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

The night wind rushed in through the car window, and Chen Ping turned the steering wheel with one hand, onto the East City Expressway.

The image of He Qishan sprawled on the ground was still vivid in Chen Pingfang's mind, but he had already moved on from that moment.

Only after Jinzuo Real Estate reclaimed the land will the second phase of the Xinhuo Industrial Park have a place to be located.

With Zhou Lao taken away by the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, He Qishan's backer has completely disappeared. This connection is now clean.

The car was parked in the underground garage of the residential complex and the engine was turned off.

Chen Ping carried his jacket upstairs. When he reached his door, he smelled the aroma of wontons.

Su Qingwan sat on a small stool in the entryway, an insulated bag resting on her lap, the light from her phone screen reflecting on her face. She looked up when she heard footsteps.

Are you hungry?

"Um."

Chen Ping took out his keys, opened the door, and let Su Qingwan go in first.

The wontons were poured into the bowl; they were still piping hot. Su Qingwan took out a box of cucumber salad from her insulated bag and handed it to her with chopsticks.

Chen Ping didn't rush to eat. He leaned against the kitchen door frame and glanced at Su Qingwan for two seconds.

"How did you find out about M~Tek's revocation of the letter faster than I did?"

Su Qingwan disassembled the disposable chopsticks, breaking them with considerable force.

"When their legal department sent the email to the newspaper, they also copied my personal email address. The retraction letter email was also copied. The time difference was less than forty minutes."

"You chickened out after only forty minutes?"

"Their public relations team at their Washington state headquarters did the math: continuing to threaten lawsuits would only attract more media attention to the backdoor digging. They needed to cut their losses."

Chen Ping picked up the bowl and took a bite of the wonton. The wrapper was thin, and the filling was fresh; it was from the handmade shop in the old town.

"How far did you go to buy it?"

"By electric bike, it takes twenty minutes."

Chen Ping didn't say anything more, and buried his head to finish the bowl of wontons. He placed his chopsticks on the rim of the bowl and wiped his mouth with a tissue.

Be careful on your way back.

Su Qingwan packed up the insulated bag and went to the door to change her shoes.

"Chen Pingfang."

"Um?"

"He Qishan has been caught. What are your plans now?"

Chen Ping put the bowl into the sink and turned on the tap.

"Things that need to be done."

Su Qingwan didn't ask any further questions, picked up the bag, and went out the door. The motion-activated light in the hallway flickered on, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

Chen Ping closed the door and stood against it for a few seconds.

There's so much to do. The second phase of the Chipfire project, supply chain integration, negotiations with three foreign companies, and the investigation of Shadow. None of it can be stopped.

I washed the dishes, took a shower, and lay down in bed.

The phone lit up; it was a encrypted text message from Zheng Xian.

"Report from Director Pei of the Sixth Bureau: Zhou Zhixing's encrypted email server is located in Sweden, and the communication link goes through four layers of jump servers. Technical tracing will take time. We can't find the source of the problem for now."

Chen Ping placed his phone face down on the bedside table and closed his eyes.

If you can't catch it, just leave it for now. It will show itself when the time is right.

three days later.

The Standing Committee meeting room is located on the seventh floor of the Provincial Party Committee building.

Chen Pingfang was not eligible to attend the Standing Committee meeting, but Lin Shaofeng called him at four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Director, the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee just issued a notice asking you to come to the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee for a talk at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

The Organization Department held a meeting.

Chen Ping hung up the phone and sat at his desk for a while, thinking. He Qishan's arrest, the advancement of the Chipfire standard, and the change in the M~Tek propaganda war—all these things combined meant that the higher-ups should be taking action.

As for what action it will take, I can't guess, and I don't need to guess.

The following morning, Chen Ping arrived at the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department on time.

He was received by Cheng Hongyuan, the executive deputy minister of the Organization Department, who was in his early fifties, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Comrade Pinglai, please sit down."

Cheng Hongyuan pushed a cup of tea over and took one for himself as well.

"Yesterday, the Standing Committee discussed a personnel issue. In view of your performance in advancing the Chip Spark Program and related work, Governor Mingyuan proposed that you concurrently serve as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government to comprehensively coordinate the development of high-tech industries throughout the province. The Standing Committee has approved this in principle."

Chen Ping held his teacup but didn't drink it.

Deputy Secretary-General. This signifies entry into the core decision-making level of the provincial government.

The director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology oversees a specific area, while the deputy secretary-general coordinates horizontal resources across the entire provincial government. The fact that these two positions overlap signifies that the Chip Spark Program is no longer just a project of the Department of Industry and Information Technology, but a strategic initiative at the provincial government level.

"The organization trusts me, and I will obey their arrangements."

Cheng Hongyuan pushed up his glasses and smiled.

"Governor Mingyuan's exact words were: 'The Xinhuo project cannot be pushed forward by the Department of Industry and Information Technology alone; someone needs to coordinate it at the provincial government level. Pingfang has been doing this for so many years; he deserves a bigger platform.'"

Chen Ping put down his teacup and asked a practical question.

"How exactly is the scope of responsibility determined?"

"You will be in charge of coordinating the sectors related to high-tech industries, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission. You will have the right to make suggestions regarding the parts involving finance and state-owned assets. The specific division of responsibilities will be released next week."

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Development and Reform Commission—these three lines are firmly in their grasp.

Chen Ping nodded without saying anything more.

Leaving the Organization Department, I walked along the tree-lined path in the provincial party committee compound. The leaves of the plane trees rustled in the wind, and the early summer sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, dappling the paving stones.

The phone rang. Gu Weizhen.

"I heard. Congratulations."

"The news came fast enough."

"Cheng Hongyuan is my senior's classmate. I received the news the moment you left."

Gu Weizhen made a rare joke before getting to the point.

"The meeting between the three foreign companies is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. ASML's representative is a very high-ranking one; he's their global vice president. What's your strategy?"

"Let's hear their offer first. We have the final say on the Chipfire standard's certification system; they're the ones in a hurry."

"Understood. I've prepared the technical coordination plan for the lab."

After hanging up Gu Weizhen's call, Chen Ping got into the car and started the engine.

The official appointment document for the deputy secretary-general has not yet been issued, but the news has already spread within the provincial government system.

When I returned to the Department of Industry and Information Technology in the afternoon, the way people greeted me in the corridor had subtly changed—they became more polite, with a layer of cautious distance.

Wu Jianping came in carrying a stack of documents to sign and approve, and said one more thing before leaving.

"Director, congratulations on your promotion."

Chen Ping didn't look up.

"The file hasn't been downloaded yet, don't spread it around."

Wu Jianping awkwardly retreated.

After signing the last document, Chen Ping put the pen cap back on.

The landline on the table rang.

Caller ID: Area code 025.

Nanjing. No, that area code isn't for the southern part of the city.

Chen Ping flipped through his memory. 025 was the area code for Xingzhou, the capital of Jiangsu Province.

Pick up the receiver.

"Excuse me, are you Director Chen Pingfang?"

The other person spoke Mandarin with a distinct Jianghuai accent, and their voice was hoarse, as if they hadn't slept well for a long time.

"Yes, that's me. Who is it?"

"Director Chen, I am Zhang Shoucheng, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Jiangsu Province. I apologize for bothering you, but there is something I must ask of you."

Chen Ping leaned back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously twirling a pen. The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology had no business dealings with Nanzhou; they rarely even exchanged business information.

"Director Zhang, please go ahead."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, as if they were carefully considering their words.

"Our province's core power grid dispatching system was attacked by an unknown cyberattack three days ago. The attack method was very unusual, as it directly penetrated the underlying hardware firmware. Our province's security team investigated for 72 hours but could not find any entry point for the attack."

Chen Ping stopped twirling his pen.

Hardware firmware layer attack.

This description is almost identical to the third wave of attacks—a state-sponsored APT attack—simulated during the Corefire Labs demonstration.

What kind of chips does your power grid dispatching system use?

Zhang Shoucheng's answer confirmed Chen Pingfang's guess.

"AetherX~7200".

Chen Ping placed the pen on the table and leaned forward.

"Director Zhang, what do you need?"

Zhang Shoucheng lowered his voice even further.

"I need the Corefire team. Director Chen, the power safety of 34 million people in Jiangsu Province is in a critical situation."

Chen Ping stared at the fountain pen on the table, and the fluorescent light reflecting off the pen barrel flickered.

Outside the window, the sycamore leaves were whipped up by the wind and slapped against the glass.