In the office, Li Xiang drank most of the bottle of mineral water in one go. After finally recovering, he opened his mouth and said to Chen Nian:
"I'm exhausted every day."
"However, if we continue this wave of fighting, we will finally be able to relax a little bit later."
"I've always thought that this day would come sooner or later, but now that it's really happened, I feel like it's not a big deal."
Seeing Li Xiang's tired look, Chen Nian quickly threw him a piece of chocolate that was always in his desk, and then said:
"Hurry up and take a bite of cushion. I heard that you have been busy since morning?"
"yes."
Li Xiang took off the package, swallowed half of it in one gulp, and replied vaguely:
"Originally, I wanted to pick up Wang Jiancheng myself, but I had to find someone else to pick him up at the last minute."
"There's nothing we can do about it. It happened too suddenly. The front line was well prepared, but we basically had no buffer time in the rear."
"From receiving their notice to now, we have just sorted out the information from all parties and determined the most suitable one from several plans, but the subsequent operation is still a big project."
"Once the incident is exposed, public opinion will inevitably be shaken, both domestically and internationally."
"How to guide and control? Even if we have a plan, we still have to cross the river by feeling the stones."
After hearing what Li Xiang said, Chen Nian nodded slightly.
There is indeed no exaggeration in his words. In fact, the situation is even more complicated than what he said.
After all, this incident is not as simple as "exposing a mysterious organization". To be precise, it should be "the arrest of a large number of intelligence personnel active in the country leading to the exposure of a top-secret organization."
In less than 12 hours that night, all the front-line action teams that had been deployed for more than two months were activated. More than 40 small strongholds were destroyed at once, and more than 150 intelligence personnel were arrested.
Among these 150 people, nearly 100 belong to the United States, and the rest basically belong to Europe.
But what is surprising is that among all those arrested, Chinese nationals accounted for more than 40%.
And they are the most troublesome part.
Because most of them are "part-time".
They have formal and decent jobs in China, have established solid interpersonal relationships, and have bought many life-saving talismans for themselves.
Therefore, after something happened to them, the ones who reacted the most were not themselves, let alone their sponsors, but those "downstream" people who were connected to them.
The problems these people can cause are far more serious than the intelligence personnel themselves.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian asked:
"So what will happen to the captured people?"
Li Xiang spread his hands and replied:
"Just follow the fixed procedures, what else can you do?"
"But this time, because the issues they involve are too sensitive, they should not enter the public prosecution process in a short time."
"We need to wait for the opponent's reaction. This time, the resources they mobilized can be said to be unprecedented, but the results they achieved were not as outstanding as imagined."
"In the final analysis, it is just to force us to admit the existence of Spark."
"As for what kind of organization Spark is and how it operates, as of now, we can confirm that they have not obtained sufficient information."
Although he said that, Li Xiang also knew that just "making it public" could bring a huge amount of information.
There is no such thing as accident in intelligence work. After the United States confirmed the existence of Spark, they were able to quickly deduce the specialness and uniqueness of this organization.
In the follow-up, all their intelligence work will change from blindness to precision, from being at a loss to being targeted.
In this case, it is almost impossible to keep Xinghuo's secret.
According to estimates, they may come into contact with the most core information in about five years, confirm the key clue of "disconnected technical assistance", and thus cast doubt on the source of the technology.
This is a figure based on the experience of past intelligence work. Even the highest level of secrets can only be maintained for five years at most without being leaked.
By that time, there are only three situations that may be faced.
The first is that the source of the technology is judged to be random, and if subsequent public statements are accepted, then everything will be fine and Spark will be characterized as a relatively high-end research institution, no different from the numerous top-level institutions on the other side.
Second, the technical source is judged to be a leak. In this case, corresponding countermeasures will inevitably occur, but generally speaking, the impact will be small and the difficulty of handling will not be too high.
The third, and most troublesome, type is to be characterized as "supernatural" and achieve internal consensus.
Once this happens, they will never propose to jointly develop and share interests in this supernatural "uniqueness" like some happy ending works, but will inevitably...
In other words, the time left for us is actually very limited.
If we cannot have the ability to completely suppress our opponents within five years, disaster will be inevitable.
Chen Nian opposite him was obviously aware of this. After thinking for a moment, he said:
"No matter what, Xinghuo's exposure is a certainty."
"We may be able to block the information for a period of time, but they are not going to sit still."
"Moreover, it is impossible for them to accept any rationalization. My opinion is that right now, at this second, they should have started to launch a plan to force us to hand over the 'scepter' in our hands."
"I wonder what kind of reasons they would make up to call aliens? Divine creation theory? Or some kind of 'ultimate technology'?"
Hearing this, an imperceptible smile appeared on Li Xiang's face.
Seriously, this is starting to develop into an interesting contradiction.
The more absurd the reason seems, the easier it is for people like me who know the inside story to accept it.
On the contrary, for ordinary people, this kind of rhetoric will probably be regarded as the old American going crazy.
Thinking of this, he replied:
"It's probably the 'ultimate technology'."
"After all, they need to consider the acceptance of the people, and it is obvious that even in a country with a strong religious atmosphere like theirs, not many fools believe that there is really a god in this world."
"Indeed."
Chen Nian nodded in agreement.
But when he thought about it, he suddenly felt that maybe the other party would really use this gimmick to achieve his own goals?
The world itself is absurd, and so are the decision-makers on the other side.
In order to achieve their goals, they will definitely use all available means at any cost.
It's not like they haven't done similar things - in order to make money, capitalists can even make toys out of radioactive materials and sell them to children. So when the entire country is controlled by capital, what else can't they do?
Maybe they will also set up some kind of special project to raise funds to regain the so-called "Scepter of God".
You know, the biggest advantage of fools is that they have loud voices.
Therefore, they don’t need to be too many, just enough.
And when the fool's voice is loud enough, a considerable number of normal people will definitely be sucked into it.
Chen Nian shook his head helplessly. He felt both ridiculous and sad about this possible situation.
After a few seconds of silence, he spoke:
"Let's talk about the follow-up plan for the declaration of the nature of Spark."
Li Xiang handed Chen Nian a stack of documents and then said:
"We will build Xinghuo into a powerful scientific research institution that is carefully designed, enjoys huge resources, and operates at the highest efficiency."
"We designed a series of rules and regulations that didn't exist - of course, these are an upgraded version of Spark's current system."
"These systems will be gradually released through 'leakage' to establish Xinghuo's authoritarian, powerful and efficient image."
"They like this very much. After all, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union relied on a similar system and achieved a development speed that was almost the same as theirs."
"This is what we take advantage of. We will make them think that Spark is a radicalized 'National Military Industrial Bureau'."
Upon hearing this term, Chen Nian instantly understood what the intelligence department was thinking.
The so-called State Military Industry Bureau was a "super powerful department" established by the Soviet Union during the 1941 war. It coordinated the development of all Soviet military industries from 1941 to 1980 and promoted a series of unprecedented military technologies. progress.
During the Cold War confrontation, the Antonov Design Bureau, Ilyushin Design Bureau, and Sukhoi Design Bureau under the State Administration of Military Industry were all well-known mainstays.
It is no exaggeration to describe the attitude of some American scholars towards the State Administration of Military Industry as "fearful".
In their view, this thing is as scary as the KGB in the intelligence system.
Moreover, for many experts in the history of science and technology, the huge role played by the State Administration of Military Industry is still a mystery even now. No one can really explain why this system can surpass the United States' own liberalization system.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the history of the State Military Industry Bureau also disappeared, but many people believe that its corpse is far from rotten.
This is also the reason why there are many urban legends circulating among the people that there are countless future technologies buried under the Russian ice sheets.
Those are all Big Brother’s treasures.
Similarly, the characteristics of Spark are very similar to those of the National Military Industry Bureau to a certain extent. If this can be used well, although those sudden technologies are still not "rational", they can be explained after all. .
In this way, the real core of Chen Nian can be preserved.
——
The other party's attention will be diverted to the organization itself to a large extent, and the "unexplainable" factors hidden in the middle will be ignored.
"A very smart strategy."
Chen Nian couldn't help but sigh.
"Can it not be smart? From the day Spark was born, this strategy has been born simultaneously."
Li Xiang's tone was slightly teasing, but soon he said seriously again:
"No kidding, the risks involved in this strategy may be greater than we expected."
"You know, for the Americans, this highly centralized organization will bring back painful memories. It is very likely that we will be labeled 'junguoism'."
"I can even imagine their faces."
"What's 'Oh, science and technology is the purest field and shouldn't be polluted by power', what's 'If you dare to engage in dictatorship in the field of science and technology now, you will do it in society later', 'How can you be free if you have lost your freedom in scientific research?' Anyway, that’s it.”
"The external pressure we face may be great, and you must be mentally prepared for this."
"What can I do to mentally prepare myself, I don't even care."
Chen Nian rolled his eyes and continued:
"And the things you said will definitely not be the official statements of the other party, and will most likely only appear on the Internet."
"What their officials should really say is, 'China is using centralized means to develop military technology at all costs, and may be preparing for foreign wars.'"
"Or 'China has entered a state of war readiness, and global security is seriously threatened'."
".It really tastes like that."
The two chatted casually for a few words, and the tense atmosphere faded a bit. Seeing that the time had passed six o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xiang said:
"Let's go find Wang Jiancheng together tonight and have dinner with him."
"If you want to get him to work on the Zhanlu project, you have to let him join Xinghuo."
"Now is the right time. By absorbing him, we can avoid unnecessary trouble."
"Yes, that's what I planned too."
"However, this is probably wishful thinking to a certain extent? Whether he is willing to join Starfire or not is another matter."
Hearing this, Li Xiang smiled and shook his head, and then said:
"You absolutely don't have to worry about this."
"I know Wang Jiancheng very well. Although he seems a bit unreliable and even uncontrollable, I am sure of one thing, that is, his vision is definitely not bad."
"What kind of organization is Spark? Needless to say, he can understand that for a child whose mind is full of black technology, is there anything more like a large playground than Spark?"
Chen Nian couldn't help but nodded in agreement.
Although this sounds a bit frivolous, when it comes to Wang Jiancheng, it suddenly makes sense.
In other words, what he is chasing is consistent with what Xinghuo is pursuing.
So, he really had no reason to refuse.
(End of chapter)
