Chapter 1575: Don’t be afraid of thieves stealing, just be afraid that thieves will miss you

Zhang Tao's heart sank suddenly.

He was not confident enough to believe that his students were so popular.

What's more, some of these names pose no threat to him in the academic field, but will only embarrass him in the field of education.

Scam?

The thought flashed through my mind and was immediately rejected.

I don’t know about the other people’s situations, but the letter in Wang Lingxiao’s mailbox is definitely genuine.

This is not an accidental academic headhunting behavior, but more like a precisely cast net!

Zhang Tao felt a chill running down his spine.

He suddenly thought of a recent CCTV documentary.

"Hunting..."

These two words popped out of his mind uncontrollably.

"Have you asked everyone? Who else in the research group has received it?" Zhang Tao's voice became unusually serious.

"I didn't dare to ask publicly, fearing to cause unnecessary panic or alert the enemy, so I quietly asked a few familiar people..." Wang Lingxiao shook his head: "About half of them clearly said they received it, and the other half may have really not received it, or may have just not noticed their mailbox."

There is indeed a high probability that this type of email will be directly classified as spam and will not appear in the inbox.

But the severity of the problem is far beyond imagination.

Lianhai Institute of Chemical Physics is a national-level research institute, but it is not a confidential unit and its management is relatively open. Although the backgrounds of its personnel have been examined, who can guarantee 100% composure in the face of "sugar-coated bullets", especially in the face of the temptation of the world's top academic temple?

More importantly, the project involves a lot of synthesis, characterization, and testing, and the process is complex.

Even if the core members are reliable, some peripheral laboratory assistants, testers, and even students responsible for cleaning the utensils may intentionally or unintentionally come into contact with key sample fragments, test data printouts, or intermediate results that have not been cleaned up in time in the laboratory computers.

When it comes to keeping secrets, there are natural loopholes in him that are difficult to completely block.

Zhang Tao no longer hesitated and immediately picked up the red confidential hotline phone on the table and dialed Chang Haonan's number directly.

Torch Lab.

Chang Haonan had just returned to his spacious but somewhat deserted office. Before he had even taken a few sips of a glass of water, the red confidential phone rang urgently. Seeing that the caller ID was Zhang Tao from the Lianhai Institute of Chemical Physics, he picked up the phone immediately.

"Academician Zhang? Why haven't you gotten off work yet so late?" Chang Haonan glanced at the sky outside the window which was gradually getting dark.

"Academician Chang." Zhang Tao's voice came through the receiver, with no intention of chatting at all. "We just discovered an emergency at the institute, and we need to communicate with you."

Then, he quickly recounted what Wang Lingxiao had discovered in the simplest language.

"...The source of the email has been confirmed, and it is basically a genuine official channel. The timing is concentrated, and the target is clearly the core members of the project. I judge that this is not an ordinary academic recruitment, but is very likely an organized and targeted action... It is even possible that it is some kind of cover to interfere with the operation of stealing information."

"What are your plans?" Chang Haonan did not give his opinion immediately, but asked Zhang Tao for his thoughts.

"To be honest, the pressure is huge," Zhang Tao replied. "You know the nature of the Institute of Chemistry. It's open research, and the turnover of personnel is relatively normal... Although we have conducted background checks on the core members of the project, the research process is long and involves many steps, so there is an objective risk that peripheral personnel will be exposed to sensitive information fragments."

He paused, his tone becoming heavier:

"The current security and confidentiality measures of the Institute of Chemistry may be sufficient to deal with ordinary commercial espionage, but facing this kind of systematic hunting supported by national power and regardless of cost, I... am not completely sure that I can ensure that no information is leaked. The safest way..."

Zhang Tao hesitated for a moment, but still said, "I'm afraid we should transfer the entire nickel-cobalt dual-element array material research project, including all core personnel, key samples, and data, to your Torch Laboratory. The security level and confidentiality environment there are truly an iron wall."

Chang Haonan rejected it immediately without even thinking: "No, Mr. Zhang. This plan is not feasible." He refused decisively.

The real reason cannot be revealed - the Torch Laboratory is also responsible for other more confidential research projects, and it is impossible to allow a large number of external personnel and equipment to enter, increasing the risk of leaks.

He could only come up with an excuse: "It would be too much of a commotion. The entire team, equipment, samples, and data migration would all be affected... Besides, the space and resources at Torch are highly saturated, and there is really no spare capacity to accommodate such a complete research group."

Zhang Tao on the other end of the phone was silent for a few seconds, apparently realizing that his proposal made in a hurry was too idealistic.

He sighed, "I thought it was too simple. So... what should we do now? Strengthen the confidentiality of the Institute of Chemistry? Apply to the superiors for additional security personnel? Conduct stricter background checks and monitoring of all personnel who come into contact with the project?"

Although these measures are necessary, they appear passive and their effectiveness is questionable.

Chang Haonan was calculating rapidly in his mind.

Passive defense is always effective.

At this moment, a light bulb went off in his head, and he remembered the three types of sample performances with huge differences in the experimental reports he had seen when he was discussing with Li Yabo at the Computer Center just now -

Especially those "poisoned" samples that catalyze harmful side reactions and "fragile" samples that are easily powdered.

A bold idea emerged.

"Academician Zhang." Chang Haonan's voice regained its composure. "You can only guard against thieves for a thousand days, but you can't commit thieves for a thousand days. It's better to lure the snake out of its hole, or... give the thief a 'fake treasure'."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

Zhang Tao cheered up.

"Just now when Li Yabo showed me the test report you sent me, I discovered a very interesting phenomenon."

Chang Haonan said slowly:

"For materials synthesized according to our preliminary design, the performance of samples from different batches varies greatly. In addition to a few good products that meet expectations, there are two types of 'defective products'."

"Our current computational model has found problems and is being corrected...but outsiders don't know this! In their eyes, these are intermediate products that are bound to be produced and worth studying in the process of exploring high-performance lithium-sulfur battery cathode materials."

He paused, and his tone became meaningful:

"If we... accidentally let some of the sample analysis reports that appear to be 'very valuable' get out... what do you think our competitors who are eager to copy our success or overtake us will do?"

Zhang Tao's eyes lit up instantly on the other end of the phone:

"They will be overjoyed! They will treat these wrong paths as valuable clues to study further?"

"Yes."

Chang Haonan affirmed:

"Especially the toxicity data of catalyzing harmful reactions. If it is pursued as some kind of high activity, it will not only waste their resources, but may also lead them to develop batteries with serious safety hazards. This may be more effective than simply keeping it secret..."