Chapter Two: One Scrap Chip Revives a Billion-Yuan Factory

Her finance director gasped. Chenzhou added, “Once production resumes, unpaid wages come before management bonuses or dividends.” The watching workers fell silent. “Agreed.” Wanqing offered her hand. Cheng’s team livestreamed the wager under a mocking title: DISMISSED TECHNICIAN CLAIMS HE CAN REPAIR BILLION-YUAN LINE IN TWO HOURS. More than a hundred thousand people tuned in. Chenzhou removed YaoCore’s cloud gateway and wired the damaged A1 into the local bus through an old oscilloscope. At 11:20, he powered it on. “Candidate detected,” the A1 whispered. “Recovery key available. Superior node refuses release.” “Give it to me.” “Level One cannot write commands.” “Then don’t write. Broadcast that you are alive.”