16: Chapter 16 This dilapidated piece of land is worth two hundred billion

The blood-red panel flickered wildly.

Lu Chen stared at the stone in his hand, his fingers tightening one by one.

"Detected ultra-high purity 'Associated Purple Niobium-Tantalum Ore Vein'! Earth-grade rare mineral!"

"This mineral is the core raw material for the 'Solid-state battery', irreplaceable!"

His brain exploded with a "buzz."

Solid-state battery—the top-tier blueprint in the Tech Mall, the ultimate technology he had dreamed of redeeming, its core raw material... was right under his feet?

"Estimated ore vein reserves: Extremely large. Precise data requires further exploration."

"Warning: Information about this ore vein has been locked onto by external forces; the host is currently in a high-risk state!"

The last line of text hit him like a bucket of ice water poured over his head.

Lu Chen froze for three seconds.

Three seconds later, a realization exploded in his mind—

What did Wang Teng want when he first came to force his hand? The land.

Why send Scarface Li to cause trouble? To force him to break his capital chain and sell the factory cheaply.

Why collude with suppliers to cut off supplies?

Is a lousy OEM factory with an annual output value of less than five million worth throwing so much money and connections at?

It wasn't for the data cables.

It was for the land under his feet.

Lu Chen's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

All the conspiracies, from the very beginning, were aimed at this ore vein.

"Boss Lu?"

Zhao Tiezhu saw him clutching the stone, motionless for a long time, and waved his hand in front of him. "Are you alright?"

Lu Chen snapped back to reality.

He casually stuffed the dark purple stone into his pocket, his movements as natural as if he were pocketing a piece of broken brick.

"I'm fine."

His tone was as flat as if he were reading a weather forecast.

Zhao Tiezhu scratched the back of his head. "Then what about this layer of hard rock? Two drill bits have already broken. To go any deeper, we'll need to switch to diamond drill bits, which cost over 30,000 each—"

"Switch."

"Huh?"

"Diamond drill bits. Buy ten."

Zhao Tiezhu's mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"Ten? We don't need that many just for the foundation—"

"Who said we're only laying the foundation?"

Lu Chen walked to the edge of the foundation pit and looked down.

At the bottom of the three-meter-deep pit, the dark purple rock layer shimmered with a cold, eerie light in the sunlight.

He remained expressionless.

"Dig another fifteen meters down from the foundation."

Zhao Tiezhu almost missed his footing and fell into the pit.

"Fif... Fifteen meters?! We're building a six-story apartment building, not a missile silo!"

"I want to build a basement."

"What kind of basement needs to be fifteen meters deep?!"

"A bomb shelter."

Zhao Tiezhu was completely dumbfounded. He looked at Lu Chen, then at the foundation pit, his lips trembling for a long time.

"Boss Lu... we aren't at war—"

"Master Zhao."

Lu Chen looked at him, not joking in the slightest.

"Don't worry about the money. Just get it done. Don't throw away a single piece of the dug-up stone; pile them all in the warehouse."

Zhao Tiezhu opened his mouth.

Forget it.

The boss who pays a monthly salary of 10,000 and provides room and board says to dig, so we dig. Even if we have to dig through the Earth, I'll accept it.

"Alright! I'll arrange it right now!"

He pulled his hard hat onto his head, turned around, and shouted at the construction site—

"Old Ma! Tell your apprentice to contact someone for diamond drill bits! Ten! Yes, ten! Don't ask why, if you ask, it's because Boss Lu said so!"

A few workers nearby poked their heads out.

"Ten diamond drill bits? Are we digging to the Earth's crust?"

"Shut up and get to work!"

Lu Chen turned and walked toward the office building.

Da Biao followed him.

"Brother, what's the deal with that stone? I saw you staring at it for a long time."

"It's nothing."

Lu Chen didn't stop walking.

"From today on, all the purple stones dug up at the construction site are to be stored separately. Lock them in the warehouse, and you keep the key."

"Purple stones?" Da Biao scratched his head. "Are they something good?"

Lu Chen stopped and looked back at him.

"Just consider them my life."

Da Biao shuddered.

His spine straightened, and his fists clenched instinctively.

He wouldn't ask anymore.

If Brother says it's his life, then he would guard it with his life.

Office.

The door lock clicked, and the curtains were drawn tight.

Lu Chen placed the stone on the table and opened the system panel.

The details of the ore vein popped up line by line—

"Associated Purple Niobium-Tantalum Ore: Contains high-purity niobium, tantalum, and trace rare earth elements. The ore vein extends beneath the entire Chenguang Electronics Factory, stretching at least 1.2 kilometers to the southeast."

The entire factory area. 1.2 kilometers.

"Globally known reserves are extremely scarce, with small-scale mining records only in Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The host's location is the third site; reserve rating: Extremely large."

"Reminder: If the host loses control of this plot of land, the Solid-state battery project will be permanently shelved."

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

The third ore vein in the world.

Right under his butt.

And Wang Teng—from day one, he knew about this.

What that man wanted was never just a lousy OEM factory. He wanted the ore vein beneath his feet that could rewrite the global energy landscape.

The problem is, how would Wang Teng, a guy in electronics OEM, know there was ore underground?

Lu Chen opened his eyes and picked up his phone.

Old Zhou answered quickly.

"Boss Lu, the building materials supplier called again, saying the batch of cement from this morning didn't meet the grade standards—"

"Old Zhou, help me check something."

"Go ahead."

"Three years ago, did anyone conduct a geological survey of this land at Chenguang Electronics Factory? Who commissioned it, and who ended up with the report?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds.

"A geological survey? Why would an electronics factory check geology?"

"Don't ask. Tell me when you've checked."

"...Alright."

After hanging up, Lu Chen locked the stone in the safe.

There are two things to do now.

First, mine silently. Not a single word can leak out.

Second, recruit frantically.

No matter how valuable the ore vein is, without tech points, it's just a pile of broken rocks. He has the Solid-state battery blueprint, but setting up the production line requires massive amounts of tech points.

What do tech points rely on? Employees with maxed-out loyalty; one point per person per day.

Three hundred and ninety-one people is far from enough.

He needs thousands. Tens of thousands.

And more people means greater logistics pressure.

First—the "food" hurdle must be passed.

At the same time.

Fifty kilometers away, Tengfei Electronics headquarters.

Wang Teng locked his office door and pulled out an unmarked black phone from the depths of his drawer.

The number he dialed had an international area code.

It rang twice, then was answered.

"Wang. How is the progress?"

The other party's Chinese was extremely stiff, every word sounding like it was forcibly plucked from a dictionary.

Wang Teng's back hunched involuntarily. In this city, he was the all-powerful Boss Wang. But facing this person named Jason on the other end of the line, he didn't even have the confidence to speak while sitting down.

"Mr. Jason, that young factory manager is more troublesome than expected. Cutting off supplies and filing reports were useless; he's actually building on the site—he's laid the foundation and is currently under construction."

The other side was silent for three seconds.

Three seconds of silence was more hair-raising than any roar.

"He's laying a foundation?" The voice turned abruptly cold. "The ore vein is fifteen meters underground; he's drilling down to the hard rock layer—do you think he won't find it?"

Wang Teng shrank his neck. "He's just in OEM, he doesn't understand geology—"

"That geological survey report from three years ago was obtained through your channels."

Jason's voice was measured, word by word.

"The niobium-tantalum ore reserves are enough to support the global Solid-state battery industry for twenty years. Morgan has already invested 15 million USD into this project."

He paused for a second.

"Within one month, seize control of that plot of land. Otherwise, your cooperation share with Morgan—including all of Tengfei Electronics' overseas orders—will be zeroed out."

"Beep—"

The call was disconnected.

Wang Teng gripped the phone, his fingertips icy cold.

200 billion. The valuation Jason gave for the ore vein—200 billion RMB.

The entire city's annual GDP was just that amount.

He pressed the intercom.

"Liu Zhiyuan, come in."

The door opened.

"Keep a close eye on the Chenguang construction site. Whatever depth they dig to, whatever they dig up, report it to me immediately."

"Also, contact Lawyer Zheng in the provincial capital. Have him prepare a lawsuit regarding the ownership dispute of the mineral resources on the industrial land."

Liu Zhiyuan's hand paused as he was writing.

Wang Teng didn't look at him.

He stood at the window, looking toward the gray skyline in the east.

"If we can't buy it—"

His gaze darkened.

"Then we take it by force."

Chenguang Electronics Factory. 6:00 PM.

Lu Chen stood at the entrance of the cafeteria, watching the workers lining up for food.

Three hundred and ninety-one people, receiving boxed lunches and squatting in the courtyard to eat.

Zhao Tiezhu walked over with his meal, muttering while chewing.

"Boss Lu, it's not that I'm picky. The salary you give is top-notch, but this food—my brothers have been eating instant noodles on construction sites for twenty years. We finally found a boss who provides meals, but it's like gnawing on cafeteria leftovers."

The dark, thin young man behind him added: "The main thing is that it's cold; the rice is like a rock, it could kill someone if thrown."

Lu Chen scanned the people squatting on the ground eating.

Average loyalty 99%.

But salary alone can't sustain that number. People have mouths to feed; if they don't eat well, even the highest salary will be discounted.

Furthermore, he's about to expand recruitment frantically. A few hundred boxed lunches might pass, but what about thousands? Tens of thousands?

He took out his phone and flipped to a local news article he'd saved two days ago.

"'Jinlan Hotel' in the city center announces bankruptcy liquidation due to poor management, including a full set of Michelin-grade kitchen equipment, a team of twenty-seven certified chefs... The assets are listed for transfer as a whole, starting price..."

He glanced at his account balance.

The number of zeros after the balance was over a hundred times the starting price.

He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and shouted toward the office building—

"Old Zhou! Come here!"

Old Zhou poked his head out of the second-floor window. "What is it now?"

"That bankrupt five-star hotel in the city center, Jinlan, you know it, right?"

"I know, it just closed last month. What about it?"

"Help me arrange a meeting with the liquidation team."