156: Chapter 156 Furious! Dig three feet into the ground and drag him out!

The council chamber. Light struck the dark tabletop, refracting a metallic sheen.

Qin Yue, Chen Yuan, He Jun, and Zhang Zhe sat on opposite sides. They had rushed over due to an emergency summons; their shirt collars were slightly disheveled, and some had not even finished buttoning them. The air in the room felt as if it had been drained away, leaving only the low hum of the air conditioning vents echoing.

Lin Zhou walked into the room. He bypassed the main seat that symbolized power and came to a stop at one end of the conference table.

He threw a stack of printed foreign media reports onto the table. The papers scattered, the black-and-white news headlines particularly glaring.

"Explain this."

His speech was slow and devoid of inflection, yet it caused those around him to subconsciously straighten their backs and grip the armrests tightly.

Chen Yuan flipped open the document on top, the title clearly reading "The Golden Empire Beneath the Desert." He scanned two lines, his pupils constricting. The color drained from his originally rosy complexion, and he stammered, "How... how could a secret like this leak out?"

"That is what I would like to ask as well." Lin Zhou's gaze rested on each person before shifting away. "Aside from myself, only you few and the accompanying assistants were privy to this. At most, no more than ten people."

"Wall Street is moving fast. They are using these reports to force me to concede more shares at the negotiating table."

Lin Zhou's knuckles stood out as he pressed his fingers against the edge of the table.

"Whether it is for money or something else, if you bite the hand that feeds you, you must bear the consequences."

He looked at the other two. "Zhang Zhe, He Jun, establish a joint investigation team."

"Zhang Zhe, lead the clerical team to lock down the terminals of everyone who had contact with the secret agreement. Communication records, capital flows, nepotistic ties—not a single detail can be missed."

"He Jun, you are responsible for personnel control. You are authorized to use all interrogation powers. I want that name."

The two stood up and acknowledged the order.

Inside the conference room, the others kept their heads down, staring at the tabletop; no one dared to make a sound.

"My Lord," He Jun did not leave immediately, his expression taut. "The leak must be investigated, but the defenses at the gold mine have already been compromised. It has now become a piece of fat that the entire world is eyeing. Relying on those hundred or so security personnel, we cannot protect billions of dollars. In Africa, the one thing there is no shortage of is desperate criminals."

"Warlords, private militias, and even shadow units from certain factions will set their sights on 'Ironforge.' When that time comes, we won't be able to hold the mine."

The previously anxious atmosphere was brought back to the cruel reality by these words.

Lin Zhou closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, his gaze now filled only with the rationality of a decision-maker.

"He Jun, how is the expansion of the National Defense Force going?"

"The list for the first batch of three hundred is being screened. They are all retired personnel from countries with diplomatic ties. Their backgrounds are relatively clean, but their skill levels vary, and they need several months of training."

"There is no time." Lin Zhou tapped the tabletop with his knuckles. "Lower the threshold; we need to get the framework up first."

He Jun hesitated for a moment. "Lowering the threshold might cause issues with military discipline and obedience."

"Leave the discipline to the instructors sent by Huaxia to polish, and use salaries and naturalization quotas to build loyalty. I don't need a perfect model army right now; I need an armed force capable of carrying guns to hold the mining area."

Lin Zhou stood up straight, his tone brooking no argument. "One month. You need to assemble a company-sized unit that can fight. For funding, go to Chen Yuan; the equipment will be supplemented by the first batch of aid from Huaxia. If we cannot hold onto our current achievements, talking about the future is pointless."

"Yes!" He Jun gritted his teeth and accepted the assignment.

The meeting dispersed, and the council chamber fell silent once more, but the gears of every department were now engaged at full speed.

Temporary Intelligence Center.

This office had been completely isolated, with all network connections severed via physical switches. Computer experts were gathered in front of the screens, the sound of their typing as dense as rain. Zhang Zhe sat to the side, eyes bloodshot, staring at the complex code flowing across the main screen.

The investigation had a breakthrough after six hours.

Financial analysis showed that a distant Indian relative of Chief Justice assistant Vikram Singh had received a transfer of five hundred thousand US dollars on the eve of the news release. The funds had been split across multiple offshore accounts, with the trail leading back to a consulting firm with official backing.

The suspect was identified.

But a technical problem followed. Vikram's personal device was clean; no outgoing records could be found.

"Sir, he sent over three hundred thousand data packets within forty-eight hours. They are basically web cache and system patches." The technical lead wiped the sweat from his forehead. "He's playing hide-and-seek. It will take at least half a day to isolate the anomalies from all of this."

Zhang Zhe rubbed his temples. "Continue. Tear it apart if you have to, but find it."

Time ticked by.

Far away in an underground command post in Beijing, a giant display wall reflected the same encrypted stream. It was real-time data mirrored from the Cyber Republic.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses was flipping through a report.

"They've hit a snag," the assistant said in a low voice. "The other party stuffed the information into system log packets, applied three layers of encryption, and bounced it through a relay station in Cairo. With their computing power, catching this ghost will take quite a bit of effort."

The middle-aged man took a sip of tea and tapped his fingertip lightly on the touchpad.

Inside the Cyber Republic Intelligence Center.

"Look!" an analyst exclaimed. "The screening program's logic is optimizing itself?"

The supervisor walked over quickly. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. The algorithm's weight distribution for packet size and encryption levels has changed automatically. Filtering efficiency has increased tenfold!"

The progress bar on the screen moved rapidly.

In less than five minutes.

A red warning flashed on the screen.

The chaotic data stream halted, and a data packet marked as abnormal was extracted and enlarged in the center of the display.

"We caught it!" the technical lead stood up. "SMTP protocol data; the sender is Vikram's personal terminal, and the receiving IP is in India. The file size matches; it's definitely the one!"

The technicians in the room let out a long sigh of relief.

Zhang Zhe stood up and walked to the screen, failing to notice the anomaly in the algorithm, assuming instead that the expensive system he had purchased had proven its worth at a critical moment.

"Crack it immediately."

The target's final line of defense was personal information encryption.

"Try their family member data."

The technician pulled up Vikram's file and attempted to use his daughter's name and date of birth as the key.

A short, crisp tone sounded.

The file was forced open.

Inside were photos of the gold mine reserve report and the core terms of the cooperation agreement.

The entire room fell into an extremely oppressive silence.

Zhang Zhe grabbed the dedicated phone on the desk and dialed Lin Zhou's number.

"My Lord, we've latched onto the culprit. It's Vikram."