Chapter 98: Cleanup

New Year’s Eve.

Even though fireworks and firecrackers were banned in the city, it was still the holiday, and occasionally, the sound of kids playing with pop-its could be heard in the villa neighborhood—crackling and popping.

The blue diamond Patek Philippe on his wrist reflected brilliant starlight.

Liang Jinguo glanced at it—4 p.m.

The steamed perch on the stove was just about ready. He got up and, with the small pot on the side bubbling with hot oil, sprinkled some freshly chopped seasoning on the fish. As soon as the hot oil hit it, a rich aroma burst forth and drifted far.

His private phone buzzed from the leather sofa. The caller ID showed it was You Ai, the executive assistant from the secretary office.

Liang Jinguo was busy and said to his son Liang Jian, who was reading The Three-Body Problem, “Probably just calling to offer New Year’s greetings. You answer it.”

Moments later, Liang Jian brought the phone into the kitchen, his expression a bit odd.

Liang Jinguo took the phone, suspicious. On the other end, You Ai’s voice came through with a faint electric hum: “President Liang, there’s an urgent matter. You might need to come to the office.”

You Ai had been his assistant for years—always steady and meticulous.

She was always calm, but this time, Liang Jinguo could hear tension in her voice.

“What happened?”

“Just now, I was informed the Municipal Human Resources Bureau will be visiting in half an hour. They only said they’re coming to process Consultant Qin’s resignation…”

Liang Jinguo thought he misheard: “Who? Process what?”

“For Qin Qing—Consultant Qin. They’re here to process her resignation. The caller was polite, very courteous, even apologized for disturbing us. But I don’t think it’s that simple.”

Of course it wasn’t simple. Even with half a brain, it was obvious—what kind of straightforward task had to be handled on New Year’s Eve? A resignation?

He had never heard of any resignation requiring the Human Resources Bureau to get involved, especially with the employee themselves nowhere in sight.

Liang Jinguo tore off his apron.

“Where’s Consultant Qin? Did she say she was coming?”

You Ai: “I’ve been trying to call her on another phone during our conversation, but no one’s answering.”

“Have Vice President Chen head to the office now. I’ll come as soon as I can.”

You Ai: “Okay, I’ve already messaged Vice President Chen. He’s on the way with the relevant HR managers. Also, one of the directors from the Government Affairs Department is on duty tonight—I’ve told him to prep an office and meet the visitors downstairs.”

After hanging up, Liang Jinguo called Qin Qing several times himself, even had Liang Jian try, but it was either busy or unanswered.

His expression turned grave. Liang Jian asked anxiously, “Something happened to her?”

“Not necessarily. You two go ahead and eat—don’t wait for me. I’m going to the office.”

“I’ll come too.”

“No.”

Liang Jinguo’s residence wasn’t particularly convenient to reach the office from. By the time he rushed to the company, forty minutes had passed—the Human Resources Bureau was likely already there.

You Ai was waiting at the front lobby.

She stood in the shadow of the automatic doors, holding a black umbrella. When she saw his car, she rushed to open the door and held out the umbrella.

Before he could speak, she began briefing him.

“President Liang, they’ve arrived. Not just the HR Bureau—also the Cyber Security Unit, the Public Security Technical Analysis Division, and a joint task force from the Bureau of Confidential Affairs. That’s just the ones who showed credentials. There are two others we don’t know which agency they’re from. They brought a coordination letter from the Economic Crime Investigation Unit, and… an industrial-grade degaussing device. They even brought their own shredder.

“They’re not just here to process Consultant Qin’s resignation—they’ve demanded immediate sealing and review of all her work records. Since she had submitted reimbursements before, I also called in the Finance Department—they’re currently searching the archives for her receipts.”

After a moment’s thought, You Ai added, “It doesn’t look like they’re targeting the company. It seems to be strictly an investigation into Consultant Qin.”

The visitors were being hosted in the best reception room, adjacent to the executive office on the 37th floor.

The central air conditioning was running, but the entire office floor felt like a vacuum-sealed can.

The people in the reception room were already at work. When Liang Jinguo entered, a man in a dark gray jacket, seemingly the lead, nodded at him: “Wang Ke. President Liang, I apologize for the intrusion on New Year’s Eve. This is a work necessity—we will complete it quickly and leave.”

Wang Ke did not state which agency he was from.

After the greeting, he stood silently to the side, watching the busy room.

Liang Jinguo tried to ask, “About Consultant Qin…”

As he spoke, Wang Ke looked at him with a polite smile, as if attentively listening. But no matter what Liang Jinguo said, he never responded—just kept smiling.

Vice President Chen, in charge of HR, stood beside Wang Ke. A bit of her loungewear was visible under her cashmere coat.

She gave Liang Jinguo a helpless shake of the head—clearly, she had already been through this.

The three stood in silence, while the only sounds were pages flipping and fast-moving images on monitors.

After a while, one of the staff gave Wang Ke an “OK” gesture.

Only then did Wang Ke stir from his statue-like state. “Since Qin Qing has now resigned, per Article 56 of the Personal Information Protection Law and Article 15 of the Labor Security Supervision Regulations, we need to perform a compliance cleanup of her entire digital footprint during her employment. We will also need your cooperation in tracing any associated personnel data.”

His tone still sounded like an AI reciting legal terms.

Under his gaze, Liang Jinguo nodded.

Wang Ke waved at his team.

They resumed their work.

Liang Jinguo watched a female technician in a navy uniform drag Qin Qing’s OA account into a deletion zone.

Another man in a gray jacket opened a silver equipment case at his feet. A laser burner whirred to life like a buzzing bee. Liang Jinguo noticed their shredder’s label—it was a Kemi S2890, the type used exclusively by the archives bureau. Blade temperature: -18°C.

All paper records related to Qin Qing were rapidly disappearing.

Every project she’d ever participated in was being scrubbed clean.

A man in a windbreaker stood beside him, a black tactical glove visible at his wrist. “From this moment, all electronic devices in your company that have interacted with Qin Qing will be taken over by us.”

He opened another silver case. Six screens lit up blue. Amid the keyboard tapping, surveillance footage of Qin Qing dissolved into pixelated static: her coffee mug, her reimbursed taxi receipts, even the record of the ceramic figurine she won in the annual party raffle—all shredded into meaningless code in the database.

…

That night, with the cheerful background music of the Spring Festival Gala playing, Liang Jinguo returned home.

Liang Jian came to help hang up his coat and noticed odd metallic fragments on it—residue like crushed circuit boards. The sound of the Gala couldn’t fill the living room. The golden arowana in the fish tank was scraping algae off the glass.

“Dad… what about her?”

Liang Jinguo waved it off. “Nothing big. All taken care of.”

Liang Jian pressed his lips together and held up his phone. “Sister You Ai deleted last year’s team-building photo from her Moments. The annual party photo with her in it is gone too…”

Suddenly remembering something, Liang Jinguo pulled out his phone and opened the encrypted cloud drive—the overseas acquisition risk report Qin Qing had done last year. It now showed: “This file contains unreadable content.”

He turned to his son. “All I can say is, this probably isn’t a bad thing for her. Don’t ask more. And don’t investigate. Don’t contact her for now—wait for her to reach out to you.”

Outside the window, a golden firework exploded, lighting up the copy of The Three-Body Problem on the coffee table.

The page was open to the final ten minutes of the Deterrence Era, where one line read: Hide yourself well, and complete the cleanup.

—

Qin Qing was fiddling with a newly acquired phone.

“Doesn’t look any different.”

Zhang Yao: “Of course. It’s the same model as your previous phone. Just modified inside—new chips installed. But don’t worry, it won’t invade your privacy. It just has anti-tracking, anti-surveillance, and encrypted communication functions. Right now, only your parents and I can reach this phone. As for the rest of your contacts—they’ll need to be reviewed. Once cleared, you can talk to them normally. Anyone new you add later will also require prior registration.”

“Sounds like a hassle.”

“These little things will be handled for you. Shouldn’t be too much trouble. A bit of hassle is better than leaving things to fate.”

Qin Qing: “So can I go home now?”

Zhang Yao made a gesture of invitation.

He added, “Your security team is on their way. You’ll meet them tomorrow.”

Qin Qing took a few steps, then turned back as something occurred to her. “My dog—you said you’d take care of it.”

“Oh, that…” Zhang Yao chuckled and shook his head, expression hard to describe.

Qin Qing looked suspicious. “Don’t tell me you lost my dog. If that’s the case, I might need to reconsider signing this contract.”

Zhang Yao said, “It’s doing great! I sent it as a sample to the military dog training base. The trainer assigned to it calls me three times a day asking when I’m going to take it back. Says it clearly understands commands and executes them well, but has zero obedience. It’s lazy, stubborn, and completely rebellious. Doesn’t follow orders at all—only listens to praise. If it’s even slightly unhappy, it starts a revolution in the base, rallying the comfort dogs and leading them into trouble.”

Zhang Yao gave Qin Qing a very skeptical look.

Qin Qing quickly clarified, “Don’t look at me like that—I didn’t teach it that. It was very well-behaved with me.”

Zhang Yao didn’t argue. “Come on, I’ll take you to pick it up. Let the other dogs at the base have a peaceful New Year.”

———

The Three-Body Problem is a groundbreaking hard science fiction novel by Chinese author Liu Cixin, originally published in 2008 and winner of the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel . It’s the first book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, which has been adapted into multiple TV series including Netflix’s 3 Body Problem in 2024