Eight Million In-Game Purchases

After a father-son talk, Xu Yifan successfully secured thirty million in investment.

The rest was much simpler.

Two hours later, the "Funds" section on the system panel showed a significant change.

[Funds: 33,090,000]

Xu Yifan opened the Battery Research and Development Center's subsystem panel and found the option to spend money to accelerate research progress.

[Spend 8,000,000 yuan to accelerate research?]
[Yes] [No]

He lightly clicked on the [Yes] option, and another dialog box popped up.

[Confirmed]
[Please instruct the eight researchers at the Battery Research and Development Center. 8,000,000 yuan will be invested in technical development.]

The "Funds" section didn't change immediately, nor did the money in his bank account decrease directly.

After a careful examination, Xu Yifan was somewhat speechless. "What kind of broken system is this? I still have to deliver the money myself. Don't they usually deduct it with a swipe!"

He got up and left his office without calling his secretary. Xu Yifan strolled towards the newly built Battery Research and Development Center within the factory.

Though called "newly built," it was actually a renovation of a small bungalow in the old factory. The building was quite old, and the equipment and environment inside were rather basic.

While it wasn't dirty or messy, there was a distinct lack of high-end instruments.

With only a little over a million invested, the research equipment could only support basic development.

The steady progress in research here was entirely thanks to a few competent researchers.

"It's all because of a lack of funds. If we had money, we could buy expensive experimental equipment costing millions or even tens of millions, hire more skilled researchers, and assign them to smaller projects within larger ones. The pace of research progress could be significantly boosted."

"Or, if we had a ten-star researcher, the research speed could also be greatly improved."

"Unfortunately, there are no 'ifs'."

Shaking his head, Xu Yifan walked into the laboratory converted from the small bungalow.

"Still not enough money. I wonder when I'll have money to spend as I please.

Then, I'll build the world's best R&D center, hire the world's most skilled researchers, and with the system's boost, we'll soar!"

This wasn't Xu Yifan's first time visiting the battery lab.

He usually came here when he had free time to chat with the researchers and build rapport.

Although the system made managing factory production, sales, and other operations more convenient, frequently dining and chatting with the researchers, sales staff, and production backbone personnel could not only increase their sense of belonging to the factory and improve work efficiency but also make them more familiar with him.

He didn't need to be chummy with all the workers, but he at least needed to maintain good relationships with key positions and the leadership of important departments.

As he entered the R&D center, the busy researchers came into view.

Just as seen on the system panel, the researchers were currently frowning.

When discussing problems with others, their faces clearly showed a sense of helplessness.

"Ahem." Xu Yifan cleared his throat lightly, and his appearance finally drew the attention of the researchers engrossed in their problems.

Lu Jingping, the project leader for the battery research and development and also the most technically skilled, a four-star researcher, stood up. "Boss, why have you come?"

"I came to take a look. I heard everyone has been stuck on a problem recently?"

Lu Jingping looked slightly surprised. "Boss, how did you know!"

However, he didn't dwell on that and continued speaking to Xu Yifan.

"We haven't made any progress on the new lithium iron phosphate battery for several days.

This is because the resistance of lithium ions escaping from the LFP material is quite large (lattice binding force, also known as impedance).

Furthermore, its poor electronic conductivity results in inferior power performance and low-temperature performance for LFP materials.

We've tried every method we could think of and consulted relevant domestic and international papers, but we still haven't made any headway."

"Do you have confidence?" Xu Yifan asked.

Lu Jingping smiled wryly and shook his head. "If only we had confidence. We're all blocked by this problem right now, unable to find any direction to achieve a breakthrough."

Beside him, several other researchers who had been troubled by the problem for a long time also gathered around.

"This problem might take three to five months, or perhaps three to five years to solve."

"I'm sorry, Boss. We've failed your expectations. It might be difficult to achieve results with the new lithium iron phosphate battery."

"It's our lack of knowledge. Truly entering a project makes one realize its difficulty."

Without interrupting, Xu Yifan listened carefully to their complaints. After a few minutes, when everyone had gradually fallen silent, Xu Yifan spoke.

"R&D is always like this. Thank you all for your hard work. Regarding this problem, I'm not a professional researcher, so I can't offer much good advice."

At this point, Xu Yifan paused and smiled.

"However, while I can't give you advice, I can give you funding!"

"I'll transfer eight million to the battery R&D fund account later. If you can solve this problem within a week, all this money will be yours!"

Hearing this news, even these highly educated researchers were surprised.

"This…"

"Eight million?!"

"I've heard of large R&D projects costing tens of millions or even hundreds of millions before, but this is the first time I've been so close to such a substantial R&D fund of nearly ten million."

"If we solve the problem, the rest is ours?! Eight million, we could each get a million!"

"Let's do it! From today on, no one is allowed to leave this room until the problem is solved."

Some researchers' eyes turned red, eager to work themselves to the bone for the money.

But two were more composed.

"Money is very tempting, but a week is still a bit too short."

Lu Jingping gave a wry smile, "This isn't about funding. Some things can't be solved with money."

Xu Yifan chuckled, "That's your problem then. I'm only responsible for providing the money."

"Alright, everyone, do your best. After we solve the problem, we'll all go out for a late-night snack together!"

With that, he turned and left, leaving the researchers bewildered.

After a long while, the researchers gathered again.

Lu Jingping was the first to speak, "Has everyone calmed down?"

"We've calmed down."

"Wealth can move people's hearts."

"What do we do? Although the money is a lot and very tempting, it's hard for us to overcome this difficult challenge."

"I know my own abilities. I can't think of any way to crack this difficulty in a few days."

"Working ourselves to death won't help either."

"Let's try, let's try. Maybe we'll get lucky and find a material that can combine with LFP material to solve the poor conductivity and low-temperature performance issues…"

"Do you think that's possible, to test it out in a few days? It's like winning the lottery."

After hearing everyone's thoughts, Lu Jingping sighed, "Forget it, there's still a less-than-ideal solution."

"I'll ask the boss for permission later to spend five million on outside help. The boss only requires us to solve the problem, he didn't say we can't get outside help!"

Hearing Lu Jingping's plan, their eyes lit up, and they said excitedly.

"Yes, yes! If we can't do it, we still have our seniors at the school, or even ask the boss to borrow the school's labs. Five million should be enough!"

"Even if it's not eight million, if we have three million to split, that's not bad either, hehe."

"Then let's get moving, find our seniors and mentors, time waits for no one!"