Translator: _Min_ Editor: Lis_
Coming out of Lihua, Jiang Chen rejected Zhao Chenwu’s invitation to stay in Paradise Island Hotel at no expense and walked straight to the Development Bureau.
The inner circle had drastically changed. He remembered a few months ago, when he first came here, the only things that had left an impression on him were the spider tank and the fully-equipped soldiers. Now, however, there were pedestrians in flamboyant clothing.
The radiation dust in the air felt depressing as ever, but a touch of liveliness permeated the entire camp.
Prosperity.
Zhao Chenwu’s high-end car was no longer unique. Fewer armored vehicles patrolled the streets now taken up by personal vehicles. Along the busiest street were building expansions here and there.
After displaying his genetic ID to the patrolling soldiers, Jiang Chen entered the hall.
“Hello, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?” a receptionist at the front desk said professionally while twirling a pen.
“I’d like to buy a few plots of land to open… a factory,” he said casually as he flipped through the promotional materials on the desk.
He was obviously not building a factory. It was fine as long as he built a warehouse; the key was to settle the two hundred square meter criteria.
Sixth Street was about to establish the first bank, and thirty percent of the shares would be sold—the cake was too attractive to pass on.
Imagining the scenario, the total number of factories and small production facilities numbered fewer than twenty, but now that the average wealth increased exponentially, how tremendous would the economy boom be? It was no exaggeration to say that twenty would increase by at least five-fold within a year, and establishing a bank would only speed up this process.
How many people would need a loan then? It was a guaranteed return.
“Purchasing assets? Thank you for choosing to invest in Sixth Street. But sir, currently, the land available for development have been sold out. Maybe you could consider purchasing for existing owners.”
“Sold out? This fast?” Jiang Chen was shocked.
He expected land development to be attractive, but he didn’t expect the plots to be sold out so quickly.
Jiang Chen frowned slightly, thinking a bit before continuing, “Are there any assets available for sale right now? Anywhere works.”
The receptionist was at a loss when she heard his words and gave him a strange look.
“Perhaps. Why don’t you go to the market and ask in the consignment exchange?”
“. . .”
–
Bulk items and fixed assets were normally sold on consignment at the exchange. The seller normally provided the sale information while storing the related goods or property within the exchange. A buyer with the intent to purchase would then take the information and discuss a price with the seller in a meeting. Once the transaction was completed, the buyer only needed to bring the crystals to the exchange to walk away with the purchased goods.
Jiang Chen held such a sheet of information in his hands with the words, “Store for sale, price negotiable” written on it.
Jiang Chen paused in front of a building, examining the storefront.
Perhaps to save on electricity, the words “Fake Legs Specialty Store” were redundantly written out on the electronic board in black ink.
There was a layer of dust on the wooden window, and the rusty door made out of scrapped shells looked worn down. He hesitantly raised his hand, and just as he was about to knock, the door was dragged open.
A small square TV abruptly appeared before him, nearly startling Jiang Chen into pulling out his gun. The metal-plated mouth rapidly opened and closed, stuttering in a squeaky electronic voice, “Welcome, valued customer! The shop provides mechanical legs and mechanical prosthetic installations with outstanding services for wastelander who accidentally break their limbs!”
He stared at the robot. Its head and body were connected by a spring, and he began to understand why there were no customers.
With such reception, it would be astonishing if a customer did show up.
He pushed the junk robot aside and stepped into the store.
The room was dimly lit, the faint odor of machine oil was in the air. The wall displayed an array of unknown electronic parts and equipment. There was. However, nobody manning the front.
Jiang Chen scanned the room, calling out, “Ahem, is anyone here?”
No reply.
[No one? Or busy with something else?]
He hesitated briefly before going up the stairs at the back of the store.
The top landing was the attic, and from the open door, he heard mutters and occasional, unsettling explosions.
“Is it a problem with the central processor? No, should be the engine control unit….”
The door and roof were wide open. The room was filled with an odd assortment of equipment, and in the corner was a small telescope beside a full-sensory sky map. In the middle of the room, there was a two-meter-wide space, a cylinder as tall as two people, a pointed head….
“Rocket?!”
The young man who was working with a screwdriver in hand was interrupted by the surprised voice and looked in the direction of the door.
“That’s right! It is a rocket!” He threw the screwdriver to the side, rubbed his messy and oily hair, and smiled.
Jiang Chen examined the rocket as tall as two people and burst out laughing.
“Haha, someone finally understands the beauty of my design.” The person clearly misunderstood, his expression excited as he opened his arms towards Jiang Chen.
He smoothly avoided the hug from a man who obviously hadn’t showered in a few days. Jiang Chen cleared his throat.
“The purpose of my trip is—”
“Investment right? I know.”
“No, you seemed to have mis—”
“Shh!” The man suddenly gestured for silence. With a mysterious expression, he waved at Jiang Chen. “Let me take you to see something fun.”
The man quickly sauntered to the corner of the room.
Jiang Chen gave the man a strange look but eventually followed after a moment’s hesitation.
“Power system normal, hydraulic balance normal, fuel normal….” he muttered abstrusely as he typed rapidly on the silica-gel touch board. His eyes were filled with a passionate light.
Jiang Chen stood behind him and examined the sophisticated monitors.
“You are—”
“Ignite!” The excited roar startled Jiang Chen and interrupted his question.
The hand slapped onto a red button.
Boom—!
The fire erupted from the middle of the room, the scorching flames burning against the base made of unknown metal. The floor began to shake violently, and the window panes screeched. Gusts battered at them, and Jiang Chen had to cover his face from the rapid air flow. Between his fingers, his astonished expression could be seen.
“What the fu*k, what the plane are you doing—?” [similar to “what the heck you are doing?”]
“It’s a rocket! Space, here I come! Haha, launch!” Against the violent airflow, the man struggled to maintain his balance. He placed his hand over the trigger and pushed it to the top.
The air pressure increased explosively, pressing the man immediately to the ground. Jiang Chen, with his strong body condition, barely managed to remain on his feet. Just as he was about to fall, he activated the nitrogen armor on his right arm.
The nitrogen armor burst out and expanded from his right arm. The special field created by the nitrogen created a decompression zone that deflected the air flow.
The force was immediately canceled out.
“Thanks, buddy.” The young man barely managed to hold onto his body as he smiled awkwardly.
Jiang Chen deactivated the nitrogen armor and glanced at the shadow already high in the sky. He threw a dirty look at the young man.
“Are you stupid? Firing a rocket from the room?” What shocked him, even more, was that future technology allowed rockets to be launched from indoors. How advanced were the materials and fuel technology?
The man gave a forced laugh as he rubbed at his messy hair.
“It’s okay, Sixth Street doesn’t prohibit shooting things into the air….”
” . . . ” Jiang Chen was speechless.
Patting at his mussed clothes, the man cleared his throat and extended his right hand.
“Jiang Lin, owner of Sixth Street’s Fake Leg Specialty Store.”
After a brief pause, Jiang Chen shook hands with him and then looked at him strangely.
“Fake leg? Can you tell me how fake legs are connected to rockets?”
Jiang Lin smiled, slightly embarrassed. “The fake legs store was opened by my dad.”
“And now?” Although he asked, Jiang Chen had already guessed what happened.
The son didn’t continue his father’s business, putting it aside to begin working on rockets?
“I’m not very good at that job.” He shrugged, appearing forlorn, but then he waved his hand at Jiang Chen with renewed interest. “Let me show you something cool.”
Jiang Lin left Jiang Chen again and hastily walked to the other side of the room. At a loss, Jiang Chen let out a defeated sigh before following.
“Based on the program settings, my Explorer 8 with the highest speed in the universe entered the orbit. Look!”
Jiang Lin’s fingers pressed a few buttons on the touch board. Vibrant lights from the cylindrical image formation device began to interweave, creating a magnificent visual image.
“This, this is our planet.” Jiang Lin spread his arms with a grin and hugged the imaginary visuals. He then turned around to Jiang Chen with proudly raised eyebrows.
Jiang Chen’s pupils contracted as he shook in disbelief.
“Wow, this is fu*king amazing….”
Blue, and yellow.
It was his first time observing this land. Other than the colors, it was no different from the other world.
The colors belonged to the ocean, and the clouds that were supposed to be white was instead mixed in with an unhealthy shade—this was the radiation dust, chemical dust, as well as industrial pollutants. Towards the northwest, the soil was dark green, supposedly belonging to a type of mutated plant. He remembered Sun Jiao mentioning before that there was an alliance to the north. On the south, the daunting, pitch black belonged to scorched earth. Because the rocket was close to the orbiting path and synchronized with the earth’s orbit, it could only view the areas in Asia, but the situation was likely no better on the other side of the earth.
“From multiple perspectives, this planet is not suitable for human inhabitants.” Despite the dark words, Jiang Lin’s voice was calm.
He then pressed a few more times on the touch board, causing the screen’s perspective to suddenly change.
“This is?” Jiang Chen shook himself out of his astonishment and stared at the belt of debris on the full-sensory map.
“Space junk around the orbit that formed a belt close to earth. The Third World War was not only fought on the surface.” Jiang Lin smiled, then enlarged the image from Explorer 8.
“Most of the debris comes from sky-based weapons, space stations, satellites, as well as orbit attack shops and anti-satellite missiles. Part of the debris is also from the moon facility that was sent near the earth’s orbit from the force of the explosion.”
[Sky-based weapons? Such as God’s Cane.]
He suddenly recalled the diary he had read before.
Observing the chunks of metal debris, his expression held shock.
But not because of the severity of the war.
