The news of the temporary closure of Huatong Technology's first factory, which boasted the most abundant production capacity apart from the headquarters, quickly spread across the entire internet.
The existing trolls, haters, and keyboard warriors who were already targeting Meng Hao and Huatong Technology went into a frenzy.
Suddenly.
Rumors ran rampant.
Some claimed Huatong Technology had fallen out with the Great Xia government.
Others alleged Huatong Technology was indeed a military enterprise, but had been abandoned.
There were even rumors that Huatong Technology was about to pay 1.5 billion in compensation, and the company's collapse was imminent.
These groundless rumors, accompanied by the temporary closure of Huatong Technology's first factory, suddenly seemed incredibly real.
Of course.
Bad news never comes alone!
As the incidents of Huatong Technology's mechs causing fatalities continued to ferment overseas.
The export volume of the Phantom mechs plummeted.
Moreover.
Abroad.
Negative news targeting Huatong Technology was even more prevalent than domestically.
The mech concept proposed by Huatong Technology had opened up overseas markets, creating a market worth at least 30 billion US dollars annually.
As a subdivision of the technology sector.
An annual total of 30 billion was already a substantial figure.
However.
With Huatong Technology's withdrawal from the overseas market.
Numerous tech companies were already stirring, intending to fill this market void. For example, the new energy vehicle giant, the American tech company, Tesla.
...
When it rains, it pours.
Just as various rumors began to circulate overseas regarding the mechs produced by Huatong Technology.
Stronger sanctions against Huatong Technology followed in succession.
Western nations jointly issued a statement boycotting Huatong Technology's lithography machines.
The reason given was that the lithography machine technology developed by Great Xia had been entirely plagiarized from the four lithography machines purchased from Hawaii City.
This utterly infuriated Meng Hao.
Didn't these overseas commercial entities know?
When those four lithography machines arrived in Great Xia, they were completely empty shells.
This was utterly shameless.
They were actually claiming that Meng Hao had plagiarized the core technology from four empty lithography machine shells.
And as punishment for "Huatong Technology plagiarizing lithography machine technology."
Western nations jointly declared.
Any individual or group that dared to provide rare earth or controlled resources to Huatong Technology would have their US dollar settlement terminated.
Undeniably.
The US dollar indeed possessed global financial hegemony and a monopolistic position.
This was one of the fundamental weapons the United States continuously used to sanction various countries and organizations.
Terminating US dollar settlement.
This was equivalent to being kicked out of the entire global trading system.
The destructive power of this move was something even the Soviet Union and Great Xia would have to consider carefully.
And, it wasn't just targeting lithography machines.
Even resources like lithium, nickel, and cobalt were prohibited from being traded with Huatong Technology.
This.
Struck at the very foundation of Huatong Technology.
After all.
Huatong Technology's current flagship products and cash cows were its headquarters factory and branch factories that produced mechs.
And before the adoption of nuclear power.
Mechs required lithium-nickel-cobalt composite high-energy batteries as their power source.
Even the export of resources like lithium, nickel, and cobalt to Huatong Technology was being disallowed.
This was an attempt to fundamentally stifle Meng Hao's Huatong Technology.
...
Almost simultaneously with the announcement of sanctions against Meng Hao and Huatong Technology.
Tesla suddenly announced its high-profile entry into the mech field.
Clearly.
Behind this series of maneuvers stood multiple American and Western European companies, including Tesla.
Clearly.
Suppression and squeezing Meng Hao out was one matter.
Another matter.
Was their covetous gaze upon the annual 30 billion US dollar market that Meng Hao's mech concept had generated.
Converted, this was a market worth over two hundred billion Great Xia Yuan.
This was also a common tactic employed by many American companies, including Tesla.
First, smear you.
Then, openly step forward with some grand excuse or reason, positioning themselves on a moral high ground to condemn you.
Finally, declare that they have superior products that can replace yours.
Damn it.
This kind of hypocritical behavior.
Was being played out with extreme smoothness.
As expected.
Tesla took advantage of the void in the overseas mech market and released its first mech.
And their slogan was—
"Safer than Safe!"
Without a doubt.
This was definitely targeting Meng Hao's Huatong Technology.
The implication was.
That Huatong Technology's mechs were extremely unsafe.
And Tesla's mechs possessed the same safety performance as their company's new energy vehicles.
Meng Hao, sitting in front of his computer.
Coldly scanned Tesla's new power mech, which claimed to be "safer than safe"—the Tesling mech.
To be honest.
From an external perspective.
It bore little difference from the Phantom mech.
This was outright plagiarism, naked copying.
It could even be said that Tesla's CEO's intention was to use this deceptive mech to attack Huatong Technology's Phantom mech, which they had already slandered in the overseas market.
As for the mech's relevant data.
Even theoretical data on paper was significantly inferior to the Phantom mech.
In fact.
Many of the technical parameters of the external shell core components were extremely similar to the Phantom mech.
Kinetic energy transmission system, active reaction system of the outer shell, mech scanning system…
Damn it.
In these aspects, it couldn't be said to be merely similar to the Phantom mech… it was exactly the same.
This so-called self-developed mech by Tesla was actually a shoddy imitation of the Phantom mech.
"I've seen shameless people, but never this shameless."
"Tesla, is it?"
"How dare you backstab me like this."
"You'd better pray that Huatong Technology is completely blocked this time… otherwise, I'll destroy you!"
...
Just as Meng Hao was at a loss.
A phone call came in.
From the Soviet Union.
Major General Gudeyev?
This old Russian hadn't been in contact for a while.
"Oh, my dear Meng!"
"It's been a long time, how are you!"
Meng Hao rolled his eyes.
This old Russian was as optimistic as ever.
"Not so good."
"Targeted by the US."
"How have you been lately?"
Meng Hao spoke the truth.
"Wow, worthy of being Meng, you're amazing."
"Fighting the entire US research community single-handedly."
"My heavens! What the US is doing is too shameless."
After a burst of exclamations.
Gudeyev, this old Russian, continued in a smug and arrogant tone.
"My dear Meng."
"Hurry and congratulate me."
"I've been promoted to Lieutenant General… My God, without your help, I might have had to retire and go fish in the Black Sea in a few years!"
Uh!
Did this old Russian call just to show off his promotion?
How truly boring.
"Alright, congratulations!"
"However, my dear Lieutenant General, do you think it's a bit impolite to flaunt your success in front of me at this moment?"
Meng Hao said calmly.