bioinnovel Chapter 415 The Traitor!
Chapter 415 The Traitor!
When Nie Qingcheng answered the call, Zhang Yan was still sitting in the cockpit of the Xuanxie, and the temperature reading on the outer wall of the ice layer had just returned from minus eighty-seven to minus forty.
"Someone inside Helios reconstructed the surveillance footage from my last infiltration and sent it to the TFC remnants."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the communication.
"Did you manage to track down the recipient?"
"Three layers of jump servers, still under investigation. The encryption protocol is the same as TFC's."
Nie Qingcheng didn't reply immediately. Zhang Yan heard the sound of keyboard clicks. Soon.
Is the sender locked?
"Inside the facility. Qin Xiao is investigating who exactly is involved."
"No need to investigate." Nie Qingcheng's voice was flat. "The security supervisor. The person who accompanied you the whole time you entered the facility last time."
Zhang Yan recalled. The French security supervisor, in his early forties with a buzz cut, watched him as he walked through the first three floors. At the time, he thought it was just routine security.
How can you be so sure?
"I have been intercepting the internal communications of the Helios board of directors since the acquisition offer was submitted."
"The security supervisor sent an encrypted email to the CFO within forty minutes of the offer being delivered."
"I haven't cracked the email content yet, but the time difference between the sending time and the time difference between the time of the intercepted surveillance footage and the time of its transmission is no more than two hours."
Zhang Yan has figured out this line of reasoning.
The security supervisor noticed something amiss but instead of reporting it to the CEO, he contacted the CFO directly.
The CFO reconstructed the footage and sent it to the TFC remnants.
"CFO," Zhang Yan said.
"Martin Weber," Nie Qingcheng read out his full name. "I've looked into his background. He seems clean on the surface. He has a PhD in Finance from the University of Zurich, spent eleven years at Helios, and was promoted to CFO three years ago."
Three years ago.
"Yes. It started around the same time as the research project on that meteorite."
Zhang Yan tapped his finger on the armrest. Three years ago, Helios obtained the meteorite. Three years ago, Weber was promoted to CFO. Three years ago, security control on the fifth basement level began to be centralized.
Not a coincidence.
"He knows the door," Zhang Yan said.
Nie Qingcheng's voice turned cold. "He not only knew. He was protecting that meteorite—not for Helios, but for himself. Over the past three years, he's been tightening security control over the fifth basement level layer by layer. The CEO signed it, but the proposals were all written by Weber."
"The gatekeeper?"
"I asked the locksmith. The locksmith said there were no traitors within the organization, and Webber wasn't one of them."
Third party.
Zhang Yan was thinking about this question as he climbed up from the ice cave. Helios was no ordinary business conglomerate; its history and industrial layout all pointed to the "gate."
The locksmith said that the gatekeeper hadn't made any contact with the key holder for six hundred years, but there were other people watching the door besides the gatekeeper.
"Stargazing provides clues," Nie Qingcheng said.
Zhang Yan waited.
"She sent it half an hour ago. There is a record in the ancient books of Guantiange that there was a group of people in history who believed that the door should be opened."
Zhang Yan paused for a moment.
"They believed that what was outside the door was not a threat, but an opportunity for evolution. Humanity should actively embrace it, not resist it. This group was known as the 'Door Openers'."
The one who opens the door.
Zhang Yan automatically pieced together the information in his mind.
Three years ago, after Weber obtained the meteorite, he began to centralize security authority, not to protect the meteorite, but to control it.
Control the calibration anchor point of the third door.
"What was the outcome of the takeover offer?" Zhang Yan asked.
Nie Qingcheng's tone remained unchanged. "The Helios board of directors formally rejected it two hours ago. The reason given was 'strategic assets are not transferable'."
Zhang Yan closed his eyes briefly.
"This wording isn't typical of the CEO," Nie Qingcheng said. "The CEO has a technical background, and he was very interested in the funding terms during the last negotiation. The decision to refuse was made by a board vote, led by Weber."
It's blocked.
Weber blocked the main business channels from the inside.
"You have a backup plan," Zhang Yan said. It wasn't a question.
The sound of files being turned over could be heard from the other end of the communication line.
"During Weber's seventh year in Helios, he applied for an internal research grant for the project 'Optimization of Deep Geological Sample Preservation Technology.' This funding was obtained through the joint channel of the EU Framework Fund. One of the application materials was an equipment procurement list."
Zhang Yan waited.
"The model numbers and supplier information for three pieces of equipment on the list do not match Helios's publicly available procurement records. I had someone check the suppliers. Two have been deregistered, and the third's registered address is an empty office."
Misappropriation.
"The amount isn't large, four million. But it's public funds." Nie Qingcheng's voice was very soft, as if she were stating the weather. "I don't need to prove he's the one who opened the door. I only need to prove he misappropriated EU funds."
Zhang Yan understood.
Nie Qingcheng didn't want to fight Weber in the shadows. She dragged him directly into the sunlight.
When can I submit the materials?
"It's already been handed over."
Zhang Yan glanced at the time. Less than forty minutes had passed since he told her about the leaked surveillance footage.
"To whom should it be handed?"
"Helios CEO. A copy of the EU Framework Fund Oversight Committee is attached. The CEO has two options—cooperate with the investigation and sideline Weber, or wait for the oversight committee to come knocking and have the entire board investigated."
There is no third way.
"What was the CEO's reaction?"
"He hasn't replied yet. But he will." Nie Qingcheng's tone was certain. "This man is protective of his own, but not of the stupid. He couldn't possibly have known that Weber had embezzled public funds, and if he had, he wouldn't have tolerated it. Give him a respectable reason to distance himself, and he'll accept it."
Zhang Yan leaned back in the Black Scorpion's seat. The sound of the wind above the Antarctic ice sheet came through the bulkhead, a mournful whine.
"Once due diligence access is reopened, I'll rearrange your access window to the facility," Nie Qingcheng said. "But Zhang Yan..."
"Um."
"Weber is not a person. The Gatekeepers are an organization. Taking him aside only severs the internal connection with Helios. They still have people outside."
Zhang Yan knew.
"They will come when I go to repair the third door."
"So you can't go alone."
Zhang Yan did not respond.
Nie Qingcheng didn't press him for details. She knew what he was thinking.
The communication went silent for a few seconds.
"Come back first," she said. "The porridge is in the pot."
Zhang Yan hung up the communication and piloted the Black Scorpion to continue ascending. 800 meters. 500 meters. The signal gradually returned. A flood of messages came into his phone.
Qin Xiao's.
"Brother Yan, we've traced the recipient's IP. The final node isn't a server—it's a physical address. Algeria. Forty-seven kilometers in a straight line from the Helios facility."
Zhang Yan stared at the message.
Forty-seven kilometers. Not remotely controlled. Someone was nearby.
The next post was made by Qin Xiao five minutes ago.
"The Stargazer just sent in additional information. Eight hundred years ago, the Gatekeeper unearthed something from some ruins. The records of the Celestial Observation Pavilion don't have a name, only a description—'the object opposite to the key.'"
Zhang Yan's thumb stopped on the screen.
My phone vibrated again.
Locksmith. Encrypted channel.
The text consists of only three lines.
"The Door Openers are not just a belief. They have their own 'key.' Not the Heart of the Gods. It is the opposite of the Heart of the Gods—the 'Breaching Hammer.' If they reach the third door first, they will open it from the inside."
The black scorpion emerged from the ice. The sunlight was blindingly white.
Zhang Yan sat in the cockpit, the wind blowing in and stinging his face.
He dialed Nie Qingcheng's number.
"Let's put Weber's case aside for now," he said. "The problem is bigger than we think."