Chapter 36: The Strange Disappearance of Contact

“Shareholder?!”

After hearing Lin Xu’s description, Jiang Xingye was stunned.

Good grief, he had already said Lin Xu could advance quickly, but now, he had shot straight to the top in one leap?

Clearly, according to the chairman’s explanation, Skytech planned to establish a new subsidiary and appoint Lin Xu as its head.

This was evident from Ren Jian’s mention that Lin Xu was responsible for procurement and recruitment.

But why so fast?!

“Wait, are you sure he’s a shareholder, not the legal representative?”

Jiang Xingye asked suspiciously.

“...Could you hope for something better?”

Lin Xu spread his hands helplessly.

“He’s the legal representative himself, not me.”

“To be honest, I also feel something’s a bit off.”

“Especially his attitude toward me—it’s as if... how should I put it, he treats me as an equal.”

“Wait, are intellectuals really given that much respect now?”

“It feels like a time warp back to seventy years ago.”

“Definitely absurd... but also makes sense.”

Jiang Xingye sighed.

“Probably because those two documents are so important, and you’re the only contact person. The company has to place their bets on you.”

“Ah... President Lin, from now on, there’s a terrifying thick wall between us.”

“Will I still be able to invite you out for late-night snacks?”

“Before, inviting you out was at worst workplace harassment; now it’s outright bribery, right?”

“...Sometimes I really don’t understand how your dog brain works.”

Lin Xu raised his hand, pretending to slap Jiang Xingye, who folded his arms and curled up, putting on a pitiful look, his eyes darting with mock innocence:

“President Lin, take it easy...”

“Cough, cough, cough...”

Lin Xu nearly choked on the sip of water he just drank. He glared fiercely at Jiang Xingye.

“Please, act normal.”

“No problem, President Lin.”

Jiang Xingye straightened up instantly.

“Seriously, only the two of us know about this for now, right?”

“Yes.”

Lin Xu nodded.

“Then keep it confidential for now. Honestly, this could blow up big or stay small.”

“If it leaks prematurely, it might spark unnecessary jealousy.”

“I know—do you take me for a fool?”

“Ah...”

Jiang Xingye sighed.

“I should’ve made my move when you first joined the company and were still clueless. But now... it’s too late.”

“...Let’s go. Time to get off work. There’s a Home Inn next door. Let’s battle it out for three hundred rounds.”

---

“President Lin! How can you say that!”

Jiang Xingye exclaimed.

“What kind of status do you have to take me to a Home Inn?”

“At least it should be Bulgari, right?”

“...Bulgari my foot.”

Lin Xu glanced at the time, closing his laptop.

“I really have to get off work; I still need to go to the National Library to research.”

“After that, I have to find Xu Jin to sync up on today’s updates.”

“What about you? Off work?”

Talking about serious matters, Jiang Xingye finally got serious.

“No, there’s still some finishing touches on the testing of Ship No. 3.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask if you’ll continue with your original tasks?”

“If not, I’ll have to request HR to recruit someone.”

“I’m going to keep doing them.”

Lin Xu answered decisively.

He couldn’t let go of the flight control system work because he needed to maintain a strong connection with Star Travel One.

“But you can still hire someone. I’m overloaded now, and once the Star Travel One project kicks off, I won’t be able to handle it alone.”

“Got it.”

Jiang Xingye nodded.

“When someone comes, you can interview with me. They’ll be your assistant, so you can pick the right one.”

“Can I hire someone good-looking?”

Lin Xu winked.

“...You really want to die, huh? You think everyone in this line is naturally stunning like me?”

“...Just saying.”

“Let’s go.”

“Go ahead, drink more wolfberry tea; look at your pale face. You’re turning into a wreck.”

“...One day, I’ll show you who’s really the wreck.”

Lin Xu grabbed his bag and stood up. Jiang Xingye returned to his desk, continuing unfinished work.

As Lin Xu walked out the company gate, he kept thinking about what he needed to do when he got home.

He didn’t notice that someone was sitting on the sofa outside the office reception area, occasionally glancing in his direction.

When Lin Xu entered the elevator, the person immediately stood up, putting down an unfinished interview registration form.

But he didn’t follow into the elevator.

Instead, he took the fire escape stairwell downward, speaking in a low voice:

“I’ve locked onto the target.”

“Yeah, consistent with prior intelligence—just a very ordinary staff member.”

“Clean background, yes, definitely clean.”

“At this point, it doesn’t seem like his personal action. It looks like a layout by Skytech, and he’s merely a spokesperson.”

“They might be heading toward self-developed materials. Somehow, they obtained Xu Jin’s research data and are betting heavily on him.”

“No signs of malicious intent so far.”

---

“Do we need to arrange an interview? We can have the State-owned Assets Supervision Commission intervene.”

“Are you sure it’s unnecessary? What does Old Xu think?”

“Okay, understood.”

“Then I’ll hold off for now. We’ll keep monitoring, and I’ll need cooperation from economic investigation to watch Skytech’s movements.”

“Right, they’re experts in that field. If anything’s wrong, they can alert us promptly.”

“For now, it seems Xu Jin won’t suffer losses. But if necessary, we can provide him with protection.”

“That’s all. Over.”

...

Back home, Lin Xu was completely unaware of the “official attention” he had drawn. Once inside, he immediately turned on his computer and began searching for clues about the “Zhurong.”

Xu Jin was obsessed with this device. Although it was unclear if it related to his father, he definitely wanted to retrieve the probe itself.

Clearly, what he wanted was not the data the probe collected, but the probe itself.

So what was special about this probe?

Lin Xu typed “Zhurong” into the search bar, and results appeared immediately.

But most were just ordinary news reports.

Successful development, successful launch, smooth landing, successful transmission of the first image of Mars...

Of course, there was also the recent discovery Jiang Xingye mentioned—the suspected semi-metallic hydrogen.

That was indeed a major breakthrough.

But the motive of “bringing back the Zhurong” didn’t seem directly connected.

Lin Xu frowned.

He opened the longest news article and read it word by word.

The article used the discovery of semi-metallic hydrogen as an introduction, then recounted the history of the Zhurong.

Most of the content was nothing unusual, just praising the staff’s hard work and the probe’s significance to national space and cosmic exploration.

But amid all the mundane information, Lin Xu found a somewhat “illogical” anomaly.

The probe’s launch wasn’t entirely smooth.

After successfully leaving Earth orbit to Mars, 160 days before landing, the Zhurong lost contact for 56 days.

At that time, everyone assumed the probe had been destroyed in space.

But unexpectedly, after 56 days, once it entered Mars’ orbit, the ground command received signals again.

The report attributed the loss to complex cosmic rays and electromagnetic environments, compounded by planetary obstruction, and used it to validate the probe’s reliability.

But Lin Xu instinctively felt it was more complicated.

A blackout during launch could be explained as a blackout zone, but after flying for months, how could it still lose contact?

He wanted to dig deeper into the specific circumstances of the blackout but found no information.

Still classified?

It should have been declassified twenty years later, right?

If it wasn’t found here, it must be in his bracelet.

Time clamp offensive!

Lin Xu lay down and gently touched his bracelet.

His consciousness was once again drawn away...