Chapter 1111: "Feasibility"

Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_

The joint military exercise in the Asia-Pacific region gradually began to escalate tension in the area and the situation in Asia seemed to be hanging on a knife's edge.

The location of Guam was too sensitive, just on the northeast side of Xin. The UA sent a carrier battle group and the latest Ford-class aircraft carrier to participate in this exercise. In this critical time, a lot of people sensed something was out of the ordinary.

Nippon, Australia, and New Zealand, which were originally discussing joining the Earth Defense Alliance, began to take cautious attitudes once again.

The countries that had joined the Earth Defense Alliance naturally stood on the same side as Xin. The dictator of MLL Island, Santos, denounced the move in front of the media to show his support for Celestial Trade.

Malaysia and other countries took a more civil approach and used relatively mild rhetoric, but they still expressed doubts and dissatisfaction with the UA holding so-called "routine military exercises" at this critical time "when the world must unite".

Hua and Russia also showed off the comradeship with both countries by sending foreign ministers to visit Coro Island. They jointly held a press conference to question if the UA's action was an attempt to curb the Earth Defense Alliance, and disregarded the interests of mankind in order to strengthen regional control.

Not only external pressure, but internal pressure was also building up inside UA. However, the country's hegemony couldn't be challenged. Regardless of the scale of opposition, the position of the Capitol and Congress remained firm. The military exercise must take place.

Regardless of whether the parties involved were willing, an East-West confrontation quietly unfolded.

At Coro International Airport, a beautiful figure stepped out of the gate with quick steps. In the envious and hateful gazes of male creatures, the beautiful figure was watched as she stepped into a car at the airport.

Her sunglasses were hung onto her collar, her wavy blonde hair swished in the air, Natasha smiled and looked at Jiang Chen in the driver's seat.

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course." Jiang Chen grinned as he started the car. "Finally done your sentence?"

"What do you mean done my sentence?" Natasha rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like I've done time."

The inspection period of half a year had passed, and now, she had completely separated herself from the Russian Security Service and transferred to the diplomatic system. In fact, she originally intended to resign and immigrate to Xin but later changed her mind.

Compared to just being a trophy, she wished to be someone who could help him out in her career like Ayesha and Xia Shiyu. Only by being helpful could he be inseparable from her, and that was the advice her father gave her.

Given the friendly bilateral relationship between Xin and Russia, becoming a diplomat was the best choice.

When she saw that Jiang Chen seemed to be in a good mood, Natasha said in a sly tone, "You don't seem to be worried at all? The aircraft carrier is already at your doorstep."

"What's there to worry about?" With his hands on the steering wheel, Jiang Chen laughed. "Do they really want to go all-out with me? I shouldn't be the one worried; they should be."

Natasha chuckled, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and mocked him.

"I like it when you're being arrogant."

Jiang Chen's lips curved up.

"It seems you're not using the right word. This isn't arrogance—this is called confidence."

"Is there a difference? Right, where is your little follower? How come she's not here? Or is she now being invisible in the back?" Natasha said, looking back at the seat as she waved her hand in the air.

Obviously, Ghost Agent's optical stealth technology left a deep impression on her.

"Stop waving your hand; Ayesha's not there. Also, can you use a more normal name for her?" Jiang Chen sighed helplessly.

"Then what? Your little tail?"

"..."

Through the mirror, looking at Natasha's expression full of maliciousness, Jiang Chen couldn't help but start to worry about the harmony and stability of the future harem life.

Although the relationship between her and Ayesha was no longer as stiff as before, the two women still weren't on good terms.

It had nothing to do with jealousy. Ayesha never learned how to be jealous and Natasha didn't seem to mind much. If there really was a reason, then it must be that their fates were meant to clash...

The magnetic levitation mode was activated, and the car entered the cruise track. The two quickly flew back to the mansion at the north end of the island.

Because it was during the workday, when Jiang Chen pushed the door open, Ayesha and Xia Shiyu weren't there.

Natasha kicked off her high heels and put on slippers. Before she dropped the sentence "I'm going to shower", which filled his imagination, she winked at him then went upstairs.

Just as Jiang Chen was debating if he should be a gentleman and bring her suitcase up for her or be a "gentleman" and help her shower, an untimely phone call arrived on his watch.

"Did I disturb you?" As soon as the call was connected, he heard Xia Shiyu's slightly jealous teasing.

"How come?" Jiang Chen touched his nose with his empty hand and said without blushing, "I'm planning to unpack her luggage. I'm not as perverted as you think."

"Hmph, I understand you too well!"

Xia Shiyu was unconvinced. Obviously, she had timed her call.

Jiang Chen decided to change the topic. He went to the sofa and sat down.

"Was there anything important?"

When Jiang Chen began to discuss an important matter, Xia Shiyu immediately put on her aloof expression, and said in a serious tone," Under the UA government's diplomatic intervention, Exelon Nuclear Power and Westinghouse received orders for nuclear power projects in Colombia and Peru through non-standard bidding process."

When Jiang Chen heard the names "Colombia" and "Peru," Jiang Chen's pupils suddenly constricted.

As for why, it was mainly because the location of the two countries was too sensitive. One was located above Ecuador and the other was below it. The two countries tightly covered the small mass on the west coast of South America.

Now that half of the trans-Pacific submarine cable was built, the UA was exporting nuclear power to Ecuador's two neighboring countries at this juncture. There was no doubt that they intended to stop Celestial Trade's Global Grid Plan to reach South America on the beach.

"What's the attitude of Ecuador now?" Jiang Chen asked.

"There's no reaction for the time being, but we noticed that Westinghouse is in contact with their government," Xia Shiyu said.

Jiang Chen frowned at the words.

Now the situation seemed to be out of his control.

In the strategic layout of his Global Grid Plan, Ecuador was a crucial first stop on the west coast of South America. However, South America was, after all, the back garden of the UA. Even though Ecuador's relationship with UA wasn't as close as Colombia and Peru, politics would inevitably be affected by the influence of the UA.

UA had realized the threat of the Global Grid Plan and made up its mind to block the project. South America was, after all, the home court of the UA. Jiang Chen didn't have the confidence to compete "fairly" with UA companies.

"Do you have a plan?" Seeing his long silence, Xia Shiyu asked.

Jiang Chen touched his chin and said, "Now it all depends who will have the best bid... but the problem is this—we can give them benefits and the UA can give the same benefits or give even more than us. And before the submarine cable is completed, the low cost of electricity is simply not enough to give us an advantage. Unless..."

A glimpse of realization flashed through Jiang Chen's eyes, and an idea suddenly emerged in his mind.

If he couldn't t offer them tangible benefits...

Then he could just draw a cake for them!

"Release news that Celestial Trade is studying the 'feasibility' of building a space elevator in the Western Hemisphere."

When Jiang Chen said this, he had a smirk.

He heavily emphasized the word "feasibility"

Chapter 1112: Aircraft Carrier Battle Group

Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rainystars

The Wall Street.

In the conference room on the top floor of the Morgan Stanley Building, Daniel Morgan leaned back in his chair and listened quietly to the explanation of the company's last quarterly earnings.

Some time ago, using the "doom-day conspiracy" and the havoc created by the establishment of the Noah's Ark Fund, the space companies in Silicon Valley and Seattle formed one after another and led to a new frenzy of space exploration interest never seen for half a century.

As the leader of Wall Street investors, Morgan Stanley certainly wished to get its hands on a piece of this pie.

However, the defense tax introduced by Celestial Trade cooled down the frenzy instantly like a bucket of ice, cold water over the heads of new space companies in Silicon Valley and Seattle.

Of course, this didn't pain it the most. As a world-class investment bank, it was certainly impossible for its managers to put all the eggs in the same basket. Morgan Stanley not only invested in Silicon Valley and Seattle companies, but it also invested all over the world, and even some aerospace companies listed in Xin have its name on the shareholder list.

What really pained it was another event.

The 100 billion US dollars Noah's Ark Fund was forced to be dissolved because of a bill passed by Congress. Morgan Stanley and Rockefeller consortium were forced to withstand the pressure of the elite class and return their principal investment and even lost 5.1 billion in fees.

The Wall Street indeed had a lot of influence on Congress. Many Members accepted their "donations", but no one could ever say they had absolute control over Congress.

Whether it was the fallen Jewish consortium or the WASP that was the new leader in the Wall Street.

It was all politics.

The separation of powers provided the opportunity for capitalism to prosper, but it would never allow the capitalists to drain all the nutrients from the soil. When everyone filled the streets to protest against the "escapism of the elites", and demanded the government to set an example, even the congress members that accepted money must consider the voters in their own constituency.

3

"Let's end here for now." Daniel Morgan raised his hand and interrupted the manager at the bottom of the performance ratings as he was anxiously reporting on his work. "Kevin, go and prepare, HR will talk to you about work."

The manager's mood immediately dropped to the bottom of the valley and sweat profusely appeared on his forehead.

Daniel didn't care about the expression on his face, and he waved his hand wearily.

"That's it."

Everyone in the room was relieved and left in a hurry, for fear that the boss may pick on them if they stayed a second longer. Everyone knew very well that the boss was not in a good mood, and it was not the best choice to leave an impression now.

In the eyes of others, they may all be leading six-figure or even seven-figure elites. They sat in the office drinking coffee and managed over tens of millions in funds. However, only they themselves know how careful they had to be to keep this glamorous appearance.

Wall Street never lacked talent. Apart from the capital itself, no one was irreplaceable.

After the meeting, Daniel stared at the financial report on the table, and he felt flustered.

These days, Carmen's final words had lingered in his mind.

"You will regret the choice you made today...?"

1

Daniel repeated this sentence and muttered. Sometimes Daniel also thought, what if he had helped the Rothschild family at that time, just like what his father did in the "Kristallnacht" of World War II. If so, would everything be different?

Just then, the phone on the table shook.

He shook his head and drove the unrealistic thought out of his mind, Daniel picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

A familiar voice.

Daniel's eyebrows raised, and said with great interest in his voice, "Mr. Kerry? How did the distinguished Secretary of State remember your old friend?"

In 2004, the Morgan consortium had bet on Kerry, but Kerry eventually lost. This investment was squandered. But Daniel didn't think it was a failed investment, because "betting on both sides" had already been a Wall Street tradition. No matter who was elected, the "War on Terror" in 2006 would not be affected.

What really made Daniel feel pity was that this promising politician never showed any more interest in the presidency since his failure in 2004 and had embraced the role of a Democratic diplomat.

"What do you think of the 2019 Asia-Pacific joint military exercise?"

Kerry's straightforwardness made Daniel pause for a second, then he seemed to understand something as he asked, "If you are asking me if I support this or not, my answer is of course I do."

At this point, Daniel suddenly changed the topic, and smiled, "But, is the pressure a bit light?"

"I think so too. The rise of Celestial Trade has seriously threatened our influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Now, this has already been reflected in the economy. If I choose to appease this time, it means that we are handing over the hegemony we built over several decades," After hearing Daniel's words, Kerry hid all the joy and excitement in his heart and continued, "Hill and her team are preparing for the 2020 election if she is still in power for the next four years..."

"There is no doubt that the situation will be worse!" His knuckles knocked onto the conference room table, Daniel laughed twice and moved the phone into his other hand. Then he said, full of interest, "Mr. Kerry, I know a good restaurant. If you have time after work, we should have dinner together and talk about the election next year."

...

The ship speared through the raging waves, and the ten massive figures sailed through the rough sea, leaving milky white ripples behind.

On the Ford-class aircraft carrier, Captain Hogg stood in the command tower and looked into the horizon in the southwest.

Although he couldn't see anything, he knew very well that Coro Island was in that direction.

Even the glaring sun couldn't hide the arrogance between his eyebrows.

He and his fleet indeed had every right to be be arrogant.

As the first aircraft carrier designed by the UA using CAD technology, the "Ford-class" equipment was fully networked and computerized. The overall automation level was much higher than that of the Nimitz-class. The carrier personnel onboard was reduced from 3190 to 2,000, but the efficiency of the aircraft increased by 15% compared to the Nimitz, and the overall combat efficiency also more than doubled.

2

In addition, an updated power distribution system reduced the cable length, which made it easier to reconfigure for future installation of electromagnetic pulse cannon, laser anti-missile, and anti-ship weapons; there was enough room for modification.

Although the Ford-class was yet tested in a real battle, it was indeed worthy of the name known as the best aircraft carrier built by human.

"Report! Celestial Trade's fleet is discovered 100 kilometers away in the southwest, and it is confirmed to be two Guardian-class frigates," the lieutenant commander saluted and reported to him.

"Two frigates?" Hogg frowned.

He expected Celestial Trade to be within their range since the aircraft carrier battle group's intent was to put pressure on Celestial Trade A distance of one hundred kilometers showed the other party's cautiousness in reducing the possibility of escalation to a minimum. However, he didn't quite understand why they only sent two frigates after them.

1

Is Celestial Trade this confident?

Or did they completely abandon their sea supremacy?

"Send aircrafts and see what they are doing!" Hogg ordered in a deep tone.

"Roger!" The lieutenant commander saluted and left with the order.

1113 Who is the boss

Hogg never would have understood.

One hundred kilometers, a safe distance from his perspective, was no longer safe in front of Celestial Trade's electromagnetic pulse cannon. It was just the typical crossfire distance.

After two rounds of upgrades, the ship-borne electromagnetic pulse cannons on the Guardian-class frigate was no longer a modified version of the Type-50 electromagnetic pulse cannon, but an actual anti-ship cannon designed for warships. A shell 50 kilograms in mass could easily shred a ship with the same tonnage into two.

Even the 2,000-ton frigate could output damage equivalent to a battleship. The Celestial Trade Guardian-class perfectly demonstrated the tactical concept of "small boats equipped with giant cannons" to the extreme. They pioneered the naval warfare to the 22nd-century era where "destroyed upon observation" was the moto.

Just as the two F-35Cs took off from the Ford-class aircraft carrier deck, the two Guardian-class frigates were already locked onto the hull of the aircraft carrier.

If a conflict broke out between the two sides, the seventy-five aircrafts on the carrier would not have the opportunity to take off and would sink to the depth of the Pacific Ocean. As for the two F-35Cs that already took off, they would be taught a lesson by the laser anti-missile system if they dared to approach closer.

On the frigate leading the way, the captain stood in the bridge and stared silently at the aircraft carrier battle group on the holographic map.

From the moment the aircraft carrier battle group crossed Hawaii, they were locked on by the "Sky Eye" Observation Satellite.

It was the reason Jiang Chen did not consider this aircraft carrier battle group a threat because it never left his "sight".

"Report. Two aircrafts took off from the aircraft carrier and are approaching us in a straight line. The type of aircraft has been confirmed to be F35-C with unknown weapons." The first officer saluted and reported to the captain.

The captain nodded, and a vicious smile formed.

"Teach them a lesson."

"Roger!" The first officer saluted again and jogged away with the order.

Soon, a searchlight-shaped device rose from the middle of the frigate and pointed into the distant airspace.

If the two F-35s knew they were already on someone else's radar, they would certainly reconsider their choice of approaching the frigates

But unfortunately, they knew nothing about power.

"This is Sea Lion-1 (Sea Lion-2), I'm approaching Celestial Trade's frigates. No submarine activity is detected. The enemy has yet to detect us. Requesting further instructions." Celestial Trade's frigates already appeared on the radar as the pilots immediately reported to the aircraft carrier.

A hint of ridicule appeared on Hogg's face after he received information from the pilots.

Earlier, he was worried that Celestial Trade may be playing some tricks, now they seemed to just be bluffing.

"Show them who's the real boss," Hogg nonchalantly said. In the end, he didn't forget to add, "Pay attention, don't overdo it."

"Roger that."

The two F-35Cs changed their formation in the air and descended to approach the two Celestial Trade frigates.

Perhaps because of their self-confidence in their maneuverability, perhaps because of certainty that Celestial Trade wouldn't dare to be the first one to shoot, the two F-35Cs entered cruising attitude and even left the cover of clouds. They were about to skid over the top of the frigates to suddenly appear on the enemy radar before vanishing again.

With the invisibility of the F35, this provocative action was tried and tested.

Although they only tried this move against second-tier naval forces.

Giles opened the photoelectric detection pod mounted on the bottom of the aircraft and was preparing to "suddenly appear" on the enemy's radar when he saw a white light on the frigate in front of him.

Before he could react, the strong glare shrouded his cockpit in an instant.

Giles closed his eyes out of reflex, the burning pain in his eye sockets reminded him of what had happened.

"AHHH— MY EYES, I CAN'T SEE! FU*K, WHAT IS THAT THING!"

There was a hoarse cry from his comrade. Giles wanted to open his eyes to understand what happened. However, the glare blinding him made it all an unrealistic thought.

The two planes were like blinded flies. Their formation was no longer intact and was close to crashing in air.

Sweating profusely, Giles used his experience to make several maneuvers in succession, but he still could not escape the blinding light locked onto him.

The light seemed to be following him and was stuck to his cockpit.

He could swear he has never seen such a weapon!

If it was just ordinary glare, it would never achieve this effect. He was convinced that when he was maneuvering in the air, his cockpit was no longer facing the frigate, but he was still blinked by the light, unable to escape.

There was only one explanation. Celestial Trade must have used some kind of microwave weapon that he has never heard of before, and turned the glass on the cockpit, and even his goggles, into light bulbs...

"Sea Lion-1, this is the headquarters, what is going on? Please report back... I repeat, please report back..."

"God, God, God... please, don't do this, please..."

Giles prayed the deity's name and used his years of experience to barely pull the plane back above the clouds. But even then, he was still unable to escape the light.

He didn't care if there was no warning for a missile being locked onto him. He fired all the flares and chaff jams equipped on the aircraft.

He flew in fear for five minutes.

Even he himself did not know whether he escaped or Celestial Trade just spared him.

The blinding light on the cockpit finally disappeared. Giles was drenched in sweat. After he confirmed his position on the radar, he went north for more than 20 kilometers before he finally adjusted his course to return to the aircraft carrier.

As for the two frigates, he didn't even have the courage to look back.

"Sea Lion-2, what's the situation on your side?" Switching to the team channel, Giles asked his comrade.

"This is Sea Lion-2, I need some eye drops... except that, everything is fine."

"Is there a problem with landing?"

"No problem... probably."

After Giles confirmed the safety of his comrade, he let out a sigh of relief and immediately contacted the aircraft carrier to report what just happened.

Until now, he still didn't believe what had happened.

If it weren't for the lingering pain in his eyes and the wetness on his back, he would rather believe that everything that happened was a dream.

A nightmare...

After he ended his communication with the command center, Giles's tensed muscles began to relax.

The crisis was averted, and he could soon return to the aircraft carrier.

Out of curiosity, he reached out and touched the cockpit glass.

However, just as his hand touched the glass, his expression turned peculiar again.

Not only the glass but the goggles on his helmet and even the instrument dials in the cockpit...

Even with his gloves on, he felt his fingertips were being burned.

What the hell!

1114 The Form of War

Giles's speculation was indeed correct. It was a microwave weapon that caused them to be temporarily blind.

The microwave weapon was a prototype from Fallout Shelter 027, a laser array air defense system called "Light Suppression Weapon". It was used by countries as "peaceful" means to repulse fighters trespassing.

But this form of weapon was short-lived and forgotten in history by the end of the twenty-first century. In future warfare, drones dominated the battlefield. Even if piloted fighters were not outdated, they gradually became the supporting cast in air combat.

Disregarding everything else, a fighter jet flying at a speed of ten Mach could experience a force over 10G by making a simple turn. If the turn was a little wide, the pilot's eyeballs would be squeezed out. The human reflex was only so fast, and it was far slower compared to AI's responsiveness.

From identification to locked down for destruction, while the pilot may still be confirming the target, the AI ​​may already have calculated the trajectory.

However, for the sixth-generation fighters still in the exploration stage, this weapon was simply too effective. It was the same as covering the pilot's eyes during air combat.

Of course, it served more of a mean of deterrence.

In actual combat, if the enemy planes already entered the defensive radius of the laser array air defense system, directly attacking the wings, ammunition depot, and fuel tank with high-power lasers would be very effective.

"It's perfect." In the military base of New Moon Island, Jiang Chen praised as he watched the two F-35Cs in the holographic screen blindly maneuvering in the sky. He then looked at Ivan, who was standing across from him. "Who is the captain?"

Ivan replied immediately.

"The Captain of Frigate Ship (FS) Ange is Captain Lei Zheng."

"Lei Zheng is very talented. He handled this very well."

While he praised the captain, Jiang Chen already got an idea of how to use the video that they just captured.

You are planning to conduct a military exercise? Okay! You are planning to flex on your allies? No problem! I'm not going to interrupt anything, but I will actually help you!

We won't discuss anything about the fighters. First things first, the maneuvers of the two pilots were quite amazing! Celestial Trade can testify that they pulled everything off with their eyes closed! As for why their eyes are closed?

Oh, that is a long story...

At this moment, Jiang Chen was planning on when he should play this card to maximize its effect]

...

It was already more than a week since he returned to Hua. Lu Hao didn't have any time to rest since his return. He was either being pulled into meetings or being asked to make a report. From the employees to the executive council, everyone seemed to be in a tense state, but they couldn't agree on a direction.

He understood the impetuous and contradictory atmosphere that permeated at the top of the Republic. He also believed that all countries in the world shared the same struggles.

Whether to create history or become history, no one was prepared for what would happen next.

The opponent was an extraterrestrial civilization. Apart from knowing that it possessed powerful biotechnology, the Earth civilization knew nothing more. However, Lu Hao also understood that he couldn't be too demanding in this matter. It was not easy to have the courage to fight against an extraterrestrial civilization capable of intergalactic travel.

Of course, his exhaustion was not entirely due to meetings, but also due to other things.

The people above him tried to find a way out, and the people below him tried to gain benefits.

A semi-state-owned aerospace technology company already saw him twice, as it hoped to learn some insights from him about the future direction of the Earth Fleet. What type of battleship would be prioritized? Would engines be the focus or weapons? Or armors? Or even shields?

However, it was never this easy...

Even the Earth Fleet didn't know its future, let alone his future. Perhaps that man saw something further away, but he was not a god after all. He would also be confused about the distant future.

The once unpopular astronomy and aerospace became one of the hottest disciplines. Not only greedy businessmen came to see him, but many academics have found him to sell their theories. They shoved their papers in front of him, begging him to take a look.

Some of these people came for the name, while others searched for the benefit.

In this day and age, professors may not necessarily be good at scientific research, but even graduate students knew how to write papers. Many universities even used SCI papers as a hard indicator for assessing academic performance. In this kind of environment, anyone could offer an opinion.

For those scholars and experts, if their own thoughts would be agreed on by the members of the Earth Defense Alliance, this meant the opportunity to become a guest of the Earth Defense Alliance Committee, even a technical consultant. Even if they performed poorly in university or at a research institute, they could still become famed within academics and even go down in history.

However, the root of the contradiction lied here.

Everyone thought they were correct and even brought evidence to justify their opinions.

However, it was too easy to falsify evidence. Just look at the science fiction novels of the early twentieth century and look at what authors imagined the year 2000 looked like. It was easy to determine how unrealistic the fantasy of human beings is.

These days, Lu Hao either spent his time in meetings, or dealt with the piles of papers and research reports.

Sometimes he really wished he could stuff these papers into the shredder.

But he knew at this moment, he couldn't make such a decision. In his subconscious, he hoped to see a paper or research report that offered a clear path for the Earth Defense Alliance.

To be honest, being in his position, he was naturally a supporter of the carrier battle group theory. However, Wu Changfeng's words on the elevator made him question his previous certainty.

After he let out a sigh, he leaned back onto the sofa in the living room. Lu Hao massaged his soar temples and tossed the paper onto the table. Then, his sight drifted to the globe on the window sill.

He heard the sound of a key turning at the door.

He looked up and saw a clever looking boy and his lips formed a kind smile.

It was his son who was still in the first grade of elementary school. He just came back from school.

The little guy ran towards him in happiness after he saw his dad sitting on the sofa. He didn't even take his shoes off before jumping onto his dad's legs.

"Dad, Dad! Are you working in the Earth Defense Alliance now?" With his innocent eyes, the little guy shook his dad's arm with adoration.

"You can say that." Lu Hao rubbed his son's head and said with a smile.

It was not a secret that he joined the Earth Defense Alliance Committee. The state television even created an exclusive interview with him and Wu Changfeng. However, in the interview, he only mentioned the duties and obligations of the Earth Defense Alliance. He also spoke about the plan to create a fleet and intercept the extraterrestrial civilization in the Kuiper Belt.

As for the issues discussed at the committee meeting, even with his own membership, these sensitive issues were directly averted...

"Great! Our classmates don't believe it. They said that I'm lying." The little guy excitedly waved his fist and continued to look at him with adoring eyes. "Dad, Dad, will you build a Gundam?"

A Gundam?

Lu Hao shook his head.

A Gundam was absolutely impossible.

Having said that, he didn't want to dim his son's hopeful eyes, so he said in a comforting tone, "Your father is too old to pilot a Gundam. So, this task will be up to you. Promise Dad that you will study hard."

"Can I drive a Gundam if I study hard?" His son's pupils flashed with excitement.

"Of course!" Lu Hao smiled.

The little guy climbed down from his dad's knees after receiving the confirmation he was looking for. He skipped out of the living room and ran away.

Looking at his son, his lips formed a curvature that belonged to the kindness of a father.

Even if it is to protect the smile of the little guy, at least he can't let him down...

He shook his head and picked up the paper he previously tossed down.

What will a war in space be like?

Just as he was feeling puzzled, he suddenly remembered someone.

A person who might give him the answer.

1115 Cyclotron

Since Natasha moved in, Jiang Chen's mansion no longer felt empty.

Ayesha and Xia Shiyu were quiet and reserved, but Natasha was the complete opposite. Her voice and action reflected her Slav origins.

Passionate and unrestrained...

However, the four lived together harmoniously. Everyone did their best to accommodate each other's habits, and everyone did everything they could to not interfere with others.

The only fly in the ointment was that every night, the competition for the "ownership" of Jiang Chen was fierce.

Before Natasha arrived, there was a timetable arranged to determine who would "serve the bed", and even Jiang Chen didn't have much influence on the decision.

However, the arrival of Natasha broke the balance. The fiery Russian girl not only ruin the "rules of the game" agreed upon by Ayesha and Xia Shiyu but even put up a "refusal to negotiate" stance.

"Timetable? What is the use of that?" When Xia Shiyu and Ayesha asked about her schedule, Natasha refused right away, and said without thinking, "The person who he sleeps with is his freedom. How can you use a timetable and ignore his wishes? If you're not willing, take him away from me with your charm."

It was fine if she just expressed her opinion, but she was also holding Jiang Chen's arm and provoking the two girls by straightening her back, exposing the Mount Everest in front of her chest.

Against the invincible size, even Ayesha who never felt any jealousy felt frustrated and began to pout.

As for Xia Shiyu, the vinegar jar was completely knocked over and she remained standoffish for several days...

Well, in fact, Jiang Chen thought he was quite easy-going in this aspect. He didn't disagree with the timetable, or rather, he supported decisions that promoted harmony and stability within the family.

But at the time he didn't say anything.

Honestly, it did give him spiritual satisfaction to see the people he loved show jealousy because of him.

It was fortunate for him that the three girls didn't turn against each other because of "unequal distribution". Other than at night, they spent time together quite harmoniously. However, he clearly felt that they began to compete in on particular aspect.

For example, Ayesha began to favor just wearing loose pajamas while walking around in the mansion with her legs exposed and Natasha even began treating bikinis as her casual wear at home.

Even Xia Shiyu joined the movement to save "clothes" while gnashing her teeth and blushing.

Jiang Chen didn't know how he should feel about this.

While he was the ultimate "beneficiary", and the appearance and body of the three women were all stunning, nowadays, he felt uncomfortable being home. Even with the genetic vaccine, he began to feel that his body couldn't handle this anymore.

When he subtly hinted this to Ayesha, the girl nodded and expressed that she would help him.

However, Jiang Chen did not see any change at home.

The only thing that changed was the cuisines on the table.

On top of the original menu, a pot of delicious turtle soup was added... (1)

...

Time was like clockwork, and July passed very quickly.

Perhaps the microwave weapon left an impressive impression on the pilots of the fighters on the aircraft carrier, the UA aircraft carrier battle group did not conduct any drastic exercises since it entered the Guam military base. Every day, the F-35s took off from the military base, but the route all avoided the air defense identification zone of Xin without exception.

Obviously, the UA didn't want to cause more misunderstandings during this critical period.

On the other hand, the UA had resorted to its usual tactics, military high-profile actions combined with diplomatic offensives. Secretary of State Kerry frequently visited Asian countries, ostensibly to strengthen economic and trade cooperation, but in fact, was pointing to Xin and planning to blockade the Global Grid Plan.

Xia Shiyu was extremely stressed over this matter.

Although the irreplaceability of Celestial Trade's product made it impossible for UA companies to take over, the UA diplomatic approach played a significant role and caused the expansion of the Global Grid Plan in West Asia and South American to almost completely stagnate.

However, Jiang Chen was not in a hurry. He could allow Kerry to create some chaos in Asia first. By the time the 2019 Asia-Pacific military exercise began, he prepared plenty of ways for UA to lose its face.

The Ange High-Tech Industrial Park, an industrial park that condensed the cutting-edge technology of the entire Xin, had more than doubled its size compared to six months ago.

Since Future Military became independent of Future Heavy Industries, CEO Ling Tao built new factories with the budget approved by the headquarters. They built a lab dedicated to weapon development upon Jiang Chen's request.

At the moment, a giant turret, about 25 meters long and about 12 meters wide, was placed in an empty lab warehouse. The shape of the turret looked like a giant pot. The pot handle was embedded in the pot from the middle and flipped over on the ground.

Since the barrel was too heavy, it must be suspended by a mechanical arm on the ceiling.

From the huge volume, it was easy to guess the use of this weapon.

Other than the starships that flew in the air, it seemed that no warship could carry this massive turret.

Outside the protective glass of the warehouse, Ling Tao showed and explained to Jiang Chen the latest masterpieces of Future Military.

"Sirius X-1, a cyclotron-type electromagnetic pulse cannon prototype. The projectiles are launched in two acceleration stages. The first stage of acceleration is completed on the double circular magnetic tracks in the turret, while the barrel begins to charge. After the first stage of acceleration, the maximum speed of the projectile, in theory, can reach Mach 40. After entering the barrel, the projectile starts to accelerate at the second stage, and the theoretical exit speed can reach Mach 67, which is more than 35% of the third cosmic speed!"

Ling Tao showed heartfelt pride.

Since a year ago, scientists in Future Military began to study the cyclotron. After countless days and nights of experiments, they finally made a breakthrough, as they raised the speed of the electromagnetic pulse cannon by an order of magnitude. It was no exaggeration to say that this electromagnetic pulse cannon was the masterpiece of Future Military.

Different from the war in a traditional sense.

In the war within the stellar system, two crucial issues must be considered, namely the speed of gravity and relative motion.

Different tracks corresponded to different surrounding speeds. If the spaceship on track A wanted to hit the spaceship on track B, it was not as simple as aiming at the target. If the speed of the bullet was not fast enough, it may fly away and become a meteorite in the solar system or even a satellite of a certain planet.

In actual combat, even if the speed exceeded the third cosmic speed, it was not enough.

However, Earth civilization finally gained a fighting chance against the threat outside of the solar system. It was no longer helpless.

(1) Turtle Soup is known to improve men's performance in a "certain" aspect.

1116 The Seed of Future

Below the magnificent brick wall, an Audi A8 moved on the asphalt road and entered the university decorated in green.

On the solid marble monument, five words were inscribed with fine penmanship – National University of Defense Technology.

As the first group of universities in the "2110 Project" focused on military, the university had been under the dual leadership of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education. The school's also held prominence, as it sent over thousands of talents to the military every year.

Lu Hao was emotional when he saw the stone monument.

It was his alma mater.

He hadn't returned to this place for a long time.

The car stopped in front of a gated faculty and staff district. From the eroded painting on the wall and the fact the building was only five-storey tall, the community was built quite a long time ago. Lu Hao stepped out of the car and looked at the man behind sunglasses as he he sighed.

"Do you still need to follow me here?"

The man with sunglasses shook his head.

"This is my order from the superior. You can just pretend that I don't exist."

Lu Hao frowned but did not say anything. He turned and walked to the guard room.

Nothing here has changed in twenty years.

He still vaguely recalled that when he first arrived at university, he joined the astronomy club out of interest and frequently visited this community.

The astronomy society at that time was as unpopular as the school of astronomy.

Not only was there a lack of members, but they couldn't even apply for a room for their activities.

For a club that could disband at any moment, the school naturally didn't allocate much money. After the initial interest faded, most of the members who had filled out an application gradually stopped participating in activities, and even the club president himself worked on other things.

Only one person was an exception.

Even today, Lu Hao still vividly remembered the name of the old man.

Professor of the Astronomy Club, Professor Nie Changhai. His research direction was a subbranch of astronomy, a topic that at the time couldn't be more unpopular – the theory of galatic defense. Although it fitted with the needs of the National University of Defense Technology, most students, let alone professors, were dismissive of this inexplicable subject.

No matter how people at that time viewed him and his subject, Lu Hao knew very well that the old man was never bothered by the opinion of other people, but wholeheartedly made his topic a lifelong research goal.

If he must choose an authoritative representative for the defense of extraterrestrial civilization, perhaps the old professor was the only one who can qualify.

As the thoughts flowed back to him, Lu Hao walked to the guard room and gently tapped on the window to wake up the guard dozing off.

"Is Professor Nie Changhai still teaching?"

"Hey, why don't you call..." The guard wiped the drool off of his mouth and was about to go off on the person that interrupted his afternoon nap. But when his eyes met Lu Hao's, his chose to close his mouth and the swallowed the curse that was about to come out.

As a guard for so many years, he didn't learn many skills, but he managed to master how to read a person.

Fu*k, it's probably a senior leader visiting...

The guard thought in his mind and forced a smile.

However, Lu Hao did not take it seriously and repeated what he said patiently.

"Is Professor Nie Changhai still teaching?"

The guard stopped to think and quickly scanned the name of each professor in his mind. However, he did not remember the name Nie Changhai. He thought he heard wrong, so he questioned in a quiet tone.

"Who?"

"Professor Nie," Lu Hao said.

The guard revealed a bitter smile and shook his head.

"Sorry, I have been working here for more than three years and I have never heard of a professor named Nie. Should I call someone to ask for you?"

"I see..." Lu Hao sighed. "It's okay."

It's already been twenty years. If he is still alive, he must be well into his seventies.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard a slightly cold female voice behind him.

"You're looking for Professor Nie?"

Lu Hao turned around and looked at the young woman behind him.

She didn't look old, but her vibe didn't resemble an undergraduate student. She must be a graduate student at the university. From her appearance, Lu Hao saw some resemblance of someone he used to know, but he couldn't pinpoint who the familiarity belonged to.

"Yes, and you are?"

"I am his granddaughter, Nie Han. Why are you looking for Professor Nie?" Nie Han asked.

"You are the granddaughter of Professor Nie?" Lu Hao's face showed a touch of joy, and he smiled, "I hope you can help me tell professor that Student Lu Hao is seeking his advice."

"Lu Hao?" When she heard the name, Nie Han's voice gained some warmth and she no longer gave off an aloof vibe, "When he was still alive, he always mentioned your name. He complimented you for being the best student he's ever taught."

Lu Hao paused in disbelief.

"When he was still alive?"

Nie Han nodded and remained silent as she looked down.

The branches of the birch tree swayed gently and rustled in the wind.

Lu Hao's throat moved, and a lot of words were rushing out. But because he couldn't find someone to tell, he only let out a long sigh.

"Am I?"

From the expression on Lu Hao's face, Nie Han felt remose, so she whispered, "Professor Nie is no longer here, but his items are still in his office. No one has touched them. If you are interested, I can take you to see them."

"Thank you very much." Lu Hao nodded.

"Not at all, you are the hero of Hua." After a pause, a smile formed on Nie Han's face, and then she continued, "What's more, if you can learn what he left behind, he will be pleased even in his afterlife."

Lu Hao and the bodyguard followed behind Nie Han into the community.

Through the birch trees and the cement stairs, Nie Han took out a key and pushed open the door before she walked into the room.

"This is the place. Since he left, this house has been empty. This is his office. He never liked others going through his stuff, so we kept the room in the same state and only cleaned it once every month." Then, Nie Han said apologetically, "I was supposed to clean this place but haven't had the time to yet. It's pretty dusty in here. How about you sit in the living room for a bit..."

"There is no need!" Lu Hao quickly waved his hand and took the broom from Nie Han's hand. "Speaking of it, Professor Nie has passed away for so long and I have only learned of this today. I never even visited his grave. Let me do the cleaning."

"You are a guest..."

"What guest! I'm his student!"

In the end, Nie Han could not convince the insisting Lu Hao and had to agree to his request.

The bodyguard saw Lu Hao holding the broom and he rushed forward. "I will help you—"

"You can wait at the door."

Lu Hao did not appreciate his gesture. After he firmly said this, he went into the house with cleaning supplies.

With a sincere heart, it took half an hour before Lu Hao swept the last trace of dust away in the office.

When he saw the office, and the rows of books on the shelves that his professor purchased with the money he saved up, he seemed to return to the summer of more than 20 years ago. He felt his eyes tear up.

He wiped the corner of his eye, then walked over to the desk and sat where his professor sat before.

In his memory, Professor Nie always recorded his thoughts on paper whenever he had an idea, and regularly put it in a notebook that he carried with him. He had seen the notebook before, but because the content was too science fiction for him, he once regarded it as a novel without a plot.

He was not disappointed. The notebook was still in the drawer on his left-hand side.

Lu Hao gently wiped off the dust on the cover page, and flipped to the last page of the notebook

"...only the universe, I can't give you any standard answers. The only thing I can do is to give you an idea and guide you to inspiration."

He whispered the familiar words, then closed the page.

His fingers gently swept across the cover that turned yellow due to age and once again examined the old desk, he whispered.

"Thank you."

1117 Satellite City

The more Jiang Chen looked at the over twenty meters long barrel, the more he adored it.

Although the actual value of a pure kinetic weapon in space warfare with a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers was still inconclusive, but huge ships and giant cannons were the romance of men! The scene of a thousand cannons firing simultaneously made him excited.

Now that the cannon is here, will the ship be such a distant dream?

"Can we test it?" Jiang Chen looked at Ling Tao.

"Of course! We'll show you its power." Ling Tao took off the radio on his shoulder and spoke a few words to the engineers of the institute, soon the barrel suspended by the mechanical arm slowly lowered itself by half a meter.

Ling Tao raised his hand and pressed the touchpad a few times. The warehouse door with the electromagnetic pulse cannon was shut and locked. The sprinkler embedded on top of the roof began to release dry ice into the warehouse. At the same time, the vacuum pumps in the lab began to operate.

With the enchanting smoke screen, the warehouse quickly became a vacuum.

"Steel plates" a few centimeters thick were transported one by one with the mechanical arm and placed in front of the groove 500 meters away from the electromagnetic pulse cannon to create a steel wall. But that was not everything. When the steel plates were over five meters thick, a concrete wall more than ten meters thick was placed behind the steel plates.

The size of the entire vacuum laboratory was limited, and the maximum distance was 500 meters. However, for weapons used in space, there was not much difference between 500 meters and five kilometers. After all, there was no air resistance in the universe, and there was no need to consider the kinetic energy attenuation.

The barrel of the cannon was pointed at the thick "steel plates". The capacitor inside the cannon began to charge, and eerie blue arcs began to leak from the muzzle.

When everything was ready, Ling Tao smiled at Jiang Chen and invited Jiang Chen to press the command button on the touchpad.

"Press the red button to fire."

Jiang Chen stepped forward, looked at the turret outside the glass, and pressed the red button.

There was no warning.

Blue arcs suddenly flashed, and the glaring white light formed and disappeared in an instant. The fifty-kilogram shell smashed onto the steel plate, accompanied by the tremor of the earth and the roar under their feet.

"..."

Words couldn't describe such a shocking state.

Almost as soon as he gained the ability to think again, a thigh-sized fracture formed on the steel plate. The wall of steel formed by dozens of steel plates turned into a "V".

As for the concrete wall behind the steel, it was shattered...

Because Ling Tao already witnessed this many time, he didn't find it surprising.

"The cannon can fire shells up to fifty kilograms in mass. In theory, the rate of firing can reach nine rounds per minute. Should we still test one more shot?"

"No need, I have seen its power." Jiang Chen shook his head.

"Okay"

Ling Tao nodded. Then, he stepped forward and pressed the touchpad a few more times. Once the overflowing electricity in the high-energy capacitor slowly dissipated, he immediately turned off the power of the cannon. The blue arcs also went dim and eventually disappeared.

After a long silence, Jiang Chen finally said emotionally, "...I am thinking now, if you put this thing on the Pacific Ocean, is there a ship it can't bring down in one shot?"

"No warship can carry this turret," Ling Tao thought that his boss was really considering this possibility, so he quickly explained to him, "The electromagnetic pulse cannon on the Guardian-class is already strong enough, no ship can be safe and sound after one shot lands—"

"I know," Jiang Chen waved his hand. "I'm just saying. I won't use a cannon to kill a mosquito."

Jiang Chen paused for a while as he examined the cannon, then he continued, "How much is the cost of this cannon?"

"Ignore the cost of research and development, this prototype costs about 1 billion New Xin dollars."

1 billion New Xin dollars!

When he heard this figure, even as the major shareholder of the Xin Fed, Jiang Chen shivered.

Even if large-scale production could reduce the cost by half, the price tag would still be 500 million Xin New dollars. If the Earth fleet planned to equip hundreds of the electromagnetic pulse cannons on its ship, it would bankrupt the Earth Defense Alliance!

Since Jiang Chen's expression didn't look too good, Ling Tao who guessed his boss thoughts quickly explained.

"The reason why it is so expensive is mainly because of the manufacturing process. Many parts cannot be produced by the current technology. Only industrial-grade 3D printers can be used as a substitute. Once the production technology catches up, the cannon won't be so expensive."

Jiang Chen finally felt better after the explanation.

In a few days, the Earth Defense Alliance would reconvene once again. The next meeting was to discuss what class of ships should be built as the first million-ton starship.

In fact, regardless of the class of ship, conventional weapons like electromagnetic pulse cannons would be indispensable. So regardless of the result, orders would go to Future Military. After all, Future Group's advantage on electromagnetic pulse cannons were obvious to the world.

It was just that the cost of nearly one billion is too expensive.

Jiang Chen knew that if he switched positions with a member of the committee, he wouldn't easily agree on this budget.

After all, he didn't own the Earth Defense Alliance. The members paid according to a percentage of GDP and the population. Hua contributed three trillion in just one year! How could Hua allow a company from a differnt country spend this money so easily?

As the executive, he had the decision-making power, but the committee also had voting rights and the authority to do a budget review.

Jiang Chen began to have a headache.

How can I fool these committee members?

It doesn't seem like an easy task...

...

With August right around the corner, the expectation of the 2019 Asia-Pacific joint military exercise began to increase. However, Celestial Trade's reaction had been quite mild, as if the carrier battle group parked at their front door didn't seem to cause any concern.

Above the height of 36,000 kilometers, the spindle-shaped aircraft moved between the steel skeletons several kilometers long. Like sewing needles, they weaved the future of Earth Civilization in electric sparks.

It was the second shipyard of Celestial Trade, and the current progress of the project was only 15%.

The new shipyard that covered ​​100 acres and costed nearly 20 billion Xin New dollars, was like a satellite city suspended on the side of Celestial City. The city was connected to the space elevator by a graphene track.

Six spindles of about three kilometers in length suspended in the synchronous orbit, connected by a titanium alloy skeleton. Just like a narrow and hollow hexagonal prism, it outlined the shape of the entire shipyard.

Remotely contriolled by human engineers with the help of neural connection technology, nearly a thousand construction robots particiapted in the construction of the space elevator by welding pieces of alloy to the skeleton. The spindle-shaped aircraft moved around the shipyard as they sent materials and construction equipment to the construction robots.

In the future, all warships with tonnage above 500,000 would be built in this shipyard.

The Earth Defense Alliance already held more than a dozen meetings on the the first ship to be built in the shipyard, but it still couldn't come to a conclusion. Some people proposed to develop missile ships, some people suggested to prioritize aircraft carriers and drones...

The last one to end the debate was a representative from Hua, Lu Hao.

At the seventeenth meeting, his "functional ship theory" gained support from most members.

"It is ridiculous to use the 19th-century artillery to fight battleships of the 20th century. However, after a 19th-century warship has been modified by a 20th-century artillery system, then they can still play a role on the battlefield. Rather than the controversy being whether we should arm our ships with bows or spears, it is better to build the ship first and then consider what weapons to put on it."

The choice of weapons should be considered in the future, but leave rooms of modifications and upgrades. Even if innovation in shipbuilding technology ultimately rendered this ship useless, it could still be repurposed into a construction ship for additional values.

Lu Hao's proposal also gave Jiang Chen a sigh of relief.

At least for now, he didn't have to worry about how to convince the committee to buy a billion-dollar cannon.

1118 Trilion Dollar Budge

The aim to standarize warships meant that all future warships, regardless of aircraft carriers or battleships, would be based on the first warship. All weapons and functional accessories would also be designed and manufactured around the same standards.

This was like the current space station; all components were built based on the six by four standard proposed by Celestial Trade. If someone designed a six by five interface, there would be no available interface for it to dock and its only fate would be to float in space.

Whoever controlled the standards would have the right to control the industry for half a century, or even an entire century.

It was easy to tell how attractive the first million-ton ship would be.

Hua and Russia didn't even possess the entry technology to build a 500,000-ton ship, let alone a million-ton ship, or else the first order wouldn't be swallowed down by Future Heavy Industries alone.

However, only Future Heavy Industries could confidently complete the million-ton ship. Although Hua and Russia both built shipyards on Celestial City, they only received orders for smaller ships.

Future Heavy Industries was different. Not only did the company successfully build three 500,000-ton "Seagull-class" transport ships, it was in the process of building the the fourth "Seagull". The four Seagull-classs not only helped Future Heavy Industries to accumulate a wealth of shipbuilding experience, but they also allowed the shipyard building process to advance to a new height.

Although Hua and Russia both eyed the attractive deal, there was very little they could to change the situation. They just regretted that their own space companies didn't have the capability to close the giant technology gap.

Of course, Future Heavy Industries took away the biggest piece of meat. But there was still a lot of meat and soup left in the pot.

It was important to know that through the 50% defense tax and the output value contributed by the member states, the Earth Defense Alliance Fund had raised a total of 349 billion New Xin Dollars. Based on the team of professional managers employed by the fund, the fund would raise over 12 trillion New Xin Dollars by the end of 2019 with its current momentum.

How astronomical was this number?

To choose a reference for comparison, based on the GDP data released five years ago by Hua, the 12 trillion New Xin Dollar was more than 10% of the annual GDP of Hua in 2015.

It was 10% of the GDP output from the world's second largest economy!

Of course, Hua's current GDP was by far higher than what it was five years ago. Especially after the announcement of the asteroid mining program, the GDP of the major aerospace powers saw quite a substantial increase. Even so, the 12 trillion New Xin Dollar still was an astronomical amount.

Even if they couldn't help building the ship, it was still possible to build the computer, or even worse, at least possible to contribute the screws or the buttons on the spacesuit. The more upstream the industry, the more downstream industries were involved. The construction of the mega million-ton military ship would have far more stimulating effects on the aerospace industry of the member states than the four Seagull-class transport ships.

Because of this, everyone wanted a piece of the ship.

Not only the Earth Defense Alliance coveted this pie, but also the aerospace companies from non-member states.

Although these non-members also contributed a lot of money in the form of defense tax, when the Earth Defense Alliance chose cooperation partners, it was extremely critical of companies from non-member countries. Even the leading SpaceX only received an order of 1.7 billion New Xin Dollars in navigation projects.

Out of a total of 12 trillion New Xin Dollars!

Those aerospace companies in Silicon Valley and Seattle were all extremely envious and countless times arranged their employees and unions to petition the Capitol. They lobbied to join the Earth Defense Alliance, or at least to establish good cooperative relations with the Earth Defense Alliance.

It was the first time in the history of the UA where capitalists and unions worked so closely together, unprecedented.

Nippon was even more direct, the only asteroid mine was operated by several powerful consortia, which provided millions of tons of mineral resources to the Nippon manufacturing industry every year. When the 50% defense tax was introduced, the profits plummeted. Later, when the 12 trillion New Xin dollar fund was announced, they worked together to pressure the Nippon government to join the Earth Defense Alliance.

Inside Future Building on Coro Island, Jiang Chen was in his office sipping on his coffee, he was carefully writing something on paper.

The line "Earth Defense Alliance Research Fund Allocation Plan" was written on it.

The first order for Future Heavy Industries shipyard was an unarmed ship. Lu Hao's proposal ended the nonstop debate at the committee. The Earth Defense Alliance no longer had to worry about which company's weapons to buy, because weapons were no longer a consideration.

In the short run, it was undoubtedly the best choice to save resources. Instead of wasting production capacity on weapons that are destined to be eliminated, it was better to think long term. However, in the long run, this proposal was still somewhat ill-considered.

Without enticing the arm dealers who make cannons and turrets, why would they put money into research to upgrade and advance weapons?

The more weapons purchased, the stronger the weapons. If there were no sales, there would be no competition. Why did military technology on the wasteland recover so fast? Because for most survivor camps, 50% or even 80% of GDP was spent on weapons.

In that kind of environment, even without proper labs, the Sixth Street used sickle and welding torches to create the T3 Power Armor no inferior to the power armor before the war. After NAC unified the Wanghai area, although Jiang Chen invested a lot in scientific research, the speed of weapon upgrade slowed down.

After the T4 Power Armor, the Sixth Street didn't manage to create a new power armor. The K1 kinetic skeleton became the standard for the three division. With the kinetic skeleton, the NAC Army could easily sweep through the wasteland, and naturally technology progression was no longer needed.

Earth Defense Alliance's urgent task was to find a way to stimulate military companies to develop weapons. The best way was to use methods other than orders to give them incentives to do research.

Money is no longer the problem, but how to spend the money is now the problem.

Jiang Chen let out a sigh.

Sometimes he would exclaim, why he did not transmigrate from the future. Without any precedent to follow, he must explore. Now he only faced the problem of his budget. After the Earth Fleet is formed, there would be many things he would have headaches over.

"Talents, talents... Earth Defense Alliance is still lacking talents."

1119 Earth Fleet Taking its Shape

How about building a new military academy?

Focusing on training military personnel for the Earth Defense Alliance?

Jiang Chen's eyes lit up when he thought about this. The more he dwelled the idea, the more he felt he was onto something. He pulled a piece of paper and jotted down a few sentences before adding a few zeros to the end as a budget reference.

"I'm finally done. This is not a one-person job..."

He tossed the pen aside and pushed away the thick stack of documents. He leaned back in the chair and stretched his sore neck and arms.

He hasn't work this hard for a long time and he wasn't used to the workload.

His beautiful assistant knocked on the door and came in with a cup of coffee.

When she saw Jiang Chen, who was stretching, she put the cup on his desk and said with a smile.

"Boss, your coffee. Do you need me to add sugar for you?"

"Mhmm, put a few cubes in."

The assistant put two cubes of sugar into the cup, and understandingly stirred the cup for him with a coffee spoon before she brought the cup to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen sniffed the pure aroma and took a sip of the coffee. The bitterness and sweetness spreaded on his taste buds as he nodded in satisfaction. Not only because of the cup of coffee, but because of the beautiful assistant's excellent service.

Sure enough, this is the life of a boss.

The assistant's smile was even more joyous when she saw the smile on Jiang Chen. She raised her hands and moved her fingers.

"Boss, if you are tired, I can help massage your shoulders. My massage technique is great, and every time I helped CEO Xia massage, she always praises me."

Most of the work was given to the artificial intelligence "Jean". Rather than being an office assistant, she was more of the life assistant to the president. She really just needed to make Jiang Chen coffee, organize documents, and deliver messages to other departments.

With so few tasks, it was basically impossible to have any achievements in performance. For her, the only way she could get promoted was to do everything to perfection.

For this reason, she learned many other "skills".

"Then please."

He was indeed a little tired and did not reject this offer. He turned around his chair and gazed out at Coro City from the floor-to-ceiling window. While he relaxed his tensed state, he felt the two soft and gentle hands massaging his shoulders. They felt so good that he almost moaned.

"Comfortable?"

"Oh, very comfortable... right, what is your name?"

"Hehe... boss you are so rarely here that you can't even remember my name?"

...

After the second meeting of the Earth Defense Alliance Committee, most of the members stayed in Celestial City, but the executive officer returned to the surface. On the one hand, he was not used to living in space, on the other hand, it was due to an inexplicable sense of lack of security.

On the ground, no matter what danger he encountered, he could escape by using his ability. But in Celestial City, he never even attempted it once.

The reason was very simple. Celestial City was spinning all the time. He could never confirm whether he would appear at the same place or end up drifting somewhere in the vast space.

In fact, Jiang Chen had doubted this a long time ago. The position of his travel ability should not be as simple as the three-dimensional coordinates. After all, the Earth itself was orbiting around the solar system all the time.

Intuition told him that all of this may be related to the mysterious Klein particles.

The drafted "Earth Defense Alliance Research Fund Budget Allocation Proposal" was scanned into an electronic file. It was passed to Kelvin in the Celestial Trade Aerospace Department through Jean for him to make further improvements.

After he took care of these matters, it was almost noon.

After going downstairs with Xia Shiyu for lunch, Jiang Chen estimated it was time, so he drove to the Ange Island Astronaut Training Center.

At the last meeting, some members brought forth the opinions of their country and expressed their willingness to send their soldiers to join the Earth Fleet. Of course, Jiang Chen would not refuse the enthusiastic proposal of the member states. Now Celestial Trade was extremely lacking in astronauts, the million-ton ship would at least require thousands of crew members. If the member states were willing to share some of the pressure for him, he more than welcomed this idea...

If that was really the case.

On the square in front of the main entrance of the Ange Island Astronaut Training Center, a team of burly, sharp-looking men stood under the scorching sun in a neat formation.

Their skin colors were different. Some were from East Asia, some from Russia, and some from Madagascar – the only African countries decided to join the Earth Defense Alliance.

Tourists passing by all stopped, they looked at them with curiosity and awe.

From the vibe of these people, it was not difficult to guess their identity.

The word "military" was almost written on their faces, infused into their blood and bones.

However, at this moment, it was Jiang Chen in front of this team. When he took the list of names from Wu Changfeng, he had a complicated expression.

Undoubtedly, all the countries have treated the Earth Defense Alliance matter seriously. When they heard about the formation of the Earth Fleet, they immediately sent soldiers. Moreover, from the resumes in his hands, all the member states sent elites of the army. The type of soldiers that would be favored by any leader.

However, Jiang Chen knew that this made his work much more troublesome.

Jiang Chen could not help but sigh in his mind.

You guys, I need to form the Earth Fleet. I'm lacking officers who know how to adapt. What is the use of sending me bunch of muscles? Do we need to fight mutants with rifles? What's the use with all of them just knowing how to listen to orders? It's going to take me so long to re-educate them.

Jiang Chen was even more determined to establish an aerospace military academy.

Jiang Chen cleared his mind and said loudly in front of the soldiers.

"Your mission for the next three months is to accept the basic training necessary for astronauts here. I assure you that the next three months will be extremely difficult. But I also hope that you will remember that your hard work is for the future of Earth! And for the future of your motherland!"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Jiang Chen shouted at the top of his lungs.

"UNDERSTOOD!"

Different languages, but the roar resounded in the square and echoed between the buildings.

The roar was like a long sword being pulled out of its sheath, revealing its sheen to the world. All bystanders were moved, and their blood surged in passion.

Although the future war didn't just depend on passion, these people would ultimately be fighting, and it would be these people that decide the outcome of the war. These officers would serve as a seed, rooting their thoughts and their will in every aspect of the Earth Fleet.

Jiang Chen suddenly felt that it wouldn't be so bad to have such a group of tough and resilient soldiers as the first group of officers of the Earth Fleet.

1120 The End of the Century

A total of five hundred volunteers from member states joined the Earth Fleet that was still in its formation stage. Among them, Hua, Russia, and Frankberg accounted for 70%, while the majority of the remaining 30% came from South Asia.

These volunteers would be trained in the Ange Island Astronaut Training Center, currently recognized as the largest and most professional astronaut training base in the world. They would learn the basics of being an astronaut to adapt and combat in space.

These five hundred volunteers were the first group. In the coming year, the member states would also send a total of five thousand volunteers based on assigned quotas to deliver new blood to the burgeoning Earth Fleet.

After the five hundred volunteers settled down, Jiang Chen parted farewell with Wu Changfeng and left the training center. Instead of returning directly to Future Building, he drove to the high-tech park to visit Future Heavy Industries' factory.

After signing a power export agreement with Hua Electricity Group last time, Hua's Minister of Transportation made a trip to Xin. After he learned about the cost of the magnetic levitation road, he immediately proposed the idea of introducing the technology to the country.

At that time, Jiang Chen agreed, but Future Heavy Industries was focused on building the magnetic levitation road network on several islands. The production capacity at the time was not enough to develop the overseas markets. Now that the last island was transformed, Future Heavy Industries could begin to focus on international orders.

After he arrived at Future Heavy Industries' factory, CEO Yang Guanglei took Jiang Chen for a tour and showed him the newly built magnetic levitation production line.

"This new production line is an attempt at automation. It uses a supercomputer to coordinate the production processes. From production, processing, assembly to final delivery, everything is done by machinery. Except for several engineers responsible for maintenance and optimization of the production line, this production line can be said to be completely unmanned!"

Yang Guanglei was quite proud when he made this statement

It was not a steel ingot or a lead bullet production line, but a high-tech product that included hundreds of links!

From the drawing of the graphene circuit board to the assembly of magnetic levitation generating devices, it was completely operated by automated machineries. If the automation could be applied to other fields, it would undoubtedly be a great leap for Future Heavy Industries' productivity and cost-savings.

Although the focus of Future Heavy Industries was on aerospace, the company was still a pioneer in the civilian field. After all, as social animals, economic benefits were often the driving force for technological advances. History has proved countless times that technological breakthrough often starts with civilians.

As Jiang Chen looked at the black-colored quadrangular pyramidal piles passing through the assembly line, he nodded with satisfaction.

"How many magnetic levitation devices can you produce per month?" Jiang Chen asked Yang Guanglei.

"With sufficient raw materials, we can reach a monthly output of 100,000!"

100,000 was already better than the Sixth Street.

Jiang Chen was quite astounded by the number.

Chu Nan began to push for a magnetic levitation road in the Sixth Street a long time ago. At that time, Jiang Chen learned from the factory responsible for the production of this magnetic levitation device had only reached 50% automation.

He didn't know what the productivity levels were before the war, but it wouldn't be too different.

Many times, Jiang Chen felt that the Future Group in his hand was like a silkworm. It slowly digested the technology he brought back from the 22nd century and spat out white and firm silk threads one at a time.

One day, it will turn into a cocoon.

One day, it will break the cocoon and become a butterfly.

In the shambles of the apocalypse, Future Group would give birth to new glory, bringing the world in a more prosperous and beautiful direction.

Now, Jiang Chen already vaguely "saw" the shape of the cocoon, and he could even faintly touch the boundaries of the 22nd century.

At least in the timeline of the apocalypse with the three superpowers, even by 2170, colonizing Mars was still a dream. However, with Celestial Trade, the Mars colony already began the second round of expansion.

Just then, a sudden phone call interrupted Jiang Chen's imagination for the future.

It was Ye Qinghua.

He opened the holographic screen, then he gestured Yang Guanglei to wait for a moment and went to the side to pick up the phone.

"Uncle Ye? Is there something wrong?" Jiang Chen smiled.

Since the last outer space development forum, Ye Qinghua had stayed in Xin. Although he retired from his position and had no power in his hands, no one could ignore his influence and his family in Hua's political scene.

The reason why he stayed here largely explained the official attitude of Hua, and the country still valued Xin as a natural ally.

"Haha, can I not call Mr. Jiang just to chat?" Ye Qinghua said in a half-joking tone.

"Of course you can," Jiang Chen laughed.

Although Elder Ye rarely spoke to him, Jiang Chen knew that the old man didn't just sit around. If it was not for Ayesha, he didn't even know that Elder Ye actually moved beside his parents.

He didn't just move there. The elder man either played chess with his dad and Elder Xia or went fishing to catch seafood.

Elder Ye's hometown was in the River South area, strictly speaking, they all came from the same hometown. Meeting a fellow townsman in a foreign country, the elders naturally were very enthusiastic about being acquainted. Elder Ye quickly integrated into Jiang Jianguo's circle.

Jiang Chen didn't know why he was so close to his father, but he didn't bother with their interaction. Usually, he just headed back to his parents' house to have a meal, and he seldom talked about work, so Elder Ye wouldn't learn anything about him.

As long as Elder Ye did not try to persuade his father about the marriage between him and Elder Ye's granddaughter, everything else was negotiable.

"I heard that the magnetic levitation road that you discussed with the Ministry of Transportations will start construction in a month or two?"

Coincidentally, he was there to inspect the production line. It was great timing.

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow and said, "Is the Ye family interested in infrastructure?"

"Hehe, it's the younger generations." Elder Ye laughed, but he sounded serious.

"Let me tell you the truth. The magnetic levitation road modification project is not a difficult one, and the technical requirement is pretty low. A driller just needs to put the magnetic device into the road," Jiang Chen said.

Elder Ye quickly said, "Then how about this..."

Jiang Chen smiled and interrupted him, "The key is not with us, but with you. We are only a supplier. The Ministry of Transportations and the provincial transportation departments are responsible for the bidding. If you have the power to take on the project, of course, I don't have any complaints."

"Haha, rest assured, we have already spoken with the Ministry of Transportations and the provincial transportation departments. Now we are waiting for you to start shipping so we can start construction on there." Elder Ye laughed.