the location?"

"Core Spark Lab"

Chen Ping hung up the phone, wrote down the document numbers of the three letters one by one, and locked them in the bottom of the drawer.

The phone screen lit up. It was a message from Su Qingwan, containing only four words.

"M~Tek has withdrawn its letter."

Chen Ping stared at those four words for three seconds, then exited the chat interface.

The landline on the table rang for the third time. The caller ID showed a number Chen Ping hadn't saved, area code 010, Beijing.

Chen Ping answered the phone, and a strange, extremely restrained baritone voice came through the receiver.

"Director Chen, my surname is Pei, from the Sixth Bureau of the Ministry of State Security. Regarding Zhou Zhixing, whom your department transferred—we need to discuss this in person."