5: Chapter 5 Who is "Deep Shadow"? The National Security Council
Deep beneath the Western Hills in the capital of the Dragon Kingdom, inside the command center codenamed "Zhulong," the atmosphere was so grim it felt like it could condense into water. There were no windows here, only countless screens of varying sizes emitting eerie blue or pale green light, reflecting faces that were solemn, shocked, or incredulous.
The piercing buzzer alarm had long since been turned off, but the sharp reverberations seemed to linger in the air. The head of the center, a middle-aged man with a resolute face and the rank of Major General—Zhao Gang—stood with his back to the large screen, hands braced against the command console, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. His gaze swept over the department heads and technical experts who had rushed in.
Just seventy-three minutes ago, a message that had triggered a top-level protocol alert after passing through multiple layers of encryption had appeared without warning in the independent receiving channel of the "Zhulong" core system. This channel was theoretically only to be used during war or national-level disasters, and its encryption method incorporated several dynamic key technologies that were theoretically extremely difficult for outsiders to master, some of which were still in the laboratory stage.
However, not only had this message gotten in, it was presented completely and clearly before them. Even more alarming was the codename left by the sender—"deep shadow"—and that brief yet weighty message.
"deep shadow..." Zhao Gang's voice was low, with a metallic quality, echoing in the silent command center, "Who is it?"
No one could answer immediately. The heads of the intelligence department, the Cybersecurity Bureau, and the Technical Reconnaissance Division all looked grim. The information had appeared like a ghost; there were no IP tracing paths, no server hop records, and the transmission protocol was so ancient it felt like a relic from the last century, yet it had been cleverly embedded into the gaps of their most cutting-edge defenses. Investigation work had already begun, but the preliminary conclusion fed back was: the source had most likely gone through multiple physical isolations and random relays, using residual communication spectrums that they had not yet fully mastered or that conventional monitoring ignored. The technique was professional, seasoned, and carried an indescribable... strangeness.
"Preliminary assessment of the information content," a bespectacled, gray-haired technical expert, Elder Chen from the Academy of Sciences' Information Technology Department, cleared his throat. His voice was a bit dry, but his eyes were shining with an unusual light, "has been verified and preliminarily analyzed by three independent groups. The conclusion is..."
He paused, as if organizing his thoughts, looking for the most accurate description: "This technical foresight summary regarding 'Photonic Chip Basic Architecture' is shocking in the rigor of its logic, the clarity of its direction, and the precision with which it grasps current bottlenecks. The three proposed non-silicon-based 'Photonic Crystal' material synthesis pathways, while lacking in detail, are highly consistent with the theoretical foundations and the latest dilemmas of several of our highest-security internal projects, and it even... points out several possible breakthroughs we hadn't yet realized."
Another titan of materials science, Academician Wu, took over, his voice trembling slightly with excitement: "Especially the 'topological Photonic Crystal interface state regulation' combined with the 'selective rare earth ion implantation' scheme mentioned therein. Our laboratory had vague conjectures in a similar direction last year, but we were never able to build an effective theoretical model. The deductive framework in this summary... is simply like a key tailor-made for us! Although it is only a framework, the value is... immeasurable!"
"What about the performance expectations?" an executive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology asked urgently.
Elder Chen operated the tablet in front of him, and a set of comparative data charts immediately popped up in the center of the large screen: "Based on preliminary simulation calculations using the theoretical limits and process assumptions provided in the summary, its single-channel data throughput potential, conservatively estimated, is over 1000 times that of the current most advanced international silicon-based chips, and energy consumption is expected to be reduced to one percent. If a breakthrough in integrated architecture is achieved... this will be subversive. It is enough to completely reverse our situation of being constrained by others in the field of high-end computing in a short period of time."
Gasps of cold air echoed throughout the command center. 1000 times! One percent energy consumption! What these numbers represented was not just technological leadership, but a fundamental change in strategic security, economic lifelines, and international discourse power!
"What is the cost?" Zhao Gang turned around, his gaze sweeping over the experts and executives present like a hawk, "Such advanced technical ideas, appearing out of thin air? The sender's purpose? Could it be a trap? Technological misinformation? Or a deeper conspiracy?"
The head of the security department immediately reported: "'deep shadow' left the complete document in a one-time encrypted node that we cannot locate, which will automatically destroy itself after 21 hours and 37 minutes according to the protocol. We tried to reverse-crack and trace the storage node, but the other party's encryption algorithm is very unique, mixing multiple publicly known and... suspected undisclosed mathematical principles, which is difficult to break in the short term. As for the sender's purpose, the message claims to be 'an outsider who does not want to see the homeland trapped,' but we cannot currently verify their identity and position. We cannot rule out that it is bait thrown by foreign forces, intending to lead us to invest huge resources into the wrong technical route, or to use this to test our technical response and defensive vulnerabilities."
"How long will technical verification take? What is the cost?" Zhao Gang pressed.
Academician Wu and Elder Chen exchanged glances, and Academician Wu answered: "If we want to fully verify the feasibility and details of all the points in the summary, especially the material synthesis and process implementation parts, we need to mobilize at least three national-level key laboratories, combining multiple top teams in materials, physics, microelectronics, software simulation, etc., to carry out high-intensity research. Time... will be counted in years, and the resource investment will be astronomical. But if it is just a preliminary verification of the core theoretical framework and one or two of the most likely material pathways... perhaps, within three months, we can have a relatively clear preliminary judgment. This requires the highest level of coordination and authority."
Three months for a preliminary judgment, years or even longer to truly understand and implement... and this is assuming the technical approach is completely correct. If this is a carefully designed scam, what is wasted is not just time and money, but precious development windows, as well as our own technical accumulation and weak links that might be exposed as a result.
The command center fell into a brief silence. Huge opportunities and huge risks were intertwined, forming a suffocating web.
"Is it possible..." a young strategic analyst from a think tank hesitated to speak, "that it is one of our own people? Some big shot who has gone into hiding and broken through key technologies? Or... a top scholar living overseas, serving the country in this way?"
"The possibility exists, but it is extremely low." The head of the security department shook his head, "Top experts in relevant domestic fields, including those in semi-retirement or even those we thought had passed away, are all on our watchlist. We have files on their thinking patterns, research habits, and writing styles. The style of this summary... is very peculiar; it has both the solid rigor of old-school scholars and a dash of unconstrained, free-spirited sharpness, and even the way it is expressed in some places... is slightly 'retro.' It is not like anyone we know. As for overseas scholars, making contact through such an extremely secretive and technically highly sophisticated method, both the motivation and feasibility are questionable, and the risk is too great."
"'Retro'?" Zhao Gang caught this word.
"Yes," Elder Chen pushed his glasses, "some of the encoding rules and handshake signals used in the information encapsulation and transmission protocol refer to international academic network exchange standards from twenty years ago or even earlier, some of which have long been abandoned. But the other party used them... very cleverly, as if they were very familiar with the underlying logic of those ancient protocols and could combine them with modern encryption technology. This is very... unusual."
A "deep shadow" who possesses cutting-edge ideas that could overturn the future technological landscape, yet uses ancient communication methods. This in itself is a huge mystery.
"Investigate!" Zhao Gang finally issued the order, his voice resolute, "Use all necessary and compliant means to track down the true identity and intention of 'deep shadow' without alerting the outside world. Intelligence, cybersecurity, technical reconnaissance, internal screening—proceed on multiple lines. Focus on investigating all abnormal academic exchange activities, non-normal channels of technical information flow, and... is it possible that the results of one of our internal top-secret projects were accidentally leaked, or that some genius has made a breakthrough in a way we haven't noticed?"
He paused and looked at Academician Wu and Elder Chen: "At the same time, establish the 'Chasing Light' special demonstration group, led by Academician Wu and Elder Chen, to mobilize absolutely reliable and capable personnel. Under the highest security clearance, carry out preliminary feasibility verification of the technical summary provided by 'deep shadow.' Give priority to resource allocation. I want to see the first persuasive evaluation report within two months."
"Remember," Zhao Gang's gaze swept over the audience with unquestionable majesty, "this matter is classified as 'Longyuan' level top secret. All participants must sign a lifelong confidentiality agreement. No information may be leaked. Before the identity and intention of 'deep shadow' are ascertained, and before the technical verification yields clear positive results, everything externally must remain as usual."
The orders were quickly broken down and communicated. The massive state apparatus, because of one anonymous email, began to operate efficiently and silently. Some departments, like the most precise probes, tried to find traces of "deep shadow" in the dust of the virtual world; others, like scientific research giants injected with adrenaline, began to take their first cautious and full-force steps toward a direction that might illuminate the road ahead or lead to an abyss.
And the initiator of all this, Lin Shen, knew nothing about it.
He was sitting on his balcony, enjoying the afternoon sun, holding an old newspaper his father had found, flipping through it seemingly casually. His mother was preparing dinner in the kitchen, and the clinking of pots and pans and the aroma of food wafted out.
His body was steadily recovering, and he could already walk a short distance slowly without assistance. The "lock" on the [Photonic Chip Basic Architecture] node in the technology tree in his mind had faded until it was almost invisible, and the glowing, shadowy veins around it were becoming clearer and more complex, as if an extremely precise circuit diagram was slowly taking shape. The deduction progress for prerequisite two had reached 47% after absorbing the internal data; although it had slowed down again, every step was more solid.
He knew the risks that email might bring and was looking forward to the possible response it might trigger. But all this would take time. All he could do now was continue his rehabilitation, continue his deductions, and wait patiently.
Occasionally, he would use that old computer to connect to the ordinary internet and browse some public technology news. He saw more and more reports about the Federation's "Photonic Computing Industry Alliance," which were gaining great momentum. He also saw that relevant enterprises and research institutions in the Dragon Kingdom remained silent about this, or issued some conventional statements about "insisting on independent innovation" and "breaking through the blockade."
Beneath the calm surface, undercurrents were already surging.
He put down the newspaper and looked at the outline of the city in the distance. There were countless people like him there, working hard and hoping in their respective positions.
"deep shadow..." He silently repeated this spur-of-the-moment codename in his heart.
A shadow, hidden on the reverse side of the light, unnoticed by anyone, yet perhaps able to cast a small, clear guide for those moving forward at critical moments.
He didn't know what was happening in the "Zhulong" center, nor did he know how many people were busy, arguing, excited, or anxious because of his email.
He only knew that the seeds had been sown. Next, it was just waiting to see if it could push open the heavy bedrock in the soil of reality and sprout the first tender shoot.
The wind on the balcony blew past, bringing the cool breath of early spring, and also blew the newspaper in his hand, rustling.
In an unknown corner, a technological storm that he had unintentionally ignited, concerning the national destiny and the future, was quietly gathering its first wisp of clouds.