100: Echoes of silence

Three days.

For three whole days, that encrypted channel leading to the legendary "Raven" was like an abyss that had swallowed half of Hanhai Trade's assets—deadly silent, without a single echo.

Chen Feng sat in his office, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on the desk, producing a monotonous, death-knell-like "tap, tap" sound.

He forced himself to process the daily reports, but his gaze would uncontrollably drift toward the pitch-black communication screen in the corner.

"The money's been sent, so what now?"

"Was the Boss scammed? That was money we traded our lives for!"

"I heard that's the Interstellar Exchange's black market; there's no guarantee at all..."

Oppressive whispers, like damp mold, began to spread silently from the corners of the base. At first, they only circulated among the lowest-level miners, but now, even some low-level supervisors looked at him with a hint of subtle doubt.

Chen Feng did not stop them.

He knew that at this moment, any explanation would be pale and powerless. Until the results were out, all reassurances were lies.

Suddenly, a sharp, ear-piercing alarm shattered the dead silence of the entire base!

"What's going on?" Chen Feng's voice instantly turned cold. He stood up abruptly and walked quickly toward the command center.

"Reporting to the Boss! It's Purification Center No. 2!" On the main screen of the command center, the grease-covered face of Technical Supervisor Lao Mo was contorted with anxiety. "The core centrifuge, Bearing No. 48 has snapped! The rotational speed is spiraling out of control!"

The screen switched to show a mountain-sized centrifuge emitting a tooth-grating sound of metal friction. The entire body was shaking violently, as if it would turn into a lethal metal storm in the next second.

"Damn it! If that thing explodes, the whole purification center will be blown away!" Reno's face turned ashen, his fists clenching until they cracked. "Lao Mo, what about the emergency brake?"

"It's useless!" Lao Mo's voice carried a hint of sobbing. "The bearing is completely snapped! We tried three times, but the braking force can't be transmitted at all! It's an out-of-control top right now! Boss, we have to stop it before it disintegrates!"

"How long will it take to fix?" Chen Feng asked calmly.

"That's the problem!" Lao Mo's voice was filled with despair. "Repairing it requires a special 'K-7 Wear-Resistant Alloy,' but our only bit of stock was used up in the last explosion! I checked the exchange; the nearest seller's delivery will take five days!"

"Five days?" Reno's volume spiked instantly. "Are you kidding me! The undead crystal production line will be stalled for five days? What about our contract with the Mechanical Divine Court? Our capital chain..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood the weight of it. For Hanhai Trade, whose cash flow was already stretched to the limit, a five-day production halt was equivalent to a death sentence.

The entire command center fell into a deathly silence, leaving only the increasingly frantic wailing of the centrifuge on the screen.

Just as everyone was at their wits' end, a cold voice, devoid of any emotion, rang out.

"I might have a solution."

It was Su Li.

She had stood before the main console at some unknown time, her fingers moving across the virtual keyboard like a series of phantoms.

"Supervisor Su?" Reno frowned at her.

Su Li ignored him, quickly pulling up data sets. Massive tables and 3D models flashed across the main screen. Her voice was as calm as if she were stating a mathematical axiom.

"According to the 'Hanhai Trade Fixed Asset Wear Rate and Redundant Value Assessment Report - Version 7.1' I completed two days ago, and the 'K-7 Wear-Resistant Alloy Composition and Stress Analysis' Lao Mo just submitted..."

"Get to the point!" Reno interrupted her roughly; he had no patience for these technicalities.

"The point is," Su Li's gaze finally moved from the screen to look directly into Reno's eyes, "in your mecha warehouse, there are three 'Gladiator-3 model' training mechas that have entered the decommissioning sequence. According to their factory data, their knee joint main bearings use K-7 alloy, and the wear rate is below 15%, which fully meets the replacement standard."

Reno was stunned.

The next second, he was like a lit powder keg, exploding instantly.

"Absolutely not!" he roared. "That's military equipment! They are training machines for the Guard Team! You actually want me to dismantle my men's gear to patch your hole?"

"That is not my hole, Supervisor Reno," Su Li corrected him calmly. "That is a hole for all of Hanhai Trade."

"I don't care! Military supplies are sacred and inviolable! It's a matter of principle!"

"Principle?" A cold arc curled at the corner of Su Li's mouth. She didn't argue further but projected two columns of bright red data onto the main screen, side by side for everyone to see.

"On the left," she pointed at the astronomical figure, "is the direct and indirect economic loss caused by the purification center's five-day halt due to liquidated damages and production stagnation. The estimated value is 9.72 million interstellar credit points."

"On the right," her finger moved to the other side, where the number was pitifully small, "is the estimated value of three second-hand 'Gladiator-3 model' training mechas in the scrap market, totaling 16,000 credit points."

She didn't say another word, just quietly watched Reno.

The bright red numbers burned everyone's eyes like branding irons.

Reno's breathing became heavy, and the muscles on his face twitched violently due to anger and struggle. He was a soldier; he believed in honor, discipline, and whatever it took. But now, Su Li used the cold numbers he despised most to smash all his "principles" to pieces.

"Furthermore," Su Li's voice rang out again, this time unexpectedly carrying a hint of softening, "in my capacity as chief operating officer, I promise that as soon as the new materials arrive, I will immediately approve double the budget to supplement six of the latest model training mechas for you."

She paused and added one more thing.

"And, in the new KPI assessment system, I will establish a 'Crisis Resource Scheduling Contribution Award.' Supervisor Reno, you are not losing out on this deal."

Reno stared intently at Su Li, then looked at the glaring comparison on the screen. Finally, his gaze fell on Chen Feng, who had remained silent throughout.

Chen Feng simply gave a slight nod.

Reno seemed to have all his strength drained in an instant. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, only decisiveness remained.

"Lao Mo!" he growled into the communicator. "Have your men wait in the workshop! I'm sending the bearings over to you right now!"

"Copy that!"

Reno turned and rushed out of the command center, leaving only an order echoing in the hallway: "Guard Team maintenance group! Everyone assemble at the mecha warehouse! Bring cutting torches and disassembly pliers! Move!"

The crisis was not over.

For the next few hours, the atmosphere in the command center was oppressive to the extreme.

"Alloy dismantled! Being sent to the technical workshop!"

"Materials received! Lao Mo, hurry the hell up! That damn thing sounds like it's falling apart!"

"Forging complete! Cooling and shaping in progress!"

"New bearing being installed! Damn it, the temperature here is too high, the coolant can't keep up!"

Time passed minute by minute. The centrifuge's vibration on the screen had reached a critical point, and countless tiny cracks could be seen bursting on the outer shell with the naked eye.

Finally, when everyone's hearts were in their throats, Lao Mo's sweat-drenched face appeared on the screen again. He shouted with all his might:

"Repair complete! Restarting the braking procedure!"

The world went quiet.

The metal wailing that was loud enough to tear eardrums stopped abruptly. The massive object that had been shaking violently slowly stopped rotating after several heavy stutters.

"Production line... back to normal." Lao Mo's voice was hoarse but filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.

In the command center, the feeling of suffocation that had lasted for hours was instantly drained away. Everyone slumped in their seats, gasping for breath.

Su Li let out a soft breath and unconsciously rubbed her aching brow. She turned her head and happened to meet Reno's gaze. This muscular man no longer had the previous hostility in his eyes; instead, there was a complex expression mixed with admiration and recognition.

Across the crowd, the two of them smiled at each other simultaneously. A subtle, almost imperceptible understanding quietly formed between them.

However, this joy lasted for less than a minute.

On the main screen, the report about the production line's recovery was automatically closed, and the interface returned to that pitch-black channel that everyone avoided.

Dead silence.

It was as if the thrilling crisis just now was merely a trivial interlude before a symphony of death.

Chen Feng leaned back in his chair, the expression on his face not relaxing in the slightest. His team had proven themselves, but the judgment that would decide their fate had still not arrived.

Another day passed.

Rumors and gossip began to creep onto the dining tables of middle-level cadres.

Late at night, Reno knocked on Chen Feng's office door. He didn't bring any late-night snacks, just stood there silently, his expression more solemn than Chen Feng had ever seen before.

"Boss."

"You did well today." Chen Feng didn't look up, his voice calm.

"I'm not talking about that." Reno's voice was a bit dry. "We... we were just lucky today. If something happens again next time, we don't have a second mecha warehouse to dismantle."

He looked directly at Chen Feng and asked for the first time with a tone of worry tinged with pleading: "Boss, tell me the truth. If... if that 'Raven' never responds... do we actually... have a backup plan?"

Chen Feng's fingers, which had been unconsciously tapping on the desk, stopped.

In the office, only a suffocating silence remained, just like that black communication channel.