The Creators: From Night City

Page 422

Under the horrified gazes of the two women, a bizarre 'tragedy' bound by countless golden chains and adorned with intricately carved ears and mouth solidified in Jiang Bing's hand.

This is the remains of 'Invisible Orton', which, after being sculpted by the 'Craftsman's' hands, has become a relay to 'Honey'.

Due to the unique nature of 'Like Honey', if Jiang Bing's first world wants to continue to grow, it needs to incorporate more realistic dreams, a more complete creation rune framework, and more ether.

Jiang Bing wouldn't do something like the old-fashioned, forceful recruitment tactics of Northern-style pyramid schemes, but he does have ideas for win-win strategies that use incentives to lure people in.

Sensing the two women's puzzled expressions, Jiang Bing calmly explained, "'Ru Mi' refers to the 'Super Dream' project that Cloud Top will be promoting next."

Chapter 860 The Meeting at the Azure Building

Although Arasaka lost the Azure Sky Building, it did not end the legendary status of this skyscraper in Night City.

On the contrary, after 'Arakasa Beach' was renamed 'Anti-Entropy Beach', the ownership was transferred to [Anti-Entropy] Azure Building, which still stands by the sea and has become even more famous.

After taking over, [Reverse Entropy] renovated the already luxurious Ganbi Building, making it even more luxurious and high-end on its magnificent foundation.

Of course, housing prices are also higher.

Before Du Jun and his assistant even checked in, he already felt a dull pain in his liver.

The once magnificent hall is now lush and green, its cold metallic color covered by raw wood.

In a time when green vegetation coverage is declining, [Reverse Entropy] has gone so far as to cover the entire lobby floor with large pieces of logs.

Du Jun's feet were trembling slightly when he stepped on it. How is that any different from stepping on a golden floor?

"Sir, do you have an appointment?"

The receptionist, dressed in a uniform, was exceptionally clean and simple, with no obvious traces of prosthetics visible on her face or elbows.

The order of things follows the example of those above. When the leader of a power likes to maintain a natural appearance, those below will naturally follow suit without realizing it.

"I am Du Jun, and I have an appointment with Ms. Gloria."

After verifying his identity, Du Jun quickly obtained access to the elevator to the 98th floor.

On the surface, the Gum Pik Building is a luxury hotel for people to stay in, but in reality, it is also a good place to conduct business.

Many important business deals that cannot be discussed openly within one's own sphere of influence can be negotiated privately at the Gum Pik Building.

Arakasa has done this kind of thing many times. Du Jun still remembers that when he was vying for a batch of military equipment with the Russian Federation some time ago, he had privately met with Arakasa's business negotiation representatives here one after the other. He never expected that in just a few months, this place would have changed hands and become unrecognizable.

The floors above the 80th floor of the Gum Pik Tower are private areas, and rooms are not usually booked to the public.

This was Du Jun's first time climbing to the 98th floor.

To be honest, there's nothing special about it.

He found the luxurious decor to be frivolous and impractical; the rigid porcelain, austere interior design, and golden lighting layout revealed a narrow-minded Japanese aesthetic.

This sense of contempt persisted until he sat down at the tea table in front of Gloria.

This is a huge tree stump. How huge? It has thousands of densely packed annual rings.

Even in China, Du Jun had never seen such a lavish tea table.

With such a grand tea table, the tea itself is even more exquisite.

Can you believe that he, a native of Hangzhou, actually tasted authentic 'Lion Peak Longjing' tea on the west coast of the ocean?

“We have accepted all of the first phase of manufacturing equipment delivered by Kangtao.” Gloria directed her secretariat team to hand over the relevant documents to the other party.

"It's a pleasure working with you," Du Jun greeted politely.

Regarding the true nature of the seemingly generous "Reverse Entropy," opinions within the organization vary, but the label of "big spender" is unanimously agreed upon by all shareholders.

That's tens of thousands of tons of fresh fruit, grains, and various crops—good stuff that money can't buy. Yet, [Reverse Entropy] just traded it away so casually, without caring about the price difference at all.

That's about it for the "big dog" families in the Middle East back then.

What are your views on the Russian Federation?

Gloria made no attempt to hide her question about the other party's attitude.

As the head of business diplomacy at Comto Electronics, Du Jun's response could not be casual.

Every word he utters represents Kang Tao and the deeper attitude behind it.

"Su Petrochemical's infiltration of Night City has indeed gone too far, and we are definitely on the side of [Anti-Entropy] in terms of morality."

Gloria smiled and shook her head slightly, showing her disdain for the other party's diplomatic platitudes.

"Kantau has also sent out quite a few agents during this period, and there are quite a few new faces in Little Chinatown."

Du Jun could only force a smile and explain, "It's a normal business activity."

"Zeta Technologies wants to infiltrate Night City through the border checkpoint's military upgrade, while Biotech has simultaneously proposed a plan to rebuild the protein farm."

"The Russian Federation is colluding with the Tiger Claw Gang to take a gray route, while your Kangtao is taking advantage of the turbulent situation to frantically expand its weapons stores in various districts, intending to seize the civilian market for light weapons vacated by military technology."

Gloria tapped the edge of the table and warned, "You chased away Arasaka and scared off military technology, but you didn't expect to attract a few hungry wolves instead. Do you really think Night City is a piece of fat meat, an unclaimed piece of cheese, to be carved up and divided at will?"

Du Jun chuckled dryly, picked up the teacup on the table, took a few sips, and weakly retorted, "I wouldn't dare to talk nonsense, Ms. Gloria. Kangtao has been conducting normal business activities all this time. Our store opening procedures are complete and legal."

Gloria pinched the bridge of her nose with a worried expression and sighed helplessly.

"Did you know that the deputy director of the Explosive Ordnance Management Bureau is dead?"

Du Jun was startled.

In the New America and in Night City, which adopted most of the New America political system, opening a gun shop is a highly regulated industry that requires multiple levels of licenses and approvals.

The primary responsible agency is the city government's Alcohol, Tobacco and Explosives Bureau (ATF).

Normally, the opening of any gun shop requires an extremely rigorous background check by the ATF. Any negative records, embargo records, violations of Night City laws, or history of illegal use of controlled substances will result in the application being rejected.

At the same time, there are strict restrictions on the location of the stores; for example, they cannot be near schools, parks, churches, etc.

Even if everything is qualified, the entire approval process will take at least a month.

In just over ten days, Kangtao opened more than twenty arms dealerships in various districts of the city, including some located near schools, banks, and parks, making it hard to believe that they were 'compliant and legal'.

The deputy director of the Explosive Ordnance Management Bureau was someone they bribed with a large sum of money. The fact that they were able to get the business approval so quickly was undoubtedly due to his influence.

However, Du Jun did not expect that [Reverse Entropy] would notice the other party so quickly and act so ruthlessly.

"Of course I don't know. We operate with integrity and rarely deal with government officials." Although his heart was in turmoil, Du Jun still appeared innocent on the surface.

For someone doing his job, lying through one's teeth is the most basic professional skill.

“You and the ‘Kantau’ behind you should thank the Russian Federation, Mr. Du. If it weren’t for their superiors making a stupid decision, you or the other two companies would probably be the ones getting punished this time.”

"Everyone does bribe officials to do things, but you can't be too shameless, Mr. Du Jun. Although it's not a big deal, we at [Anti-Entropy] also have our pride."

Chapter 861 Space Orbital Elevator

Du Jun paused for a moment while holding the cup, but then continued with his polite conversation as if nothing had happened.

“We have acted entirely within the legal framework of Night City, Ms. Gloria. I assure you that all procedures were legal and compliant, and even the store was acquired at a premium. There was absolutely no violation of the law.”

“That’s why you’re sitting here chatting with me today, Mr. Du,” Gloria sighed.

Although Arasaka and military technology have withdrawn, it does not mean that Anti-Entropy has completely taken control of Night City.

Night City is, after all, a legally free city controlled by the municipal government. In the international political arena, Anti-Entropy is at best a local armed force, unrecognized and lacking legal legitimacy.

Taking advantage of this loophole, major companies have been actively seeking breakthroughs in the legal structure, causing Gloria considerable worry.

It's time for the tangible military boots to kick the invisible hand.

A rare paper document was presented to Du Jun by Gloria.

Curiosity, doubt, shock, and speechlessness—Du Jun experienced a series of ups and downs in the short few minutes he spent reading this document, and his heart almost stopped beating.

"Joint Development Plan for Space Orbital Elevator"—that's the title of the document Gloria handed over.

The complex and professional parameters above are extremely profound, and the ideas are too astonishing, seemingly like a fantasy. But what's absurd is that Du Jun didn't find any overly outrageous flaws in them.

This is outrageous!

A transparent square box was pushed over by the secretariat of the [Anti-Entropy] team.

The palm-sized box contained a section of nanorod that was still slightly moving.

This is the most crucial factor in whether the space orbital elevator project can be realized.

Material.

Du Jun's mouth was dry. He felt he had never been so nervous in his life, even more so than when he got married, received his medal, or was "forced" to leave the army and join Kangtao.

If high-precision machine tools are the mother of industry, then materials science is its ancestor.

All developments in modern industry are inseparable from the support of materials science.

Even the upper limit of modern technological development is constrained by the upper limit of materials science.

Take the current mainstream extraterrestrial transportation methods as an example.

The mass launcher is like a super "cannon" that uses electromagnetic force to accelerate the payload in a very short time and "shoot" it out.

The space orbital elevator, on the other hand, is like a never-ending "cable car," relying on physical connections and the Earth's rotation to smoothly transport cargo to space orbit.

Both aim to significantly reduce the cost of sending matter into space, but their costs, efficiency, and accuracy are simply incomparable.

Compared to mass launchers, space orbital elevators are extremely energy efficient, have very low launch costs, are reusable, are very suitable for manned missions, and have virtually unlimited launch capabilities.

Compared to the carrying capacity of mass projectors, the space orbital elevator, once completed, will become a true highway to space, which can be directly used for large-scale space colonization, space tourism, and the construction of large space facilities (such as space solar power stations). It is undoubtedly the 'highway' for space colonization.

But why do major companies around the world ignore such a huge advantage and instead develop mass projectors?

The answer is no, it can't be built, and it's not affordable.

The principle behind a space elevator is quite simple: construct a rigid cable extending from the Earth's equatorial surface to geostationary orbit (approximately 3.6 kilometers away). A "climber" moves up and down along the cable, thus sending cargo and personnel into space.

The problem is that globally, no single entity can produce a cable material strong enough to extend for tens of thousands of kilometers without breaking.

The cables for an orbital elevator need to support their own enormous weight. They need to extend from the Earth's surface to geostationary orbit (approximately 36,000 kilometers) or even further to utilize the Earth's centrifugal force to maintain balance.

The cable is so incredibly long that its own weight alone would generate enormous tension, not to mention the weight of other equipment it has to support.

If the specific strength of the material is not high enough, it will break under its own weight at the beginning of construction.

This challenge has baffled major global powers, with countless elites, experts, brilliant minds, and enormous resources expended, yet so far, all have yielded no results.

But today, in a free city on the west coast of North America, a force that Du Jun considers at most a local warlord suddenly pulled out some kind of rope material suitable for the construction of a space orbital elevator. How could this not surprise Du Jun?

Villagers shared their experience with controlled nuclear fusion technology.JPG

His fingers trembled slightly as he picked up the transparent cube. In just a few minutes, his competent brain had already deduced how much help this would bring to the forces behind him if it were true.

In this era of outward expansion, whoever first possesses a space elevator will have the first and foremost access to the open road to space.

The saying "If you want to get rich, build roads first" still applies today.

“One week, just one week, Mr. Du Jun, I believe that is enough for you and for Kangtao.”

A distraught Du Jun drifted out of the Gumbi Building almost as if in a dream, only snapping out of his daze on his way back to the North American headquarters.

Holding the cube in his hand, the solid feel made his heart race, almost leaping out of his throat. He only needed a brief moment of thought to admit that [Reverse Entropy] had no reason to lie about such matters.

At the very least, there's no need to tell such an easily exposed lie.

"Connect me to Line 2, transfer me to ZKY, use special channels, and grant me the 'Tencent' access level."

The first thing Du Jun did after calming down was to report the matter to his superiors.

Without uttering a single wasted word, the 'switchboard operator' on the other end of the communication channel began coordinating communications.

"Also, find me a car; I need to send some local specialties back to my hometown."

This finally surprised the other side.

"What brand of car do you want? How much stuff do you need?"

"Red Flag" brand

Du Jun did not hesitate to raise the level to the maximum. If the information provided by the other party was true, this would be a once-in-a-century upheaval.

An unsettling silence fell over the communication channel.

"Understood, will arrange it immediately."

Once the 'Red Flag' was displayed, the people on the other end simply stopped asking questions, suppressed all their doubts, and focused solely on getting things done.