I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

Jiang Ming stopped tidying the cables, took the ink-smelling appraisal report, and flipped directly to the bottom column to view the core conclusions.

The report issued by the analysis lab was only one page long, but the data on it was so striking that it could not be ignored.

The conclusion clearly states that the main component of the white powder is cerium oxalate, with a purity of approximately 96%.

The report's additional notes mention that the powder contains trace amounts of lanthanum oxalate and neodymium oxalate impurities, has an extremely uniform particle size, and exhibits a regular microcrystalline structure under a microscope, clearly indicating that it has undergone a complete process of standard industrial precipitation, repeated washing, and low-temperature drying.

After reading the report, Jiang Ming fell into a long silence.

His fingers traced the edge of the paper as he rapidly calculated the industrial capacity represented by that 96%.

He painstakingly extracted cerium oxalate from the waste residue in the eastern suburbs using acid-resistant tanks and manual filtration in the workshop, but the purity was only about 92%.

This is already the limit that the existing equipment in Workshop No. 1 can achieve.

The powder hidden at the bottom of the broken tin barrel was four percentage points purer than the product he made by hand.

This means that the manufacturer has better and more professional chemical reaction equipment than Workshop 1, or that the other party has carried out repeated purification multiple times at great expense in order to achieve this purity.

"The receptionist who tipped off Xu Chongwen's assistant absolutely did not have the technology to produce rare earth intermediates with a purity of 96% in this scrap metal factory."

"He's just a watchdog at best."

Jiang Ming placed the report under the notebook on the table and looked up at the crew-cut clerk.

"Did you find anything?"

Jiang Ming got straight to the point; he knew the clerk must have another piece of evidence with him.

The officer took out a second document from the inside pocket of his military overcoat.

That was a copy of the September shipment manifest from the East Suburbs Chemical Plant. Although the handwriting was somewhat blurred due to the copying, the date and signature were still clearly visible.

"There is indeed a record of these three waste residue bins on the delivery slip. The delivery date is September 17th, and the material name is titanium dioxide waste bottom residue."

The clerk's finger was pointing to the rightmost column of the outbound slip.

Jiang Ming looked in the direction the clerk was pointing and saw that the receiving unit column clearly stated "Third Electronics Factory Foundry Workshop".

Although the handwriting in the recipient's section was deliberately illegible, the security department's handwriting comparison has confirmed that it was written by Liu Shouxin without a doubt.

Jiang Ming frowned, his gaze fixed on that familiar name.

September 17th.

At that time, the incident of Liu Shouxin being isolated and investigated by Director Wang for attempting to steal the top-secret technology of type B pipe had not yet occurred.

He still held the title of deputy director of the technical department and had the authority to use his position to sign for incoming materials.

However, the process in the foundry workshop is entirely based on grinding molds with quartz sand and cast iron slag. It never needs to, and could never, use chemical pickling waste residue.

This batch of goods was brought into the factory openly, without any reasonable use in production.

"Liu Shouxin signed for this batch of goods, which clearly wasn't for production purposes."

The officer took back the materials, his tone revealing the ruthlessness typical of law enforcement personnel.

"Or he might be hoarding valuable rare earth materials for his own resale."

"Or he plays the role of a safe transit point in this cross-unit smuggling chain, using the shell of the Third Electronics Factory, a military-industrial unit, to secretly hoard goods for people."

Jiang Ming walked to the test bench and adjusted the high-voltage connection of tube No. 04.

He turned around only after confirming that the test had not been affected.

Have you contacted Director Wang?

Jiang Ming asked.

The officer nodded and pointed in the direction of the security department.

"Before you came, I used that red encrypted phone to call the security department."

"Director Wang's reaction after hearing the report was even stronger than ours."

The officer recalled the contents of the phone call, his expression growing increasingly serious.

"Director Wang asked me what the purity of the powder was, and I said ninety-six."

"He chuckled coldly on the other end of the phone and said it was even taller than what Xiao Jiang made himself. Interesting."

Director Wang's instructions over the phone were very clear.

The security department must immediately take control of all the social connections of the receptionist at the East Suburb Chemical Plant and retrieve all external telephone communication records of Liu Shouxin within three days before and after signing for the package on September 17.

Most importantly, the security department must assign someone to keep a close watch on the three waste slag barrels in the foundry workshop.

They need to find out whether anyone has tried to touch the pile of things disguised as waste since September 17th.

"Director Wang will personally lead a team to the factory to take over this case first thing tomorrow morning. He told us to just keep an eye on things tonight and not to alert them."

The officer repacked the materials, tightened the collar of his military overcoat, and prepared to return to the security section for his night shift.

Jiang Ming watched as the clerk pushed open the door and left, his figure disappearing into the night wind, his heart unable to calm down for a long time.

His mind was originally filled with the struggles caused by Xu Chongwen vying for the venue, but now he was suddenly pulled into a bottomless vortex.

If someone inside the East Suburbs Chemical Plant can systematically purify cerium oxalate to a purity of 96%, then their purpose is definitely not just to resell a few barrels of powder and make some extra money.

With just a little processing, cerium oxalate of this purity can be used in the production of military cathode materials or special alloys.

If this investigation continues, does the deputy director of the material allocation department, who wields considerable influence within the ministry, actually know about it?

Was Xu Chongwen being manipulated by someone else, or was he himself involved in the incident, by attacking Workshop No. 1 with the safety accident?

These problems have become hidden dangers that could overturn the entire air defense security system.

Jiang Ming forcibly suppressed these things that were not his responsibility to get involved in.

Now, his only countermeasure is to patiently complete the 500-hour lifespan test.

As long as the Type B pipe is delivered on time, forming a complete closed loop, all malicious attempts against the project will be thwarted.

Just as Jiang Ming was about to pull over a stool to continue organizing the process data, Lao Sun came out of the tool room at the other end of the workshop.

He held a note torn from the calendar and handed it directly to Jiang Ming.

"The duty officer in the administration building just ran over and said there's an outside phone line for you."

"I saw you were talking to the security guards, so I didn't come over to disturb you. I just wrote down what you said."

Old Sun slapped the note on the notebook next to Jiang Ming.

Jiang Ming picked up the note and glanced at it. It had Zhou Changlin's name on it, along with a landline number belonging to the Institute of Aeronautical Materials.

"Expert Zhou said that the Japanese-made electron microscope at the Institute of Aeronautical Materials just happened to have a three-day gap this week."

"He asked if you wanted to send over the old coating sections containing impurities and defects from the replacement of tube 03 B to do a cross-sectional morphology analysis."

Old Sun took off the towel hanging around his neck, wiped his hands, and casually explained.

This is the equipment that Zhou Changlin offered to help coordinate after he signed the inquiry form on the day of the ministry's technical defense.

The purpose of this is to improve the evidence of the internal microstructure of the electrophoretic deposition coating and completely silence those who raise questions based on Soviet standards.

Jiang Ming held the note and looked at the five electron tubes on the test rack that were steadily emitting a dark red light.

His gaze then fell on the sealed sample box of scrap nickel-based coating.

That device, capable of magnifying the microscopic world tens of thousands of times, was the heavy weapon he needed to use to complete the final piece of the technological puzzle.