Chapter 9: No More Pretending, Time to Come Clean

"A firing squad might be an exaggeration."

Zhang Mingrui waved his hand, momentarily at a loss for words. To be fair, this kid had some tricks up his sleeve. Upon learning his true identity, the young man hadn't panicked in the slightest. He parried every question with ease, throwing in jokes and banter. His wit was far beyond that of a twenty-something amateur. When faced with the test proposed to him, he hadn't hesitated for a second, accepting it with grace as if he held all the winning cards.

Honestly, a young man his age would usually be too terrified to speak if two military officers showed up to investigate. Liu Yuan also realized that this kid was no pushover. He pulled his superior out of the repair shop.

"Department Chief Zhang, let's just hand him over to the secrecy department."

Zhang Mingrui pulled out a cigarette. "Do you think he can't fix this engine?"

"Of course," Liu Yuan replied, taking the cigarette. "The main thing is his attitude; his emotional intelligence doesn't match his demeanor."

"Hmm, but we have to give him a chance. What if he really is a genius?" Zhang Mingrui offered his lighter.

They both knew that without original blueprints or mechanical assistance, repairing this engine was impossible. But Zhang Mingrui wanted to see what Wei Xiu was really up to. Three hours wasn't a long time; they could afford the wait.

"Also," Zhang added, "I've already had the secrecy department check his background. We’ll know what he's made of soon enough."

Hearing that his superior had a backup plan, Liu Yuan felt relieved. "True! Not fixing the engine is one thing, but he restored a Type 59 tank a couple of days ago—that’s an entirely different matter. I suspect he has leaked blueprints of the Type 59."

Liu Yuan’s thinking was simple. Restoring a Type 59 single-handedly was impossible. But if he had a team, it was a different story. There had been many similar cases of classified weapons blueprints being leaked, with spies obtaining secrets through various channels and passing them to foreign powers. If Wei Xiu was that kind of person, Liu Yuan felt he might even be in line for a second-class merit award.

For now, they just had to wait. If Wei Xiu couldn't figure out that engine, his suspicion rating would be 75%. If the background check turned up anything, it would be 100%!

...

Two hours later.

*Buzz, buzz, buzz...*

Zhang Mingrui’s phone vibrated incessantly. He glanced at Wei Xiu, then gave Liu Yuan a subtle look. The two stepped out of the shop once more.

"This is Zhang Mingrui. Speak."

"..."

"Are you sure?"

"..."

"Alright, I understand."

Hanging up, Zhang Mingrui looked at Liu Yuan, his eyes filled with confusion. "The secrecy department checked. After graduating from vocational college, Wei Xiu has just been running this repair shop. His social circle is clean, and his reputation is excellent."

Liu Yuan was skeptical. "Not even a hint of suspicion?"

"No. We pulled all his records; nothing suspicious was found."

At this point, both men fell silent. The reason was simple: the theater’s secrecy department was no ordinary office. Their methods were extraordinary. If they were willing to investigate, anything shady would definitely be uncovered.

"Impossible, right?" Liu Yuan glanced back. "Could he really be a mechanical genius?"

Zhang Mingrui clicked his tongue. "Unlikely. If he were a genius, he would have realized by now."

"Realized what?"

"I didn't give him a Type 59-1 engine."

Hearing this, Liu Yuan looked back into the shop. Indeed! Even a master sergeant of Liu Yuan’s caliber was suddenly enlightened. That was a 12150L-7 diesel engine, the kind used in the 59D model. The engine for the 59-1 should have been the 12150L. While the names and exteriors were similar, their internal structures were vastly different.

Liu Yuan’s eyes widened. "The 12150L-7 has upgraded turbo-intercooling technology, and the crankshaft material is different. He’s been working on it for so long, and he still hasn't noticed?"

"Exactly. If he were a genius, he would have pointed it out long ago."

Zhang Mingrui was a man with a mind as complex as a hornet's nest. He had intentionally given Wei Xiu an upgraded engine to test his mettle. Since he had supposedly restored a Type 59 before, he should have spotted the difference. Yet, the reality was that not only had he failed to notice, he had been sweating over it for two hours. A true genius wouldn't just solve the problem; they would point out the errors in the test itself. Wei Xiu was clearly not that. He looked more like a failing student blindly guessing at a wrong test paper.

Liu Yuan realized the situation was not simple. "But the background check came up clean. That’s a contradiction..."

Before he could finish, Wei Xiu’s head poked out from the shop. "Chief, there’s a small problem."

Zhang Mingrui immediately regained his composure, hiding his emotions perfectly. "What is it?"

"Can you help me find some nitrided steel?"

Zhang Mingrui’s heart skipped a beat. "What do you need nitrided steel for?"

"Because the crankshaft is made of nitrided steel; it has a high fatigue limit."

!!!

Zhang Mingrui couldn't hold it together anymore. He looked back at Liu Yuan.

Old Liu was equally dumbfounded. "You knew the engine model all along?"

Wei Xiu nodded as if it were obvious. "Yeah, it's a 12150L-7, right? It uses 38CrMoAl nitrided steel for the crankshaft, which has a 40% higher fatigue limit. Turbo-intercooled, 580 horsepower. It’s even got an upgraded split radiator with a water-to-oil cooling surface ratio of 1:0.8. The hydraulic motor fan has been changed, too..."

Zhang Mingrui: "..."

Liu Yuan: "..."

Wait, had he known the whole time?

Zhang Mingrui was completely floored. He had intended to test Wei Xiu, acting as the examiner, but now Wei Xiu had turned the tables on him.

"You knew this wasn't a 59-1 engine, and you agreed to fix it anyway?"

Wei Xiu curled his lips, deciding to put on a show. "I can fix 59D engines, too. 59-2, 59-2A, 59-125, 59P... I can fix them all."

Zhang Mingrui’s eyes widened to the size of goose eggs: ???

So the guy knew it was the wrong engine all along? Was he the one playing the fool?

Even more terrifying was that Wei Xiu hadn't just seen through Zhang Mingrui’s little scheme; he had accurately recited the detailed parameters of the 12150L-7. He even knew the fatigue limit of the nitrided steel by heart.

Wei Xiu led them back into the shop and knocked on the engine casing. "Only the crankshaft left to install. If you don't have nitrided steel, I’ll just use a standard material. It’ll function the same; it’ll just be slightly less durable."

Seeing the two men standing there in silence, eyes wide as saucers, Wei Xiu knew he had nailed the performance. Without hesitation, he installed the standard crankshaft, closed the cover, added diesel, and ignited the spark plug.

*Put-put-put-put-put!*

The deafening roar of the engine echoed throughout the street. Zhang Mingrui and Liu Yuan were starting to question reality. Not only had he fixed the engine, but he had also dodged the trap Zhang Mingrui had set. Putting aside everything else, even if you gave a master sergeant like Liu Yuan three hours, he wouldn't have been able to fix that engine.

At this point, Zhang Mingrui was completely won over. "Little comrade, what kind of work did you do before?"

"I told you, I have a system."

Zhang Mingrui: "Stop joking. I'm being serious—your level is national treasure material."

Wei Xiu pouted, thinking to himself that he had practically ripped his heart out to show them, and they still didn't believe him. Since they wouldn't believe the truth, he would just have to show off again.

"Fine, I'll come clean. I'm a genius."