Ye Qingluan's words stayed with Lin Yuan for the entire night.
It was not because he was nervous. ZAFT's appearance had been entirely within his expectations. What truly kept him awake was what he discovered when he reviewed the tech tree after the communication ended.
At two in the morning, in the independent office area on the third underground floor of the Special Equipment Bureau, Lin Yuan sat beneath the only lit desk lamp. The terminal screen before him was black.
He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the vast engineering blueprint database within his mind.
Taogang Alloy. The smelting process, casting standards, and industrial mass-production parameters were all complete.
Explosive Warhead System. The warhead structure, propellant ratios, and rifling design were all complete.
Plasma Reactor. The fundamental principles, miniaturization plans, and Mobile Suit-level adaptation framework were all complete.
Up to this point, everything was normal.
But when he tried to open the higher-level templates, the problem emerged.
The Void Shield technical framework was complete, but the core parameter section for the large-scale matrix networking protocol was blank.
The Machine Soul AI's standalone assistance modules were fully available, but the advanced architecture involving multi-unit coordinated judgment and autonomous learning had been erased page after page, leaving only the table-of-contents headings.
The Emperor-class Battleship's hull structure was usable, and its weapon mounts were usable, but three critical formulas in its energy coupling system had been cut off, leaving behind clean, sharp blank edges.
Lin Yuan opened his eyes.
The halo of the desk lamp cast his shadow against the wall, stretching it long.
He picked up a pen from the desk and wrote three lines on a sheet of white paper:
Void Shield Matrix protocol missing.
Machine Soul AI advanced architecture missing.
Large warship energy coupling missing.
Three missing sections. All of them were concentrated in the technological realm of "going beyond individual combat and entering systematic warfare."
What did that mean?
It meant that the tech tree in his hands could allow East Asia to build a heavy unit that crushed existing Mobile Suits one-on-one, triple a battleship's firepower, and produce armor whose defense surpassed Phase-Shift Armor by an entire era.
But if he wanted to establish a truly systematic military force capable of fleet network operations, AI-coordinated command, and full-area Void Shield coverage, he would have to rely on East Asia's own engineers to fill in those blanks.
Lin Yuan set down the pen and leaned back in his chair.
The golden finger had given him a direction and a starting point, but not an endpoint.
East Asia would have to walk the road in between on its own.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Sheng Lan appeared in the doorway, carrying a cup of tea that had already gone cold.
"Director, you've been here for four hours."
"Come in."
Sheng Lan walked in, placed the teacup at the corner of the desk, and swept her gaze over the white paper without looking at it for long.
"There's something I need to discuss with you," Lin Yuan said directly.
"Please go ahead."
"The 811 Institute's staffing has been approved, but you know the state of East Asia's military-industrial R&D system. Materials are under the Materials Bureau, energy is under the Power Institute, ammunition is under the Ordnance Industry Group, and control systems are at the Electronics Research Institute. Five departments, five separate leadership teams. Their budgets operate independently, and their technological paths are all separate."
Sheng Lan nodded. "Fragmented administration, each acting on its own. It's an old problem."
"I want to break it." Lin Yuan tapped the tabletop with his finger. "The 811 Institute needs a cross-disciplinary core team. Materials, energy, weapons, control, and structure all under one roof, under unified coordination and a unified objective."
"Drawing people from the existing departments?"
"Yes."
"Director, this will affect a lot of people's territory." Sheng Lan's tone was calm, but her wording was precise. "Director Chen of the Materials Bureau and President Zhao of the Ordnance Group both hold seats on the National Defense Committee. Behind the Power Institute stands the capital of East Asia's power industry."
"I know."
"Then how do you plan to draw them over? Forced transfer orders, or negotiated secondments?"
"Secondments first, under the name of project cooperation. Once we produce results, we'll move them into formal positions." Lin Yuan took a printed form from the drawer. "This is the first personnel list I drafted. Seventeen people, covering five fields."
Sheng Lan accepted it and scanned it line by line.
"Xu Yanqiu has already agreed verbally," Lin Yuan added. "He called me this morning and said the verification data for the Taogang molecular structural formula had come out. The preliminary conclusion is that it's feasible. He now needs an industrial-grade vacuum hot-press furnace and rare-earth alloy materials."
"Then the materials team can begin." Sheng Lan turned to the next page. "But Liu Yan's plasma laboratory in the power division had an accident last year. He himself is still under medical observation."
"His brain isn't damaged. Let him participate as a consultant. He doesn't need to take shifts in the laboratory."
"On the control systems side, Zhou Boyuan." Sheng Lan paused. "He's the head of AI research at the Electronics Research Institute. Moving him will be very sensitive."
"I'll speak with him personally."
Sheng Lan closed the list, her gaze settling on Lin Yuan's face.
"Director, I compiled a risk assessment and wanted to report it to you in person today."
"Go ahead."
She took a folded A4 sheet from the inner pocket of her uniform, unfolded it, and spread it on the desk.
"Forcibly integrating the technical backbone of five departments will create three risks in the short term."
She pointed at the first item with the tip of her pen. "First, the departments being stripped of personnel will complain to the National Defense Committee that their resources are being diverted. Director Luo Qiming has always advocated maintaining East Asia's United Army technological system. He will use this opportunity to oppose the 811 Institute's independent path."
"Second."
"The Atlantic Federation has a network of commercial agents within East Asia's military-industrial system. Once they discover that East Asia is secretly developing an independent Mobile Suit project, a technology blockade order will be implemented within a month. Some of the rare-earth materials for Taogang Alloy must be purchased on the international market."
"Third."
"At the parliamentary level, this year is the defense budget review year. The Compromise Faction will freeze the 811 Institute's funding on the grounds of budget overruns."
She set down her pen and looked at Lin Yuan.
"Any one of these three risks, if mishandled, could strangle the 811 Institute in its cradle before it produces any results."
Lin Yuan did not respond immediately.
He reached out, took Sheng Lan's sheet of paper, looked at it for more than ten seconds, then picked up a marker and wrote four words in the blank space.
Prepare to clear the field.
Sheng Lan stared at those four words.
"Director, what does clearing the field mean?"
"I need a complete relationship map of Luo Qiming and his people. His dealings with Atlantic Federation arms dealers, the funding links to the parliamentary Commercial Faction, the kickbacks in United Army technical cooperation projects—everything that can be found. Put it on my desk within a month."
Sheng Lan did not answer at once.
"This is counterintelligence work," she said. "I can do it, but I'll need to use the Intelligence Bureau's internal oversight authority."
"Sign it using your executive director authority and use the Special Equipment Bureau's classified channels."
"If Luo Qiming notices—"
"He won't." Lin Yuan pushed the sheet back to her. "Because he's busy with something else right now."
"What?"
"The Spark Project proposal will be sent to the National Defense Committee this afternoon. Naturally, it will be a sanitized version. All Luo Qiming will see is an 'overseas technology cooperation assessment project.' But with his sensitivity, he'll spend at least a week figuring out what the project is actually doing."
"A diversion."
"Exactly." Lin Yuan stood and picked up the authorization card on the desk. "One week is enough for you to build an initial relationship map. Once the Spark data comes back, I'll have enough leverage in hand. When that time comes, it won't be me dealing with Luo Qiming. East Asia's Ministry of Defense will clean him up itself."
Sheng Lan folded the sheet and slipped it back into her inner pocket.
"I'll begin today."
"Sheng Lan."
"Yes."
"There's something I'll tell you now." Lin Yuan walked to the door, his hand on the handle, without turning around. "The road East Asia will take over the next six months will go farther than it has over the past thirty years. Along the way, many people will be offended and many orders will be shattered. If you think this road is too dangerous, it's not too late to leave now."
Sheng Lan stood where she was, the heels of her military boots pressed tightly together.
"When my father died, East Asia couldn't even get a formal investigation report. The Atlantic Federation covered up his life with three pages of official paperwork."
Her voice did not tremble. She pronounced every word clearly.
"Too dangerous?" she said. "What's terrifying is that it isn't dangerous enough."
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