Spark

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 so exhausted every day."

"However, after this wave of fighting, I can finally relax later."

"I've always thought that there will be such a day sooner or later, but when it really comes, I don't think it's a big deal."

Seeing Li Xiang's tired expression, Chen Nian hurriedly threw him a piece of chocolate that was always on the desk, and then said:

"Have a quick bite, I heard you have been busy since morning?"

"yes."

Li Xiang unpacked it, swallowed half of it in one gulp, and replied vaguely:

"Originally, I wanted to pick up Wang Jiancheng by myself, but I came to work temporarily, so I found someone else to go."

"No way, it happened too suddenly. The front line is prepared, but we basically have no buffer time behind us."

"From receiving their notice to now, we have just sorted out the information of all parties and determined the most suitable one from several plans, but the subsequent operation is still a big project."

"As soon as the incident is exposed, public opinion will inevitably be turned upside down, both domestically and internationally."

"How to guide and control, even if there is a plan, but in fact, we still have to cross the river by feeling the stones."

Hearing Li Xiang's words, Chen Nian nodded slightly.

There is really no exaggeration in his words. In fact, the situation is even more complicated than what he said.

After all, the incident this time is not as simple as "disclosing 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 of this one night, all front-line action teams that had been deployed for more than two months in the early stage were all activated, destroying more than 40 small strongholds at one time, and arresting more than 150 intelligence personnel.

Among the 150 people, nearly 100 belong to the United States, and the rest basically belong to Europe.

But what is surprising is that Chinese nationals accounted for more than 40% of all those arrested.

And they are the most troublesome part.

Because most of them are "part-time".

They have regular and decent jobs in China, have established strong interpersonal relationships, and bought many life-saving charms for themselves.

Therefore, after their accident, the ones who reacted the most were not themselves, let alone their benefactors, but those "downstream" who were connected with them.

The problems that 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 group of people caught?"

Li Xiang spread his hands and replied:

"Follow the fixed process, what else can I do?"

"But this time, because the issues they involve are too sensitive, they should not enter the prosecution process in a short time."

"We need to wait for the opponent's response. This time, the resources they have mobilized can be said to be unprecedented, but the results achieved are not as outstanding as expected."

"In the end, it's just forcing us to admit the existence of Xinghuo."

"As for what kind of organization Xinghuo is and how it operates, so far, we can confirm that they have not obtained sufficient information."

Although this is what he said, Li Xiang actually knows that just "disclosing" this matter can already bring a huge amount of information.

There are no accidents in intelligence work. After the US confirmed the existence of Xinghuo, they can quickly deduce the particularity and uniqueness of this organization.

In the follow-up, all their intelligence work will be transformed from blind to precise, from incomprehensible to targeted.

In this case, it is almost impossible to keep Xinghuo's secret.

According to estimates, they may have access to the most core information within five years or so, and confirm the key clue of "faulty technical assistance", thus casting doubt on the source of the technology.

This is a figure summed up based on the experience of previous intelligence work. Even if it is the highest level of secrets, it can only be kept for five years at most.

At 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 the content of the subsequent public statement is accepted, then everything will be fine, and Spark will be characterized as a relatively high-end research institution, which is no different from the other party's numerous top-level institutions.

The second is that the source of the technology is judged as a leak. In this case, there will inevitably be corresponding countermeasures, but generally speaking, the impact is small and the difficulty of handling it is not too high.

The third, and most troublesome one, is to be characterized as "supernatural" and to reach an internal consensus.

Once this happens, they will definitely not propose to jointly develop and share benefits of this supernatural "uniqueness" like some reunion works, but will inevitably...

In other words, the time left for us is actually very limited.

If you can't have the ability to completely suppress your opponent within five years, then disaster will be inevitable.

Chen Nian on the opposite side obviously also realized this. After thinking for a while, he said:

"In any case, the exposure of Xinghuo is already a certainty."

"We may be able to suppress the news for a while, but they're not going to sit still."

"Also, it is impossible for them to accept any rationalizations. My opinion is that right now, at this very second, they should have already started a plan to force us to hand over the 'scepter' in our hands."

"I don't know what kind of reason they will make up to come to aliens? Creationism? Or some kind of 'ultimate technology'?"

Hearing this, an imperceptible smile appeared on Li Xiang's face.

Seriously, this thing is starting to develop into an interesting contradiction.

The more seemingly absurd the reason, the easier it is for someone who knows the inside story like myself to accept it.

On the contrary, for ordinary people, this kind of rhetoric will probably be regarded as the old beauty going crazy.

Thinking of this, he replied:

"Probably the probability of 'Ultimate Technology' is relatively high."

"After all, they need to consider the acceptance of the people, and obviously, 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 after thinking about it again, he suddenly felt that maybe the other party would really use this gimmick to achieve his own purpose?

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 radioactive materials into toys and sell them to children. Then when the whole country is controlled by capital, what else can they not do?

Maybe they'll even set up some sort of special program to raise money for the recapture of the so-called "Scepter of God".

You know, the biggest advantage of fools is that they have loud voices.

Therefore, their number does not need to be too many, just enough.

And when the voice of a fool is loud enough, a considerable number of normal people will definitely be coerced into it.

Chen Nian shook his head helplessly. He found this possible situation both ridiculous and sad.

After a few seconds of silence, he opened his mouth and said:

"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 shape Xinghuo into a powerful scientific research institution that is well-designed, enjoys huge resources, and operates with the highest efficiency."

"We designed a series of rules and regulations that didn't exist --- of course, these systems are an upgraded version of Spark's current system."

"These systems will be gradually released in the form of 'leaking', establishing Xinghuo's image of dictatorship, power, and efficiency."

"They like this very much. After all, during the Cold War, the Soviet side relied on a similar system to achieve a development speed that was almost the same as theirs."

"We take advantage of this, and we will make them think that Xinghuo is an extremized 'National Military Industry Bureau'."

Hearing this term, Chen Nian instantly understood the thinking of the intelligence department.

The so-called National Military Industry Bureau is a "super powerful department" established by the Soviet side during the war in 1941. 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, the Ilyushin Design Bureau, and the Sukhoi Design Bureau under the State Military Industry Bureau were all well-known mainstays.

It is not an exaggeration to describe the attitude of some scholars in the United States towards the National Military Industry Bureau as "terrified".

In their view, this thing is as terrible as the KGB in the intelligence system.

Moreover, for many experts in the history of science and technology, the huge role played by the National Military Industry Bureau is still a mystery even until now. No one can really explain why this system can surpass the US's own liberalization system.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the history of the National Military Industry Bureau disappeared, but many people believe that its corpse is far from decomposed.

This is also the reason why there are countless future technologies buried under the Russian ice sheets in many urban legends that have been circulated among the people.

Those are Big Brother's treasures.

In the same way, the characteristics of Xinghuo are very similar to the National Military Industry Bureau to some extent. If we can make good use of this point, although the sudden appearance of technology is still not "reasonable", it can be explained after all. .

In this way, the real core of Chen Nian can be preserved.

——

The other party's attention will be largely diverted to the organization itself, but the "unexplainable" factor hidden in the middle will be ignored.

"Very clever strategy."

Chen Nian couldn't help sighing.

"Can you 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 solemnly again:

"No kidding, the risks inherent in this strategy may be greater than we expected."

"You know, for old Americans, this highly centralized organization will bring back their painful memories. It is very likely that we will be labeled as 'junguoism'."

"I can even imagine their faces."

"What's 'Oh, science and technology is the purest field and should not be polluted by power', what's 'now you dare to be dictatorial in the field of science and technology, and then you will do it in society', 'what is freedom if you lose your freedom in scientific research' Anyway, that's it."

"The external pressure we face may be very high. For this, you must be mentally prepared."

"What mental preparations I can do, I don't care at all."

Chen Nian rolled his eyes and continued:

"And the things you said will definitely not be the official speeches of the other party, and there is a high probability that they will only appear on the Internet."

"What they should really officially say should be 'China adopts centralized means to develop military technology at any cost, and may be preparing for foreign wars'."

"Or there is a signal that China has entered a state of combat readiness, and global security is seriously threatened."

"...It really smells like that."

The two chatted casually for a few words, and the tense atmosphere was also diluted a bit. Seeing that the time had passed six o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xiang said:

"Let's go find Wang Jiancheng tonight and have dinner with him."

"If you want to pull him to work on the Zhanlu project, then you must let him join Xinghuo."

"Now this time is also very suitable. Absorbing him can avoid some unnecessary troubles."

"Yes, that's what I intend too."

"However... this is probably wishful thinking to some extent? Whether he is willing to join Xinghuo is another matter."

Hearing this, Li Xiang smiled and shook his head, then said:

"You don't have to worry about that."

"I know Wang Jiancheng very well. Although he seems a little unreliable or even out of control, I am sure of one thing, that is, his vision is definitely not bad."

"What kind of organization is Xinghuo? Needless to say, he can understand that for a child full of black technology, what is more like a large playground than Xinghuo?"

Chen Nian involuntarily nodded in agreement.

Although this sounds a bit frivolous, it suddenly makes sense when it comes to Wang Jiancheng.

Or it can be said that what he is chasing is itself consistent with what Xinghuo is pursuing.

So, he really has no reason to refuse.