novelden Chapter 744 Everything is afraid of comparison.
Chapter 744 Everything is afraid of comparison.
The moment Chief Engineer Li's fingers touched that cold surface, his heart sank. He braced himself and groped around, but instead of finding the expected gun handle, he only found two half-open iron rings.
"Huh? Handcuffs..."
Chief Engineer Li looked up in surprise. In the dim morning light, two tall men stood against the light, their figures upright. The rising sun had just emerged from the horizon, and a golden ray of light pierced through the window, shining directly on the badges on their chests.
The red is dazzling, and the gold is shining!
The light was sharp and upright, which inexplicably calmed his frightened heart a little.
Chief Engineer Li did not recognize the two men in front of him, but their neat uniforms and gleaming badges inexplicably calmed his panicked heart.
It felt strange; in the depths of despair, the brilliance of the badge and the bearing of a soldier seemed like a lifeline.
One of the older men spoke in a deep voice: "There's a third way. Let's see if you'll take it..."
"Why don't we just give up and let him have his way? He's already pretty much done explaining things anyway..." The younger man beside him smiled, but that smile sent a chill down Chief Engineer Li's spine.
"I..." Chief Engineer Li stared at the handcuffs on the ground, speechless with bewilderment, and could only nod blankly.
Although, he didn't know what he was doing.
"Tch, let it crash then." The younger guy curled his lip. "I thought all techies were like our clumsy kid, but look who's got an exception..."
After saying that, he ignored Chief Engineer Li, who was slumped on the ground, and ran straight to the window to put away the horn-like thing.
Seeing Chief Engineer Li looking over curiously, the young man proudly patted the object in his hand: "Our engineers put this together in an hour! Even from thirty meters away, I could hear you breathing clearly. We're both engineers, how come there's such a big difference!"
"What are you showing off for! You've almost pulled the thread off..." the older man retorted unhappily.
Chief Engineer Li looked at the haphazardly wired device, cobbled together from copper wire coils, an old speaker head, and an old military microphone casing, and wanted to offer some technical advice, but could only manage to squeeze out:
"I……"
"We'll talk when we get there! Old Wang, hurry up!" The older one stepped forward and nimbly lifted Chief Engineer Li up from the ground, while warily scanning the surroundings.
After the young man packed his things, the two of them, one on each side, supported the distraught Chief Engineer Li, and they quietly left the empty little restaurant, quickly disappearing into the thin mist of the factory area in the early morning light.
"Which part are you from?" Chief Engineer Li couldn't help but ask, his voice trembling.
Old Wang, walking on the left, didn't turn around, only saying coldly, "Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask. Just cooperate with the investigation." Company Commander Tang on the right only gave him a warning look, without stopping.
The two men exuded an air of "business as business," refusing to utter a single unnecessary word.
Chief Engineer Li wisely kept quiet and followed the two men to a military jeep. The door was opened, and he was ushered into the back seat. Before he could even settle in, the scenery outside the window rushed past, gradually turning from the office building area into a dirt road in the suburbs.
Only after the wheels rolled over a section of gravel road did Company Commander Tang lower his voice and speak to Old Wang: "Was everything recorded just now okay? Let's not have any mishaps on the road."
Although Lao Wang genuinely admired Xiao Dai Mao's design abilities, the kid's craftsmanship...
Upon hearing this, he said uncertainly, "How about... we listen to it?"
Old Wang carefully removed the retractable horn from the VCR and set it aside.
Then, I took out the square-shaped recorder and player, carefully identified the buttons, and pressed one with a triangle symbol.
After a slight hissing sound, the conversation between Chief Engineer Li and Xiao Chen came through clearly from the recorder:
"Mr. Li! You have to lend your brother a hand!..."
"Fire a shell! Blow up the machine!..."
…………
After the recording finished playing, only deathly silence and the roar of the engine remained inside the car.
As Chief Engineer Li listened to his own and Xiao Chen's voices, his body trembled slightly, and his head drooped even lower.
Old Wang turned off the tape recorder, carefully took the cassette tape out and put it away close to his body, then turned around and looked at Chief Engineer Li's lowered head in the rearview mirror, his voice carrying a hint of lingering fear and relief:
"Did you hear that? These people are truly ruthless! They want to wipe out our entire population!"
Company Commander Tang drove intently, a chill running through his voice: "Hmm. Ruthless enough... No, our kid only has Sergeant Ru and his men with him, it's not safe! We need to get back quickly..."
"Yes! When we pass by Factory 112, call this person to their security department. You can trust the comrades there!"
"it is good……"
The two quickly ascertained Chief Engineer Li's whereabouts, as their primary task was ensuring Xiao Dai Mao's safety. As for these corrupt officials, they would be dealt with by the appropriate personnel once the relevant information was gathered. They didn't need to expend too much effort on them.
Unexpectedly, when Chief Engineer Li heard them say they were going to hand him over to the security department, he immediately became agitated: "No way! I won't go to the security department! They have people in the security department too! Didn't you hear me say that Director Zhao assigned a cadre surnamed Liu to clean up the mess!"
"No... I won't go. You... you're treating human life like dirt..."
"Damn it, are you scared now? When you were 'hanging out' with those people, why didn't you think about this outcome?" Old Wang's temper flared up.
"Two small yellow croakers and you're already lost? My silly kid has unlimited funding in his hand, and he's still eating dried radish strips and black bread! I've never seen him have any crooked thoughts!"
"You've gotten so arrogant just because you have such a tiny bit of power, haven't you!"
Looking at Chief Engineer Li's demeanor, Old Wang's perception of Jiang Xia as a researcher plummeted in his mind. Seriously, not everyone is a clueless simpleton...
"Unlimited funding?"
Chief Engineer Li didn't hear anything else clearly, but he caught this word. As if he had found some excuse, he muttered under his breath, "...If...if the higher-ups supported us like this...Dongfeng 113...we wouldn't be in this situation..."
"Bullshit!" Company Commander Tang, who was driving, slammed his fist on the steering wheel and interrupted him sharply, "You still have the nerve to say that the support is not enough?"
Old Wang was so angry that he pulled a document from the file folder, flung it open, and almost poked Chief Engineer Li in the face:
"Open your eyes and look! The Dongfeng-113 project! How much funding has the government approved for you!"
Twenty-three million!
How many key personnel were specially transferred from Harbin Institute of Technology and Beihang University!
A total of 173 senior engineers and technicians!
How much data did the alliance experts leave you with before they left?
We coordinated with numerous factories and mines to provide you with special steel and precision components!
"Isn't that enough force?!"
Old Wang pointed to the densely packed data on the document, his fingers trembling slightly with excitement: "And the result! The project has been dragging on for years! Have the key aerodynamic issues been resolved? Has the engine's high-altitude ignition been stabilized? Has the application of new materials passed the test?! Money was spent! People were given! But what about the materials? What about the results? In the end, you blame the organization for not providing enough support? I think you've been using your energy to engage in crooked practices and undermine the country!"
Company Commander Tang coldly interjected, his voice like ice: "Not enough support? Where did this 'super-large bending machine' come from? Was it bought with project funds? And then just left to gather dust in the warehouse? This is not enough support? This is wasting state property!"
Chief Engineer Li was rendered speechless by Lao Wang's barrage of questions and the cold data on the documents. His face flushed red and then turned pale, his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Seeing his expression, Old Wang became even angrier and pointed at the homemade sound receiver beside him, slamming it loudly.
"Take a look at this! Do you know what this is? A sound wave receiver! The core components are old oscilloscope probes discarded from the research institute's warehouse and spare pickup coils from the communications unit!"
The outer shell is a leftover can from the cafeteria! The flared end is a modified discarded megaphone!
"The circuit board was built by Jiang...it was one of our engineers who built it themselves using the circuit board!"
"This is it! A pile of junk! Our engineers could assemble this in an hour! We can hear your filthy words from thirty meters away! And what about you? The country has given you real money, top talent, and advanced equipment, and what's the result? Besides infighting, greed, and thinking about how to blow up the machines and your own people, what else can you do!"
After Old Wang finished venting his anger, he saw that Chief Engineer Li was completely deflated, so he didn't bother to waste any more words on him.
Arguing with this kind of person is a complete waste of breath. You'd be better off thinking about how to tighten the ironclad defenses around your little idiot.
Judging from the ruthlessness of these people, who knows what other bad things they might come up with.
He casually picked up the radio from the passenger seat, tuned it to a fixed channel, and shouted a few words into the microphone, mainly reporting his location and explaining the situation. At the end, he added, "Make sure the person receiving the message is ready, so there won't be any mishaps."