When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

The convoy returned to the manor, where Lei Zi took Chen Yang's coat at the door.

Chen Yang didn't go into the living room, but went straight to the study.

The phone rang. It was Chen Yue's dedicated line.

"Brother, Professor Xu has come up with something new again."

"explain."

"He ran a tape-out using the second set of blueprints you gave him three months ago. It's a 3-nanometer process with military-grade packaging. The first batch of wafers was cut this afternoon, with a yield of 87%."

Chen Yang stopped in his tracks.

He casually sent the chip technology to Professor Xu at the time, without having high expectations.

"What did Professor Xu say?"

"His exact words were—'If this system is real, we won't just catch up with the West, we'll leapfrog ahead of them.'"

"What about the performance parameters?"

"Its computing power is four times that of the most advanced military chips currently used by the United States, while its power consumption is only one-third. Professor Xu said this is not about overtaking on a curve, but about changing the track."

Chen Yang entered the study and closed the door behind him.

"What about the mass production line?"

"The renovation of the B-zone factory is 70% complete. At the current pace, the 3-nanometer production line will be officially put into production in seven days. The 28-nanometer line is already operating at full capacity, producing 50,000 units per day, and the inventory of Tianying Aviation and the Mocheng factory has been fully replenished."

"Seven days is too slow."

"Brother, I've already pushed the construction schedule to its limit—"

"Money is not a problem. The workers are working in three shifts, and the equipment is being installed overnight in three days."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Okay. I'll keep an eye on it."

"There's one more thing." Chen Yang opened a drawer in his study and pulled out the letter of appointment that Director Li had given him last time. "Do you have a list of European companies involved in the chip embargo?"

"Yes. There are five in total. Three are in Western Europe and two are in Northern Europe. They are all core members of the US technology alliance and suppliers of equipment for more than 60% of the world's mid-to-high-end chips."

"Do these five companies use our rare earth elements?"

The sound of keyboard clicking echoed for a few seconds on Chen Yue's end.

"Yes. All five companies use it. More than 90% of the rare earth supply for three of them comes from China. The remaining two also get more than 70%. Without our rare earth, their photoresist and target materials would all have to stop production."

"Okay. Now, on behalf of the Snow Palace Group, submit a letter of recommendation to the domestic rare earth association."

"What content?"

"It is recommended that all rare earth material exports be halted immediately for the five European technology companies involved in the chip ban. You can give any reason you like, anti-dumping or strategic resource protection."

"Brother, the Rare Earth Association can't make decisions at this level—"

"I know. After you submit the letter of recommendation, please attach a scanned copy of Director Li's letter of appointment as well."

Chen Yue didn't ask any more questions.

"I'll do it now."

-

Two days later.

Mo City, Ivan's private club.

Griffin, accompanied by representatives from five European technology companies, approached Ivan. Ostensibly, they were there to discuss Arctic energy cooperation, but their real target was Chen Yang.

Twelve people sat at a round table on the second floor of the clubhouse. Griffin sat at the head of the table, with the CEOs of the five companies seated on either side. Ivan sat opposite him.

Chen Yang sat next to Ivan, his tea untouched.

Griffin had changed into a new suit, and the sapphire on his tie clip was still the same one. The vodka stains from two days ago had long been wiped clean, but he looked at Katyusha with a hint of apprehension.

Katyusha didn't come. Chen Yang didn't ask her to come.

"Mr. Chen," Griffin began, "I don't care about what happened two days ago. I'm here today to discuss cooperation."

"What kind of cooperation?"

"It's about chips." Griffin gestured to the five CEOs beside him. "These gentlemen control 60 percent of the world's chip manufacturing equipment. Your 28-nanometer in-house production line has equipment made in China, which we can't control. But if you want to move up to 7 nanometers, 5 nanometers, 3 nanometers, you can't bypass the people at this table."

His assistant handed him a contract.

"The conditions are simple. Your DJI drones will withdraw from the Russian market, and we will resume our chip manufacturing supply to you, while also opening up the right to purchase equipment for processes below 7 nanometers."

Chen Yang glanced at the contract but didn't open it.

"Mr. Griffin, you are two days late."

He took out his phone and made a video call to Chen Yue.

Ice City, Snow Palace Industrial Park, Area B.

Chen Yue stood in a huge cleanroom, wearing a white protective suit, with only her face visible. Behind her was a fully enclosed, automated wafer production line, with robotic arms moving precisely behind glass enclosures, and silver-gray wafers passing through inspection stations one after another on the conveyor belt.

"Bro, the 3nm production line in Area B officially started production at 4 AM today. I'll show you the live feed now."

Chen Yue pointed her phone camera at the production line.

All twelve people were staring at Chen Yang's phone screen.

After leaving the dicing station, the wafers undergo ion implantation, photolithography, and packaging and testing before finally falling into a collection tank. The entire line is controlled by AI, with no workers present.

On the electronic screen next to the collection tank, two lines of numbers were flashing—

Manufacturing process: 3nm. Yield: 89.3%.

Griffin's hand froze in mid-air.

One of the five CEOs stood up, stared at the numbers on the screen, moved his lips twice, but didn't say anything.

"3 nanometers?" one of them finally spoke, his voice dry. "That's impossible. Your lithography equipment—"

"Completely self-developed." Chen Yue's voice came from the phone. "From the light source to the objective lens to the workpiece stage, not a single part came from any of the companies represented here."

Chen Yang placed his phone on the table, screen up, and the video continued to play.

"You prepared a contract in two days, trying to force me to withdraw from the Russian market. I built a 3-nanometer production line in two days, with performance four times that of your most advanced military chips."

He picked up the contract from the table and pushed it back to Griffin.

"Mr. Griffin, negotiations require both sides to have leverage. You've run out of leverage."

Griffin did not accept the contract.

He was still looking at the scrolling production line on his phone screen.

"There's one more thing," Chen Yang said into the phone. "Chen Yue, what's the situation with rare earths?"

"At 10:00 AM today, the China Rare Earth Industry Association officially issued a notice suspending all rare earth raw material exports to the five European technology companies involved in the chip ban, effective immediately. The ban is now in effect."

All five CEOs looked at Griffin at the same time.

Griffin didn't look at them.

"Mr. Chen, you are declaring war on the entire Western science and technology system."

"This isn't a declaration of war, it's a return gift." Chen Yang stood up, buttoned his suit jacket, and said, "You started it."

He walked to the door. Lei Zi opened the door.

"Mr. Griffin, your five companies had better find alternative suppliers for rare earth elements as soon as possible. If they can't—"

He didn't finish speaking before going downstairs.

-

That evening, delegations from five European technology companies chartered a plane to evacuate from Mozambique.

The next day, the stock prices of the five companies plummeted on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, with the largest drop exceeding 30%, and three of them triggered circuit breakers.

Western financial media headlines consisted of only one line: "China cuts off rare earths, causing Europe's chip supply chain to collapse overnight."

Ice City, Snow Palace Industrial Park, Area B.

Chen Yue took off her dust cap, sat in a chair in the control room, and stared at the real-time stock price curves of five companies on the screen.

My phone rang. It was a message from Chen Yang.

"Well done. We'll increase the second phase of investment in the 3nm production line, with no budget cap."

Chen Yue replied with two words: "Received."

She put down her phone, turned around, and walked back to the cleanroom. The production line was still running, with wafers falling one after another into the collection tank, the soft clanging of metal against metal never ceasing.