68: Chapter 68 Craig's Confusion: All Signals Disappear
Pretty Country, a secret safehouse somewhere.
James Craig, the former CIA director who had been suspended but was still secretly controlling the two top-secret projects, "Dragon Slaying" and "Ghost Protocol," was currently pacing irritably in a room filled with electronic equipment like a trapped beast. The room was thick with the smell of caffeine and sweat, and the ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts.
His gaze was fixed on the giant screen on the wall. The screen should have been flickering with real-time signal feedback from various "Deep Divers" and intelligence nodes within Dragon Country. That was the dragnet he had cast, the reliance he felt confident would turn the tide of defeat and dig out "Patriot X."
But now, that area representing control and information was being rapidly covered by a spreading, heart-pounding gray.
One by one, the dots of light representing informants of various levels went out without warning. It wasn't a weak signal or a temporary loss of contact; it was a complete, permanent silence. It was as if an invisible giant hand had precisely snuffed out these lights in a way he couldn't comprehend.
"Mole... signal lost."
"Nightingale... last communication interrupted, preset security protocol not triggered."
"Postman... all associated monitoring points have failed..."
"..."
The cold electronic alerts sounded like death knells, striking Craig's heart again and again. He tried to wake them through backup channels and emergency contact methods, but all his efforts were like stones sinking into the ocean. These chess pieces he had cultivated for years and buried so deeply were uprooted and swept clean in less than an hour.
This was definitely no coincidence, nor was it an efficiency that a routine counter-espionage operation could achieve! It was as if Dragon Country's National Security Department had obtained a complete list and carried out a synchronized, precise, and silent "harvest."
"This is impossible!" Craig growled, slamming his fist onto the console, sending several empty coffee cans rolling to the floor. "How could they do it? How could they be so fast? So precise?!"
He snapped toward the subordinate responsible for technical analysis, his eyes bloodshot. "What about the 'Ghost Protocol' side? Any progress on the power grid attack? Even causing a little chaos would be fine!"
The subordinate shook his head, his face pale. "Sir, Dragon Country's power grid core remains in a state of absolute isolation. Our attacks... seem to have hit an invisible wall. Moreover... we've monitored an abnormal surge in encrypted communication traffic between several key departments in Dragon Country recently, but we can't parse any of the content. We can't even identify the communication protocols... It's like... it's like they're speaking in another language."
Another language? Unparseable? Unidentifiable?
Craig's heart sank abruptly. A terrifying thought he hadn't wanted to dwell on before burrowed into his mind like a venomous snake.
Dragon Country... might really have mastered a brand-new communication technology that they completely couldn't understand or even detect! A technology that transcended the scope of all existing cryptography and network protocols!
It was precisely this technology that ensured Dragon Country could conduct efficient and secure internal distribution and command while under full attack from "Ghost Protocol," thereby launching this terrifyingly precise counter-espionage purge!
The instant paralysis of the intelligence network, the rock-solid defense of the power grid... it all pointed to a desperate fact: in the realm of information warfare, they were lagging behind by more than an era! Their self-righteous attacks, in the eyes of the opponent, were perhaps as laughable as primitive people throwing stones at a steel fortress.
"Quantum... Could it be quantum technology?" Craig muttered to himself. He remembered some scattered intelligence about Dragon Country's massive investment in the quantum field, which he hadn't paid much attention to at the time. Now it seemed that it wasn't academic research at all, but... practical application!
A surge of icy fear instantly gripped his heart. If Dragon Country had truly taken the lead in making quantum communication practical, it meant that the global surveillance network "Prism," built by Pretty Country with astronomical sums, as well as all their advantages in cyberspace, would vanish into thin air!
He had lost his ears and eyes, becoming deaf and blind. Meanwhile, his opponent was hiding behind a mist he couldn't penetrate, coldly watching all his futile struggles.
"It's over... it's all over..." Craig slumped into his chair, staring blankly at the vast, desperate gray on the screen. This failure made him feel more powerless than the success of "Jinwu." The technological gap was like a chasm, grinding all his madness and ambition into powder.