The sentinel soldiers in the Special Operation Forces were all intimidated by his paper authority. After all, the jurisdiction of the Special Operations Forces within domestic borders was extremely restricted, and bypassing authority was not tolerated.
These measures were implemented to counterbalance the practically free-reign the Special Operation Forces held overseas. Otherwise, uncontrollably omnipotent bureaucracy would have ultimately become a menace.
Huo Shaoheng has stipulated that his soldiers obey their supervisors in China unconditionally. As long as the warrant originated from the Senate and the Military, they must obey it unconditionally.
They didn’t necessarily have to obey the orders of the Cabinet, meaning Prime Minister Tan’s signature did not hold that much weight, but this particular authorization paper had Speaker Long’s signature on it. This aspect alone was enough to hold over the heads of everyone in the Special Operations Forces.
…
The Central Control Room of the Special Operations Forces’ headquarters was situated on the sixth floor of the office building. Standing at the doorway of the nuclear radiation-proof black doorway, Hong Kangquan felt emotion stir up inside him.
He had finally come to this place …
Last time, when Huo Shaoheng was transferred to the United States to rescue Tan Guiren, he’d seized the opportunity to implant the four remotely controlled monitoring commands he’d been instructed to install. That mystery person had assured him that their AI program was very advanced, at least fifty years ahead of their current programming language, and would never be discovered…
Who would have thought that not half a year would pass before it was discovered by Huo Shaoheng?
When Hong Kang had received the news about this from that person half an hour ago, his whole body had gone cold, rendering him utterly speechless.
If Huo Shaoheng found out that these four lines of AI programming language were implanted by him, the consequences would be catastrophic!
Hong Kang was totally dissatisfied, totally dissatisfied! But since the unthinkable has already happened, Hong Kang wouldn’t sit still crying over spilled milk.
Huo Shaoheng really had nothing to lose? Hehe, too naive!
Hong Kangquan held the authorization paper in his hand. Thinking back to that look Speaker Long had given him when he saw the evidence he had, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.
…
In front of him was the Central Control Room of the headquarters of the Special Operation Forces. Henceforth, he, Hong Kangquan, would be the one in control.
The tightly enclosed door was covered with a thick layer of cowhide, giving it excellent sound insulation ability and radiation protection. This door alone was enough to put the Secret Service to shame.
Hong Kangquan’s eyes flickered as he shouted into the intercom at the door, “Major Huo Shaoheng, I was ordered to conduct an unscheduled inspection on your department. Please come out for the inspection.”
Huo Shaoheng has a very cautious modus operandi.
Although he did not know what had provoked Hong Kangquan’s sudden aggression, he knew very well that Hong Kangquan was not someone who gave up on his prey, and certainly not someone who did anything half-heartedly. Since he’d had the audacity to raise such a large army against him, naturally he’d also come prepared.
Huo Shaoheng had not been worried at all initially, but when he heard from the guards that Hong Kangquan possessed the signature and authorization of Speaker Long, he felt a little faint and intuitively sensed that something was very wrong.
Speaker Long knew how Huo Shaoheng suspected that Hong Kangquan had dubious alliances, and therefore he’d signed Huo Shaoheng’s request to place full surveillance on Hong Kangquan. But in the blink of an eye, Speaker Long had agreed to Hong Kangquan’s request to investigate Huo Shaoheng…
Unless there was something sketchy about Speaker Long himself, it meant that Hong Kangquan has some damaging evidence on his hands.
The evidential basis for Huo Shaoheng’s suspicions about Hong Kangquan was not yet completely established.
In terms of time, he was one step slower.
So did this mean that Speaker Long was starting to suspect him now? For the sake of security, Huo Shaoheng decided to take the initiative to re-encrypt the entire building’s system. All the main control systems in the central control room had extra security measures and encryptions implemented, and the backup data was completely locked down. Better safe than sorry.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at the 27 staff members in the room, nodded to them, then got up and walked to the door. He placed his palm on the sensor on the wall. The door scanned his palm print and, after confirming his identity, initiated the automatic door opening program.
The heavy gate slowly opened in the middle, yet it did not open completely, only revealing enough of the passageway to allow one person to pass through. Huo Shaoheng stood with his hands behind his back at the door of the aisle, blocking the gate.
“Director Hong, what brings you to the Special Operations Forces so early in the day?”
Hong Kangquan was at least a full head shorter than Huo Shaoheng, but the intimidating vibe he gave off compensated for it.
He glanced up at Huo Shaoheng. He pulled out the authorization letter signed by Speaker Long and Prime Minister Tan and shook it before Huo Shaoheng’s eyes. “Major Huo Shaoheng, tonight, no, I should say it happened before dawn on the empire’s intranet… I’m going to have to ask you to have a conversation with your team about this. By the way, which one of you is the Pink Piggy? Please show yourself.”
Hong Kangquan was not aware of the Pink Piggy’s true identity, yet he tried to make it appear to Huo Shaoheng that he at least had a vague idea who it might be.
If he had been a little less cautious, he would have fallen into the trap. However, since he was up against the Major General of the Special Operations Forces, Huo Shaoheng, his baiting failed to elicit its intended effect.
Huo Shaoheng feigned bewilderment. “Have a conversation? A conversation about what? This country is a law-abiding nation. The Special Operations Forces are only under the jurisdiction of the Senate and the Military. The Secret Service belongs to the Senate. We have no obligation whatsoever to report to you. Besides, what is Pink Piggy anyway? Is Director Hong referring to that notorious hacker? I also want to know their true identity. If Director Hong knows who they are, can you introduce us to each other? I really want to recruit them.”
“You really have no idea who Pink Piggy is?!” Hong Kangquan’s eyes flashed with surprise. He looked Huo Shaoheng up and down carefully, yet could find no sign of deceit.
Did he really have no clue who the Pink Piggy was?
“We really would like to know who the Pink Piggy truly is as well. If Director Hong knows anything, please let us know.” Huo Shaoheng tried his best to feign ignorance and desperation. “Our country is in desperate need of such a computer genius!”
“So you guys have absolutely no idea who the Pink Piggy is? Forget it then, I’ll discuss that later. But then again, you guys have no obligation to report to me anyway.” Hong Kangquan changed the topic and said impatiently, “But don’t you guys forget, we, the Secret Service, have the power and authority to monitor the Special Operation Forces.”
“Of course you can supervise us. What happened over the Internet this morning before dawn, didn’t you monitor the whole process? If you hadn’t been watching, then you wouldn’t have been doing your job.” Huo Shaoheng did not budge at all. Just like Gu Nianzhi, he wasn’t willing to back down and let Hong Kangquan take advantage of his silence.
Hong Kangquan chuckled and laughed. “Why would we be on the sidelines? We put ourselves out on the frontlines of the battle, and tried our hardest to defend our country’s cybersecurity and did our best to turn the tide. But you…!”
Hong Kangquan’s voice suddenly took a harsh turn. He pointed a finger at Huo Shaoheng’s chest and scolded him, saying, “Major Huo! Do you know why such a large-scale foreign invasion occurred over the internet this morning? It was caused by the recklessness of the Special Operations Forces! Rashly taking the initiative! Even boldly provoking the enemy! Worse yet, leading the wolf right through the door! You not only violated the fundamental values of this country but also allowed hostile foreign powers to exploit our vulnerability and gravely endangered our country’s network security!”
“I have reported to President Long and Prime Minister Tan about this matter. Someone in the Special Operations Forces must take responsibility.”
As soon as Hong Kangquan finished speaking, the 27 staff members in the central control room became enraged. They all gathered around, stood behind Huo Shaoheng, and shouted in the direction of the door, “The Americans were the ones who attacked us! They started it, not us! And you’re saying that we were the aggressors?! How utterly shameless!”
“Stop it this instant. Be polite to Director Hong.” Huo Shaoheng scowled at them. “You can’t blame Minister Hong for something he doesn’t have.”
Was he insinuating that Hong Kangquan had no shame? The 27 staff members couldn’t help but smirk. Their boss was even more brutal than them, so they couldn’t help but be impressed with the vicious blow he had given.
Yet Hong Kangquan couldn’t care less about these petty verbal exchanges. “So you’re saying that the Americans were the aggressors? I have an inside source from the United States saying that this cyberwar was initiated by our side. The United States has merely been defending themselves from aggressors and suffering heavy losses. It’s on your heads.”
Hong Kangquan looked at Huo Shaoheng gravely, then asked sullenly, “May I ask what Major General Huo would like to say in his own defense?”
Huo Shaoheng tensed up inside, groaning for a moment without speaking. The staff inside the room could not remain as calm and collected as he did.
Hearing him speak in the Americans’ defense infuriated them greatly. “The Americans were clearly the aggressors that started this whole thing in the first place! Director Hong, are you the Secret Service Director of our country, or America’s. How come I don’t feel like we are seeing eye to eye here?” A staff member of the Special Operation Forces was very displeased with Hong Kangquan.
Whole-heartedly taking the words of the Americans at face value, treating American news like the bible, was this how this country’s Secret Service Director was?!
Hong Kangquan smugly watched the members of the Special Operations Forces getting all worked up with fury before finally saying, “… Were the Americans really the aggressors? I don’t believe it, I need evidence.”
Huo Shaoheng raised his eyebrows slightly.
Hong Kangquan said straightforwardly, “Under the orders of the Senate and the Cabinet, the Secret Service will assume control over the Central Control Coom and the server. As for who the true aggressor was, after we have fully investigated the data in the server, we will decide impartially.”
Now Huo Shaoheng finally understood why Hong Kangquan had caused such a ruckus.
Hong Kangquan already knew that they had identified the issue with the monitoring software, so he knew he had to act fast and be one step ahead. The purpose of the commotion today was to obtain the monitoring software on the server.
Give the server to Hong Kangquan? Wouldn’t that basically be handing him evidence of his own fraud!?
It didn’t take a genius to guess that as soon as Hong Kangquan assumed command over the Central Control Room that he would immediately wipe out all the incriminating evidence against himself.
“Sorry, Director Hong, but this request cannot be fulfilled.” Huo Shaoheng pointedly looked at Hong Kangquan with his arms crossed. “This is one of the most crucial places in our country. Director Hong’s rank does not provide enough authority to even bypass this gate.”
