The darkness before dawn is deepest, but today the gloom hanging over Shanghai's Lujiazui skyline carries an unusual, metallic heaviness. Mozi stands in his top-floor office overlooking the Huangpu River, lights off, only the neon glow of the city beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows casting flickering shadows across his face. He has just concluded an emergency video conference spanning six time zones, his ears still echoing with the anxious, uncertain voices interwoven in various languages. On the terminal screen, a bold, red emergency news alert scrolls silently, like a bleeding wound.
There was no warning--or rather, all warnings had been obscured over the past months by the internal tremors stirred by the Oracle's whisper of ∞. When the storm truly arrived, it came not from some unknowable abyss, but from the very core of real-world power they had always inhabited and sought to influence, even reshape, with technology and capital.
Led by the traditional tech superpower across the ocean, united with its core allies across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, within mere hours they simultaneously announced the 'most comprehensive and severe in history' sanctions and blockade against the String Light Research Institute and its globally linked enterprises and fund entities. The official statement's wording was icy and unyielding, its core accusations twofold: 'Systematically threatening national security and international strategic balance of participating nations by leveraging its transcendent, origin-unknown technology'; and 'Constructing insurmountable technological barriers and engaging in malign monopoly that jeopardizes global industrial chain security through its mastery of advanced chip manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and potential biotechnologies.'
'National security,' 'technology monopoly'--these two repeatedly invoked phrases pierced like poisoned daggers into the most central, most misunderstood and feared aspects of the String Light system.
The specific sanctions list was suffocatingly long. On technology embargoes: any technology, software, or equipment (including products containing even a trace of Western technological components) related to the String Light Research Institute and its affiliates was prohibited from export, re-export, or transfer. This nearly severed at one stroke all legitimate channels for String Light to obtain from external sources any advanced tools, materials, or even some basic components potentially usable for R&D. Talent exchange was completely frozen; all scholars, experts, and students in relevant fields were prohibited from any form of cooperation, visits, or even online academic exchange with String Light. The top mathematical forum that had once invited Yue'er promptly removed her homepage link; several elite European technical universities with joint laboratories with Xiuxiu's team sent cautiously worded but firmly decisive notices of cooperation termination.
An even more vicious blow struck the financial lifeline. All overseas accounts and assets identified under Mozi's name and within the 'String Light Fund' system were immediately frozen. International banks conducting business with String Light were threatened with secondary sanctions if they continued providing financial services. Major global securities trading markets suspended all transactions of financial products related to String Light concepts. The blood vessels of the capital market were clamped one by one; blood flow was rapidly slowing, facing risk of drying up. Mozi could feel the meticulously constructed, supposedly 'anti-fragile' financial model he had built enduring the most direct, rule-level crushing force from sovereign power. This wasn't market volatility; this was rule-rewriting, the violence of the game board being overturned outright.
The office door was gently pushed open. His chief strategy advisor, a silver-haired gentleman who had weathered countless commercial storms, entered with an ashen face, holding a freshly printed preliminary loss assessment report still warm from the printer. The numbers on it were staggering.
'Mo, our overseas liquidity... is essentially locked solid. Several ongoing cross-border M&A projects are forced to halt; penalty fees are astronomical. More importantly, our international investors...' The old gentleman's voice carried a barely perceptible tremble. 'Panic is spreading. Major LPs (Limited Partners) have formally sent letters demanding redemption of their shares.'
Mozi listened in silence, his gaze still fixed out the window. Freighter horns echoed across the Huangpu River, their sound penetrating the thick soundproof glass, growing muffled and distant. This city, this nation, indeed the entire world, had just begun recovering from the philosophical tremors stirred by the Oracle's whisper, only to immediately confront this relentless iron fist of realpolitik. Technological competition, once it reached the threshold capable of altering the balance of power, ultimately could not escape the strategic-level strangulation of nation-states. This was cold reality, the iron law unchanged for centuries in great power rivalry. Their earlier maneuvering on the international stage leveraging technological breakthroughs and capital strength, to some extent, succeeded because they hadn't yet truly touched the most core, most sensitive nerves of the established hegemonies. Now, however, String Light's leaps in lithography, artificial intelligence, fundamental mathematical theory, and especially the Oracle's uncontrollable, unknowable evolution, had clearly been perceived as a fatal challenge to the existing order.
'Understood.' Mozi's voice was unexpectedly calm, even carrying a weary hoarseness. 'Execute Contingency Plan C. Prioritize safeguarding cash flow for domestic core R&D and employee salaries. Calm the investors; frankly inform them of the current situation, but emphasize that our technological foundation and domestic market fundamentals remain unshaken.'
The old gentleman opened his mouth as if to say something, but seeing Mozi's profile--exceptionally resolute yet exceptionally lonely in the dim dawn light--he ultimately nodded silently and retreated. He knew the real pressure extended far beyond the commercial and financial layers.
Sure enough, minutes later, Mozi's private encrypted line rang. The caller ID showed a crucial state ministry. Upon answering, the voice on the other end was stern and grave, skipping pleasantries and cutting straight to the point: 'Comrade Mozi, you're aware of the situation. This is a systematic suppression long premeditated by the other side, aimed at strangling our rise in high-tech fields. String Light is now the eye of the storm.'
'I understand,' Mozi responded somberly.
'Senior leadership is urgently studying countermeasures and will mobilize all necessary resources to support you. But you must be psychologically prepared.' The voice paused, its tone growing heavier. 'As String Light's legal representative and symbol externally, you personally... will bear the greatest pressure. Media attacks, lawsuits, even more extreme... personal safety threats may follow in succession. Their goal is to destroy String Light, and the most direct way to destroy String Light is first to destroy its helmsman.'
The call conveyed a clear warning, even carrying a trace of barely perceptible concern. Mozi felt the weight on his shoulders increase by a thousand pounds. This was no longer a commercial war; this was agame related to national destiny, and he had been pushed to the forefront.
'Please assure the organization, I know what must be done.' Mozi responded word by word, his voice not loud but containing undeniable strength.
Ending the call, he took a deep breath, as if to temporarily suppress the heavy pressure in his chest. He needed to see Yue'er and Xiuxiu immediately. The storm had arrived; their iron triangle must anchor tightly together.
He didn't choose video. Instead, he sent a highest-security-level request for an offline meeting. The location wasn't at the research institute, nor any known office space, but deep within a secluded wutong-lined lane in Shanghai's western district, a safe house long prepared, equipped with top-tier anti-surveillance, anti-eavesdropping capabilities.
When Mozi pushed open the heavy soundproof door, Yue'er and Xiuxiu were already inside. Yue'er sat at a simple wooden table, before her a cup of long-cold green tea, her face somewhat pale but her eyes still clear and steady, only her brow clouded with a lingering worry. Xiuxiu appeared somewhat anxious, pacing back and forth in the room, fingers unconsciously twisting together. Seeing Mozi enter, she immediately stopped, looking at himurgently.
The air inside the safe house carried a stale mix of paper and disinfectant, isolating them from the outside world, further highlighting the severity of the moment.
'How bad is it?' Xiuxiu spoke first, her voice tight with tension. Having just experienced partners hastily drawing lines and core component supply chains abruptly snapping, she felt more directly than Yue'er theicy and cruelty of this blockade.
Mozi didn't conceal anything, succinctly laying out the financial freeze, technology embargo, talent cutoff, and the enormous pressure he personally faced. With each item stated, Xiuxiu's face whitened further, while Yue'er simply listened quietly, her fingers tracing unconsciously on the cold teacup.
'They... they're trying to completely isolate us, strangle us!' Xiuxiu's voice held anger and a barely perceptible tremble. 'The High NA EUV prototype is still in debugging; key optical material stockpiles only last three months! And the Oracle... its required computational power support...'
'Xiuxiu.' Mozi interrupted her, his voice steady, possessing a strange calming power. 'Panic solves nothing.'
He turned to the silent Yue'er: 'Yue'er, your side?'
Yue'er lifted her gaze, meeting Mozi's eyes: 'Several international mathematical alliances, under pressure, suspended my membership. The report scheduled next month in Zurich is canceled. Also some... anonymous threatening emails.' She said it lightly, but Mozi could see deep in her eyes the scholar's sorrow and anger--a sacred temple defiled. Her world was pure logic and truth, now tainted by thisdirty political storm.
Mozi walked before them, his gaze moving from Xiuxiu's anxious face to Yue'er's forcibly calm expression. He knew deeply that this storm targeted not merely him personally, nor merely String Light's commercial interests, but everything the three of them represented--the capability to challenge existing technological hegemony, the courage to explore unknown realms, and that idealism transcending borders yet deeply rooted in homeland sentiment.
He remained silent for several seconds, as if gathering strength. Then, in an extremely slow yet crystal-clear tone, he said:
'Yue'er, Xiuxiu,' he called their names, each word like a stone dropped into still water. 'Listen. From today onward, we may face unprecedented difficulties. Losing overseas markets, funding, technological sources, even... losing reputation, losing freedom--these aren't the worst possibilities.'
His gaze grew incredibly sharp, yet carried a profound, almost tragic tenderness.
'I want you to prepare for 'losing everything.''
'Losing everything'--these four words struck the safe house's stifling air like a heavy hammer. Xiuxiu sharply inhaled; Yue'er's fingertips trembled slightly.
'But,' Mozi's voice suddenly rose, carrying an irrefutable resolve, 'as long as our core R&D team remains intact, as long as the foundation of the String Light Cloud Brain remains, as long as you--the mathematical mind, the engineering hands--are still here, we still have capital to turn the tables! We have not yet lost!'
He looked at Xiuxiu: 'If the supply chain is broken, we start from scratch, build our own completely self-controlled, autonomous supply chain! Ten years to forge a single sword--since we could break the DUV, EUV monopoly, we can solve those chokehold materials and components!'
He then looked at Yue'er: 'If academic exchange is blocked, we establish our own academic standards, our own 'String Light' school! Truth never dims under suppression; your theory is humanity's common wealth. They cannot seal it off!'
Finally, his gaze returned to both,concentrateinto a steel-like will: 'As for me... if they want to make me a target, let them come. I will stand here, in the open, drawing all fire. You, retreat behind the scenes, back to the laboratories, protect yourselves, protect our core. This is our most important strategy now.'
Xiuxiu looked at Mozi, seeing the familiar calm honed through countless financial battles in his eyes, now further tempered with a burn-the-bridges determination. Her inner panic miraculously subsided somewhat. She nodded firmly, her gaze regaining its sharpness: 'I understand. I will immediately replan the R&D roadmap, activate all backup and domestic alternative solutions.'
Yue'er also slowly stood up. She walked before Mozi, gently placing the cold teacup on the table with a crisp, light clink. She raised her head, her gaze clear and firm: 'My world has always been within equations and logic. Theclamoroutside cannot affect my pursuit of truth. Be at ease.'
No further words were needed. The trust andtacit understandingbetween the three surpassed any promise or guarantee at this moment. They knew that from this moment onward, they were fighting not merely for their ideals and enterprise, but also for the land that bore and raised them behind them, for a right to development not strangled by power.
Mozi finally looked deeply at them, as if engraving their images into his mind. 'Maintain silence. Activate backup communication protocols. Avoid offline contact unless necessary.'
He turned first, pulling open the heavy soundproof door. Outside, the city'sclamorfaintly reached his ears, yet now it sounded like war drums beating. The political storm had pushed him, pushed all of them, to the cliff edge of fate. But he knew he could not retreat, nor was there any path of retreat. He must walk forward--for Yue'er and Xiuxiu to retain that relatively tranquil space to continue exploring and creating, and for that belief he always upheld: 'unity of knowledge and action,' concern for the nation and its people.
He stepped into the gradually brightening dawn light outside the safe house, his back straight like a reef facing an oncoming storm. Behind him, the door slowly closed, concealing the two women, and also the future spark of String Light, temporarily within the relative calm of the storm's eye. The long, harsh winter had begun.