The Pratap Ginning & Pressing Factory was a noisy, dust-filled cavern of industrial inadequacy.
The air was thick with white cotton lint that stuck to hair and clothes like snow. The deafening clack-clack-clack of the mechanical looms echoed off the corrugated metal roof.
Rudra stepped out of the white Ambassador car, tying a handkerchief around his nose. Balwant, the burly, mustache-twirling driver who doubled as a bodyguard, followed close behind.
"Chhote Malik (Young Master), your father is in the office," Balwant grunted. "Don't disturb the workers."
Rudra ignored him and walked onto the floor. He watched the machines. They were British-era relics. Slow. Prone to jamming. He watched a worker struggle to unjam a shuttle, halting production for ten minutes.
Inefficiency, Rudra noted. We are bleeding 20% capacity just on downtime.
He walked up to the supervisor, a man named Patil.
"Patil Kaka," Rudra said.
Patil looked surprised. "Rudra Baba? What are you doing here?"
"Why is Line 3 stopped?"
"Bearing broke, Baba. We are waiting for spares from Bombay. It will take two days."
"Two days?" Rudra's eyes narrowed. "Two days of downtime is a loss of four thousand rupees."
"What can we do?" Patil shrugged, wiping grease on a rag. "It is a German part. Hard to find locally."
Rudra stared at the broken machine. He didn't have the part. But he had the System.
System, Search: "Repair Manual and Local Alternative for Siemens 1950 Loom Bearing"
[Searching...][Item Found: Engineering Schematic for localized adaptation using Tata Truck Bearings.][Cost: ₹150.]
Rudra smiled. He had ₹450 in his pocket.
Purchase.
[Transaction Complete. ₹150 deducted.][Transferring Knowledge to User Memory...]
A sudden sharp headache spiked in Rudra's skull. For a second, his vision whitened. Then, schematic lines, measurements, and engineering logic flooded his brain. He knew exactly how to modify a standard truck bearing available in any Nagpur garage to fit this loom.
Rudra blinked, the headache fading. He looked at Patil.
"Balwant," Rudra barked. "Take the jeep. Go to the Auto Market. Buy a wheel bearing for a Tata Mercedes truck. Model 1210."
Patil laughed nervously. "Baba, you are joking. Truck parts in a loom?"
"Do it," Rudra commanded, his voice dropping an octave. It was the voice of the CEO he used to be. "If it doesn't work, I will pay the workers' wages for the week from my own pocket. If it works, you ensure the night shift runs at double speed."
Balwant looked at Rudra, unsettled by the sudden authority. He nodded and ran.
Thirty minutes later, Rudra was on the floor, sleeves rolled up, grease on his hands. He guided the mechanic, grinding the truck bearing down by two millimeters.
"Fit it," Rudra ordered.
The mechanic hammered it in. It was a tight fit.
"Start it."
Patil hesitated, then pulled the lever.
The motor whirred. The gears engaged. The loom roared to life. The clack-clack-clack resumed, smoother than before.
The workers stared in awe. Patil's jaw dropped.
"How... how did you know?" Patil asked.
Rudra wiped the grease from his hands onto a rag. "I read," he said simply. "Now, get back to work. We have a quota to meet."
He walked toward his father's office, the workers parting way for him with a new respect.
[System Alert][First Business Intervention Successful.][Reward: Access to 'Commodities Market Analytics (1970)' unlocked in Store.]
Rudra smirked. The game had begun.