55: Chapter 55 A Strong Defense Line is Built! Security Upgrades and a Dense Network Are Spread, Undercurrents and Conspiracies Lurk (1)

Early the next morning, as dawn broke, a faint glimmer of light pierced the heavy darkness, scattering like a sharp sword across the structures of the nuclear fusion power station project site, plating the cold steel structures with a layer of warm, soft light.

Inside the Main Control Room, it was already brightly lit; the cold white LED light evenly illuminated the entire room. Dozens of screens on the console were neatly arranged, emitting a soft yet striking glow. Various data points jumped in real-time, measured in milliseconds, and green operating curves undulated like flowing water, clearly outlining the pulse and rhythm of the project's operation.

Mu Li arrived half an hour ahead of the agreed time. His dark blue work jacket was spotless, and his sleeves were neatly rolled up to his forearms, revealing his strong and powerful wrists.

He walked to the console, and his fingertips gently slid across the cold, smooth panel. The tactile sensation was delicate yet hard, as if he could feel the high-speed operation of the countless precision components behind it through this material.

His gaze fell sharply on the screens; every set of data could not escape his scrutiny—the reactor cooling system pressure was stable at 15.2 MPa, the steam turbine speed was maintained at 3000 r/min, the Intelligent Operation and Scheduling System response delay was less than 0.3 seconds, and all core equipment parameters were stable within the standard range.

These steadily jumping numbers were the result of the project team's hundreds of days and nights of overcoming difficulties, condensing the heart and sweat of countless people.

However, after the three thrilling obstructions on the way back, the sense of urgency regarding the project's security in Mu Li's heart grew stronger. A faint chill would occasionally sweep across his back—that was the lingering trauma from the suffocating feeling of confronting the knife-wielding thug on the high-speed train, the impact of the vehicle collision at the high-speed railway station, and the oppressive feeling of being surrounded by over thirty people on the country road.

He knew clearly that behind these stable data points, not only was there the maturity of technology and the persistence of the team, but it also required wall-like protection to guard them. Once there was the slightest loophole in the defense line, not only would the costly project suffer heavy losses, and the hard work of countless people be wasted, but it might even trigger unpredictable safety accidents.

"Engineer Mu, morning!" A crisp voice broke the silence of the Main Control Room. Lin Wei walked in quickly, holding a stack of heavy documents. Her steps were light yet steady. There was some dust on her black work pants, clearly indicating she had jogged all the way here.

There were obvious red bloodshot eyes in her eyes, and faint dark circles under them; the skin around her eyes was slightly dry, clearly because she had stayed up all night organizing the materials.

Walking to the console, she gently put down the documents. The thick papers were stacked together, reaching more than ten centimeters high. Her fingertips were slightly pale from gripping the documents for a long time, and there were faint pressure marks on her knuckles.

Lin Wei bent down, pulled out two documents from the top, and handed them to Mu Li. Her tone was slightly tired yet still rigorous: "This is the list of existing security protection measures for the project organized last night. From personnel duty shifts and hardware equipment operating status to emergency disposal procedures and risk investigation records, everything has been sorted and checked one by one, and seventeen hidden dangers suspected of being loopholes have been marked. In addition, this is the preliminary plan from the R&D Team regarding system security optimization, covering three major modules: firewall upgrades, core data encryption, and abnormal access monitoring. It also includes test data for different protection levels. Please take a look first."

Mu Li took the documents, and a crisp sound of paper was made as his fingertips turned the pages. His gaze scanned the content quickly like a scanner, his brows furrowed slightly from time to time, and his knuckles tapped the edge of the console rhythmically, making a rhythmic light sound.

"There are still quite a few loopholes in the existing protection, more severe than I expected." He pointed to the patrol shift schedule marked on the document, his tone heavy, and his fingertips pointed heavily at the words "twenty-minute shift change gap": "The outer defense area extends for three kilometers, and the shift change gap is as long as twenty minutes. Moreover, there are monitoring blind spots in some sections. This period is enough for trained suspicious personnel to sneak in, or even approach the core area."

He turned to the next page and pointed to the introduction of the core server room access control system, his tone carrying obvious worry: "And the access control system for the core server room—relying only on fingerprint verification is too risky. Fingerprints are easily copied and forged, and once the staff's fingerprint information is leaked, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Mu Li looked up at Lin Wei, his eyes firm and sharp, carrying an unquestionable directive: "Notify everyone, the emergency meeting will start ten minutes early. Tell the heads of each department to bring all relevant materials, especially the security, construction, and R&D departments. They need to sort out the existing problems, rectification ideas, and required resources clearly. Today, we will thoroughly investigate all security hazards and formulate a comprehensive upgrade plan, leaving no blind spots and harboring no chances."

"Understood!" Lin Wei immediately took out her phone and quickly edited the notice to send to the project's core work group. Her fingertips tapped rapidly on the screen, and she did not forget to add a note: "Must arrive on time, no absences allowed."

After sending, she turned and walked quickly out of the Main Control Room. Her steps were hurried but orderly. When passing through the temporary passage of the construction site, she did not forget to remind the construction workers along the way to pay attention to safety and speed up the installation progress of the protective equipment.

Before long, Zhang Hongyuan, Zhao Kai, Zhou Yaqi, as well as the heads of the security, R&D, construction, logistics, and other departments arrived at the Main Control Room one after another.

Everyone was wearing a uniform dark blue work suit and holding thick materials. Some folders even had colored labels attached, marked with words like "Security Hazards," "Equipment List," and "Progress Plan."

Everyone had a heavy expression on their faces and walked in a hurry without any slack. They only signaled to each other with their eyes, and even their conversations were deliberately lowered. The atmosphere in the entire Main Control Room was oppressive and tense.

The attack incident on the return journey had already reached everyone's ears through internal encrypted communication. Everyone knew that Hongyuan Group would stop at nothing to steal core technology. At this moment, security protection was not only related to the survival of the project but also to everyone's life safety.

Especially the team responsible for on-site security, they hadn't slept all night, repeatedly checking all patrol routes and protection nodes, fearing any omission.

The meeting officially began. Everyone stood around the huge circular conference table, their eyes focused on Mu Li, with trust and firmness in their eyes.

Mu Li stood at the head of the conference table with the security protection list in his hand. His fingertips rested gently on the edge of the table. His tone was serious without a ripple, yet it carried extremely strong penetrating power, clearly reaching everyone's ears: "I believe everyone already knows that I encountered three deliberate obstructions from Hongyuan Group on my way back from Jing City, and the methods were more vicious each time. From the knife-wielding attack on the high-speed train to the malicious vehicle collision at the high-speed railway station, and then to the encirclement by over thirty people on the country road, they ignored the bottom line of the law and disregarded the consequences. They had only one goal—to steal the project's core technology and sabotage the project's advancement."

He paused, his gaze slowly scanning everyone present, with unquestionable firmness in his eyes: "Currently, the project is in a critical trial operation stage. Every stable piece of data and every equipment debugging session is related to subsequent production and operation. We must not let Hongyuan Group's conspiracy succeed, and even more so, we cannot let everyone's hundreds of days and nights of hard work go to waste. The core of today's meeting is only one—to comprehensively upgrade the project's security protection measures, weaving a tight, no-blind-spot safety net from four dimensions: personnel, hardware, system, and emergency, to guard our labor achievements and guard this project."

As soon as he finished speaking, the head of the security department, Wang Lei, immediately stood up. His figure was as straight as a pine, yet he could not hide the fatigue in his eyes. His eyes were full of red bloodshot, and blue stubble had grown on his chin.

He hadn't closed his eyes since receiving the news last night, leading the team to re-examine all security loopholes and formulate a preliminary adjustment plan. "Engineer Mu, we have made preliminary adjustments to the on-site security force, increasing the outer patrol frequency from once per hour to once every half hour. Patrol personnel have been changed from single individuals to pairs, and night patrol lighting equipment has been increased."

Wang Lei's tone was sincere, carrying a trace of helplessness. He reached out to open the materials in his hand and pointed to the personnel statistics table above: "But the current manpower and equipment are still somewhat insufficient. The people Hongyuan Group sent this time are all desperate criminals. They are numerous and attack viciously, and they are also equipped with weapons like knives. Our existing twenty security personnel have a mixed age structure, and half of them are newcomers who have just joined. They lack actual combat experience and do not have an advantage in numbers. The protective equipment is also limited to basic riot batons, stab-proof vests, and ordinary walkie-talkies. We lack professional bulletproof equipment and night-vision devices, making it difficult to cope with large-scale attacks."

"I will handle the personnel and equipment issues." Zhang Hongyuan immediately took over the conversation. His tone was steady and reliable, and his face showed a confident expression, clearly having made a plan in advance.

"On my way back yesterday, I contacted the top 'Ruifeng' security company in the country. The core team of this company is composed of retired special forces members, who have rich actual combat experience and strong adaptability. I have coordinated twenty elite security personnel. They are equipped with a full set of protective and communication equipment and will be able to arrive at the site before three o'clock this afternoon."

Zhang Hongyuan paused, took out his phone, called up the equipment list, projected it onto the screen, and continued: "The equipped equipment includes level 4 bulletproof vests, stab-proof gloves, bulletproof helmets, high-definition night-vision goggles, encrypted walkie-talkies, and portable riot shields to ensure the personal safety of security personnel and smooth communication, avoiding the situation of being cut off. In addition, I also coordinated with the local Garrison Force through personal connections to establish an emergency linkage mechanism. Once an emergency occurs, the Garrison Force will arrive at the scene to support within ten minutes, forming a dual guarantee with security personnel as the main force and the Garrison Force as the auxiliary."

Mu Li nodded, expressing his approval of Zhang Hongyuan's thorough arrangements, and felt a little more settled. Zhang Hongyuan had always acted steadily and considered problems comprehensively. With him in charge of security coordination, it was indeed reassuring.

"Very good. Leave the personnel and external support to you to follow up. You must ensure that the security personnel arrive on time in the afternoon, the equipment is debugged normally, and organize existing security personnel and new personnel to perform rapid integration, clarifying patrol division of labor and emergency response procedures."

Subsequently, Mu Li cast his gaze toward the head of the construction department, Zhao Kai, his tone clear and firm: "In addition to personnel, hardware protection must also keep up immediately. This is our first line of defense and must be built solidly. The three key areas—the core server room, the Main Control Room, and the R&D Center—must be equipped with iris + fingerprint dual access control systems, neither of which can be missing. At the same time, install 24-hour high-definition infrared monitoring and vibration alarm devices. The monitoring data must be synchronized in real-time to the monitoring platform of the Huaguo Public Security General Administration to ensure that abnormal situations can be detected and handled at the first time."

"The outer protective net must be completely replaced with a high-voltage pulse protective net, with the pulse intensity controlled at 10-15 KV. It is non-lethal but can effectively deter. At the same time, install an infrared beam alarm every fifty meters along the protective net to form a dual early warning." Mu Li picked up a pen and quickly drew the project layout map on the whiteboard, marking the key road sections.

"Set up retractable road barriers and anti-collision piles at the main entrances and exits and around the core area. The road barriers should have a load-bearing capacity of no less than 80 tons to prevent malicious vehicle impacts. In addition, install a batch of portable monitoring probes in hidden positions around the site to cover monitoring blind spots, ensuring no-dead-angle protection."

"Understood!" Zhao Kai immediately took out his notebook to record. His pen tip slid rapidly on the paper, making a rustling sound, recording every requirement in detail.

"We will immediately contact equipment suppliers to ensure that the iris access control system, high-voltage pulse protective net, road barriers, and monitoring equipment can be delivered to the site before ten o'clock this morning. At the same time, we will deploy thirty backbone construction team members, divided into three groups, respectively responsible for the installation of access control in core areas, replacement of outer protective nets, and setting up road barriers, prioritizing the upgrade and renovation of these hardware protections. We strive to complete the installation and debugging of equipment in the core area within three days, and achieve full-site protection upgrades within a week."

Zhao Kai added: "In addition, we will arrange special personnel for on-site supervision during the construction process to ensure that the construction quality meets safety standards, and at the same time, we will do a good job of temporary security measures during construction to avoid security loopholes during the construction interval."

Subsequently, the head of the R&D department, Zhou Yaqi, pushed up the black-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose and stood up to report the progress of system security optimization. Her tone was rigorous and meticulous, carrying the steadiness unique to technical personnel: "Engineer Mu, currently the firewall of the Intelligent Operation and Scheduling System has been upgraded to the latest military-grade version, adopting 'multi-layer defense + intelligent identification' technology. The defense capability has been increased by three times compared to before, effectively intercepting common cyberattack methods. We have also added a three-layer data encryption module, using the AES-256 encryption algorithm to perform multiple encryptions on core technical parameters, equipment operating data, and R&D results. The keys are kept separately by me, technical backbone Li Wei, and you. None can be missing, ensuring data security."

Zhou Yaqi clicked the mouse to project the system background monitoring interface onto the screen and continued: "At the same time, we have arranged for four technical backbones to monitor the system background 24 hours a day, divided into two groups, changing shifts every six hours to monitor system access traffic, data transmission status, and abnormal attack behaviors in real-time. Once abnormal access, attack behavior, or data leakage traces are discovered, we will immediately initiate an emergency response, cut off the attack source, and lock the attacker's location, while reporting to you at the first time."

"Cannot take it lightly." Mu Li shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a serious reminder, his eyes sharp. "Since Hongyuan Group dares to take such crazy physical attacks, they are likely equipped with a professional international cyberattack team behind them. Their attack methods are more hidden and advanced, and ordinary protection measures may not be able to withstand their infiltration. You must immediately contact the Cybersecurity Laboratory of Jing City University of Posts and Telecommunications to form a joint attack and defense team, led by Professor Zhang from the laboratory, to conduct comprehensive penetration testing on the system, simulate various complex attack scenarios, find potential security loopholes, and make defense plans in advance."

Mu Li paused and further put forward requirements: "In addition, all office equipment of R&D personnel must be forcibly installed with the latest version of security protection software. It is strictly forbidden to connect unknown storage devices externally. The office network must be physically isolated from the external network, equipped with special USB encryptors, and only authorized personnel can access core data. At the same time, conduct a security training for all R&D personnel to strengthen data confidentiality awareness and avoid data leakage caused by human error."

Zhou Yaqi immediately nodded and replied: "Understood! I will contact Professor Zhang this morning to coordinate the formation of the joint attack and defense team and start system penetration testing this afternoon. At the same time, I will arrange for special personnel to be responsible for the security protection upgrade of office equipment, complete the software installation and network isolation for all equipment tomorrow morning, and organize security training the day after tomorrow to ensure that every R&D personnel is familiar with the confidentiality process."

The meeting lasted for more than three hours. The heads of various departments reported their work arrangements and existing problems one by one. Mu Li put forward specific requirements and clear time nodes for each link, repeatedly deliberating on details to prevent any possible omissions.

From personnel scheduling and equipment procurement to system optimization and emergency drills, every task was implemented to specific responsible persons, clarifying completion deadlines and assessment standards, and finally forming a security protection upgrade plan covering personnel security, hardware protection, system security, emergency response, public opinion response, and other aspects, ensuring that all work proceeds in an orderly manner.