Chapter 416

Chapter 416:

It was a leaked blog post from a highly respected aerospace industry analyst. The headline screamed in bold black letters:

Rumor: Carson Dynamics Achieves Breakthrough in Thermal-Ablative Coatings, Pushing Engine Viability Past Previous Limits.

Belle stared at the screen. Her entire body froze. The blood drained from her face, leaving her skin a sickly, pale white.

“Thermal coatings?” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “That’s… that’s the real bottleneck p>

She scrolled down with a trembling finger. The post contained a series of leaked simulation data charts.

Isolde and Arland had planted them perfectly.

The data curves were beautiful — flawless. They depicted a material capable of withstanding heat stresses that vastly outperformed every single projection InnoTech had generated.

𝘈𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯

Belle seized the tablet and hurled it across the room. It smashed against the far wall, the glass screen shattering into a spiderweb of cracks.

“It is fake!” Belle screamed, her chest heaving. “She is bluffing! She has nothing p>

Daron walked over and picked up the broken tablet, squinting at the shattered screen.

“The math looks incredibly real, Belle,” he said, his voice tight with sudden fear. “If she actually has this material, our engine design is obsolete. We lose the entire market p>

Belle began to pace frantically across the front of the room, the sharp heels of her designer shoes digging into the plush carpet with each turn.

“She doesn’t have the material!” Belle yelled, jabbing a finger toward the ceiling. “We blocked her! We bought everything p>

“Unless she found someone else,” Daron countered quietly. “Someone we missed p>

A wave of absolute paranoia crashed over Belle. She felt the walls of the boardroom physically closing in, crushing the air from her lungs. She stopped pacing and spun to face the lead engineer.

“Push the testing engines to one hundred and ten percent capacity,” she ordered, her eyes wide and manic. “We have to prove our alloy can handle the higher thermal load. We have to break her number p>

The engineer rose to his feet, his face pale with horror.

“Push an untested alloy to one hundred and ten percent?” he stammered. “That is incredibly dangerous. The heat alone could cause a catastrophic failure p>

Belle slammed both fists onto the table.

“I said, do it!” she shrieked.

Meanwhile, in the quiet, climate-controlled offices of Carson Dynamics, Isolde sat at her desk, calmly blowing the steam from a cup of green tea.

Arland walked in, phone in hand.

“The blog post is live,” he reported, a grim smile on his face. “Five thousand views in the first hour p>

Isolde took a slow sip.

“Good,” she said softly. “Now she is obsessing over my fake numbers instead of looking at her own safety protocols.” She set the cup down and rose from her chair. “I’m going into the SCIF to review the Vanguard schematics. I need absolute focus. Hold all calls unless the building is on fire p>

Arland nodded. “Understood p>