Chapter 1184 Storms Always Came Suddenly
Storms always came suddenly.
The Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department joined forces to capture numerous spy organizations lurking on China soil. A total of 67 intelligence doc.u.ments were intercepted and more than 200 information leaks were traced.
Using the confessions from spies and the clues from deciphering the spy doc.u.ments, almost all of the operating criminals were arrested and brought to justice.
Unlike most crimes, treason was a threat to national security, so there was no room for compromise in this department.
On the other hand, the CIA headquarters on the other side of the Pacific Ocean was shocked at China’s counter-operations.
The speed and efficiency at which China was able to capture the spies exceeded the expectations of the CIA intelligence experts.
They had considered the possibility of their spies getting caught and even had emergency plans in place. However, they had totally lost control.
It seemed like the Chinese side had cast a huge net around their network and began to tighten the net without them noticing at all, finally pulling the net out of the ocean, capturing everyone.
They couldn’t even determine whether the intel they received during this period was sent from their spies, or if they were a message deliberately sent from the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department.
Regardless, this whole fiasco was a disaster.
The damages and losses from this had almost exceeded the total losses suffered by the CIA overseas operations over the past ten years. This was even comparable to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
The worst part was that they had no idea how China was able to discover the intelligence network they had spent the past decade building.
In any case, someone had to be responsible for all this.
Apparently, on the night of the incident, the president inside the White House furiously yelled at the CIA director and appointed the FBI to investigate this incident.
Now that the FBI was involved, the CIA was in trouble.
The CIA had to withdraw their active intelligence personnel deployed in the Asia-Pacific region.
Then, the CIA director took the blame for all this and resigned. More than 20 high-level officials were suspended, and the FBI was tasked with the responsibility for further investigation.
Everyone thought that one of the spies must have ratted on them.
No one could have imagined that all of this was because of a small box.
With this small box, there were no secrets on this planet…
…
While America’s intelligence operation in the Asia-Pacific region was paralyzed, Academician Lu, the true “brain” behind this operation, had no idea what was going on.
He had no idea that his tiny invention was capable of this.
He specifically wrote in his letter that the small box should be used for research. Lu Zhou had no idea that the Ministry of State Security had decided to borrow the computer for their counter-espionage operation…
However, as a scholar, there was no reason for him to know about all this.
After all, it was best to keep some things hidden from him, for the sake of his own safety.
For at least the next 50 years, the stories behind this operation would be cla.s.sified as top-secret. Other than the person who issued and implemented the order, no one else knew about the truth behind the operation.
After all, if the CIA ever found out who was behind this, they might drop a present at Lu Zhou’s house.
But then again, the CIA wouldn’t be the only people that wanted to eliminate Lu Zhou off this planet…
This was a display of the terrifying power that was quantum computers.
Very few people knew the impact it was causing, but major research inst.i.tutes had already begun researching quantum encryption technology.
Inst.i.tute of Information Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This was China’s top research inst.i.tute in the field of information security. A group of experts sat around a conference table.
A while ago, they received an order from the state.
According to reliable sources, the Pentagon in the United States was researching the application of quantum computer technology for intelligence collection. Beijing wanted them to develop an encryption algorithm to deal with cyberattacks from quantum computers that had more than 1,000 qubits.
This was quite a strange requirement because the most advanced quantum computer could only achieve 100 qubits. In any case, 1,000 qubits was quite ridiculous.
However, judging from the funds allocated by the Communist Party of China, this was not a joke. Almost half of the big names in the field of cryptography were gathered in this conference room. Everyone had to sign a confidentiality agreement before coming in…
“Today is the fifth meeting,” Academician Xue Jinhui said as he looked around at the conference table. He continued with a serious expression, “I hope everyone can brainstorm and put forward some constructive ideas.”
Academician Xue Jinhui was quite the expert. Not only did he serve as the deputy director of the Inst.i.tute of Information Engineering, but he was also involved in the development of the Twin Field Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocol.
This QKD protocol was, in a sense, the first quantum encryption algorithm independently developed by the Chinese scientific research team. Because of this, he was selected as the leader of the entire project.
There was a commotion in the conference room.
The cryptography experts looked at each other; their eyes filled with helplessness.
Just like what Academician Xue said, this was the fifth meeting. However, they had yet to come up with any new ideas.
A cyberattack launched by a 1,000-qubit quantum computer…
This was an “alien-level” attack. This wasn’t something that could be solved just by having a few meetings. The difference in technology was too huge.
They could only think of some inefficient means of communication, such as using a one-time pad or even using physical mail delivery.
“The LWE is not efficient enough, Soliloquy is not safe enough, and the quantum communication conditions are too harsh. Point-to-point communication is fine, but it’s not like we can equip everyone with a satellite… Sigh, the higher-ups really gave us an impossible problem.”
An old man with gray hair took a hit of the cigarette between his fingers as his eyebrows began to furrow.
The middle-aged man with gla.s.ses sitting next to him had a frown on his face, as if he couldn’t bear the smell of the cigarette. He coughed and said, “If only we could recruit Academician Lu into our team. Cryptography is a mathematics field.”
People all looked at Academician w.a.n.g s.h.i.+cheng.
Academician w.a.n.g s.h.i.+cheng was baffled; he blinked and said, “What now?”
An academician sitting next to him coughed and asked, “What if those from Yan University mathematics center help us?”
“No way…” w.a.n.g s.h.i.+cheng waved his hand and said, “Mathematicians are not interested in cryptography anymore, you should ask the physicists.”
People had a bitter smile on their faces, especially Academician Xue.
A young professor sitting next to him suddenly spoke.
“Speaking of which, Academician Lu is now mainly in charge of the ILHCRC? He’s researching the… the Zhou particle?”
The professor sitting across from him nodded.
“I’ve heard about the Z particle. I’ve read that paper several times. The characteristics of the Z particle are interesting. It exists for a while and then does not exist. When it is not observable, it hides in a high-dimensional s.p.a.ce. Only revealing the tip of the iceberg at times… Oh, do you think it is possible to use the Z particle as a means for communication?”
“I don’t know… But this might work, should we consult Academician Lu?”
The conversation had totally digressed.
Academician Xue coughed and interrupted the conversation. He looked at the scholars and spoke.
“Enough, don’t always try to rely on Academician Lu. The Communist Party of China trusts our ability to handle this. As for Academician Lu, he has his own business to deal with.”
He paused for a second and said, “Also, we’re not talking about the means of communication, we’re talking about how to encrypt our communication; stay on topic!”
However, now that Academician Xue brought them back on the right path, the conference room went silent again.
Suddenly, they heard a door knock.
Academician Xue quickly said, “Come in.”
The door opened.
A young a.s.sistant walked in with a stack of papers in his hands.
Academician Xue was stunned, and he asked, “What is this?”
“News from the Communist Party of China…”
The young a.s.sistant looked at Academician Xue and said awkwardly, “The quantum encryption algorithm project… has been canceled.”
Everyone in the conference room was astounded…