New York.
The heart of Manhattan.
The rising sun shined on Wall Street as usual. But what was different from the past was that the busyness and orderliness were disturbed by an unexpected news.
A fast food restaurant on the corner of a street.
Most of the people sitting here were employees working nearby. Even though it was a small place with cheap prices, because of its convenience and high-quality food, many famous Wall Street people visited here.
Two white-collar workers in suits and leather shoes were sitting by the window. They were eating pancakes while discussing.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Tau Ceti! The headline from the Wall Street Journal! The star colonization fund already raised a capital of 10 billion! Jesus, you actually didn’t know this?”
What the hell is Tau Ceti?
The person sitting across obviously didn’t understand. But when he heard the 10 billion number, he was shocked. The fork in his hand almost fell off.
“What… Ten billion? Colonization? What’s going on?”
“Professor Lu, the person who discovered the hyperspace theory a while ago, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics last year! He registered a fund with a scale of 10 billion yuan, with the target of colonizing the Tau Ceti planets! The goal is to achieve colonization outside of the solar system within two hundred years…”
The white-collar worker continued.
“I have never heard of such an ambitious investment plan… Especially for a high-risk industry like the aerospace industry. And if someone else colonizes the Tau Ceti, or if there are no habitable planets there, won’t it be a waste of money?”
Of course, even if the plan to colonize the Tau Ceti couldn’t be completed, they could also adjust their strategy. They could colonize Alpha Centauri or liquidate the rest of the funds.
This was not so much a fund; it was more like a trust product. Pay now and designate future beneficiaries. The person who came up with this plan was a crazy genius…
The colleague sitting opposite him listened carefully. He then said, “Privatize a planet? Is that possible?”
The white-collar worker shook his head and said, “Why not? There is no government on other planets since no one has ever been there! The laws in a hundred years might not allow it. But according to the current laws, it is not illegal. After all, the fund is not open to the public. Even though the goal is a bit strange, it is just an investment… The laws around it are flexible.”
Also, Professor Lu was considered the number one scholar in China, and the rules that govern ordinary people and companies did not completely apply to him.
As for whether the fund would still exist a hundred years from now…
That depended on the ability of the fund managers.
After hearing about this, the colleague sitting across from him slammed the table with his right fist and spoke with disappointment on his face.
“No public offering? F*ck! This guy wants it all to himself!”
The white-collar worker raised his eyebrows as he said, “What? Are you interested?”
“Doesn’t matter… What can I do even if I am interested?” The colleague shook his head and continued, “If someone else were involved, I would think it is an April Fool’s joke, but this is Professor Lu!”
The white-collar worker asked with a smile, “How do you know that Professor Lu is not joking?”
The colleague sitting opposite him asked rhetorically, “Have you seen him joke around before?”
“…”
Feren was sitting nearby at another table, listening to the conversation. He was dumbfounded. It wasn’t until the two workers in suits left did he realize that he hadn’t touched his sandwich.
He’d been in the industry for 10 years.
Even though he wasn’t a particularly big player, Feren had learned and seen a lot.
But this was the first time he had heard that there was a fund whose main business was to “explore new celestial bodies and sell the naming rights of asteroids”, as well as focusing on “exoplanet colonization and development rights”, with hundreds of millions in investment.
If Professor Lu was serious…
For some reason, he suddenly remembered the hyperspace theory that made a sensation in the world some time ago.
Countless media commented on it as another revolutionary theory after the era of relativity. Even a Princeton high-energy physics professor, who once appeared in Time Magazine, indicated that this theory ignited the interstellar era. This provided a possibility of light year travel.
If Professor Lu was being serious, it was obviously because he had discovered something that no one else had!
A crazy thought popped up in Feren’s head.
He chewed down the last few bites on his plate. He dropped a hundred dollar bill on the table before quickly leaving the restaurant.
He quickly walked to the nearby newspaper stand. He finally found some change from his wallet and threw it on the table.
“Wall Street Journal, the latest issue!”
“You came at the perfect time.” The old man sitting at the newspaper stand grinned and took the last newspaper off the shelf. He said, “This issue sold very well, and there’s only one left.”
“Thank you.”
After taking the newspaper, Feren quickly returned to the company’s office and spread the newspaper on the table.
He didn’t need to search at all. The galaxy star with a question mark in the middle was printed as the headline on the first page of the newspaper.
The accompanying text next to it gave a concise explanation of the content of the headline.
[Tau Ceti Star System Colonization Fund, the world’s first astronomical exploration fund worth hundreds of millions was born!]
The story talked about the registration of this fund, as well as listing information about the Tau Ceti. It also talked about the academic circles’ opinions on the number of planets in the Tau Ceti system and whether there might be terrestrial planets among them.
If Lu Zhou chose this star, it must mean that there were valuable planets there!
After a quick glance at the headline, Feren quickly looked at the main text.
His eyes couldn’t look away.
“Sh*t! What a genius idea.”
Unlike the two white-collar workers who were sitting by the window talking about this, he saw a business opportunity.
A business opportunity that could make him a fortune!
There was no doubt that this piece of news that appeared in the headlines of the Wall Street Journal would definitely cause a huge sensation worldwide. Judging from people’s enthusiasm for aerospace, a huge amount of funds would be poured into the aerospace industry.
Feren’s breathing gradually became faster as his eyes lit up.
If he could think of this, someone else could have thought about it too!
There was no time to waste!
He quickly got up from his chair, called his department head, and took two days off.
He then hung up the call and quickly packed his things on the table.
There was only one thing he wished for.
Which was that his actions were fast enough.
Hopefully, no one had thought of the same idea as him…
