Chapter 567: Who Did It?

Two Lincolns, two Chevrolets, followed by two Dodges.

All off-road vehicles, driving into the General Team headquarters one after another.

Downstairs, Li Zhenghao shook hands one by one; upstairs, Li Shichen introduced them one by one:

"Deputy Consul of the Shanghai Consulate, officials (Division Chiefs) from the Commercial Office, Economic Office, and Public Affairs Office of the Beijing Embassy, as well as the Military Attache, representatives of the Mixed Economic Committee..."

Their backgrounds were increasingly impressive, and their ranks were increasingly high.

After the introductions, Li Shichen raised his eyebrows: "Liu Anhua is just an ordinary executive of a foreign-funded enterprise; to receive this kind of treatment, even ten years in prison would be worth it!" Director Li was actually asking: What the hell did this guy do?

If it were just massive fraud, the Consulate would at most send ordinary staff from the Commercial Office and Public Affairs Office to inquire.

Looking at the current lineup, it hadn't just alarmed the Embassy; it was only a step away from the Ambassador and the Consul coming in person.

Lin Sicheng naturally knew, but could only play dumb: "Leader, I don't know either!"

Li Shichen squinted, meaning: Guess whether I believe you?

If you didn't know, would Liu Anhua have confessed just like that?

If you didn't know, could Liu Anhua's attitude have changed so quickly?

But that was just a thought in his mind. Li Shichen had worked in public security for half his life and understood one principle: as a leader, it is not the case that the more you know, the better. Just as Lin Sicheng had said before: Director, you don't need to focus too much on the details; grasp the general direction, as long as the result is good, that's enough. Since Lin Sicheng dared to guarantee it, Li Shichen certainly dared to believe him.

He was just having a bit of dark humor, trying to bluff Lin Sicheng.

Lin Sicheng, of course, would not fall for it.

He smiled: "Director, perhaps you will know very soon!"

"That's true!" Li Shichen nodded and pointed downstairs, "Do you want to go and listen in?"

The so-called listening in meant going to the command room to watch the surveillance.

But Lin Sicheng did not want to have a direct confrontation with Li Zhenghao right now.

Furthermore, one could only watch and listen, and could do nothing. If the result of the meeting was not ideal, Li Shichen would definitely notify him. "I won't go!" Lin Sicheng shook his head, "After all, I met Gaina and Su Bingnan in Shanghai; if I run into them, it's not just hard to explain, it's also easy to cause misunderstandings!"

Li Shichen nodded: Indeed.

Whether it conforms to procedure is one thing, and whether it causes misunderstanding is another.

The officials from the Embassy and Consulate would not care whether he was a Consultant or not.

"Fine, then you rest for a while. There is a bed in the inner room, sleep if you want!"

Li Shichen put on his hat, "I'm going to meet these foreign devils!"

After closing the door and the sound of footsteps fading away, Lin Sicheng leaned back against the chair.

In his mind, he pondered the scene of Li Zhenghao meeting Liu Anhua: would it be like the tip of a needle against a wheat awn, neither giving an inch, or would it be a back-and-forth, constant probing? No matter which one it was, it wouldn't change the result: at most, Liu Anhua would use his information as leverage to get Li Zhenghao to help him pull strings so he could live more comfortably in prison.

What Lin Sicheng cared about was: the attitude of Li Shichen, Customs, and the leaders of relevant departments after they guessed the truth.

Would they be shocked, or perhaps even moved?

Both were possible...

The elevator was fast; Li Shichen reached the lobby just as the group stepped onto the stairs.

A crowd of more than a dozen men and women.

Chen Feng and the General Team Leader stood at the entrance; seeing Li Shichen, they both raised their eyebrows: they had thought Director Li would not show up. The timing was just right; Li Shichen had just arrived at the entrance when the Consul and the Embassy officials stepped up.

They had communicated beforehand, submitted a list to the General Team, and were accompanied by leaders from the Foreign Affairs Department.

Three Department-level leaders were receiving them, the rank was extremely high. After introductions, it was all harmony.

At least on the surface, it was a picture of unity.

They went upstairs, entered the Reception Room, and the staff turned on the large screen.

The others remained in the Reception Room, while Li Zhenghao, the officials from the Commercial Office and Public Affairs Office, along with two lawyers and a doctor, went to meet Liu Anhua together. Before long, an image appeared on the screen: two police officers brought Li Zhenghao's party into the room. Subsequently, Liu Anhua was brought in. The room was very empty, with only two rows of tables. After sitting down, the Consulate doctor performed an examination on Liu Anhua.

Everything was normal: blood pressure normal, heart rate normal, no external injuries of any kind.

His speech was clear, his mental state stable; if he weren't wearing a prison uniform, he wouldn't look like a prisoner at all.

The doctor recorded normally, and looking at the indicators on the form, the lawyers and Li Zhenghao exchanged a look.

They had always thought: the reason Liu Anhua refused to meet and refused to cooperate with the Consulate's normal foreign affairs procedures was definitely because he had been threatened or even persecuted.

Based on this, they had even fantasized: could they use illegal interrogation by Chinese law enforcement as a breakthrough to get Liu Anhua released on bail? But only after seeing the person did they know that it was a far cry from what they had imagined.

There were no signs of injury, let alone any signs of mental pressure; Liu Anhua's mindset was as stable as if he were on vacation, rather than in prison? In fact, they had arrived too late: if it had been a month ago when he was first locked up, or half a month ago just after he had talked with Lin Sicheng, they would definitely have seen Liu Anhua's mindset on the verge of collapse and his mental state nearly deranged.

Half a month was enough for Liu Anhua to sort through all the clues several times over.

Better to live a miserable life than to die; since getting out of prison meant death, why not stay a little longer?

As long as he didn't get out of prison for one day, his family could live safely for one day.

As long as he could shoulder the burden, whether it was the Smuggling group, the interest groups in the gray industrial chain, or even those superiors who specifically bridged the gaps for him, they all had to protect his family.

Even if all his assets were confiscated, and even if his family were saddled with huge debts, they would never lack money to spend.

Just as Lin Sicheng said yesterday: you must let everyone understand that you know a great deal, so much that you can bring everyone to ruin. The more these people fear, the safer you are.

Since he had figured it out, Liu Anhua naturally didn't feel afraid anymore.

The doctor removed the blood pressure cuff; Liu Anhua moved his arm and smiled at Li Zhenghao: "Mike, long time no see!" Li Zhenghao stared at him, as if trying to capture information from his eyes.

"Hunter, why did you betray me?"

After a long silence, Liu Anhua lowered his head: "I'm sorry Mike, I just wanted to live better!"

To use a metaphor: Li Zhenghao was the talent scout, and Liu Anhua was that thousand-mile horse with its hooves bound, tied to a Stone Mill to grind grain.

More than a decade ago, when he first joined Saishi Technology, he was in his prime and full of ambition. And he firmly believed: gold will shine, and one day, he would soar to success.

Because he had talent and ability.

But reality dealt him a heavy blow: the heavy work, the bitter work, the tiring work always fell to him, but when it came time to reward merit, he was left out.

He wrote the key code, he did the security assessment, he perfected the system verification, but his treatment was always the worst. His salary and benefits were not even as good as those of the Indian guys who had just learned to write code.

It was only then that he understood why, for work that could clearly be completed in an hour, those Chinese Researchers could drag it out for two days?

Because completing two days' worth of work in one hour does not earn them a single cent more in wages.

Just because they are Chinese...

Liu Anhua did not want to be buried in obscurity, nor did he want to drift through life aimlessly, so he chose to resign.

But before his resignation letter was submitted, the Overseas Business Department came to headquarters for internal recruitment, seeking several Maintenance Engineers who understood hardware, understood software, and possessed excellent programming skills.

The requirement was to be stationed in Asia long-term, the compensation was very high, and there was considerable autonomy.

At the time, the person who came to recruit was Li Zhengwu.

Liu Anhua felt there was an opportunity, put away his resignation letter, and stayed up all night writing an application for the position. Li Zhengwu interviewed him personally, and the two hit it off immediately, feeling as though they had met too late.

Afterward, Liu Anhua served as a Group Leader, first going to India, then Vietnam, and finally China.

His position rose from Group Leader to Supervisor, then to Director, and finally to Vice President responsible for sales, maintenance, and technical training for the entire Greater China region. A small part of this was due to his superb technical skills and work attitude, while a large part came from Li Zhengwu's trust.

Because it is not just at Sci-World, among all American scientific research enterprises, Chinese engineers are always the group that does the most work yet is the least trusted, without exception.

If not for Li Zhengwu overriding all objections and fully supporting him, let alone Vice President, he wouldn't even have been able to land a position as a Director.

Then why did it come to this point?

Because Liu Anhua was not reconciled: he firmly believed that his talent had not been given room to be displayed, and his ability had not been fully utilized. No, not even one-tenth of it.

Since he was not recognized by others, why couldn't he create opportunities for himself?

From then on, he began to build his gray industry empire.

The reason other instrument company Supervisors and engineers got involved was mostly due to being bribed, and a small part due to being coerced and bribed, but he alone was willing, and even flocked to it.

Without a supply channel, he would go browse second-hand markets, collecting circuit boards and diodes one by one. Then he would assemble them one by one. Without smuggling routes, he would bribe snakeheads and rely on people to carry them across.

Without customs clearance documents, he would forge them himself: swapping real equipment for fake documents, and sticking real labels on fake equipment.

Slowly, scalpers set their sights on him, then second-hand equipment recyclers, and then smuggling syndicates.

Not long after, Liu Anhua became the only independent contractor in the entire industrial chain.

Because all the clients were developed by him personally. Aside from him, they recognized no one else.

It can be said that for the past six or seven years, nearly one-tenth of the second-hand refurbished equipment in the country has been sold in through him. In an era where the client is king, whoever holds the shipping channels in their hands is the boss.

Recycling, refurbishing, smuggling, document forgery, as well as system programming, software tampering... the more Liu Anhua understood, the deeper every key point in the chain became bound to him.

Consequently, Liu Anhua's boldness grew greater and greater.

At first, he only acted as a middleman, but as he earned more and more, Liu Anhua was no longer satisfied with just being a sales agent. He continued to operate his previous channels because the quality of those devices was passable and could be sold to that segment of clients who knowingly bought fakes and specialized in taking large kickbacks.

At the same time, he did his own recycling, entrusted refurbishers to assemble them, and then smuggled them into the country. To put it bluntly: using the most worthless trash to scam complete laymen. Like this Lin Sicheng.

But laymen are just ignorant, not blind; to avoid being discovered by clients, Liu Anhua spent a fortune to bribe engineers at the original manufacturers, opening backdoors for him to the greatest extent possible.

He was already a technical expert; as long as he obtained high-level permissions, reverse engineering was just a basic skill. It didn't take long for Liu Anhua to successfully develop a module that could run Third Generation Software on the First Generation System.

With this as a premise, every scam was a sure hit.

At first it was only one or two companies, but as he earned more and more and his business grew larger and larger, before he knew it, Liu Anhua had actually cracked more than half of the world's well-known instrument manufacturers.

Although most of the machines supplied to Asia, especially those supplied to China, were crippled versions, the Underlying Code was universal. If one had his ability... oh, even half of his ability, one could crack the Operating Logic and Core Module of all the cutting-edge instruments from these technology companies.

So Liu Anhua knew very clearly that if it ever blew up, he would have only one end: to die without a burial place, and even his whole family would have to be buried with him, but he could not stop.

A bunch of people were following behind him to get rich, and the key was that he knew too, too much; if one day there was no money to be made, he would have no reason to exist. Since it was death either way, he might as well earn enough before dying... so, Liu Anhua had long anticipated this day.

Fortunately, at least he didn't have to die just yet...

He raised his head and smiled apologetically: "Mike, I'm sorry!"

What's the use of you apologizing?

Li Zhengwu suppressed his anger: "Hunter, pull yourself together, believe me, I can save you!"

Was he truly wanting to save him?

Perhaps.

After all, Mike had really been very good to him...

"Mike, thank you, but you can't save me!" Liu Anhua shook his head with a wry smile, "You have no idea what I've done. It's not just because I unauthorizedly enabled the manufacturer-authorized maintenance permissions, and it's certainly not because I left a backdoor in the system of the refurbished equipment; compared to this, those are insignificant..."

Li Zhenghao was stunned for a moment: this was still just insignificant?

These were already enough to cost you your life.

"Hunter, what else is there?"

"I bribed the Security Supervisor of each company, stole the Level Three Password Lock for the core instruments, and then cracked all the Core Modules, all the Underlying Code, and the Operating Logic..."

Liu Anhua raised his hand, extending his fingers one by one, "Including Bruker, Keyence, Rigaku, Elmer, Agilent, and Sci-World..."

After a slight pause, Liu Anhua smiled, but it looked like he was crying: "Now, these companies all know. So, Mike, how are you going to save me?"

Li Zhenghao looked as if he had been frozen.

He suddenly thought of the Information Detachment summary his secretary had read to him before coming to the General Headquarters:

Bruker requested a security inspection of all equipment in the entire Asian region, while Keyence and Rigaku requested technical maintenance on all equipment systems sold to China.

There were also Elmer, Agilent, and even the Sci-World headquarters: these six companies had wording that was much the same.

He remembered again the sentence his secretary had specifically mentioned: the Bruker headquarters had interviewed all Technical Team Leaders and Senior Engineers... Li Zhengwu's face turned white in a flash: No wonder these companies were reacting so strongly?

It turned out it wasn't at all what he had imagined, that it was because Liu Anhua had unauthorizedly enabled maintenance permissions. It was that he had cracked the Core Code of these companies' cutting-edge instruments.

But how did these companies know?

Purely subconsciously, he thought back to the day of the meeting with Lin Sicheng:

He asked Lin Sicheng: General Manager Lin, may I ask, who are you preparing to send your Lawyer's Letter to?

What did Lin Sicheng say?

Bruker, Keyence, Elmer, Agilent, Rigaku, and Sci-World?

It was the same six companies, and even the order was exactly the same...

Li Zhenghao suddenly realized: Lin Sicheng did it?