Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 1082: Tricks

Chapter 1082: Chapter 1082: Tricks

Gone... just as the word implies.

At one o’clock this morning, the electronic devices with trackers began to disappear little by little, and by around 1:20, they vanished completely.

The person in charge of monitoring dozed off for a moment—as long-term monitoring is quite boring. The famous "The Three-Body Problem" was written under such circumstances. Everyone calls it "slacking off," not dereliction of duty.

So, it sounds like his responsibility isn’t that heavy—after all, there is still the surveillance footage.

When he woke up at 1:30 and realized that over twenty trackers had disappeared, he immediately reported it to his superiors.

The superiors responded immediately: "This is a serious dereliction of duty, you’re suspended for now."

The guy felt somewhat wronged: I was just really tired and took a nap, isn’t there still the footage?

There indeed was footage, showing that those tracking points disappeared in batches, and they could even roughly determine the area in the Luohua Warehouse where they used to be.

The key question is, how exactly did those things disappear?

From one o’clock to 1:20, the disappearing process took twenty minutes, and during this time, we didn’t respond at all.

If the monitor had noticed the anomaly in time, even if the command center was several hundred kilometers away from the scene, orders could have been relayed step by step, and it might have been possible to figure out what method was used by the other party.

Regarding this possibility, the security outside Luohua Manor might curse: Damn it, you think you can figure it out?

But... dereliction is dereliction. There were possible emergency plans in place, and because of what you did, they’re gone. If you’re not derelict, who is?

Alright, let’s not talk about this unfortunate staff member anymore; let’s turn the camera back to Luohua Manor.

The incident occurred at 1:30 am, and the secretary received the notification at 1:40. However... Elder Yu had already gone to rest.

Elder Yu usually sleeps from 9 pm until 6 am and isn’t a sound sleeper, often needing to get up at night. But even if the secretary attended to his needs during nighttime, he wouldn’t bring up the incident—what if it fully disrupted the old leader’s sleep, leading to physical or mental fatigue? Who would take the blame then?

Since the incident had already happened and couldn’t be reversed, and observing what exactly happened wasn’t feasible anymore... we would wait until the next morning to report to the boss.

Elder Yu was stunned for quite some time before finally asking, "So you mean to say, the signals did not move, they just disappeared on the spot?"

The secretary nodded his head, "I guess... it might be that he used some kind of storage device, which blocked the signal."

He knew the old man didn’t like to acknowledge supernatural phenomena, but when it was just the two of them... there was really no need to pretend.

Elder Yu’s eyebrows knotted into a ’川’ shape and after a long time finally asked, "Then why did he take the electronics in sequences?"

The secretary, who hadn’t slept all night, had analyzed the situation pretty thoroughly, "Maybe... his storage device has a limited capacity?"

This answer was very close to the truth, but Elder Yu was not satisfied, "Alright, even if his... that thing has limited capacity, why could he take things repeatedly, one after another? Where did the things he took go?"

This question proved that the old man’s logical reasoning was still intact; he couldn’t be easily fooled.

Beads of sweat appeared on the secretary’s face, "This... maybe it’s related to distance?"

Indeed, this answer wasn’t wrong either.

But Elder Yu fell into deep thought, "If he took those things, that’s fine, but even a port has a throughput, right? Where did he put all these things he took?"

No one could answer him, and only after a long time did the secretary squeeze out a sentence, "Maybe... aliens?"

Elder Yu looked at him speechlessly and said, "Never mind, let’s see if breakfast is ready."

The breakfast at Luohua is very routine, starting at 6:30 and ending at 8:30—of course, this refers to the small dining hall, as the workers eat in the large dining hall.

The food in the small dining hall is better than that of the large dining hall, especially the rice porridge—which is made from Spirit Rice.

The rice porridge is limited in quantity, and the number of diners in Luohua’s small dining hall is not fixed. Elder Yu always wakes up early, which has to do with his personal routine, but also because he wants to eat the rice porridge.

In his words—eating a bowl of this rice porridge is almost like spending a whole day in the Bamboo Forest.

At his age, he knows well what’s good and what’s not, not just by taste, but truly understands it.

So he usually eats two to three bowls—with someone to help snag it for him, and with people sometimes unable to attend, that’s just how the canteen is.

But today, when he went for breakfast, he noticed that there weren’t many people around, so he asked, "Xiao Caixin didn’t come?"

For some reasons, Feng Jing and Sister Hong often miss breakfast—it’s understood by all, but Zhang Caixin is always punctual.

Li Shishi replied, "Wasn’t she buying lithium batteries? Some issues have cropped up lately, and she left yesterday to deal with it."

Elder Yu twitched the corners of his mouth, really too embarrassed to ask further.

What kind of problems did Zhang Caixin run into? Actually, it wasn’t anything major; she had been sporadically purchasing lithium batteries recently, and the security outside Luohua Manor were truly at their wits’ end about it.

To pretend they didn’t know was impossible, to stop her was something no one dared to do—they had been observing Luohua Manor not just for a day or two, who didn’t understand Zhang Caixin’s standing there?

But without stopping her, how could they just let her keep bringing in batteries time after time? That also... wasn’t appropriate.

So they got in touch with relevant parties and hinted to Zhengyang’s lithium battery merchants that for anyone buying large quantities of batteries, it would be better to implement something like real-name verification.

After hearing about this, Zhang Caixin went out with her sister yesterday to settle this matter.

At noon, the security received a notice saying that Luohua’s people had decided to rent a warehouse recommended by the fire department and had gone to inspect the site, planning to pay the warehouse deposit before the tender process.

The reason they notified this side was that they didn’t know how to proceed—should they take the job?

The security team discussed it and said to follow the existing plan for now, but that the deposit would be best paid earlier by them.

The fire department was of course eager to seal the deal and also wanted Sister Hong and her people to pay up sooner, but that was... not very realistic.

Socially, Sister Hong was well-connected with the police, and this time it was only because the fire department had the upper hand and someone was backing them up, that they dared challenge her this way—it’s clear that Feng Jun’s grudge against Elder Yu was not unwarranted.

However, having already made things difficult, they were asking for an early deposit; wasn’t that looking for trouble?

The "flights of Sister Hong" had quite the reputation, and nobody wanted to test the waters.

This mentality was soon known to the security, which felt a bit helpless, "Does it feel like Luohua Manor is up to tricks again? How much longer do we have to endure this tormenting wait?"

It turned out their hunch was spot on; after obtaining permission from the fire department, the Zhang sisters could openly contact various lithium battery manufacturers.

Once there was contact, once they expressed their needs, there was no manufacturer that wouldn’t take this order seriously, as it was about a business of several hundred million.

Taking something seriously can vary; some manufacturers expressed their determination to participate earnestly in the tender, while others immediately suggested they could fly over to understand the client’s needs.

In reality, the lithium battery industry wasn’t that big of a circle, and some had already heard rumors about a big order from Zhengyang’s side, that a client had approached several manufacturers but was stopped by the fire department—in short, it appeared this incident was indeed real.

Sister Hong and her group, having been under surveillance for so long, had developed some counter-surveillance awareness. Now familiar with the manufacturers, they went undercover, switched phones, and continued discussions with several highly interested manufacturers.

And truly, there were fearless manufacturers willing to engage in private transactions with Luohua for the sake of the big order.

Cash transaction? Possible! Avoiding fire department surveillance? Also no problem!

After all, money sways people’s hearts. The manufacturers’ regions also needed GDP, and although cash transactions were against the rules, this money could be used in areas where accounting was difficult. As long as it’s a company, similar needs exist.

Very soon, Zhang Caixin confirmed one intensely interested manufacturer and decided to go there for a visit.

The company’s products were indeed good, but they entered the market late, with much of it already divided up among a few giants, leaving only scattered clients and competition with other manufacturers.

The most crucial issue was that, as a high-tech company, it used to enjoy local government support with policies, subsidies, and bank loans.

Now though, with the product out and the company being a local star enterprise, the inability to break new ground was distressing for the manufacturer. How could their leaders save face?

A total of three enterprises flew to Zhengyang to negotiate with Zhang Caixin, and this one was the most sincere.

Because they had considered Luohua’s situation, they found a local acquaintance, and used their connections to secretly reach out to Zhang Caixin.

The company offered to forgo a deposit, to collaborate with Luohua on customization, and to help evade the fire department’s inspections. However, once their vehicles entered Funiu, it would be beyond their control, and Luohua’s people had to figure it out on their own.

That evening, Feng Jun drove the Time Shuttle straight to the city where the company was located, and left his mobile phone at Luohua Manor—not that he had not done this before, but because he had not encountered a matter important enough to reveal such a contingency plan.

The negotiations went very smoothly; the other party didn’t carry mobile phones either but allowed the use of a camera to record the whole process.

After reaching an agreement, Feng Jun took Zhang Caixin back that very night, and not only the security outside the manor but even Elder Yu and his people inside had no idea they had ever left.

However, the security personnel still sensed something was off. Time had passed, and the promised tender—why was there still no sign of it?

(Updated, calling for monthly votes.)