September 1978, Dusseldorf, Country D.
The early morning mist had yet to dissipate, but the smokestacks of the local steel mill, the largest in the area, were already billowing thick white smoke.
Xu Weidong stood before a glass window in the viewing gallery, his fingers unconsciously tightening their grip on his notebook as he gazed down at the roaring continuous casting production line below.
Molten steel surged through giant molds like a fiery red dragon, eventually cooling into neat steel billets.
The robotic arms on the production line grabbed, flipped, and stacked with precision. Every movement was as if it had been precisely calculated, without a single wasted pause.
"Our secret isn't the machines, but standardization."
The accompanying engineer from Country D, Hans, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone filled with unconcealed pride. "From steelmaking to rolling, the temperature, time, and composition of every stage must be accurate to two decimal places."
