RPAGF #490 - betray
#490 - betray
This world is always full of surprises.
In the ninth district of West Mountain, at a secret research base.
A researcher in his forties, after nearly a month of research, completed a thorough inspection according to the project's safety management protocols and was approved to leave the base for a week-long vacation.
All personnel participating in closed research and development in the ninth district of West Mountain are entitled to an independent apartment suite in the Dawn Community built in the outskirts of Yandu, with sizes ranging from one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments, eliminating the worry of unstable housing for all researchers.
According to the Dawn Research Institute's internal promotion and housing regulations, they can obtain permanent housing rights through various channels. Outstanding achievements in their work are rewarded with housing, in addition to spiritual and monetary incentives.
Furthermore, generally, senior researchers with more than 5 years of service and ordinary researchers with more than 10 years of service have enough points to exchange for an apartment of varying sizes.
Ren Chong, having traversed two worlds, knows how to motivate researchers. Moreover, with his decisive influence in the Dawn Research Institute, he agreed with Counselor Ye that for every branch of the Dawn Research Institute established, Counselor Ye only needed to reserve a piece of land on the city's edge for the Dawn Community. All construction costs would be borne by the Dawn Research Institute itself.
For Counselor Ye, this was naturally not a problem, as each Dawn Community would accelerate the development of a large urban area. Currently, the residents of Dawn Community have the strongest spending power in the country.
This middle-aged researcher, named Qin Chu, carrying his travel bag from the storage locker outside the base, boarded the shuttle bus connecting the research base to the residential area in the city. He seemed preoccupied on the bus.
"Qin, what's wrong? Is your project not progressing smoothly? You seem a little distracted," a researcher who knew Qin Chu couldn't help but ask.
"It's nothing, it's nothing. The project is progressing well. If there are no accidents, we should have results soon," Qin Chu replied dismissively, his thoughts interrupted. "Yuan, are you also on vacation? Is your project also nearing completion?"
"Yes, yes, it's almost finished. So, if there are no major issues with the project, everyone doesn't need to work overtime at the base," the researcher named Yuan, who appeared to be in his thirties, had dark circles under his eyes, but his spirits were high, and he spoke animatedly about the matter.
Apparently, they were both engaged in research on different sub-projects within a similar large project, and they had quite a bit of interaction, which is why they were so familiar with each other.
"Qin, where are you planning to go on vacation after this project ends?" Yuan suddenly changed the topic. Although there is collaboration and communication between their internal projects, according to work safety regulations, they are not allowed to discuss the specific project content privately.
After all, the confidentiality level of their projects is A-level top secret in the Dawn Research Institute. All research and development sites have strict isolation measures from the outside world to ensure that the vast majority of the project content remains within the research and development base.
Even when researchers enter and leave the base, all clothing worn is internally and externally separated. The custom clothing worn inside the research base must be changed into regular clothes before leaving the base.
This strict confidentiality system has been developed and improved over more than ten years of continuous development at the Dawn Research Institute, based on many experiences and lessons.
From the current perspective, this confidentiality system is very useful.
Although leaks occur from time to time, the losses are relatively small, after all, only a small part of the leaked information is ever revealed.
Qin Chu and Yuan quickly started chatting about their vacations. Researchers like them receive salaries at the top of the pyramid in the country, possessing not only the spending power to travel anywhere in the country but also the ability to travel abroad.
This is a significant effort by Ren Chong to allow scientific and technological researchers to monetize the results of their scientific research and enjoy the benefits. Even if there is some gap compared to those technological entrepreneurs in the main world who can become billionaires once they take off, they enjoy a similar standard of living compared to the technology personnel in the main world who earn millions of dollars a year.
They can own their own homes, buy cars, and have the ability to travel and spend money domestically and internationally every year.
Even if their salaries are converted into US dollars, they are only ten to twenty thousand, but ten to twenty thousand is very valuable in this era.
Hearing about travel, Qin Chu's eyes flashed, as if he had been touched.
"I haven't decided yet, maybe I'll go hiking, maybe I'll go to the sea," Qin Chu replied evasively.
"Haven't you thought about finding a wife, Qin? You earn a lot of money, why don't you think about settling down? With your conditions, you can immediately get a three-bedroom apartment after marriage. Isn't it good to start a family? Our institute doesn't lack good girls. Look, my son can already run errands," Yuan said, his eyebrows dancing.
"I, I'm used to living alone, I'm not used to having another person in my life," Qin Chu said, his eyes flickering again, "Yuan, I really envy you, you have both career and love."
The two chatted on and off, and unknowingly returned to the Dawn Community.
Qin Chu returned to his apartment.
First, he took out a bottle of foreign wine, poured a full glass, then drank it down in one gulp, letting out a long breath of alcohol, and then pulled out a densely drawn drawing from under the bed board, filling in the things he remembered in his mind.
After busying himself for a while, he completed his work, leaned back in his chair, looked at the densely drawn circuit diagram, and his eyes were a little dazed.
At this moment, if someone in the research institute saw this drawing, they would be shocked, because this drawing was the 8080 chip circuit diagram, the core secret of the East Asia Semiconductor Technology Research Center!
Qin Chu actually relied on his memory to painstakingly record the drawings he saw in the base bit by bit, and then drew the diagram at home. Then, he took out a miniature camera, took several pictures of the drawing, and after thinking for a long time, he decided to hide the original drawing again.
He couldn't bear to burn it in one go.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, he took his beloved ordinary camera and a few rolls of film, drove his half-old Jetta, and drove smoothly towards the foot of Fragrant Hills. For those familiar with Qin Chu, the whereabouts of this photography enthusiast were not surprising. His life was simple and pure, and his greatest hobby was capturing those fleeting moments of beauty.
Qin Chu's camera was just an ordinary domestic camera. For him, he loved photography but didn't pursue luxurious equipment. In this regard, Qin Chu firmly believed that good photos came from the photographer's eyes and soul, rather than expensive equipment.
In addition to work, Qin Chu devoted most of his spare time to photography. He truly loved using the camera to capture the most moving scenes.
He liked to shoot with film, enjoying the waiting process of developing. Each film was unique, and each press of the shutter was a respect for time.
In Yandu, Qin Chu's two favorite places were the Great Wall and Fragrant Hills. The Great Wall's majestic grandeur and Fragrant Hills' seasonal changes were both protagonists under his lens. He liked to wake up before dawn and drive to the Great Wall to capture the moment the first ray of sunlight illuminated the ancient city walls. He often said that every brick of the Great Wall had its own story, and he was the one who told those stories with his lens.
Fragrant Hills, on the other hand, had a different kind of charm. The mountain flowers in full bloom in spring, the lush greenery in summer, the fiery red leaves in autumn, and the towering snow pines in winter—each season had its unique appeal. Qin Chu liked to come to Fragrant Hills at different times to record the mountain's silhouette under different light and shadows. He said that Fragrant Hills was like a changeable young woman, with different charms at every moment.
Qin Chu's photography journey was never lonely; his camera and film were his most loyal companions. He would climb to the peak of Fragrant Hills before sunrise, just to capture the magnificent sight of the red sun leaping out of the horizon. He would stroll along the paths of Fragrant Hills at dusk, using his lens to capture the gentle colors of the sunset reflecting on the leaves.
In Qin Chu's photos, there were tender buds sprouting in spring, flourishing flowers in summer, colorful fallen leaves in autumn, and snow-covered branches in winter. His photos contained children's laughter, lovers' embraces, old people's contemplation, and travelers' hurried footsteps. He used his lens to record the fragments of life, and used photos to tell one story after another about time.
Several of Qin Chu's works had even appeared in major newspapers, and some had even won awards.
The newest novels are first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!
Today, most people were at work. On the road, Qin Chu only saw a few scattered elderly people. They looked at Qin Chu with the camera hanging around his neck and gave him friendly smiles, thinking he was a reporter coming to gather material.
Soon, Qin Chu entered the Biyun Temple in the depths of the Fragrant Hills' dense forest.
Then, without hesitation, he went straight to the Arhat Hall.
The Arhat Hall is located in the south of Biyun Temple, facing east, with nine bays wide, a hip-and-gable roof, and simple tile roofing. The front ridge is decorated with a small inverted bowl tower. The front eaves have a three-bay gable roof porch. Under the eaves of the main bay, the gold-lettered inscription "Arhat Hall" is inscribed. Inside the main entrance are enshrined the Four Heavenly Kings, and inside the room are 508 Arhat statues. In the center of the hall are the statues of the Three Buddhas. On each side of the passage stands a Buddha. On the east side is the Dharma protector Vajra Weituo, on the north side is the Mad Monk, on the west side is the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and on the south side is the Amitabha Buddha.
Qin Chu walked all the way, and there was no one in the Arhat Hall. He didn't usually feel anything strange about these Arhats with different appearances, but at this moment, there was an indescribable sense of oppression. He looked around, saw that there was no one, took out a roll of film from his bag, secretly stuffed it under the broken throne of an Arhat, then took a photo and left in a hurry.
Ten days later, when Yandu unexpectedly uncovered a case of overseas spies, they unexpectedly received shocking news during the interrogation: a core secret of a certain chip at the Liming Research Institute had been stolen by spies and was now circulating overseas!
The investigators who had originally uncovered another intelligence case did not dare to neglect and immediately reported this information to Staff Officer Ye.
Staff Officer Ye couldn't sit still immediately and hurried to Ren Zhong's office.
"Old Brother Ren, something big has happened! There are spies in the chip technology research center. According to the information we have now, the intelligence of our 8080 chip is suspected to have been leaked," Staff Officer Ye said anxiously as soon as he saw Ren Zhong.
"Alas, it's hard to guard against internal thieves," Ren Zhong shook his head. "But it's not a big problem. Our technology is not so easy to catch up with. Even if the opponent learns the information of the 8080, we have a way to deal with it. Has the person who leaked the secret been found?"
"Not yet. According to the spies we captured, they had no direct contact with this intelligence leak. The person who stole the intelligence photographed the drawings and hid them in a certain place in the Arhat Temple in Fragrant Hills, and then someone took them out. The two sides had no chance to contact each other," Staff Officer Ye said.
"Old Brother Ren, listening to you, does this mean our new generation has already been developed?"
"That's right, our 8086 has achieved its first tape-out. If there are no major problems in the testing, we will start small-scale production. The new 8086 is several times more powerful than the 8080, with a main frequency of 4.77 MHz, using a 16-bit register, a 16-bit data bus, and 29,000 3-micron technology transistors, with a speed of 0.8 MIPS. It is a pure 16-bit chip that will give our new computers stronger functions.
Considering our technical confidentiality and performance retention, we have also designed a reduced version of the 8088 chip, a 4.77 MHz quasi-16-bit microprocessor. It runs internally at 16 bits but supports an 8-bit data bus, using existing 8-bit device control chips, containing 29,000 3-micron technology transistors, and can access 1MB of memory address, with a speed of 0.33 MIPS.
Simply put, these indicators mean that the 8088 is much stronger than the 8080, but much worse than the 8086. We will replace the 8080 with the 8088 for sales in the international market, so that even if competitors come up with imitations of the 8080, we can defeat them with our performance advantage," Ren Zhong explained.
"Oh, I'm relieved then. In that case, if it's used in the military, wouldn't our own 8086 greatly improve performance?" Staff Officer Ye asked curiously.
"Yes, our avionics system will greatly improve in performance after welcoming the 8086. Specifically, the radar's performance and reaction speed will be faster. The radar systems on our fighters and warships can be optimized and iterated after the new generation of chips mature."
"But this is just a transitional stage. Our next-generation chip, the 80286, is the real replacement product. It is expected that this chip will contain 134,000 transistors, and the clock frequency will gradually increase from 808Hz to 20MHz. Its internal and external data buses are both 16-bit, and the address bus is 24-bit, which can address 16MB of memory. It is expected that after this chip is developed, our chip industry will be safe for at least 10 years. Because this new chip also requires a whole new set of production equipment to be developed. It is not so easy for competitors to learn."
"But the tumor hidden inside us must be cleared out."