Chapter Thirty-Six

The entire headquarters of Huacheng Technology Co., Ltd. is located on the north side of the third floor of the nursing home: a laboratory, an office, and a tea room. There is no R&D department or manufacturing department, only a project team of seven employees who wear many hats, doing design, testing, and even making prototypes themselves. Despite the limited resources, the core processes of battery R&D, including cell structure design, electrode coating, performance verification, and failure analysis, strictly adhere to industry standards.

Peng Kun rarely appears in the office; aside from the weekly work meeting on Mondays, he's practically invisible. With the company newly established, all the big and small tasks fell on his shoulders, and he spent his days shuttling between clients, suppliers, and investors. Clients questioned their mass production capabilities, suppliers exerted constant pressure due to soaring raw material prices, and investors worried about the team's professional competence. Every negotiation left him feeling physically and mentally exhausted.

One early morning, Zuo Xutong walked out of the laboratory. It was late at night, and everyone in the nursing home was asleep.

She was about to go back to her room to rest when she ran into Peng Kun on her way downstairs. He was carrying a wrinkled suit jacket, walking heavily, and looked listless.

"President Peng?" Zuo Xutong called softly, breaking the silence in the corridor.

Peng Kun stopped, looked up at her, nodded wearily, said nothing, and continued walking uphill.

"Are you alright?" she couldn't help but ask when she saw his pale face.

Peng Kun stood in the middle of the stairs, remained silent for a moment, then forced a smile and said in a hoarse voice, "It's okay, you should get some rest."

He dared not tell her about the company's tight cash flow and financing difficulties, fearing that she would seek other opportunities after learning the truth. He did not want to lose this top talent in the industry.

With no other options, he had no choice but to transfer his shares in Polar Blue Sky, a company he had poured ten years of effort into building. To keep the new company running, he had to sever his last ties with it and sign the share transfer agreement. The transfer price was far below the corresponding valuation, but faced with financial difficulties, he had to make this sacrifice.

While Peng Kun completed the equity transfer, the staff at the nursing home were also working tirelessly day and night to produce lithium battery samples, hoping to complete product preparation before the exhibition. Zuo Xutong, in particular, didn't leave the nursing home for a whole week, completely oblivious to the wind and rain outside. Their desks were piled high with process drawings and battery cell components, and tools and materials were scattered all over the laboratory floor.

The team members worked closely together. Zheng Xiaohai delivered the electrode sheet that Yuan Liang had just cut to Qu Hui, who then further optimized the electrolyte formula. Fang Zeduan and Luo Qiang were responsible for completing the charge and discharge tests after welding, while Dong Jue recorded the temperature rise data of the battery cell and then started the stability test.

However, during several days of continuous research and development, they were constantly troubled by the battery's stability. The battery often exhibited abnormalities during rapid charging and discharging, such as unstable discharge processes and sometimes sudden failures. They could only check each potentially suspicious aspect one by one: whether the electrode coating was uniform, whether there was electrochemical impedance in the internal structure... They even disassembled the failed battery cells and used a precision microscope to observe whether the distribution of material particles was abnormal.

Finally, Zuo Xutong found the problem. She adjusted the slurry ratio and the concentration of additives in the electrolyte. By optimizing these two key parameters, they successfully produced a set of stable battery cell samples in the final round of experiments.

During that time, no matter how late Peng Kun returned, he could always see the lights on in the third-floor laboratory. Zuo Xutong was always the last to leave each day. Even after everyone else had gone home, she would still be buried in her workbench, recording experimental data and writing analysis reports. She poured all her energy into her work, wanting to contribute as much as possible to the company before leaving.

Peng Kun knew her work ethic, so every night before going to bed, he would take a walk around the north office area. Sure enough, he could see her almost every time.

That day, as the clock on the wall was about to reach zero, he pushed open the office door, walked behind her, and coughed softly.

Without turning her head, Zuo Xutong continued typing on the document and asked, "It's so late, aren't you asleep yet?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Peng Kun retorted.

She then stopped what she was doing, turned around and looked at him, and said in a serious tone, "Shouldn't you feel gratified to see your employees working so hard to create value for the company?"

"If you die from overwork, how can I feel gratified?" Peng Kun frowned and said in a commanding tone, "That's enough work for today, go back and rest!"

Zuo Xutong turned her head away, ignoring the noise, and continued working while staring at the screen, seemingly already used to her boss's "hypnotic service."

Peng Kun knew she wouldn't listen to reason or threats, and when he was at his wit's end, he suddenly thought of a plan. He pulled up a chair, sat down next to her, and lowered his voice, saying, "You've been working overtime until this late, have you heard any strange noises?"

What's that noise?

"It's... coming from the end of the corridor... patter patter..." He dragged out the sound in a deliberately mysterious way, trying to create a terrifying atmosphere.

Zuo Xutong looked at him without changing her expression, quietly waiting for him to continue.

Her reaction was clearly unexpected. He was not satisfied with his story only having this effect, so he continued to embellish it, saying, "The land next to our nursing home used to be a crematorium, but it was later converted into an energy-saving building materials factory. It is said that paranormal events often occur in the factory."

"Really?" Zuo Xutong's eyes lit up, and she leaned closer. "Tell me about it."

Peng Kun was taken aback. Far from being afraid, she seemed quite interested, with an expression that said, "I love listening to ghost stories." He became even more uneasy and was about to make up some more terrifying details when the office printer suddenly made two beeps, like the sound of a paper jam.

For a moment, the air seemed to freeze. Peng Kun turned his head and glanced at the printer in the corner. Just then, he could faintly hear the "pat-pat" of footsteps coming from the corridor outside.

The sound grew louder and clearer as it approached, as if each step was hitting his nerves. A bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, and his breathing quickened involuntarily.

"I'll go out and take a look." Zuo Xutong stood up calmly, walked around his chair, and strode towards the door.

“Hey…” Peng Kun tried to call out to her, but it was obviously too late. He could only watch helplessly as she walked toward the terrifying sound.

However, she returned quickly, followed by Grandpa Liu carrying a water cup. Grandpa Liu looked blankly into the house and said in a muffled voice, "I've been having trouble sleeping lately, so I came out for a walk. Are you all still busy?"

Peng Kun scratched his head awkwardly. He was the one who wanted to scare her away, but in the end, he was the one who was frightened.

Zuo Xutong returned to her seat, turned her chair around, and asked with a half-smile, "President Peng, he wouldn't be an NPC you specially hired to scare me, would he?"

Peng Kun was speechless, and stood up sullenly, preparing to go back to his room to rest. She persisted, saying, "Next time, please find more people to act. I love playing haunted house-themed escape rooms the most."

Peng Kun froze for a few seconds before finally managing to stammer out, "Don't get cocky. If you work too many night shifts, you're bound to run into trouble eventually."

The following evening, when Zuo Xutong saw Peng Kun appear at the office door again, she couldn't help but smile and asked rudely, "What ghost story are you going to tell me today?"

Peng Kun left without a word, his face grim.