Chapter 123: Burn Money? No, I’ll Cheat Instead

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Mr. Tang, can we use this type of equipment?”

“Alright, let’s start with this design for now.”

Tang Rui didn’t reject this design because it wasn’t the final result. The aerodynamic exterior design of a fighter jet couldn’t be decided just by drawing a picture. The current sketch was, at most, just an idea. When it came to the actual design, there would be many more questions. So Tang Rui didn’t ask them to make changes because it wasn’t necessary.

“Alright, Mr. Tang.”

“You don’t need to rush; take your time.”

Tang Rui nodded, signaling Feng Yuanxing and his team not to hurry. After all, if they wanted to start actual manufacturing, they would have to wait until the company relocated. The current factory was simply not equipped for this purpose. Besides sorting out the materials for the aircraft, Tang Rui didn’t involve himself in the rest of the process.

In the evening, after a normal day at work, Tang Rui had Celia download a lot of materials related to materials science. Although he had studied some of this knowledge before, it was mostly at a basic level, with no in-depth research, especially in terms of manufacturing processes. Now that he needed to work with materials, he had to learn this knowledge. A quiet night passed.

The next day at work, Tang Rui went to the materials laboratory with two employees to experiment. Mainly, he was the one experimenting, and the two employees were responsible for recording his experimental steps and the manufacturing process. Tang Rui didn’t bother with the tedious work; he only wanted to create high-performance materials.

“Boss, should we increase the proportion of rhenium?”

“Why should we increase it?”

“Boss, we’re aiming for high-temperature-resistant alloys, and rhenium makes up only 1.5% of the metal. Are its physical properties sufficient?”

“It’s enough; we don’t need it that high.”

Based on the analyzed material formula, Tang Rui began to manufacture high-temperature alloys. The process and techniques were fine, the same processes that everyone was using, but the issue was that after manufacturing, the material’s performance didn’t meet the standards. The formula proportions were correct, so the process had a problem. Tang Rui tried three different processes, all resulting in failure.

“Come on, you guys try a few times, do it however you want.”

Sitting in the laboratory chair, Tang Rui couldn’t be bothered to do it himself and let the two employees start experimenting.

“Boss, I want to raise the temperature by 120 degrees.”

“Go ahead, raise it by 1200 degrees if you want, it doesn’t matter.”

He said nonchalantly. Who knew what the real manufacturing process was? There was no need to restrict their ideas now. Regarding the alloy he had just produced, it was still 2,700 degrees away from a true high-temperature-resistant alloy. They weren’t close to the material’s performance yet; they just needed to make gradual adjustments, conduct repeated experiments, and not make drastic changes. The performance still had a long way to go, so it was possible to explore freely.

After a while, the manufacturing of the high-temperature alloy was complete, and testing began, mainly focused on high-temperature resistance testing. Other performance parameters didn’t need to be tested right away.

“Boss, the melting point has increased by 800 degrees.”

“What?”

Tang Rui jumped up from his chair. Why did the melting point increase by 800 degrees in just one experiment? He rushed over to look at the data, and it had indeed increased by 800 degrees. It was incredible. Could this employee be a hidden lucky charm?

“What do you want to do next?”

“Boss, I want to raise the temperature by another 200 degrees.”

“Go ahead.”

Half a day later, a new alloy had been manufactured, and testing began. The result… The melting point had not increased; it had decreased by 200 degrees. This was frustrating.

“Carry on with your experiments.”

Tang Rui left the lab in frustration and went to find the HR specialist.

“Contact Zhilian and recruit a group of materials science graduate students or even doctoral students. We need more manpower. We previously hired two materials experts to make it easier for me to create things, but now, with a significant amount of material experimentation required, two people are not enough. We need to recruit more.”

“How many people do you need this time?”

“Let’s start with 30 people, but make sure to collect more resumes; we’ll need to review them later.”

“What about the salary and benefits?”

“Regular pay is fine.”

He preferred to stick to the overall market rates for materials science. The salary for materials science graduates was quite low compared to programmers. With the same educational background, he could hire three or four materials scientists for the price of one programmer. Even though it was the end of the year, it was the best time for recent materials science graduates. They had been out of school for over six months, couldn’t find a job in their field, and had been disappointed by the job market. Now, offering them a job in their field with regular pay would surely attract many applications.

“Lao Ban, the company is preparing to hire new employees. For confidentiality and security checks, can you help with that?”

Tang Rui approached Lin Chao, since he was responsible for such matters. This was well within his jurisdiction.

In the blink of an eye, a day passed. There were no new developments in the materials laboratory. The high-temperature alloy manufactured that day had a melting point of only 2100 degrees, which was 1900 degrees away from the theoretical parameters. A significant amount of material had been wasted, and the results were just a bunch of data. The only value of this data was to prove that their manufacturing process had no value. This explained why capital was hesitant to invest in materials research. It was a money-burning process. Other endeavors at least showed promise and had the potential to yield patents and value during research. Materials research was costly, and you never knew what you would achieve. It could be groundbreaking material or just a pile of failed data, warning others not to take the same path.

Tang Rui felt a bit of pain when he saw how much material had been wasted. It added up to hundreds of thousands in a single day, which wasn’t much of an issue financially, but it was inefficient. It was fine to spend money when it was necessary, but spending money on research while not making progress was wasteful. It was time to “activate” the graphene manufacturing equipment. It was burning money with no results. No need to waste time when he could speed up the process.

After signing off on the reports, Tang Rui packed his things to leave work. “Mr. Tang, you haven’t left yet, and there’s something I need to inform you about,” Lin Chao called out to him as he stepped out of the office.

“What is it?”

“Shen Fei is planning a test flight for the J -18 tomorrow afternoon. They sent a message specifically inviting you to attend.”

When Tang Rui heard “test flight for the J-18,” he hesitated. He remembered that the J-18 had already been completed, and its avionics system had undergone numerous tests. The reason for the new test flight was likely due to engine replacement and internal structural modifications.

“What time is it tomorrow?”

“The test flight starts at nine in the morning.”

“Alright, I’ll come over tomorrow morning.”

“No, the test flight won’t take place at Ma’an Airport; it’s too close to the city. The J-18 was flown to a western airport last night.”

“Well… In that case, I’ll pass tomorrow. I’m too busy.”

“Okay, I’ll let them know.”

Tang Rui had no intention of going all the way to the western airport to attend a test flight; he had too much work to do.

The next day:

“Is this the graphene and carbon nanotube manufacturing equipment?”

“Yes, boss, this is the latest model available on the market.”

When Tang Rui arrived at the company in the morning, the delivery truck for the equipment had already started unloading. Tang Rui quickly unpacked the equipment, ready to get to work. However, to his surprise, the equipment was much smaller than he had expected, just the size of a pillow. It could only produce graphene sheets as small as a fingernail. He was disappointed.

“What can we do with such small graphene sheets? Use them for nail art?”

Seeing Tang Rui’s disappointed expression, one of his procurement officers asked, “Boss, should we ask the supplier for a replacement?”

“Forget it; I’ll just build one myself.”

Tang Rui didn’t want to waste time. He had work to do, and there was no equipment on the market that met his requirements. He decided to dismantle the graphene equipment and learn from it to create a larger one himself.

The procurement officer left to get the necessary components and materials. In just an hour and a half, Tang Rui had all the parts he needed for the larger graphene manufacturing equipment. He spent the next half day assembling it, creating a machine the size of a wardrobe for graphene production.

“Enhance! Enhance! Further enhance!”

Tang Rui spent over 80 origin points to strengthen the equipment. With a flash of golden light, the equipment was fully upgraded.

[Item: High-Precision 2D/3D Nanomaterial Manufacturing Equipment]

[Experience: 0/8000]

[Enhancements: Operating System (Specialty), Sensing Scanning (Specialty), Plasma Generator (Specialty), Cold-Wall Thermal Melting Furnace (Specialty)]

[Attributes: 60% increase in working precision, 60% improvement in temperature control, 60% increase in manufacturing speed, 60% increase in quality]

[Origin Points: 2137.28]

Looking at the system panel displaying the equipment’s attributes, Tang Rui was satisfied with the results. His origin points hadn’t been wasted; the upgraded equipment met his expectations. With the equipment now ready, Tang Rui just needed to recruit the right people and start producing high-performance materials..