108: Chapter 108 It's him, it's him, it's him again!

On Xia Nation's official news portal, a bolded red announcement directly set the global internet ablaze.

The announcement contained no specific details about the press conference's content.

There was only a simple line of text and a time.

The fewer the words, the bigger the news!

At this critical juncture, the more vague the information, the more it gnawed at people's hearts.

Within just a few hours, major social media platforms and industry forums exploded, with discussions on related topics instantly surpassing the million mark.

In the comments sections, netizens' speculations were flying everywhere.

“Holy crap! Is the government pulling another surprise attack? They didn't even give a theme; this is such a tease!”

“It's most likely the follow-up to the Photolithography Machine, right? Ten-nanometer chips are about to go into mass production, and so many overseas companies are lining up for cooperation. Holding a press conference now should be to announce the international partnership list for the chips.”

“No, no, you guys are thinking too small! Don't forget, Lin Yuan personally mentioned Next-Generation Communication Technology and Underlying Intelligence at the last conference! What if this conference is for that?”

“Brother upstairs, you really dare to dream! It's only been a few days since the Photolithography Machine conference. You think they're already moving on to era-defining stuff like next-gen communication and AI? I wouldn't even dare to dream that big!”

“Whatever it is, I just know that those people The Other Side of the Ocean won't be able to sleep for the next few days, hahaha!”

While the domestic populace was overjoyed, the situation The Other Side of the Ocean was the exact opposite.

The tech giants who had already dispatched high-level business delegations to Xia Nation immediately began to act the moment the announcement was posted.

They frantically mobilized their informants and intelligence channels in Xia Nation, attempting to get a whiff of the conference's agenda in advance.

Was it the chip cooperation plan?

Or a new adjustment to export policies?

Or perhaps some other major move?

To them, every card Xia Nation played now directly affected their future chip supply and the rise or fall of their entire industrial chain.

They simply didn't dare to look away!

But unlike the urgency in the business world, the atmosphere in certain departments The Other Side of the Ocean was much more solemn.

The matter of the Photolithography Machine was already a fait accompli.

With full-chain independent control—from the complete machine to materials to chip tape-out—Xia Nation had ruthlessly connected everything in one go, showing no regard for traditional 'martial ethics.'

They had been holding the big stick of sanctions for a long time, only to embarrassingly find there wasn't even a place left to strike.

What gave them an even bigger headache was Xia Nation's 'chips for resources' overt ploy, which was already completely rewriting the rules of the global mineral supply chain.

Several resource-producing regions that were originally tied firmly to the Western camp were now doing their best to flirt with Xia Nation.

All of this was already enough to leave them overwhelmed.

But what truly kept them up at night, even making their souls tremble, was something else.

It was those two terms Lin Yuan had mentioned so nonchalantly during the last press conference—

“Next-Generation Communication Technology” and “Underlying Intelligence.”

The Other Side of the Ocean, at a closed-door meeting of a certain Technology Strategy Committee.

A white-haired elderly man suddenly slammed the report in his hand onto the table, his voice kept extremely low.

“Everyone, if the content of this press conference is truly related to the communication technology and intelligence Lin Yuan mentioned before...”

He didn't finish his sentence.

But in the entire conference room, everyone's spines stiffened for a moment, their backs drenched in cold sweat.

The Photolithography Machine was the hardware foundation, and the chip was the industrial heart.

These two most core lifelines had already been forcefully taken by Xia Nation.

If, immediately following that, the cornerstones that would determine the national fate for the next century—communication and Artificial Intelligence—were also breached...

Then it wouldn't just be a matter of a certain industry being overtaken.

The underlying order of the entire Information Age would be uprooted by Xia Nation and then ruthlessly crushed into the ground!

Silence lasted for over ten seconds.

A middle-aged man sitting at the end of the long table opened another file, breaking the deadlock.

“Regarding Lin Yuan himself, the intelligence department has provided feedback on the latest developments.”

He pushed the file to the center of the table, his index finger pointing at a paragraph of red text, his expression extremely grim.

“This man has stayed inside the Xia Academy of Sciences ever since the Photolithography Machine project started and has never left.”

“The Xia Academy of Sciences is Xia Nation's top research institution with extremely strict entry and exit management. Our people can't even get close to the main building's gate, let alone make contact with him.”

Across the table, a man in a gray suit rubbed his chin and interjected.

“What about his family?”

The middle-aged man shook his head helplessly.

“We tried that too.”

“We tried to start with his social connections to find a breakthrough. But...”

“His parents and immediate relatives were moved to a high-level residential compound by the Xia Nation authorities the moment the Photolithography Machine project was exposed.”

“The security around them is so high every time they go out that no unfamiliar face can even get near.”

“If we try to force contact, not only will we fail to reach them, but we will also completely expose our intelligence network in Xia Nation.”

The man in the gray suit fell silent for a few seconds, his fingers tapping twice on the table.

“In other words, we can't touch him, and we can't reach his family?”

“As it stands, yes.”

The white-haired elder leaned back in his chair, pressing his index finger to his temple and slowly rubbing it.

He had lived for most of a century, led countless technological competition intelligence wars, and recruited many foreign core technical personnel.

But facing Lin Yuan's situation, those methods that had worked every time in the past felt pale and powerless for the first time.

It wasn't that the methods were wrong.

It was that there was simply nowhere to make a move.

After a long while.

The white-haired man spoke slowly, every word carrying a sense of helplessness.

“Keep watching. Increase the level of infiltration efforts by one more tier.”

“Xia Nation cannot remain without a single oversight forever.”

“As long as Lin Yuan takes one step out of the Xia Academy of Sciences, as long as there is even the slightest crack in the protection around him...”

He stopped there and didn't continue.

But everyone present understood the weight of those words.

...

Two days passed in a flash amidst global attention and undercurrents.

The day of the press conference.

9:55 AM.

Only five minutes remained until the start of the press conference.

Inside the vast and grand press hall, cameras and microphones stood like a forest.

Reporters from hundreds of top domestic and international media outlets crowded below the stage, the sound of shutters forming a continuous wave.

In the official online live stream, the number of viewers had already surpassed ten million, with comments flooding the screen in a dense layer.

Everyone was waiting.

Waiting for that heavy mahogany side door at the front to open.

Waiting to see what kind of world-reshaping trump card Xia Nation was going to throw onto this stage today!

As 10:00 AM approached, the mahogany door at the side of the rostrum was slowly pushed open from within.

“Creak—”

The extremely faint sound of the door opening caused the noisy discussions in the hall to be cut off as if by an invisible giant hand!

You could hear a pin drop!

Countless lenses and gazes turned in unison, locking onto that passage.

The first person to walk out was the big shot in charge of the industrial system and strategic resource allocation, Zhou Ping.

Wearing a deep blue jacket, his steps were steady, and his aura was as deep as an abyss.

Upon seeing Zhou Ping, the reporters below quickly lowered their heads to record frantically.

Then, behind him, a young figure appeared.

The reporters had originally thought it would be a deputy from some relevant department, but after seeing that face, everyone's breathing in the room collectively halted at that moment.

He was seen wearing a well-tailored casual suit, his pace neither hurried nor slow, as he strolled onto this world-renowned platform with ease.

His back was as straight as a pine tree, and a composed smile rested on his young, handsome face.

Lin Yuan!

It was him again!

The very next second he stepped out of the passage and was fully exposed to the spotlights.

“Click! Click! Click!”

An overwhelming explosion of shutter sounds erupted, booming through the hall like thunder!

The blinding flashes merged into an incredibly bright white curtain, illuminating the entire rostrum as if it were broad daylight.

And Lin Yuan, standing at the center of the white light, watched this scene with the smile on his lips deepening.