You promised to build cars, so why did you go into the military industry?

Chapter 63 Losing the Phone

The sun shines brightly in June.

A notice from United Industries has caused a minor stir.

因为除了在6月11日发射生物圈二号」舱段外，他们还将于7月13日、8月17日、9月24日开展一箭三星火箭商业发射任务，同时进行一级箭体的回收实验。

"Are you kidding me? Rockets are being launched like dumplings in a pot?"

"Even the Americans failed at rocket recovery, which shows that this approach is not viable. Is United Industries still stubbornly persisting?"

"Why are you building rockets?! Build cars! I've been waiting for two months! Is this how you waste production capacity?"

Unfortunately, the discussion didn't last long before public attention shifted to the college entrance examinations held on the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

United Industries, having escaped the media storm, is not at ease, as the launch of four rockets will occupy the attention of most people in the coming months.

"I want to put the rocket recovery landing site here!" Lin Yu pointed to a remote spot not far from the launch valley on the high-precision map. "Just have someone level the land and pave it with high-grade cement."

Then, Lin Yu pointed to several nearby hills on the map: "Set up more tracking and control stations on these hills to provide high-precision positioning for the core stage during its return and landing."

Wang Bing examined the area for a moment, then pointed to the surrounding hills: "The signal is blocked in the mountains, so just in case, we need to build it on these hills!"

"OK."

Upon hearing this, the troops stationed at the rocket launch site naturally took over the preparation work for the site and designated a large area nearby as a military control zone.

On June 11, the Biosphere 6 module was successfully launched into space.

Feng Manjie watched the rocket launch again that day.

Originally born in a water town in southern China, she gave up her job near her home for love and came to Jiangyang City alone.

Faced with Feng Manjie's passionate feelings, Chen Shu, who had once had his phone number forcibly taken by her, fell for her.

The two quickly confirmed their romantic relationship. Unfortunately, because Chen Shu's work address, Gaolu Town, was more than an hour's drive from Jiangyang City, they could only meet on weekends.

With the increase in workload, Chen Shu has been working overtime for two consecutive weekends.

Longing for her husband, Feng Manjie decided to take a day off under the pretext of watching a rocket launch to surprise him.

One of the benefits is that family members of United Industries employees can watch the rocket launch for free.

Therefore, she easily obtained the tickets to watch the show.

The difference this time was that she came to the third viewing platform.

During the preparation phase before the rocket launch, Feng Manjie stood absentmindedly by the viewing platform.

Not far away, the rocket recovery and landing site under construction seemed to catch her attention.

Although it was designated a military control zone, it was just a bare concrete area, not much to see. After taking a quick photo, she moved the camera away.

After the launch, Feng Manjie jumped into the fast safety exit once again.

She had barely landed and hadn't even stood up properly when Chen Shu, who was already prepared, immediately stepped forward and picked her up.

"Oh! What brings you here!" Feng Manjie jumped up and down happily after seeing who it was.

"I knew when you applied through your family member." Chen Shu said meaningfully, chuckling as he pinched Feng Manjie's nose. "I just happened to be assigned to help out at the No. 3 viewing platform this time, so I transferred you here."

"Oh, you were discovered right away? I was hoping to give you a surprise—"

Noticing the growing screams behind her, Feng Manjie knew that an audience member was about to slide down the emergency exit: "You go ahead and work, we'll talk later."

After saying that, Feng Manjie kissed Chen Shu on the cheek and then walked out.

A male spectator, still shaken from landing, witnessed this scene and looked at Chen Shu hesitantly: "Me—, should I kiss him too?"

"Huh?! No, no, that was my girlfriend just now!" Chen Shu was startled and waved his hands repeatedly.

After finishing work, Chen Shu took Feng Manjie for a walk around the factory's open areas.

When Feng Manjie asked to visit out of curiosity, Chen Shu instinctively refused.

"No, access to the factory area is strictly controlled. Apart from a few supervisors, no one else has the authority to bring people in."

"Okay, then you can treat me to a special dish at the cafeteria, that should be alright, right?"

"No problem. You just happened to be here today. Mr. Li recently hired a chef from outside, and his braised pork buns are absolutely amazing! It's a pity you can't get them usually; the chef only makes them on the day of a rocket launch."

"So unique?" Feng Manjie asked curiously. "Who's this chef?"

"How would I know?" Chen Shu scratched his head and changed the subject. "By the way, didn't you tell me to get a new phone?"

"Didn't they say we weren't allowed to use smartphones due to confidentiality requirements? What? Did the company make us switch?" Feng Manjie's eyes lit up.

"Almost there, you see."

Chen Shu took a sleek, minimalist black smartphone from his pocket.

However, Feng Manjie was quite certain that this phone was not from a common brand on the market.

"The company makes it all itself. From the chips to the system, everything. There's also a solar panel on the back cover for charging."

Feng Manjie's eyes lit up, and she perked up, pulling out her own iPhone to compare: "This phone is quite beautiful, would my spouse buy it?"

"Huh?" Chen Shu hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure. I'll apply for one for you to try."

On Saturday, Feng Manjie successfully obtained the phone from Chen Shu at cost price.

On Tuesday morning, during the morning rush hour, Feng Manjie discovered that her brand new phone had been stolen when she got off the bus.

However, due to the large crowds and insufficient number of security cameras, even with the help of the police, Feng Manjie was unable to recover her phone.

Feng Manjie was upset for several days because of this, and didn't know how to face Chen Shu.

Noticing his girlfriend's low spirits, Chen Shu was at a loss for what to do after learning the details.

Fortunately, this testing machine has a positioning device inside.

"Maybe we could ask a colleague to help locate it?" Chen Shu reassured his girlfriend while thinking. "Let's not say anything until the phone is found, so we don't get excited for nothing."

On Friday, Chen Shu was invited to Shen Zijie's office.

"The recent history of your girlfriend's lost test phone is quite legendary."

Shen Zijie handed over a world map with markings.

"Huh?" Chen Shu took the map, completely bewildered.

"It went missing Tuesday morning, and the alarm was triggered half an hour later because it was outside the city. That night, it smuggled itself across the border into Southeast Asia, and then the signal disappeared."

Shen Zijie pointed to each of the marks on the world map.

"The signal reappeared on Wednesday evening, located in Arlington, Virginia, before disappearing again."

When the signal reappeared Thursday afternoon, it was located at 1 Infiniti Loop in Cupertino, California.

"Manager Shen, I'm not very good at geography—"

Shen Zijie casually drew a regular pentagon and an apple with a bite taken out of it on the paper.

Upon seeing the two simple line drawings, Chen Shu looked troubled and began to recall the moments he had spent with Feng Manjie, trying to find clues.

Seemingly sensing Chen Shu's concerns, Shen Zijie waved his hand: "Quite a few employees have applied for test machines for their families during this period. Although she is the only one who lost one, there is still the possibility that she has been targeted by someone for a long time."

Don't rush to conclusions, but necessary precautions are essential, understand?

Chen Shu nodded and asked, "What if it's true?"

"Then let's start with a counter-strategy."

An exposed and unaware spy can be extremely destructive to the enemy.

Chen Shu's eyes lit up: "Send spies to deliver false intelligence?"

"False information is too easy to identify." Shen Zijie shook his head. "The ideal scenario is to use nine parts true and one part false information to mislead them and make them choose the wrong technology path."

Don't blame yourself too much. This phone will be mass-produced and released next year. There's no sensitive information on it, so just let it go.

Go get her another phone later, just say you found it.

Before leaving, Chen Shu felt that Shen Zijie's sinister smile was somewhat creepy.

The next day, Chen Shu took advantage of his Saturday off to deliver the new phone to Feng Manjie.

After a few quick operations, Feng Manjie realized that this wasn't the phone she had "lost." Tears welled in her eyes as she hugged Chen Shu, saying, "You lied to me! This is clearly your new one."

In the afternoon, a news flash sparked heated discussion: a fire broke out at the Fruit headquarters located at 1 Infinti Loop in Cupertino, California.

According to reports, the fire was caused by an employee's improper use of electricity.