The Shadow of an Insider

Han Zheng's words drove into Sheng Lan's memory like a nail.

But she had no time to think about them.

On March 8, C.E. 71, the day after the Black Iron Prototype's extreme testing concluded, an anomaly alert appeared in the 811 Institute's internal security system.

At 1:17 a.m., an unauthorized query appeared in the access logs for the third tier of the materials database.

The target was the fourth iteration document for the initial Taogang Alloy formula.

The terminal's physical address pointed to Workstation Three in Area B of the Materials Group.

When Sheng Lan received the alert, she was in her office organizing Han Zheng's test report. After reviewing the logs, she did not act immediately. Instead, she removed the alert notification from the system and replaced it with a false processed marker.

The following morning, she knocked on Lin Yuan's door.

"Director, we have a situation."

Lin Yuan was reviewing a preliminary test schedule for the Plasma Reactor without looking up.

"Go on."

"At 1:17 yesterday morning, the materials database was accessed without authorization. It was the fourth Taogang formula. The terminal was Workstation Three in Area B of the Materials Group, using Zhao Minghui's employee ID."

"Who is Zhao Minghui?"

"A metallurgical engineer brought in by Xu Yanqiu. He is responsible for calibrating the parameters of the Taogang crystallization temperature-control module. He transferred from the Materials Bureau last year. His family is in this city."

Lin Yuan turned a page.

"What makes you think so?"

Sheng Lan placed a printout on the desk.

"I checked every operation record under his employee ID for the last two weeks. He used Workstation Three seven times during the day, all for data retrieval within his normal work scope. Only this time, at one in the morning, he accessed not the temperature-control module he was responsible for, but the entire formula framework."

"He did it himself?"

"Not certain. There are two possibilities. First, he was instructed to copy it himself. Second, someone remotely logged in using his employee ID."

Lin Yuan set down the document and leaned back in his chair.

"You didn't lock down the system."

"No."

"Why not?"

Sheng Lan ran a finger along the edge of her memo pad.

"If Zhao Minghui is the only one involved, locking it down would solve the problem. But if there is someone behind him, locking it down would only alert them. If they switch to another channel, I won't be able to track them."

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"What do you intend to do?"

"Set bait."

"What kind of bait?"

Sheng Lan took three folded sheets from her pocket, unfolded them, and spread them across the desk. Each contained a summary of a Taogang formula. At a glance, they looked similar, but the key parameters differed.

"Three fake formulas. Crystallization temperature, rare-earth ratio, and stress-annealing procedure—each has one deliberate error in its three core data points. The errors lead in different directions. An outsider would not notice, but any laboratory trying to reconstruct the formula would produce results that veered down three different paths."

Lin Yuan picked up the first sheet and studied it for several seconds.

"Who are you feeding these three to?"

"The first will be released through the approval chain for Area B of the Materials Group, where Zhao Minghui works. If he is truly being used by someone, this one will travel through the channel behind him."

"The second?"

"Through the supplier interface for the 811 Institute's external technical procurement. We have three rare-earth alloy suppliers. Shenghe Trading and Huantai Heavy Industries have clean backgrounds, but the third, Hualian Metallurgy, has two layers of shell companies in its ownership structure. Their ultimate registration is in Alaska."

Lin Yuan tapped the desk once with his finger.

"And the third?"

"Through the National Defense Committee's internal briefing channel. It will be a sanitized version, but the direction of its parameter errors will be distinctive. If it ultimately ends up in the Atlantic Federation's hands, that means someone inside the National Defense Committee is passing along documents."

The office fell silent for ten seconds.

The air-conditioning vent emitted a steady, low hum.

"Sheng Lan."

"Yes."

"You have full authority over this matter. Do not go through the Intelligence Bureau. Do not notify any third party. Issue orders under your Executive Director authority and raise the classification to Class A."

"Understood."

"How long until you get results?"

"One week at the earliest, two at the latest. The fake formulas need time to circulate, and they need time to verify them. I'm not waiting to see who takes them. I'm waiting to see who pays for them."

Lin Yuan pushed the three sheets back to her.

"Do it."

Sheng Lan put away the papers and turned toward the door.

"Director."

"What?"

"We leave Zhao Minghui alone for now?"

"Leave him alone. If you touch him, the people above him will pull back."

"What if he keeps passing data during that time?"

"Everything he sees from today onward will be replaced with fake versions. I'll brief Xu Yanqiu. The real data will be transferred to an independent terminal and physically isolated."

Sheng Lan nodded and opened the door.

The fluorescent lights in the corridor were painfully white. She took three steps, then suddenly stopped.

She turned and looked at Lin Yuan.

"Director, what if the person we uncover is sitting very high up in the National Defense Committee?"

Lin Yuan had already picked up the Plasma Reactor schedule again.

"The higher they sit, the harder they fall."

Nine days later.

Sheng Lan's encrypted terminal received a report from an informant inside Hualian Metallurgy.

The second fake formula had been sold as a package for 370,000 Federation credits. The buyer had used a technology consulting company registered in Alaska.

The company's legal representative was an unfamiliar name, but she recognized the banking transfer node in the money trail.

A private account belonging to the Grove Family, an Atlantic Federation arms conglomerate.

Henry Grove.

She spent two days tracing the money chain backward, through three shell companies and two offshore accounts, until it finally led to a payment instruction sent from within East Asia.

The remitter's bank registration used a false identity, but the IP address of the transfer terminal pointed to an apartment in South District, the capital of East Asia.

The apartment's registered resident was Chen Weichang, administrative secretary to Luo Qiming, the National Defense Committee's coordination director.

Sheng Lan printed the screenshots and sealed them, along with the money-flow chart, in a manila envelope.

At eleven that night, she knocked on the door of Lin Yuan's office.

Lin Yuan was studying a satellite tactical map. Several new red points had appeared over the marked L3 Sector.

Sheng Lan placed the envelope on the desk.

"Director, the second fake formula passed through Hualian Metallurgy to Henry Grove. The purchase was paid from Grove's private account, but the intelligence source that triggered the transaction was within East Asia."

Lin Yuan opened the envelope and pulled out the printouts.

Every node on the money-flow chart was marked with a timestamp and amount. Beside the final red circle, Sheng Lan had written a name in black ink.

Chen Weichang.

"Luo Qiming's secretary." Lin Yuan set the printout back on the desk.

"Not just that." Sheng Lan took another document from her pocket. "Chen Weichang contacted Hualian Metallurgy eleven times over the past six months, all using disposable communication cards. Also, the first fake formula has moved."

"Zhao Minghui's line?"

"Zhao Minghui was indeed being used, but not by an outside force. It was Qian Yongnian, deputy director of the 811 Institute's Logistics Support Office. Qian Yongnian and Chen Weichang are from the same hometown and have close ties."

Lin Yuan laid the two documents side by side on the desk.

Silence lasted for five seconds.

"What about the third?"

"It has not moved yet. The National Defense Committee line is quiet for now."

"Give it time." Lin Yuan closed the envelope. "Sheng Lan, from this point on, archive everything in your hands under Class A classification. Once the third one produces results as well, I want it all laid out on the table at once."

"Director, what setting?"

Lin Yuan stood and walked to the tactical map, pointing at a line of small text in the corner of the screen.

It was the agenda for the National Defense Committee next week.

Item Seven: Budget Review Hearing for the 811 Institute.

"Luo Qiming wants to hold a hearing and audit my books." Lin Yuan turned around. "Then let him hold it."

Sheng Lan watched his back and slipped the envelope into her inner pocket.

"Director, if we expose everything directly at the hearing, Luo Qiming may lash out in desperation."

"Even if he jumps, he needs a wall to jump over."

Lin Yuan rested his fingers on the frame of the tactical map.

"Starting today, freeze his authority to approve and process all United Army technology cooperation projects under his name. The reason is a security review. He cannot jump over any wall, because I've already taken away his ladder."