Rebirth: Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Part 69：Arrogance

Tesla's Asia-Pacific Headquarters - Meeting Room

At this moment, two men sat across from each other. One had a Western appearance, exuding an air of ease and indifference, while his counterpart, a man from Longguo, wore a serious expression, his brow furrowed deeply in concern.

Neither spoke a word.

Five minutes passed in silence before the Western man finally broke the stillness, his voice light and full of amusement.

"Well, Mr. Wang, how do you find my proposal? Not bad, I hope? Ha ha..."

Wang Chuanfu clenched his fists, his anger palpable, his eyes fixed on Mark as he spoke, his voice trembling slightly.

"You... you are taking advantage of this situation, forcing our BYD Group to the brink of destruction!"

Mark leaned back with a smirk, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Now, let's not put it that way, Mr. Wang. At the very least, you'll walk away with your dignity intact, and a billion in pension funds!"

"A billion!" Wang Chuanfu spat, his voice rising with indignation. "You think a billion can just buy our BYD Group? We're worth four hundred billion!"

"That was before. Try holding out for another six months, and your company will be buried under debt," Mark retorted, his voice laced with cold calculation.

Wang Chuanfu fell silent, his mind racing. Indeed, without new business, his company could be mired in debt to the tune of at least a billion within half a year. The longer they dragged their feet, the deeper the hole would become.

Originally, he had come to negotiate with Tesla's Asia-Pacific headquarters, hoping against hope to buy batteries from them. This outcome, though unlikely, was the only chance they had at competing in the market. Only with Tesla-level batteries could BYD maintain any market share.

Even when Wang Chuanfu offered an exceptionally high price for the batteries, Mark flatly rejected him.

Wang then proposed another arrangement: Tesla would supply the batteries, and BYD would provide all the necessary components for electric vehicles, with a 30% profit share for Tesla. Mark rejected that as well. Eventually, Wang Chuanfu raised the profit share to 60%, but Mark remained unmoved.

Then, Mark suggested outright acquiring BYD.

Wang Chuanfu understood that if Tesla took over their brand, they would not expand BYD's operations. They would simply strangle the brand into oblivion. Once BYD was gone, Tesla would dominate the electric vehicle market in Longguo, and their control over prices would be absolute.

Mark, noticing Wang Chuanfu's silence, casually added, "Well, Mr. Wang, if you're still undecided, I suppose we can end our meeting here. I'm sure we'll meet again within a month."

With that, Mark stood and walked out, leaving Wang Chuanfu behind.

"Ah..." Wang Chuanfu sighed, his mind seething with frustration.

The image of Mark's smug, arrogant expression made him want to strike him across the face.

"Damn it! You're standing on Longguo's soil, yet you think you can trample on us like this? Just wait until I get past this hurdle. You foreign devils won't know what hit you! I'll rub your faces in the dirt... damn you!"

Though his anger was fierce, Wang knew that the current situation was dire. Unless their R&D department could develop a better battery, they were at the mercy of Tesla. But with the state of Longguo's research efforts, no breakthroughs had been made. And for BYD's research team of just over ten people, the task seemed impossible.

As he left the Tesla Asia-Pacific headquarters, he walked toward the hotel, a sense of helplessness overwhelming him.

Longke University, Long Lao's Laboratory

It was the thirteenth day of the team's closed-door research.

On the experimental table were four finished lithium iron phosphate power batteries. The four of them watched the data running on the computer screens, their faces tense with anticipation.

Jiang Fan felt a pinch on his arm and turned to see it was Xia Xiaoyu. He spoke, "Xiaoyu, why are you pinching me?"

"I... I get nervous and instinctively grab something," Xia Xiaoyu stammered, her voice shaking with anxiety.

Jiang Fan pulled his arm away from her and moved slightly to the side.

"Niuxu, how much longer before the data finishes running?" Xu Guangyuan asked, his voice tense.

"Progress is at 92%. It'll take about 8 more minutes," Niuxu replied.

"Why does it feel like time is moving so slowly?" Xu Guangyuan muttered impatiently.

Five days ago, they had tested their newly developed lithium iron phosphate battery, only to discover issues with the battery separator. Jiang Fan had quickly come up with a new separator formula, and after running calculations on it, they found that the new separator had a much better fit.

For the past five days, they had worked relentlessly—only eating and sleeping for four hours a day—dedicating all their time to perfecting the batteries. Finally, today, they had produced four fully tested lithium iron phosphate power batteries. The data was now being calculated on the computer, and if the results were correct, it would mean they had succeeded.

"Three more minutes!" Niuxu's voice echoed, and the tension in the room grew even thicker.

"Ah!" Xu Guangyuan suddenly shouted, his face contorting in pain as he rubbed his arm, which was marked with several nail imprints.

"Xia Xiaoyu, what are you doing? That hurts!" he groaned.

Xia Xiaoyu flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, sorry! When Niuxu said three minutes left, I... I couldn't help myself."

Seeing her embarrassed, Xu Guangyuan said nothing, merely distancing himself from her, following Jiang Fan's example.

Jiang Fan looked at Xu Guangyuan's arm and sighed in relief that he had been wise enough to pull away earlier.

Seeing the men move away from her, Xia Xiaoyu leaned in closer, her eyes fixed on the data running on the computer. Niuxu, for his own safety, shifted slightly closer to Jiang Fan and Xu Guangyuan.

Suddenly, Xu Guangyuan wrinkled his nose. "Niuxu, you smell awful!"

"We haven't had a shower in thirteen days. What do you expect?" Niuxu shrugged.

"We're all the same, no need to single me out."

"Ugh, don't include me in this. I'm not like you three smelly men!" Xia Xiaoyu retorted, trying to save face. If anyone found out she hadn't bathed in over ten days, she'd never live it down.

As they bickered, the computer emitted a series of beeps.

The data had finished running.

The four of them immediately fell silent and focused on the screen. On it, four large characters appeared: Data Correct.

Their eyes widened in disbelief. Jiang Fan let out a deep breath.

"Did we succeed?" Xia Xiaoyu whispered, still not fully believing it.

"Yeah, it seems so!" Xu Guangyuan replied.

The moment the realization hit, they erupted in joy.

"Ah! We did it! Ha ha!"

"We really did it!"

"We succeeded!"

"..."

4o mini

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