Chapter 105: Meritorious Service

Let’s rewind to a day earlier.

After Qin Qing informed Zhang Yao about the situation with Zhang Yuwen and Tang Yun Apparel, the other alerts she had set up remained silent. Based on her experience from the previous meeting, if there were no alerts now, there likely wouldn’t be any later either.

This meant she would have to stand by idly with these executives for the entire day.

Perhaps she could see if there were any juicy gossip among these executives to alleviate her boredom?

Upon opening the System Panel, Qin Qing found a better way to pass the time.

The incident with Zhang Yuwen was a result of her unintentionally exporting military-grade materials to a foreign company with defense ties, which constituted a threat to national security.

That’s why the System Panel flagged it as a potential espionage case.

However, this incident gave Qin Qing an idea.

Were there other overlooked civilian black technologies?

Qin Qing reset her alerts.

And indeed, she discovered a hidden gem.

The entrepreneur involved was named Jia Liu.

In his fifties, he had a diverse range of businesses.

During a coffee break, Jia Liu was called away by staff, leaving the other executives puzzled.

And he never returned.

The other executives thought, “This process seems familiar. Zhang Yuwen was called away before the meeting and never came back.”

Though they didn’t voice it, the situation made everyone uneasy.

As for Jia Liu, he was even more anxious.

We won’t delve into his nervous journey; suffice it to say he was brought before the Black Jackets duo who had come specifically for him.

Yes, it was the same Black Jackets who had interrogated Zhang Yuwen.

These two were already quite experienced.

They quickly extracted the whole story from Jia Liu.

In the past, Jia Liu, wanting to enter the youth market, had jumped on the bandwagon and started an e-cigarette company.

He entered the market late, but his products had unique features, and a few years ago, he made quite a profit.

Jia Liu’s e-cigarette subsidiary’s main product feature was flavored e-cigarettes.

With various floral and fruity flavors, the taste simulation was highly accurate, making them popular among young women and novice smokers.

However, he noticed a problem: young people were often careless and would accidentally drop their e-cigarettes.

Over 80% of after-sales issues stemmed from atomizers malfunctioning due to accidental drops.

To completely solve this problem and create a second product feature, Jia Liu ordered his team to focus on making the product drop-resistant.

The company team made no progress, but the solution came from Jia Liu’s highly educated son, who was unemployed at home.

He achieved this innovative design.

This innovation was remarkable.

Jia Liu himself was unaware, but the Black Jackets had received information from the Risk Warning Management Center, and last night’s inspection report showed that this innovation was groundbreaking.

The e-cigarette chip’s innovation used a Fractal Honeycomb Structure design, etching 2.7 million micro-buffer units on a 1-square-millimeter chip surface, each containing a three-level stress dissipation layer.

Moreover, there were breakthroughs in material performance for the sensor diaphragm and wafer packaging.

What impressed the authorities most was the Dynamic Baseline Calibration Technology, which allowed the chip to maintain high precision even under extreme vibrations.

This technology could be applied to precision calibration for smart munitions detonation and drone interference resistance in strong winds and GPS-denied environments.

Its wind resistance level surpassed current military technology.

Who would have thought that such advanced technology was developed by an e-cigarette company to solve a drop-resistance issue?

The Black Jackets marveled internally, though their expressions remained unchanged.

They asked seriously, “Did you know this drop-resistance technology is a breakthrough technology?”

Jia Liu replied, “I know, my son told me this technology is impressive… well.”

“Since you knew, why didn’t you report the technology?”

Jia Liu shrugged, “Well, my company has shut down, so this technology isn’t useful anymore.”

“Didn’t you say the e-cigarette revenue was good? Why did you suddenly shut down?”

“Comrades, that was a long time ago. Now, the country’s regulations on e-cigarettes are getting stricter every year. Last year, to enhance protection for minors, our local policy directly prohibited the production and sale of non-tobacco flavored products in the jurisdiction.

My e-cigarette company mainly produced flavored cigarettes. When this policy came out, it was like a bolt from the blue. Relying solely on tobacco-flavored products, business plummeted. There was no profit, so I shut it down to focus on other ventures.

To be honest, this drop-resistance technology wasn’t even used in products for long.”

The questioning Black Jackets were speechless.

The recording Black Jackets looked at their colleague, took over the questioning, and asked, “You said this technology was developed by your son. Where is your son now?”

“That kid, after getting his PhD, planned to join a research institute, but he didn’t get the recommended spot from his school, and the institute he wanted didn’t recruit from the public, only through university recommendations.

In the end, he was overqualified for some jobs and underqualified for others, so he stayed unemployed at home for a while.

I thought, since he couldn’t join a research institute, he might as well take over my business.

We have such a big family business; he needs to get familiar with it first. So, I put him in the grassroots. Lately, he should be in the marketing department doing sales.”

The recording Black Jackets were speechless again.

He and his colleague exchanged glances, not expecting this entrepreneur’s thinking to be so… well… straightforward.

The questioning was almost done; since they had understood the situation, they could proceed with the technology transfer process.

They took Jia Liu to the conference room where the officers were, while the Black Jackets found a place next door to sit and wait for the next lucky person to be discovered.

If Qin Qing were there, she would have told them they were waiting in vain today.

After all, it was a hidden gem, and at most, there would only be one or two. If they found a bunch, it would be mass-produced artificial pearls.

Not to mention the quality of the pearls, the comrades responsible for surveying and assessing private enterprise technology would be in trouble.

Even so, just these two oversights required someone to take responsibility.

In a top-secret military facility.

A general slammed the folder in his hand, making a loud noise.

This was Gu Weijun, General Gu, who had been in charge of the Equipment Development Department for twenty years, and he was extremely irritable at the moment.

Behind him, on the screen, were the impact resistance data of Imitation Tang Brocade and the wind resistance test report of the e-cigarette chip, automatically flipping through the slides.

General Gu stood up, and the projected images cast a mottled pattern on his face.

“Chief Zhao,” General Gu’s voice was like sandpaper grinding titanium alloy, “explain why the technical parameters of the T1000 Carbon Fiber, the best in our national defense patent library, can’t compare to a small Hanfu workshop in Shandong?”

Zhao Zhigang, the Director of the Intelligence Analysis Department, swallowed hard, cold sweat forming on the back of his neck. He could clearly see the 2021-2023 Military Technology White Paper on the general’s desk, open to the carbon fiber section, with the conclusion he had signed off three years ago, “No civilian technology breakthroughs in this field,” glaringly circled in red.

“It’s my fault for not doing my job well!”

Who could have imagined that a company making flashy Hanfu could achieve such a significant technological breakthrough?

The more General Gu thought about it, the angrier he became.

He was just short of pointing at Zhao Zhigang’s nose and cursing.

“You should know, the only reason you have the chance to stand here and admit your mistake is because those 500 tons of fabric were intercepted in time and didn’t successfully leave the country.”

Zhao Zhigang hung his head.

General Gu paced angrily around the office.

Zhao Zhigang followed him, offering a cup of tea, “General, it’s my fault, I’ll take the punishment, and I’ll find a way to make up for this oversight. Please calm down, calm down, be careful of your blood pressure.”

General Gu waved his hand away; he couldn’t listen to anything now.

“If it had been our people who discovered this loophole, it would have been fine. But now? A junior intelligence analyst from National Security dug it up while on a mission. We’re all in the intelligence business; this is a slap in your face, a slap in the face of our Equipment Development Department!!!

If it were just one, it would be fine. But from just one Private Enterprise Symposium, with so few companies and so few people, they found two oversights!”

Zhao Zhigang stood silently, letting him vent.

After a long time, General Gu finally caught his breath while sitting in his swivel chair.

Only then did Zhao Zhigang salute, turn around, and prepare to leave.

General Gu: “Where are you going?!”

“Reporting to the General, I’m going to restart the ‘Catfish Project’ to continuously assess the progress of civilian technology. I made the mistake, and I’ll fix it.”

General Gu ordered, “Come back!”

Zhao Zhigang turned back and stood at attention in front of the desk.

Gu Weijun didn’t look at Zhao Zhigang. He lit a cigarette he found in the drawer, perhaps expired, as it was a bit harsh.

He looked at the projection screen.

The projection showed the test video of the e-cigarette chip. On the simulated test bench, the fingernail-sized chip, after enduring an 8-level wind impact, still kept data fluctuations precisely controlled within ±0.05%.

“I’ll give you 72 hours,” Gu Weijun said. “I want to see a feasible rectification plan, focusing on three areas: the reconstruction of military technology prediction models, the mechanism for connecting with civilian innovation forces, and… countermeasures against foreign technology hunts. Experiencing a technological breach once is enough!”

Zhao Zhigang saluted again, “Yes, I guarantee to complete the task.”

“Additionally,” Gu Weijun turned around again.

“Since National Security performed outstandingly in this matter, we don’t need to fight alone. They have the technology and talent; seeking cooperation is the best solution. I’ve already submitted a joint operation request earlier and received approval. Choose some people, set aside your arrogance, and learn from their advanced intelligence experience.”

“Yes.”

Gu Weijun flicked the remote, changing the projection.

It was a military satellite map, densely packed with red dots flashing in the central and eastern regions. Each dot represented a potential strategic technology discovered in previous major assessments, names that had once been on the “Catfish Project” list.

At the same time, in Feng Qiuyang’s office.

Qin Qing, still wearing her makeup, met her superior again and received new instructions.

“When I joined, I wasn’t told the task density would be this high. I haven’t even completed the follow-up meeting task, and there’s already a new one?”

Feng Qiuyang, usually serious, smiled for once, “This time you did a great job, and the higher-ups are very pleased. There is a new task, but it’s not something you need to do right now. It’s just to inform you in advance.”

“So?”

“This symposium had too few participating companies for you to fully utilize your skills. Therefore, the higher-ups decided to collaborate with the Equipment Development Department to continuously identify unreported ‘flawed technologies’ in the civilian sector. The form is still under discussion. It might involve quickly organizing industry-specific private enterprise meetings in Beifu or forming an inspection team to conduct on-site assessments across the country.”

Qin Qing: “So, is this a warning for a business trip?”

Feng Qiuyang raised an eyebrow. “I’d prefer you to think of it as a notification for a medal of merit.”