A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

It's another early morning.

The air was filled with the unique freshness and moisture of the rain.

In stark contrast to yesterday's overcast and oppressive atmosphere before a storm, the sky, thoroughly washed by the night rain, presented a clear, azure blue, with a few wisps of thin clouds lazily hanging in the sky.

The sunlight streamed down without obstruction, making the red tiles and green trees of the seaside city of Darian appear exceptionally bright, and even the faint sound of ship horns coming from the distant harbor seemed a bit crisper.

Inside the Darian Naval Base, a three-story building.

Jiang Xia remained in bed, covering his head with a thin blanket, trying to block out the increasingly bright morning light.

The intense mental work over the past few days, the exhaustion from dealing with various "experts," and the intellectual storm last night left him physically and mentally exhausted, wishing he could sleep forever.

Light footsteps came from outside the door, followed by the creaking sound of the door being pushed open.

"Dude! Get up! The people you shook hands with yesterday are already halfway there!"

The door was gently pushed open, and a young man in a gray Zhongshan suit, with a straight posture, carrying a large enamel bowl and a gentle smile on his face, walked in briskly.

The bowl is steaming hot, filled with clear broth noodles drizzled with sesame oil, sprinkled with chopped green onions and a few dried shrimp—simple yet incredibly appetizing.

Old Wang, who slept on the floor next to Jiangxia last night, opened his eyes almost the instant the door opened.

Upon seeing the person approaching, he closed his eyes again.

Then, as if he had just thought of something, Lao Wang leaped up and, without any hesitation, grabbed his chopsticks and stuffed a large mouthful of noodles into his mouth.

"Tsk... Secretary Liu, you can actually cook now?"

"How amazing! I can even knit a sweater now!"

Secretary Liu didn't blame Old Wang for trying the noodles before the idiot. After all, it's always better to be safe than sorry. This is someone else's territory, and if something happens, it will be too late to cry!

Anyway, Old Wang is tough, and with his own life on top of that, he's tough enough to be a bulletproof vest for that idiot!

Huh? Wait, what's Secretary Liu doing here?

Shouldn't he be in Beijing, handling the project approval for the Hongxing Comprehensive Machinery Plant?

Rewind to a dozen hours earlier, in this very building, the atmosphere was the complete opposite of the peaceful and serene one now; it was tense and ready to fight.

This was a normal performance against Lao Wang's sweeping leg technique.

A series of chaotic crashes and rolling sounds rang out rapidly along the wooden stairs, interspersed with cries of pain and the thud of objects being knocked over.

A few seconds later, a heavy thud was heard from downstairs, and then, the world went silent.

The comrade in charge of the city's creation campaign took a few deep breaths, seemingly calmed down a bit by the interruption, but his face was still grim. He and Lao Wang exchanged a glance and quickly walked down the stairs.

The two who tumbled down the stairs were none other than the two guys who arrived before orders and caused chaos at the Daryan base.

The downstairs living room was a mess, with overturned chairs and broken glass shards scattered everywhere...

The two uninvited guests were struggling to stand up.

It must be said that these two men had also survived the war years, and their physical condition was indeed excellent. Old Wang's kick was clearly merciless; judging from the sound, it must have caused a serious blow to their bones, yet they were still able to endure the excruciating pain and try to get up.

The middle-aged man surnamed Li had bulging veins on his forehead, was sweating profusely from the pain, but his eyes became even more ferocious.

"You've gone too far! How dare you attack someone sent by our superiors..."

The middle-aged man surnamed Li had barely stood still when he began to shout angrily, his spittle almost landing on the faces of the comrades involved in the city's creation campaign. "I think your Dalian base has a huge problem! It's a den of iniquity! It's lawless!"

"First of all, I'm not in the Navy..."

"Secondly..."

Before he could finish his rant, the comrade in charge of creating a civilized city interrupted him, pointing to a stack of papers that Mr. Li was still clutching tightly in his hand even as he was rolling down the stairs.

This wasn't something the middle-aged man surnamed Li did intentionally; it was just an unconscious action after losing his balance. It's like a drowning person grabbing anything that comes near them without thinking.

This is the instinct for survival.

Although the timing of that stack of things appearing was a bit too clever...

Following his finger, the middle-aged man surnamed Li subconsciously looked down at the pages in his hand, quickly flipped through them, and then angrily said, "What are you looking at? It's just a broken record. What, am I, Li XX, not worthy to look at this kind of thing..."

His deputy next to him also came over to look, his expression changing slightly, as if he felt the content was somewhat sensitive.

Old Wang, arms crossed, interrupted him again: "Don't rush, keep scrolling down. The important part is at the end."

The middle-aged man surnamed Li glared suspiciously at Old Wang, enduring the pain in his leg, and haphazardly flipped through the crumpled pages in his hand.

Suddenly, he stopped moving.

Behind several printed records, a distinctly different, slightly yellowed sheet of vertical letter paper was revealed, bearing handwritten characters with vigorous strokes and a unique style.

He glanced at the signature and the first few words, and the anger on his face instantly froze, turning into a look of incredulous astonishment.

"This...this is..." His voice dropped eight octaves, filled with hesitation, "That person's...signature? How could it be here?"

He quickly glanced at the contents, seemingly finding nothing directly explosive, and his courage returned somewhat. He stubbornly insisted, "It's just a letter of guidance from that person! It doesn't reveal any specific details..."

"Do you think you can attack the commander sent by your superiors with this? Do you think you can cover up any problems you might have?"

His words were interrupted again.

This time, it wasn't a sound that interrupted him, but a hand that suddenly reached out from the side.

In this hand, there is a sealed kraft paper document bag.

"Sir, you are the deputy... Here is a supplementary explanation and attachments regarding this letter. Would you like to take a look?"

The voice is unfamiliar.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man surnamed Li, who had been repeatedly contradicted, became even more enraged, as if the word "deputy" was an unbearable lightness in his life.

Without a second thought, he snatched the file folder from the hand, and without even glancing at whoever it was, roared, "What! Is there anything in this base that I, Li XX, can't look at? I want to see what kind of tricks you're up to!"

Several pages of documents slid out of the file folder.

The man surnamed Li eagerly looked down, only to find himself surrounded by densely packed notebooks filled with text!

It contains a large number of data tables, chemical symbols, and process flow diagrams.

His writing skills are limited, but what can you do when notebooks these days habitually use Chinese characters?

He was able to barely recognize a few terms such as "Kobe Steel," "heat treatment," and "composition analysis."

"Huh? What?"

Just as the middle-aged man surnamed Li frowned, trying hard to identify the "problem"...

The unfamiliar voice suddenly rose in pitch: "You actually dare to look! Old Wang, what are you waiting for! Take him down!"

The middle-aged man surnamed Li was startled and looked up abruptly, finally looking directly at the person who had spoken.

The newcomer was a young man, but he wasn't wearing the typical Type 55 military uniform with a white top and blue bottom that was common at the base. Instead, he was wearing a dark gray woolen Zhongshan suit with a pen clipped to the left pocket of the jacket.

This……

Before he could even figure it out, Old Wang pounced again like a cheetah. This time, it wasn't a sweeping leg kick, but a standard grappling technique, as fast as lightning, which dislocated Li's arm joint and simultaneously kicked his injured ankle.

"Ah—!" The man surnamed Li screamed in agony, instantly losing his balance and being pinned to the ground by Old Wang, his face pressed against the cold ground.

His companion tried to resist, but was quickly subdued by the badged warriors who followed him downstairs.

"Are you all dead?! Watching your commander get bullied!"

Outside the door and in the corridor, some base guards had already gathered after hearing the commotion.

But they watched helplessly as the two men surnamed Li were subdued, and not a single person stepped forward to stop them or help them.

It wasn't that they were neglecting their duties, but rather that at the very moment Secretary Liu shouted "Take it down," his other hand was already raised above his head, tightly gripping a dark blue certificate that was open with its inner pages facing everyone.

The national emblem on the cover and the distinctive abbreviation of the organization's name inside were clearly visible under the light, causing all the soldiers who saw it to hold their breath instantly, their feet rooted to the spot as if they were made of lead.

IDCPC!

Yes!

The identity that Secretary Liu used this time was not that of a secretary at the Red Star Comprehensive Machinery Factory.

Instead, it's a legitimate position at IDCPC!

The reason why Secretary Liu rushed over from the factory in Beijing was because of the documents that the middle-aged man surnamed Li had torn open.

Do you still remember the "Huang Shiren Plan" that Jiang Xia came up with?

Junichiro actually sent back the information they requested. The Japanese annotations in the document contained some of the production data from Kobe Steel!

Such top-secret information, according to the highest procedures, should only be received and opened by the gentle old man himself. This was to ensure the absolute security of this concealed route.

The problem is that the gentle old man is currently on an important state visit to West Asia and cannot handle the matter in time.

After making urgent contact and seeking instructions, the gentle old man made a decision: send the relevant documents to the person who formulated the plan!

The reason is simple: the kid who proposed the plan knows best what's needed. Also, the old man has complete confidence in the boy's abilities.

It was this decision by the gentle old man that made Jiangxia a key node connecting the two major sources of technology from the East and the West, responsible for the initial integration and assessment.

Secretary Liu was there on the mission of delivering this top-secret document and conveying the old man's intentions to Jiang Xia in person. Upon his arrival, he happened to witness the two men surnamed Li barging into the building.

And so, everything that followed came to be.

Using this absolutely crucial and sensitive document (which involved another highly confidential espionage operation) as "ironclad evidence," Secretary Liu, posing as an IDCPC employee, logically and persuasively "invited" the middle-aged man surnamed Li and his deputy to a secluded, well-soundproofed cabin in the base.

Nominally, it's "assisting in the investigation," but in reality, it's to let them "calm down and relearn and deeply understand every article and clause of the confidentiality regulations."

"What? That's it? It's too light!" Some people might think that.

Haha, the people at IDCPC are always reasonable and principled in their work.

"The confidentiality regulations and related disciplinary rules consist of seventeen chapters and three hundred and forty-three articles, with additional explanations and a compilation of typical cases. You are required to memorize them accurately, understand their meaning, and be able to conduct a thorough self-examination in light of your own experience. We will arrange for dedicated personnel to conduct regular assessments. If you fail the assessment, you will continue learning. We will discuss the next step only after you have passed all the assessments."

Soldiers: "..."

Now I understand.

This is going to keep these two guys locked up forever, until they start questioning their existence!

Among hundreds of confidentiality regulations and codes of conduct, the most suitable clauses can always be found to ensure that these two "energetic" comrades can "focus wholeheartedly" on reciting, reflecting, and writing self-criticisms in that small room, and are "temporarily" unable to come out again to "guide the work" or "stir up trouble".

Sometimes, letting certain people disappear temporarily and quiet down is the most effective way to maintain the overall situation.

Moreover, who knows what the "next step" will be?

……

As for whether Secretary Liu had the authority, the broken cup in Darian's beige Russian-style building says it all.

"Snapped……"

A fine teacup, carved with dragons and phoenixes, shattered into pieces on the ground.

"I told you to be quiet! My head hurts!"

"I'm sorry, Yu Rong! I'm just so angry about the news I received today. How dare they treat the people you sent down like this? And this is..."

The woman, now dressed in a cheongsam, looked indignant.

"Hmph, so they're just using that gentle old man's name, aren't they? Can't they see that you're the next one..."

"Silence! Get out! I need quiet!"

"Yes!"

After an unknown amount of time, a thin figure stood up from the darkness.

"I don't care about the rest. I'm just curious who has the ability to get intelligence out of the heart of Japan!"

The figure spoke slowly and deliberately to the empty room.

No one responded, but the sound of clothes rustling came from outside the door.

"Also, speed up Project 571! Don't use lack of funds as an excuse... Our comrades who went to the IEC earned a lot of foreign exchange..."

"Computers are really great; they can make money, and they can also..."