Homo Sapiens

After the video conference ended.

Wu Heguang let out a long breath, his shirt soaked through with sweat.

His secretary quickly poured him a glass of water.

”Secretary Zhang, inform Vice President Huang to hand off his current work and focus exclusively on handling the third-party inspection team from Kailuo Company. Tell him to delay them as much as possible.”

”Understood. I’ll inform Vice President Huang right away.”

Wu Heguang wearily picked up the phone and dialed Kong Zhao Lin’s number.

”Hello? Uncle.”

”Zhao Lin, the situation has changed. Kailuo Company is sending people over for an inspection. Tell Mr. Li to refurbish the old equipment as quickly as possible. We’re short on time.”

On the other end, Kong Zhao Lin could only grit his teeth and agree.

...

「Luzon. Bantun Island headquarters.」

Li Qingye listened to Phil’s report, a trace of contempt in his eyes. ”A desperate struggle. Launch the third wave of the attack.”

”Yes, Boss.”

「Two days later.」

An An Nan Chemical Company that had previously purchased ammonia synthesis equipment from Donghua Group also experienced a minor explosion. Although there were no casualties, the factory was forced to halt production.

Following an investigation, the An Nan Chemical Company discovered that the converter tubes in the conversion furnace of Donghua Group’s ammonia synthesis equipment had serious quality issues. Some of the tube walls contained a small number of lattice defects, which were prone to fracturing at those points after prolonged operation under high temperature and pressure.

The news broke immediately.

On the day the story was exposed, Donghua Group’s stock price in Xiangjiang plummeted.

The short sellers, who were already prepared, quickly moved in for the kill.

But it didn’t end there. Several other companies that had purchased Donghua Group’s ammonia synthesis equipment secretly inspected their own units, and two more discovered defective converter tubes.

At this point, an executive from Kailuo Company also made a statement, saying they needed to carefully re-evaluate Donghua Group’s chemical equipment.

This order had caused Donghua Group’s stock price to surge last year, but now it had become a death warrant.

After all, if Donghua Group couldn’t deliver the equipment on time or if it had major design flaws, the enormous breach-of-contract fines and compensation would be enough to bankrupt the company.

The capital market reacts extremely quickly, and it is also unforgiving.

Besides the short sellers secretly controlled by Homo Sapiens Company, other speculative institutions quickly followed suit and shorted the stock.

In less than three days, Donghua Group’s stock price fell from its previous 27.6 yuan per share to 13.3 yuan, essentially cut in half.

Even though Donghua Group issued a statement promising to compensate for losses and provide a free, comprehensive inspection for all users’ equipment, it still couldn’t stop the stock’s downward trend.

Wu Heguang was at his wit’s end.

Facing the risk of Donghua Group’s bankruptcy, the investors were not fools. Not wanting their shares to become worthless paper, many chose to cut their losses and exit the market.

Even the California Investment Bank (Morgan Clan), which secretly held 18.3% of Donghua Group’s shares, quietly liquidated 15% of its stake, leaving only 3.3% to watch how things developed.

Meanwhile, Li Qingye, operating from the shadows, instructed the financial office of the Internal Affairs Division to quietly accumulate shares.

Through various offshore accounts and controlled Soldiers, he manipulated several hundred accounts to buy up Donghua Group’s stock in small, frequent transactions.

At this point, the financial office held 24.6% of the stock, while Wu Heguang personally held only 34%. Including the shares of other Donghua Group executives, their total was only 46.2%.

The upcoming investigation by the inspection company would be crucial.

...

「April 26th.」

After stewing for more than twenty days, the issue of Donghua Group’s equipment quality had not died down. On the contrary, the arrival of two third-party inspection companies hired by Kailuo Company drew attention from all sides.

Vice President Huang had already done his best.

At the Donghua Equipment Manufacturing Factory in Peng City, two groups of inspectors were present: one from a well-known domestic third-party company in Huaguo, and the other from an internationally renowned inspection firm.

Li Xinyi, his eyes bloodshot, and Kong Zhao Lin, who was forcing a smile, led the inspection team into the testing area.

Holding a thick stack of documents, Kong Zhao Lin began his introduction. ”Everyone, this is the equipment our company has manufactured. We tested it the day before yesterday. Here is the test report, along with the inspection reports for all key components.”

The leaders of the two third-party inspection companies got straight to business.

After all, this matter was no small thing. If they made a mistake in their inspection, their own companies’ reputations would plummet. Therefore, turning a blind eye was out of the question.

Moreover, there were two inspection companies working on this.

The dozen or so professional chemical equipment inspectors finished flipping through the stack of documents. The paperwork was indeed flawless, but the actual hands-on inspection to follow was the key to this evaluation.

Since the converter tubes of the conversion furnace were the focus of the recent exposé, both inspection companies began their physical tests there.

This was also what Li Xinyi and the others had been focusing on for days. They had worked day and night refurbishing the unit, applying various treatments, and replacing the catalyst. As long as the pipes weren’t cut open for laboratory analysis, it was unlikely their deception would be discovered.

The inspectors knew that Donghua Group would have worked desperately to cover up any issues, so the problems wouldn’t be easy to find.

The detailed cold-state inspection lasted for two days.

On the third day, the inspection companies finally got serious, requesting a hot-state test.

Li Xinyi and Kong Zhao Lin, who had been on edge for days, secretly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that their use of the old converter tubes hadn’t been discovered.

As for the hot-state test, they had actually run one before and hadn’t found any problems.

「In the control room.」

Li Xinyi commanded confidently, ”Everyone to your stations. Begin the hot-state test.”

”Power supply system, normal...”

”Conversion system...”

”Synthesis...”

The equipment was indeed running very smoothly, which allowed everyone to relax a little.

However, this hot-state test required two hours of operation at full load, and only a little over ten minutes had passed.

The inspectors waited calmly, checking various operational data and sensor feedback.

Just then, on a signal line within the equipment’s control system, a cockroach spat a spurt of acid. The line was connected to the temperature sensor for the conversion system’s heating furnace, and its signal was immediately affected.

”Hm?” An inspector saw the fluctuation in the heating furnace data.

The others quickly noticed it as well.

The hearts of Li Xinyi and Kong Zhao Lin sank.

The fluctuation disappeared quickly, but so did the feedback signal from that particular thermal sensor. The moment it lost a portion of its data, the highly automated control system immediately sounded an alarm.

Li Xinyi buried his face in his hands, in utter disbelief.

”It seems your company’s equipment really does have some problems!” the head of the international third-party inspection company said mockingly.

Kong Zhao Lin hurriedly explained, ”It’s probably a problem with the sensor line. That’s a common minor issue during operation. We’ll fix it right away.”

Just then, the controller responsible for the pulverized coal injection rate also failed, and it stopped injecting coal powder completely.

The string of successive problems left the Donghua Group engineers on site almost numb.

Seeing this, the heads of the two inspection companies looked at each other and could only shake their heads.

”It’s a great pity. For the sake of my company’s reputation, I cannot pass your equipment.”

”Our company feels the same. After all, the problems this time are quite serious.”

Hearing this, Kong Zhao Lin almost fainted. It was like a bolt from the blue.