Death Mimasai! It Must Be Sanctioned!

"So, this suddenly emerged Fei Yang Optics has launched a new material whose performance can replace our polymer optical film?"

Magic City, King Material Company's domestic headquarters.

General Manager Wang Yanfeng wore an incredulous expression as he listened to the sales manager report the information gathered over the past few days. He felt as though either he was hearing things or the world had suddenly become surreal.

What was going on?

Who were they? They were King Material, the king of the materials field, an international giant!

For more than half a century, King Polymer Optical Film had dominated the globe, suppressing every challenger. It had always stood invincible in lonely splendor.

It was not that King Material was arrogant. Rather, even after more than half a century of technological advancement, the fact that latecomers still could not hold a candle to them made it impossible for them to imagine that, without a sound, a material could suddenly emerge and claim performance comparable to their polymer optical film. That was simply unrealistic!

Wang Yanfeng's mouth twitched a few times. "Could this be a smokescreen put out by Oupai and Zhong Wei?"

The Sales Manager also found it unbelievable, but based on the information he had gathered and the various clues uncovered so far, the news was basically true.

"Director Wang, the people from Oupai, Zhong Wei, and Fei Yang Optics are all keeping things strictly confidential. Zhong Wei and Fei Yang Optics have even signed confidentiality agreements. But no matter how tightly they keep it under wraps, their production and business activities show that they are indeed using Fei Yang Optics' new material to replace ours."

The Sales Manager explained, "And it isn't just our material, nor is it limited to Zhong Wei. I've learned that there are voices within Hua Long Technology as well saying they intend to promote Fei Yang Optics' material, replacing not only ours but also the optical materials from Tian Le and Tian Feng Chemical."

Once those words were spoken, Wang Yanfeng had no choice but to take the matter seriously, no matter how much he disbelieved it.

Zhong Wei Technology alone would not have been a major issue. If they lost Zhong Wei, there were other companies; they did not lack that one customer.

But with Hua Long Technology involved, the gravity of the matter was entirely different. It practically concerned King Material's survival in the domestic market.

Zhong Wei Technology was the second-largest mobile phone ODM manufacturer, while Hua Long Technology was the first.

The first and second ranked companies held 50% of the entire mobile display market, and they led the development of the entire industry. Any major strategic move could change the industry landscape and reshape a large number of supply-chain companies. If both Hua Long and Zhong Wei abandoned King Material, what would happen next was obvious: the third- and fourth-ranked companies, as well as the entire industry, would follow suit, and King Material would ultimately be pushed out of the domestic market.

And in this century, if any materials company was abandoned by the domestic market, it could basically say goodbye to 70–80% of the global market, because most of the world's products were manufactured domestically.

With only 20–30% of the market remaining, would King Material still be an international giant? Would it still be the big brother?

No. By then, King Material would be nothing more than a little brother! And with the sun setting on it, it would decline further and further until it disappeared completely.

For any company, failing to advance meant falling behind.

"Find a way to get hold of the material. Once you do, compile a report and submit it to headquarters!"

Wang Yanfeng stopped dwelling on meaningless consequences, made a decision, and instructed the Sales Manager, "Contact the people at Tian Le and Tian Feng Chemical. I think we need to share information and resources."

Wang Yanfeng had considered reporting directly to headquarters, but without solid evidence, all he had was a verbal statement. It would not be enough to prompt any action from headquarters and might instead make them think he was unprofessional.

All sorts of rumors flew around the market. For any major company, only information backed by solid evidence was worth taking seriously; everything else was meaningless.

If every piece of information had to be analyzed and investigated, no company could ever grow large. Even a nation's intelligence agencies could not possibly do such a thing with the full strength of the country behind them.

The Sales Manager hurriedly agreed. After leaving, he began contacting the people at Tian Le and Tian Feng Chemical.

Both Tian Le Material and Tian Feng Chemical were immensely surprised by King Material's initiative in reaching out. This was an unprecedented first.

"Discussing the issue of Fei Yang Optics?"

Within Tian Le Material, Zhang Jinmingcheng of the Research and Development Department and Piao Enxi, head of the Strategic Investment Department, exchanged glances in bewilderment among the gathered departments.

Seated before them was Tian Le's domestic general manager, a man thoroughly familiar with the country. After explaining why King Material had called, he looked toward Jinmingcheng and Piao Enxi. "Director Jin, Director Piao, how has your investigation into Fei Yang Optics been going? Have you gotten any results?"

Jinmingcheng hurriedly rose to his feet and answered, "There hasn't been much progress. Both Zhong Wei and Hua Long are keeping things confidential, and we don't have any contacts at Qian Jia or Di Guang."

A trace of displeasure immediately appeared on the General Manager's face. In a stern tone, he said, "When someone places great importance on a competitor, it only means one thing: that competitor poses a serious threat. King Material is making such a big move, so Fei Yang Optics has clearly achieved a major breakthrough in optical materials. Director Jin, you are Tian Le's head of Research and Development, yet you still don't understand the situation. I can only say that you have not taken this matter seriously at all. Do you think Tian Le Material can rest easy in this country?"

At those words, Jinmingcheng's face flushed bright red with shame. He bowed repeatedly in apology, yet inwardly he felt deeply wronged. This isn't because I'm incompetent, is it? They're the ones shutting us out!

Meanwhile, at Tian Feng Chemical, the situation was already completely different from a few days ago.

Watanabe Jiro, head of the Research and Development Department, no longer had the overwhelming confidence he had displayed before. His expression was a mix of gravity and shame as he lowered his head slightly. "Death Mimasai! I was careless!"

The head of the Sales Department, who had been mocked by Watanabe Ichiro at the time, felt only a brief flash of satisfaction before an intense chill quickly rose in his heart.

"We must treat Fei Yang Optics as our number one enemy. It isn't King Material, which still allows us to exist as the second tier. Like every other industry in this country, once it can mass-produce a material, it will definitely drive the price down to cabbage levels. When that happens, Tian Feng Chemical will likely have no choice but to withdraw from this market!"

The head of the Sales Department understood clearly that he and Watanabe Ichiro merely differed in opinion, but they were tied to the same rope. He understood even more deeply that this country possessed an almost mission-like obsession with any product it had to use but could not mass-produce. They would never give up until they succeeded; once they did, they would slash the product's price to cabbage levels and completely kill off its former producers.

The alliance of King Material, Tian Le, and Tian Feng Chemical—the three major optical materials giants—was undoubtedly an unmatched force in the optical materials industry. No domestic manufacturer could contend against them.

The three companies' reach extended extremely far. Once they mobilized their full strength, anything they wished to investigate could not escape their scrutiny unless it was classified and sealed off by state power.

Such investigations did not merely involve sending people to make inquiries. They also examined production and business activities.

As long as there were production and business activities, your material procurement and transportation, your product purchasing, transportation, sales, transactions, and so on could all be investigated. From these clues, they could deduce the state of your company.

There was a familiar term for it: big data analysis!

One week later, as Fei Yang Optics held its grand opening ceremony, and three days after Fei Yang New Material delivered Hua Long Technology's first 10K order, two A4-sized sheets of FY-01 material were placed before the executives of all three companies, accompanied by test reports from their respective R&D personnel.

"It must be sanctioned!"

Wang Yanfeng, King Material Company's domestic general manager, uttered those six words in a voice that was almost a groan, his eyes fixed tightly on the test report in his hands.