Chapter 105 The Machine Tool Returns to China (Completed)...

Yan Zhengchuan took the next available international flight and flew to Oros as fast as he could.

He left the airport empty-handed, without even taking any luggage, and rushed to Vladimir City. The first thing he said to He Changyi was—

"Is it a missile or an airplane this time?"

He Changyi: "...Second brother, I think you must have some misunderstanding, but I am really not an arms dealer."

Yan Zhengchuan stared at her with deadpan eyes, and He Changyi met his gaze with even more sincerity.

Yan Zhengchuan: ...

He simply hung his coat on the chair, acting as if he belonged there, and went straight to the refrigerator to rummage for food. With a slice of sausage in his mouth, he poured himself a cup of hot tea, leaned casually against the desk, and nodded at He Changyi.

"Moon, is there anything I did that you're not happy with? Just tell me, and I'll definitely fix it. There's really no need to waste money on plane tickets; they cost several thousand yuan, which is quite expensive."

He Changyi approached with a grin. Yan Zhengchuan glanced at her sideways. Her eyes were dark, her hair was messy, and she had stubble on her chin. It was clear that she had been overworked recently and hadn't rested well on the plane.

"Second brother, what are you saying? Do you think I'm the kind of person who doesn't understand things?"

Yan Zhengchuan didn't speak, but his eyes answered everything.

He Changyi sighed dramatically and said sadly, "I have rendered meritorious service to the Party and the country, I have shed blood for the Chairman, you can't treat me like this..."

Yan Zhengchuan couldn't hold back any longer and laughed, "Alright, alright, if the old man finds out, he'll think I'm bullying you."

He put down his cup, took a folded, sealed document bag from his coat pocket, and casually handed it to He Changyi.

As He Changyi tore off the seal, he asked, "What's this? Your secret stash of money?"

Yan Zhengchuan: "...Pah! You're so rich you could buy an entire street in Beijing, and you're still eyeing the few pennies I have? That's so unfair!"

He changed the subject, saying in a seemingly indifferent tone, "This is proof that the Party and the State care about you."

He Changyi paused, pulled out a section of the document from his bag, and the title at the top clearly read "Notification of Winning Bid".

"I don't know when I submitted a bid to Yansteel."

Yan Zhengchuan said matter-of-factly, "Now you know."

He Changyi laid all the documents on his desk and quickly flipped through them, reading ten lines at a glance.

As she delved deeper into the contents of the document, she couldn't help but widen her eyes in disbelief.

This is a long-term cooperation agreement with Yansteel, a large state-owned steel mill. The agreement stipulates that Yansteel will purchase at least 300,000 tons of scrap steel from He Changyi in the next year. The purchase price will be based on a "benchmark price + floating" method, which will be determined according to market conditions. In other words, if the steel price rises, the settlement price will also rise; if the steel price falls, the settlement price shall not be lower than the minimum benchmark price.

The contract terms were drafted in a way that was quite favorable to He Changyi; if someone didn't know better, they would think she was the powerful client.

Based on the current scrap steel purchase price of 2,000 yuan per ton, Yansteel would need to spend 600 million yuan a year, making it the big spender who abuses its wealth.

The profit margin in the scrap steel business exceeds 50%, which means that He Changyi could earn more than 300 million yuan in profit from this one year of cooperation alone.

Putting down the documents, He Changyi looked up at Yan Zhengchuan and asked, "Is this Dad's idea, or—"

Yan Zhengchuan said, "Hey, the old man doesn't have that ability. He doesn't even know which way the gate of Yan Steel faces. Consider this a reward from the state for bringing back the T-80 last time. There's also a medal for commendation, which I left at home. You'll see it when you get back."

He Changyi carefully gathered the documents together and said, "I didn't do this for the sake of recognition."

Yan Zhengchuan said solemnly, "We all know you're not doing this for fame or fortune. The tank project needs to be kept secret; it can't be announced to the public, nor can there be any public commendation. But the country remembers you, and the people remember you too."

He took a pen out of his shirt pocket, unscrewed the cap, tested the nib, and then handed it to He Changyi.

"Sign it, make two copies. I also need to send one back to Yan Gang; he's eagerly awaiting its filing."

He Changyi took the pen and decisively signed his name at the bottom of the contract.

Yan Zhengchuan peeked out and said unhappily, "Why is it still He Changyi? It should be Yan Zhengyue. Wait, I'll call Yan Gang right now and have them fax over a new contract."

He Changyi blew on the still-wet ink and said with a smile, "No, I want He Changyi."

Yan Zhengchuan sighed deeply. He had always had to compromise when it came to this younger sister.

"Alright, He Changyi it is, this will save you from exposing your identity outside."

He Changyi ignored him and happily admired her own flowing, elegant signature.

There was something she didn't say.

—In the book, Yan Zhengyue is the one who finally finds her home after twenty years of being abducted; but in Oros, she is the one who survived countless near-death experiences.

She was always just He Changyi.

After a simple welcome dinner, He Changyi dragged the drowsy Yan Zhengchuan into the jeep.

After a hearty meal and a few drinks, and being on his sister's turf, Yan Zhengchuan completely relaxed. He became so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't bother to ask about the destination and fell asleep as soon as he got in the car. He only woke up with a start from the inertia of the brakes when the car suddenly stopped.

Where are we?

Yan Zhengchuan rubbed his eyes as he got out of the car. He habitually looked around and saw that no one was around. Judging from the architectural style, it was in an industrial area.

"You're not going to sell me to a black brick kiln in the first month of the lunar calendar, are you?"

He Changyi said disdainfully, "You? Sold to illegal brick kilns? You can eat but can't work. You're not even as easy to manage as someone with a mental disability. You sell them one day and the police come the next. Who would do such a losing business?"

Yan Zhengchuan wasn't angry. He yawned in the biting cold wind and casually said, "Then why did you bring me to this remote place? Do you have some treasure to show me?"

He Changyi didn't speak, but winked at him slyly.

Yan Zhengchuan finally snapped out of his daze and exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that I was right?"

Without offering any explanation, He Changyi led the way, walking straight ahead to an old warehouse.

Yan Zhengchuan, with his sharp eyes, noticed the seal affixed to the door.

The paper was yellowed, looking at least ten years old; but the tear in the seal was brand new, as if it had just been torn open recently.

He couldn't help but become serious, looking more like Captain Yan than the jovial Second Brother Yan.

The warehouse was a mess, covered in dust. People walking inside kicked up dust, turning it into a torture chamber for allergy sufferers.

Yan Zhengchuan tried to suppress a sneeze, rubbed his nose, and followed He Changyi to the innermost part of the warehouse.

She suddenly stopped and brought up a completely unrelated question.

"Second brother, do you know the nickname of our country's submarines?"

Yan Zhengchuan glanced around the warehouse and said absentmindedly, "What nickname? Big Black Fish?"

He Changyi said, "No, it's an underwater tractor. It means it's too noisy, and foreign navies can spot our submarines from a great distance."

Yan Zhengchuan looked at her, and asked with a hint of disbelief, "Did you manage to get your hands on a submarine?"

He pointed to the warehouse, so small it couldn't even fit a cargo ship, and asked, "Right here?"

What kind of tiny submarine must it be to fit into an ordinary old warehouse!

He Changyi: ...

He Changyi asked sincerely, "Second Brother, is this all your imagination can go?"

Before Yan Zhengchuan could speak, He Changyi turned around, raised his hand, and pointed to a piece of equipment that was sealed with a dust cover.

"What I found was not a golden egg, but a mother machine that lays golden eggs."

"A true industrial mother machine, a seven-axis, five-linkage machine tool, currently the world's most advanced high-precision machining tool."

Yan Zhengchuan looked at the equipment, then at He Changyi, and after a long pause, he finally managed to utter two words:

"...Holy shit."

Without lingering, Yan Zhengchuan returned to Moscow that very day and boarded a plane back home. Two days later, he came again, this time bringing a group of eager engineers.

He Changyi blocked the machine tool factory, claiming he would sell all the second-hand equipment.

Having learned from the mistakes of the tractor factory and the bearing factory, the workers at the machine tool factory remained calm, as did the factory leaders.

The vast majority of workers were reassigned to companies under He Changyi's name, while a small number of workers were reassigned to another country.

—In Zhongguo, they will become researchers of domestically produced seven-axis five-linkage machine tools.

Of course, the seven-axis five-linkage machine tool was not mentioned publicly. These workers were just equipment installation and debugging technicians on a business trip abroad. They happened to meet a talent scout from the East who offered them a warm invitation and generous benefits, which made the workers gladly accept the overseas offer.

As for how to find workers related to seven-axis five-linkage machine tools from hundreds of people, He Changyi's selection method is quite simple and crude.

She found the highest-secret section of the factory's personnel files. The resumes of these people all had unexplained blanks at a certain time, and they were all senior technicians with the highest technical level in the machine tool factory.

Some of the workers had already retired and were living in poverty and illness. He Changyi used the pretext of rehiring them to bring them under her wing. She would first feed them with warm cotton clothes and nutritious food, and once they were well-fed, she would pack them up and send them off to Zhong Guo on his business trip.

While packing up the workers, He Changyi also packed up the seven-axis five-linkage machine tool, the latter of which was more complicated to handle.

As a massive and extremely delicate piece of precision equipment, He Changyi couldn't treat the seven-axis, five-linkage machine tool like a tank, simply stuffing it into a central container and calling it a day. Otherwise, by the time the machine tool arrived in Zhongguo, all that would be left would be a pile of useless scrap metal.

At this point, the engineers that Yan Zhengchuan brought came in handy.

They treated the machine tool like a newborn, using extremely meticulous techniques to carefully disassemble it into multiple parts, separating the core components from the structural components.

The most precise and core components, such as the CNC system and precision encoder, were packaged in temperature-controlled and shockproof packaging and carried by a special person on the same day back to China on a plane belonging to Zhong Guo.

The bulky machine bed, column, and other components were mixed in with ordinary machine tools and brought back to China by land transport.

The reason for not using sea freight is that cargo ships would take more than a month to travel at sea, and there are too many uncontrollable factors. The precious seven-axis five-linkage machine tool cannot withstand such a turbulence, and if anything were to happen, it would be a regret for eternity.

Whether it's core components or structural parts, all parts are escorted by designated personnel to minimize the risk of accidents.

On the surface, Zhong Guo's plane was carrying out a civil aviation mission, but in reality, the captain and flight attendants were all active-duty military personnel, half of the passengers were also escorts, and the rest were ordinary passengers who were kept in the dark.

If any fool tries to hijack the plane, he'll be pinned to the ground before he can even finish shouting his slogan.

The same applies to land transportation.

Yan Zhengchuan once again took a freight train back to China, but this time he was escorting not prisoners, but more important machine tool parts.

He was accompanied by several skilled soldiers, each with exceptional abilities, who held their own against Xie Xuejun in their sparring matches.

However, the entry of military and police into another country's territory is too sensitive. As before, no one was armed; their only self-defense weapons were steel pipes and watermelon knives.

He Changyi went to the train station to see Yan Zhengchuan off, and handed him a suitcase before they parted.

Caught off guard, Yan Zhengchuan was hit hard on the hand and nearly dropped to the ground.

"What's inside? An iron block?"

He Changyi rolled his eyes and said, "More than that, they also put in ten catties of gold."

Yan Zhengchuan raised an eyebrow: "That's great! I'll sell the gold and invest in stocks. Who knows, I might become a stock market guru."

He Changyi: "Come on, you should just stick to being a policeman."

The box contained guns and bullets. He Changyi instructed, "Use them carefully, don't attract the Russian police. But even if they do, it's okay, I'll come and get you."

Yan Zhengchuan smiled and reached out to ruffle He Changyi's hair, but she brushed his hand away in disgust.

"Don't worry, I won't give them a chance to call the police."

He gestured with his hand in front of his neck, "Total annihilation."

He Changyi seized the opportunity to shout, "Yan Zhengchuan, you're supposed to be a policeman! You're so lawless!"

Yan Zhengchuan chuckled: "With a sister like you, I've long been prepared to change careers."

He Changyi wrinkled her nose, refusing to admit that it was her fault, "It's clearly your lack of willpower."

Just before departure, Yan Zhengchuan said, "The New Year is coming soon, don't forget to come back to China. Your parents are waiting for you."

He Changyi said, "I will never forget. Be careful on the road. If you need to shoot, then shoot. Don't be stingy with bullets. There are enough in the box."

She suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "I've placed a few grenades on the side, old WWII items. One can take out three Germans. Remember to throw them accurately, don't hit yourself."

Yan Zhengchuan: ...

"Wait, you—"

He Changyi waved goodbye to him with a smile: "Don't be too touched, just cry for a while and that'll be enough."

Yan Zhengchuan held onto this anger all the way to Siberia.

When the freight train stopped for a rest at a remote, desolate station, the sound of prying and banging on the doors of the carriages suddenly came from outside.

Yan Zhengchuan gestured to his fellow soldiers, who nodded in unison and silently retreated.

When the robbers pried open the car door, they didn't see a cargo-laden carriage, but rather the dark muzzle of a gun.

Yan Zhengchuan, holding a gun, shouted in broken Emei language:

"Surrender, or die."

Robber: ? ? ?

No, brother, they just robbed a train, how did they come up with the ultimate question of survival or destruction?