64: Chapter 64 A Night of Liquidation! Morgan's "Prism Project" Exposed

Night fell over Jiangcheng, the wail of police sirens tearing through the deathly silence of the streets.

Director Li Jianguo sat in the passenger seat of the lead riot vehicle, his expression grave. He held a secure red-line telephone tightly in his hand.

"Report: The human evidence and physical evidence have all been secured at the Municipal Public Security Bureau. On-site, we seized a draft agreement for the transfer of 200 billion in purple niobium-tantalum ore, bearing the official seal of the Morgan Consortium. At the same time, we captured four foreign armed security personnel carrying lethal weapons."

Director Li Jianguo said in a booming voice, "Requesting immediate activation of the highest-level emergency contingency plan!"

The other end of the line was silent for two seconds.

"Is the situation verified?"

"Absolutely verified! The evidence is ironclad!"

"Approved! All public accounts, foreign-invested joint assets, and hidden associated enterprises of the Morgan Consortium in Jiangcheng are to be frozen and sealed immediately."

The voice on the other end carried an icy sense of authority. "As long as they have reached out, we will sever their hands tonight."

On the top floor of the five-star Hilton Hotel in the city center, inside the presidential suite, Jason gripped his backup satellite phone tightly. Listening to the dial tone on the other end, he smashed the phone onto the expensive marble floor in a fit of rage.

"Useless! Four retired special forces operatives, and they couldn't even take care of a green kid!" Jason's chest heaved violently.

The blonde assistant beside him held a tablet with trembling hands, her voice shaking.

"Mr. Jason, we just received urgent news from an internal mole. Six of Morgan's overseas public accounts in Jiangcheng were forcibly frozen with top-level bank authority two minutes ago. Our two OEM factories in the High-Tech Zone were surrounded by special police ten minutes ago. They have made their move!"

Jason's face instantly drained of all color, turning into a lifeless ash.

He knew all too well that the Huaxia authorities didn't act until they were ready, but once they did, it was with thunderous force.

The airport operation was a total failure, and the original draft had fallen into police hands. This meant he had become a full-fledged spy ringleader.

"Go!" Jason grabbed the stack of multi-national passports on the table. "Notify the private jet pilot immediately and apply for the fastest flight path. Fly to Bangkok overnight to transfer back to New York! If we are one step later, we'll all be eating bullets here!"

Municipal Public Security Bureau, interrogation room for serious criminals.

A blinding searchlight hit Sun Lide's fat-filled face.

Director Li Jianguo sat firmly behind the interrogation table and slapped the original copy of the exploration draft onto the desk with a "slap."

The crisp sound made Sun Lide shudder all over.

"Sun Lide, the four foreigners outside have spilled everything."

Director Li Jianguo tapped the table heavily with his fingers. "How did their tactical batons get through security? A special task force has already been sent to root out the mole. You only have one path now: dig up every mine that Morgan has buried in Jiangcheng and across all of Huaxia for me."

Sun Lide, his hands cuffed to the alloy interrogation chair, had his psychological defense collapse completely under this series of blows.

"I'll talk, I'll confess everything. I want to strive for leniency." Sun Lide's tears and snot mixed as they flowed down. "It's not just the mine. That mine is only a small part of their big picture."

"Be specific!"

"It's Project Prism." Sun Lide swallowed, his voice trembling. "This is the core strategy that the Morgan Consortium has laid out in Huaxia for thirty years. They spent money to bribe us; stealing strategic minerals was just a facade."

Sun Lide looked up at Director Li Jianguo, his eyes filled with fear.

"Their true purpose is to completely lock down the upgrade path of Huaxia's new energy and semiconductor industries by cutting off upstream raw materials and coordinating with overseas technological barriers."

Director Li Jianguo's brows knitted tightly together.

Sun Lide continued, "Whenever they discover that a domestic enterprise has the potential to break through into high-end manufacturing, they activate this plan.

Either they use extremely low costs to acquire shares and take control, or they use the supply chain alliance to cut off supply entirely.

Tengfei Electronics originally wanted to do independent research and development for intelligent control motherboards. Why did Wang Teng give up later?

Because Morgan gave him thirty million as a sweetener to make him obediently do low-end assembly work. They want Huaxia's industry to remain at the bottom, just tightening screws forever!"

Outside the one-way glass of the interrogation room, Lu Chen stood with his hands in the pockets of his old jacket, listening quietly to the confession coming through the loudspeaker.

He watched the broken Sun Lide inside with cold eyes, and the system that had been silent for a long time in his mind suddenly erupted with a crisp electronic notification sound.

[Ding! Detected that the host has exposed the foreign capital's dimensional-reduction blockade conspiracy, forcibly reversing the national industrial destiny!]

[Grand main storyline exploration reward triggered successfully!]

[Reward: 100,000 tech points have been credited!]

[Unlocked hidden building blueprint module: 'God-level Anti-Espionage Industrial Park Hub'! Automatically stored in the host's personal space!]

Lu Chen listened to this series of prompts, the corners of his mouth rising slightly.

100,000 tech points.

It only cost fifty points to build a smart miniature assembly station before.

This huge sum was enough for him to walk sideways in the system mall.

Moreover, that anti-espionage hub was practically tailor-made for the super-clean workshop about to start construction in the northern part of the city. With this blueprint, even foreign satellites wouldn't be able to steal a single byte of data from his factory.

A burst of hurried footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

Wu Dong was drenched in sweat, holding a tablet tightly in his hand, running and panting as he rushed in front of Lu Chen.

"Boss! Something big has happened!" Wu Dong's chest heaved violently.

Lu Chen glanced at him. "The sky isn't falling. Speak slowly."

Wu Dong took a deep breath and handed over the tablet directly.

On the screen was the top headline just released by an international business news network. The bright red, bold English font was extremely glaring, with a synchronized translation attached below.

Morgan Consortium and the International Semiconductor Alliance officially announce: In view of technology protection principles, effective immediately, a highest-level chip and intelligent control motherboard embargo and supply cut-off will be implemented against the Huaxia Chenguang Electronics Factory and all enterprises under the name of its actual controller, Lu Chen!》

Wu Dong's voice trembled. "Boss, the foreigners are pushed to the edge and have flipped the table. It's not just that they won't sell to Chenguang Electronics; they even announced that any domestic enterprise that dares to provide us with semiconductor parts will face secondary sanctions."

At this moment, the door to the interrogation room opened.

Director Li Jianguo walked out with a voice recorder, just in time to hear Wu Dong's report.

His face turned pale as he grabbed the tablet and quickly scanned the news content.

"Morgan is going for the kill!"

Director Li Jianguo's voice was urgent. "Lu Chen, your factory's latest fully automatic packaging lines—I've seen the data—the core motherboards are all imported. Without the high-end intelligent control chips they provide, in less than three days, your newly installed machines will all turn into a pile of scrap metal and come to a complete standstill!"

Wu Dong was spinning around in anxiety nearby. "Yes, Boss. There are over 12,000 people in the factory now. If the production line stops, we'll be paying over ten million in wages for nothing every day. The machines don't run, and if we don't work for three days..."

Wu Dong swallowed hard with difficulty. "We'll be exhausted to death ourselves."

"Exhausted to death?"

Lu Chen suddenly began to laugh in a low voice.

He looked at the red-background black text on the tablet, his eyes showing a cold sharpness that made people's hair stand on end.

Lu Chen reached into his jacket pocket and, under the nervous gazes of Wu Dong and Director Li Jianguo, pulled out a pure black portable hard drive.

With a dull "thud" sound.

Lu Chen slapped the hard drive heavily onto the metal seat in the corridor.

"These people still haven't figured out the situation." Lu Chen tapped the hard drive shell with his finger, his tone filled with extreme madness and absolute confidence. "Cut off my chips? They think they've pinched my throat? Then today, I'll chop off their hands completely. I'm going to teach them what a real dimensional-reduction counter-kill is."

Director Li Jianguo was stunned. "Lu Chen, what is in this hard drive?"

Lu Chen didn't answer Director Li Jianguo but instead took out his old phone with the cracked corner and dialed Old Zhou's number.

The call was answered after just one ring.

"Boss! I saw the news! We've been sanctioned by the International Alliance! The factory is in an uproar!" Old Zhou's voice was hoarse from shouting, and the background noise was full of chaotic voices.

Lu Chen's tone was steady, yet carried the unquestionable authority of a superior.

"Tell them to be quiet. Those who should sleep, sleep; those who should work their shifts, work them."

Old Zhou was stunned for a moment. "But the master control chips are cut off, and the raw material suppliers don't dare to ship to us either."

"Old Zhou, the cash in the account is sufficient right now, right?" Lu Chen interrupted him.

"Yes... including the deposits, there are still several tens of billions in cash in the account."

"Very good." Lu Chen's eyes burned. "Immediately transfer five billion from the account and establish a special fund pool for me."

A gasp came from the other end of the line.

"Boss, five billion? What for?"

"Poaching people." Lu Chen ordered loudly.

Wu Dong and Director Li Jianguo looked at each other, full of astonishment.

Lu Chen continued to issue instructions, his tone blunt and crisp.

"Notify the top headhunting companies in the country. Poach every veteran semiconductor engineer who has been suppressed by foreign capital and abandoned by capital for me!"

Wu Dong was trembling as he listened nearby.

"And those technical fanatics who have been squeezed out in their companies, even those down-and-out old professors in colleges who aren't valued and can only teach basic physics—not a single one missing, get them all to Jiangcheng for me!"

"No matter how much they are paid now, set their salary at ten times the market rate!"

"For those who don't want to come to another city, use the money to buy them houses and settle them down locally. Solve all employment issues for their families."

Lu Chen paused, his voice as heavy as iron.

"If this five billion isn't spent within three days, you can go to the workshop and tighten screws yourself tomorrow."

Old Zhou roared on the other end.

"Boss! Ten times the salary? What are we bringing these people back for? We don't have the equipment, we can't buy a Lithography Machine, even if we poach many experts, we can't build chips!"

Lu Chen looked at Director Li Jianguo.

"Who told you I don't have the equipment?"

Lu Chen picked up the hard drive from the seat, weighed it in his hand, and tossed it to the completely stunned Director Li Jianguo.

"Old Zhou, go to the factory broadcast room, get the loudspeaker, and tell everyone: starting tomorrow, we are going to build our own chips."

Lu Chen paused for a second. "Not only will we build chips, but I will also lead them to hand-craft a 28-nanometer extreme ultraviolet Lithography Machine."

The corridor was deathly silent. Wu Dong's legs went weak, and he slumped against the wall.