From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Chapter 480 Things have gotten really bad!!

As Staff Officer Wang took the lead in criticizing the 7th Steel Brigade, other officers followed suit and began to chime in.

"Indeed, how could the Seventh Steel Brigade do this? They came and messed around without any notice, causing chaos and affecting both our rest and our work hours."

"And they even ambushed the commander's car on the road, injuring his hand. It's utterly lawless."

"A few days ago, the theater army did send out news that they were going to carry out a wake-up call operation, but they didn't announce that it would be done tonight?"

"The 7th Steel Brigade is too arrogant. They came to raid our workshop without any prior notice."

"If it's an exercise, it's an exercise. Does it have to be made to look real? They even used real explosives. If someone gets hurt, can they take the responsibility?"

……

Seeing that everyone was indignant and criticizing the bad influence of the 7th Steel Brigade, Staff Officer Wang said, "Commander, you must report the situation to the theater commander, otherwise the 7th Steel Brigade will become even more lawless."

"Definitely."

The senior colonel in charge of the vehicle depot was also very angry. He glared at the officer and said, "I gave an oral report to the commander before I came here. Please check the extent of the damage carefully again, and I will compile a report to submit to the commander of the theater command."

"Report to the chief."

A sergeant reported, "There was no damage to the equipment, and no one was injured. There was only a crater in the ground."

The 7th Steel Brigade even left some late-night snacks with notes saying that we worked very hard on night duty and they were sending us these snacks as a reward.

The senior colonel took the bag of late-night snacks handed to him without saying another word.

But the hand holding the bag was trembling, the veins on his hand were bulging, and his knuckles were turning white, showing how much force he was using.

……

On this nameless night, the 7th Steel Brigade not only deployed ground troops, but also burned a fuel depot and blew up a vehicle reserve site.

They accomplished two major tasks, one overt and one covert, and both were very successful.

On the invisible battlefield of cyberspace, the Electronics Company organized a hacker group, which also launched an invisible war and did three major things that annoyed the "parties involved" even more.

First, they launched a cyberattack on the computers of the officers in the theater intelligence department, stealing several important files.

Before leaving, I went into the financial database and browsed through all the data.
Finally, the biggest mistake was stealing money while it was still in the way. In order to sound the alarm for the intelligence department in the war zone, they deliberately transferred 20 million yuan to the account of the 7th Steel Brigade.

When that night passed, the entire war zone was in an uproar.

Overnight, multiple departments and units of the theater army were simultaneously attacked by hackers from the internet and by lightning strikes from ground troops.

When the war zone officially started work the next day, all departments of the war zone headquarters were completely overwhelmed.

Even the commanders of the war zone were speechless.

The theater commander had just arrived at his office in the morning when a flood of reports came in, all concerning the Steel Seventh Brigade's actions the previous night.

Even leaders from the military region below came to his office to complain about the 7th Steel Brigade.

"The 7th Steel Brigade is simply outrageous. They are indeed professional hypothetical enemies, but they are not professional bandits. If we allow them to run rampant like this, how can our army's work proceed normally?"

A senior chief of staff from the army group, his face full of anger, reported the situation to the theater commander.

"Did all of this happen last night?"

The theater commander listened to the feedback, looked at the reports and photos in his hands, and his expression became very serious, putting great pressure on others.

"That's all we got to film."

The army group chief of staff said with anger in his eyes: "At three o'clock last night, the fuel depot was attacked first, and the attack lasted for about ten minutes."

Immediately following this was an attack on the military reserve garage, where they detonated a bomb, creating a large crater.

Upon hearing that a bomb had been detonated, the commander of the war zone became even more serious and looked up to ask, "Were any personnel injured in the attack?"

There are two completely different concepts: having injuries and not having injuries during an exercise.

"One of the sentries at the fuel depot had his gun confiscated, and the personnel are being held outside the conference room. The yard manager was attacked en route and sustained minor injuries," the army group chief of staff replied.

"Okay, I understand. You can go back now. We will investigate as soon as possible and give you a satisfactory answer."

The theater commander did not give a direct answer because the matter was rather special and would be complicated to handle, so he could only appease the person for the time being.

"Yes!"

The chief of staff and the senior colonel he brought did not dare to say much in front of the theater commander. They were already satisfied as long as they had reported the problem.

"Report."

The group soldier who came to complain had just left when a colonel came in with a report, saying, "Another unbelievable thing happened this morning."

"Unbelievable?!"

The theater commanders were all preparing to carefully read the report, but they put it down upon hearing the colonel's words.

"Just ten minutes ago, a stranger sent me a text message asking me to check my financial records to see if a hacker had transferred 20 million in donations," the colonel replied solemnly.

"Twenty million?"

The commanders of the war zone were shocked when they heard the number, and their expressions changed drastically.

In 2001, a cash flow of 20 million was a huge sum of money, even for a war zone.

If 20 million were to suddenly disappear, even the commanders of the war zone would likely be implicated.

"I think this is a malicious message. If it really is a prank, then it's outrageous. We must investigate it," the colonel said angrily.

"Have you checked?" The commander's expression softened slightly.

“An assistant has been sent to investigate the finance department, and I believe we will have a response soon,” the colonel replied.

"so……"

So many things happened first thing in the morning that the commander of the war zone was completely confused. He could only instruct, "Go back and organize the personnel to check whether this matter is true or false. If it really happened, you must find out where the money went and tell me the results as soon as possible."

"Yes!!"

Just as the colonel was about to leave, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was his assistant calling, so he answered it immediately.

"What? Twenty million really was transferred out? And it went into the account of the Seventh Steel Brigade?"

The colonel's voice was a mixture of surprise, anger, and delight.

What's shocking is that 20 million was actually transferred out. Who could have such means to transfer money from a war zone? What's infuriating is that someone was so audacious as to dare to target military funds in a war zone.

The good news is that the money was not transferred away and has been traced. It is still in the account of the Seventh Steel Brigade and has not been touched.

The fact that such a huge sum of money wasn't lost is definitely a cause for celebration.

After ending the call with his assistant, the colonel immediately reported the situation: "The money was transferred from the account of the 7th Steel Brigade."

"How did the money in your finances get transferred out by the Seventh Steel Brigade? I'm really curious."

The war zone commander glared at the colonel and reprimanded him, leaving the colonel speechless for a long time. He stood there, shocked and frightened, truly unsure how to respond.

The money in the account was transferred out; no matter what, there must be something wrong with the finance department.

This also indicates a major vulnerability in the war zone's cybersecurity.

"The person who sent you the message must be the hacker who stole the money. Do you know why he transferred the money to the 7th Steel Brigade?" the theater commander asked.

"We don't know that."

The colonel scratched his head awkwardly and said with relief, "Fortunately, the money wasn't transferred away by bad guys. It's still sitting in the account of our theater command, just in a different unit."

These days, money laundering is even easier. Once the money is transferred to an overseas account, it can be laundered away in no time.

Even a god couldn't find it!

"Go back and check carefully to see if anything else is missing. Also, thoroughly investigate where the security vulnerabilities are and how many vulnerabilities there are."

"Yes, I'll check it out right now."

The colonel was also terrified. Even without orders, he dared not delay and had to handle the matter properly.

Otherwise, if this situation happens again, he might have to leave the military.

"Old Xing."

The colonel had barely left his office when the political commissar rushed in in a panic.

"The head of the security department just called me. The intelligence department and the personnel department have both been hacked. Confidential documents have been stolen and a large amount of data has been viewed."

It seems the 7th Steel Brigade was behind all this; they really acted quickly.

The political commissar of the theater command also looked very serious. The database of a department of a theater command was like a series of unlocked rooms, which were freely entered and exited by a mere female electronic warfare department member.

No matter how you look at it, this is an outrageous and shameful thing.

“We had already notified them beforehand, yet the 7th Steel Brigade still easily defeated them. If we hadn’t had this warning plan in place, who knows how many problems might have arisen,” he said, his face ashen.

Whether it's complaints from subordinate units or accusations of the Steel Seventh Brigade's lawlessness, they are all welcome.

Nothing can hide one thing...

That means the security work of every unit below, and even the cybersecurity work of the theater command, is as fragile as paper.

Even with prior notice, they were still slaughtered by the 7th Steel Brigade. Imagine what a terrible scene it would have been if they hadn't been notified in advance.

I can't even think about it.

It was precisely because of his dissatisfaction with this that he kept a cold face from beginning to end.

"I have something else to tell you. I heard that the higher-ups already know about what the Seventh Steel Brigade has been up to." The political commissar's expression was equally grim.

Security in the war zone was already inadequate, and the J Commission inspection team had already identified the problems.

They launched a special "Warning Action" to correct the situation, but the results were worse than they had imagined. Security across the entire war zone was in complete chaos.

As the commander of the war zone, how could the political commissar be in a good mood?

"We just found out, and the higher-ups already know? Does news travel that fast?"

"Humph."

The political commissar chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. Now it's not just a matter of a fast traveler, but bad news spreads all over the world once it's online."

Then, frowning, he said, "Chen Jun and his men have done so much all night, but there's still no movement, no reports have come up. What are they trying to do?"

"Take a look at these first, they were just delivered."

……

Just as the discussion about the 7th Steel Brigade was taking place, Chief of Staff Shen had just finished his work and was rushing back to the theater headquarters from the Army Aviation Brigade early that morning.

When he entered his office, the staff officer who had been notified in advance was already waiting for him.

Upon seeing Chief of Staff Shen enter, he stood up, handed over a report, and said, "Chief of Staff, this is the detailed plan for Operation Alarm, which was sent over by the 7th Steel Brigade yesterday."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Chief of Staff Shen asked as he flipped through the book.

"Uh, they delivered it at 10 p.m. last night. I glanced at it briefly; it was just an exercise plan. It was so late, and I didn't want to bother you any longer. I was thinking of calling you to report back after I finished looking at it this morning, but who knew that the 7th Steel Brigade would start the operation last night?" the staff officer said innocently.

"Crack~"

Upon hearing about this time difference, Chief of Staff Shen, being as experienced as he was, immediately realized what was going on. He didn't even bother to look at the plan anymore and slammed it on the table.

With a stern expression, he ordered, "Immediately notify Wang Qingrui, Tian Baoguo, and Chen Jun to come see me."

After saying that, he hurriedly walked out the door, telling his staff officer as he went, "They've arrived. Tell them to wait in my office."

Seeing Chief of Staff Shen leave in a hurry, the staff officer who delivered the report asked in confusion, while the staff officer who returned with the chief of staff said, "Staff Officer Ye, what's wrong with the chief of staff?"

"Hey."

Staff Officer Ye sighed and said, "The Chief of Staff was worried all the way yesterday. Although this is a planned exercise, the commander still wants to know exactly which unit will be involved and when it will be launched."

The concern is that the 7th Steel Brigade might lose their composure and do something outrageous. The 7th Steel Brigade has always been known for its reckless behavior.

As expected, something went wrong; they actually acted first and informed the authorities later.

"This has nothing to do with the chief of staff. What is the chief of staff worried about?" the staff officer asked, puzzled.

"What the Chief of Staff is most worried about right now is that the experiment of the professional adversary force has just begun, and there are already endless voices of opposition and doubt. If the negative voices become too strong, the experiment may very well be aborted overnight," Staff Officer Ye said seriously.

"Is it that serious?" the staff officer asked with some skepticism.

"Hmph, this matter could be big or small. If it's not handled properly, even the Chief of Staff might get involved," Staff Officer Ye said worriedly.

(End of this chapter)