Chapter 65 - Chapter 65: Returning to Earth Again!
Chapter 65: Returning to Earth Again!
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Under the escort of more than a hundred battleships, Zhao Yu once again embarked on the journey to Earth.
Within six hours, he touched down at a covert base just outside the Xia Capital.
His visit was to accelerate the production line, which required him to reveal his spaceship, consequently sending the guards into a flurry.
Around ten minutes later, Colonel Chu, accompanied by Chief Engineer Yang and others, hurriedly arrived at the scene.
Upon their arrival, Zhao Yu disembarked from the spaceship along with a few operational robots.
“Mr. Zhao, why are you here?”
Colonel Chu greeted him, a smile on his face, though his heart raced. They were just strategizing on how to eliminate the lunar aliens when Zhao Yu unexpectedly arrived.
…..
Had they been overheard by some advanced technology they weren’t aware of?
Had Zhao Yu come to confront them?
“So, how are your discussions on building the laser defense system coming along?” Zhao Yu inquired nonchalantly.
Colonel Chu exhaled, relieved. Apparently, their conversation wasn’t breached by incomprehensible tech. He nodded and said, “We’re making progress, but I’m unsure about the resources needed to build such a defense system.”
“It will require resources equivalent to one billion Blue Lunar dollars!” Zhao Yu replied.
“What?!
“That much?!”, Colonel Chu shocked,
“This laser defense system is intended to protect an entire planet from invasion. One billion Blue Moon dollars is already a bargain!”
In terms of cost, Zhao Yu had consulted Uncle Da before his departure. Constructing this defense system for Earth would require resources costing around 50 million Blue Moon dollars.
The profit margin here was far less than that from their three main products.
“Don’t tell me you don’t have any. We’ve investigated how many resources your Earth has!”
Earth housed resources worth not just one billion, but up to 10 trillion Blue Moon dollars. The only catch was that most of it was yet to be mined.
“We have the resources, but… Mr. Zhao, isn’t this too much?’
In response to this, Zhao Yu chuckled, “If you don’t want to go ahead with it, that’s fine. When the aliens attack, you’ll bear the consequences. We won’t be bothered…
Alien attack?
Were they threatening an attack if we don’t comply?
Colonel Chu mused.
After the meeting, unlike most wise men who believed in the law of the dark forest, he believed in another hypothesis. He saw the universe as a harmonious family and Earth merely a hidden entity by the moon’s aliens.
The actions of these aliens towards Earth were outright illegal. When an opportunity arose, they would surely lodge a complaint with the Universal Federation.
“1 billion it is. We’d appreciate your guidance, Mr. Zhao…”
Left with no choice, Colonel Chu had to agree. Then, an idea struck him, “However, we won’t be able to gather resources worth one billion Blue Moon dollars at once…”
“How much time do you need?!”
“We can gather 200 million in 12 hours from within Great Xia. The rest may need to be transferred from all over the world. It will take about three days…”
In reality, Great Xia possessed enough resources to mobilize a billion, but Colonel Chu had other plans.
“12 hours, three days, okay…”
Zhao Yu nodded, inquiring where they planned to gather the resources for the convenience of their transport ship.
“Is Chang ‘an okay? That’s the center of the country, so the speed will be faster…”
“Sure!
Zhao Yu had no objections whatsoever.
After finalizing details on Earth’s laser defense system, Colonel Chu shifted the discussion to another topic.
“Mr. Zhao, how is the progress of the three production lines?!”
This question touched on Zhao Yu’s second purpose of being there. He nodded, responding, “They’re almost ready. Have you decided on a location? We can start constructing the production lines right away…”
“Would Chang ‘an be suitable?”
Chang ‘an again?
Zhao Yu paused, taken aback, but quickly brushed it off. He nodded, saying, “Alright, Chang ‘an it is then. Let your superiors know, we can head over to install it right now.”
“Great, could you wait for a moment? I might need to hitch a ride…” Colonel Chu said, looking somewhat sheepish.
“It’s a small matter!
In no time, Colonel Chu was back from the base, not making Zhao Yu wait too long. He reappeared in just about three minutes.
This time around, neither Liu Ning nor Chief Engineer Yang accompanied him. Instead, it was Wang Dayue who joined them.
“Mr. Zhao, we meet again…” Wang Dayue said nervously.
“Indeed.”
Zhao Yu offered a small nod, then turned to Colonel Chu. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get going.”
Without wasting any more time, he made his way towards the spaceship.
Realizing Zhao Yu wasn’t in a talking mood, Wang Dayue decided to stay silent. She followed behind Colonel Chu, boarding the disk-shaped spaceship alongside Zhao Yu.
It was Wang Dayue’s first time on a spaceship. She was curious and looked around.
There were no seats, no seatbelts, not even windows.
“Mr. Zhao, can you get a few more production lines for the three major products?”
After boarding the ship, Senior Colonel Chu did not stop and asked about the next matter.
“Absolutely. Remember, the deal was that you’d cover the costs, including paying for the robotic workers needed for the production lines…”
A robot?!
Colonel Chu was stunned.” Don’t you need our manual labor?”
“Why do we need humans to do the work that robots can do?!”
“Furthermore, just because robots can manage the tasks, doesn’t mean humans can necessarily do the same!”
Before Colonel Chu could say anything more, Zhao Yu interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. “Let’s discuss this later. We’re here!”
“Ah?”
Wang Dayue was completely flabbergasted. It had barely been a minute since they’d left, and they were already in Chang ‘an?!
Her disbelief prompted her to disembark the spaceship, and she found herself in an entirely different environment.
Glancing at the sign, she read ‘Chang ‘an Base 404’, and was rendered speechless.
She knew that moon’s alien spacecraft, were supposed to be fast. But she hadn’t expected them to be this quick, covering a distance of over a thousand kilometers in under a minute.
Moreover, she did not feel any vibrations throughout the entire journey, leading her to believe the spaceship hadn’t even taken off!
After they entered the base, Colonel Chu arranged for Zhao Yu to be seated before resuming their conversation.
“Mr. Zhao, if we don’t require humans for the three production lines, how many robotic workers will we need?”
” Three production lines, about 10,000 robot workers. One machine costs 300 Blue Moon dollars, and 10,000 machines cost 3 million Blue Moon dollars. You can include this expense with the payment for the defense system resources…”
Three million Blue Moon Dollars for three production lines was a far cry from the one billion required for the defense system.
A thought sprang into Colonel Chu’s mind. “Mr. Zhao,” he started, “We were worried about the shortage of skilled workers initially. But if you have robotic workers on hand, we would like to scale up to thirty production lines. What do you think?”
“Sure!
Zhao Yu seeing no reason to decline. After all, he had come to Earth intending for a large-scale trade.
“That’s right. We want to adjust the production line…”
“In what way?” Zhao queried.
“Out of the thirty production lines, we would like twenty lines to produce robotic workers, eight lines to produce maglcv cars, and the remaining two to produce watches…” the colonel suggested.
“That’s up to you. It’s all doable!”
Colonel Chu went on. “There’s also the matter of the maglev cars. Can they be altered to manufacture maglev buses?”
…..
He elaborated, “The maglev cars are too expensive for ordinary people. So, we’re thinking of commercial use, which should be more profitable…”
” Maglev bus?!”
Zhao Yu stroking his chin. The technology of the maglev car, derived from the maglev saucer, could indeed be adjusted to produce buses.
Zhao Yu wasn’t eager to agree right away. He furrowed his brows, “Switching to a maglev bus will increase the material requirement, the maglev technology will need tweaking too, raising the overall cost…”
We will handle the cost. The maglev cars were initially priced at 500 Blue Moon coins each. How about charging 1000 Blue Moon coins for each bus?” Colonel Chu quickly responded.
Zhao Yu nodded subtly. Regardless, it was a sale, and turning them into buses would yield even more profit. “How many maglev buses do you need?”
“If the test results come back positive, we plan on replacing all existing transportation globally. We might need at least a million units then…”
A million units meant 1 billion Blue Moon coins. Even after factoring in the cost, they could still construct 90,000 carriers.
This deal was indeed profitable!