471: Chapter 466 is not a coincidence, but a conspiracy.

He suddenly shot up from his chair, bracing both hands on the desk, his knuckles turning white from the sheer force.

"What... what did you say?"

"Who did it? Why would they do that?"

His long-held suspicions were confirmed at this moment.

The feeling that washed over him was not one of sudden realization, but of rage and humiliation surging up from the deepest part of his soul.

"I don't know who it was."

Shen Yan's answer was once again beyond his expectations.

"I am just a merchant responsible for relaying intelligence."

He looked at the agitated Zhang Jufeng, his expression unwavering.

"Now, you can answer my first question."

"Three years ago, what exactly happened with your Master's death?"

Zhang Jufeng's chest heaved violently.

Looking at this unfathomable man before him, he suddenly understood something.

These two questions were connected.

The bankruptcy of Yuanshan Heavy Industry was inextricably linked to his Master's death!

He sat back down, feeling as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

The office fell into a long silence.

Only the roar of the factory outside occasionally filtered in.

After a long while, Zhang Jufeng finally spoke, his voice a hoarse, almost dreamlike whisper.

"Three years ago..."

"Master, he was acting as if possessed."

"He locked himself in Yuanshan Heavy Industry's core Laboratory No. 7, calculating, deducing, and experimenting day and night."

"He said he had found a completely new direction for alloy formulation that could simultaneously increase the toughness and strength of 'Tianqiong' Steel by another magnitude."

"That was V9..."

"But at that time, many people within the company opposed it."

A trace of hatred surfaced in Zhang Jufeng's eyes.

"A group led by the Chief Engineer Zhou Bapi—no, Zhou Baiping—said Master was dreaming, claiming that V8 was already the physical limit, and further optimization would lead to uncontrollable costs."

"They said Master was old, his thinking rigid, and he was starting to chase after unrealistic fantasies."

"Furthermore..."

Zhang Jufeng gritted his teeth.

"Furthermore, someone spread rumors behind his back, saying that because Master had been in contact with those heavy metals for years, his mind had snapped, and he had gone mad."

Shen Yan listened quietly, without interrupting.

This information slowly began to align with the fragments he had obtained from the system mission description.

"Master didn't care."

A hint of pride laced Zhang Jufeng's tone.

"He said that technical personnel must possess technical integrity and not be shackled by cost and market pressures."

"He said he absolutely had to make it work to show those short-sighted fools."

"That day... the day the accident happened..."

Zhang Jufeng's voice began to tremble.

"It was the final simulated smelting experiment."

"I was right outside, watching through the explosion-proof glass."

"All the parameters were textbook perfect."

"Furnace temperature, pressure, inert gas concentration... everything was under Master's absolute control."

"Just as the final quenching stage was about to complete..."

"Suddenly..."

"The backup valve for the high-pressure cooling system opened without any warning."

"A massive amount of ultra-low-temperature coolant instantly flooded into the furnace core, which was still undergoing high-temperature reaction."

"The extreme clash of hot and cold..."

Zhang Jufeng closed his eyes, an expression of extreme agony contorting his face.

"It exploded."

"The entire Laboratory No. 7 was obliterated."

"Master... not even a single intact bone was found."

The office fell deathly silent.

Shen Yan stopped tapping his fingers.

"What about the post-incident investigation report?" he asked.

"The report stated it was due to equipment aging, combined with Master working continuously for over seventy-two hours, causing fatigue operation, and accidentally triggering the emergency valve switch."

Zhang Jufeng opened his eyes, his bloodshot pupils filled with red veins.

"I don't believe it!"

"I don't believe a single word of it!"

He slammed his fist onto the old solid wood desk.

The eagle ornament on the desk jumped slightly from the impact.

"Master was meticulous to the point of being rigid! Even with his eyes closed, he would never make such a low-level mistake!"

"And that high-pressure cooling system was the latest model imported from Germany; it hadn't even been in use for half a year. How could it be aging?"

"I raised objections at the time, but no one listened to me."

"Zhou Baiping took over Master's position and became the new Chief Engineer."

"The first thing he did was seal all relevant data from Laboratory No. 7, and then he fired me under the pretext of 'disrupting company order'."

Zhang Jufeng's voice was filled with resentment and anger.

"I tried to investigate on my own later, but as a fired junior technician, I was insignificant, hit walls everywhere, and couldn't get access to any core information."

He finished speaking.

He had moved the heaviest stone that had weighed on his heart for three years.

He looked up, staring intently at Shen Yan.

"Mr. Shen, why are you telling me all this today? What is your objective?"

Shen Yan leaned back into his chair again.

He rapidly pieced all the clues together in his mind.

Rumors.

Ostracization.

An "accident" occurring at a critical juncture.

The quick removal of insiders.

A rival seizing the position.

And three years later, mirroring the 'accident', the 'bankruptcy' of Yuanshan Heavy Industry.

Behind all this was a massive net.

There was an invisible hand.

"Mr. Zhang."

Shen Yan spoke slowly.

"Have you ever considered that three years ago, someone spread rumors that your Master had gone mad?"

"Three years later, just as the V9 formulation he poured his heart into was about to see the light of day in a different form, Yuanshan Heavy Industry 'coincidentally' went bankrupt and closed down."

"Don't you think... this is a bit too coincidental?"

Shen Yan's gaze fell upon the phone Zhang Jufeng was tightly clutching.

The screen still displayed the core formula for V9.

"Perhaps someone does not wish for this formula to appear in this world in any form."

Zhang Jufeng followed his gaze.

When his vision reconnected with the dense array of parameters,

A flash of lightning suddenly streaked across his mind.

He understood.

He understood completely.

It wasn't a coincidence!

None of this was a coincidence!

Three years ago, Master's death was meant to prevent the birth of V9.

Three years later, the bankruptcy of Yuanshan Heavy Industry was meant to ensure that V9 would be buried forever along with the company's demise!

This formula wasn't technical data.

It was a death warrant!

Whoever possessed it would be in danger.

Master was the first.

Yuanshan Heavy Industry was the second.

So... who would be next?

Cold sweat instantly drenched Zhang Jufeng's back.

He looked up sharply at Shen Yan.

He wanted to ask, You brought this thing out, aren't you afraid of death?

But the words caught in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single syllable.

Because he could not see the slightest trace of fear on Shen Yan's face.

Only an unfathomable calm.

As if what he was about to face was not some monstrous wave, but merely a tedious business game.

"Too many coincidences clustering together..."

Shen Yan's voice echoed softly, drawing the final period on this deduction.

"...is no longer a coincidence."

"It is a conspiracy."