Chapter 200: A Battlefield? No, this is a free spotlight!

Director Zhu, walking at the very front, had a steady gait and a restrained aura of authority.

Beside him, Secretary Zhang, who was responsible for discipline, looked around with a vigilant gaze.

In the middle of the group, one person was particularly eye-catching.

It was a middle-aged man whose left sleeve was empty and neatly pinned to his pocket.

He Zhenhua.

He walked extremely steadily, his face appearing as if carved from granite, devoid of any expression.

His gaze was like a pair of precision vernier calipers.

He coldly scanned the surrounding flashing foreign equipment.

There was no envy, no inferiority, only a cold hardness that bordered on scrutiny.

This kind of temperament...

Lu Ning had been in Germany for so long, and he had only seen it in the top veteran Germanic engineers.

It was an ascetic temperament that could only be cultivated through absolute confidence in one's technology.

"This... this is one of our people?" Lu Ning found it hard to believe.

That was until he saw the excessively young figure in the middle of the group.

Lin Xi.

Unlike the seriousness of those around him.

Lin Xi had one hand in his pocket and held a briefcase in the other.

A relaxed smile, as if he were here on a tour, was plastered on his face.

As he walked, he looked left and right.

"Student Lu?"

A gentle voice interrupted Lu Ning's daze.

Lin Xi had already walked up to him and reached out with a smile:

"I am Lin Xi."

"We spoke on the phone before. Thank you for coming so early."

"Ah... it's no trouble, no trouble at all!"

Lu Ning hurriedly shook that hand; it felt dry and powerful.

"Hello, Director Zhu! Hello, leaders!"

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone's gaze naturally fell upon that "death booth."

The atmosphere, which had been somewhat relaxed, instantly froze.

The green glow of Siemens, the yellow robotic arms of Fanuc, the orange booth of Mazak...

The three colors were like three great mountains, pressing down ruthlessly on the small Red Star booth.

He Zhenhua's brow instantly furrowed into the shape of the character 'Chuan'.

Director Zhu's expression also darkened.

"This location..."

Zhao Gang said with a frown,

"This is putting us on the roasting spit."

Several foreign exhibitors passing by.

They saw the Red Star Technology sign and then looked at the surrounding giants.

Unmasked playful smiles appeared on their faces as they pointed and whispered toward this side.

That look was like seeing a sheep that had wandered into a pride of lions.

The sense of humiliation in Lu Ning's heart surged up again.

He couldn't help but step forward and say urgently:

"Director Zhu, and Manager Lin..."

"This location is too poor!"

"The organizers did this on purpose!"

"Surrounded by global giants, our equipment won't stand out at all if placed here!"

"It's just a foil, or even... even a joke!"

The young overseas student's eyes were red; he truly felt aggrieved for his country.

"A joke?"

Hearing this, Lin Xi wasn't as angry as Lu Ning had expected.

He slowly turned around and scanned the area.

He looked at Siemens' luxurious two-hundred-square-meter booth.

He looked at Fanuc's tireless robotic arms.

He looked at Mazak's massive neon sign.

A slight curve slowly formed at the corners of Lin Xi's mouth.

In that smile, there was a hint of craftiness that Lu Ning couldn't understand, and a kind of extreme... greed?

"Student Lu, you've studied yourself into a stupor."

Lin Xi raised his hand and pointed at the surrounding giant flashing logos.

"How is this a poor location?"

"This is practically a super gift pack given to us by the organizers!"

Everyone, including He Zhenhua, was stunned.

"A gift pack?"

Lu Ning was dumbfounded. "Manager Lin, this... this is a death trap!"

"A death trap?" Lin Xi chuckled and walked to the edge of the booth.

"Look, Siemens spent at least five hundred thousand Marks just to set up this stage."

"Fanuc hired so many models and handed out so many flyers."

"And Mazak across from us, that rotating stage—the decoration costs alone could probably cover the annual profit of any one of our factories."

Lu Ning nodded blankly: "Yes... yes, they have money."

"Exactly, they spent so much cold, hard cash."

"They've attracted more than half of the entire venue's foot traffic to this intersection."

Lin Xi spread his hands as if stating something perfectly natural.

"With such massive traffic, how much would we have to spend on advertising if we wanted to attract them ourselves?"

"Now it's perfect."

Lin Xi turned and gently patted the silent bronze machine tool behind him.

"They pay to build the stage and invite the audience."

"And we, without spending a cent, are right in the center of the stage."

He looked at Lu Ning, his gaze becoming sharp:

"As long as the crowd comes over, I have plenty of ways to make them stop."

"This is called—"

Lin Xi paused and uttered four words.

"Borrowing the wind to light a fire."

The live stream comments scrolled by.

[Holy crap! Is this the legendary highest realm of freeloading?!]

[Manager Lin is planning to use these giants as free traffic-generating tools!]

[Siemens: I might not be human, but you're a real dog!]

[This move, this move is shearing the big companies' wool until they're bald! I love this script!]

Just then, the broadcast at the top of the exhibition hall sounded, and a melodious chime echoed under the massive dome.

The doors swung open with a boom.

A tide of people, mixed with the clamor of various languages, instantly poured into Hall 2.

The Hanover Messe had officially opened!

"Everyone, split up," Director Zhu said.

"Lu Ning, you're in a group with Engineer He, Engineer Zhou, and Engineer Tu. Go around the exhibition first to gather information."

"Deputy Division Chief Wang, Xiao Wu, and I will be one group to liaise with the organizing committee."

"Secretary Zhang, Xiao Lin, and Zhao Gang, you stay at the booth to handle receptions."

...

Lu Ning walked down the aisle, his palms covered in sweat.

He subconsciously tugged at his cuffs.

Even though he was wearing a suit today.

That deep-seated feeling of constraint when facing Western industrial giants.

Still felt like a thorn stuck in his throat.

"Engineer Zhou, Engineer He, the precision transmission area is just ahead."

Lu Ning lowered his voice, his tone carrying a hint of caution.

"The manufacturers here don't have very good tempers."

"Several delegations from back home came before."

"They wanted to take a few more photos but were all chased away."

Zhou Jianjun, walking beside him, did not speak.

He merely adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

His gaze calmly swept across the booths on both sides.

Tu Zhi had a brand-new Seagull DF-1 camera hanging around his neck; it was a "strategic weapon" specially approved by Lin Xi.

The group stopped in front of the booth of a Germanic precision gear company named "ZF."

On the booth, a heavy-duty truck gearbox with a cross-section display was slowly rotating.

The precise engagement and the mirror-smooth tooth surfaces.

Indeed represented the top mechanical processing craftsmanship on this planet.

Tu Zhi's eyes lit up, and he habitually raised his camera, aiming at a planetary gear structure inside the gearbox.

"Stop!"

A sudden shout rang out.