This Wager, You Won It

For the past few days Xu Shi had held Luo Zhikang captive, and Luo Zhikang felt like he was going mad from the torment.

There were many reasons for all of this: the terrible environment, the useless lighting, the crude food... but the most important reason was just one.

He couldn't crack it.

Actually, not long after he started working on it, he had noticed that the new "Sea Crane" Xu Shi had brought was different from the one Shen He had someone deliver to him before.

It was clearly further modified and upgraded... At first, he hadn't paid it much mind.

As the former chief engineer of a top conglomerate, Luo Zhikang possessed innate pride and confidence in himself.

If he could crack the previous one, this one shouldn't be a problem.

He had spent his entire life dealing with machinery, and his knowledge base was immense.

However, this small drone before him, in many of its details, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't find a corresponding method to crack it!

Not to mention the lockdown and keys in the core left him completely helpless, even his strongest suit, external deconstruction, was difficult for him to operate.

With the slightest carelessness, the disassembled parts were hard to reassemble as they were.

And this was by no means Xu Shi deliberately making things difficult – the various tools provided to him by "Serpent Coil" were infinitely better than those from "Spark."

If it weren't for the heavily armed guards watching the door 24/7, it would have been enough for him to dismantle the door of his confinement room and escape.

It was simply a matter of inferior skill, his thinking and understanding completely outmatched by the machine's creator.

Although he was unwilling to admit it deep down, the growing sense of frustration was pushing him to the brink of collapse.

"It should, it should be able to be solved like this... No, no!"

"Then use this formula to reverse-engineer... Still not right!"

"Hahaha, I got it... Damn it, theoretically it's correct, so why isn't it working! Why!"

Such outbursts were happening constantly, to the point where even the guards outside were tired of hearing them.

"I give up, is Chairman Xu holding a lunatic? Wouldn't it be better to send him to a mental hospital?"

"Exactly, man. I have nightmares where this old guy is yelling in my ear, and my wife thinks I'm seeing someone else."

But the next second, they shut up because they saw Xu Shi approaching.

"Restore power to the confinement room."

Xu Shi ignored their idle chatter, gave a soft instruction, and then opened the locked door.

The lights in the room suddenly flickered on. Blinking in the sudden, long-lost brightness, Luo Zhikang instinctively closed his eyes and flinched back.

"It seems, Mr. Luo, that you've encountered some trouble?"

Xu Shi looked down at the disheveled Luo Zhikang kneeling before him, a smile on his face, and asked.

"Xu Shi..."

Luo Zhikang blinked, then stared at him and let out a cold snort.

As if protesting, weren't all these troubles caused by you?

This attitude left Xu Shi quite speechless.

Honestly, why couldn't these people realize that they were the aggressors, and he was the weak, pitiful, and helpless victim?

You attacked me first, and yet you can still maintain such a clear conscience after being caught.

However, he didn't pay it much mind and became serious. "The process of cracking the drone probably isn't going smoothly, is it? Do you have many questions?"

"For example... here?"

He casually pointed to a messy spot on the floor.

"..."

Luo Zhikang didn't reply. While he was troubled, he had no intention of bowing his head to the person in front of him.

But before he could react, Xu Shi began to explain the specific structure and details of that area on his own.

He deliberately spoke very slowly, just so the other person could listen carefully.

"...That's about it. Mr. Luo, did you understand?"

"..."

Luo Zhikang remained silent, but his expression had changed from defiance to shock.

Xu Shi's explanation had completely cleared up his doubts, and his muddled consciousness suddenly became clear.

And the designs and micro-operations that broke his fixed way of thinking made him unable to help but praise – if he weren't a genius engineer, he would never have thought of such a method.

Compared to that, Luo Zhikang felt increasingly inferior.

"So, is that all for now? I'll come to see Mr. Luo again in a while."

Xu Shi seemed to have only come for this purpose. After explaining to Luo Zhikang, he got up to leave. "Wishing you good health."

"...Wait!"

Seeing him about to leave, Luo Zhikang finally couldn't hold back and called out to him.

"Oh? Is there something else?"

Xu Shi turned back, feigning confusion.

"...And what about this? This three-way connection point's air pressure issue... how was it resolved?"

Luo Zhikang's hand trembled as he pointed to another part of the drone.

"This one..."

Xu Shi glanced at it, then shook his head. "I'm not telling you."

"Old Mr. Luo, don't forget, this is our bet."

His tone held a hint of regret. "Telling you one part was out of kindness, but you can't ask me about everything, can you?"

"Of course, if you can admit your failure... then we can discuss it further."

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upwards.

Frankly, compared to Gu Yi or Xia Wuyou, Luo Zhikang had no obvious weaknesses.

Alone, with no family or friends, his loyalty to "Tianhe," or rather, to Shen He, meant he didn't fear death.

But that didn't mean he had no weaknesses—arrogance and obsession.

His arrogance stemmed from his past position as the conglomerate's chief engineer. In fact, he only truly served Shen He, never giving anyone else in the organization a second glance, always seeing them as mere laborers.

His obsession was evident in his research on mechanical engineering... actually, "obsession" isn't quite the right word; "fanaticism" is more accurate.

So, this bet was designed precisely because of that—the inability to crack the drone's design would render Luo Zhikang's pride worthless. Chief Engineer? He was nothing.

Yet, Jiang Chengcheng's ingenious design inevitably piqued his interest, making him desperate for the answer.

Of course, he had also made arrangements on the external front, taking the clock to disrupt his sense of time, the dark, sealed, confined room, the poor food... these common interrogation tactics could greatly help in breaking a person's will.

The increasingly messy handwriting on the calculation papers was a testament to this, and there were even many messy marks on the walls.

It was clear the old gentleman was on the verge of a breakdown.

Now, it was time for him to make his choice.

"I..."

As soon as he said this, Luo Zhikang, as expected, showed signs of wavering.

Frankly, his inner pride wouldn't allow him to yield to Xu Shi, and he had never bowed to anyone.

Not to mention that this was all Xu Shi's deliberate doing, intended to make him concede defeat voluntarily.

But the design of this drone truly captivated him; the unresolved confusion felt like ants crawling under his skin.

And he knew that relying on himself, even with another ten or eight years, he might not be able to unravel it all.

So.

"I... I admit defeat."

After a moment of struggle, he covered his face and let out a long sigh. "You win this bet."

"I'm truly gratified that Old Mr. Luo can be so candid."

Xu Shi chuckled, unsurprised by this outcome.

"Now... can you tell me?"

Luo Zhikang seemed to age several years in an instant, but he still urged impatiently.

"Of course."

Xu Shi nodded. "However... I'll need Old Mr. Luo to give me something in exchange."

"Hmm? What do you want?"

Luo Zhikang gritted his teeth. "If you want my life, at least let me... die knowing."

"Don't joke, it's not difficult for me to kill you,"

Xu Shi smiled and waved his hand. "And your life, to be honest, is worthless to me."

"Then..."

"If I recall correctly, before "Tianhe" was destroyed, it was preparing to launch a plan called "Overlimit."

"And as its chief designer, you should possess the relevant research data, right?"