Chapter 571: Preparing to Enter the Chip Industry?

Seeing food on the table, Ma Da didn’t stand on ceremony. He found a seat and asked the housekeeper to get him a bowl and chopsticks.

Who knew what he’d been up to earlier, but he was wolfing down his food like a starving man. Good thing the housekeeper had made plenty of rice, or there wouldn’t have been enough.

When he’d eaten his fill, he finally grabbed a tissue to wipe his mouth and said to Liu Yutong, “Young Mistress, I’ve already arranged for that key to be released as you instructed. I also had someone tamper with it a bit.”

Ma Da was referring to the key that came with the badge.

Liu Yutong had long known that many people abroad were searching for this item. After retrieving the contents from the badge, she’d had Ma Da sabotage the key—anyone who tried to use it afterward wouldn’t just fail to open the badge; the key would snap off inside.

This way, whoever obtained the badge and key wouldn’t be able to open it. Even if they forced it open, the dummy certificate placed inside would be completely destroyed and unusable, so they naturally wouldn’t suspect her.

After all, if you didn’t even know what the item inside was for, how could you suspect her?

Liu Yutong had returned the badge to President Li, the man who originally bought it at auction, a few days ago.

“Has someone bought the badge from President Li?”

Ma Da nodded. “Yes, a foreigner named Hawk bought it.”

“What about the key?” Liu Yutong asked.

“The key ended up with a foreigner named Jess,” Ma Da replied.

A strange expression crossed Liu Yutong’s face. “Seems like they’re both familiar faces.”

But then again, it seemed Hawk had gang connections abroad, just like Jess. It made sense they’d want to recover the badge’s contents.

“Since we’ve already let them go, let them fight it out among themselves. We don’t need to get involved anymore.”

“Yes, Young Mistress.”

Then Ma Da pointed at the locked briefcase he’d brought. “Young Mistress, I had that necklace appraised. It’s genuine. The appraisal agency even wanted to help me find a buyer—said it could fetch at least a hundred million US dollars. I turned them down.”

Hearing that number, even the normally cool and detached Lan Die was visibly moved.

A necklace worth a hundred million? In US dollars?

That’s absolutely outrageous!

She thought to herself, but such priceless jewelry had a fatal attraction for women like them.

Even though she had no designs on the necklace herself, she wanted to see it immediately.

Liu Yutong soon granted Lan Die’s wish.

She had Ma Da open the case, and a breathtaking red instantly met everyone’s eyes.

When Liu Yutong held the necklace in her hands, everyone around her unconsciously lightened their breathing, terrified that any misstep might affect the Young Mistress and cause the necklace to drop and shatter—a loss too great to imagine.

“Lan Die, help me put it on.” Liu Yutong’s voice held a rare hint of anticipation.

“Yes, Young Mistress.”

Lan Die carefully took the priceless necklace from Liu Yutong and gently placed it around her fair, slender neck.

Once the necklace was on, Liu Yutong walked straight to the large floor-to-ceiling mirror in the living room.

The woman in the mirror had hair like dark clouds and skin fairer than snow. Her already incomparably beautiful face, set off by the supreme red diamond necklace, appeared even more radiant and stunningly luxurious.

It even gave the impression that among all the world’s splendor, only she could match such magnificence.

Even the usually cool and reserved Lan Die, rarely, held her breath, her eyes full of awe.

Only by seeing it with her own eyes did she finally understand why someone would pay a fortune for a luxury item.

At that moment, it was no longer just a piece of jewelry but a symbol of power, a pinnacle of beauty. And this beauty only truly demonstrated its value when worn by the right person.

Liu Yutong quietly gazed at herself in the mirror, the corners of her lips curling into a faint smile—enough to topple kingdoms.

“Not bad. I quite like this necklace.”

Coming back to his senses from the awe, Ma Da slapped his thigh and launched into a torrent of flattery.

“Incredible, Young Mistress! This necklace looks like it was made for you! I always thought those shiny rocks were nothing special, but today has been a real eye-opener. With this necklace on you… well, a heavenly fairy couldn’t compare!”

Liu Yutong: “……..”

“If you can’t speak properly, don’t speak at all.”

Ma Da scratched his head and chuckled. “Anyway, it looks great.”

Just as he was about to continue his flattery, his phone rang in his pocket. He took it out, glanced at the number, gave Liu Yutong a nod, then answered.

“Hello! What is it?”

“It’s that Jess again? Got his head cracked open again? That guy’s really got rotten luck…”

After hanging up, Ma Da reported directly to Liu Yutong: “Young Mistress, that foreigner Jess was cornered by some strangers. Got his head bashed in again. Should we get involved?”

Liu Yutong pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Ma Da, do you think this person is reliable?”

Ma Da immediately shook his head. “That guy’s full of hot air and never shuts up. I don’t think he’s reliable.”

Liu Yutong said, “Then take some men and check it out. Consider it a good deed.”

Ma Da: “…….”

He couldn’t quite follow the Young Mistress’s train of thought. Hadn’t that been a pointless question?

“Yes, Young Mistress, I’ll take some men to check it out right away.” With that, he turned and left.

Liu Yutong had her own reasons for this.

A few days ago, she’d asked Su Mansu to look into a company called Mapper. It turned out to be a Dutch photolithography equipment manufacturer.

The company’s financial situation was far from ideal and on the brink of bankruptcy. And she, as the company’s major shareholder, had only just found out.

Of course, that was a joke—she’d only just acquired the company’s bonds and equity.

Mapper primarily used maskless electron-beam direct-write technology. Compared to the optical lithography technology of giant ASML, this technology had clear disadvantages—mainly low production speed, making it unsuitable for large-scale standardized manufacturing. This had led to its developmental struggles.

Nevertheless, the company still held considerable value. While it couldn’t achieve mass production, it had certain advantages in low-cost rapid prototyping and small-batch, multi-variety manufacturing.

Furthermore, Mapper had long-term technical cooperation and supply chain relationships with an ASML subsidiary specializing in ALD technology.

The importance of ALD technology in chip manufacturing goes without saying—it was essentially a cutting-edge process enabling atomic-level precision thin-film deposition.

It was precisely ASML’s breakthrough in ALD technology last year that had cemented its dominant position in high-end lithography.

Honestly, Liu Yutong had never planned to get involved in chips or photolithography. It was simply too difficult for her—no technology, no talent, nothing.

Even as someone who had been reborn, she felt this was beyond her reach.

However, to her complete surprise, when she’d had no intention of doing so, she’d somehow acquired 80% equity in a company focused on photolithography R&D and manufacturing, becoming its controlling shareholder.

Under the circumstances, if she did nothing, wouldn’t she be wasting this perfect opportunity to enter the chip industry?

Although she knew nothing about chip manufacturing or photolithography, she knew that for the next ten to twenty years, the core and most fiercely contested battlefield in global tech competition would be chips.

In short, whoever mastered advanced chip design and manufacturing capability would hold the upper hand in the future Information Age.

But for now, she needed to plan carefully.

For instance, she first needed to acquire the remaining 20% of Mapper’s shares to complete full privatization. Then she would use Mapper as a technology absorption platform, leveraging local advantages to legally recruit experts and former engineers from ASML, Philips, and other companies to rebuild a R&D team focused on reverse-engineering ASML’s DUV lithography machines and key subsystems.

Later, she’d find opportunities to transfer talent and equipment back home, moving foreign achievements back like ants carrying crumbs.

Though the difficulty would be high, given the strict foreign technology blockade, she absolutely could not reveal that Mapper was controlled by Dragon Kingdom capital. Otherwise, certain rogue governments would surely seize the company.

Therefore, she hoped to find a foreigner who wouldn’t raise suspicion to act as her proxy and secretly handle these matters.

That Jess was on her candidate list because his gang identity offered far more advantages than an ordinary businessman’s.

In foreign civilian circles, there was nothing that couldn’t be solved through underworld channels….