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

"I'm just a doorman."

Those words echoed in Chen Ping's ears for a full three seconds. After Qin Daguan was taken away, no one in the conference room dared to utter a sound; even the act of flipping through documents ceased.

Liu Mingyuan glanced around the room, said nothing, and walked straight out of the conference room.

Chen Ping didn't try to stop him and got up as well. The two walked into the governor's office one after the other. As soon as the door closed, Liu Mingyuan turned around.

"Have you checked Shen Yayun's USB drive?"

"It has been verified. The accounts are genuine, and the recording has undergone voiceprint comparison by the National Security Bureau, with a match rate of over 97% with Qin Daguan himself."

Liu Mingyuan sat down behind his desk, pressing two fingers to his temples.

"Qin Daguan said he was just a gatekeeper. How much do you believe him?"

"Thumbs up." Chen Pingfang answered crisply. "Shen Yayun said the same thing. M~Tek's network in Sujiang can't be run by one person alone. Qin Daguan is only responsible for the administrative approval part; there are people above him."

Liu Mingyuan exhaled a breath of stale air, grabbed the red secure phone on the table, and dialed the number.

"I am Liu Mingyuan. Please transfer me to Director Chu of the National Security Department."

Forty minutes later, an action plan stamped with a "top secret" red seal was placed in front of Chen Pingfang.

Operation codename: Clean Network.

The USB drive provided by Shen Yayun contained not only Yayun Culture's accounts but also an encrypted list. It took the National Security Bureau's technical team a full forty-eight hours to crack it, revealing twelve names distributed across various key departments in Jiangsu Province.

Some are in the Provincial Department of Transportation, some in the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, some in subordinate agencies of the Development and Reform Commission, and there is even one hidden in the Information Center of the Provincial Public Security Department.

Twelve people, twelve nails, from infrastructure approval to data security, have thoroughly penetrated the core operating system of Jiangsu Province.

Chen Ping stared at the list, reading it word by word, and then closed the document.

"When will Director Chu's team arrive?"

"Eight o'clock tonight," Liu Mingyuan replied. "Twelve teams will launch a simultaneous attack, making sure to wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Chen Ping nodded, and after a few seconds, spoke again.

Where is Lu Tianming?

"With him was a man named Luo Guodong, who was M~Tek's peripheral agent in Southeast Asia. The National Security Bureau intercepted encrypted communication records between Lu Tianming and Luo Guodong on Lu Tianming's phone. These two, one responsible for infiltrating the supply chain and the other for laundering funds, worked very closely together."

Liu Mingyuan took a cigarette from the drawer, put it in his mouth, but didn't light it.

"Your college classmate, Gao Ran, is also on the list."

Chen Ping didn't say anything.

The "gift" he had Lin Shaofeng plant in the fake code that day worked as expected. Less than 24 hours after obtaining the fake code, Jingwei Microelectronics transmitted the data back to M~Tek's European server through that nanometer-level signal channel. Following the clues, the National Security Bureau's technical team quickly located Gao Ran's three secret strongholds in Nanzhou.

At 8 p.m. that evening, the "Clean Up the Internet" operation was launched on time.

Chen Pingfang did not participate in the operation itself; he waited for news in the Chipfire project office. Han Zhiming stayed by the encrypted communication terminal, reporting progress every few minutes.

"The first group, including Ma Liqun, deputy director of the Planning Division of the Provincial Department of Transportation, has been apprehended."

"The third group, including Deng Xuewen, director of the Provincial Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Center, has been taken into custody."

"The seventh group, Zhou Jiajun, deputy director of the Nanzhou Economic Development Zone Management Committee, has been taken into custody."

One name after another was crossed out. By the end, Han Zhiming's voice was trembling.

"The eleventh group, including Gao Ran, the legal representative of Jingwei Microelectronics, has been apprehended. Simultaneously, Luo Guodong, an agent affiliated with M~Tek, was also arrested."

"The twelfth group, Lu Tianming, head of the supply chain consulting company, has been apprehended. Three foreign passports and two encrypted hard drives were found at his residence."

After reading the last name, Han Zhiming slumped into his chair, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Twelve, not one escaped."

Chen Ping leaned against the window, gazing at the pitch-black night outside, without any expression of celebration.

This is just clearing away obstacles. The real work will be done tomorrow.

At 9:00 a.m. the following morning, a huge LED screen was lit up in the multi-functional hall on the third floor of the Jiangsu Provincial Government Building.

The screen was divided into five viewpoints, connecting the meeting venues of the four provinces of Nanzhou, Guangdong, Henan, and Sichuan. Including Jiangsu province, the main leaders of the five provinces were online simultaneously.

Chen Ping stood on the podium, a faint static sound emanating from the microphone in front of him.

"Governors and colleagues, since the Chip Spark Program was launched, we have taken a path that no one else has taken. Some people said that this path was impassable, some wanted us to take a detour, and some even dug a hole in the middle of the road."

He paused for a moment. Dozens of faces in the five frames were all staring at him.

"But today, I can officially announce that the five provinces of Jiangsu, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Henan, and Sichuan have achieved full mutual recognition of the ChipFire standard. From today onwards, any chip company that has passed the ChipFire standard certification can enter all high-tech industrial parks in these five provinces without any obstacles."

The applause first rang out from Nanzhou, then from Yuehai, and then from the other three provinces.

Han Zhiming stood below the stage, clapping enthusiastically until his hands were red.

Lin Shaofeng leaned against the wall in the back row, not clapping, but a grin spread across his face.

At this moment, Project Corefire transformed from a provincial-level experimental project into a cross-provincial alliance. Any external force attempting to cripple it through a single breakthrough would have to confront five provinces simultaneously.

After the meeting, Chen Ping did not return to his office.

He went to Qin Daguan's office.

The disciplinary committee had already conducted a search; the filing cabinets were emptied, the computers were moved, and only a few scratches remained on the desktop.

Chen Ping stood at the door, looking around the empty room.

He walked to the bookcase and ran his fingers along the edge of the shelf. On the third shelf, on the right, there was a very thin crack.

He pressed hard, and a hidden compartment popped open at the bottom of the bookcase, revealing a yellowed kraft paper envelope.

The envelope wasn't sealed. Chen Ping took out what was inside; it was an old photograph, its edges curled up, at least twenty years old.

The photo shows three young people standing in front of a gray building, with a stone tablet in the background bearing the name of a famous university in Beijing.

The man on the left, thin and wearing glasses, is Qin Daguan in his youth.

The person on the right, wearing a long robe and holding a folding fan, is Shen Yayun.

The person in the middle was tall with broad shoulders, but his face had been covered with black ink, so no facial features could be seen.

The smearing marks were heavy, applied repeatedly several times, and the paper was worn rough at the edges, as if someone had used a lot of force to completely erase this person from memory.

Chen Ping turned the photo over. On the back was a line of writing, in penmanship, with stiff strokes.

"In the autumn of the Gengchen year, the three of us went on a trip together."

The year of Gengchen. Twenty-four years ago.

Qin Daguan said he was just a gatekeeper, but Shen Yayun said there was another key figure above him, who was of a higher rank than Chen Pingfang and had more power than Qin Daguan.

The person whose face had been painted over stood between the two of them.

Chen Ping held the photo in his hand, his fingertips tracing the edge of the black ink stain, remaining motionless.