178: Chapter 178 Professional business warfare is all about simplicity and honesty!

"The energy density has gone up, but how do we control costs? Niobium isn't cheap."

Zhou Guangming spoke in a deep voice, looking at Zhou Fan with a serious expression.

"By using recycled niobium from NdFeB waste."

Zhou Fan already had a strategy in place and pulled up a list of suppliers. "I had Lei Jun contact Northern Rare Earth. They have a mature recycling technology that can drive costs down to one-third of the original price."

Zhou Guangming looked at the supplier names on the list and suddenly realized, "Aren't these... the same manufacturers that supply our mobile phone batteries?"

"That's right," Zhou Fan nodded. "It was originally intended to cope with fluctuations in raw materials for mobile phone batteries, but unexpectedly, it worked out perfectly. It just so happens that it has paved the supply chain for car batteries. Plus, our lithium mine and material plant in Jiangxi also have corresponding material output!"

"So for the time being, we shouldn't need to worry about this issue!"

The laboratory fell into silence again, followed by an even more heated discussion.

"In other words, not only is our battery high-performance, but the cost won't be higher than Tesla's?"

"That's amazing! Now, Tesla's price advantage is gone!"

"General Manager Zhou, you and General Manager Lei planned this long ago, didn't you? You even opened up the raw material channels in advance!"

Zhou Fan smiled without saying a word.

He hadn't actually planned it deliberately; many of the arrangements were just following the trend.

But he knew that Fanmi wanted to gain a firm foothold in the new energy track, relying solely on technological breakthroughs wasn't enough. He had to firmly hold the supply chain in his own hands from the very beginning; this was the most profound lesson he had learned from history.

Just then, Zhou Fan's phone rang; it was Lei Jun calling.

"Zhou Fan, BYD has already started purchasing ternary materials. Most of the channels currently available on the market have already been locked into long-term orders. According to our cooperation plan, we can purchase fifty percent of the share from them at cost price in the future!"

"This way, the problem of capital shortage is solved!"

"Yeah!" Zhou Fan nodded gently. "We must stock up on more ternary materials. Once our production line is up and running, the consumption will be huge! There's also good news: our ternary battery technology... has broken through!"

"Really?!" Lei Jun's tone shook, followed by pleasant surprise.

"That's great! This way, we'll have even more confidence in our cooperation with BYD!"

...

In the evening, the night shift security at Fanmi Technology building had just changed shifts.

The industrial park had faded from the hustle and bustle of the day, with only a few lonely lights still shining in the Fanmi building.

With the breakthrough in ternary battery technology and the launch of fanmi 2, the various research departments of Fanmi were finally much more relaxed, having not worked overtime for a week.

Jiang Yuechan, who was now the administrative team leader at the front desk, carefully wiped the company's lucky cat, watered the money tree facing the door, and then began to pack her things, ready to go home.

"Sister Jiang, why are you so attentive to this lucky cat and money tree? It's one thing to wipe and water them while on duty, but you do it after work too..." The young lady at the front desk, who was just preparing to pack up and leave, couldn't help but ask as she watched Jiang Yuechan's movements.

"You don't understand, these are General Manager Lei's treasures!" Jiang Yuechan smiled.

"General Manager Lei's?"

"Yes, it's said that General Manager Lei brought them over during the early days of starting the business. They followed the company from a residential house to the current building and are regarded by the whole company as the 'treasures of the building'! Many people say these are the treasures that stabilize the company's feng shui!"

"Really?" The young lady at the front desk's eyes lit up immediately.

"Who knows..." Jiang Yuechan smiled, then waved her hand. "Alright, let's head off!"

Outside the lobby, the security department was holding a routine meeting before the shift handover.

"Pay attention to the patrol times for the floors where the key R&D departments and the data center are located. One round every fifteen minutes, absolutely no cutting corners!"

"And the monitoring room, two people must maintain cross-observation and pay attention to any abnormal situations at any time!"

"If there is any situation, initiate the warning immediately. Someone must arrive on the scene within one minute, and the support team must arrive within three minutes!"

"..."

"Any questions about the above?"

"No!"

The solemn roar echoed in front of the building.

The security department of Fanmi was basically composed of veterans and required professional training every day. They practically guarded the Fanmi building like a military restricted area, and this was just the visible defensive force.

Accompanied by the last rays of the sunset falling.

The sky gradually darkened.

Midnight, 12 o'clock.

In the monitoring room, Luo Ming yawned and rubbed his dry eyes. His gaze swept over the rows of static images on the monitoring screen. He had been working as security at Fanmi for almost two years, having come almost from the time the company was founded.

From the time he joined the company until now, there had never been any trouble, a large part of the reason being the militarized management.

He had already gotten used to this kind of life.

He could even find a feeling of still being in the army, which made him feel comfortable.

"Team Leader Luo, an abnormal vehicle has appeared a hundred meters outside the company..." another security guard in the monitoring room suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm?" Luo Ming frowned slightly and quickly pulled up a feed from an external building camera.

"I haven't seen this car before. Have the patrol team keep an eye on it!"

"Yes!"

"Remember, don't alert the enemy; see what they want to do!"

The serious voice was immediately transmitted to the patrol team outside the building via walkie-talkie.

Meanwhile, about a hundred meters away from the Fanmi Technology building, an orange-red sedan slowly pulled over.

Inside the car, two men wearing food delivery uniforms and black sun masks were sitting, one of them making a phone call.

"Manager Liu, the security at Fanmi Technology is not simple. This mission probably won't be that easy. I might not be able to bring out the things you want!"

"If you can't bring it out, then destroy it for me. After it's done, rest assured, your commission won't be missing!"

"If it's just destroying it, that should be easier!"

"Alright, stop calling me. After it's done, destroy the number, and make it clean!"

"Understood, we are professionals!"

"..."

The call ended, the two men in food delivery uniforms looked at each other, and then pulled a black backpack from the back seat.

"Let's go!"

"Boss, I just observed that their patrols are quite dense. Getting into the building probably won't be simple!"

"I have my own ways, follow me!"

"Alright..."

"..."

In the monitoring room.

The image in the lower right corner of the screen suddenly flickered with an anomaly, then turned into static.

Luo Ming sat up straight abruptly, his fingers sliding rapidly on the console, turning the nearest surveillance camera toward the area that had lost its feed.

The next second, he saw two figures in food delivery uniforms moving quickly on the screen. Their hat brims were pulled extremely low, and they were wearing masks. One of them seemed to be carrying a bulging black backpack in his hand, which likely contained a signal jamming device, appearing extremely professional.

Unfortunately, they came to the wrong place!

"Area A3, two abnormal personnel discovered. Nearby teams pay attention, once the abnormal personnel enter the company building area, immediately step forward to check!" Luo Ming frowned and picked up the walkie-talkie. "Building patrol personnel, proceed immediately to the lobby to guard the elevators and stair entrances, preventing anyone from forcibly breaking into important areas!"

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"..."

Voices came quickly from the walkie-talkie.

Outside the building, the two 'delivery men' were carefully leaning against the edge of the building, walking toward the Fanmi Company gate.

Lowered voices rang out faintly.

"Boss, is the target on the first floor?"

"That's right, the first-floor lobby. Be sharp later, smash it and run!"

"Don't worry, brother, they probably won't even notice we've entered!"

"The employer said, even if things are exposed, we absolutely cannot name him. If we get caught, we'll be detained for a few days at most, but if we name the financier behind the scenes, the money will be gone, understand?"

"Understand! But Boss... I still don't quite understand, why did the employer just hire us to smash a lucky cat and a money tree? This is too insulting to our professionalism!"

"You don't know shit, professional business warfare is just this plain and simple!!"

"So that's how it is..."

"..."