Upgrade

The move was completed in half a day, the movers left, and the entire vast factory was left with only Ning Yifan alone.

Wandering through the factory buildings, Ning Yifan planned out the future use of the space.

The three-story small building was more than enough for Ning Yifan's daily living needs, requiring no major adjustments—just a simple tidying up and moving his things in. He didn't have high demands for living conditions, but better accommodations were certainly welcome. The small building already came with fine decoration, all utilities connected, including water, electricity, gas, and internet—essentially move-in ready.

As for the factory itself, it had three floors, each with an eight-meter ceiling height and 1,600 square meters of space per floor.

Ning Yifan planned to use the first floor as a warehouse. The Phantom Projector equipment components that would be delivered next could be stored here, and the finished Phantom Projectors could also be placed in another corner of this floor. With 1,600 square meters, storing tens of thousands of Phantom Projector components and finished units would be no problem at all.

The second floor of the factory would be primarily responsible for production—whether it was the Phantom Projectors currently being manufactured or other black-tech products that might come later, all would be produced on this floor.

The Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm brought over during the move had already been placed in a corner. Unlike before, when it had filled an entire room to the brim, this two-meter-plus tall robotic arm now looked like a small toy in the eight-meter-high factory space.

Finally, the third floor—the top level—Ning Yifan planned to turn into his personal modification workshop. Production line development, private black-tech fabrication, and other technological products would all take place here.

Of course, for now, the third floor was still empty and bare, with nothing at all. But soon, it would be filled with all kinds of tools, eventually becoming exactly what Ning Yifan wanted.

After making a full circuit of the factory, Ning Yifan returned to the second floor. Based on the space available, he began planning the placement of equipment, the operation method of the assembly line platform, the design of the conveyor belt, the optimal positions for the robotic arms, and the automatic warehousing transport routes after production was complete.

Applying the knowledge he had learned in his dreams came easily and naturally to Ning Yifan. In less than half a day, the factory layout was already well-organized in his mind—what processing equipment to buy, which machines, what specifications of materials were needed, the exact parameters of required components, and so on.

That same evening, with a clear plan in mind, Ning Yifan used the maximum funds he could mobilize and frantically placed orders online. In just one night, he spent five million!

He purchased multifunctional integrated CNC Machining Centers, Lathe Milling Drilling Boring Machines, CNC Punching Machines, Bending Machines, Laser Cutting Machines, Plasma Cutting Machines, Large Hydraulic Presses, and more.

Although these tools weren't world-class machining equipment, they were sufficient for Ning Yifan's current needs—at least he no longer had to order components one by one just to build a Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm, like before.

Buying the factory cost seven million, and purchasing these tools cost another five million. Now, Ning Yifan only had about three million in outstanding payments left on the platform—his pockets were completely drained.

And that last three million would need to be used to buy Phantom Projector equipment components. With three million, purchasing components in bulk for Phantom Projector production would get him roughly two thousand units' worth of parts.

After spending most of the day finishing all this, Ning Yifan still went to bed on time at 10:30 PM.

Even in a completely unfamiliar environment, it didn't affect him at all.

A night of learning went without saying—it was just the same as always: following a faceless teacher in his dreams through various laboratories, factories, workshops, and other places, learning different scientific techniques and methods for manufacturing technological products.

The process was monotonous; only the content changed.

The next morning, still at 5:30 AM, with the sky pitch black, Ning Yifan got up on time, put on his night running gear, left the factory area, and ran toward the riverbank under the glow of the streetlights.

The morning breeze blew, bringing the damp air from the river. The unfamiliar surroundings, the sights he had never seen before—Ning Yifan ran and looked around as he went.

For some reason, Ning Yifan liked unfamiliar things. The feeling of walking through a strange city fascinated him.

The running environment here was very satisfying—bright streetlights, and even other joggers sharing the path.

Along the newly built plastic track by the river, he hadn't run far before he spotted another person out for a run.

It was a sturdy middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, jogging slowly along the river. When he saw Ning Yifan, he greeted him.

"Morning, young man!"

"You're early too, uncle."

Quickening his pace, Ning Yifan fell in behind him and started running.

Turning his head, the middle-aged man, whose T-shirt was already soaked with sweat, said, "Young man, you look unfamiliar. Just started running recently?"

Ning Yifan shook his head. "No, I just moved nearby."

Wang Zhiqiang wiped the sweat from his cheek and said, "No wonder I've never seen you before. My name is Wang Zhiqiang. What should I call you, young man?"

"My name is Ning Yifan. You can call me Yifan." After speaking, Ning Yifan asked curiously, "Uncle Wang, you're in great shape. Do you run every day too?"

Shaking his head, Wang Zhiqiang said helplessly, "What great shape? I'm over sixty, getting old. Only by exercising more can I keep my health."

"Exercise is really necessary. You look like you're only in your fifties!" Ning Yifan nodded in agreement.

Wang Zhiqiang smiled and said, "It's true—people who exercise regularly don't show their age as easily." Then he asked curiously, "How far are you planning to run today, young man?"

"I don't know yet. I'll see how it goes. Mainly, I'm not familiar with the area and want to explore a bit."

"You made the right choice moving here. There are plenty of runners around, especially around six or seven in the evening. Running by the river is really comfortable—wide roads, dedicated paths with no cars. A run every day makes you feel great all over!"

"Ah, back when I was young, I didn't pay attention to exercise and ended up with a lot of chronic problems. Even though I finally woke up and started working out, I can't make up for it. You young people have it good—as long as you exercise, you're in great shape!"

"How far are you running today, uncle?"

"I'll do a half marathon. I usually run one half marathon a week. That's why I got up earlier this morning—it's a longer distance, slow pace, a health run."

The breeze by the river was exceptionally cool, and he was no longer running alone. Chatting along the way made everything feel different.

They kept running forward until the sky began to lighten at the horizon, the morning sun rising. At a rest pavilion by the river, Ning Yifan watched the sunrise over the horizon before heading back.

Ning Yifan's total running distance today, including the return trip, was twenty-five kilometers.

Back in the industrial park, Ning Yifan easily found a breakfast shop. It was around the time when night-shift workers were getting off, so the shop was quite busy, and the food was probably good too.

After eating two liang of spicy and fragrant beef noodles at the breakfast shop, Ning Yifan left satisfied.

Over the next few days, large transport vehicles arrived at the factory one after another, delivering the various processing equipment Ning Yifan had ordered online. To get these machines up to the third floor, Ning Yifan also bought a crane and heavy-duty moving carts to haul some of the equipment—some weighing over ten tons—upstairs and into their designated positions.

Once all the machining tools arrived, Ning Yifan busied himself with practiced skill, starting up the machines to process equipment components, assembling devices, and completing the renovation of the factory's second floor.

Including the original Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm, Ning Yifan processed and built a total of twenty Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arms, neatly arranged in two rows on the second floor, with an automatic conveyor belt running down the middle.

Each Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm was spaced two meters apart, and within this area, various Phantom Projector equipment components for different functions were placed accordingly.

All the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arms share a single operating system, each accurately completing its own task without interfering with the others—far more coordinated than the flexible synergy of human hands.

Under the control system's command, the conveyor belt starts. The first Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm picks up the Phantom Projector's motherboard and installs it onto the mechanical shell on the belt. Then the second arm installs the projector's bulb, the third installs the driver board, and so on.

Each Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arm only needs to perform a few simple actions, no longer having to swivel back and forth like when there was just one arm searching for various Phantom Projector components. Efficiency has skyrocketed!

On this production line where twenty Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arms work in tandem, it takes just five seconds to assemble and debug a Phantom Projector from scratch.

For the final packaging, the printed invoice and product accessories are placed inside a cardboard box, which is then wrapped in a Shunfeng courier bag. After signing a contract with Shunfeng, the Tracking Number Printer prints out labels that are stuck onto the bags. At the end of the automatic conveyor belt, a Scanner scans the tracking number, automatically logging it into the merchant's backend to complete the shipping process.

The assembled Phantom Projectors are packed by the Fully Automatic Production Robotic Arms and placed onto a nearby Flatbed Cart. Once a cart is fully loaded, a computer-controlled tractor hooks onto the Flatbed Cart and follows a preset path via the Freight Elevator down to the first-floor warehouse. The tractor detaches from the cart, leaving the loaded cart in the warehouse area, while the tractor returns to the second floor to await the next transport.

From there, these packaged parcels only need a courier to drive over and pick them up, and they'll quickly reach buyers all over the world.

On the tenth day after moving into the new factory, the two thousand Phantom Projector components Ning Yifan ordered arrived. Within half a day, all those goods had been transformed into two thousand brand-new Phantom Projectors stacked in the warehouse.

After being out of stock for over half a month, the Phantom Projector finally went back on sale.

Over those two weeks, the online uproar over Zhou Yuánlěi's apology had gradually faded from people's memories. But for those who truly wanted to buy a Phantom Projector, half a month wasn't enough to make them forget the product. In fact, the more they learned about it, the stronger their desire to purchase became!