Chapter 1: Magic Start

"Dead Russian, you've lost your mind!"

Tang Wen pounded the solid wooden table with all his might, nearly cracking his own bones from the impact.

He simply couldn't figure it out: he was just playing a game, so how had he somehow signed a slave contract?

That day, he had been playing World of Warships in his bedroom when a "Closed Beta Shipbuilding Side Quest Invitation" suddenly popped up on the game screen; agreeing to it would grant him all warships in the game for free.

Tang Wen didn't hesitate and clicked confirm, only for a light screen displaying 【Shipyard Registered】 to suddenly appear in his mind, and he was flung into the year 1996.

He had also somehow been bound to a shipyard and must build every warship in the game before he could return to his original timeline.

Damn Russians! The warships in World of Warships are all pre-WWII battleships, destroyers, and the like; by the 90s, missile cruisers already dominated the oceans, and a single "P-500 Bazalt" heavy anti-ship missile could cripple a battleship. Who would still build those antique junk?

Even more critical was this—the starting setup was way too shabby!

Tang Wen, having transmigrated, now possessed a legal identity and a shipyard, but this shipyard...

Tang Wen glanced around the small room with its 1980s vibe and antique electric fan, then looked through the window to see the semi-open workshop outside.

Exactly. This was a shipyard built by a villager surnamed Tang in Dawan Village, Dawan Town. It covered less than a thousand square meters, had zero automation, no dry dock, and only some tools and sheet-metal stock comparable to a car repair shop.

The original "shipyard" had no name; it was a small shop built by the current identity's father. It used to build wooden fishing boats, but after a technical upgrade and purchasing an electric welder, it could produce iron fishing boats.

It also moonlighted, helping villagers repair bicycles, motorcycles, televisions, rice cookers, or simple agricultural machinery.

Then, with the transmigrator's intrusion, the repair shop's original owner died in a maritime accident, and the shop was handed over to the son, "Tang Wen," who had dropped out of secondary vocational school.

"Secondary vocational school my foot! I attended a proper undergraduate university!"

Overnight, he went from a slacking college student to the heir of a rural repair shop, and a semi-literate dropout who hadn't even finished secondary vocational school at that. Tang Wen nearly fainted.

The so-called "shipyard" was merely a term used by the system; in reality, the repair shop had just dug a pit near the river bend for convenience. Did this damn thing even count as a dry dock?

After transmigrating, Tang Wen inventoried all his assets and found that selling them would barely allow him to head to Shencheng to make his way in the world; going there now, he might even bump into "Brother Ma" chatting with female avatars.

Maybe he should quickly earn some money to buy shares in Goose Factory as soon as possible, then just lie back and live off the interest once QQ takes off in five or six years...

He was right in the middle of the internet's takeoff era; the damn system was useless, so he might as well try riding the wind himself.

However, the moment this thought arose, information popped up in his mind:

【Unbinding the shipyard will be considered a breach of contract and punished according to the agreement with a 510mm armor-piercing shell execution.】

【Please complete the introductory prerequisite task as soon as possible: Select a Tier I warship from the technology tree branch to build.】

"..."

Thinking of the 510mm giant cannon larger than a person, Tang Wen decisively abandoned his impulse to go to the city and work as a laborer, settling down to figure out how to complete the task.

The game featured thirteen technology trees in total, corresponding to the navies of various nations, ranging from the smallest gunboats to top-tier battleships and cruisers, divided into Tier I (1) to Tier X (10), and even beyond Tier X into the ☆ Tier (Super) warships.

Tier I was the simplest and weakest warship, but...

Even the most trashy gunboat was a warship, which had nothing to do with his small fishing boat yard.

Tang Wen casually selected the Tier I warship "Hashidate" gunboat from the R-branch. This was a riverine gunboat from WWII, with a standard displacement of over nine hundred tons and equipped with three 120mm anti-aircraft guns.

In the game, this was the lowest-tier gunboat even newbies wanted to skip, but for Tang Wen...

Although Dawan Town was by the sea, the boatyard had previously only built small fishing boats for coastal and inland river use, with a maximum loaded displacement of 20 tons; there was absolutely no feasibility.

At the very least, the basic infrastructure for building warships—a dry dock—was missing. Without even that, how could one build a damn ship?

The moment Tang Wen selected "Build," information immediately popped up in his mind:

【Selected Tier I warship "Hashidate". Selected shipyard: Unnamed.】

【Unnamed Shipyard (LV. 0):】

【Gold Coins: 0】

【Silver Coins: 187】

【Research Experience: 0】

【Building a Tier I warship requires a shipyard of LV. 1 or higher. Construction cannot proceed. Please upgrade your shipyard.】

【Upgrade cost: 20 Gold Coins, or 1000 Silver Coins.】

Silver Coins could be withdrawn or recharged; the system adjusted in real-time according to international silver prices. The current exchange rate was 46.2 yuan per Silver Coin.

Tang Wen scraped together every last bit of liquid assets and cash left by the cheap old man, totaling just over 8,000 yuan, which only recharged less than 200 Silver Coins. He was still far from upgrading.

If he still relied on RMB recharges, there would still be a shortfall of nearly 40,000 yuan. That was 40,000 yuan in 1996; even selling Tang Wen himself wouldn't raise that amount.

As Tang Wen was bitterly pondering how to break the deadlock, someone knocked on the dilapidated wooden house.

Before he could even get up to open the door, the wooden door was kicked open by a foot, emitting a groan as if it were about to fall apart.

Three burly men squeezed inside. The man in front looked black and thin, while the two behind him followed closely like lackeys.

Tang Wen instinctively leaned back, his hand groping under the table for anything he could grab.

The visitors were aggressive, acting as if they were there to collect a debt.

Wait, did that old man owe loan sharks?

Tang Wen wildly speculated about the visitors' purpose and tentatively asked:

"Who are you looking for? Tang Wu is no longer here."

The black and thin young man sized him up and actually nodded, saying:

"Tang Lao San is indeed gone, but he didn't send you away.

Let me introduce myself. I am a client of your father, surnamed Zheng, given name Hai. We agreed on two boats. Can you still make them?"

Tang Wen said nothing, looking past the group to see a red Santana parked not far outside the door.

Twenty years later, a Santana wouldn't sell for even five thousand, but at this time, driving one was absolutely comparable to a Ferrari.

It was not only a symbol of wealth but also indicated considerable strength.

Tang Wu was just a rural mechanic; how could he have landed a client like this?

Tang Wen didn't really want to stir up trouble, but he hesitated and said:

"What kind of boat? Any requirements on style or size? Do you have design drawings?"

"Blueprints?"

Zheng Hai laughed so hard he nearly fell over, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Just follow this design. It must be sturdy enough.

We'll supply the motors ourselves; we only need the hull. Five thousand per boat. Can you do it?"

He pulled a photograph from his pocket and slapped it onto the table. Tang Wen immediately focused his gaze on it.

It was a fairly clear color photo showing a semi-enclosed speedboat moored at a harbor. At the stern... one, two, three, four—there were a full four outboard marine engines!

The small speedboat, appearing only three or four meters wide and over ten meters long, was crammed full of marine motors at the rear, presenting a brute-force aesthetic visible to the naked eye.

Normally, a single motor can easily propel a boat to speeds of twenty or thirty knots. Four motors? Is this thing going to take off?

Moreover, marine motors are not cheap; the cheaper ones cost over ten thousand, while the expensive ones can reach well over a hundred thousand. Such abundant power for a small speedboat is extravagantly excessive.

Recalling Dawan Town's geographical location and the fact that this group drove a Passat, a term sprang to Tang Wen's mind:

International Duty-Free Trade Specialist!