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

The meeting room door was closed for four hours.

Chen Yue and Lei Zi sat in the waiting room, where two teapots on the table were already empty.

Footsteps occasionally echoed in the corridor, but no one came in to disturb them.

The red light above the door went out.

Five minutes later, an officer in a dark uniform pushed open the door and came in: "Miss Chen, please come with me."

Chen Yue followed the officer through two corridors and into a larger conference room.

There were far more people in the room than she had expected.

A dozen or so people sat on either side of the long table, some in military uniforms, some in white coats, and a few people she recognized from the news broadcast.

On the table sat the titanium hard drive, and next to it, the offline terminal screen was scrolling with dense engineering data.

Chen Yang sat at one end of the table, his teacup untouched.

The elderly man with gray hair was sitting at the other end, talking quietly with an elderly man wearing glasses.

Just as Chen Yue stood still, the elderly man wearing glasses suddenly turned around and looked at her.

"Is this Chen Yue?"

The old man nodded: "Xiao Chen's sister is also the powerful operator of his entire business system."

The elderly man wearing glasses stood up and beckoned to Chen Yue: "Young lady, come and sit down. I am Dean Qian from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I have a few technical details I'd like to confirm with you."

Chen Yue walked over and sat down. Dean Qian turned the terminal screen towards her, pointing to one of the blueprints: "Have you verified the magnetic confinement parameters in this ignition protocol?"

"No," Chen Yue said. "We don't have the means to verify it. But the data source is absolutely reliable."

Dean Qian took off his glasses and wiped them; his hands were trembling.

"I've been working in nuclear physics for forty years." He put his glasses back on. "This solution solves the fundamental problem of suppressing plasma turbulence. No other laboratory in the world can produce something of this caliber."

He turned to the old man: "My suggestion is—to initiate the project immediately and mobilize the entire nation to advance it."

The old man looked at both sides of the long table: "What are your opinions?"

No one objected.

"Alright." The old man slapped the table. "From today onwards, this project will be codenamed 'Pangu.' The Chinese Academy of Sciences will take the lead, with full cooperation from the military industry. There will be no upper limit on funding. All participants will sign a lifelong confidentiality agreement."

He then looked at Chen Yang: "Xiao Chen, after the Pangu Project is officially approved, as the source of the technology, the country plans to give you an equal status."

Chen Yang shook his head: "No need."

"Let me finish," the old man said, raising his hand to press down. "I'm not giving you an official position, I'm giving you protection. From today onwards, you and all your business entities will be included in the national key security protection system. Your security authority will be equivalent to that of a vice-national level official."

Chen Yue gasped.

Deputy national-level security means that dedicated guards, satellite-level communication support, and any external attacks targeting Chen Yang's companies will be directly addressed by the national security system.

"Furthermore—" the old man's voice deepened, "I will add a resolution to the Security Committee meeting this afternoon: any malicious attack by foreign forces on your companies is tantamount to a direct infringement on China's core interests."

Everyone present understood the weight of those words.

From this day forward, Chen Yang's business empire is an extension of the will of the Chinese nation. To touch him is to touch China.

Dean Qian interjected, "Mr. Chen, to be honest, the strategic value of this nuclear fusion technology alone exceeds that of ten aircraft carrier battle groups. If you give it away for free, the country will owe you a debt you can never repay in this lifetime."

"I owe them nothing," Chen Yang said. "My sister is right. This thing isn't a tool for me to make money. But for 1.4 billion people, it's their life."

The old man remained silent for a few seconds.

"Xiao Chen, I'm asking you one last time. You really don't want anything? Official position, honor, or anything else—just name it, anything the country can give you."

Chen Yang stood up.

"To be honest, my biggest pursuit in life is to go back to my village, stay with my wife and kids, and have a warm bed. I really don't want anything else."

Several people in the conference room laughed.

The old man smiled and waved his hand: "Alright, whatever you say. But you can't refuse to protect them; it's an order."

Chen Yang did not refuse again.

-

After the meeting, Chen Yue followed Chen Yang out of Zhongbeihai.

Lei Zi was already waiting by the car outside.

Chen Yue got into the car, closed the door, and leaned back in her seat, letting out a long sigh.

"Brother, do you know what it means to be a deputy-national level security officer?"

"Know."

"From now on, even if the Gray family had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to touch a hair on your head again. Your company, your supply chain, and your technology team are all under the protection of the state."

Chen Yang hummed in agreement.

Chen Yue added, "It's not just about defense. Once this signal is sent out, those who do business with us internationally will have more confidence. And those who want to cause trouble—"

"They'll get the news," Chen Yang interrupted her. "We don't need to spread it; it will naturally spread within three days."

He was right.

Although the specific details of Project Pangu are top secret, China's sudden and comprehensive acceleration in the energy sector cannot be hidden from satellites and intelligence networks.

Forty-eight hours later, the U.S. Energy Agency was the first to notice the anomaly—China had suddenly withdrawn more than two thousand top physicists from its three national laboratories overnight, their whereabouts unknown. Immediately afterward, a large number of international procurement orders for rare materials poured out of China, and the items on the procurement list had only one purpose: nuclear fusion research.

The Pentagon convened an emergency assessment meeting overnight. The conclusion silenced everyone—if China truly achieves controlled nuclear fusion, then oil, natural gas, coal, and all fossil fuels will become worthless within ten years. China, possessing unlimited clean energy, will gain an absolute and overwhelming advantage in industrial capacity, military logistics, and economic size.

This is not a competition that can be resolved with sanctions or military pressure.

This is a generational gap in civilization.

Within a week, the U.S. State Department secretly delivered a unusually mild memorandum to the Chinese diplomatic system, proposing to resume high-level dialogue and lift the latest round of sanctions against three key Chinese technology companies.

Europe followed closely behind.

Langfeng Group's parent company proactively contacted Chen Yue, expressing its willingness to make full concessions in the previous acquisition, and even offering to open the group's duty-free warehousing system in Europe to the Snow Palace Fund free of charge.

Chen Yue compiled these messages into a report and sent it to Chen Yang.

Chen Yang replied with two words: "I understand."

He was at his home in Harbin, sitting on the sofa in the living room, peeling oranges for Katyusha.

The phone lay on the coffee table, its screen still displaying the last message Chen Yue had sent.

"Brother, Minister Li just called to say that the higher-ups have officially issued the document regarding the upgrade of your personal security. From today onwards, you are the first civilian in Chinese history to enjoy vice-state-level protection. In addition, the Security Committee's resolution has also been passed, and the wording is stronger than expected."

"There's one more thing. The site for the first phase of the Pangu Project's laboratory has been decided. It's right next to the old site of Harbin Institute of Technology. Dean Qian said that the prototype reactor will be completed within eighteen months at the earliest."

Chen Yang handed the peeled orange to Katyusha and glanced at his phone.

He replied with a voice message: "How are the preparations for the opening of Snow Palace going?"

Chen Yue replied instantly: "All suppliers are in place, security measures have been upgraded, and forty-two invitations have been sent out. Also, the interview candidate named Su Ran will be arriving in Harbin the day after tomorrow."

"OK."

Chen Yang put his phone back on the coffee table and picked up the remote to change the channel.

Katyusha leaned on his shoulder and ate an orange while the weather forecast was on TV.

Harbin, sunny turning cloudy, high of -3 degrees Celsius.