The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

Six people were looking at him.

Lin Che pulled his hand back from the edge of the table and placed it on his knee.

The sunlight in the conference room shifted slightly, sliding from the left side of the table to the center, and the shadow of the mineral water bottle became shorter.

He glanced at the woman.

She sat upright, her hands crossed on the table, her gaze steady, showing no sign of urging or interrogation.

She was waiting for his answer, as if she genuinely wanted to know the answer.

"Both," Lin Che said.

The short-haired woman tilted her head slightly.

"Abyss identified a strategic window of opportunity in the African market, and I made that judgment."

After he finished speaking, the meeting room was silent for two or three seconds.

Shen Nan didn't move; his blue ballpoint pen rested on the agenda, nib pointing downwards.

The female member of the technical review team kept her fingers hovering above the ThinkPad keyboard, without letting them fall.

"The strategic window of opportunity," the short-haired woman repeated, "how long?"

"18 months."

What is the basis for the 18-month period?

"Abyss has created a predictive model of macroeconomic data for three East African countries. The intersection of three lines—infrastructure gap, exchange rate trends, and policy cycles—points to a time window that begins in the third quarter of 2022 and ends in the first quarter of 2024."

He spoke plainly, without any embellishment.

Data is data, and a model is a model.

"In the first quarter of 2024," the short-haired woman repeated, "what do you think will happen after the window closes?"

"The infrastructure gap will be filled by other capital, the policy dividend period will end, the exchange rate advantage will disappear, and the cost of entry will at least triple."

The short-haired woman didn't ask any further questions.

She turned her head and glanced at the man with gray hair.

The man hasn't uttered a single word since the meeting began.

The bottled water was unopened, the paper cups were unused, and the agenda in front of them hadn't been touched since the first page was turned.

He was like a quiet stone, existing but not participating.

The short-haired woman glanced at him.

He turned his head slightly and looked back at her.

Then he spoke.

The voice was softer than Lin Che had expected; it wasn't a powerful, deep voice, but rather a very low, flat one.

Like someone who is used to speaking in a quiet room, they don't need to raise their voice for everyone to hear them.

"An 18-month window," he said, "is at least six months faster than our current assessment."

It's at least six months faster than our current assessment.

"us".

He was referring to "we".

"Our current assessment".

This means that the level he represents also has its own assessment of Africa.

They have their own analysis team, their own data sources, and their own conclusions.

Abyss's prediction was six months ahead of their conclusion.

Half a year.

No one spoke in the meeting room.

The sunlight continued to move across the tabletop, shifting from the center to the right side.

The female member of the technical evaluation team finally placed her fingers on the keyboard, typing a few words softly in a very restrained voice.

The head of national security leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the edge of the table.

The two taps were very soft, but everyone in the quiet conference room heard them.

"What about the accuracy rate of your judgment regarding the window of opportunity?" the head of the National Security Bureau asked.

"So far, Abyss has achieved a 68% accuracy rate in predicting time windows involved in the 80% of publicly available architectures," Lin Che said. "The window for Africa is an extension of the 20% reserved portion of the forecast, and there is no historical verification data."

He proactively stated that there was no historical verification data.

It's not because I was asked, it's because I can't avoid this matter.

68% is the figure for the 80% structure; the accuracy of the African portion is uncertain. He could have chosen not to say it, but he chose to.

The gray-haired man glanced at him again.

This time, the perspective is different from before.

Previously, it was an assessment, a judgment of a person.

This time it was something closer to acceptance, though subtle, it was clear enough on that usually calm face.

"I have another question," the short-haired woman said.

She removed her hand from the table, picked up the mineral water bottle in front of her with her right hand, unscrewed the cap, and poured herself a glass of water.

This was the first time she had touched the water in front of her that day.

This small gesture signifies a shift in her focus from "examining" to "discussing".

I don't drink water while I'm examining things.

"Did you design the SPV structure, or was it suggested by Abyss?"

"I designed it," Lin Che said. "Abyss identifies opportunities, and I make the execution-level judgments."

"Including which country to choose?"

"include."

"Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia," she recited them one by one, "What was the rationale behind choosing these three countries?"

She knows about three countries.

They even know the order.

Lin Che quickly went through it in his mind.

The materials she has at least cover Ark's African SPV establishment documents, target country list, and possibly preliminary due diligence reports.

These documents were distributed in a very small area, with only one copy existing within the Ark and another in Shen Nan's possession.

Unless they are provided to the evaluator simultaneously.

"These three countries have the largest power infrastructure gap, the highest policy openness, and the fastest population growth," Lin Che said. "The intersection of these three criteria defines these three countries."

The short-haired woman nodded.

She did not inquire about the specific data of the intersection, did not ask to see the model, and did not question the selection of standards.

She nodded.

In meetings of this level, nodding means "I accept this answer".

The gray-haired man closed the agenda in front of him.

The sound of it closing was very soft.

The head of national security glanced at him, then at the short-haired woman.

Neither of them spoke.

He stood up.

That's all for today.

Shen Nan also stood up and began to pack his things.

The female member of the technical review team closed her ThinkPad.

When the head of national security walked to the door, Lin Che was waiting for him to say those words.

At the end of each 607 meeting, he would say, "I need some time."

This means, "Go back and wait, we still have more to discuss."

He didn't say anything.

He pushed open the door and went out.

A gray-haired man and a short-haired woman followed behind him.

As the short-haired woman walked past Lin Che, she nodded slightly—a very subtle gesture, and Lin Che wasn't sure if it counted as a nod.

The sound of the three people's footsteps gradually faded away in the corridor.

The corridor on the second floor was wider than that of room 607 on the ground floor, and footsteps dissipated quickly, disappearing within seconds.

The door was still open.

The corridor lights shone in, white and colder than sunlight.

Lin Che stood in place.

He didn't say, "I need time."

He left without saying anything.

Shen Nan walked to his side.

"Did you notice?" Shen Nan said in a low voice.

"I've noticed."

Shen Nan zipped up his briefcase, the metal zipper pull making a clinking sound as it hit the clasp.

"He doesn't need time anymore."