Chapter 202: Our Memory Chip Factory is on Fire Again

The 27th of February, 20X1, after the lantern festival, heralded a new school year. The primary schools, junior high schools, and senior high schools opened for the new school year in succession. Some had even conducted supplementary lessons over the break.

There were people who described the opening of a new school year as the opening scene of a great disaster. Students were about to be thrown into the boring routine of studying after relaxing for the entire winter break. Changing from one routine to another was extremely painful. It was indeed a disaster for students who did not like to learn.

However, the situation this year was a little special. For students with an intelligent learning machine, the new school year was not a disaster or a prison. Studying was no longer the painful process that it had been. On the contrary, it was rather easy and interesting. The process could even be said to be delightful. The so-called “happy learning” had been transformed into a reality. Moreover, this mode of learning did not present itself as an obstacle for students’ mastery of knowledge.

Naturally, the students and parents who did not manage to buy an intelligent learning machine felt extremely anxious and impatient. A mass of opinions could be heard on the official Weibo account of Xing Hai Technologies and Chen Jin’s own personal Weibo account. As a whole, they were urging for more stock. “Why is my child’s learning machine not produced yet?” There were also those who expressed themselves with harsh words and threats, like, “I’ll bomb Xing Hai Technologies!”

Parents who had been watching Z country started to feel restless. It seemed that the situation in Z country was about to become explosive. Some of the overseas powers, who were shrouded in secrecy, took out their metaphorical stools, potato chips, soda, and other snacks as they got ready to watch an exciting drama.

However, they were disappointed. After a mere few days, the tumultuous storm on the Xing Hai Technologies official Weibo account had passed. The irritable voices and overly agitated rhetoric had been reduced. The parents of Z country seemed to have been appeased by a mysterious force.

…

In Gorea, in a particular meeting room, confusion fell.

“What happened? Why did the parents of Z country stop kicking up a fuss? Don’t they know that if they don’t get a learning machine now, they won’t be able to buy one even after a year?”

On a screen, a foreigner from a remote location said, “This is too strange. Z country’s college entrance examination will begin in July. But a significant portion of the senior high schoolers do not have a learning machine. They won’t be able to buy one even after the exam has ended! Their children are about to lose to other students that have a learning machine. This is not fair! They should resist!”

“Yes, this is indeed unfair. If this happened in Merica, the parents would definitely be marching on the streets in protest. But it is bewildering that the parents of Z country did not protest.”

“I understand now!” The president of Samsin company, Li Jianrong, who had been sunk into deep thought, suddenly yelled, “We’ve underestimated Z country; we’ve neglected the government involvement in Z country. It must be their government who has suppressed this issue! Z country is the best at covering up terrible incidents. It was said that their Wuchuan Province was hit with a flood and thousands drowned, but only a few fatalities were mentioned in the official reports. A mining disaster happened in a coal mine and hundreds were killed, but there were no media reports on the incidents. No matter what disaster happens, it’s all within their control! Z country’s government must have suppressed this matter too by getting rid of the parents who protested. They frequently do this sort of thing and the way they deal with such incidents is very skilled. The proper and reasonable requests of parents are destined to meet with a dead end.”

The remote foreigners on the screen let out shocked gasps as their expressions changed.

“It’s a nightmare of the democratic world.”

“I can’t imagine the outcome if the same thing happened in Merica.”

“Our media should expose the truth of the matter and let the parents of Z country know about this!”

“No!” Li Jianrong shook his head awkwardly, “It is because Samsin had banned the sale of memory chips to Z country that has resulted in the reduction of the manufacturing capabilities for the Little Star learning machine. If the parents of Z country got wind of this, their rage will be directed at us… we cannot expose the truth.”

Everyone looked at one another in dismay and some awkwardness. Perhaps this was called cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Then, what should they do? Was there nothing that they could do about Xing Hai Technologies?

Of course not!

Suddenly, Li Jianrong revealed a strange smile. “Gentlemen, I do have an idea that would solve both issues. It will allow us to expose the truth about the Xing Hai Technologies’ insufficient production capabilities without incurring the wrath of the parents.” In addition, it might even bring about great benefits to Samsin company. He thought, it was killing not two, but three birds with one stone.

“What is it?” All attention was focused on him.

“We’ll burn down our memory chip production factory.” As his weird grin spread across his face, Li Jianrong slowly said, “Of course, it’ll be a fake fire that looks real. Then, we’ll announce to the world that the factory has stopped production of our memory chips so we’re unable to supply them any longer. This is especially so for Xing Hai Technologies, who will miss a batch of memory chips from us. This will cause all the parents in Z country to realize that it’s very unlikely for them to successfully buy a learning machine in the short-term.”

“Good; this is a good idea!”

“Let’s do this.”

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An official from the EU said with an ugly expression, “Mr. Li, you’re not trying to inflate the price of memory chips by taking this opportunity to fish for benefits, are you? I’m warning you, the price of your memory chips is already very high. If it continues to rise, European consumers will be very unhappy. Beware, we could carry out an antitrust investigation on Samsin!”

Li Jianrong immediately promised, “Rest assured, the price increase of Samsin’s memory chips is only targeted against Z country. The western markets will not be affected.”

Finally, the distrustful expression on the EU official’s face faded.

…

The next morning, Samsin’s biggest memory chip pellet production plant located in Pyeongtaek had more than ten iron pots with a diameter of nearly two meters each set up in the biggest production room. A large number of workers in white uniforms clutched bundles of firewood to their chest. They stacked the firewood inside the iron pots. The firewood was stacked neatly in the iron pots, forming a nice tepee reminiscent of transistors seen under the microscope. Gasoline was poured over the top of the tepee.

“Light the fire!”

The supervisor took out a lighter and set the tepees aflame. More than ten fires started burning in the factory like torches. These fires produced a great amount of smoke. When the experienced supervisor saw the flames getting stronger in the iron pots, he immediately commanded, “Get the water, pour it on the fire! When the smoke comes, we’ll fan it.”

“Yes!”

Basins of water were poured on the tepees. As the temperature dropped, and the fires abated, a great amount of smoke was produced, which spread across the entire factory.

Cough cough cough!

The smoke choked the workers and many started coughing. However, this could not stop their excited discussion.

“This single plant produces 40% of the world’s DDR4 memory chips. Once it is hit by an accident, the price of the chips will rise by at least 30%.”

“With the smoke from fifteen pots, it should rise by at least 50%.”

The worker continued with a hearty laugh, “Our salaries will rise…” Cough cough cough! He immediately choked on the smoke and started coughing heavily.

The supervisor’s voice rang out, “Make more smoke!”

…

That afternoon in the President’s office, the President’s assistant presented the photographs of the fire to Li Jianrong. In the photos, thick smoke roiled as government fire trucks spraying water completed the scene. Li Jianrong nodded with satisfaction.

Good, very good.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Li Jianrong picked up the phone and placed it against his ear. He heard a panicked voice saying, “President, bad news. The smoke has gotten out of control. A large amount of smoke particles penetrated our clean room via the ventilation duct. The production equipment has been contaminated. The wafers on the production lines are useless now! We have to stop production for at least a month to clean up the plant. Our immediate financial losses are over 200 million!”

200 million?

The smile froze on his face as he raged. “You get half a month to clean up the contamination and restart the production lines!”

“President, we need at least twenty days…”

Li Jianrong hanged up. His expression was cold. Gritting his teeth, he promised, 200 million. Xing Hai Technologies, you will pay the price for that!

…

At 2pm, Samsin company posted some photos on their Weibo account based in Z country, showing how their factory was engulfed in smoke. They posted an announcement, saying, “Our memory chip production factory was burned down. (three crying emojis). With a special call out to @Xing Hai Technologies: We’re sorry, we can’t supply you with memory chips from today onwards.”

Once this news was announced, it fired off a great sensation and plunged countless netizens of Z country into an intense discussion.