191: Chapter 191 Even with double the payout, there's still a queue.

When Liang Zhixia's call came in, Jiang Lin had just picked up his chopsticks to eat.

"Don't rush to approve the application I just sent you." On the other end of the phone, Liang Zhixia's voice carried a suppressed sense of urgency.

Jiang Lin glanced at the open document page on his phone screen and sighed. "Half an hour ago, weren't you urging me to look at it ASAP, saying the matter of the experience store couldn't be delayed any longer?"

"Half an hour ago, it was just a question of whether or not to establish the experience store project; now the situation has changed." Liang Zhixia spoke quickly, with the faint sound of bustling voices in the background. "Someone is willing to pay twice the price and demands delivery in fifteen days. Another group, with solid orders for six machines and a thick stack of mine data, also wants the earliest delivery slot."

"What did you say to them?"

"I've arranged for them to be in the same conference room, waiting for you to come and talk together."

Jiang Lin frowned slightly, putting the piece of pork he had brought to his mouth back down. "Did you do that on purpose?"

"Of course I did it on purpose. Whether to allow individual purchases, who gets priority in taking goods, and whether the experience store is just for generating buzz or for filtering out false demands—these are fundamentally the same question." Liang Zhixia paused, her tone becoming more resolute. "After separating them, I didn't want to fob people off with two sets of contradictory explanations. What Low Entropy needs right now is a unified set of rules."

Jiang Lin thought for a moment and said, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Finish your meal before you come." Liang Zhixia heard the sound of chopsticks hitting the plate. "They've already waited for two hours; they won't mind a dozen minutes more."

"I'm afraid there's no time. Since both groups are still waiting, just wasting time like this will only let their emotions ferment."

"What do you mean there's no time? No matter how urgent the situation is, skipping a bowl of rice won't magically conjure an extra machine out of thin air on the production schedule." Liang Zhixia sighed softly. "Take your time eating, and come over when you're done."

Hanging up the phone, Jiang Lin picked up his chopsticks again and shoveled down a couple of mouthfuls of rice, but his gaze fell back onto his phone screen.

The project initiation application submitted by Liang Zhixia was only three pages long. Written in a rushed manner, it looked as though the time to write it had been forcibly squeezed out from constantly popping-up urging messages.

The core of the proposal was very clear.

Experience stores would be set up in Jiangcheng and Beijing respectively. Before the permanent venues were built, temporary reservation-based experiences would be offered first, allowing individual customers to submit purchase applications.

The reasoning was also piercingly straightforward:

Customers truly bringing scene data, media, university faculty and students, individual buyers, and people who just wanted to see the machines with their own eyes were now all blocked outside the gates of the R&D center and manufacturing nodes.

If they continued to drive people away, these genuinely existing demands would by no means disappear on their own; instead, they would evolve into a public relations crisis.

But if everyone were let in, Low Entropy's already overloaded R&D and production would sooner or later be completely dragged down.

At 1:46 PM, Jiang Lin stepped into the reception area of the Beijing R&D Center.

The sight before him made his footsteps pause.

More than a dozen people were still standing in front of the public registration desk, and the air was permeated with a scent intertwined with anxiety and anticipation.

Some held rolled-up large topographic maps against their chests, some nervously guarded encrypted terminals, and others didn't bring any data at all, simply pulling the receptionist aside to repeatedly ask whether the machines could be paid for on the same day and hauled away directly by truck that very day.

Liang Zhixia was waiting for him outside the door of the conference room at the end of the corridor, holding two registration forms in her hand.

"The one on the left has the surname Gu and wants to buy one for a private villa at double the price, with seventy percent of the advance payment arriving in full today. The one on the right is Chongyue Mining, requiring six machines at standard pricing, led by the head of safety production, Zhao Shoucheng. Both sides want the earliest delivery slot."

Jiang Lin glanced inside through the narrow window on the door.

The atmosphere inside the conference room was subtle, with the two sides clearly demarcated.

"You arranged these people together; surely it wasn't just to save a conference room, or to make me listen to which side's grievances first, right?"

Liang Zhixia looked at him quietly. "There's no need to distinguish between first and last; we must listen to both sides today. I just want to see if your statement of 'high-risk scenarios take priority' can still be spoken as easily as it was in yesterday's meeting when you are right in front of someone willing to pay over a million more in cash."

With that, she pushed open the door.

Three people were sitting on the left side of the conference table.

Gu Mingqiao was around forty years old with a composed demeanor, a pair of sunglasses casually laid on a purchase intention letter.

The lawyer beside him was browsing Low Entropy's standard contract, scrutinizing it word by word.

In front of the assistant sat a computer that was not turned on.

None of the three showed impatient urging, but that heavy silver briefcase at the corner of the table was placed extremely close, like a heavyweight bargaining chip, waiting only for a word from Jiang Lin to open.

There were only two people on the right, looking somewhat sparse.

Zhao Shoucheng was wearing a washed-out dark blue work uniform, the cuffs frayed into a circle of rough fuzz.

The young man beside him guarded an encrypted terminal, his hand resting vigilantly on the edge of the screen all along.

After some polite small talk, Jiang Lin walked over and sat down.

"President Jiang, I originally thought these two deals would be discussed separately." Gu Mingqiao's gaze swept across Zhao Shoucheng opposite him and fell back onto Jiang Lin. "Now that you've called us together, are you planning to determine the order based on who bids higher?"

"If it were based on the bid, I wouldn't have needed to let both sides meet." Jiang Lin pulled out his chair and sat straight. "Low Entropy currently has only one production scheduling line, and both of you want the earliest delivery slot. What we need to discuss today is by what rules this slot should be given out."

Gu Mingqiao raised an eyebrow slightly and nodded. "In other words, you don't intend to let us bid against each other, but I have to sit here today and listen to why, even after spending a huge sum of money, I still have to queue at the back."

Hearing this, Zhao Shoucheng frowned, pressing his rough palm against the tabletop just as he was about to speak, but Liang Zhixia had already neatly taken over the conversation. "Mr. Gu, no one is queuing at the back yet, and Low Entropy is not prepared to put the limited production slots out for bidding. Asking the two of you to talk together is because the final established reason must be absolutely valid for both sides."

Gu Mingqiao didn't get annoyed upon hearing this. With his finger pressing on the letter of intent, he pushed it in front of Jiang Lin and tapped on the column for the delivery date.

"One basic platform, with a material mission cabin, inspection equipment, and towing components. The location of use is my private villa; the narrowest part of the mountain road is 2.4 meters, and the surveying and mapping of the maximum slope are still being rushed. I don't want your underlying control code, I won't modify the load-bearing structure, and I don't need you to dispatch people for on-site stationed maintenance long-term."

"Mr. Gu also requested a black-gold exterior, custom light strips, and high-end audio," Liang Zhixia added from the side.

"I'm buying the machine back for my own use." Gu Mingqiao glanced at her, completely justified. "Surely I can have some personal requirements for the color?"

"You can make requests, but they must absolutely not affect the sensor's field of view, the chassis's heat dissipation, and the visibility of safety signs. In the end, it still has to go through technical evaluation by our engineering department."

"This is what I want to talk about." Gu Mingqiao turned his gaze back to Jiang Lin, his tone certain. "I fully accept your base quotation. I'll pay double the price, with seventy percent arriving before get-off work today, and I require delivery in fifteen days. If it's necessary to purchase parts separately for me, arrange for workers to work overtime, or add special tests, I will bear all the expedited costs."

"Fifteen days is definitely impossible." Jiang Lin didn't avoid his gaze in the slightest. "Not to mention twenty days, even if it's relaxed to a month, I cannot give you any delivery commitment right now."

Gu Mingqiao leaned back against the chair back, crossing his hands. He did not continue to throw his weight around and raise the price further as Liang Zhixia had anticipated.

"Then it's not that the price is insufficient." Gu Mingqiao keenly heard the industrial logic behind Jiang Lin's words. "You neither have spot goods in hand, nor do you have a backup production line on hand that can be temporarily set up just by paying more money."

"Correct, that is our current situation; our production capacity is already fully loaded." Jiang Lin calmly admitted.

"Since that's the case, putting me at the back won't make the machines in the mine come off the production line a single day faster." Gu Mingqiao raised his hand and pointed at Zhao Shoucheng's terminal on the right. "If my premium is used to add equipment for you, buy tooling, and buy out extra capacity from suppliers, it might instead allow everyone's delivery dates to be advanced overall. In that case, why can't orders willing to pay the cost of capacity expansion take priority?"

Jiang Lin looked at Gu Mingqiao and asked, "Mr. Gu, even if your premium can indeed add equipment and buy tooling, can the newly added capacity actually be formed and operated within fifteen days?"

"That is your operational capability and shouldn't be answered by the customer."

"Therefore, before it is truly formed, we cannot sell it to you first, let alone use this illusory capacity to promise delivery in fifteen days." Jiang Lin didn't yield an inch.

"Then sign it as conditional delivery." Gu Mingqiao was clearly prepared. "If the new capacity is formed as scheduled, I take the first new slot. If it's not formed, you refund the expedited fee. This way, it neither squeezes out existing orders nor requires you to make guarantees with non-existent capacity."

The lawyer beside Gu Mingqiao finally raised his head and opened a drafted supplementary agreement.

Clearly, they had already rehearsed this airtight arrangement before coming.

Right at this moment, Zhao Shoucheng suddenly spoke up: "Let's take a look at the data we brought first."

His tone was not heavy, exuding the composure honed from working underground year-round. As he spoke, he pushed the industrial encrypted terminal a bit closer to the middle.

The young man beside him hurriedly wanted to click on a video, but was stopped by Zhao Shoucheng reaching out.

"Don't play last year's accident footage first."

The young man was startled and anxiously said, "Director Zhao, that footage best illustrates how dangerous the bottom of our mine is, and why we most need the machines to go in."

"Precisely because it illustrates it too well, it's even more reason not to play it." Zhao Shoucheng took the terminal back, his tone stern. "We are here to buy equipment, not to auction off whose family has had people die or whose situation is more tragic."

Zhao Shoucheng turned the terminal toward Jiang Lin.

On the screen was only a clear, cold, and hard cross-section view of the return airway, densely labeled next to it with roof height, water accumulation depth, harmful gas detection points, and communication blind spots.

"The return airway of the old mine requires personnel to enter for inspection every ten days. The main checks are on the roof, water accumulation, and gas concentration. The lowest spot is only 1.17 meters; once the support deforms, it becomes even lower, and people can only crawl through."

With his rough fingers, he scrolled down a page on the screen.

"A partial roof fall occurred last year, and two brothers were trapped for three hours. Since then, regulations require two people to enter each time, with another four people standing by outside. President Jiang, this data is not used to win sympathy; this is the current safety plan we are executing."

Dates, personnel, stay durations, numbers of abnormal gas occurrences, and reasons for task interruptions were listed item by item in the table.

Three full years of records without any editing.

"For our first batch, we want six machines: two for the old airway, and four respectively for the haulage road, drainage area, and the edge of the mined-out area. We'll go with your standard quotation." Zhao Shoucheng looked at Jiang Lin with a firm gaze. "Before the next round of ten-day inspections, it would be best if a test equipment can go in. If the machine can replace humans, we will withdraw the personnel. If it cannot replace them, we will still follow the original plan and send people in."

Gu Mingqiao quietly finished reading those dense pages of engineering data and analyzed step-by-step, "My site is already hardened, the route is also simple, and explosion-proof is not needed, so the delivery cost is even lower. If calculated purely by efficiency, making my one machine first and then their six machines might not slow down the overall progress."

Zhao Shoucheng turned his face sideways, his wind-weathered face turning towards Gu Mingqiao. "Mr. Gu, you don't need to cede the slot to us just because you've seen these fatal data points."

"I didn't intend to cede it." Gu Mingqiao spoke bluntly. "I'm just asking about the rules: on what grounds are you ranking this priority order after all?"

"That's good. We don't need anyone to suddenly find their conscience or feel embarrassed after reading the accident data." Zhao Shoucheng straightened his back.

"I really don't have anything to be embarrassed about," Gu Mingqiao said calmly. "I spend my own money to buy things I like, which is neither illegal nor against the regulations. You are buying them to replace hazardous positions, which is equally reasonable. Since both demands are commercially valid, the queue cannot be decided by whose story sounds more severe or who is more miserable."

As his words fell, the trace of displeasure on Zhao Shoucheng's face faded a bit instead.

These two men, situated in vastly different worlds, reached a certain rational-based consensus at this moment.

Liang Zhixia picked up her pen, quickly wrote a line of words on paper, and pushed it to Jiang Lin's fingertips.

"It's not accident priority, but verifiable personnel exposure priority?"

Jiang Lin looked at that line of words and fell into deep thought.

Low Entropy previously had no production scheduling rules in the true sense.

Back then, not many people came looking for them, and each of them brought specific, tricky problems.

If the machine could do it, they took the job; if it couldn't, they flatly refused.

But after experiencing that rescue that drew the attention of the entire internet, a massive amount of demand suddenly crowded outside the same door.

The original workshop-style approach of judging scenarios one by one evolved, for the first time, into a power called allocation.

Whoever got the machine first could pull people out of the risk first, or obtain massive production gains a step earlier, or simply satisfy an expensive personal interest first.

This order could not be decided by a heartbreaking accident video.

Even less could it be decided by Jiang Lin's momentary likes, dislikes, or sympathy in the conference room.

"We don't look at who tells a more miserable story," Jiang Lin finally spoke up.

Gu Mingqiao looked at him and didn't nod immediately. "Since you don't look at who tells it more miserably, what on earth do you look at?"

"We look at how many people must enter the site among the existing tasks, what the frequency of entry and duration of stay are, whether existing protective measures can replace it, and whether the equipment can actually and quantitatively reduce personnel exposure time after entering."

Jiang Lin turned Zhao Shoucheng's form toward him.

"We also look at whether the materials are complete and whether the scenario has the conditions for verification. If someone only emptily talks about danger without providing terrain, communication, mission objectives, and current safety measures, they will under no circumstances enter the first sequence."

"Enterprises can likewise make their data look very good, packaging ordinary construction operations into high-risk tasks that cannot do without machines," Gu Mingqiao pointed out the loophole.

"Therefore, technical audits cannot be handed over to the sales department, nor can we only look at the conclusions given by the clients themselves."

"Yet the people finally responsible for the audit are still your own people at Low Entropy," Gu Mingqiao leaned forward slightly. "Changing departments won't automatically make the result objective."

"This point indeed cannot be avoided," Jiang Lin frankly admitted. "Rules cannot eliminate human judgment, but at least they can leave a traceable basis for every judgment. Clients have the right to question, and Low Entropy must also be able to produce written proof of what materials were actually relied upon at the time and why someone was ranked ahead of another."

Gu Mingqiao's fingers tapped lightly twice on the tabletop, seemingly acknowledging this logic.

He didn't continue to question the impartiality of the audit department, but instead pulled the topic back to his own quote.

"What about this portion of money I pay extra? You didn't completely deny the possibility of increased production capacity just now."

"This premium can be used to purchase additional custom configurations, and it can also be used to bear the expedited costs that actually occur," Jiang Lin explained. "If it can truly add a set of tooling for the production line and get a batch of extra components from suppliers that absolutely do not crowd out existing orders, then we can talk separately about this portion of capacity that actually exceeds the normal amount. However, you cannot use this money to forcibly replace the production slot already occupied by someone else with your name."

"But once the money enters your company's account, how do I know the so-called increase isn't you secretly moving the preceding clients back by one position?" Gu Mingqiao still didn't let go of the loophole in it.

"Purchase orders for new tooling, separate parts procurement lists, additional production output proofs promised by suppliers, including test work-hour records increased for this purpose—all of these must be independently accounted for and disclosed to you," Jiang Lin said in a firm tone. "The original production scheduling list will absolutely not be moved; only the part that actually exceeds it can be counted as increased capacity."

Gu Mingqiao turned to look at Liang Zhixia. "Then write this verification method in black and white into the public rules as well. Don't wait until after collecting the money for you to unilaterally explain what an increase is."

Liang Zhixia immediately added a line in her notebook. "Sure, I'll write the verification basis and review record mechanism together."

Gu Mingqiao leaned back against the back of his chair and tossed out the next question. "Every mine, pipe gallery, and power unit can prove that it has personal safety risks. Then how are they ranked within the first sequence? Whoever knew you earlier ranks first?"

This time, Liang Zhixia actively took over the conversation.

"All orders must first pass the technical audit. Those with incomplete materials must absolutely not rely just on a verbal purchase email to occupy a position in the sequence," Liang Zhixia said. "After the audit passes, we will strictly rank them according to the timestamps of the contract taking effect and the advance payment arriving."

Hearing this, Zhao Shoucheng raised a concern. "But the time consumed for on-site verification is different. Suppose our materials are submitted first, but because the underground conditions are complex, the verification takes a month. Another company submits materials later with a simple scenario and passes in only three days. Are they going to rank ahead of us instead?"

"Then we will rank according to the time the client initially entered the audit," Jiang Lin provided a solution. "As long as the paid verification ultimately passes, your ranking will return to that time point when you first entered the audit; but if the final verification does not pass, no matter how early the materials were submitted, it will not occupy a delivery slot."

"If it's ranked this way, that's at least justifiable," Gu Mingqiao nodded slightly.

Liang Zhixia noted down the items discussed just now one by one and turned to the next page.

"There is also individual clients. Even if Mr. Gu hands in all the materials for the villa, they cannot be directly ranked alongside enterprise orders. Shall we make this clear right now?"

"This should be made clear right now," Jiang Lin looked at Gu Mingqiao. "Individual purchases must first enter a separate queue. They must complete the experience, safety instructions, and use-condition evaluation before they can enter the equipment audit. Before the experience is completed, we only accept applications and will not sign any formal sales contracts."

"Why do we still need to divide queues?" Gu Mingqiao imperceptibly frowned. "I have already submitted complete scenario and capital proofs."

"After your scenario materials pass, you can of course enter the equipment audit," Jiang Lin said. "However, our existing capacity must first prioritize rigid tasks that can explicitly replace personnel entering high-risk areas. Next are continuous production, engineering exploration, agriculture, scientific research, and routine inspections. Exhibition, film and television, personal use, and experience demands are all relegated to the third sequence."

"So when all is said and done, even if I pay twice the price, I still have to obediently queue in this third sequence."

"Yes, we still have to queue according to the rules."

Gu Mingqiao looked at him steadily with a deep gaze, and after a moment asked again, "What if I pay triple?"

"As long as what you are buying is still a slot within the original capacity, you will have to queue just the same." Jiang Lin didn't waver in the slightest.

Hearing this, the lawyer silently closed the contract in his hands, thinking that this conversation filled with rejections was already over.

Unexpectedly, Gu Mingqiao picked up the letter of intent again, pulled out his fountain pen, neatly crossed out the column for fifteen-day delivery, and pushed the blank page needing supplementation to his assistant.

"Fill in all the road surveying data of the villa, the 3D map of the storage warehouse, and the charging pile locations. Also fill in the safety qualification list of the maintenance personnel. The sound system doesn't need to be deleted; keep it together with the light strip and hand it over to them for evaluation."

Zhao Shoucheng raised his eyelids slightly in surprise.

Gu Mingqiao calmly met his gaze. "A mine being dangerous and needing rescue, and me personally liking a machine with a sound system, inherently do not conflict logically."

The corners of Zhao Shoucheng's mouth moved as if he wanted to smile, but in the end he only lowered his head and opened the contract in front of him.

Gu Mingqiao looked at Liang Zhixia again and asked about another detail. "When are your experience stores planning to open?"

"The permanent venue is still under site selection evaluation. Before the official opening, a few temporary reservation events will be held first. Once the time is confirmed, the system will automatically notify all applicants."

"Can't you directly reserve an internal slot for me?"

"This slot cannot be directly reserved; temporary experiences must also follow the system's reservation order," Liang Zhixia said strictly by the book.

Gu Mingqiao seemed to finally find these people's stubbornness somewhat amusing. "Even spending money to experience it doesn't allow cutting in line?"

"The experience items themselves can be clearly priced, but the reserved time slot cannot be bought out."

"You'd better carve this sentence on the company's front gate," Gu Mingqiao put his sunglasses back on with a free-and-easy movement. "So that in the future, every person who brings a lawyer to throw money around won't have to ask the questions I asked today all over again, wasting time."

Saying this, he stood up.

"There is one more thing. In the future, don't play mine videos as moral lessons for individual clients. The reason I accepted being ranked further back today is because this production scheduling system of yours makes sense at least logically, not because I saw someone unlucky and trapped and suddenly felt that I wasn't worthy of buying this machine."

Hearing this, Zhao Shoucheng raised his head and said loudly, "Mr. Gu, I agree with this sentence. Our mining area also doesn't want to exchange our brothers' accidents for production scheduling positions."

The two men looked squarely at each other for the first time.

Gu Mingqiao led his lawyer and assistant out of the conference room.

That purchase application remained on the tabletop, and in the column for fifteen-day delivery, only a thick horizontal line was left.

Zhao Shoucheng pushed the thick mine materials toward Jiang Lin again with a serious expression.

"There are a few things I must make clear to President Jiang first. A machine going down the well is definitely not considered done just by walking a stretch of gravel road in your promotional videos. Whether the explosion-proof certification has passed, whether underground communication cuts out, whether the calibration of the gas detection chamber is accurate—if any of these things fail to meet standards, I will not sign to let it go in to replace humans."

"This should originally be checked by you according to the most stringent underground standards, rather than replacing safety audits with promises from our sales end," Jiang Lin responded solemnly.

"The first unit will undergo on-site verification. Once all indicators pass completely, we will then determine the task cabin configurations for the subsequent five units. Your chassis, drive, and safety state machine must absolutely not be modified on the fly just to rush time and meet delivery dates."

"I can promise you this right now," Jiang Lin said resolutely. "Once we enter the verification stage, the chassis, drive, and safety state machines will all be frozen. No one is allowed to make any temporary modifications just to chase the delivery date."

Zhao Shoucheng looked straight at him with blazing eyes. "President Jiang, don't promise too fast. If you can't make it in time for the next round of inspections, just say so directly. Don't give me a false date that you can't achieve at all just to win this big contract for six units. When the time comes to actually sign the underground entry consent form and let people wade through danger, it's me, not you."

Jiang Lin glanced at Liang Zhixia.

Liang Zhixia understood tacitly and immediately pulled away the standard contract she had prepared originally, replacing it with a special "On-site Verification Appendix".

"President Zhao, today we can only promise that the equipment will enter engineering evaluation, and cannot promise that it will definitely replace personnel going down the well within ten days," Liang Zhixia explained clearly. "Once evaluated, the first unit will enter on-site verification; once verified, the remaining five units will confirm their task cabins according to the data actually run out. You can now sign for the purchase of six units with verification conditions attached, or you can choose to first sign only the verification agreement for the first unit."

Zhao Shoucheng was silent for a moment, his rough fingers rubbing the edge of the paper.

"Then let's sign for all six units together."

The young man beside him was greatly surprised and hurriedly reminded him in a low voice, "President Zhao, weren't we prepared before coming here to only sign for a verification first and see how things go?"

"Since they are willing to state clearly beforehand what they cannot do and don't put up a false front, these six units can instead be signed with peace of mind."

Zhao Shoucheng took the pen and heavily signed his name on the final page.

"However, we need to add another clause to the appendix. If the first unit cannot enter the mine due to defects in the equipment itself, failing to meet the agreed explosion-proof or communication conditions, I will return it as-is, and all round-trip shipping costs will be borne by Low Entropy."

"Alright, write it into the appendix. If the issue is with our equipment, we should naturally bear the full cost." Jiang Lin nodded.

Only then did Zhao Shoucheng reveal the first trace of a smile since entering the door today.

At 2:38 PM, after the client left, the meeting room did not become vacant.

The screen lit up, and Xu Man connected to the video call from the Jiangcheng Base.

In the video, she was wearing anti-static clothing, standing inside the roaring engineering verification center.

Behind her was a hexapod platform with the casing of its front-left leg removed, several thick wire harnesses suspended in mid-air.

An engineer had just walked past the edge of the frame when Xu Man reached out to pan the camera away, focusing it on the machine itself.

Liang Zhixia cut straight to the chase and directly sent her the preliminary plan for the experience store.

"The Beijing store will be responsible for public experiences, institutional receptions, media exhibitions, and intention screening for individual customers. Because the Jiangcheng store is close to the base, it will be responsible for setting up real obstacles and undertaking industrial scenarios and task verification," Liang Zhixia stated quickly. "However, before the official store is built, we must hold a few temporary reservation events to channel the enthusiasm outside. I need to borrow existing test equipment from the Engineering Center for the experiences."

"Sorry, the test equipment in the Engineering Center cannot be lent to you to host any experience events," Xu Man flatly refused, leaving no room for negotiation.

Liang Zhixia seemed to have expected her to answer this way and threw out the reality of the pressure: "More than 170 people registered outside the R&D center today, and this building has no other fixed exits. If they don't get a response, tomorrow they will go to Jiangcheng and block the gates of the manufacturing node."

"That is a reception problem on your operations end. Just because people are blocking the door, you can't switch to occupying my precious engineering test equipment for public relations."

"But if they can't even see a machine during the reception process, in the end, all that's left is a dry registration of phone numbers, which won't suppress their anger. They blocked Beijing today, and tomorrow they'll still go to Jiangcheng to demand an explanation with the physical item."

"Test machines are not exhibits placed in the warehouse waiting for people to touch," Xu Man tapped the exposed mechanical joint beside her, producing a crisp metallic sound. "This unit is running a high-intensity load spectrum tomorrow, and will undergo a major disassembly inspection the day after. Running even one less cycle means a missing section in the data model. Running one more unquantifiable public experience will add an uncontrollable unknown working condition to its lifespan record, which will invalidate all subsequent tests."

"The experience route, maximum speed, and operation permissions can all be set strictly according to the boundaries of the Engineering Center, never letting participants control it at will," Liang Zhixia put forward a compromise plan.

"The problem isn't just about who controls it," Xu Man refused to budge an inch. "You just excluded individual customers from industrial delivery in the meeting room today, and in the next turn, you want to let them occupy tight engineering test windows? What's the difference between the two? It's nothing more than the machine not being officially sold to them yet."

Liang Zhixia's pen stopped at her fingertips, her gaze sharp.

"Xu Man, if we don't do a round of screening as soon as possible, what they occupy won't just be a few of your test windows, but the energy of the R&D personnel, the reception area, and the gates for the normal operation of both nodes."

"So my opinion remains unchanged. Wait until the display equipment is scheduled for production separately before holding experiences; test machines will not undertake any public relations functions."

"According to the current production schedule, we might not be able to schedule a purely display device even in three months."

"I would rather let you wait three months than make a joke out of the core engineering test records," Xu Man's tone was as steadfast as a rock.

"But three months from now, no one knows whether the ten thousand people outside paying attention to us will still be there. If the experience store stubbornly waits for both the hype and demand to dissipate before opening, in the end, there will only be an empty store that no one cares about."

Separated by the screen, the two of them fell into a stalemate.

What they were arguing about was never a simple experience event.

What Xu Man guarded with her life were the engineering boundaries where every machine must be precisely traceable from assembly and calibration to testing,

while what Liang Zhixia wanted was to quickly erect a buffer door between all frantic curiosity, impulse, and real procurement demands, preventing the torrent from washing away the R&D area.

If either side yielded to the end, the catastrophic cost would fall on the other side.

Jiang Lin intervened at the right time and asked Xu Man: "Who ultimately signs and confirms the test windows in the Engineering Center now?"

"Right now I am responsible for arranging the window periods, and whether the equipment can be taken out of the laboratory is also signed off by me personally. After completing the weekly plan, short gaps might indeed appear, but as long as the public experience suffers even a slight bump, we have to redo the complete set of checks before the next test begins. The cost is too high."

Jiang Lin turned to Liang Zhixia: "Then calculate the re-inspection time and possible wear and tear entirely into the cost of the experience event separately, and never squeeze out the original test plan time later."

Liang Zhixia immediately followed up: "The operations department will take full charge of on-site order, and engineering personnel will only do start-stop and safety confirmations on the side. Shipping costs, component wear and tear, and re-inspection man-hours will all be accounted for separately and not amortized back to the Engineering Center."

Xu Man's brows remained tightly locked, refusing to relent.

"Whether the equipment can be taken out is still signed off by me," Xu Man threw out her bottom line. "If there is no gap, there is no gap. You cannot wait until the media or clients have already arrived and then call to force me to release the machine temporarily using the bigger picture."

"Alright, I accept this harsh condition. I will never use scheduled media to force you to release the machine, but you also cannot default to assuming all gaps don't exist just to guard against me. After the weekly test plan is scheduled, you must truthfully tell me the time that is genuinely freed up."

"I will only report the actually freed-up time, and I won't rearrange my test schedule backwards for your events."

"Then let's execute it according to this method for now," Jiang Lin made the final decision.

This could not be considered a victory where someone persuaded someone else.

What Liang Zhixia got was a temporary window that could become empty at any time and was extremely passive.

As for Xu Man, she gained an extra item of signature approval that she didn't want to undertake at all.

But that door blocking the public outside the R&D and production areas had finally, with great difficulty, found an entrance capable of trial operation.

Before hanging up the video, Jiang Lin confirmed the final plan item by item on the project initiation application.

The Jiangcheng store is responsible for real obstacles, industrial scenarios, and task verification.

The Beijing store is responsible for public experiences, institutional receptions, media exhibitions, and individual customer screening.

Individual customers can submit applications, but formal contracts will not be signed before the experience is completed.

Strictly prohibit opening underlying control, and strictly prohibit unauthorized modifications to load-bearing structures, power systems, and safety state machines.

Exhibition and film/television demands will preferentially adopt a rental model.

Experience store equipment must be scheduled for production separately, and delivery machines for industrial clients must not be pulled away.

Liang Zhixia typed the last sentence into the plan, thought about it, and heavily added another line at the end.

[The experience store can sell experiences, but the hexapod platforms are still sold as industrial equipment.]

"This sentence sounds like a hollow promotional slogan," Xu Man commented from the other end of the screen.

"It was originally written for those frantic people outside to see; this is much more useful than 'Welcome'."

"You can write whatever you love as long as you don't let them actually grace my test field and blindly touch the machines."

After saying that, Xu Man lowered her head and continued to inspect the disassembled machine.

This fierce debate forcibly carved a small slice of time out of her dense engineering operations. After it ended, she had to race against time to make up for the progress as it was.

At 3:06 PM, Chongyue Mining's contract completed all legal and technical confirmations.

Order Summary.

Product: Hexapod platform (6 units).

Accessories: Two sets of gas detection mission cabins, two sets of communication relay mission cabins, two sets of material transport mission cabins.

Delivery conditions: The first unit enters the underground to complete on-site verification, and the remaining five units adjust their mission cabin configurations based on the verification data. The chassis, drive, and safety state machine are frozen immediately.

Half an hour later, the bank's arrival-of-funds notification appeared punctually on the work terminal of Finance's Chen Zhi.

[System Notification]

[Mining Scenario Procurement Contract Effective]

[Purchase Quantity: 6 units]

[First Advance Payment: 2,592,000 RMB]

Seeing this huge sum of money, there was no celebratory joy on Liang Zhixia's face.

She just meticulously filled the contract number into the newly established first-sequence list.

The three-year inspection record left by Zhao Shoucheng was solemnly filed into the technical review archives.

Before she could even catch her breath, an urgent supplementary contract popped up in the lower-right corner of the screen.

The original underground utility tunnel client had only ordered five units before the rescue, but now directly made a final decision to increase it to nine units.

Among the four newly added units, two served as emergency reserves for communication relay and material delivery, and two were used for daily high-intensity rotation.

The advance payment of 1,728,000 RMB is currently in the payment process.

Liang Zhixia stared at the constantly jumping numbers on the screen for a while, then turned to ask Jiang Lin: "After seeing these two orders of genuine cash, do you still think the experience store is just a reception project to deal with the media?"

"It's more like a second invisible queue outside the production schedule," Jiang Lin looked at the deepening twilight outside the window. "We decide which people to keep outside the door of official production scheduling, but we also have to give them a place to willingly stay outside the door."

As soon as Jiang Lin's voice fell, the personal procurement system chimed, and an exhaustive piece of supplementary data was received.

Gu Mingqiao's efficiency was shockingly high.

He uploaded the precise width of the mountain road, maximum slope blueprints, planning of charging locations, design of constant-temperature storage warehouses, qualifications of professional maintenance personnel, and even an exhaustive off-road activity route map.

The professionalism of this data was actually more complete than that of many temporarily visiting enterprises.

But on the last page of the document, two private requests were still stubbornly retained.

[Appearance: Matte black with golden logo]

[Audio, light strip: Reserved for technical evaluation]

And in the crucial delivery time column, what he wrote in his own handwriting was——

[Accept queuing, please disclose the queuing basis.]

After reading it, Liang Zhixia let out a soft hum, unsure whether it was appreciation or helplessness.

"He really did complete all the data," she closed the application page. "It seems he really isn't here to smash money and cause trouble."

"He is simply more able to afford it than others, and has more patience and energy to question all the loopholes and boundaries in the rules to the very end," Jiang Lin evaluated.

Outside the meeting room, the sound of knocking came again.

New clients, new unknown scenarios, and new harsh delivery requirements were still waiting in line in the corridor.

Liang Zhixia brought up the central control panel, enlarged the three sequences determined in the meeting room just now, and directly projected them onto the huge screen beside the reception area door that every visitor could see at first glance.

Low Entropy Technology Equipment Production Scheduling Sequence Public Notice

[First Sequence]: Tasks explicitly replacing personnel to enter high-risk areas

[Second Sequence]: Continuous production, engineering exploration, agriculture, scientific research, and routine inspection

[Third Sequence]: Exhibition, film and television, personal use, and experience requirements

Additional notes: Price level does not change the sequence ranking. New production capacity must be strictly verified based on actual procurement lists, extra man-hours, and individual test records.