Courtyard House: Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) Traded for an Aircraft Carrier, the Whole Count

Although the power struggle within the courtyard house had come to an end, the atmosphere at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill suddenly became as heavy as lead.

A cold front is sweeping in from Siberia with the north wind.

The loudspeakers in the factory no longer broadcast rousing work chants, and the smiles on the workers' faces disappeared, replaced by worried whispers.

The rumor was finally confirmed—the entire Soviet expert team was to be evacuated.

Not only will the people leave, but all core technical data will also be taken away, and anything that cannot be taken will be destroyed on the spot. This is like building a house halfway through, and the designer suddenly runs away and burns the blueprints, leaving only a group of bricklayers who only know how to move bricks staring blankly at the half-finished building.

The third workshop is the heart of the entire steel rolling mill. It houses a Soviet-made Type 65 fully automatic steel rolling mill that was recently imported. It was a precious asset that the factory had acquired at great expense in foreign exchange, and it was also Director Yang's lifeline.

At this moment, the workshop was completely silent.

Factory Director Yang followed behind several arrogant Soviet experts with a forced smile. The Russians wore fine woolen overcoats, pipes dangling from their lips, their eyes filled with undisguised arrogance and contempt.

"Comrade Ivanov, the debugging of this machine is not yet complete. Could you please..." Director Yang said almost pleadingly.

The leading expert, Ivanov, stopped, turned around, and interrupted him in broken Chinese: "Yang, our orders are to return home immediately. As for this machine..."

He pointed to the massive steel behemoth, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "It's the pinnacle of precision industry, something a backward agricultural country like yours can't handle. I've said it before, giving you a machine like this is a complete waste."

The workers around him clenched their fists so tightly that their nails dug into their flesh.

humiliation.

A sense of humiliation, of being outmatched and trampled underfoot, gnawed at the hearts of every Chinese worker like a venomous snake. Yi Zhonghai, an eighth-grade worker, stood at the front of the crowd, his face ashen, yet he remained silent. He was a fitter; this kind of foreign stuff involving complex electrical automation control was completely foreign to him.

"Idiot! Don't touch that!"

Suddenly, Ivanov roared at a young apprentice who was trying to wipe the machine's dial, "You can't fix it if you break it! None of these parts can be made in China!"

The young apprentice trembled with fright, dropped the rag in his hand, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Jiang Chen stood among the crowd on the periphery, dressed in a crisp security uniform, coldly observing the scene.

His gaze passed over the arrogant experts and landed on the huge rolling mill.

Being backward invites aggression, not only in the military but also in industry. Without core technologies, one can never stand tall.

"System, activate [Structural Perspective]."

Jiang Chen silently recited in his heart.

[Beep! The consumable skill card 'Structural X-ray Vision' has been activated. Duration: 10 minutes.]

In an instant, the world before Jiang Chen's eyes changed.

The cold, massive steel behemoth disintegrated instantly on his retina. The thick metal shell became transparent, revealing countless intricate gears, linkages, hydraulic lines, and electrical circuits, like a precise three-dimensional blueprint, clearly displayed before his eyes.

The dimensions, materials, and meshing angles of every component; the routing, voltage, and control logic of every circuit... all the data flowed before his eyes like a waterfall.

This is a visually striking cyberpunk style.

In this gloomy 1960s workshop, only Jiang Chen saw the soul of this machine.

[Scanning target structure...]

[Analysis of the core control module...]

[Analysis of Hydraulic Transmission Systems...]

[Beep! Scan complete. The "Complete Blueprints for the Soviet-Style Type 65 Rolling Mill (Optimized Version)" has been generated and stored in the system database.]

Jiang Chen's lips curled up slightly.

Did Ivanov think that taking the blueprints would give him leverage over the Chinese? Little did he know, the machine itself was the best blueprint. Moreover, the "optimized version" generated by the system even fixed several flaws in the original design.

"Alright, we're leaving now."

Ivanov seemed to enjoy humiliating the Chinese; he clapped his hands as if brushing dust off. Before leaving, he gave the machine's control panel a meaningful look, a sinister and veiled smile playing on his lips.

That smile was fleeting, but it didn't escape Jiang Chen's eyes.

"Did that old Russian tamper with it?"

Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat, and his gaze quickly focused on a hidden gear assembly inside the main control panel. In his X-ray vision, there was an inconspicuous limit pin there, in an extremely delicate critical state.

If the machine is restarted, this limit pin will break, causing the entire transmission system to jam or even become unusable.

That's ruthless. They're trying to completely paralyze the steel rolling mill.

Watching the experts strut away, Director Yang seemed to age ten years in an instant. He slumped into his chair and sighed deeply, "It's over...it's all over..."

Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, straightened his collar, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Want to leave? Not so easy.

Your blueprints are mine now. And I'm going to smash your face too.