133: Lithography machine to ship

Singapore. Tonight, the wind was somewhat boisterous, kicking up waves and causing the cargo ships to rock.

"I hope the latter half of the night will be quieter." Yu Xiangqian stood at the bow, gazing out at the sea.

The crew members on watch remained silent, displaying excellent discipline as they waited quietly.

In the distance, a car drove toward the pier, its headlights illuminating the dock as it drove directly onto a cargo ship.

A man in his thirties stepped out of the car, carrying an air of worldly opportunism and reeking of alcohol.

He straightened his clothes and rubbed his face to sober himself up before walking into the cabin.

"Leader, everything is arranged on shore. There are all sorts of entertainment venues. As long as they dock, I guarantee they won't want to come back all night."

The Port of Malacca was a mature international port, rife with vice, gambling, drugs, and violence—it had everything.

"Thank you for your hard work, Zhixuan. Go get some rest. The cargo ship Starfish will arrive in the latter half of the night; I'll need you to make contact then."

"Yes, sir." Xu Zhixuan gave a salute and withdrew from the room.

A total of five ships had come with the fleet. They had been at this port for a week, renting a pier and replacing all the staff with their own people.

They had been waiting quietly these past few days.

At the hour of the Rat, a siren woke everyone on the ship: "Prepare for work." An order from the captain's cabin roused them; they all dressed and began their preparations.

At the pier, a freighter slowly docked under guidance. It was the Starfish, the vessel transporting the Lithography Machine.

Once the ship docked, Xu Zhixuan went over to communicate, handing over two cases of US dollars on the spot.

"Captain William, here is five hundred thousand dollars for your trouble. This case is for the crew—two thousand dollars each."

External communication: simple and unadorned.

Captain William's face broke into a brilliant smile. He took his case and put it away, then took out half from the crew's case, handing the rest to the first mate to notify the crew that the money would be distributed in an hour.

He then found the twelve engineers who had come along from ASML.

"Gentlemen, you can go ashore to relax. Singapore has beauties from all over the world." Hearing this, the engineers' eyes lit up.

They had long since grown tired of the ship's tossing and turning. Perhaps they could stay in a laboratory for a year without getting lonely, but on a ship, there was nothing for them to do.

In just two short months, they had learned eighteen different ways to play with birds—more than they had seen in their entire lives.

Hearing the captain's words, no one cared about the equipment on board anymore. They disembarked immediately, where the small bus Xu Zhixuan had arranged was already waiting.

Several older engineers also couldn't stand the life on board. Seeing that the crew hadn't stayed behind, they felt at ease about the equipment and went ashore to relax as well.

Xu Zhixuan held a megaphone and kept shouting: "Everyone, please take your seats. Bus number one departs first. First stop, the Red Light District; second stop, the casino; third stop, the underground arena. If you don't know what you want to do, there's someone on the bus to introduce the options."

An hour later, the crew members each received a hundred dollars and happily disembarked. Bus number one had already left for parts unknown, but no one cared; they just sat down and waited for the next departure.

The captain and the first mate chatted briefly with Xu Zhixuan before also leaving the pier, leaving behind only the harbor where the night wind whistled. The wind was quite strong tonight.

"Be quick. Check the signals first, find the trackers, and take them off." Yu Xiangqian boarded the ship and approached the tightly packed equipment.

Someone was using a device to detect signal sources.

Tracking devices nowadays were each as large as a mobile phone and required an external large battery. Once the signal source was locked, it was very easy to discover.

These tracking devices relied entirely on satellites or SMS to send locations. Signals were unstable and frequently interrupted during sea voyages. Moreover, they were incredibly expensive, costing over a thousand dollars each.

In total, they found three such devices among the equipment.

The crew and dockworkers worked in close cooperation to hoist the pieces of equipment. The gantry crane made a massive noise, but they operated carefully amidst the whistling sea wind, with guiding voices constantly coming through the walkie-talkies.

After the equipment was hoisted and secured, the ship left the coast. Another ship pulled back its colored tarpaulin to reveal identical-looking fake equipment. They hoisted these fakes back onto the first ship and reinstalled the tracking devices.

In the middle of the night, Li Xiuwu received a call from Lin Qian. His voice was suppressed with excitement: "The Lithography Machine has swapped ships and set sail."

Li Xiuwu got out of bed; he found himself unable to sleep.

He had originally thought he didn't care much, that success or failure was just an attempt. Now that it was on his own family's ship, he was suddenly quite excited.

He dressed and walked out of his room, strolling through the Courtyard House until he reached the loft in the front courtyard.

With the ship swap in Singapore, one could say this matter was over, but the South China Sea was not peaceful. In this era, they did not have complete control over the South China Sea.

Once the news leaked, there was still a possibility of it being intercepted.

The stars tonight were very serene. He believed there were many people who remained awake throughout the night.

At some point, he was startled by the movement on the street; sanitation workers were already cleaning the roads.

He checked the time: four in the morning. He let out a long breath and walked down from the loft.

In the morning, during breakfast, several people noticed that Li Xiuwu was absent-minded. Liu Yifei and Shu Chang exchanged looks.

After spending so much time together, they had never seen Li Xiuwu in such a state.

"Xiuwu, did something happen?" Liu Xiaoli asked him.

"Ah." Li Xiuwu looked up.

"You've practically drunk your rice porridge into your nostrils." Liu Yifei teased him for his distraction.

Li Xiuwu turned his head to look at her, and Liu Yifei looked back at him proudly.

"It's nothing." He didn't say the reason; it wasn't convenient for them to know about this matter.

"If there are any difficulties that I can help with, just tell me," Liu Xiaoli said, though she didn't dare claim she could definitely help Li Xiuwu anymore.

"I won't be polite." Li Xiuwu smiled and nodded.

Seeing that Li Xiuwu didn't want to talk, Liu Xiaoli realized she truly couldn't help with his various industries.

She changed the subject: "Regarding Xixi's management contract, I spoke with Chen Jinfei. It can be transferred to your company, but the company was founded with Chen Jinfei's money after all."

Ever since chatting with her elder brother, she had understood that Li Xiuwu's big-picture perspective and keen eye for market development were beyond her comparison. Since she had acknowledged him, she was no longer stubborn about Liu Yifei's development.

"Let Golden Culture compensate him according to the share price," Li Xiuwu said.

Regardless, the man had played a key role in Liu Yifei's initial development.

"Alright, I'll tell him."

"I'm signing with Golden Culture?" Liu Yifei looked up. "Then doesn't that mean I'm under Li Xiuwu's management?"

"Correct. If you don't listen to me, I'll make you my assistant and have you serve me tea and water every day," Li Xiuwu teased her.

"Pfft." Liu Yifei didn't believe him for a second.

Today was the weekend, and none of them had classes.

Shu Chang was holding a script and reading it.

"Chang Chang, you got another script?" Liu Yifei looked at Shu Chang in surprise.

"It's a script for CCTV-8, it's about people with disabilities," Shu Chang said.

Shu Chang's collaborations with CCTV were very extensive; many television scripts would be sent to her.