Chapter 293 The Truth Revealed

Liu Jianguo felt uneasy under that kind of gaze. He swallowed and asked, looking somewhat puzzled:

"This... is there a problem with what I said?"

Facing Liu Jianguo's question, which was filled with sincerity and confusion.

The Old General did not answer immediately, but instead looked at him with a gaze one might use for an idiot.

That gaze held thirty percent helplessness, thirty percent amusement, and forty percent astonishment, as if looking at some rare wild animal.

After watching for a while.

The Old General slowly turned his head toward the Head of Special Operations Officer sitting beside him and said in a firm tone:

"Didn't I say this old guy had been hoodwinked into limping?"

The Head of Special Operations Officer maintained that poker face and nodded expressionlessly.

Liu Jianguo stared blankly at the interaction between the two people in front of him, feeling that his intelligence had been severely insulted.

Hoodwinked into limping? Who was hoodwinked? As a dignified department head, how could he possibly be hoodwinked?

One must know that after the Special Agents brought Liu Jianguo back to the base, they immediately conducted a comprehensive investigation on him, which included extracting data from all his portable mobile devices.

For the technical capabilities of the Special Operations department, checking a person's communication records was easier than drinking water.

They easily found the fishing group that Liu Jianguo used for lurking, and also saw the QQ account that was chatting heatedly with him in private.

Tracing an ordinary network QQ account to find the user behind it was child's play for them.

They followed the clues. The moment the results came out, even the Special Agent in charge of the investigation couldn't help but lose composure.

That "Fishing Rod Manufacturer" who called Liu Jianguo 'brother' on the internet, and who provided Liu Jianguo with that "top-secret level" Fishing Rod, was none other than Li Jiajun himself, who was currently famous in the military industrial system and made people feel both love and hate!

Moreover, after reviewing all the chat records, the Special Agents reached a conclusion that left people laughing and crying at the same time.

Judging from the tone and content of their chats, the usually shrewd and capable Liu Jianguo had absolutely no idea that the Netizen on the other side of the screen, who was confiding in him, was the very "Factory Director Li" he tried so hard to avoid.

He even bragged extensively to that young man on the internet about the various extreme parameters of Air Force carbon fiber materials.

The two of them, separated by a screen, had completed what could be called an epic "two-way rush" and "cross-server communication."

Inside the conference room, the Head of Special Operations Officer picked up the investigation report at hand, flipped to a page, and looked at Liu Jianguo.

He calmly stated the investigation results in front of Liu Jianguo, using a voice without a ripple of emotion:

"Director Liu, according to our network tracing and data comparison."

"The seller you contacted on the internet with the screen name 'Fishing Rod Manufacturer' is, in reality, the director of the Li Family Toy Factory in Baishui City, Comrade Li Jiajun."

"This Fishing Rod made of carbon fiber composite material was packed and sent to you by him personally."

As the Head of Special Operations Officer slowly laid out the truth... After hearing this, Liu Jianguo was dumbfounded on the spot.

His mouth opened wide in that instant, exaggerated enough to fit an egg. His eyes widened, staring fixedly at the report in the hands of the Head of Special Operations Officer, his whole body like a petrified statue.

A few seconds later, Liu Jianguo sprang up from his chair, letting out a shout that lacked any rationality:

"What the hell, the manufacturer mentioned is actually him?!"

He felt the world spinning. How could this be possible? That conscientious manufacturer who spoke sincerely, had solid products, and knew how to cater to customer needs, how could it be that troublemaker Li Jiajun?

Liu Jianguo's old face instantly turned the color of a pig's liver, red to the point of purple.

He remembered how he had just been stiff-necked, vowing with tragic solemnity to the Old General that "this has nothing to do with Factory Director Li."

He had even felt self-moved in his heart, thinking he was a great hero stepping forward to protect a junior.

And the result? They knew from the beginning that it was Li Jiajun's doing! They were treating him like a monkey!

Thinking back now, his act of "speaking out of righteousness" earlier was simply a devastating public execution!

Liu Jianguo felt speechless. A strong sense of shame enveloped him.

He felt like he had been forcibly stripped naked and thrown onto the street, and then someone was using a tape measure to carefully measure his privates. He was humiliated to the core!

His lifelong reputation was actually destroyed by a broken QQ account, destroyed by a Fishing Rod.

He wished he could use his toes to dig out a three-bedroom apartment in the hard floor of the conference room right now, and then bury himself inside and never come out.

"I... I didn't know it was him..."

Liu Jianguo stammered, trying to explain, his voice filled with weakness and helplessness.

Just when he was dying of shame and felt he couldn't face anyone, suddenly, a bone-chilling cold sweat poured down his spine.

He suddenly realized a more serious problem. A big problem concerning his own life!

He swallowed, his brain starting to spin rapidly.

Just now, when the Old General asked him, if he had shown that he already knew this Fishing Rod was produced by Li Jiajun, or if he had admitted that he knew it applied the most advanced carbon fiber technology, he would truly have been unable to defend himself today!

Think about it. A senior cadre in the military industrial system clearly knowing that what he held was top-secret military material, yet deliberately concealing it and sneaking it into a suitcase, even passing the security check, attempting to take it out of the country to foreign lands. If this isn't a spy, what is?

Once this behavior was confirmed, let alone keeping his position, he probably wouldn't even see the sun for the rest of his life.

Thinking of this, he was shocked until his scalp went numb. His heart pounded in his chest like a drum.

He cautiously looked up at the Old General sitting opposite him. He saw the Old General still sitting there, holding a teacup, looking at him with a meaningful gaze.

That gaze held no murderous intent of interrogating a spy, only a meaningful sense of "consider yourself lucky, kid."

"So that's how it is." This thought emerged in Liu Jianguo's heart.

Liu Jianguo instantly understood. Being hoodwinked had its advantages too!

Precisely because he was hoodwinked by Li Jiajun, and because he foolishly thought it was just an ordinary civilian Fishing Rod, his ignorance, surprise, and ridiculous "righteousness" just now were all genuine, heartfelt performances.

There were no traces of acting, standing up to any micro-expression analysis by the Special Operations department. This was also the fundamental reason why the Head of Special Operations Officer, after investigating his phone, determined he had no suspicion of leaking secrets and was just an "idiot."

Ignorance, at this moment, became the most powerful evidence to clear him of suspicion.

Liu Jianguo let out a long breath, feeling as if he had just taken a stroll before the gates of hell.

His expression slowly relaxed. Although still somewhat embarrassed, there was a hint of relief at having survived a disaster in his eyes.

However, although he knew the truth, he still couldn't believe it. That kid he had hoodwinked into making Fishing Rods, that guy who couldn't even understand proper military blueprints, had actually created carbon fiber technology that could be used on fighter jets?

The Head of Special Operations Officer looked at his still-puzzled expression and added indifferently:

"Director Liu, you don't need to doubt it. After the security machine detected the anomaly, we redid a comprehensive cross-test in the Special Operations laboratory, and the results were confirmed to be correct."

Hearing this, Liu Jianguo's gaze involuntarily fell back onto the black Fishing Rod in the center of the conference table. He pointed at the Fishing Rod that made him feel both love and hate, and rubbed his hands. He suddenly had an idea.