Eight Million for a Scrap Battery

“Wait seven minutes. Once the livestream trends, the opening price becomes fifteen.” Seconds passed. At minute five, Hengli Energy’s verified account shared the broadcast. At minute six, the center director received a call from the provincial government. At six minutes forty seconds, Gu picked up his pen. “One addition. For ninety days, you provide no similar samples to a Hanhai competitor.” “Limited to marine propulsion batteries in mainland China.” “Agreed.” The signature landed as the counter reached twelve hours. Watched by hundreds of thousands, the drone descended smoothly. By noon, “mystery scrap drone flies twelve hours” topped the trending list. Experts argued over silicon-carbon anodes and marketing fraud.