Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Watching the three hooligans leave, Lin Heping sighed helplessly, "Xiaoyang, aren't you going a bit too far doing this?"

"Brother Lin, the northwest wind blows here year-round. The toxic exhaust from the steel mill's chimneys is blown to the capital. Breathing it in can easily cause respiratory illnesses. This area shouldn't have such smoky factories built in the first place. I'm doing this so the people of the capital can breathe fresh air. Besides, what did I do? I only said the stuff inside could be sold for money! Did I tell them to steal it for me?"

In this day and age, no one has any environmental awareness. Qin Yang's serious attitude and seemingly well-intentioned concern for others left Lin Heping speechless.

"If our instructor were here, he'd probably report your behavior and give you half a month of ideological education." Lin Heping finally shook his head helplessly. "However, what you've done has nothing to do with my job. I'll just pretend nothing happened."

Faced with Qin Yang's shenanigans, Lin Heping chose to ignore them. How does that saying go? He who eats another's food is obliged to him; he who takes another's gift is at his command!

The high-powered sniper rifle developed by Factory 960 was too tempting for Lin Heping. Qin Yang had also promised them ten of them. Even just for the sake of those guns, he had to let Qin Yang run wild.

Moreover, Qin Yang wasn't deliberately trying to be malicious; he was just taking advantage of the situation.

In the afternoon, the 212 jeep returned, and the two of them got in, seeing Zhou Yongfei looking displeased.

"In the past two years, many workers in the capital have become more financially comfortable. They've started burning coal for heating in the winter. These cast iron stoves specifically for burning coal are in short supply. The Capital Steel Mill doesn't have any spare capacity, so last winter, they simply utilized this Shahe Steel Mill. Anyway, it's just sitting idle. Alas, we should have acted a year earlier!"

"It's okay, Factory Director Zhou. When one side is dark, the other is bright. We can find other places," Qin Yang said. "Just consider today a sightseeing trip."

Zhou Yongfei glanced at Qin Yang meaningfully. Indeed, Qin Yang really was out sightseeing. He hunted and even ate a meal on the spot. This young man really knows how to enjoy life!

Lin Heping didn't say anything, just looked out the car window. When he saw the Huilongguan Scrap Metal Recycling Station by the roadside, he couldn't help but widen his eyes. "That scrap metal recycling station is next to the police station?"

"That's right. The director of that police station is called Wang Gang," Qin Yang said.

A chill ran down Lin Heping's spine. Qin Yang was meticulous in his actions. Those three hooligans would probably be locked up for a few years now.

As night fell, the car had already entered the deep mountains. Qin Yang looked back and saw darkness behind them. It seemed there was a power outage tonight.

"The suburbs of the capital actually have power outages at night," Qin Yang said with a sigh. "The ironworks has to restart the blast furnace every day. That's quite troublesome."

Blast furnaces for ironmaking operate continuously, with materials added at the top and molten iron and slag discharged at the bottom. It's a continuous process. If the furnace is shut down every day and restarted the next day, it would be very troublesome.

"The suburbs of the capital have rotating power outages, usually about once a week. Tonight, it should be this area's turn," the driver, who traveled around a lot, was familiar with the situation here and introduced it while driving.

The night grew darker and darker. Several figures appeared near the transformer. They looked around furtively, then looked at the transformer between several utility poles.

"What are we doing?"

"Doing it! This one job can earn us several hundred yuan," the man in the floral shirt said. "In this day and age, the bold get rich, and the timid starve. It just so happens that there's a power outage now. This is God giving us a chance to make a fortune!"

The three men climbed up and got busy. Following the plan Qin Yang had pointed out, they deftly opened the top cover of the transformer and lifted out the coil inside.

"Let's also cut several hundred meters of wire!"

Two hours later, three bicycles sped along the road. Each bicycle had a fertilizer bag tied to either side of the rear seat. The contents inside would occasionally poke out, revealing strands of red copper or aluminum wire.

"Gang-ge even told us to bring a sledgehammer. It's really useful. It makes it easier for us to flatten the copper and aluminum wires so we can put them in the bags," one of the men in white shirts said. "Otherwise, it really wouldn't be convenient for us to take them away."

"One hundred jin of red copper and two hundred jin of aluminum. We've struck it rich this time! We can sell it for five or six hundred yuan!" another white-shirted man said.

In this era, bicycles could be used like cars, easily carrying a hundred jin of goods each. They weren't even afraid of riding uphill. Thinking about the money they could get, they were full of energy.

Just as the east revealed a hint of dawn, the men arrived at the Huilongguan Scrap Metal Recycling Station.

"Hey, is anyone there?"

"We don't start work until eight o'clock. What are you shouting for?" The old gatekeeper came out yawning, very dissatisfied.

"We're looking for Gang-ge. He told us to come here."

"Which Gang-ge?"

"Wang Gang, the one who specializes in buying scrap copper and aluminum," the floral-shirted man whispered to the old man.

Scrap copper and aluminum? The old man looked at the things on the back of the men's bicycles and instantly understood. "Okay, go in and close the gate. I'll go call Wang Gang for you!"

The three bicycles entered the courtyard of the scrap metal recycling station. The old man closed the gate and scurried off to the nearby police station.

The sun slowly rose into the sky. Fan Gui, the director of the Shahe Ironworks, arrived for work.

Having a power outage once a week was a good opportunity to rest and inspect the equipment. This frequency was just right and didn't affect them much.

But today was a bit strange. The workers were idle in groups of twos and threes, not starting to work!

"Factory Director Fan, the power hasn't come back yet. We can't start work."

"What? Call and ask!"

"We just called. They said they've already sent the power."

In this era, power outages were caused by the heavy load from households turning on their lights at night. Usually, the power would come back on after twelve o'clock. Now it was already dawn, and the power hadn't been restored, which was strange in itself.

"Not good! Quick, find someone to check along the power lines!"

They were originally using the existing equipment here for production. Now that the transformer and power lines had been stolen, how could they produce anything? Re-purchase them? How much would that cost? Relying on producing iron stoves alone, they wouldn't be able to break even in a year or two! Moreover, it was summer now, demand was low, and the large number of stoves produced were still idle. They were probably already enough to supply the use for this winter.

Ding-a-ling! Just then, the office phone rang. Fan Gui picked up the phone and was overjoyed after hearing what was said inside. "That's right, we did lose a transformer and several hundred meters of power lines here. Thank you to the police comrades at Huilongguan for helping us solve the case. Can you return those stolen goods to us?"

"What? They've already become scrap copper and iron and can't be used again?"