The News Reached the Imperial Capital!

China, Imperial Capital.

For thousands of years, gold had always been the primary color of this ancient city. Apart from the towering imperial city, there were many secret, little-known high-walled compounds scattered throughout every corner of Sijiu City. Together, they formed China's most powerful center of authority.

Wu Dongming was one of those within the high walls. He was just over fifty, still in his prime, and eager to achieve something in his position so that he could advance one more step before retirement.

Early that morning, he received a call from his old classmate Qin Yongbo, along with news that greatly shocked him.

"A Quick-Dry Index of 7.2? How could it be that high?" Wu Dongming's eyes immediately lit up after hearing it.

Although he had left academia for officialdom long ago, his foundation remained. He knew very well what it meant for the Quick-Dry Index to reach single digits.

The so-called Quick-Dry Index was based on a complex set of calculations. Put simply, the lower the index, the faster clothing dried.

Suppose you went to play basketball and ended up drenched in foul-smelling sweat. If a pure cotton T-shirt needed one hundred minutes to dry, then DuPont Company's COOLMAX fabric needed only twenty minutes, while Gao Yuan's High-Tech Quick-Dry Fabric had achieved an astonishing 7.2 minutes.

Quick-dry fabric had an extremely wide range of uses.

As everyone knew, some Indian soldiers had once ignored our well-intentioned warnings and insisted on swimming in Pangong Lake. As a result, their soaked bodies were invaded by the freezing highland air, and they were actually frozen to death alive.

If the clothing worn by those Indian soldiers had used the High-Tech Quick-Dry Fabric developed by Gao Yuan and could dry 13.88 times faster than pure cotton, perhaps they would not have died so miserably, causing the Indian Army to lose face before the entire world and become an international joke.

This showed that food, clothing, housing, and transportation were not only the foundations of ordinary people's survival, but also a country's core competitiveness.

In 2400 BC, humanity began using cotton to make fishing nets and clothing. Today, high-performance chemical fibers replacing ancient cotton and linen and becoming future-facing black technology was an unstoppable historical trend.

It was not that cotton and linen were bad. It was simply that the environment in which humanity lived had changed.

We still lived on land now, but in the future, we might live beneath the sea, immigrate to Mars, or even live in more distant reaches of the universe. Cotton and linen clearly could not withstand the darkness and cold of space.

Qin Yongbo spoke excitedly from the other end of the phone. "It's not that simple. The chemical fiber used in the samples provided by Kunlun Factory isn't any known product on the market. It's something entirely new, something we've never seen before!"

"You've never seen it before!?" Wu Dongming froze, then actually sprang straight out of his seat as his blood began to race.

Could it be that the obscure Kunlun Textile Fabric Factory had invented an entirely new chemical fiber with incredibly powerful performance!?

Chemical fiber was the foundation of everything. For example, Kevlar, the material used to make bulletproof vests, originated from Aramid Fiber, while soft and comfortable Lycra fabric originated from Spandex Fiber.

In short, the invention of an entirely new chemical fiber often held limitless possibilities.

This time, Gao Yuan had only used it to make some quick-dry fabric, but after further research, it might even be improved into a super bulletproof vest stronger than Kevlar.

At this point, Wu Dongming completely understood that Qin Yongbo had called him so early in the morning not because of the Quick-Dry Index itself.

It was because a new type of chemical fiber that could very likely change history had suddenly emerged in the south of the motherland!

"We're old friends. Just say it—what do you need me to do?" After thinking it through, Wu Dongming displayed the decisiveness expected of someone in authority and asked directly.

"You animal! What are you doing here!?"

When Uncle Liu, the gatekeeper, told Gao Yuan that Cao Feiyu had come to the factory looking for him, Gao Yuan did not believe it at first, because he knew Cao Feiyu had a decent job in Hangzhou.

But when he ran outside and saw for himself, he was instantly stunned.

Who else could the man before him be but Cao Feiyu?

Gentle and refined, he wore a pristine white shirt, light gray dress pants, and black calfskin shoes polished to a gleam. The contrast with Gao Yuan, who was wearing athletic shorts, could not have been sharper.

Cao Feiyu smiled faintly. "I told you, if I ever couldn't make it anymore, I'd come find you, you rich second-generation kid, and beg you to give me something to eat."

Gao Yuan laughed heartily. "We're brothers, so quit joking around. Why did you really come back?"

Cao Feiyu shrugged lightly. "I already heard about your father. I figured you probably needed help right now, so I resigned."

Ah...

Gao Yuan sighed deeply. For a moment, he did not know what to say. He silently walked toward the factory with Cao Feiyu.

It was strange when he thought about it. For many years, he and Cao Feiyu had done nearly everything together. They attended middle school together, then high school together. They chased girls they liked together, and after getting dumped, they squatted by the roadside drinking their sorrows away. When they drank too much, they threw up together.

It was only after entering university that Gao Yuan wholeheartedly wanted to study computers, while Cao Feiyu had absolutely no interest in computers and chose accounting instead.

After graduating, Gao Yuan was determined to make his way in a big city, while Cao Feiyu had no real concept of things like work or prospects. He thought the scenery around West Lake was quite nice, so he went to Hangzhou too. The two rented a place together and looked for jobs together.

To be honest, there were countless childhood friends in this world, but childhood friends who could stay close to this extent were truly one in ten thousand.

"Why are you sighing? Afraid you can't afford my salary?" Cao Feiyu said blandly, both hands tucked into his pockets. "I'm very expensive, you know. But since we're brothers, I'll let you delay it for a few months."

"You animal!" Moved, Gao Yuan gave Cao Feiyu a hard pat on the back. "As long as you're not afraid of hardship, there's plenty of work for you. The accountant and cashier both resigned, so help me manage the books first. I can't even make sense of the factory's balance sheet right now. My head's a complete mess."

Outsiders would have found it hard to imagine that the gentle and refined-looking Cao Feiyu had the nickname "animal." It was also one of the secrets shared between the two of them.

"There isn't even an accountant left? It's that bad? Then how many people are still in the factory?" Cao Feiyu asked.

Gao Yuan shook his head. "I don't know either. People come every day demanding their wages. I had Uncle Liu turn them away and give them all the same answer: accounts will be settled on the tenth of next month."

"You're too green. Your words don't carry weight," Cao Feiyu said with a sigh. "In the end, you're not your father. Everyone trusted your father, but they might not trust you. The factory has been shut down for so long, and it's only natural that everyone has gone their separate ways. You can't blame them."

"I know. I'm not blaming them either." Gao Yuan looked helpless. "Right now, I'm just waiting for the chemical fiber laboratory's report and the patent registration results."

"Once the report and patent come through, I'll use those two things as collateral at the bank, or contact venture capital firms. I'll get some startup funds from them and get the factory running again first."

Gao Yuan was still very confident in his plan. After all, it was a high-tech chemical fiber material provided by the system. Surely it could secure a few million in loans?

Cao Feiyu was puzzled. He knew nothing about the quick-dry fabric and was about to ask for details when Uncle Liu called again from the gate.

"Young Boss Gao, hurry and come take a look! A lot of people have arrived at the gate. They look like they're from the Officials, and they want to see you," Uncle Liu said nervously over the phone.

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