“There’s no need!” To everyone’s surprise, Huang He directly refused. “What you’re suggesting is entrapment. Aside from whether we can successfully entrap him, if this matter were to be made public in the future, it would leave a stain on our reputation. We cannot do this, especially now when all eyes are on us!”
“Then what should we do? Just let this Ke Xuedong go?” Liu Xiangjiang asked, unwilling to accept it.
“Find someone to investigate Ke Xuedong, see if he has any dirt on him. If he truly has nothing, if he’s a perfect individual who’s just targeting us, then I’ll accept it and let him off the hook.”
“But if he’s rotten to the core, then we don’t need to lift a finger; the law will punish him severely!” Huang He said with a smile. “We understand the law, and we are a law-abiding enterprise. We will do whatever the law dictates. We will never break the law, do you understand?”
“Understood!” Liu Xiangjiang chuckled. He knew exactly what to do.
“By the way, Chairman, this Tong He, I think he’s quite a talent. Although he’s taken a wrong turn, his technical skills are truly excellent. Do you think we should recruit him? The encryption technology for high-capacity magnetic cards is also quite impressive in the future. He also mentioned he’s made an exclusive discovery, a brand-new material with excellent magnetic properties and whatnot. He seems very eager to join Jiangnan Group!” Liu Xiangjiang said with a smile.
Tong He indeed wanted to join Jiangnan Group. He was afraid of Ke Xuedong retaliating against him, but if he could join Jiangnan Group, Ke Xuedong’s revenge would be insignificant. Moreover, he would be employed in advance. After all, he would need to find a job after graduation. If he had the opportunity to join a large enterprise like Jiangnan Group, his future would undoubtedly be very bright.
“Being able to bypass our magnetic card encryption, that ability is certainly sufficient!” Huang He nodded. However, he had never heard of this Tong He in his previous life. He didn’t seem to be a well-known figure. “By the way, what material did he say he discovered?”
“I’m not entirely sure. It sounds a bit absurd, though. He said this material was obtained by peeling it with tape. Is he kidding us?” Liu Xiangjiang said, feeling a mix of amusement and helplessness.
“Torn off with tape?” Huang He gasped. “He stuck tape onto graphite and then tore it off?”
“I think so. Boss, how do you know about graphite?” Liu Xiangjiang said nonchalantly.
“I remember Professor Ni is in Cao County right now! Prepare yourself and take Tong He to Cao County. I’ll head there immediately as well!” Huang He said quickly, startling Liu Xiangjiang.
Did the boss make a mistake in his orders?
He was ordering him to take this guy to Cao County?
What about his job?
Although Liu Xiangjiang was very confused by Huang He’s order, his boss’s order was his command. Without hesitation, that very evening, he took Tong He and headed straight for Cao County.
“Manager Liu, are you planning to find a secluded place to… to me…” Tong He, who was almost cajoled into coming by Liu Xiangjiang, looked at the rapidly moving scenery outside the car window with fear.
“We at Jiangnan are the most law-abiding company in the world, so you mustn’t speak carelessly!” Liu Xiangjiang chuckled and then fell silent, his expression grim, which terrified Tong He.
Finally, after a journey of eight full hours, with darkness having completely enveloped the outside, Tong He was brought into a massive factory.
This factory was located in a somewhat remote mountainous area, with blocky buildings everywhere, all painted silver. Even in the dark, they faintly reflected light. Coupled with the searchlights constantly illuminating the factory grounds, it gave Tong He an inexplicable sense of science fiction.
“Jiangnan Computer Technology Services Company, North China Network Center Base!”
“Jiangnan Optoelectronics High-Tech Company, Server Research and Manufacturing Center Base!”
“Jiangnan Optoelectronics High-Tech Company, North China Research and Development Center Base!”
Seeing the three signs hanging at the factory entrance at once made Tong He’s heart pound again. It seemed he had been brought to the central hub of Jiangnan Group in the entire North China region.
But wasn’t Jiangnan Group just a company that sold blind boxes, or at most operated games?
It made sense to have a network center, but why did they also have server businesses and research in optoelectronics? Was the ambition of this Jiangnan Company so terrifying?
Tong He felt a sense of unease, but looking at the patrolling security guards all over the factory, the stun batons hanging from their waists, and the vast, unobstructed grassy areas around the factory, Tong He understood that escape was impossible.
However, since they brought him here, it was clear they didn’t intend to kill him. On the contrary, it was possible that they had taken a liking to him.
“You can rest in this room for the night. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to see someone!” Liu Xiangjiang dropped Tong He off at the base and left immediately. He couldn’t stand staying in such a place and wanted to return to Cao County city. A manager of the base received Tong He and took him to a very ordinary dormitory.
However, the conditions in this dormitory were better than those at school, as it had a private bathroom. The manager thoughtfully prepared a set of clothes for him, which made Tong He, who smelled of sweat, very happy. Just as he finished showering and was about to sleep, the manager who had initially left suddenly returned.
“Apologies, but we might not be able to wait until tomorrow morning. Chief Engineer Ni wants to see you now!”
“Chief Engineer Ni?” Tong He was a bit confused but obediently followed the person. After passing through three security checkpoints, two fingerprint scans, and one iris scan, Tong He finally met the old Mr. Ni mentioned by the manager.
“You are Tong He, the university student who peeled graphite with tape and ultimately discovered a brand-new allotrope of graphite!” the chief engineer, who was frail but had a kindly smile, asked.
“Yes!” Tong He nodded.
“How did you think of conducting such an experiment?” Ni Guangnan asked curiously.
“My professor was conducting experiments on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and left a piece of graphite sheet, a very thin one, about 0.01 millimeters thick. I originally wanted to use this thin graphite sheet to experiment with magnetization, to see if a thin graphite sheet could improve magnetization efficiency. I didn’t expect it to actually succeed, increasing the magnetization efficiency by about 300% compared to normal graphite sheets.”
“At that time, I thought, if this graphite sheet were even thinner, could the magnetization efficiency be further increased!”
“But at that time, there was no way to cut the graphite sheet further, so I thought of using the blue film tape I had on hand to stick and peel it. Unexpectedly, the thinner it became, the higher the magnetization efficiency rose. Finally, when I could no longer peel it, I analyzed the resulting graphite and found that its structure was completely different from graphite.” Tong He said, scratching his head.
“I read your material analysis, which states that this special material has enormous, unimaginable improvements in thermodynamic properties, electronic effects, and mechanical properties. Is this true?” Ni Guangnan asked again.
“I’m not entirely sure. I only conducted a simple experiment at the time and obtained some data. Unfortunately, all that special graphite was used up. The previous graphite sheets were gone, and the blue film tape was also gone, so I couldn’t repeat the experiment.”
“Therefore, the data from the previous experiment is very likely to be incorrect, as it was only conducted once and is not an accurate result!” Tong He said sincerely.
“Did you not tell your professor about this and ask him to prepare materials for you again?” Ni Guangnan asked.
“I did, but it was useless. If I were a graduate student researching a new topic, it would be understandable. But I’m just an undergraduate student, and the experiment was done by all the classmates. My professor couldn’t possibly pay attention to me alone; he just wanted to get off work early. He said my experiment was wrong, and the method of peeling graphite with tape was extremely foolish and meaningless. No one had ever done it before, so he scolded me and that was that!” Tong He said with great frustration.
It was evident that Tong He really wanted to repeat the experiment, as if the data he had obtained was accurate, he had indeed discovered a remarkable material.
Ni Guangnan also thought so. Moreover, due to his long-term engagement with various optoelectronic materials, Ni Guangnan had always believed that silicon-based materials were not the best for chip manufacturing. Carbon, belonging to the same group as silicon in the chemical periodic table and possessing certain similar characteristics, was a superior material to silicon.
Many scientists in the world also held this view, but in practical applications, carbon elements had always failed to possess the excellent properties of single-crystal silicon, thus failing to change silicon’s position in computing.
However, many scientists had predicted that a carbon-based material with properties superior to single-crystal silicon would eventually be discovered, leading to a massive evolution in computers.
Therefore, when Huang He called and told him that a university student had discovered a very interesting allotrope of carbon with unimaginable properties, Ni Guangnan’s intuition told him that he might have found that legendary miraculous material.
“I’ve already had people prepare all the materials for you. You can now repeat your previous experiment!” Ni Guangnan pointed to the laboratory behind him, which was indeed filled with various materials.
“Repeat the experiment now?” Tong He was startled. “Teacher Ni, this experiment took me a full six hours of peeling back then. It’s already 2:00 AM. I’m young, I’m fine, but you…”
“I’m even more fine. If the material you described is real, you should understand how significant the change this material could bring to the world!” Ni Guangnan said.
“But I also think it’s highly likely that my experiment was flawed. After all, when I was doing the experiment, my classmates were making a lot of noise around me, and the experimental equipment was all old and broken. Who knows…” Tong He shrugged helplessly.
“Hurry and do it, I’ll accompany you!” Ni Guangnan said calmly. Tong He could only reluctantly enter the laboratory and, with Ni Guangnan’s assistance, begin to repeat his previous experiment overnight.