30: Club Repair 2 (4K long chapter, please support!)

The young employee passed by Jiang Feng and his group. Jiang Feng took an extra look at the man; he was tall and strapping, and very handsome—clearly the type young girls would adore.

'How did Three Black Stockings Club end up like this?'

Jiang Feng compared the scene with the scattered memories in his mind, feeling a slight stir.

He didn't see the shadowy face watching him from outside the fighting cage, wearing an expression of disbelief.

'Damn, it's Jiang Feng! It really is him!'

'What is he doing here? How did he get access to the inner area?'

Old Wang, holding a beer, quickly raised his wristband and snapped a flurry of photos from over ten meters away. But upon inspection afterward, he found the fighting cage blocked most of the view, making the pictures unclear.

Unsatisfied, he kept adjusting his wristband, searching left and right for a better angle, but Jiang Feng's shadow was gone.

'No rush. I'll wait slowly! I have all the time in the world to deal with you!'

Old Wang took a sip of beer. Han Tianyu had given him a generous amount of money, enough for him to live lavishly for half a month.

While Jiang Feng was observing his surroundings, Zhao Mingyuan had already stepped forward to greet someone.

"Manager Zhang, hello. We were just here the day before yesterday... Yes, Mingyuan Maintenance. I am Zhao Mingyuan!"

Manager Zhang glanced at the two of them and asked, "The original manufacturer also came to look. They said the entire gravity generator must be replaced, and the work would take a week. What do you think?"

"Manager, what was the manufacturer's quote?" Zhao Mingyuan wanted to gauge the situation and find out their bottom line beforehand.

Manager Zhang glanced at them again, crossed his arms, and remained silent.

While Zhao Mingyuan was still feeling awkward, Jiang Feng had already walked toward the control panel. He placed the black box flat on the floor, took out specialized tools, and started tinkering. In no time, he opened the inspection port and plugged in a data cable.

Steam was coming out of the inspection port, and the temperature was high enough to severely burn a person's palm.

The data flowed into his wristband. Jiang Feng checked it and confirmed that, as with his previous research, it was encrypted with a proprietary protocol.

He glanced at Manager Zhang out of the corner of his eye. The man had his arms crossed and was looking sideways, apparently trying to test their capabilities.

Jiang Feng wrote the data onto a chip, took the chip, picked up the box, and walked straight up to Manager Zhang.

"I need a quiet room to analyze the data. The operation involves trade secrets, so there can be no monitoring."

Manager Zhang looked him up and down several times before finally nodding: "Follow me, and don't wander off."

Next to club's monitoring room was a small room with extremely bright lights. The entire room was signal-shielded, and the smell of disinfectant stung the nose, making one sneeze.

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and realized this room was used for illicit activities, specifically when they needed to get rough.

"Little Zhao, help me keep watch outside," he said lightly, walking in and closing the door.

Manager Zhang nodded slightly and raised his chin toward Zhao Mingyuan: "Your technician is quite bold."

Zhao Mingyuan waved his hands repeatedly: "Not at all, Brother Feng is a partner, not a technician."

"Oh," Manager Zhang squinted slightly, "What is his name?"

"Jiang Feng."

"So it's Engineer Jiang. Hey, someone, bring some cold drinks, it's scorching in here..."

Manager Zhang suddenly looked at Zhao Mingyuan: "What does Engineer Jiang like to drink?"

"Huh?" Zhao Mingyuan was stunned, but remembering the coffee Jiang Feng had just finished, he had a sudden inspiration.

"Coffee, coffee with milk."

Inside the room, Jiang Feng had Gold-Wrapped Silver confirm security and privacy. He held the chip and immersed his consciousness into the Miniature Galaxy.

The massive Cybrex Warforge rushed into view, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared before the central control console.

"Crack the data," he ordered softly.

[Cracking Target: Unknown Encryption Protocol]

[Analysis Complete: 45%]

[Estimated Time Remaining: 0.05 seconds]

Still, in an instant, the previously garbled data was clearly displayed, perfectly decoded.

[ZG-1260 Model Fighting Cage Self-Check Log]

[Inspection Time: 2254.07.19 02:42:19 Cage Status: Forced Shutdown (Red Alert)]

[Core Failure: Buffer Module (ID B-09), structural integrity failure, energy-absorbing material melted down. Energy flow monitoring module shows 13 impacts exceeding the threshold within the past 72 hours.]

[Core Failure: Gravity Regulator Array (ID G-17 A), energy circuit overload, Regulators 3-7 short-circuited. Overload current reached 210A (Rated Current 75A).]

[Core Failure: Cooling System (Unknown Fault), liquid nitrogen pipeline safety valve failure.]

[Energy Log Anomaly: July 19th 02:42, Gravity parameter forcibly locked to 3.2 G (Safety limit 1.5 G).]

[Incident Tracking: Operation Log Anomaly (Level 3 Authority Account, Employee ID: A-219, forced login, manual modification of gravity curve, bypassing safety lock protocol.)]

Jiang Feng took one look and immediately gasped. Three times the Earth's gravity—though the number didn't seem large, it was enough to place immense stress on the human body.

He checked online and understood why the original manufacturer dared to charge such a high price, and roughly how much they quoted. Repairing these components required an Engineer to possess a "Special Class License for Space Equipment Maintenance."

Furthermore, it required a buffer module, a gravity regulator unit, and a liquid nitrogen safety valve.

The model requirements were strict, and the spare parts were expensive. But most importantly, repairing the liquid nitrogen safety valve meant completely re-laying and inspecting the entire cooling pipeline. Based on this alone, the labor costs would not be cheap.

At that moment, Jiang Feng was even more thankful that he had created Gold-Wrapped Silver.

Without Gold-Wrapped Silver, he wouldn't be able to take this job. He could lay the pipes and replace the parts, but he wouldn't have time to simultaneously check for leaks, and he highly doubted whether Zhao Mingyuan could handle the requirements of a helper.

If multiple rework cycles were required, it was virtually guaranteed they wouldn't receive the final payment, as club was involved in illicit activities and had very little patience.

After formulating a repair plan, Jiang Feng understood that his next step was to dismantle the broken parts, use the Cybrex Warforge to analyze and replicate the blueprints, allowing him to manufacture them freely and achieve zero-cost repairs.

After all, these components lacked complex software systems; the underlying firmware only needed to be replicated exactly by the Armory.

This was a function he had figured out after repairing the snow hamster. It was currently unclear whether it could replicate other items exactly, but if it could, he would be able to manufacture things to sell.

As long as he had the master data, he wouldn't worry about anyone discovering that the parts were manufactured by the Cybrex Warforge.

'This time is different from the snow hamster; the obvious violation cannot be leveraged.'

Jiang Feng pondered. He felt that Zhao Mingyuan's hearsay about a "senator adjusting the gravity parameters" had some basis. The fact that no one stopped the operation after the alarm sounded suggested that the illegal operation must have been tacitly approved.

'If that's the case, to get a higher price, I must manipulate the cost of parts procurement!'

Jiang Feng settled on his plan. He took a deep breath and put on a stern face.

As he walked out of the room, before he could say a word, Manager Zhang handed him a cold can of fresh milk coffee.

"Engineer Jiang, how is it?" the chubby manager asked, his eyes profound, a slight smile on his face.

Jiang Feng accepted it readily, popped open the can, and took a sip. Then, unhurriedly, he stated: "The buffer module is melted down, the gravity regulator array is short-circuited, and the liquid nitrogen pipeline safety valve has failed."

"We need to purchase parts, dismantle such a large machine, re-lay the cooling pipes, reset the system, and calibrate the parameters..."

"To be honest, Manager Zhang, at 160,000 yuan for this job, we simply cannot fix it."

Jiang Feng looked at Zhao Mingyuan, sighed at him, and said directly, "Little Zhao, let's go."

"Ah, okay... Huh?"

Zhao Mingyuan was momentarily stunned and tried to speak, but Jiang Feng ignored him completely and strode away quickly.

Manager Zhang's eyes lit up. He had seen several groups already, and no one had been able to state the true cause of the failure!

If the original manufacturer hadn't quoted such an exorbitant price during inspection, and if it hadn't involved "client privacy data," he would have approved it long ago.

He recalled how the original manufacturer's Engineer had declared confidently back then: "No one can crack our Galaxy Heavy Industry's encryption protocol! If you don't hire us to fix it, you'll never fix it!"

Manager Zhang smiled faintly, pondering inwardly.

'This Engineer Jiang definitely has skill. Being able to crack Galaxy Heavy Industry's proprietary encryption protocol means his technical ability is beyond doubt. As long as his quote is lower than the manufacturer's 450,000 yuan, paying a bit more is fine.'

He immediately chased after them: "Engineer Jiang, Engineer Zhao, wait!"

Hearing this, the two stopped. Zhao Mingyuan looked excited, but Jiang Feng maintained a calm expression, as if nothing could faze him.

Manager Zhang couldn't help but regard him with higher esteem: "Engineer Jiang, why don't you give me a quote? How much will it cost in the end?"

Jiang Feng hesitated for a moment, then pointed at Zhao Mingyuan: "We need to discuss it."

"Naturally!" Manager Zhang nodded immediately and consciously stepped back a few paces.

"Brother Feng, you are incredible!" Zhao Mingyuan finally realized what was happening. He had genuinely thought Jiang Feng didn't want the job, but he hadn't expected it to be a trick of feigning indifference to lure a better offer.

"Take a look at the incident report. How are we going to fix this?" Jiang Feng curled his lips and sent him the simplified data.

Zhao Mingyuan looked at it, his face turning dark. He quickly said, "Brother Feng, don't rush. I'll call around first."

He went to make calls, talking animatedly for over half an hour. Jiang Feng waited quietly, occasionally sending messages using his wristband. He had finished three cans of coffee before Zhao Mingyuan finally returned, crestfallen, not daring to look up at Jiang Feng.

"Brother Feng, there really aren't any parts at a suitable price."

Zhao Mingyuan showed Jiang Feng the quotes he had received. Jiang Feng glanced over them.

[Nano Buffer Module: Model WE-394, 2 sets... 124,080 yuan]

[Gravity Regulator Unit: Model K-300, 5 units... 83,725 yuan]

[Liquid Nitrogen Safety Valve: Model LN-2000, 3 units... 13,002 yuan]

On average, the price increase was more than double. The procurement cost alone was already over 200,000 yuan, not including miscellaneous materials.

Jiang Feng frowned slightly. This quote was already very close to the manufacturer's quote; after all, it was reasonable for the original manufacturer to charge more, factoring in costs like quality assurance.

Fortunately, he had already used a virtual account to complete a round of informational self-dealing.

"Brother Feng, do your friends have a better quote?" Zhao Mingyuan looked at him expectantly, his expression bordering on pleading.

Jiang Feng finally sighed, opened his wristband, and showed him the chat interface: "Look at the quote I found."

[Anonymous A: 10 of Spades, I need these items, in stock. — Attachment]

[10 of Spades: Heh heh, got a new job so soon? Seems urgent... Okay, 250,000 for the whole package. Same rules: virtual currency via a virtual account, no warranty provided.]

[Anonymous A: Too expensive. I need so many units, and you won't find this quantity on the market. It's a large order, give me a discount.]

[10 of Spades: I can't sell them to you at a loss, can I? Look at the purchase invoice—I'm not making money just paying the tax! For the quantity you specified, 220,000 is the final price. Consider the scraps a free bonus from me. Take it or leave it!]

[Anonymous A: You're a smuggler, brother, you don't pay tax! Do you think I don't know the market? If I buy the regulators individually, the guy next door only charges 12,000 each. I'm only haggling with you because we're old friends.]

[10 of Spades: My batch of goods are salvaged parts from a previous generation cruiser; the safety valve pressure rating is higher than the original manufacturer's... Fine, stop wasting my time, give me a number!]

[Anonymous A: 160,000, plus a favor, packaged deal.]

[...]

[Anonymous A: The goods are just scrap metal if they sit in your hands.]

[10 of Spades: Help me get an introduction to "Aladdin 1314." I have an encryption module I need him to crack.]

[Anonymous A: Wait for my call. I need to confirm the procurement requirements.]

[10 of Spades: Damn! You ##&&%%...]

Zhao Mingyuan's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He suddenly looked up at Jiang Feng and said earnestly.

"Brother Feng, add me to the group too!"

Jiang Feng immediately shook his head: "No."

Zhao Mingyuan had expected this; after all, no one would give up their connections, but he still held a sliver of hope: "Why?"

"Some opportunities only come after you've died once," Jiang Feng said lightly, looking into his eyes.

Zhao Mingyuan looked into his eyes and seemed, for a moment, to truly see a person who had died and been reborn. His gaze instantly became complicated. He lowered his head, thought for a few seconds, and said seriously, "I understand, Brother Feng. I won't bring it up again."

Jiang Feng felt calm. He was creating these fake identities, forming a cover little by little, without rushing things.

There was plenty of time ahead. Who knew what greater uses these virtual identities might have in the future?

In any case, he had only one goal: he wanted Lin Xiaoyu to live a good life, and he wanted to protect his family from risk as much as possible!

In the real world, having one's cake and eating it too was a nearly impossible wish, and these fake identities were his bold attempt to achieve it.

And Zhao Mingyuan was the second layer of security he intended to cultivate, one that could minimize his own risk.

After all, in the gray area of this dark world, only by diversifying risk could one guarantee profit!