Chapter 189: The

Media headlines:

"Mech Accident Sounds Safety Alarm"

"The Price of Technological Speed"

"Civilian Mechs Emergency 'Brake'"

The comment section was also polarized:

"Sure enough, new technology is unreliable!"

"Accident after only a few months, and they still dare to promote it?"

"Are those above stupid? There were more accidents when cars were first invented; look at them now!"

"I just want to know who's responsible?"

"Must be the manufacturer! Design flaws!"

Feng Yan didn't avoid it.

At eight o'clock in the evening, he started a live stream.

No makeup, no teleprompter, just sitting in the institute's conference room, with the "Longyin" logo in the background.

"I am Feng Yan, I will take full responsibility for today's accident," his first sentence was very direct.

The number of people in the live stream instantly surged to thirty million.

"The preliminary investigation results of the accident are out: the construction site privately cracked the safety system, leading to a system logic deadlock during command conflict."

"But the root cause is that Longyin's design is not perfect enough."

He pulled up the accident analysis report, with key parts redacted, but the conclusion part clearly visible.

"We made a very serious mistake: we only assumed that users would use mechs under the premise of following the rules."

"But reality tells us that not everyone will follow the rules, so from today on, all civilian mech safety systems will undergo three very important safety upgrades."

"First, we will add a 'Deep Defense System'; even if the system is cracked, there is a physical fuse mechanism at the bottom layer, which will cut off power immediately upon detecting abnormal behavior."

"Second, update the conflict arbitration algorithm, no longer assuming the legitimacy of command sources, but conducting independent risk assessments for all commands."

"Third, establish a 'Blacklist' mechanism; any attempt to crack will result in the device being permanently locked, and the user will be added to the industry entry ban list."

He paused, looking at the camera: "Technological development will not be smooth sailing."

"We will also make mistakes and have problems. But what's important is how to change after making mistakes and how to solve problems after they appear."

"Today's accident did not cause major casualties, which is a blessing in misfortune. But it reminds us: safety is always the top priority."

"In the face of safety, efficiency, cost, and schedule must all give way."

The live stream lasted only forty minutes, and by the time it ended, the bullet comments were already going crazy.

Most were understanding and supportive:

"Daring to admit mistakes, daring to take responsibility, this is already better than many companies!"

"Technology progresses through trial and error."

"Support Longyin, but please make sure to do safety well!"

Of course, there were also curses, but not many.

After closing the live stream, Feng Yan returned to the conference room.

Everyone on the team was there, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was very heavy.

"Why is everyone hanging their heads?" Feng Yan scanned the room.

"Finding problems, solving problems—this is our job."

Wang Hao was the first to speak: "Our safety system... is still not strict enough, we should make it so that those who dare to crack it can't even turn it on!"

"Already adding it," Chen Guang said.

"From today on, for all civilian mechs, safety permissions will be higher than all user commands, the cloud monitoring center will have supreme control, and can remotely take over when necessary."

Li Yang added: "The structure also needs to be optimized. That mech today, if the joint design was more reasonable, maybe it wouldn't have been completely destroyed."

"Then change it," Feng Yan said.

"Use 'Torch Dragon' to re-simulate structural stress under all working conditions and find the weak points."

Zhao Kaiyuan raised his hand: "The energy system also needs to participate in safety protection; we can design an 'Emergency Energy Isolation Mechanism'."

"Once an intrusion is detected, the fusion reactor automatically reduces power, maintaining only the basic life support system."

"Good," Feng Yan noted. "Anything else?"

Zhao Gong, who hadn't spoken, smoked his pipe and spoke slowly:

"When I was young at the factory, an old master taught me a sentence: a good machine isn't built, it's repaired."

"No matter how well you design it, if the people using it don't know how to repair or maintain it, something will go wrong sooner or later."

He paused: "These mechs of ours are too 'exquisite'."

"If they break, they have to be returned to the factory, and ordinary people don't even dare to touch them. Can we... design them to be sturdier? Let someone who knows how to use a wrench be able to fix them?"

The conference room was silent for a few seconds.

"This concept is right," Feng Yan nodded.

"Li Yang, your group study 'Modular Maintenance Design,' making core components into modules that can be quickly replaced, as simple as changing a battery."

"Then issue detailed maintenance manuals, open to all authorized repair points."

"Understood."

The tasks were assigned, and the atmosphere in the conference room finally eased a bit.

But Feng Yan knew the real test was yet to come.

At ten o'clock in the evening, he received a call.

It was from the family of the most seriously injured worker—actually, he only had five stitches on his hand, not a serious injury, but the family was very agitated.

"President Feng, my husband was injured at your construction site! You have to take responsibility!"

"We will take responsibility," Feng Yan said calmly.

"All medical expenses, lost wages, and mental distress compensation will be fully covered by Longyin. In addition, we will provide an extra condolence payment, do you think this is okay?"

The other end of the phone was stunned: "That... that's about right."

"How is your husband doing now?"

"The doctor said he's fine, just scared," the family's tone softened.

"President Feng, I'm not trying to extort money, I'm just afraid... afraid of another accident."

"I understand," Feng Yan said.

"I promise you, the same accident will never happen a second time; this is a promise we make using technology, systems, and every method we can use."

Hanging up the phone, Feng Yan walked to the window.

Outside the window, the research institute was still brightly lit, but the light tonight seemed much heavier.

The phone rang again, this time it was Lei Jindong.

"The accident was handled well," Lei Jindong said directly.

"The higher-ups watched the live stream and gave the evaluation: 'responsible and methodical'."

"But I still have to remind you, the promotion of civilian use must be steadier, and no more accidents can happen."

"Understood."

"In addition, overseas media have started reporting on this matter extensively," Lei Jindong paused. "You know how they'll write it, right?"

"I know," Feng Yan said. "Nothing more than saying 'Longguo technology is unsafe,' 'mech hazards,' 'barbaric development,' and so on."

"How are you prepared to respond?"

"Publish all investigation reports and technical improvement plans," Feng Yan said.

"Use a transparent handling plan to fight back. Don't they want to see us make a fool of ourselves? Then let's show them how we solve problems."

Lei Jindong laughed: "This style, it's just you."

The call ended.

Feng Yan took one last look out the window, then turned and walked back to the office.

The desk was piled high with documents: accident reports, technical improvement plans, public opinion analysis, overseas media reports...

He read them one by one, approved them one by one.

At two in the morning, Chen Guang sent a message: "Safety patch version 1.0 has been pushed and completed. Ninety-seven percent of civilian mechs nationwide have completed the update."

"The remaining three percent are offline, have been marked, and will be followed up tomorrow."

Feng Yan replied: "Hard work."

Putting down his phone, he rubbed his temples.

Tired, but couldn't sleep.

He opened his computer and pulled up the civilian mech data dashboard.

On the screen, thousands of light points were distributed across the country, most of which had turned green, indicating that the safety system had completed the update.

But there were still dozens of red ones, which were the cracked devices discovered today, already forcibly locked.

Looking at those red dots, Feng Yan suddenly remembered what Lao Wu had said:

"Technology serves people, people don't serve technology."

Today's accident was people wanting to "master" technology, only to be almost bitten back by it.

And their responsibility was to build a solid guardrail between people and technology.

Letting people enjoy the benefits of technology without being harmed by its risks.

This is difficult.

But they must do it.

At three in the morning, Feng Yan finally closed his computer.

Before leaving the office, he took one last look at the slogan on the wall, which everyone thought of collectively when Longyin was founded:

"Make technology warm and reliable."

Today, they were one step closer to this goal.

And one step further.

Closer, because problems were discovered.

Further, because they knew how many more problems were ahead to be solved.

But it doesn't matter.

Walk step by step.

You will always get there.

In the night, the last light of the research institute also went out.

But tomorrow, when the sun rises, new work will begin again.

Safety patches will continue to be optimized, accident investigation reports will be fully disclosed, and the doubts of overseas media will be responded to one by one.

And in this process, civilian mech technology will become more mature.

More reliable.

More... warm.

Just as it should have been. ===== CHAPTER 190 =====