Chapter 523: Reporting

Liu Zhen spent over ten minutes providing a detailed introduction to the situation.

Afterwards, Liu Qingyun was the first to begin reporting on his work.

"……I can say with great certainty that the target has received some psychological counseling and professional training, and may even have a considerable understanding of intelligence agents."

"Just now, during our first meeting, although the other party masked it well, it still gave me the feeling that they were deliberately imitating or concealing something."

"……However, the other party seemed to have a certain wariness toward me, so to avoid affecting subsequent contact, I did not speak too much."

Subsequently, Liu Qingyun played the recording of the four-person meeting with Sun Cheng, which he had captured using a portable device during his previous visit.

There was a brief silence in the conference room for over ten seconds, after which General Chen Jichang spoke up again: "Regarding 【P·C·F】, what are the results of your State Security investigation?"

Upon hearing this question, even with Liu Zhen's excellent composure, most people in the conference room immediately saw his brow furrow.

The answer was clear: "Regrettably, although we have invested a large amount of manpower and resources into investigating 【P·C·F】, in the past two days, apart from the already exposed Sun Cheng, we have only found some faint traces of this suspicious organization."

As Secretary-General of the Presidential Palace, Wang An was naturally clear about the ambitions of the President, who had been committed to leading the Xia Country back to the forefront of the world's powerful nations since his successful re-election.

If 【P·C·F】 were truly as miraculous as they claimed, the President would never mind taking a few shortcuts on the road to the rise of the Xia Country.

He then asked: "Director Liu, can the current investigation results of the State Security Bureau confirm that 【P·C·F】 truly exists? Just now, when you were discussing some investigations regarding Sun Cheng, you also mentioned quite a few suspicious points!"

"There are indeed many suspicious points regarding Sun Cheng, and it can basically be confirmed that what he said when he was in contact with us was not entirely true. For example, if he had joined 【P·C·F】 two years ago, how could he have been scammed by loan sharks at the beginning of this year? This point alone contradicts his previous statements."

"By the way, we suspect that a case from a few months ago, involving the murder of the boss of the loan shark company that scammed Sun Cheng, may be related to him. It is reported that the Nandu police have yet to solve this homicide case."

"However, according to our investigation, even if 【P·C·F】 is fake, the fact that there is another force behind Sun Cheng has already been confirmed."

"We investigated all the capital flows of Cybertron Technology Group, including Sun Cheng himself, over the past six months and discovered over 6.3 billion Xia Yuan, equivalent to approximately 1.1 billion US dollars, in unidentified funds."

"The source of the funds is unknown; the data provided by major banks all show that these funds were transferred into the company accounts of Sun Cheng himself and Cybertron Technology Group through formal channels."

"Continuing the investigation, these funds have spent time in the stock, futures, and even Bitcoin markets of multiple countries around the world, with sources pointing to various offshore companies and overseas offshore jurisdictions."

"The professionalism and sophistication of the money laundering methods are undoubtedly something a college student who just graduated could never achieve; its experience and concealment are no less than those of old-fashioned European and American banking giants like Morgan, Citi, and UBS."

The vast majority of normal people do not know that the bright and glamorous world-renowned banks in their eyes have hidden original sins; almost every one of them is an expert at money laundering.

In fact, one only needs to pay a little attention to the news to find that almost every year, news of fines against different banking giants for suspected money laundering appears in the media of various countries.

It is no exaggeration to say that over 70% of the black money generated worldwide every year from war, drugs, and crime is successfully laundered through banks.

And the reason major banking giants would rather be fined hundreds of millions or even over a billion US dollars by their own or other governments than let go of this piece of black-hearted meat is that money laundering is simply too profitable.

Because the source of black money is not legal, in the process of money laundering, banking giants can righteously charge service fees even higher than those of loan sharks.

As long as they are not detected by the government, a single such deal can often yield a huge profit.

If they encounter a deal involving the exiled dictators of some small African countries being overthrown, they earn even more.

Perhaps because he had been speaking for too long, his throat was a bit dry.

Or perhaps he just wanted to give everyone more time to digest the content he had just spoken.

Liu Zhen paused, picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and after more than ten seconds, continued: "There are many similar findings. For example, the storage hard drives of Cybertron Technology Group—our bureau's technical personnel have studied them, and whether it is the input/output algorithm, or the materials and production processes, they all differ significantly from similar products from Western Digital, Seagate, and Micron."

"Moreover, looking at the sales method and price, their costs are also far lower than those of Western Digital, Seagate, and Micron. According to the technical personnel, apart from technological innovation, only by losing money to gain market share could they possibly sell at this price."

"We believe that Cybertron Technology Group belongs to the former."

For a full half-hour, it was basically Liu Zhen speaking, while others listened or took notes.

There was no help for it; the first to contact 【P·C·F】 was the State Security Bureau, and as one of the only two major intelligence agencies on the surface of the Xia Country, the State Security Bureau possesses intelligence gathering and counter-espionage capabilities that span the globe.

As the director of the State Security Bureau, Liu Zhen is indeed the person among the high-level officials of the Xia Country who currently understands the mysterious organization 【P·C·F】 the most.

After some exchange among several bigwigs from different ministries and commissions, some original doubts were resolved, but new ones emerged instead.

Yuan Yicheng, Sun Long, and Wang Yuan, who had been left aside for over half an hour, began to report on their work as the first batch of people sent by various ministries to attempt contact with Sun Cheng.

The first to report was Yuan Yicheng: "Technology and intelligence are not my strengths; let me first talk about some of my personal feelings and views from my first contact with that young man named Sun Cheng."

"From the data, this young man named Sun Cheng just graduated from Nanjing University of Technology. I don't mean to belittle science and engineering students or fresh college graduates, but many young people who have just graduated from university could never have that kind of composure and calmness."

"During the contact, the other party displayed excellent scene control ability, which at one point made me feel like I was negotiating with the high-level executives of some multinational giants; that kind of confidence and ease gave one the feeling of someone who frequently frequents such occasions."

After Yuan Yicheng's report finished, next was Sun Long.

He first gave a military salute before speaking: "……The mobile phone Sun Cheng used is an Apple brand, but it possesses extremely advanced optical projection functions; it should have been specially manufactured for him by the force behind him."

"It can project several light screens. I tried clicking on the light screens, and it projected even more introductory light screens."

"It is completely different from the projection technology already on the market; instead, it is more similar to the kind of virtual projection that can be touched and interacted with, commonly seen in science fiction movies."

"Conservatively estimated, it is at least one to two generations ahead of the current projection technology of various countries."

"……There are a total of 143 different technologies and equipment in the Mall that Sun Cheng showed us, among which 57 types of technology and equipment involve military aspects."

"I once deliberately questioned the 【F100 Turbofan Engine】 related technology he provided, hoping to obtain more useful information, but the other party did not take the bait; the probing failed."

"The target, just as Department Chief Yuan said, appeared very calm and confident. Combined with the virtual projection technology he revealed, my belief in the authenticity of this organization named 【P·C·F】 has changed from complete disbelief to half-belief."

"This is a list of some technologies and equipment extremely important to the national defense of the Xia Country that I preliminarily organized on the way here, and the other is the full list!"

"From my personal point of view, if what Sun Cheng said is true, the organization 【P·C·F】 does indeed exist."

"Then the country should actively cooperate with it and can take the opportunity to obtain some key technologies and cutting-edge equipment blocked by the 【Bawa Agreement】."

"Necessary risks can sometimes be taken."

"That is all, report finished!"

Unlike Yuan Yicheng's previous report, the report from Sun Long of the 【Equipment Department】 included two lists of military technology and equipment he had organized himself, which caused the conference room to exchange whispers for quite a while; clearly, his speech moved many people.

Over ten minutes later, Wang Yuan, who was the last to be called, began his report.

"Sun Cheng provided 143 types of commodities. I don't know much about those involving national defense, but regarding industrial equipment, I discovered that almost everything that appeared on it is cutting-edge equipment that our country is currently in short supply of, and the technical content is very high."

"I personally have a deep impression of the Lithography Machine; let me just report on it briefly!"

"……Because of the background that the United States led the effort to list the Xia Country as a controlled country under the 【Bawa Agreement】 at the end of the last century, since the 1990s, the semiconductor industry that our country had continuously invested a large amount of resources to develop in the 1970s and 1980s suffered a devastating blow!"

"And the Lithography Machine and etching machine, these two major pieces of cutting-edge equipment vital to semiconductor production, have always been products that the 【Bawa Agreement】 explicitly prohibits from being exported to our country."

"The etching machine is fine, because the 【Precision Instrument Manufacturing Company】 conquered the relevant technology, and there is no obvious gap between our country and European and American enterprises in the field of etching machines."

"However, in the field of Lithography Machines, our country's backwardness is very obvious."

"... I was only transferred from my previous post to be responsible for special equipment procurement in the middle of the year before last!"

"Because of the restrictions of the Bawa Agreement, the most advanced lithography machines that the Dutch lithography giant, ASML, exported to our country for a very long time were only 32nm-class DUV Deep Ultraviolet Lithography Machines!"

"It wasn't until the beginning of the year before last that the Precision Instrument Manufacturing Company officially conquered the 32nm-class DUV Deep Ultraviolet Lithography Machine, and only half a month later did the Dutch authorities approve a 28nm-class DUV Deep Ultraviolet Lithography Machine that our country's enterprise had purchased from ASML a year prior."

"Last year, I, along with all the other comrades from the National Control Bureau, participated in the negotiations for the China Microelectronics Manufacturing Company to import 22nm-class EUV Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Machines produced by the Dutch lithography giant ASML."

"At the time, it was less a negotiation with ASML and more a negotiation with Western countries, especially the United States authorities."

"In the end, ASML did indeed approve the sale of 22nm-class EUV Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Machines to us, but we paid an extremely high price for it."

"We purchased four 22nm-class lithography machines at a 17% premium per unit; two of them were paid for in full and delivered by the middle and end of this year, while the other two required half the cost to be prepaid, with shipments arriving one after another only next year."

"Besides that, these four 22nm-class lithography machines purchased by the China Microelectronics Manufacturing Company must not only be regularly inspected by work groups sent by ASML and cannot be dismantled for research without authorization, but they also cannot be used to produce chips applied in the military field."

"This is the negotiation result known to everyone on the surface; in private, the state even handed over three American spies caught within our borders and an American drug trafficker sentenced to death to the United States for this!"

"It is no exaggeration to call it humiliating!"

"Yet we had no choice but to accept the other party's arrogant additional conditions, because as the world's factory, we cannot produce qualified chips without lithography machines."

"... Because of this experience, I have personally paid much more attention to lithography machines."

"When I was in contact with Sun Cheng today, among the products he brought out were two 14nm-class EUV Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Machines, and he even had a complete set of production technology!"

"Although his introduction was vague, he did not set any additional conditions, and while the selling price was slightly higher than the 22nm-class lithography machines we purchased back then, he supports payment in Xia Yuan instead of US dollars."

"This alone was enough for me to make the decision to purchase four units after a brief exchange with Division Chief Yuan!"

"As for the risks, I believe that since the Cybertron Group is in the country and they support payment in Xia Yuan, we only need to coordinate with the banks in advance and maintain surveillance on the senior management of the Cybertron Group, especially Sun Cheng; once it is determined that he has the intention to leave the country, we will take control of him."

"In this way, the risk can be controlled within a range we can accept."

"And if there really is a powerful force behind Sun Cheng, then this deal is all profit and no loss for us. I believe the state, the Precision Instrument Manufacturing Company, and the China Microelectronics Manufacturing Company will all be very willing to pay for this transaction."

Wang Yuan's argument was reasonable and well-founded; the National Control Bureau already has the duty to represent the state in purchasing high-end equipment from overseas enterprises at certain times.

Therefore, although their rash decision-making was inconsistent with the previous decisions of the National Control Bureau's senior management, the attending Director of the National Control Bureau, Yan Zhe, also nodded slightly as he listened.

The Precision Instrument Manufacturing Company is a state-owned enterprise managed by the National Control Bureau and is the largest manufacturer of low-to-mid-end chips and semiconductors in Xia Country and even the world.

In recent years, with the explosive growth of smart devices, the country needs to import more than 100 billion US dollars worth of chips every year.

Chips have long since surpassed oil to become a major consumer of Xia Country's foreign exchange, which is why the state's top leadership attaches increasing importance to the development of the domestic semiconductor industry.

If it were really possible to exchange for four advanced lithography machines that Western countries strictly forbid from exporting to Xia, a little controllable risk would be worth taking.

The meeting lasted for nearly two hours, and only then was a consensus reached.

"I understand. So, the opinion of both the National Control Bureau and the Equipment Department is to advocate taking some risks and purchasing a batch of equipment and technology from the other party to test the reality of the mysterious organization 'P·C·F'... Very well, I will truthfully convey your opinions to the President..."

The presiding Secretary-General of the Presidential Palace, Wang An, nodded slightly and ended the meeting with one sentence.