834: Chapter 829 I admire you.

But in Feng Quji's eyes, the young boss before him instantly grew three feet taller.

This is a divine being!

"I'm convinced."

Feng Quji plopped back into his chair, his gaze toward Shen Yan completely transformed.

It was the fervor of seeing an equal, and also the reverence one feels for a towering mountain.

"Listen to the boss. Let it rest for three days."

"Three days from now, I'll refine a furnace of gold for you."

Three days was merely the blink of an eye for the business circles of Jinghai.

But during these three days, rumors that Shen Yan had "gone mad" were already spreading like wildfire throughout the community.

Some said that after being rejected by Liang Zexu, he had given up and hired a beggar as an expert.

Others claimed his so-called "Black Box" project was a scam designed to swindle investors' money.

Even Liu Hui was crying to others outside, saying her ex-husband had mental problems and was about to lose all the child support money.

Ning Ke had also endured a tormenting few days.

Although he had invested money, his heart was filled with anxiety.

Until the deep night three days later.

In the suburbs of Jinghai, at the abandoned Workshop No. 1 of the former Plant 33.

This place had been quietly purchased and converted by Shen Yan into a temporary secret laboratory.

The massive induction melting furnace emitted a low, deep hum, like a sleeping giant beast awakening.

The air was thick with the distinctive smell of scorched metal from being overheated.

Ning Ke stood on the second-floor observation deck, his palms covered in sweat.

He watched the disheveled old man in the white lab coat downstairs, who was currently roaring at several young technicians.

"The temperature! Raise the temperature for me! Haven't you eaten?!"

"One thousand six hundred and fifty degrees! If it’s one degree less, I’ll throw you in to be refined!"

Feng Quji currently resembled a tyrant.

He held the curve chart Shen Yan had given him, his eyes fixed intently on the instrument panel.

Chen Guangke nervously swallowed, inching closer to Shen Yan.

"Brother Yan, isn't this temperature too high? The manual says the furnace's limit is only one thousand seven..."

"Do as Old Feng says."

Shen Yan stood by the railing, hands tucked into his pockets, his expression stern.

In his vision, the system panel, visible only to him, was flickering wildly.

[Task in Progress: Trial production of high-performance aluminum-lithium alloy]

[Current Success Rate: 85%]

[Critical Node Hint: Time to add trace amounts of the rare earth element Scandium, 3 seconds remaining.]

This piece of intelligence was something he had exchanged for a large sum from the system store yesterday—a "random drop mission reward."

"Add the material!"

Feng Quji suddenly roared.

The robotic arm grasped a box of dull gray powder that had been prepared, slowly moving it over the furnace opening.

That was the "seasoning" Shen Yan had specifically asked people to find.

Ning Ke's heart leaped into his throat.

Although he didn't understand the technology, he knew that adding something to molten iron at several thousand degrees at this moment could easily cause the furnace to explode.

"Release!"

Following Feng Quji's command, the powder poured down.

BOOM!

A violent burst of blue-purple flame erupted from the furnace chamber, its blinding light instantly illuminating the entire workshop.

The alarm sounded piercingly.

"Overpressure! Furnace pressure alarm!"

The technicians turned pale with fright and frantically reached for the emergency shutdown button.

"Don't move!"

Two voices rang out simultaneously.

One was Feng Quji's roar.

The other was Shen Yan's cold shout.

Shen Yan was even faster than Feng Quji; he grabbed the walkie-talkie directly.

"Stabilize the voltage, keep raising the temperature, push for one thousand seven!"

Ning Ke was so scared he almost dropped his Patek Philippe.

"Shen Yan! Are you crazy? If this furnace blows, we'll all die here!"

Shen Yan ignored him, staring fixedly at the strange blue light emanating from the furnace opening.

The countdown on the system panel was reaching zero.

[Fusion Complete.]

[Impurity Removal Complete.]

[Crystallinity Optimization in Progress...]

As the system prompt sounded, the violent commotion inside the furnace suddenly subsided.

The molten metal, which had been boiling like magma, was now as calm as a mirror, with a strange silvery-gray luster flowing across its surface.

That color was cold, profound, and possessed the texture of a gem adorning the crown of industry.

Feng Quji was pressed against the observation window, his face flushed red from the heat, but he dared not even blink.

"It succeeded..."

The old man muttered to himself, his voice laced with tears.

"This color... this fluidity... This is absolutely top-grade!"

Half an hour later.

In the cooling tank, a half-meter-long ingot of silvery-gray metal lay quietly.

It was still radiating residual heat, causing the surrounding air to shimmer due to the high temperature.

Several testers in protective suits carefully cut off a small sample piece and sent it into the adjacent universal material testing machine.

Everyone crowded around.

Even Ning Ke shamelessly squeezed to the very front.

The numbers on the screen began to fluctuate.

Tensile strength...

40MPa...

50MPa...

At this point, it had already reached the limit of ordinary aerospace aluminum materials.

But the numbers kept soaring.

The machine emitted a dull roar, as if protesting that this bone was too hard.

Snap.

The sample finally broke.

The number on the screen froze at a suffocating value.

[82MPa]

Dead silence.

In the entire workshop, only the gurgling sound of the cooling water circulation could be heard.

Everyone seemed to be under a spell, staring blankly at that number.

82 megapascals.

How could this be aluminum alloy? This was harder than some titanium alloys!

It was worth noting that the strength of the top-tier 7-series aluminum alloys on the market barely reached 60MPa if they were lucky.

The 2% improvement Feng Quji had promised was based on ordinary standards.

But now, the performance of this piece of metal had more than doubled.

This was a miracle in materials science.

This was data sufficient to shake the entire industrial world.

"I don't believe it... Is the machine broken?"

Ning Ke tremblingly pulled out a cigarette, failing to light it three times.

He looked at that number as if gazing upon a mountain of gold.

Feng Quji rushed over as if driven mad, not caring if it was hot, grabbing the sample piece and rubbing it against his face.

"It's not broken! It's not broken!"

"This is what I dreamed of refining my whole life!"

The old man cried and laughed, then turned around and knelt down before Shen Yan with a thud.

This action stunned everyone.

"Boss, I, Feng Quji, have never submitted to anyone in my life."

"Today, I am convinced by you."

If the previous submission was due to a handshake and a meal,

Then this time, it was complete worship.

Because he clearly understood that the timing of the crucial addition, the instruction to raise the temperature against common sense—these were the keys to the birth of this divine metal.

Shen Yan was not just rich; he truly understood.

And he understood to a realm that no one had ever touched.

Chen Guangke trembled with excitement beside him, wanting to shout to vent, only to find his throat had long gone hoarse.

Shen Yan walked forward and helped Feng Quji up.

His expression remained largely unchanged, only letting out a slight sigh of relief.

The system did not deceive me.

This first shot had been fired successfully.