by <unknown>
If Chen Chen had agreed, then he would have one of the most esteemed scholars in the academic world serving as his guide. Within less than twenty years, Chen Chen may be promoted to associate professor or head professor. He would also have a shot at entering the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Under the circumstance where he did not have NZT-48, this step would take him right to the top.
However, Chen Chen clearly understood his current situation. All he could do was turn down the offer while apologizing profusely.
Professor Wang Xi was noticeably disappointed at the rejection of his offer. However, he still signed Chen Chen's "University Student Business Loan Application Form" without any hesitation.
On the application form, Chen Chen applied for the highest possible limit – one million.
Chen Chen made sure to remember Professor Wang Xi vouching for him.
The "University Student Business Loan Application Form" was a source of collateral-free credit loan issued by the bank and other fund-issuing institutions to finance college students.
To assist university students in kick starting their business, the Mainland China government specifically sectioned out a large portion of funds. Anyone above the age of eighteen was eligible for the application whether they were still in school or had already graduated.
Of course, eligibility was one matter. Whether it would be approved or not was an entirely separate matter.
With that said, as Professor Wang Xi vouched for him, it had made a world of difference.
After that, Chen Chen began running errands left and right to get the subsequent procedures underway.
After submitting the application form to drop out, Chen Chen swung by the dorm to say hi to the others. After that, he began working on the loan procedures.
To attain the loan, Chen Chen would first have to start a company.
So, Chen Chen registered his firm "Blacklight Biotechnology Co. Ltd." under the Industry and Commerce Bureau.
As for its meaning, he did not have any significant meaning in mind. He only chose the name because it sounded cool.
Chen Chen originally planned to go with "Morningstar Biotechnology". Sadly, the name "Morningstar" was already taken. He had to change the name to "Blacklight".
Fortunately, as a gesture of support for students trying to start their own business, the government had simplified the loan procedure. Chen Chen had also got the trickiest part, getting the signature, out of the way.
It only took two days before he got a call from the finance bureau.
"It's credited already?"
Chen Chen immediately shot up, his face was full of delight. "Thank you, I got it!"
Chen Chen quickly opened his phone after hanging up.
As expected, he had received a notification in the company bank account noting a transaction the sum of a million.
Looking at the million renminbi balance, even Chen Chen, who was under the influence of the drug, could not resist smiling.
According to Chen Chen's initial plan, he would first submit the thesis which would take three to four months before it got approved. By then, the school would be informed, which would make it easier for him to apply for the loan.
Due to the incident with Zheng Jian, he was more than three months ahead of schedule!
From here on, it would be very easy to accomplish what he wanted to do.
When he thought of this, Chen Chen suddenly booted up the computer and typed in "Shangdu Industrial Park" into the search query.
Shangdu Industrial Park was a municipal industrial park approved by the municipal government in the early establishment years of Shangdu. The total area of the park was 20.54 square kilometers. It hosted hundreds of enterprise factories of varying sizes, spread across dozens of production industries.
What Chen Chen needed to do now was to find a factory that could be rented out. He would then use industrial electricity to charge the USB drive.
It took Chen Chen half a day before he finally selected a medium-sized oxygen plant.
This particular oxygen plant had to reduce its operating costs due to recent steelmaking technology innovation in the sector, causing a domino effect of decreasing demand for industrial oxygen. They had no choice but to undertake a series of actions including layoffs.
As it turned out, this technological innovation had very quickly spread through the region. The facilities of this oxygen plant were outdated and the oxygen production quality was on the lower end. Due to the lack of funds needed to modify their equipment, they resorted to halting operations on the verge of bankruptcy.
This was the exact kind of factory Chen Chen had his eyes on - a cheap factory with high energy consumption.
Chapter 28: Charging the USB Drive |
"Our 'Greenland' oxygen plant boasts an excellent environment and is located in an ideal location. Even though the facilities are slightly outdated, you'll find the production rate not too far behind current standards.
"We also have facilitated operating channels and an advanced production framework. If the equipment can be updated, then certainly…
"Most notably, even though we had to cease operations for the current period due to management problems, this won't persist for more than two years. The government will dispatch a new set of regulations…"
While Chen Chen was touring the "Greenland" oxygen plant, the thirty-plus-year-old factory manager stuck by his side and rambled on the entire time.
The factory manager of "Greenland" was a middle-aged man dressed handsomely in a set of suits. Due to his mountain-shaped eyebrows, he looked like a failed-businessman.
Chen Chen initially did not know why the factory was named "Greenland". He immediately understood the reasoning when he saw the owner's temperament.
"Hm, it's pretty alright."
Chen Chen waved and said with an unchanging expression, "You don't have to keep trying to persuade me. I can't afford to buy your factory. All I want is to rent it for some time."
"That works too. If you're willing to rent it, we can deduct the depreciation cost of the facilities. Judging by the current market, it should cost around three hundred thousand. I'll give you a thirty percent discount at two hundred thousand. What do you say?"
"It's too expensive."
Chen Chen shook his head. "Since your factory had already shut down anyway, why not make the rental cheaper? Besides, I doubt there's anyone else other than me who will rent your factory, right?"
"It…" The man smiled awkwardly. "Two hundred thousand isn't that expensive. Our factory comes with seven to eight acres of land and hundreds of equipment. If this is supposed to be considered expensive…"
"I'd like to see your transformer." Chen Chen switched the topic.
"Alright, come with me."
The man tossed aside the previous topic as well and led Chen Chen to the power distribution room. He pointed at the large metallic object hung mid-air. "Here's our 10kv power dry type transformer, it's capacity is up to 200KvA. It's enough to power an entire factory so there won't be any problem."
"The electricity in the factory isn't high current electricity, are they?" Chen Chen asked.
"That's right, it can only sustain 380V industrial electricity, so a step-up transformer is used."
Chen Chen nodded. He considered it for a while before saying, "How about this? You rent the factory to me at a hundred and fifty thousand per month. I'll make an initial payment for three months. I might extend the rental period later on. What do you say?"
"Hundred fifty thousand isn't much. We have dozens of staff here, it's not exactly free to maintain the staff." The man was troubled.
"I won't be using your staff," Chen Chen replied.
"What?" The man was taken aback. He made eye contact with several men behind him. "In that case, how about the electric bill and depreciation fee?"
"I'll pay the electric bill out of my pocket. If any equipment is damaged, I'll pay back what they cost," Chen Chen answered him.
"Alright, good enough!"
The man finally revealed his cunning smile. "Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure working with you!"
"It's a pleasure working with you!"
The two of them shook their hands and smiled cunningly.
One of them thought he had finally chanced into a great bargain. He was operating at a loss anyway, why not rent it out and help even it out a little.
The other one was mainly after the power generation as the factory was simply a decoy. It may look like he had been ripped off, but who would have known Chen Chen's intentions were not as it seemed?
After signing the agreement, Chen Chen was given the keys to the factory's main door and power distribution room.
The other party was even going to invite Chen Chen out for a meal, but the offer was respectfully declined by Chen Chen. After politely sending off the original owner of the factory, Chen Chen went to the warehouse and found a bundle of high voltage cable.
These cables were almost as thick as a balled fist. They were able to sustain up to 110kV high voltage electricity. It was enough for Chen Chen's purposes.
Apart from that, Chen Chen also found several bars of copper ingot and a welding gun. He then headed toward the direction of the power distribution room.
After cutting off the power source, Chen Chen unplugged all of the equipment wires from the transformer. He proceeded to plug the bundle of high voltage cables into the transformer. He connected the other end of the cable to the top of the copper ingot.
After setting down the copper ingot and completing the insulation treatment, Chen Chen retrieved a USB port from his pocket. He inserted the parts of the USB into the copper using a hand drill.
After completion, Chen Chen took out the USB drive to give it a try. The USB drive was able to fit perfectly into the USB socket inside the copper ingot.
"Now, we'll find out whether this was a success or a failure."
Chen Chen took a deep breath and headed into the power distribution room. He reconnected the power source.
Thump!
Immediately after, a low hum came from the transformer outside. It began to howl like an awakened beast. It was the sound of voltage being amplified by the transformer.
Chen Chen looked at the electric meter beside him. The numeric figures displayed in the electric meter began to slowly shift.
Showtime!
A hint of excitement flashed by Chen Chen's eyes. "A transformer with a capacity of 200kVa. Going by the most ideal calculation, it can draw 200kW of electricity each hour and it can charge the USB drive around 4800 degrees per day…"
Chen Chen silently pondered. "Also, the general energy rate is around 0.8 to 0.9, which means that it could realistically charge around 4000 degrees a day…"
According to his knowledge, the price for industrial electricity in Shangdu was in the vicinity of 0.75 Renminbi. Which meant that he would need a monthly hundred and twenty thousand just for charging the USB drive.
This was a rip off in broad daylight.
Forget about several hundred thousands. Even an electric bill in the range of tens of millions was a fair price to pay for the ability to extract an item from a film.
In conclusion, Chen Chen was now approaching the final stages of his plans. If he was able to attain sufficient energy, he should be able to safely retreat his foot which was already halfway out the door.
The beginning was always the hardest part. After completing the first step which was accumulating capital out of the way, Chen Chen was now in the fast lane. It was all uphill from here on.
In the not so distant future, Chen Chen could potentially accelerate humanity's civilization standards as a whole. He just might ascend to the top of the Earth Federation!
Chen Chen pressed pause and smiled at himself. It was too early to be thinking about all that.
Looking at the electric meter going up endlessly, Chen Chen was certain that he had plugged out all of the connections in the transformer. All of the electricity in the factory was now being fed into the USB drive.
When he thought of this, he left the power distribution room and headed outside. He saw the USB drive idly plugged into the palm-sized copper ingot.
If it was any other electronic device, it would have been smoldered by the enormous amount of voltage.
Only this particular USB drive could withstand it.
All this time, Chen Chen had tried various other methods to inspect the USB drive such as attempting to take off the USB drive's cover to inspect the inside structure.
However, just as Chen Chen had expected, the USB drive was manufactured with some sort of unknown material and could not be easily dismantled by a person.
He went from carefully attempting to dismantle it in fear of damaging the USB drive to going ham on it with a glass cutter. All of his attempts proved futile as it did not even leave a single scratch mark.
According to the scale of Moh's hardness, the USB drive had far exceeded the highest grade in the natural world which was grade ten.
Still, Chen Chen heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that nothing peculiar happened to the USB drive.
All he had to do next was to wait patiently.
When he managed to get more money, he would have to switch to a more powerful transformer. 200kVA was not going to cut it. 2000kVa should get the work done.
If he had a transformer with a capacity of 2000kVa, the amount of power he could input would be ten times the current input. Since the USB drive could not be smoldered by high voltage, there was no reason to not go higher.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="40d7f013-aa49-7677-4c24-4ef52f858dda"]abbreviation for Mohs scale of mineral hardness, a qualitative ordinal scale used to determine the durability of materials[/ol]
Chapter 29: Permanent Immunity Shot |
To prevent any incidents, Chen Chen spent every day in the factory.
His goal was to watch over the USB drive and prevent any outsider from coming here and discovering his secret.
With that said, Chen Chen did not spend the entire time lazing around. Apart from exercising, he spent his days learning programming languages such as C, C++, Java, and others.
With the help of NZT-48, Chen Chen was able to attain incredibly high concentration and determination when he put his mind into any tasks.
He also noticed that NZT-48's effects did not only apply to a person's mental state. The drug also had an extraordinary impact on the human physique.
For instance, the ability to know which muscle to contract to be able to run more efficiently. Similarly, moving the muscles and bones in the right way to maximize the strength of a punch.
All of these can be sensed when under the influence of NZT-48.
Chen Chen specifically bought a treadmill and several dumbbells for this exact purpose.
He would spend two to three hours running on the treadmill each day.
After some time, the fruits of his labor were evident.
Chen Chen went from 130kg to 140kg and he also became fitter. From the outside, it may seem like not much had changed. However, when he took off his shirt, toned muscles could be seen across his body.
Just like the saying, "Your health is your most important asset". For a researcher like Chen Chen who planned to continue pursuing his research, he would need a healthy body.
While he was exercising, he brainstormed an idea for a new app.
App or otherwise known as an application, is a software. They usually refer to the usable software on an iPhone or an Android phone.
There were various categories of mobile phone applications ranging from communications, productivity, entertainment, exercise, shopping, and others. Each one of these categories had several big shots leading in the forefront.
Each of these big shots of their respective categories made tens of billions.
If it went well, Chen Chen could rapidly amass a large amount of capital by developing an app, promoting him from a bottom feeder to being one on top.
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By then, he would have countless options opened up to him, whether it was to be involved in the stock market or other methods. He would not have to continue scrapping for loose change like he was doing now.
However, app development was not an easy task. The mobile application market was oversaturated these days. He would have to make sure he was truly capable of taking a cut of the market profit.
Chen Chen pondered for a short while and an idea quickly surfaced.
He could develop an app for instant translation.
This was an idea Chen Chen came up with when he was learning the C programming language.
As Chen Chen went deeper into the C programming language, he began noticing the communication trends in today's society.
Around fifteen years ago in the early stages of the world wide web, there was a sort of "Global Village" concept.
Following the rapid advancement of technology, the distance between nations began to shrink rapidly and globalized communication became far more efficient and convenient.
However, the language barrier remained a problem for many citizens on the internet.
Chen Chen conducted some research online. The current well-known translation software was Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Prompt, SDL FreeTranslation, Yahoo Translate, and many others.
The way Chen Chen saw it, most of the current translation software was a joke.
For the majority of people reading their native language, they tend to notice the slight nuances in the sentence structure. They might claim that "This sentence is definitely machine translated."
This was due to the limitation of artificial intelligence, the AI.
AIs were not inherently intelligent. They could only stubbornly move around blocks of concepts and were unable to piece together a logical sentence the way humans did.
On top of that, it was very unlikely that someone would manually translate every single sentence on the webpage when browsing online. It simply was not worth the time and effort.
What if Chen Chen was able to develop an app that was able to automatically substitute all of the foreign languages in a webpage with the correct translation? Surely, he would be able to dominate the market and generate an astounding amount of revenue.
