The Unlucky Citroën Company

Citroën Company was founded in 1005.

At the time of their establishment, they were able to rise rapidly thanks to the secret injection of funds from high-level officials and a continuous stream of talent.

And they did not disappoint the expectations of the Human Race high command, developing a large number of advanced weapons for the Human Race.

It can be said that they are among the top-tier weapons research institutions, apart from official Laboratories and research bases.

Furthermore, Citroën Company possesses an advantage that even official institutions cannot match.

Compared to those high-profile official research institutions, Citroën Company, as a private company, is relatively low-key and inconspicuous.

This low-key approach allowed them to remain hidden in the shadows, avoiding excessive attention and vigilance from outsiders.

It is precisely because of this that Citroën Company has been able to remain safely in Mao City for many years.

They were neither harassed nor suppressed by foreign races, nor were they purged by the Human Race high command.

However, this year, this "good luck" seems to have come to an end.

The long-dormant Sea Race suddenly made a comeback.

As a major coastal port, and given that the Sea Race had previously suffered a defeat in Mao City.

Mao City naturally became their primary target.

Naturally, Citroën Company was also unfortunately caught up in this storm and suffered a severe impact.

Faced with such a predicament, Citroën Company had no choice but to retreat.

It's not that they can't win, it's that they're incapable of fighting.

Most of the important data and some finished products of weapons classified as top secret or above are still in the headquarters at that time.

If they act rashly, they will only expose all of these things to the enemy.

To minimize their losses, they had to retreat.

Left with no other choice, Citroën's decision-makers activated the headquarters mothership, which was not yet fully completed.

The transformation of headquarters into a mothership was originally an important strategic plan for them.

It was still in a semi-finished product state at the time.

In order to ensure that the mothership could set sail smoothly and escape from Mao City, Citroën Company had to make a difficult decision.

They abandoned the vast network of contacts they had built up over decades, as well as all the overweight machinery and production lines.

These are the results of the hard work of several generations of their family.

But at this critical moment of life and death, they had no choice but to make the painful decision to part with it.

And so, Citroën Company, with its incomplete and broken body, made a long and arduous journey to relocate to the capital.

Fortunately, Citroën Company is not a private company with no ties to the government.

In the past, the company has maintained certain contact and cooperation with the government.

Furthermore, Citroën Company already had plans to build a new branch office on the outskirts of Zi City.

Therefore, they are not easily extorted by the local power of the Zi City or a portion of those in power, and they have the confidence to make a comeback.

Thus, Citroën Company successfully relocated and settled in the suburbs of Zi City.

Now, the company has recovered and has begun to continuously supply weapons and ammunition to the front lines.

All the original production lines have been put back on track, and two new workshops for producing ammunition have even been added.

However, what Citroën's decision-makers, who were happy to get the company back on track, didn't know was that someone was already watching them.

The core area inside the Citroën Company underground factory.

"Chief Engineer Xu, this is a progress report from the team responsible for Carrierization Technology."

Xu Xing did not reply immediately, but continued to process the data at hand.

Only his increased writing speed hinted that he had heard his assistant's words.

The assistant standing to the side was not in a hurry, but simply waited quietly.

Once you start processing data, it's difficult to stop, otherwise it's almost equivalent to starting all over again.

Therefore, having worked as Xu Xing's assistant for many years, he had become accustomed to waiting.

After a moment, Xu Xing sorted out the data, put it aside, and then spoke.

"Give it to me."

Xu Xing took the documents and began to carefully read through them.

Carrierization Technology is actually a general term, which is divided into many sub-projects.

Therefore, this report is merely a rough summary of the progress.

However, as the chief engineer of Citroën Company, this report was enough for Xu Xing to understand the general situation of these projects.

Overall, it is largely complete, but there are still many shortcomings in the details.

There is still a long way to go before it is truly deployed on the battlefield or even mass-produced.

After reading the last page, Xu Xing put down the report and fell into deep thought.

Rather than betting everything on one thing, he prefers to put his eggs in different baskets.

Moreover, let's not even talk about the Carrierization Technology is not something we can rely on in the short term.

Focusing solely on developing such large warships is too unbalanced. Citroën Company has many outstanding technological innovations, so there's no need to allocate more funds to it.

Having made up his mind, Xu Xing turned to his secretary and said.

"The team responsible for Carrierization Technology recommends maintaining the current funding amount."

The secretary took careful notes and only answered after Xu Xing had completely finished speaking.

"Director Li just asked me to consult you. A batch of final payments will be arriving soon. Should the funding for each research group be increased a bit?"

"My suggestion is to continue as usual, and save the extra funds for future use."

The assistant nodded and quickly jotted down what Xu Xing had said.

A second or two later, estimating that his assistant had finished remembering, Xu Xing continued speaking.

"Furthermore, our current production capacity is sufficient, and we advise against further expansion until we have trained the next batch of workers ready to take up their posts."

Previous relocation experiences also caused Citroën to lose many workers who were skilled in operating various machines.

Continuing to expand production lines without workers is just a waste of money.

"Instead of this, it would be better to use that money to attract talent..."

Before Xu Xing could finish speaking, the entire underground factory suddenly began to shake violently.

Is it an earthquake?

At that moment, Xu Xing's first thought was of an earthquake.

But he immediately contradicted himself.

When Zi City was first established, the ancestors of the Human Race carefully selected its candidates.

Areas near earthquake zones are the first to be excluded.

Therefore, since the establishment of Zi City, no seismic waves have been detected in this area.

Could it have been caused by human intervention?

Before he could think any further, the office door was pushed open.

A team of Citroën Company security guards rushed in, speaking as they quickly approached Xu Xing.

"Mr. Xu, please come with us to the shelter immediately."

Rather than speculating whether it's an earthquake, the security personnel here are more concerned about the safety of their employers.

They thought it best to take shelter in the refuge room first.

Xu Xing did not refuse, and led his assistant into their protective circle, then ran towards the nearby shelter.

Their choice was right.

Before they had even run halfway, an even more terrifying shockwave came, nearly knocking over the running crowd.

"Boom--!"

The ground beneath my feet, the surrounding walls, and the ceiling above my head all began to shake violently.

The metal walls supporting the underground structure were unable to withstand the weight and began to show fine cracks.

Upon seeing this, the people underground immediately considered the worst-case scenario.

If this continues, they will most likely be buried alive.

"Don't stop, run to the shelter!"

Xu Xing was the first to react. After regaining his balance, he took the lead and continued running forward.

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly broke free from their fear and hesitation and followed Xu Xing's steps.

Although the atmosphere remained tense, it eased considerably due to trust in the safety of the shelter.

Only Xu Xing, who was standing with his back to the crowd, still looked unwell.

He naturally believed in the safety of the shelter.

But as the chief engineer, he cares about more than just the safety of his employees.

As they got closer to the shelter, more and more people gathered around.

By the time they arrived at the location of the shelter, the number of people gathered had become quite large.

As the person with the highest status here, Xu Xing naturally took over the position of leader.

He opened the shelter with his authority, but before he could signal everyone to enter in an orderly fashion, something unexpected happened.

Fog enveloped everyone.