Chapter 391 Ideal City

  The red glow flickered.

  A meteor streaked across the sky, landed on the easternmost part of the Zhongzhou Continent, and smashed heavily into a field.

  The muffled sound could be heard hundreds of meters away, let alone Wang Dashan who was working in the fields with a tractor.

   "Damn... what was that just now?"

Startled by the sound, the slovenly man jumped off the tractor, pulled out the shotgun hanging on the side of the cab, walked towards the direction of the sound, and stuffed a shotgun into the barrel of the gun. shotgun.

   This place is located at the border of Yunjian Province, and it is also the northwest corner that no one cares about.

  Usually, no one would come to this poor place. Even the merchants thought there was too little oil and water here. They would rather go further and try their luck in the next province.

   But things are not absolute.

  He saw a few mutants in the last month—presumably deserters scattered by the Enterprise patrol.

  Those ugly guys, even if they just looked at them from a distance, he felt disgusting enough.

   It was a pit more than ten meters wide, as if it had been blasted out by a shell.

  Looking at the destroyed crops, Wang Dashan felt a pain in his heart, but he still leaned over carefully.

  There seems to be something in the pit.

  He glanced at the Geiger counter worn on his wrist, confirmed that the radiation indicators were normal, and then went up to take a look.

  I saw a silver-white metal sphere lying in the pit, and there was a trace of hot air around it, and the scorching high temperature even evaporated the water in the soil.

   "What the **** is this?"

  Looking at the metal ball in the pit, Wang Dashan didn't understand it after studying it for a long time.

   Pressing the communicator hanging on his shoulder, he reported the situation to the guards in the village.

   Not long after, a pair of headlights appeared on the edge of the field, and the guard in the exoskeleton jumped out of the car and strode towards him.

"What happened?"

  As soon as the words came out, the guard noticed the pit in front of him, lit his flashlight and shone in, his eyes narrowed slightly.

   Wang Dashan, who was standing aside, said quickly.

   "I was working in the field just now, and suddenly heard a loud noise, so I walked over to take a look... Then I found this thing in the field."

  The guard continued to ask.

   "Did you see where he fell from?"

  Wang Dashan pointed to the top of his head.

   "Heaven."

   "Heaven?"

  The guard showed a surprised expression on his face. He looked up at the sky and then at the metal ball. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and his eyes flickered.

   "You watch here, I'll call the enterprise—"

  The voice just fell.

  Beside the station, Wang Dashan had no time to agree when he saw a black shadow flying in the distance.

   That's the corporate plane.

  The black-painted fuselage is about ten meters wide, like a big bird, and the two drum-type engines rotate slowly, from spraying blue arcs backwards to blowing downwards.

  The air wave overwhelmed the wheat in the field, and the plane landed in the field smoothly.

  As the hatch opened, six soldiers wearing exoskeletons stepped out of the cabin one after another.

  One of them was carrying a large box that was higher than his head. He went straight to the pit, picked up the silver ball, and put it into the box.

   "Hey, wait, you guys broke my—"

  Seeing that these people were about to leave after taking their things, Wang Dashan, holding a shotgun, chased after them, summoning up his courage and yelling.

  However, before he finished speaking, a banknote was stuffed into his hand, blocking his words back.

  The soldier wearing the exoskeleton stared at him and asked concisely.

"Is it enough?"

   "Enough, enough, hehe..."

  Looking at the banknotes in his hand, Wang Dashan's expression filled with righteous indignation instantly beamed with joy, and politely watched the soldiers return to the plane.

  100Cr.

  Not to mention the crushed wheat, it is more than enough to buy all the crops in his field.

  The guard looked at this guy enviously, then turned and returned to his car.

   If only he had found out earlier, he had to have his share of the money.

   There is absolutely no disadvantage in helping companies work, and it has almost become a common sense in the cloud province.

  Although those people are not generous, they will never be stingy with their rewards...

  …

  If there is any place in this wasteland where you can look up to the last twilight of the People's Federation, it is undoubtedly the pearl on the east coast—the utopia called "Ideal City".

   Layers of concrete and steel skeletons extend from the ground to the sky. Standing on the ground and looking up, you can't even see the end at a glance.

  The neon light pollution is the most vivid portrayal of the city, and the holographic images projected on the outermost buildings can be seen even tens of kilometers away.

  No matter how prosperous the place is, the wastelanders who come here will look around like a bumpkin with wide eyes, and are at a loss by the flickering lights and the traffic extending in all directions.

  Maglev trains shuttle between high-rise buildings, like fish swimming among seaweeds.

  Only a few big fish can swim to the highest point and enjoy the first ray of early morning sun...

  Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the man quietly looked out of the window, as if admiring the fish tank in the living room.

  His name is Luo Yong, and he is one of the core members of the board of directors of Silver Wing Group, holding 17% of the shares.

   "Emergency communication means... It seems that our Pioneer is really in trouble." The guest sitting on the sofa looked at the wine glass in his hand with interest, and suddenly said something as if nothing had happened.

  His name is Kangle, and he is one of the core members of the board of directors of Kangmao Group.

  Different from Yinyi Group, which is mainly engaged in the manufacture of heavy engineering equipment, Kangmao Group’s business scope is mainly auxiliary equipment and medical equipment.

  Although the two are drinking friends, when they get together, the topics of discussion are always unrelated to alcohol.

"Um."

   "I heard that your son is on the Pioneer?"

"Yes."

  Seeing how calm this guy was, Kang Le slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise.

   "Aren't you worried?"

   "Don't you have a custom clone business, just clone another one." Luo Yong said in a normal tone, and the calm voice could not hear the slightest wave.

  Kang Le slightly raised his eyebrows, and looked at him twice unexpectedly, as if he didn't expect him to say that.

  Turning his eyes away from the back in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, he said with a faint smile.

  “…We can clone cells, but we can’t clone memory, let alone soul.”

   "Do you still believe in that thing?"

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not, it's just an abstract statement. I think that people are a concept that is different from things, and flesh and blood are just the carrier of this concept. It is easy to make containers. We have been able to do it a long time ago. Even We can do better than what comes naturally, but we still can't transfer abstract ideas from one container to another..."

  Kangle continued talking endlessly, but Luo Yong, who was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, didn't want to hear it, but just stared out of the window intently.

  Not far away, an "Electric Ray" transport plane slowly passed through the tall buildings and landed on the apron on the roof.

  He saw several soldiers walking into the building with a box.

   Soon the satellites packed in the box will be sent to a professional technical department to disassemble and download the data inside.

  Although he has not read the data stored in that satellite, Luo Yong can already guess what is written in it.

   This means of emergency communication can only be used in the most critical moment.

   Since the satellite left its orbit and landed here, it already contains a lot of information...

   "I'm not interested in your theories."

   Looking away from the window, Luo Yong interrupted Kangle's chatter.

   Staring at the man sitting on the sofa, he continued in a serious tone.

"Vault 0 is the belief of the residents of Ideal City. After two centuries...we finally found it. As long as we can open that door, we can end all chaos in the wasteland and return this land to the great era."

  Kang Le froze for a moment, then laughed out loud as if hearing some funny joke.

  He shook his head and put the glass back on the table.

   "...you laughed at me for believing in the soul, but I believed in an even more unreliable legend."

   Luo Yong corrected his words and said.

   "That is not a legend, but a conclusion drawn through rigorous and precise calculations."

  Hang Le's attitude has not changed.

   "Calculation... Hehe, if there is such a technology to deduce the future, those guys lying in the grave would never have thought that they would become what they are today?"

  "What can be deduced is not the future, but the possibility in the sense of probability. Isn't our existence the best proof."

  Ideal City is built on Shelter No. 6, and everything here is strictly a product of the "Fortress" project.

   Unable to refute this sentence, Kang Le was silent for a while, and then suddenly said in a very soft voice.

  "...Let's assume that Vault 0 really has the ability to correct the chaos in this wasteland like a storm. Who can guarantee that it will not affect our current prosperity?"

   It would be nice if the Trailblazer was just out for a walk.

  Whether it is to spread the idea of ​​the enterprise, sow the seeds of civilization, or show off prosperity and strength...it is of great benefit to the enterprise.

   After all, if you do business with a group of primitive people, you can get a few shells or a few animal skins at most.

But if you sell the miner's exoskeleton and drilling machine to those wastelanders, like those wastelanders who showed the beautiful life in the ideal city, when their caravan passes by again, they only need to spend some pieces of paper to exchange To a cartload of ore.

   Expedition for the ideal is just a slogan, even if they come back with nothing, no one will blame them.

  However, no one expected that the group of Lengtouqing really found the No. 0 shelter.

   It is precisely because of this that the attitudes of the major groups that originally supported the expedition began to become ambiguous.

  The only one who unswervingly supported the expedition was the Silver Wing Group.

   It's not for any lofty ideals, mainly because they invested in the construction of the Pioneer.

  The land fortress not only condensed their hard work, but the crew on it were elite backbones trained by the group.

   Don't talk about other people.

   His son was on that fort...

  Although he said that it would be good to have another one after death, but that was just talk.

  Technology can solve many troubles, but not all troubles can be solved with technology.

  Luo Yong looked at Kang Le who was sitting on the sofa, and said in a serious tone.

   "...I don't expect to convince you by reasoning, let's talk about conditions."

  Did not ask for conditions, Kang Le stared at him.

   "Oh? What do you want me to do for you?"

   "In another two hours, the analysis of the data should be completed..."

Luo Yong opened the cuff with his index finger and glanced at the time on the watch, "We will submit a plan to expand the scale of reinforcements at noon today. We have already received the support of Changge Group, and we are only short of the last vote...I hope you can convince Kangmao Group’s board of directors supported our proposal at the company’s top board meeting.”

  Chang Ge Group is the largest arms dealer in Ideal City.

  Kangle is not at all surprised that the Silver Wing Group can get the support of those guys.

  Those arms dealers are eager to fight outside. Their favorite thing to do every day is to give discounts and promotions to their own products, while shouting that the company's armaments are overwhelmed and requesting to expand the size of the commando.

Although the company has tens of thousands of subsidiaries, and each subsidiary holding shares of the parent company has the right to vote on major resolutions, since most of the shares are in the hands of the five giants, when a proposal has When the three giants support, there will be no suspense in the passage of the proposal.

   On the contrary, if there are three giants opposing, a proposal will not be passed anyway.

  Kangle thought in his heart, this guy found his head, 80% of them hit a wall at the other two.

   Presumably, the "Endpoint" group, which is mainly engaged in smart business, and the "ideal" group, which is mainly engaged in public utilities and urban construction, are completely indifferent to the affairs of the wasteland.

  It is possible to be wooed...

   It seems that it is only my side.

"Expand the size of the increase... Kangmao Group can accept equipment and financial assistance, and it can only accept this. I don't know what agreement you have reached with Changge Group, but the size of the commando team is large enough, and you don't Hope to see those war lunatics grow bigger?"

  Luo Yong said without any change in expression.

   "The agreement we reached with them is not about expanding the size of the commando team, it is about other areas."

  Kangle stared at him for a while, then nodded slowly.

   "Okay, I can help you, but I'm just a shareholder of the board of directors of Kangmao Group, you can't expect me to convince others with my mouth."

  Luo Yong did not speak, waiting for him to continue to raise conditions.

   Paused for a moment, Kangle continued.

   "If you are willing to let go of the proposal for androids to participate in public affairs... I think they should agree to your request."

  Hearing this request, Luo Yong heaved a sigh of relief, and his tense expression finally stretched into a smile.

"make a deal."

  …

  The distant valley provinces.

  Dawn and dusk finally appeared in the sky, and the residents of Aurora City opened their windows and walked out of their homes one after another to welcome a new day.

  At this moment, someone in Vault 404 has not slept all night, and is still sitting in front of a computer with a unique shape in high spirits.

   "...unbelievable, guess what I found in those data?!"

  Did not go to see Yin Fang, who had bags under his eyes deeper than a panda, and Chu Guang, who was sitting on the sofa beside him, replied absent-mindedly.

"What?"

"The order for the reconstruction project of the connection module of the Lagrangian space station!" Yin Fang continued to speak quickly with a happy expression on his face, "I knew that a research institution that can own an independent scientific research satellite is really not good. Simple!"

  Lagrangian space station is okay.

   That's really far enough.

  Currently the legion is pressing on, Chu Guang can't think about such a distant thing for the time being.

  Compared with distant space technology, he cares more about the reinforcements on the east coast.

  However, he still joked casually.

   "Are you going to fulfill the order for them?"

  Hearing this sentence, Yin Fang couldn't help rolling his eyes.

   "Are you kidding me, those orders were made more than 200 years ago! As of the outbreak of the Doomsday War in 2125, 50% of the design work has been completed..."

  Chu Guang: "And then?"

   "...Then, they plan to replace the astronomical telescope on the No. 41 connecting arm with a two-kilometer-long mass accelerator. Then, we found some technologies that can be recovered from the list."

   "This includes 12 technologies related to electromagnetic control, and 4 key technologies for gas molecule manipulation, of which 5 have reached the E-level standard, 3 technologies have reached the D-level standard, and 2 have reached the C-level standard!"

   Good guy, C-level technology!

   And there are still two! ?

  With a surprised expression on his face, Chu Guang, who was originally lacking in interest, immediately sat up straight from the sofa.

  Currently, the new alliance has a total of two C-level technologies, one is solid hydrogen, and the other is a3 aerospace aluminum alloy.

  The high-end technical reserves have doubled directly, which can be said to have completely exceeded his expectations.

  Technology is the foundation of alliance development.

  For Chu Guang, recycling new technology is more exciting than seeing more and more players breaking through LV20.

   "Can you describe that C-level technology in detail?"

   "I'm going to do that."

  Yin Fang showed a complacent expression on his face, cleared his throat and continued.

"One is the synthesis path of N10-anionic azide compound used to launch the buffer airbag... This thing is similar to solid hydrogen, with extremely high energy density. However, unlike solid hydrogen, azide compound is naturally unstable and more suitable than batteries Make a bomb."

"The other one is about the control of nitrogen gas molecules... A gas shield can be formed through the gas manipulation field. Your hammer uses a similar technology. You should be familiar with it. But this thing consumes a lot of energy, and there is no portable reactor. Can be used for short periods of time with chemical batteries plus capacitors."

  Chu Guang said with a smile.

   "It's okay! The residents of my shelter won't mind! By the way, what is the technology related to electromagnetic control?"

   "Well, it has something to do with the mass accelerator. Simply put, it's an electromagnetic gun. You won't be able to use it for the time being... Well, it's not necessarily true."

   Speaking of this, Yin Fang suddenly paused for a moment, then changed the subject and continued.

   "When the fusion reactor in Xizhou City is re-ignited, it should be no problem to get a few mass accelerators as anti-aircraft guns."

   "It's not too difficult to get the required materials, that thing is much easier to use than your artillery."

  Railgun!

  Thinking of the electromagnetic point defense system on the Pioneer that can stop even shells, Chu Guang was suddenly excited.

   "Can you put a mass accelerator on a tank?"

  As if guessing that he would ask such a question.

   Almost at the same time Chu Guang finished speaking, Yin Fang shook his head and said.

"Don't think about it, unless you can get the technology related to the miniaturization of the electromagnetic gun... This thing is an electromagnetic gun for the space station, and it needs to be used with a fusion reactor. No matter how small it is, it is impossible for you to put it on the car .”

   Nuclear fusion again...

   "Well, pretend I didn't ask."

   After restraining his excited expression, Chu Guang sighed slightly regretfully.

  It will be great when the alliance can independently produce fusion reactors.

  But it seems useless to think about it now.

   More critical than fusion technology itself is the nuclear fuel required for fusion.

  The closest helium-3 collection station to him is the moon, which is 380,000 kilometers away.

   Seeing Chu Guang's unsatisfied expression, Yin Fang couldn't help but complain.

   "Be content, two C-level skills! In the academy, this credit is enough for a D-level prospector to be promoted to a C-level."

   "No, I'm not dissatisfied, I just wonder when our reinforcements will arrive."

   "Then you have to ask the people in the company, but I advise you not to expect too much, those people may not be easy to deal with." When he said this, Yin Fang's expression was a little subtle.

  Looking at the subtle expression, Chu Guang suddenly thought of something, and said.

   "Speaking of which, there is one thing I've always been curious about."

"What's up."

   "The relationship between colleges and enterprises doesn't seem to be very good?"

  Yin Fang thought about it for a while.

   "This statement is true. Although I personally don't hate people in the enterprise, we do have great differences with them on some things."

   "Because of their development of the ruins?" Chu Guang thoughtfully.

  Yin Fang smiled faintly.

"That's just an appearance, how to use the relics is their freedom... In the end, it's disappointing that they possess the precious heritage, but they have no aggressive intentions. Whether it's territory or knowledge, you can find that they are not that eager Wealth? Maybe, but I think it's more a greed for enjoyment than a desire for wealth."

"You can see that they decorate their homes beautifully. The luxury there is almost the same as in the era of prosperity. Many wastelanders and old popsicles dream of living there for a lifetime. But in my opinion, there is clearly a distance from prosperity The farthest reaches of the Era."

"There are many things left from the era of prosperity, whether it is unused fusion batteries, or garbage that can be recycled and black boxes that can turn waste into treasure... But all these things will be used up sooner or later, either today or tomorrow .”

   "When we sort out the technology left over from the previous civilization, we will immediately start exploring new topics and find ways to restore the planet's ecology to pre-war."

   "And they are just squandering the inheritance that is not much."

   Speaking of this, Yin Fang paused for a moment.

   "Of course, the company also has some respectable people. It's a good idea to find shelter No. 0... I remember that the academy also sent a scientific expedition team into the desert before."

  Chu Guang was slightly taken aback.

   "The academy also went to Vault 0?"

   "That was all a few years ago," Yin Fang sighed, "I only remember that the scientific expedition team disappeared in the desert... No one mentioned it after that."

-

   (Thanks to the leaders of "ぶ给ぐ爱﹍ぇ", "Little Angel Ayanami", "DevilMayCry5", "ぉ蝶蝶ぁ", "Yunwudong", "Yunzhiya" for their rewards!)

  (end of this chapter)