69: Chapter 69 The Treasured Masterpiece

The seed of the third lie was sown inadvertently just like that.

Starting with nearly twenty percent confidence, plus the natural word-of-mouth from those present after they returned.

Given the current level of trust the researchers in the task force had in him, the realization of this third lie was only a matter of time.

It wasn't difficult.

One could even say that out of the three lies he had thrown out so far, this was the easiest one to make real.

After all, the fact that "Lin Yuan is a genius" no longer needed to be proven by him personally.

The "facts" he created were the best proof.

He only needed to wait.

In the office, after a brief moment of banter, Lin Jixian was the first to become restless.

Carrying the hard drive that encapsulated the entire upstream material industry chain, his state was like night and day compared to when he first walked in.

When he arrived, he was a smiling logistics liaison.

Now, he wished he could sprout wings and fly back to that private office.

But he hadn't forgotten the business at hand; he rubbed his hands together and jerked his chin toward Lin Yuan.

"By the way, brother, do you want to head down and inspect that batch of special materials?"

"The transport team is still waiting downstairs."

Lin Yuan didn't decline and gave a crisp, clean response.

"Then let's go, let's head down and take a look together."

The group exited the office one by one and walked along the corridor toward the elevators.

The elevator doors opened.

Everyone descended to the first floor, passed through the heavily guarded security checkpoints, and stepped out of the side door of Research Building No. 7.

On the open ground outside the building, several military-green heavy box trucks were lined up neatly. The vehicles were sprayed with uniform identification numbers, and two armed guards with live ammunition stood beside each truck, their gazes vigilant and their auras steady.

This display made Wei Jiancheng's eyelids twitch.

"So many vehicles?"

Lin Jixian walked over to the first truck with a smile and made a gesture to the captain of the guards.

"Come, I'll report the numbers to everyone first."

He reached out to take a manifest from the captain's hand, scanned a few lines, and then looked up to read it out as written.

"Optical-grade special quartz, two and a half tons."

As soon as the first figure was read, the expression on Wei Jiancheng's face froze.

"Ultra-high purity gallium, twenty-five kilograms."

"Trimethylgallium, twelve liters."

He Yicheng's breathing hitched for a moment.

"Gallium arsenide wafers, six hundred pieces."

"High-purity germanium, twelve kilograms."

Yang Lin subconsciously took a step forward.

"Monocrystalline germanium-based compounds, two hundred pieces."

When the last item was read, the three directors all froze in place.

"How... how much?"

Wei Jiancheng's voice shot up as he grabbed Lin Jixian's arm.

"How much did you say the special quartz was?"

"Two and a half tons."

Lin Jixian was pulled into a stumble and quickly steadied himself.

"What? Not enough?"

Not enough?

Wei Jiancheng almost couldn't catch his breath.

Two and a half tons!

A full two thousand five hundred kilograms of optical-grade special quartz!

When their entire task force was making the budget earlier, they figured they'd be lucky if they could get a hundred kilograms approved for the initial verification stage.

In the end, with just one list from Lin Yuan, two and a half tons were brought in?!

He Yicheng's reaction wasn't much better.

Six hundred gallium arsenide wafers.

This number spun in his head twice, and the more it spun, the more absurd it felt.

This wasn't a requisition; this was practically moving a significant portion of the country's national reserves over.

Yang Lin's thoughts were more direct: twelve kilograms of high-purity germanium, two hundred monocrystalline germanium-based compound wafers.

He knew all too well how scarce these materials were.

The three men looked at each other, their faces filled with the same emotion—being overwhelmed to the point of near unease.

How was this a normal material requisition?

This was the country taking the treasures from the bottom of its chest, emptying its warehouses, and piling them all in front of them!

Lin Yuan stood to the side, hands casually in his pockets, taking in the complex expressions on the faces of the three directors.

He didn't have any particular feelings.

Since the country had chosen to give its full support, it would never be stingy with material guarantees.

He had been certain of this from the very beginning.

He turned around and beckoned to the task force logistics head waiting nearby.

The head ran over and stood at attention.

"Arrange for personnel to categorize the materials and inventory them one by one."

Lin Yuan's instructions were clear and concise.

"The special quartz and gallium arsenide wafers go into the No. 3 constant-temperature warehouse. The ultra-high purity gallium and high-purity germanium go into the No. 1 sealed warehouse. Trimethylgallium is to be stored separately, strictly following hazardous chemical protocols."

The logistics head nodded repeatedly and went to carry out the orders.

Once the material handover procedures were complete, Lin Jixian brushed off some non-existent dust from his clothes and gave Lin Yuan a grin.

"Alright, brother, the stuff is in your hands, so the weight in my heart has finally been lifted."

He patted the spot on his chest where the hard drive was tucked and lowered his voice slightly.

"As for this, I'll be taking it back first."

Lin Yuan naturally understood what "taking it back" meant.

"Thanks for your hard work, Brother Lin. Stay safe on the road."

"You got it!"

Lin Jixian nodded heavily, waved his hand, and turned briskly toward the parking lot, his steps light and fast.

He had arrived at a leisurely pace, but when he left, he was practically jogging.

He knew exactly how much weight that hard drive carried.

Lin Yuan's gaze fell back onto the three old scientists who were still digesting the shock.

"The materials are here, and the new technical data is here too."

"So next—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Wei Jiancheng was already striding toward the building entrance without looking back, leaving only one sentence behind.

"Got it, got it! Back to work!"

He Yicheng shook his head with a smile and followed suit.

He took two steps, stopped, and turned back to say seriously to Lin Yuan.

"Chief Engineer Lin, don't worry."

Then he turned and left quickly.

Yang Lin was the most direct; he gave Lin Yuan a thumbs-up and, without saying a word, jogged to catch up with the other two.

The three titan-level figures of modern Xia's microelectronics field disappeared into the research building entrance just like that, carrying their hard drives and moving with vigor.

Lin Yuan watched the three hurrying figures, the corners of his lips curving slightly.

...

Meanwhile.

The black official car drove smoothly on the road, the scenery outside the window receding rapidly.

Lin Jixian sat in the back seat, one hand pressed against his inner chest pocket, the hard drive's edges pressing into his palm through the fabric.

The car entered the special lane he had traveled countless times, passing through layers of checkpoints without hindrance.

Half an hour later.

That familiar heavy door opened silently from the inside.

Long Zhenguo put down the documents in his hand, his gaze projecting toward him like a lightning bolt.

Lin Jixian stood before the desk and gave a concise, point-by-point report of everything he had seen and heard at the Xia Academy of Sciences today.

Finally, he carefully took out the black hard drive from his inner pocket and presented it on the desk with both hands.

Long Zhenguo didn't immediately reach out for it.

Instead, his gaze was fixed on the palm-sized black square for a long time without moving away.

After a long while.

Long Zhenguo leaned forward slightly and finally reached out to pick up the hard drive.

The alloy casing reflected a cold light under the overhead lamp.

He flipped it over, rubbed his thumb along the edge, and suddenly laughed.

"This kid..."

Long Zhenguo then looked up at Lin Jixian, his eyes becoming sharp and profound.

"Go."

"Bring Xiao Zhou to me."