The Only Fixer

"This is a typical chain reaction caused by hardware damage! Do you know what a security parameter is? Do you know what level of access is required to enter this machine's backend?"

He turned to Bill, continuing to fan the flames with a heartbroken expression. "Mr. Lamar, you're just too soft-hearted. That's why you were deceived by these charlatans! Now, great. Four million dollars has been completely wasted!"

Bill's fists were clenching, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. He pointed at me, his voice trembling with extreme anger. "Shaun, you'd better give me an explanation. Otherwise, that contract... Today, you won't be able to walk out this door no matter what!"

The immense pressure squeezed me from all sides, like tangible seawater.

Bill's eyes flashed with a fierce glow, as if he were about to pounce over and tear me apart.

Henry stood to the side with a smile.

The slight awe the factory workers had felt for me vanished instantly, replaced by the amusement of onlookers watching a spectacle.

However, I remained unusually calm. I pointed to a line of error code on the screen and said to Melody, "Look here."

Melody instinctively leaned closer.

My voice was not loud, but everyone heard me. "Error B-4711. In DMG's fault code database, all hardware fault codes start with A. Codes starting with B indicate software or parameter anomalies. The official definition of B-4711 is: Unauthorized external parameter writing causing system protective lock."

"Henry." I turned to look at him. "You're an expert in this; you should understand this code better than I do, right?"

Henry's smile froze. A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but he immediately denied it. "Nonsense! I've studied DMG's systems for over a decade, and I've never seen a B-4711 code! You're making things up to stall for time!"

"Is that so?" I sneered.

I ignored him and turned to Melody, who seemed somewhat dazed from our conversation. My tone was gentle. "Melody, could you do me a favor?"

Melody hesitated for a moment before nodding instinctively.

"Get your laptop from your car and connect it to the machine tool's maintenance port with a data cable."

"What do you want to do?" Melody was somewhat wary.

"Enter engineering mode and check the background logs."

Henry immediately shrieked, "Impossible! Engineering mode requires the highest-level password, and only engineers at the Gorman headquarters have it! How could a warehouse manager like you have it?"

His reaction was excessive.

Even Bill sensed something was off. His gloomy gaze swept back and forth between Henry and me.

Melody hesitated, looking at the hysterical Henry and then at my calm face. Finally, she gritted her teeth and chose to believe me. "Okay!"

She turned around and ran out, quickly returning with a pink laptop. Following my instructions, she connected the data cable.

"Open HyperTerminal, set the baud rate to 115200, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity," I recited a series of parameters.