Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

Old Zhou put away the micrometer and whispered it in Gu Niannian's ear.

"The end face allowance is insufficient. The tooth width of this batch of goods is 0.2 millimeters wider than the standard. When installed in the old housing, it can turn when the machine is cold, but it will push against the housing when it gets hot."

Gu Niannian remained expressionless and simply nodded.

"Write it down and put it in the register."

Old Zhou responded and wrote the data into the register.

As the sun rose directly overhead, the sea breeze, carrying moisture, swept in.

Seawater flooded into the lowest-lying drainage ditch in Xitan, turning the black mud into a churning mud paste.

The mud was a full thirty-five centimeters deep.

In the knee-deep mud, there were broken seashells and rotten grass roots floating around; once you stepped in, you couldn't pull your foot out.

Dozens of machine operators at Haifeng Station gathered on the edge of the field.

Master Sun squatted on the earthen slope, a pipe in his mouth, but he didn't light it for a long time.

Zhao Qiming grabbed Gu Niannian's sleeve, his palms sweaty.

"Director Gu, let's remove one unit."

Zhao Qiming pointed to the old machine with its exhaust pipe dented.

"This truck's chassis is the most badly deformed, and the spare parts were destroyed last night. If both trucks get stuck in the deep mud, we'll be completely out of parts."

Master Sun also sighed and took two steps forward.

"Director Gu, Qiming is right. Haifeng signs agreements based on the final data; securing one unit to run for seven days increases our chances of success."

Chen Jianhua stood on the edge of a field not far away, his leather jacket open and his shoes covered in mud.

Parked next to him was the No. 7 light cavalry, which had just been fitted with new Huaxing parts, its engine revving and spewing black smoke from its exhaust pipe.

"Director Gu, why did you stop?"

Chen Jianhua crossed his arms and shouted loudly, attracting the attention of all the machine operators around him.

"The high-quality parts at the old factory in the provincial capital are already ready for production. If you're worried about your two makeshift junks falling apart, you'd better take them back to the workshop as soon as possible, or you'll embarrass yourself in the mud!"

Chen Jianhua took a step forward, his eyes hardening.

"In front of Station Master Sun and all the machine operators at the station, do you dare to start both machines running right now?"

The ridge between the fields was deathly silent.

The sea breeze whistled past, and the young pilots held their breath, no one daring to utter a sound.

The news that the spare parts were obsolete had already spread.

Everyone now understands that Tianhai has no way out. If even one car breaks a tooth in the mud, the whole game is lost.

Gu Niannian loosened her grip on the cotton yarn.

"Both machines need to be run to completion."

She turned to look at the two Haifeng drivers.

"Shift to second gear, maintain a steady throttle, and drive straight into the ditch."

The two young pilots exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and climbed into the driver's seat.

Two rusty light cavalry vehicles roared to life, their tracks kicking up black mud as they slowly drove down the field ridge.

Chen Jianhua snorted coldly and waved to his driver, "Overtake them! Let them see the spirit of a big company!"

Huaxing No. 7 was the first to rush into the irrigation ditch.

The high-frequency quenched gears emitted a sharp screech as the tracks sank deep into the mud.

After rushing forward for less than twenty meters, the resistance in the deep mud suddenly increased.

The engine suddenly lurched, and the RPM dropped rapidly.

Suddenly, a piercing metallic scraping sound erupted from the transmission box.

Creak—squeak!

The driver frantically slammed on the accelerator, trying to force his way through.

A muffled thud suddenly came from inside the box, the whole vehicle shook violently, and the right track stopped turning instantly.

Engine oil spurted out from the gap in the end cap, creating large oil slicks in the black muddy water.

"Shut down! Shut down the system now!"

Technician Liu was so frightened on the edge of the field that he jumped up and down, his voice hoarse from shouting.

Chen Jianhua's face turned ashen. He took two steps forward, but his foot slipped, and he almost fell into the ditch.

Hua Xing's driver jumped out of the car, sweating profusely: "Manager Chen, the gear end face is jammed against the outer casing! The mud is too deep, it won't turn!"

Unit 7 lay sprawled on the edge of the muddy ditch, completely shut down.

Just then, a steady engine roar came from behind.

Gu Niannian's old No. 1 machine, with its chassis rusted through, steadily sank into the deep mud.

The tracks rolled up thick mud, and the sand-proof rings pressed by Shen Cuifen spun rapidly on the axle head, with the hard edges on the outside forcefully repelling the shell fragments thrown in.

The main drive gear with shallow arc tooth root meshes in the gearbox, and the force is applied smoothly and evenly without any sharp noise.

The vehicle body sank half a foot into the mud pit, but the tracks did not stop.

Thud, thud, thud—

Black smoke billowed out steadily as Unit 1 drove right over Unit 7, which had broken down at Huaxing, with most of its tracks climbing up the dry slope opposite.

Immediately afterwards, the second old machine with a collapsed tube followed.

The chassis emitted a slight rattling sound from the sheet metal, but there was no resistance inside the transmission box.

The two sets of T-type clearance components completely absorbed the slight deformation of the old shell, with no friction on the end face.

Under the watchful eyes of dozens of people, two old machines covered in grease and mud, one after the other, rumbled up the top of the field ridge, cutting through the knee-deep mud ditch.

The banks of the irrigation ditch remained silent for a full three seconds.

"He's climbed out!"

I don't know who shouted it first.

Immediately afterwards, the veteran machine operators standing in the mud rushed over with a bang.

"We really made it out! We ran back and forth through the deep mud ditch three times, and the tracks didn't get stuck even once!"

"Quick, take the temperature!"

Wang Qiang grabbed the mercury thermometer and rushed over, inserting it into the temperature measuring hole.

Old Zhou put on a single-lens magnifying glass and probed the feeler gauge into the gap of the end cap.

"Incubator temperature 61 degrees Celsius!" Wang Qiang wiped the sweat from his face and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"The end face gap is 0.18 millimeters, the oil seal is intact, and there is not a single drop of oil leaking out!" Old Zhou pulled out the feeler gauge, his hands trembling.

Old Feng squatted down next to the track and reached out to touch the edge of the sand guard.

The outer edge of the retaining ring was covered in mud, but the inner journal was clean, not a single grain of seashell sand had gotten in.

Old Feng stood up, took off his mud-covered gloves, and slammed them hard onto the track plate.

"Great piece! This is truly a good piece made for the beach!"

Chen Jianhua slumped down in the muddy water on the edge of the field, his suit jacket completely soaked.

He stared at the two old cars climbing up the dry slope, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Gu Niannian walked up to the two machines covered in black mud and patted the rough metal shells.

"Only those that can climb out deserve to be called the coastal version."

Master Sun stood to the side, pulled the pipe out of his mouth, and stubbed out the embers in his palm.

He turned around and took out the company seal from his pocket.