Homo Sapiens

A fine mist fell from an overcast sky.

On a small hill in the northern part of Bantun Island.

Before an unmarked gravestone erected last year, Li Qingye placed a bouquet of white chrysanthemums on the stone slab and filled three small cups with green plum wine.

The pitter-patter of raindrops was the only sound.

Phil stood behind Li Qingye, dutifully holding an umbrella.

Today was April 4th, the day of the Qingming Festival.

After standing silently before the gravestone for over ten minutes, Li Qingye hid the sorrow in his eyes, turned, and said, ”Let’s go back.”

「Meanwhile.」

Inside a Donghua Group factory in Peng City, employees were working tirelessly, putting in overtime.

Kong Zhao Lin, who had been entrusted with a crucial task by Wu Heguang, was in a meeting in the factory office.

”Mr. Li, what’s the current status of the equipment?”

The gaunt middle-aged man rubbed his temples. ”We’re almost there. The conversion, synthesis, secondary conversion, and control systems for the synthetic ammonia production line are all in place. We’ll conduct the final inspection today, and we can begin the factory acceptance test tomorrow or the day after.”

”That’s great news. This hasn’t been easy,” Kong Zhao Lin said, breathing a sigh of relief.

It might seem like they had plenty of time with the delivery date nearly two months away, but the process was complex. After manufacturing and customizing parts, assembling components, and assembling and testing the entire machine, the whole thing had to be disassembled, packaged, transported, and reassembled on-site.

Kailuo Company required the equipment to be shipped to their factory in Luzon by June, and they had granted Donghua Group an additional three months for installation and commissioning.

But the timeline was still incredibly tight.

The chief engineer, Li Xinyi, had been run off his feet, all because of this tight deadline.

He was also inwardly resentful of Kong Zhao Lin and Wu Heguang. ’To win the contract, they’d agreed to this ridiculously tight deadline.’

Kong Zhao Lin noticed Li Xinyi’s exhaustion and dissatisfaction and quickly tried to placate him. ”You’ve worked hard, Mr. Li. When this is over, I’ll have the company throw a celebration banquet for everyone. I’ll make sure the bonuses are generous.”

”Heh, well, thank you for that, Vice President Kong.” Li Xinyi knew how to play along.

After finishing their discussion, the two went to inspect the test site together.

Normally, equipment like this would be installed at the client’s factory, then commissioned and tested. If everything checked out, it would be handed over. If any issues arose, the manufacturer would be responsible for resolving them.

However, since Kailuo Company was in Luzon, that approach would have at least doubled the project’s construction time.

Therefore, Donghua Group had no choice but to manufacture the unit completely, test it at their own facility, then disassemble it for shipment to the factory in Luzon, where it would be reassembled and commissioned.

Kong Zhao Lin and Li Xinyi inspected the setup and found no apparent problems.

”Mr. Li, let’s proceed with the test run tomorrow, then!”

Li Xinyi nodded. ”Sounds good. After all, many problems won’t show up without a live test.”

This was precisely why Kong Zhao Lin was in such a hurry to test. Time waited for no one. The trip from Peng City by rail to Hai Zhou Port, and then by freighter to Manila, would take around 20 to 25 days—nearly a month of their schedule.

It was April 4th, leaving them with a month at the absolute most.

In that one month, they had to complete the test run, debug and resolve any potential problems, and then disassemble and pack everything. The timeline was obviously tight.

Worried that something might go wrong, Kong Zhao Lin had even posted guards to watch the site twenty-four hours a day.

「That evening.」

In the brightly lit test bay.

A dozen or so cockroaches emerged from cracks and corners, crawling one after another into the core components of the machinery.

The tiny creatures had a clear objective: the radiant section of the reformer, which housed several hundred reformer tubes.

The reformer tubes were filled with a special catalyst; they were where the reaction between hydrocarbons and steam occurred.

The tubes were enclosed within a furnace that typically operated at 900–950 degrees Celsius. The pressure inside the tubes was approximately 4 MPa. These were harsh operating conditions.

After slipping into the furnace, the cockroaches attached themselves to the surfaces of the reformer tubes. They began to excrete a viscous fluid containing a special acid, one that destroyed the alloy’s crystal lattice by absorbing carbon from the steel.

After more than five hours of corrosion, a dozen or so weak spots, each about a centimeter in diameter, had formed on the reformer tubes.

Their mission accomplished, the cockroaches quickly scurried back the way they came.

「The next morning.」

Li Xinyi and Kong Zhao Lin were both in the test site’s remote control room.

”Begin.”

”Yes, Mr. Li.”

The technicians quickly injected the raw materials, then started the flow of power and gas.

The test bay had been evacuated. A test of this nature always carried risks; even a supremely confident Li Xinyi wouldn’t dare remain inside.

Besides, with modern automation and monitoring technology, everything could be done via remote control, so no one wanted to remain in the test bay.

”Pressure: 1.5...”

”Pressure: 2...”

”Beginning injection...”

As steam and hydrocarbons were injected, the natural gas in the outer furnace blazed fiercely, causing the temperature and pressure inside the reformer tubes to climb rapidly.

At first, everything was normal.

Then, at the thirteen-minute mark, ravaged by the intense heat and pressure, four of the weak spots on the tube walls fractured.

PFFT—

The superheated, high-pressure mixture of steam and hydrocarbons was instantly ignited by the furnace flames.

BOOM—

A terrifying explosion ripped the entire furnace and reformer apart, the blast wave even striking the casing of the nearby synthesis reactor.

To make matters worse, the furnace’s natural gas supply line had ruptured.

”Damn it! Shut off the natural gas!” Li Xinyi roared, his face ashen.

Snapped out of their daze, the crew scrambled to close the gas valve, the feed valve, and the pulverized coal injection valve.

They also activated the emergency systems to begin extinguishing the flames.

But in this moment of crisis, Li Xinyi and Kong Zhao Lin could only slump in their chairs, their faces drained of color. They had no capacity to worry about fighting the fire.

”It’s over! We’re finished!” Kong Zhao Lin muttered.

Li Xinyi looked just as devastated.

Minor issues could have been fixed. But the entire primary reformer system was now scrap metal, and other systems had suffered various degrees of damage. This was a catastrophic failure, not something that could be resolved in a week or two.

Forget rebuilding it—just investigating the cause of the accident would be a monumental task.

Half an hour later, the fire was extinguished, and a preliminary damage estimate was available.

Staring at the mangled wreckage of the reformer and furnace, Li Xinyi said, his lips trembling, ”Vice President Kong, this entire synthetic ammonia production line is a write-off.”

”I... I...” Kong Zhao Lin’s heart nearly stopped. He gasped, ”Haa... haa... What do we do?”

”Vice President Kong, you need to inform the chairman as soon as possible,” another manager reminded him.

Utterly distraught, Kong Zhao Lin pulled out his phone but couldn’t bring himself to make the call.

He had no idea how to break the news. Wu Heguang had entrusted this project to him, grooming him as a successor. Now he had screwed it up completely, and he lacked the courage to tell Wu Heguang what had happened.

No one else dared to make the call themselves; it was natural for the highest-ranking person on-site to take the fall.

Taking a deep breath, Kong Zhao Lin finally dialed Wu Heguang’s number.

”Hello? Zhao Lin? What is it?”

”Uncle...!”

On the other end of the line, Wu Heguang immediately sensed something was wrong. Kong Zhao Lin rarely called him ’Uncle’ on the phone or in a formal setting.

”What happened?”

”...”