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

Han Zhiming pinned the site layout diagram to the project office's whiteboard four days in advance.

"The governor, the vice governor in charge, representatives of the five-province alliance, and two directors from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, totaling 137 people, are expected to be present."

He circled three positions on the map with a red pen. "These three seats were reserved by the Provincial Political Consultative Conference for Ren Shaoting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference, Deng Haisheng, Director of the Committee on Literature and History, and Zhao Mingyuan, Secretary-General of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference."

Three names.

Chen Ping paused for a second on Ren Shaoting's name, capped the pen, and pushed it back to Han Zhiming.

"The seats are reserved."

Han Zhiming glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

---

Director Chu visited the ceremony two days prior.

There was no trace of it in any provincial government meeting minutes. The two men bumped into each other in the underground parking lot for no more than ten minutes.

Director Chu put an encrypted USB drive into Chen Ping's shirt pocket and patted it.

"Voiceprint matching is complete. The signature fields for Gu Deren and RGD are technically locked. The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has received the original copies of all the operation logs from the Party School server, along with Liang Bowen's hardcover notebook."

Chen Ping pushed the USB drive around to make sure it was securely in his pocket.

"Any news from Ren Shaoting's side?"

"Yesterday afternoon, his driver went to the provincial archives and retrieved a batch of engineering project files from the year Gengchen. The file numbers matched the project initiation numbers of that server three times."

Director Chu's expression remained unchanged. "He's canceling his license."

"It's too late." Chen Ping pulled his coat collar up. "On the day of the ceremony, have your men block all the exits."

Director Chu nodded and turned to walk towards his car.

He took two steps and replied with a single sentence.

"Your father's memo from back then has been found in the provincial discipline inspection commission's archives. It wasn't destroyed; it was just buried at the very bottom."

Chen Ping didn't stop walking.

He walked to his car, opened the door, got in, put his hands on the steering wheel, and didn't move for ten seconds.

---

The news from the detention center came in the evening of the day before the ceremony.

Gao Ran requested to see Chen Pingfang.

Han Zhiming said on the phone, "He said he's finished writing it."

The lights in the interrogation room were still white, and the iron chair was still the same iron chair.

Gao Ran pushed a stack of papers over, thicker than Chen Pingfang had expected. Each page was filled with dense handwriting, written in pencil, the characters were very neat, unlike anything written in a detention center.

"One hundred and four pages." Gao Ran's voice was a little lower than last time. "From beginning to end, I remember every link, every account, every middleman."

Chen Ping flipped through the last few pages, and the very last line read, flush left:

"The final key for the shadow network's offshore backup account: ~"

Below is a 48-character mixed string.

"This is the last lock." Gao Ran pointed to the words. "Open this, and all the remaining assets can be recovered. Conservatively estimated, between 1.2 billion and 1.8 billion US dollars."

Chen Ping put the stack of papers into his briefcase.

What do you want?

Gao Ran remained silent for a moment.

"I want the core to live."

There was no extra sound in the interrogation room, and a little light from the corridor shone through the crack in the iron door.

Chen Ping tucked the document bag under his arm, stood up, walked to the door, and knocked three times.

The iron gate opened a crack.

He didn't turn around, but paused for a moment.

"I heard you."

---

The backdrop for the launch ceremony was lit up in the early morning.

The burning chip pattern glowed orange-red in the winter sunlight, and the words "Core Fire" were projected onto the entire steel plate, visible from afar.

Guests entered the venue one after another.

Han Zhiming reported the location in his earpiece: "Governor Liu's motorcade has entered. The director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is already seated. Over at the entrance for the five-province alliance representatives, the vice president of Guangdong Province just got out of his car."

"From the CPPCC perspective?"

"Ren Shaoting's car hasn't arrived yet."

Chen Ping stood on the right aisle of the VIP area, holding a cup of tea in his hand, but did not drink it.

Ren Shaoting arrived at 9:07.

He was wearing a dark gray woolen overcoat, his hair was neatly combed, he whispered something to the two secretaries behind him, and walked towards the VIP seats.

He stopped a step as he passed Chen Pingfang's spot.

"Secretary-General Chen, this is a special occasion."

"It's not easy." Chen Ping placed his teacup on the tray of the staff member next to him. "Chairman Ren, there's an internal coordination matter. Would you mind taking a moment to come out and look for three minutes?"

Ren Shaoting's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"What's wrong at this hour?"

"Just three minutes." Chen Pingfang had already turned sideways and taken two steps toward a side room by the corridor. "It's about a project proposal from the Gengchen year. The Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection asked me to pass it on to you to confirm the authenticity of the signature."

The year of Gengchen.

These three words reached Ren Shaoting's ears, and he tucked his right hand into his coat pocket.

He followed them.

The moment the door to the side room closed, four people were already standing inside.

Chen Pingfang didn't recognize the two men; they were dressed in casual clothes, but the accessories around their waists were faintly visible under the light.

Another one is Cheng Yuan, the deputy secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. Chen Pingfang knows him and they just met at an internal meeting last month.

Cheng Yuan spread a document on the table.

"Comrade Ren Shaoting, according to procedure, we need your cooperation in the investigation."

Ren Shaoting stood still, without moving.

His two secretaries were turned away at the door.

He glanced at the four people in the room, and finally fixed his gaze on Chen Pingfang's face.

At that moment, he did not utter any words of explanation.

His hand was empty when he pulled it out of his pocket.

Cheng Yuan gestured for two plainclothes officers to step forward, and Ren Shaoting obediently extended his hands.

The whole process takes no more than two minutes.

---

The ceremony outside proceeded as normal.

The host's voice came through the external loudspeaker clearly: "~The second phase of the Chipfire project has officially started~"

On the backdrop, the orange-red chip pattern lit up again, brighter than in the early morning, casting a warm glow on the steel structure of the entire industrial park.

Chen Ping let them go back to the VIP area and stood at the edge of the crowd.

Liu Mingyuan was speaking on the stage, the representatives of the five-province alliance were applauding, and the red light on the camera was flashing.

Han Zhiming leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Ren Shaoting, Deng Haisheng, and Zhao Mingyuan, all three of them are here."

Chen Pingfang remained silent.

My phone vibrated.

He glanced down at the screen; the number's location was Beijing.

It is not any number that has been saved.

He answered the call.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the line, and then the other person spoke.

His voice was flat, carrying a solemnity that Chen Pingfang had never heard before in any official setting. It wasn't a ceremonial solemnity, but a deeper kind of weight, like something pressing down on him.

"Comrade Chen Pingfang."