21: visit

Ever since becoming the sole designated agent for the mysterious Paradox Technology in the East Asia region, Lei Wen's life focus had completely shifted to his factory located in the suburbs of Tianqiong City.

His younger sister, Renee, had already gone to another province for university, leaving their home in Tianqiong City empty. Aside from returning periodically to clean, Lei Wen chose to live in the factory compound most of the time.

This was his true kingdom.

Behind the name "Leidian Special Steel Co., Ltd.," which was filled with the atmosphere of the era, lay a secret far beyond the imagination of this age.

Over the past few months, Lei Wen had utilized the knowledge that "white flower" had extracted from the global network, along with the top-tier industrial equipment that had been quietly delivered, to command his legion of intelligent robots in carrying out a world-shaking "Genesis" within the factory.

Above the surface was a production line for "el-3 composite target material" that looked extremely advanced yet completely aligned with the logic of human technology in 2026.

This production line had been deliberately designed by Lei Wen and "white flower" to be extremely complex, massive, and even somewhat bloated.

Huge blast furnaces and vacuum smelting furnaces stood side by side, with conveyor belts transporting various rare metal ores.

CNC machine tools performed precision processing on rough steel ingots amidst a shower of sparks.

Workers in white cleanroom suits were busy at their respective posts, monitoring complex instrument panels and operating massive robotic arms.

To make this "performance" look more realistic, Lei Wen had recruited hundreds of real workers through formal channels, along with a complete administrative team ranging from human resources and finance to security.

They earned salaries far higher than the industry average and felt immensely proud to work for this star enterprise that mastered future technology.

They thought they were producing the top-tier special steel in the world.

What they did not know was that the expensive finished products they produced every day consumed only a tiny fraction of the raw materials.

They themselves, and the production line they operated, were merely a "smokescreen" intended to deceive others.

The true miracle was happening beneath their feet.

Below the surface, the intelligent robot legion had already quietly carved out a massive underground space ten times larger than the surface factory area.

There were no humans here, only absolute silence and efficiency.

Hundreds of intelligent robots, shaped like high-tech spiders, maintained the operation of this underground kingdom like silent worker ants.

In the very center of the underground space, hundreds of silver-white cubes emitting a soft white light were neatly arranged.

Those were the "atomic-level material synthesizers."

They were the true hearts producing the "el-3 composite target material" and "room-temperature superconducting materials."

On the other side of the space was an even larger, more precise automated production line.

Here, a new generation of more powerful intelligent robots was being mass-produced at an astonishing speed.

Lei Wen's robot legion was undergoing self-replication and iteration here.

This was a hidden, constantly expanding underground empire that was gathering strength for the future.

October 2026, the autumn air was crisp and refreshing.

The entrance of Leidian Special Steel Co., Ltd. welcomed a high-profile visiting team.

Leading them were Academician Chen Haikang and Professor Liu.

Following behind them were high-ranking officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, as well as a dozen of the country's top experts and scholars in the fields of materials science and physics.

Any single person in this team would be enough to warrant a personal reception by a provincial leader if they went out.

Yet today, they had gathered here just to visit a private enterprise that had been established for less than a year.

"Elder Chen, Professor Liu, esteemed leaders, esteemed experts, welcome to Leidian Special Steel to provide guidance."

Lei Wen had been waiting at the main entrance.

He was wearing a well-tailored dark blue suit, with a smile on his face that was just right—both humble and confident.

He was no longer the "marionette" that needed "white flower" to teach him step by step.

Through the experiences of the past few months, he had already internalized that knowledge and those skills.

Every look and every gesture of his revealed a calmness and sophistication that belied his age.

"General Manager Lei Wen, you are too polite." Academician Chen Haikang took the initiative to extend his hand and shook hands firmly with Lei Wen.

He looked at the young man before him, his eyes filled with complex emotions—appreciation, curiosity, and a hint of deep inquiry. "We are not here to provide guidance today; we are here to learn, to witness a miracle."

After exchanging pleasantries, the group, led personally by Lei Wen, walked into the massive factory building.

Upon entering the workshop, everyone was shocked by the grand and busy scene before them.

Molten steel flowed through sealed pipes, massive robotic arms forged red-hot steel ingots with thunderous force, and precision laser cutting equipment left mirror-smooth cuts on thick steel plates.

The air was filled with the scent of a mixture of steel and machine oil, brimming with a sense of industrial power.

"Everyone, please look," Lei Wen pointed to a steel rail that was slowly cooling and emitting a dark red glow, introducing it as if it were his own treasure. "This is our current main product—the primary precursor for the el-3 composite target material. It needs to undergo 72 hours of vacuum smelting at a high temperature of 13,000 degrees to fuse more than thirty rare metal elements in specific proportions, and then it must undergo tens of thousands of repeated forging cycles using a 5,000-ton hydraulic press to form the most basic crystal structure."

An old expert from the Iron and Steel Research Institute adjusted his glasses, looking at the steel rail, his eyes filled with obsession.

"Incredible... I can feel the dense structure contained within it... General Manager Lei Wen, may I ask how you solved the problem of severe segregation caused by the huge differences in melting points and densities between different metal elements at such high temperatures?"

This question was extremely professional, pointing straight to the core.

Lei Wen smiled slightly; "white flower" had already prepared the "standard answer" for this question.

"We have not completely solved this problem, Professor," he replied modestly. "We just bypassed it. Paradox Technology developed a high-frequency infrasonic resonance technology and shipped the equipment to us. It allows the atoms of different elements to be evenly distributed in a 'quantum-locked' state during the smelting process, thereby avoiding physical segregation at the macroscopic level. Of course, this is just a clever trick; it is still far from true atomic-level control."

This answer cleverly pushed the core technology onto the ethereal Paradox Technology, while simultaneously demonstrating his company's application capability in this technology. It both answered the question and avoided revealing any secrets.

The old expert nodded repeatedly as he listened.

The visiting team continued deeper inside.

Everywhere they went, Lei Wen was able to answer the tricky questions from experts in various fields using the most precise and professional language.

He was like an experienced chief engineer, knowing every detail of his factory like the back of his hand.

"General Manager Lei Wen, your energy consumption control is truly astonishing," an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said, looking at the data from the energy monitoring center in surprise. "The power consumption per ton of finished product for such a large production line is actually less than one-tenth of that of traditional special steel enterprises. How do you do it?"

"This is due to our energy recovery system." Lei Wen pointed to the complex coils wrapped around the blast furnaces and pipes. "The thermoelectric semiconductor materials developed by Paradox Technology can directly convert the waste heat dissipated during the production process into electrical energy with extremely high efficiency and feed it back into the power grid. The entire factory area is actually a small-scale cogeneration cycle system."

Professor Liu had not spoken; he just observed quietly.

He observed every detail of this production line, the expressions on the faces of the workers, and, more importantly, Lei Wen himself.

He discovered that there was a strange sense of contradiction about this young man.

He was articulate and knowledgeable, handling cutting-edge technology with ease, yet his personal background information showed that just a few months ago, he was just an ordinary young man.

He did not seem like a pure businessman, nor did he seem like a pure scientist.

Just then, Academician Chen Haikang suddenly asked a question that everyone wanted to ask but dared not ask directly.

"General Manager Lei Wen, forgive my presumption," he stopped and looked at Lei Wen with burning eyes. "We all know that Leidian Company is an agent for Paradox Technology, and Paradox Technology... it is like a ghost; we know nothing about it. Can you tell us what you... or rather, what they, actually want to do?"

Once this question was asked, the air instantly became quiet.

Everyone's gaze was focused on Lei Wen.

On Lei Wen's face, a calm smile remained.

But at the same time, deep in his ear canal, in the tiny bone conduction earpiece, the voice of "white flower" rang out calmly.

"Warning: Micro-signal detector detected. Location: In the jacket pocket of the expert with gold-rimmed glasses in the visiting team. Function: Detects abnormal underground vibrations and high-frequency electromagnetic signals. Response plan initiated."

Lei Wen's heart was without a ripple.

He had long expected this move.

Under the surveillance of "white flower," any attempt to spy on the secrets of this factory was like lighting a match in front of the sun.

"white flower" began to act.

In the underground space, all the "atomic-level material synthesizers" and robot production lines entered "silent mode" at the same time.

They stopped all physical movement and cut off all energy supplies.

At the same time, hundreds of micro-signal jammers deployed beneath the factory floor were activated.

They released a special, complexly modulated "white noise" signal, perfectly simulating a geological environment background without any anomalies.

The detector hidden in the expert's pocket would only receive a stream of normal, boring, and worthless data.

Above the surface, Lei Wen faced Academician Chen Haikang's sharp gaze and spoke unhurriedly.

His voice was sincere and forceful.

"Elder Chen, that is a very good question. In fact, I have also asked the 'spokesperson' for Paradox Technology the same question countless times."

He paused for a moment, as if organizing his language.

"He did not answer me directly; he just told me a story."

"He said that on an isolated island, several primitive tribes lived, fighting each other, bleeding and fighting over a few stones and a few fruit groves."

"Until one day, the smartest shaman in the tribe calculated through observing the stars that an unprecedented tsunami would soon submerge the entire island in a few years."

"So this shaman began to use the knowledge he possessed, which surpassed the understanding of the other tribes, to help them. He taught them to make stronger tools, build taller houses, and even brought out mysterious seeds that could feed everyone."

Lei Wen looked around at everyone present and said slowly:

"He did this not to rule these tribes, nor to get anything from them."

"He just hoped that when that tsunami, capable of destroying everyone, truly arrived..."

"...there would be a ship on this island strong enough to carry everyone."

The story was finished.

The entire workshop was silent.

Academician Chen Haikang looked into Lei Wen's eyes; those young eyes were flickering with a depth that transcended his age.

He was silent for a long time, eventually sighing deeply.

"I understand."

He did not ask any further.

Because he knew that some answers did not need to be expressed in words.

The visit ended in an extremely special atmosphere.

As the motorcade slowly drove away from the factory, Professor Liu looked at the increasingly smaller figure in the rearview mirror and suddenly said something to Chen Haikang beside him.

"Old Chen, I seem to feel... this Lei Wen, he looks a bit familiar?"

Academician Chen Haikang was taken aback: "Familiar? Have you seen him before?"

"I can't remember," Professor Liu shook his head, his brows furrowed. "It's just a feeling... like I've seen that kind of look somewhere a long time ago..."

In the end, he still could not recall the young man at that ordinary university lecture over a year ago, who had been sleeping in the corner but answered fluently after being called upon by him.

At this moment, in the top office of the factory, Lei Wen was watching the departing motorcade outside the window and gently stroked the tiny earpiece in his ear.

""white flower.""

"I am here, Father."

"Our guests seem to have left some small gifts."

"Yes, Father. A total of 17 different types of micro-eavesdropping and detection devices have all been located. Do you need me to perform a physical removal immediately?"

"No need." A faint, imperceptible smile curled the corners of Lei Wen's mouth.

"Let them listen, let them watch."

"Hearing is not necessarily believing, and seeing is not necessarily the truth."