596: The true situation of Project No. 3

Within three days, the project approval documents for "project number three" were officially issued, and several top-tier mining fleets traveled day and night, rushing to the Star Domain to begin work.

Yet who could have imagined that such a lucrative and profitable project would end up as a complete mess.

Speaking of this, that Galaxy Speaker couldn't help but sigh heavily, their voice filled with a hint of resentment.

As for what Comrade Zhou Ren said earlier about energy leaks and such, it was all fake. Through rumors, many people knew that the Ministry of Energy was struggling due to a massive investment deficit at the time. To quickly fill that enormous hole and produce impressive figures for their performance evaluations, the upper management of the Ministry of Energy had forcibly set a "double production capacity" target for project number three.

To achieve this goal, they completely disregarded mining regulations and the stability thresholds of the Asteroid Belt, ordering the mining fleets to operate at overload without pause.

Even more absurdly, many critical procedures involving monitoring and safety protection were forced through by upper management with a single word, without even completing the signing and approval stages.

Such predatory mining that drained the pond to catch the fish brought about dire consequences faster than anyone had anticipated.

Sure enough, the structure of the Asteroid Belt became completely unbalanced, and large-scale fractures occurred in many places.

project number three was urgently ordered to cease all operations for rectification, but this stoppage only widened the already existing deficit. After this incident, massive compensation payments and project abandonment costs were added, making the hole even larger—so large that the people in the Ministry of Energy were frantic, and could only think of scraping energy from the shares of each subordinate Galaxy to fill it.

Li Yang listened to these words, his eyes darkening, and he already understood most of the situation.

Today's game over the profit-sharing ratios was simply a scapegoat that the Ministry of Energy was throwing onto the various Galaxies to shift their crisis.

"Good heavens!"

After hearing this, Li Yang couldn't help but curse under his breath, slamming his palm heavily onto the table, causing the water cup beside him to sway gently and splash a few drops of water from the rim.

The coldness in his eyes almost solidified, and his tone was full of undisguised sarcasm.

"They created this mess out of vanity and arrogance, causing a disaster, and now they turn around and want us subordinate Galaxies to clean up their mess? How can there be such a cheap deal in this world!"

With this, the last trace of hesitation in his mind completely vanished.

Not to mention just talking about changing the profit-sharing ratios; even if the Ministry of Energy offered even more tempting conditions, he would absolutely not give in.

To be honest, if this deficit were truly for the grand development plan of the Supercluster, such as exploring new Star Domains or building cross-Galaxy energy hubs—serious matters like that—even if it required each Galaxy to tighten their belts to share the pressure and increase profit-sharing ratios, Li Yang would not only refrain from opposing it, but would be the first to step forward and answer the call.

But the current matter was clearly a disaster sown by the Ministry of Energy's eagerness for quick success and their non-compliant operations; why should they, these Galaxies, have to foot the bill?

Meanwhile, at the end of the corridor outside the conference room, Comrade Zhou Ren stood with his back to the wall, his brows tightly locked as he stared at the lines of text on the light screen, his expression so gloomy it looked as if it could drip water.

Li Li quickly caught up, his steps extremely light, and leaned in to ask in a low voice.

"What happened? Why did you suddenly come out in the middle of such a perfectly fine meeting?"

Comrade Zhou Ren slowly put away the light screen, his voice remarkably hoarse.

"The person in charge of the aftermath of project number three just sent a message over."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of irrepressible fatigue and anxiety.

"The previously estimated repair window for the project is likely going to be extended by half."

"Extended by half?"

Li Li's pupils shrank, and he gasped, his voice rising a few notches before he hurriedly covered his mouth and lowered his volume.

"Then... then wouldn't this deficit be even larger?"

"Indeed."

Comrade Zhou Ren closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only imminent anxiety remained in his eyes.

"That's why, for today's meeting, I must find a way to get those Galaxy Speakers to give in and agree to increase the profit-sharing ratios. Otherwise, I really won't be able to fill this astronomical hole."

Listening to this, Li Li couldn't help but sigh slightly, his Face full of helplessness.

He reached out and patted Comrade Zhou Ren on the shoulder, his tone carrying a hint of admonition.

"Minister Zhou, you must be careful. That Li Yang is no pushover. Other Galaxy Speakers might fear our power to some extent, but he alone is impervious to both soft and hard tactics and is not afraid of our threats at all."

Li Li was clear-headed; if this hole really couldn't be filled and it was reported to those above, the first person to be held accountable would definitely be Minister Zhou, the Minister of Energy.

At that point, removal from office would be the lightest punishment; it might even lead to joint liability.

As for them, people from other departments, at most they would just receive a few criticisms or a demerit, which wouldn't hurt them at all.

Comrade Zhou Ren, however, seemed not to hear the concern in his words, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold, hard arc, his eyes full of indisputable dominance.

He sneered, his tone carrying a hint of the arrogance and conceit of someone in a superior position.

"Rest assured. No matter how unruly Li Yang is, at the end of the day, he is just a Galaxy Speaker of a subordinate Galaxy."

He looked up at the closed doors of the conference room, his gaze as sharp as a knife, and said word by word.

"Regardless of whether he is a Dragon or a Tiger, once he arrives on my turf, if he is a Dragon, he has to coil up for me, and if he is a Tiger, he has to crouch down for me!"

He didn't believe that he couldn't handle a mere Galaxy Speaker!

The conference room door was pushed open again, and Comrade Zhou Ren and his party walked in with somber expressions.

The originally noisy complaints were cut off as if someone had instantly choked their throats, stopping abruptly.

The Galaxy Speakers hurriedly restrained the resentment and impatience on their Faces, sitting up straight, their gazes subconsciously falling on Comrade Zhou Ren, and a sense of oppressive tension permeated the air again.

Comrade Zhou Ren walked to the head of the table and stood still, his gaze sweeping across the room, the corners of his mouth pulling into a formulaic smile, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Looking at this, everyone, comrades, you must have already discussed and reached a conclusion, right? I wonder what opinions you all have regarding the proposal put forward earlier?"

As soon as his voice fell, Li Yang stood up without hesitation.

His back was straight, his expression calm, his gaze fixed directly on Comrade Zhou Ren, his voice clear and resonant, every word striking like a hammer.

"Comrade Zhou Ren, our stance remains the same. This kind of major matter involving the core interests of all subordinate Galaxies is definitely not something that we few people can decide on. A full Galaxy Speaker assembly must be convened, where everyone can discuss and vote together to make the final determination."

Li Yang's words were neither servile nor overbearing, directly reiterating his previous stance without the slightest room for maneuver.

The smile on Comrade Zhou Ren's Face faded bit by bit, the gloom in his eyes thickening.

He had patiently sparred for so long, yet Li Yang remained completely impervious, not giving him a shred of Face. This refusal to yield to either soft or hard tactics finally exhausted his last bit of patience.