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

He Yuanzheng.

Chen Ping ran the name through his mind twice. The deputy director of the National Supervision Office, at the ministerial level, had considerable authority, but it wouldn't warrant personally leading a team to investigate a provincial-level project's intellectual property rights dispute.

Unless someone specifically named someone behind the scenes.

"Governor, when will He Yuanzheng land?"

"Tomorrow at 2 PM, Hongqiao flight." Liu Mingyuan cleared his throat, a mouthful of phlegm in it. "The investigation team consists of six people: three from the Intellectual Property Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, two from He Yuanzheng's Supervision Office, and the other one... guess who he is."

Chen Ping didn't guess.

"The technical expert recommended by the China Semiconductor Industry Association is named Wang Limin."

Wang Limin.

The name might be unfamiliar, but the claim of being recommended by the association is not. Zhou Zhixing is the association's deputy secretary-general; even though he's in detention, the association can still reach out to him.

"I will arrange the reception." Chen Ping hung up the phone.

Back in the VIP lounge, Anderson shook hands with the representatives of the three giants one by one to say goodbye. As he left, Anderson glanced back at Chen Pingfang, his lips moved, but in the end he said nothing and got into the black van.

Chen Ping sat in the empty conference room and sent Lin Shaofeng an encrypted text message: "Investigate Wang Limin. Focus on his relationship with Sun Heming."

The reply came quickly: "Wang Limin, former deputy director of the Beijing Microelectronics Research Institute, graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University in 1983."

The Class of '83, Tsinghua University.

Sun Heming was also a graduate of Tsinghua University in 1983.

Chen Ping placed his phone on the table and tapped it three times rhythmically with two fingers.

Old classmate.

They sent an old classmate as a technical expert, sent the whistleblower letter through the association, and included their own people in the investigation team. The entire process was meticulously planned.

That afternoon, Chen Ping did not return to the provincial government, but went directly to the Jizhou Laboratory.

Gu Weizhen stood guard at the entrance to the server room, his eyes bloodshot and stubble on his chin.

"The server temperature has dropped to 42 degrees Celsius, and all data has been fully recovered without losing a single byte."

"Okay." Chen Ping took out a USB drive from his briefcase. "The preliminary evaluation framework from the Intellectual Property Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was sent over at four o'clock this morning. Use this framework to reorganize all the technical documents of the Chipfire certification system. Code architecture, version iteration, patent comparison—every item must be self-certified and closed-loop."

Gu Weizhen took the USB drive. "How much time do you want?"

"Twelve hours. They must all be here by 2 PM tomorrow."

"The investigation team has arrived?"

"Tomorrow."

Gu Weizhen held the USB drive in his hand, asked no more questions, and turned to walk towards the server room.

He took two steps and then stopped.

"Old Chen, there's something I need to tell you beforehand."

Chen Ping waited.

"If the investigation team wants to see the source code, I can grant read-only access locally, but the code cannot be copied. Chipfire's core algorithm involves the underlying protocols of power dispatching and industrial control systems, which fall under the category of critical information infrastructure as defined in Article 25 of the National Security Law. Leaving the source code out of the laboratory is tantamount to handing over the security backdoor of the State Grid."

"I understand."

Chen Ping patted Gu Weizhen on the shoulder without saying anything more.

At 1:45 p.m. the following afternoon.

Conference room on the third floor of the main building of Xinhuo Industrial Park, Nanzhou High-tech Zone.

Chen Ping stood by the window, watching three black Buick GL8s drive into the parking lot downstairs.

The first person to get out of the car was He Yuanzheng. He was in his early fifties, of medium build, with his hair neatly combed. His briefcase was tucked under his left arm. He shook hands with Lin Shaofeng, who was coming to greet him, but quickly let go.

Four people got out of the second car. Three were wearing dark suits, and one was wearing a gray jacket.

The man in the gray jacket is Wang Limin. He's not tall, wears frameless glasses, and walks with his neck slightly forward, giving him a professional posture reminiscent of someone who's spent a lot of time in a laboratory.

We went upstairs, exchanged pleasantries, and took our seats.

He Yuanzheng got straight to the point.

"Deputy Secretary-General Chen, as required by the Ministry, we mainly have three tasks to do this time: review technical documents, verify patent comparison results, and listen to the project team's technical defense. Time is tight, so we won't stand on ceremony."

Chen Ping nodded. "All the materials are ready."

Lin Shaofeng distributed six bound copies of the technical documents. The covers bore the logo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Intellectual Property Research Center—these were rushed out last night.

Wang Limin opened the document and flipped through it very quickly, reaching the chapter on the core algorithm architecture in less than two minutes.

"Deputy Secretary-General Chen." Wang Limin looked up, his pupils lowered behind his frameless glasses. "We'll review the written materials later. Now there's a more direct approach—we need to bring the core source code of the Chipfire certification system back to Beijing and have it audited line by line by an independent third party."

There was a brief silence in the meeting room.

He Yuanzheng held his teacup, neither drinking nor putting it down.

Chen Ping leaned back in his chair, his hands crossed on the table.

"Expert Wang, the source code can be viewed here, but it cannot be taken away."

Wang Limin adjusted his glasses. "Deputy Secretary-General Chen, the ministry's official letter clearly states that we have the right to access all relevant technical data."

"I've seen the official letter. 'Retrieving' and 'taking away' are two different things."

Chen Ping pulled a piece of paper from the folder and pushed it to the center of the table.

"Article 25 of the National Security Law stipulates that core technical data of critical information infrastructure shall not leave the location of operation and maintenance without the joint approval of the Cyberspace Administration of China and the competent authorities. The Chipfire Certification System currently undertakes the dynamic security certification task for the entire power grid of Jiangsu Province and is a core component of the national critical information infrastructure. The departure of the source code from the Jizhou Laboratory is tantamount to tearing open a gap in the security system of the State Grid."

It paused for a moment.

"If Expert Wang wants to conduct an audit, I will arrange a private room with access to a read-only terminal, and record the entire process on video for archiving. However, the code will not be copied, transmitted, or taken out of the country."

Wang Limin's fingers rested on the edge of the document, and his fingertips lightly brushed across the paper.

"Deputy Secretary-General Chen, you are obstructing the investigation."

"I am protecting national security assets in accordance with the law."

He Yuanzheng put down his teacup, the bottom of the cup hitting the table very softly.

"Deputy Secretary-General Chen's consideration makes sense. Expert Wang, we can find another way to handle the source code issue; let's finish the comparison of the technical documents first."

He Yuanzheng stepped in to smooth things over. But this remark temporarily halted Wang Limin's offensive.

Wang Limin didn't insist any further and leaned back in his chair.

Chen Ping's hands, crossed on the table, didn't loosen even slightly. Wang Limin retreated too quickly. A technical expert who flew all the way from Beijing, and he stopped pursuing them after being turned away the first time?

wrong.

Wang Limin's real purpose was yet to come.

really.

The technical defense lasted for forty minutes. Gu Weizhen's team responded to each of the seventeen patents listed in the whistleblower letter, using code architecture diagrams, programming language difference tables, and version timelines to dismantle each accusation thoroughly.

After the defense, Wang Limin flipped through his notebook and reached out to his assistant beside him.

The assistant took a brown paper envelope from his briefcase and handed it over.

Wang Limin placed the envelope on the table and pulled the contents out with two fingers.

Three pages. A photocopy. The paper is yellowed, with creases at the edges, and the handwriting is in English, messy but neat.

"Deputy Secretary-General Chen, before the defense concludes, I need to submit a new report."

Wang Limin spread the three pages on the table and turned to Gu Weizhen.

"Professor Gu, this is an algorithm draft you wrote in 2014 while working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The core logic structure in the draft is highly consistent with the dynamic authentication module of the Chipfire authentication system."

Everyone in the conference room held their breath for a moment.

Gu Weizhen stood frozen in his seat, his hands gripping the edge of the table, his fingers slowly sliding down.

Those were his academic notes from ten years ago. Private notes.

Private notes sealed in the Lincoln Laboratory archives—who unearthed them?

Wang Limin pushed the three pages of paper to the center of the table, his eyes behind his frameless glasses slightly raised, his lips barely moving, as he uttered a sentence.

"Professor Gu's research results, which he completed in a US laboratory, were brought back to China for commercial use without undergoing intellectual property rights clearance. This is not originality; it is plagiarism."