1950s: After transmigrating into a capitalist, I relied on military industry to achieve a comeback.

This move completely baffled Lu Zheng.

"Master, what are you doing? That old man sits at the door every day like he's guarding against thieves, his eyes practically glued to the spot where we'll blow up the oven. And you, instead, are using your saved-up meat coupons to treat him to special meals in the canteen?"

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around during the lunch break, Lu Zheng finally couldn't help but complain in a low voice.

Lin Jiaoyue was holding a drawing, checking the angle of the oxygen lance. She didn't even look up, her pencil lightly tapping on the drawing:

"How can you call it laughing at us? Old Wang is just being kind. He's worried that we amateurs might cheat, so he came all this way to be our quality supervisor for free, braving the wind and sun. We should at least know how to treat him properly, right?"

She paused, put down the blueprints, and looked up at Lu Zheng, whose face was full of frustration. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly on his fair face.

"Besides," Lin Jiaoyue reached for the enamel cup beside her, blew on the tea leaves, and said in a light tone, "we need to feed them well so they can hold their liquor while watching the show. Otherwise, they'll be so scared their legs will give way, and their shouts of 'Awesome!' won't be loud enough."

Lu Zheng was stunned.

He stared into Lin Jiaoyue's calm, unwavering eyes, and the fire in his heart inexplicably seemed to be extinguished by a bucket of cold water.

He finally understood that his master wasn't just being stubborn at all.

She's like a veteran player returning to the beginner's village with a max-level account, patiently waiting to deliver a devastating blow to these stubborn old fogies.

Having figured this out, Lu Zheng felt his blood boil.

He grabbed a towel from the side, hastily wiped the soot off his face, straightened his back, turned around, and shouted loudly into the workshop:

"No more rest! Keep up the good work! The furnace must be securely sealed by 3 PM! We'll heat it up through the night!"

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the day of the test, Workshop No. 1 was surrounded by layers of people.

Almost every technician and engineer in Institute 909 who was well-known was present. Director Zhang also arrived early and stayed by Wang Geng's side, who had a serious expression.

Wang Geng didn't sit on a stool today; he stood behind the safety line fifty meters away from the converter, his expression as cold as ice. His apprentices, on the other hand, each had a small notebook, ready to record all the data related to this "major production accident" at any time.

In their view, this was not a groundbreaking test drive at all, but a reckless, ignorant, and public "self-destruction performance."

"Mr. Lin, all equipment has been checked, the pressure gauges are normal, and we can start ignition at any time."

Lu Zheng jogged to Lin Jiaoyue's side, his voice loud as he reported, his facial muscles twitching slightly uncontrollably due to extreme tension and excitement.

Lin Jiaoyue's gaze swept over the various instrument panels, she nodded slightly, picked up the bulky black walkie-talkie in front of her, and spoke in a steady voice:

"Attention all units, material feeding is now commencing. Crane number one, permission is granted to feed scrap steel."

Following her instructions, a huge overhead crane slowly moved over and accurately poured a bucket of scrap steel into the converter's "mouth".

Wang Geng's eyelids twitched at the sight, and he snorted coldly before quickly speaking to his apprentice beside him:

"Write this down! The furnace isn't preheated; they're adding iron first, then scrap steel, and the charging order is completely reversed! It's utterly ridiculous!"

The apprentice's pen scratched rapidly across the paper.

Lin Jiaoyue ignored him, steadily pressed the second send button, and continued to issue commands:

"Crane No. 2, prepare to pour molten iron."

Soon, a ladle of molten iron, glowing with an orange-red light, was hoisted above the furnace opening. As the tilting mechanism worked, the molten iron, at a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius, traced a magnificent arc in mid-air before being poured into the furnace chamber.

"Sizzle—" A large burst of brilliant sparks, accompanied by a scorching heat wave, exploded instantly in the air above the workshop, forcing the people in the front row to instinctively raise their hands to shield their eyes.

"Alright, now for the main event."

Lin Jiaoyue put down the walkie-talkie and smiled at Lu Zheng, who was gritting his teeth beside her.

She walked to the control panel, glanced at Wang Geng's face in the distance, which seemed to say, "Let's see what other tricks you can pull," and then pressed the red button without hesitation.

"Oxygen lance descend! High-pressure pure oxygen, open!"

"Buzz—"

With a low rumble, the huge metal tube that Wang Geng's apprentices had been mocking for three days slowly descended and was inserted into the converter.

The next second, a powerful burst of high-pressure oxygen, traveling at supersonic speed, was violently blown into the calm molten steel!

"boom!"

As if a drop of water had fallen into boiling oil, the entire converter instantly erupted!

The viscous, orange-red molten steel churned, boiled, and roared violently! Countless blinding sparks, mixed with thick, brownish-yellow iron oxide dust, erupted from the furnace mouth like a volcanic eruption, shooting straight up to the workshop ceiling, which was more than ten meters high!

The violent tremors traveled along the concrete floor, making everyone's feet go numb. The scene was so wild, it felt like the end of the world!

"Back off! Quick! Back off! It's going to explode! It's going to explode!!"

A scream of alarm rippled through the crowd. Several people in the front row were jolted back a few steps by the terrifying heat wave that hit them. Some of them tripped over scrap steel on the ground and stumbled, scrambling to hide behind a load-bearing column.

"Teacher! Run! We're doomed! This crazy girl really blew up the stove!"

Even Director Zhang, who had always had complete faith in Lin Jiaoyue, was now deathly pale, gripping the railing tightly, his palms drenched in cold sweat. Even from fifty meters away, the overwhelming heat still made his eyelashes curl and his heart pound in his chest.

However, amidst this chaos, Wang Geng stood calmly in place, motionless.

Not only did he not run away, he even shook off his apprentice's hand that was pulling him.

His eyes were fixed on the roaring converter, his body trembling violently with extreme excitement. In his cloudy old eyes, there was not a trace of fear of death, but instead, an unprecedented, terrifyingly hot light burst forth! Tears welled up in his eyes from the intense heat, but he couldn't bear to blink.

As an expert who had spent his entire life refining steel, he saw it more clearly than anyone else—

Deep within that seemingly raging and out-of-control brownish-yellow smoke, the flames spewing from the furnace mouth were undergoing a qualitative transformation at a terrifying speed that defied his decades-long common sense!

From the initial dark red smoke, the variegated colors quickly faded, becoming bright; then came a dazzling, bright orange...

Finally, the flame seemed to have been cleaved open by lightning in the furnace, its color completely purified, becoming a dazzling, pure, and blinding white-gold!

The old man made a whooshing sound like a bellows in his throat. He suddenly threw away the cane that had been with him for many years, and his withered hands trembled as he reached out into the air, as if trying to touch that ethereal flame.

"No...it didn't explode..." Wang Geng's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, carrying an almost reverent tremor.

"The carbon was burned through... that's the color of all the impurities in the molten steel, completely burned to ashes!"