165: First Cry and Cracks

"Contact Sequence Zero."

In the command center of Hanhai Trade Base, the slight warmth that had just arisen from reaching the first cooperation was instantly dispelled by Chen Feng's calm words.

Su Li's brow furrowed imperceptibly. "We no longer have assets on our accounts to use as bargaining chips."

"We do." Chen Feng's gaze fell on the screen, which was displaying a chart of the entire base's personnel emotional fluctuations. This was a model he had conveniently built to monitor people's hearts after establishing the point system.

"Send this data over," Chen Feng said. "Tell him it's a 'Collective Emotional Fluctuation Data Report of a Dying Civilization Seeing False Hope'."

A flash of surprise crossed Su Li's eyes, but she asked nothing and immediately began the operation.

A moment later, that emotionless composite electronic voice came through the encrypted channel.

"Transaction request: One 'Ashen Earth Star Human Emotional Fluctuation Data Report'. Target value under evaluation... Evaluation complete. This sample contains four highly entangled non-logical pheromones: 'despair', 'longing', 'suspicion', and 'fanaticism', meeting the sample requirements for our 'Consciousness Ascension' experiment. Our offer: 50,000 interstellar credit points."

"Deal," Chen Feng said succinctly.

The moment the funds arrived, the entire base seemed to be injected with a stimulant.

On the crude production line, Technical Supervisor Lao Mo was leading a group of former miners, assembling the final section of the conveyor belt with almost pilgrimage-like devotion.

"Everyone, perk up!" Lao Mo's voice was booming. "Mr. Chen has staked his life and soul on this. If we mess up, how can we face taking that salary?"

"Boss, don't you worry! I've never done such exciting work in my life!" A young worker wiped his sweat and grinned.

Under everyone's burning gaze, Eve calibrated the core 'biocatalytic' reaction unit one last time. She took a deep breath and pressed the start button.

The production line emitted a steady hum as a faint blue light flowed through the pipes. Soon, with a soft 'click,' the first standard energy block—shimmering with a soft luster like a work of art—slowly slid out along the conveyor belt.

"Success!"

"We... we really did it!"

The cheers almost blew the roof off the entire factory.

Eve looked at the energy block, a flush of pride appearing on her pale face.

At Port 7, in front of the Pointed Caravan's most dilapidated freighter, the 'Pioneer'.

Old Knife watched his subordinates load crates of brand-new goods onto the ship, his eyes as complex as a nebula.

"Mr. Chen, isn't this... too much?" He looked at the extra hundred energy blocks, feeling a bit lost.

"They're a gift for you." Chen Feng patted his shoulder. "Let the brothers use them first. Whether they're good or not, you'll know in your hearts, and you'll have more confidence when bragging to customers. This is the sincerity of my Hanhai Trade."

Old Knife was stunned. He looked into Chen Feng's calm eyes, and the last bit of doubt in his heart vanished. He had lived half his life and had never seen anyone do business like this.

"Mr. Chen..." He nodded heavily, a thousand words turning into a single promise. "For this trust, I, Old Knife, will carry it even at the cost of my life!"

On the bridge of the 'Pioneer,' the first officer's eyes nearly popped out as he looked at the energy monitoring panel.

"Boss! Boss, look!" he shouted incoherently. "Energy efficiency... it's improved—no, it's soared by twenty percent! My god, was this thing made by a god?"

"Hahaha! We're rich!" Old Knife slapped his thigh and roared excitedly. "Full speed ahead! To the 'Broken Bone Star' black market! Let those bastards who looked down on us open their eyes!"

It was just as Old Knife expected.

In the smuggler's black market of Broken Bone Star, when he demonstrated the Hanhai energy blocks' amazing performance and a price thirty percent cheaper than Giant Star Mining, the entire market went crazy.

The first batch of five thousand energy blocks was snapped up within just three days.

Old Knife sent a communication to Chen Feng with hands that were practically trembling.

"Mr. Chen! Sold out! All sold out!" His voice was full of ecstasy. "In my twenty years of shipping, this is the easiest and most gratifying money I've ever made! The second batch! No, give me five batches! I'll take as many as you have!"

At the Hanhai Trade command center, everyone cheered for this initial victory.

"I knew it! I knew Mr. Chen's vision was right!"

"We succeeded!"

A rare, heartfelt smile appeared on Su Li's face. Just as she was about to report the collection of the first batch of profits to Chen Feng, a piercing alert suddenly sounded.

An email was automatically flagged by the system as 'Highest Priority - Customer Complaint' and popped up in the center of the main screen.

"What is it?" a young employee asked curiously.

Su Li opened the email.

"To Hanhai Trade: You bunch of liars! Your energy blocks suddenly failed in my power exoskeleton! Right when I was surrounded by three interstellar hungry wolves! If I hadn't been lucky, I'd be torn to pieces by now! Refund! Compensation! Or I'll post this on every mercenary forum!"

The command center fell silent instantly.

"Maybe it's just an isolated case..." someone whispered.

Chen Feng's face was as calm as water. "Su Li, pull up the production data for this batch."

Before he could finish, a second and third complaint email arrived in quick succession.

"...Ship shields suddenly failed, almost got pierced by a meteorite!"

"...Mining drones went on strike collectively, delaying the schedule. Demanding compensation for all losses!"

Complaints flew in like snowflakes, each one striking like a heavy hammer on everyone's hearts.

"The failure rate... is approaching five percent." Su Li's voice was cold and devoid of emotion, but her fingers gripping the data pad were turning white.

Everyone's gaze instinctively turned toward Eve.

Eve's face was as pale as paper, the flush of pride long gone. She stared at the glaring '5%' on the screen, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"No... impossible..." she murmured to herself, as if struck by a massive blow. "My design... my calculations, they couldn't be wrong..."

She spun around abruptly and rushed toward her laboratory like a maddened lioness.

"Eve!" Chen Feng called out, but she was oblivious.

Inside the lab, Eve slammed a failed energy block into the testing equipment, her hands flying across the control panel so fast they became a blur.

Lines of data streams scrolled rapidly across the screen.

Finally, a blood-red conclusion froze in the center of the screen.

[Law Resonance Decay]

Eve's movements came to a screeching halt.

She stared fixedly at those words as if she wanted to burn through them.

This wasn't a production accident, not a material issue, nor any part of the process where responsibility could be shifted.

It was her technology.

It was the 'Dimensional Down-adaptation Technology' she took pride in and viewed as a work of art. It had a fundamental flaw she had never discovered, nor ever imagined...

This fatal fracture wasn't caused by an enemy, but was planted by her own hands.

Eve closed her eyes in pain, tears sliding down silently. Her pride, at this moment, was completely shattered.