Chapter 310: The Prime Culprit Behind the Disappearance of the Amazon Rainforest

Words : 1704 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

"I’m sorry, it was my mistake, it was I who bought in, causing King Ning to fall from its pedestal." A lifeless trajectory on the trading floor continued until the close of trading at three o’clock in the afternoon. The stock plummeted by 10.05%, ending at a closing price of 54.23 yuan, with a market value of 94.634 billion. King Ning Calendar existed only for two hours, Ningde Era joined and then left the hundred billion club in just a day and a half. "Let it fall, let it fall even more." Lu Liang withdrew his gaze; regardless of his personal or fund holdings, all his stocks were in a locked state. Now, rises and falls didn’t concern him. The greater the fall, the better, after all, last year Ningde Era had total revenue of only 18.9 billion yuan and a profit of 4.3 billion yuan – they didn’t deserve such a high market valuation. Lu Liang turned his attention to the car models on his desk, a total of 13 models, 8 sedans and 5 SUVs. From over a thousand drawings, he finally chose 13 to be made into car models using 3D printing. Lu Liang rubbed his head, suddenly conflicted. Wang Xiaofeng had asked him to pick two models from each category to customize the car shells and then proceed with chassis tuning, and various tests for safety and aerodynamic drag. Lu Liang felt that they were all decent; the designs were quite attractive. His initial thought was to launch all of them at once. But before he could voice this idea, it was already shot down by Wang Xiaofeng; their team was not able to simultaneously test that many cars. Two sedans and two SUVs were already the limit, and even during subsequent research and development, it was necessary to distinguish between the primary and secondary models. After much thought and unable to make a choice, Lu Liang decisively picked up the desk phone: "Yifan, find me ten men and ten women aged 25-30 from the company, and have them come to my office." He intended to price the first car model at around 300,000 yuan, targeting a consumer base that was somewhat affluent and included younger professionals. Instead of racking his brain, it was better to go directly to the consumers – and it just so happened that the company was full of these young professionals. In less than ten minutes, Zhuo Yifan led 20 people into the room, among them was Chen Jinchun. She grinned at Lu Liang. Although she wasn’t exactly qualified by age, by status she was the company’s employee number 003, managing the Douyin account with millions of followers. Zhuo Yifan offered a wry smile; even as Lu Liang’s secretary, he was ranked outside the top hundred in employee numbers. He didn’t dare mess with the big sister of employee number 003. Lu Liang chuckled: "Yifan, close the door. Jinchun, collect all the communication devices from everyone." "Yes, Mr. Lu," Chen Jinchun was excited, as she collected colleagues’ phones and smartwatches with a small basket. "You have two hours to score these model cars, mentioning at least two strengths and two weaknesses from a design perspective." Lu Liang had Zhuo Yifan distribute an A4 sheet to everyone and glanced at his watch: "It’s now twenty past three, the timing starts now." Having said that, everyone began to circle the display tables, occasionally picking up the model cars to inspect them closely and jotting down notes. Each of them showed excitement; barring any surprises, their decisions would determine Tianxing Technology’s first car model. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, 25-30-year-olds who had just recently entered society. This was their most direct interaction with Lu Liang and possibly an opportunity to make a good impression on the boss. Chen Jinchun’s status was extraordinary; though she only graduated from a second-tier college, in the company, she encountered almost no obstacles. To a large extent, this was because she and Tang Caide were among the batch interviewed and personally recruited by Lu Liang. It was also because of this connection that before the company registered a Douyin account, there were times when Chen Jinchun had trouble keeping up with the company’s pace. Lu Liang had sustained her, giving her opportunities and time, allowing her to gradually find her role in the company until she became the company’s ambassador to the public. For the rest of the hundreds of employees that followed, only ’close ministers’ like Sun Yutao, Zhang Jing, Wen Chaozhuo, and Zhuo Yifan received the privilege of being personally interviewed. Most of the others may have been at the company for over a year, and Lu Liang might not even remember their names. If the boss can’t remember your name, Promotions and salary increases are naturally out of reach. They treasured this opportunity and dared not be careless. Lu Liang was contented, sipping his tea, scrolling through Douyin. Rather than agonizing over it himself, it was better to let others do the agonizing, in the end choosing the few models with the highest composite scores was the way to go. But to his surprise, the two models he was quite optimistic about did not make it into the top four. The criticisms were almost unanimous, the lines of the models were too sharply defined, a bit too ostentatious. "Yifan, Jinchun, stay back for a moment." Doubting himself, Lu Liang called them over and brought out his two favorite models, "Are these two cars really that flamboyant?" Zhuo Yifan hemmed and hawed, reluctant to say, "Uh... Mr. Lu, actually, it’s not too bad." Chen Jinchun blurted out without thinking, "Definitely flamboyant, like the ghost fires of the automobile world." "Ghost fires?" A surge of anger rose in Lu Liang’s chest as he looked at the bewildered Chen Jinchun and waved his hand with a bitter smile, "Go on, get out." He called in another 20 employees to re-evaluate. Lu Liang’s two most favored cars were consistently in the lower-middle range of the scores, sometimes not even passing the threshold. Looking at a pile of evaluation reports, he selected the four with the highest combined scores and sent them to Wang Xiaofeng, sighing to the heavens, "I’m getting old, can’t keep up with the times." ... On Wednesday, Ningde Era’s stock hit its limit down, suspecting that speculative funds had entered, attacking the hundred billion market value once again. But Lu Liang had lost the desire to pay attention, for April was ending and the data for the first quarter were rolling in. This April, Weima launched the EX5, NIO the ES8, Wuling the Kaijie, Li Xiang the ONE, Xiao Peng Car the G3, BYD the Tang, along with Tesla continuously upping production. Different forces took turns in the spotlight, one after another, with new product launches every few days. Stimulated by various brands, more and more people were choosing electric vehicles, becoming new energy vehicle owners. Especially taxis on the road, at least three out of ten had switched to new energy. For drivers earning from this trend, looks or functionalities were secondary, saving money was key. The running cost of BYD Qin was less than 0.1 yuan per kilometer, making it the godlike choice for taxi drivers. The data for the first quarter was quite brilliant too, total sales of new energy vehicles reached 330,000 units, a 91% increase year over year, with the potential to break through 1.2 million for the annual total. Thus, ’Lu’s algorithm’ trended hotly. During the Ningde Era roadshow, Lu Liang had said, last year 600,000, this year 1,200,000, next year 2,400,000. S~eaʀᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Setting aside whether next year’s 2,400,000 can be met, there’s a good chance this year’s 1,200,000 will be achieved. Just entering May, and the golden September and silver October of the car industry had not yet arrived, that’s when a surge in sales was expected. Now joint venture car companies, domestic car manufacturers, and imported car enterprises were all getting anxious. Last year, the total sales volume of fuel vehicles was 23.59 million. In just the second year of new energy vehicles’ formal development, they were poised to take a 5% market share. What’s more, in a few more cycles, all bets would be off. Beiqi Group was first into the fray, establishing the new energy subsidiary brand Jihu, signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Xiaomi to empower Jihu. Guangqi Group followed suit, setting up its new energy subsidiary brand Aion, even though they had also supported Xiao Peng Car. But Xiao Peng Car, after all, was not their own offspring, not as endearing, and even sought to outsource to Haima, practically emblazoning disloyalty on their foreheads. Luxury brands like BBA quickly joined in, announcing plans to launch their own hybrid or pure electric models. BMW said by 2027, the Munich factory would cease the production of fuel vehicles, switching entirely to electric vehicles. Mercedes claimed that by 2030, 50% of the models they sell would be electric vehicles. Audi stated that by 2033, it would stop the production of existing fuel vehicles, and by 2050, it would be fully electric. They were very averse to joining the new energy movement since BBA were undoubted kings in the realm of fuel vehicles, but entering new energy meant starting from scratch, losing the advantage of internal combustion engines. But they had no choice, for Zhong performed a magic attack on them, raising high the flag of carbon neutrality and environmentalism. If they didn’t follow suit or agree, at best they would be seen as environmentally unfriendly, at worst, the culprits behind the Amazon rainforest’s disappearance. Political correctness wasn’t very popular in East Country, but was already becoming a trend in the West, and BMW and Mercedes had paid hefty fines as a result. Zhong had also learned the spell, so even if they didn’t wish to follow, they had no choice but to hold their noses and join the wave of new energy.

Chapter 310: The Prime Culprit Behind the Disappearance of the Amazon Rainforest

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