I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

No one spoke in the workshop.

Old Wei loosened his grip, and the ballpoint pen rolled down to the base of the machine tool.

"All the titanium ore in the province is gone?" Old Wei stared at Lin Fu, his voice hoarse.

Lin Fu nodded.

"The Mitsui Group poured in cash overnight, even signing exclusive buyout agreements for the unexploited portions of the mines."

Lin Fu slapped his phone on the control panel. "The supplier warehouses in the three surrounding prefecture-level cities can't even scan out a single pound of high-purity titanium ore powder now."

They also gave all the transport convoys a strict order: anyone who dared to transport even a single ounce of ore for the Lin family would be banned from working in Jiangnan Province in the future.

Old Wei kicked over the waste bin next to him.

Scrap metal was scattered all over the ground, making a piercing clanging sound.

"These foreign devils are trying to cut off our escape route!" Old Wei grabbed his hair and squatted on the ground.

"Representative Sun only gave us ten days! Without titanium, these blueprints are just waste paper! What are we going to use to smelt special steel? What are we going to use to make knives?"

Even if the blueprints were drawn by a god, we can't conjure up the materials!

The dozen or so technicians all had their heads down.

Lin Ting tapped the walnut wood cane in his hand.

"Uncle Fu, did you bring the old accounts from the City Chamber of Commerce in the 1990s?" Lin Ting asked.

Lin Fu opened his briefcase, pulled out a thick, yellowed ledger, and handed it over.

"Grandpa, this ledger was left by Qiao Laosan. Most of the businesses listed have gone bankrupt," Lin Fu reminded him.

Lin Ting opened the ledger, his finger tracing the pages, stopping at the middle page.

"Eastern suburbs, Red Star Scrap Metal Recycling Station." Lin Ting closed the ledger. "Go here."

Old Wei suddenly raised his head.

"Grandpa, we need high-purity titanium ore, why are we going to the scrap yard?" Old Wei stood up.

"That place is full of rusty iron sheets and scrap metal; we can't forge the materials we need there."

Lin Ting threw the account book to Lin Fu.

"If the raw ore has been bought up, then we'll use what's readily available," Lin Ting said.

"In the 1990s, there were three military factories in the province. All the scrapped aircraft engines and armor plates were stored in this recycling station, which was full of high-purity titanium alloys."

Old Wei slapped his thigh and jumped up from the ground.

"That's right! The reverse refining process shown in the blueprints yields a higher output of scrap titanium alloy than that of raw ore!"

Old Wei had a very loud voice, and he turned around and shouted at the technicians.

"Grab the testing equipment and follow me! As long as there's waste material, three days will definitely be enough!"

Lin Ting walked out, leaning on his cane.

"Prepare the car," Lin Ting ordered.

Hongxing Scrap Metal Recycling Station in the eastern suburbs.

The rusty iron gate was half-closed, and the yard was piled with scrap steel and metal parts covered with tarpaulins. The air was filled with the smell of machine oil and rust.

The boss, Zhao Tiezhu, squatted beside the scale, smoking a pipe, surrounded by three men in floral shirts.

"Old Zhao, don't be stubborn and ask for trouble. The Mitsui Group has announced that all scrap metal in the province will be subject to unified control."

The man in the floral shirt, who was leading the group, kicked the purification furnace next to him. "Your broken furnace is worth at most 20,000 if you sell it as scrap metal."

The 100,000 yuan you owe us must be settled today.

Zhao Tiezhu tapped his pipe and stood up.

"This furnace was designed and modified by my daughter while she was studying metallurgy in Beijing! It can purify aerospace waste!"

Zhao Tiezhu pointed at the stove, "Twenty thousand? You might as well rob a bank!"

The floral shirt moved closer.

"What's the use of your daughter studying metallurgy? Who's going to buy your junk these days?" The man in the floral shirt pulled a steel pipe out from his back waist.

"Sign up now and give us this pile of junk in the yard as collateral, or we'll break your leg today."

Zhao Tiezhu gripped his pipe tightly, stood in front of the purification furnace, and remained silent.

The large iron gate was kicked open.

Lin Fei led a dozen or so loyal men into the room, who lined up on both sides.

Lin Ting, leaning on his cane, stepped over the threshold. Lin Fu followed behind.

The man in the floral shirt turned his head and looked Lin Ting up and down.

"Where did this cripple come from, daring to meddle in other people's business? Do you know who I work for?" The man in the floral shirt raised a steel pipe.

Lin Fei stepped forward, grabbed the collar of the floral shirt with one hand, and spun it backward.

The man in the floral shirt stumbled back five or six steps and fell into the pile of scrap metal. Just as the other two were about to make a move, a dozen or so men from Zhongtang raised solid steel pipes in their hands.

The two immediately raised their hands and retreated to the corner.

Lin Ting walked up to Zhao Tiezhu and pointed to the pile of metal covered with tarpaulin in the yard.

"Lift the tarpaulin," Lin Ting said.

Zhao Tiezhu looked at Lin Ting warily.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Zhao Tiezhu asked.

Lin Fu stepped forward, took out 100,000 yuan in cash from his bag, and threw it onto the scale.

"Your debts have been settled by the Lin family. Lift the tarpaulin," Lin Fu said.

Zhao Tiezhu looked at the stack of cash, swallowed hard, and walked over to tear off the tarpaulin.

A pile of scratched, silver-gray metal parts were exposed.

Old Wei rushed over, picked up a metal piece, measured it with calipers, and then tapped it to listen to the sound.

"Grandpa! It's TC4 titanium alloy!" Old Wei shouted as he turned around, holding the metal piece in both hands.

"Aluminum accounts for 6 percent and vanadium accounts for 4 percent. With this ratio of waste, as long as the impurities are removed, it can be remelted."

The hardness is three percentage points higher than that of directly refined ore; it's all aerospace-grade waste! This pile weighs at least five hundred tons!

Lin Ting looked at Zhao Tiezhu.

"The Lin family has requisitioned these waste materials and that purification furnace," Lin Ting said, pointing to the equipment in the yard.

"Lin Jiaquan will take over your experienced skilled workers, paying them ten times the market rate. Interested?"

Zhao Tiezhu stood there, stunned, for a long time before he came to his senses.

"Ten times? Boss, you're not kidding?" Zhao Tiezhu pointed at the pile of waste.

"This pile of waste has been sitting on me for ten years, and I just can't sell it. I'm not trying to discourage you, but my daughter is pursuing a PhD in metallurgy at Beijing University of Science and Technology."

She and her mentor's team spent six months researching, but they couldn't solve the problem of impurities in the purification of waste titanium. "Can you do it?"

"If your daughter can't do it, the Lin family can," Lin Ting said calmly. "Immediately gather the workers, start the fire, and turn on the furnace."

Old Wei walked over and patted Zhao Tiezhu on the shoulder.

"Your daughter's tutor is nothing! This blueprint was provided by Grandpa Lin. Don't even mention scrap titanium, even if it were a rock, we'd squeeze oil out of it today!" Old Wei shouted.

Zhao Tiezhu gritted his teeth and stuffed the cash on the scale into his pocket.

"Damn it! I'll go get some people right now!" Zhao Tiezhu turned and ran towards the work shed behind the yard.

Half an hour later, all eight veteran technicians from the Red Star Recycling Station were in place.

Old Wei copied the purification parameters from the blueprints onto a blackboard and hung it in front of the purification furnace.

"Raise the temperature to 2200 degrees! Turn the cooling water circulation to maximum! Cut the waste into pieces and send it in!" Old Wei shouted the orders.

The veteran technicians looked at the parameters on the blackboard, exchanging glances but not daring to utter a sound.

Zhao Tiezhu grabbed Lao Wei's arm.

"Director Wei, this temperature will burn through the furnace! My daughter designed the maximum temperature to be 1,800 degrees Celsius!" Zhao Tiezhu shouted.

Old Wei shook off his hand and pointed at the blackboard.

"Do as I say! If you burn through the Lin family, we'll compensate you with ten units!" Old Wei roared.

Waste materials are continuously fed into the refining furnace.

The fire in the stove rose, and the temperature in the entire courtyard increased rapidly.

Lin Ting sat in an old rattan chair in the middle of the courtyard, with Lin Fei standing beside him.

Two hours passed.

The purification furnace emitted a deep rumble. The furnace walls began to glow red.

"Director Wei, the furnace wall is turning red! It'll explode if we keep burning it!" Zhao Tiezhu took two steps back.

"Shut up! Turn the coolant up to the maximum! Keep an eye on the thermometer!" Old Wei pressed hard on the control panel lever.

The thermometer needle jumped to 2200.

"The temperature is right! Get ready to dispense the liquid!" Old Wei shouted.

Zhao Tiezhu gripped the valve at the discharge port, his palms sweating profusely. He turned the valve with force.

Silvery-white molten metal flows out of the discharge port and into the mold along the guide channel.

Old Wei took a closer look and slapped his thigh.

"The purity meets the standard! It's even higher than that refined from raw ore!" Old Wei turned to Lin Ting, "Grandpa, we've succeeded!"

Lin Ting leaned back in the rattan chair without saying a word.

Just as the silvery-white liquid was about to fill the first mold, the roar of the purification furnace suddenly stopped.

All the lights in the courtyard went out, and the entire eastern suburbs were plunged into darkness by a sudden power outage.