by <unknown>
…
Finally, after further discussions in private, a total of three consortia responded to Chen Chen's offer.
They were the Rodriguez and Alexander families in North America and the Foster family in Europe.
Both the Rodriguez and Alexander families would be supplying two machines respectively while the Foster family would be supplying one.
These families already had assets of their own in Germany so it was not particularly difficult for them to get their hands on the equipment. After all, they represented the European allies and North America instead of the Mainland, which was the enemy of the West on the opposite side of the Earth.
The Mainland had to go through a great deal of trouble just to be able to purchase this equipment. In contrast, the Western financial groups could effortlessly purchase such extreme-precision equipment.
With that said, the three financial groups still made a point to ask Chen Chen to refrain from reselling them in the Mainland. If word of this got out, not only would Blacklight Biotechnology be subject to economic sanctions in North America, but the three financial groups would also be facing similar repercussions.
Similar events had transpired in the past.
Back in the 1970s, the Earth Federation was not known as the Earth Federation yet, it was called the United Nations. At the time, the world was polarized and split into two factions. The Soviet and America were at odds with each other then.
During the long cold war, a trade organization known as the "Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls" was established under the control of the United States. Its main purpose was to impose embargoes and trade restrictions on nations such as the Soviet Union.
At that time, the intelligence obtained by Soviet spies from the United States indicated that the noise produced by their submarines was too loud. The U.S. Navy could detect them from 200 nautical miles away. If the Soviets could not address the issue with the submarine noise, there was no point in having submarines at all.
However, to eliminate the noise of the submarine, it was necessary to manufacture a more precise propeller. This modified variant of the propeller must be manufactured with high-precision machine tools.
However, due to the restrictions imposed by the "Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls", advanced Western machinery could never be sold to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union decided to sidestep the restriction and obtain high-precision processing technology by other means.
In the end, the Soviet Union had secretly established a connection with a company in the East China Sea region.
Enticed by huge commercial interests, the company named Toshiba agreed to provide four "nine-axis propeller milling machines" to the Soviet Union. To mask their intentions from the public, the Soviet Union did not order a matching computer control system. Instead, they asked the Norwegian company Kongsberg to provide four low-end computer numerical control devices.
This variation of low-end computer numerical control devices was not restricted by the "Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls" embargo. By simply rerouting its wiring and circuit, they could be repurposed as a numerical control device for a nine-axis machine tool.
Subsequently, Toshiba applied for an export license from the government without informing them of the nine-axis machine tool. The story they gave was that this was a two-axis machine tool used to process the blades of a hydroelectric generator. They were able to successfully obtain the correspondent export license.
These four machine tools successfully arrived in the Soviet Union and were put to use almost immediately. The noise the new Soviet submarines produced was only 10% of the noise produced by its original submarines. They propelled themselves to the world's most advanced standards in one fell swoop.
However, the truth was revealed eventually. When an employee of Toshiba resigned due to a dispute with the company, the said employee ratted out the details of the incident to the "Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls".
Under pressure from the United States, the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department conducted an unannounced inspection of Toshiba. They seized all relevant secret information and arrested the personnel involved.
In the following months, the U.S. government and the opposition parties were enraged. They repeatedly condemned Japan and imposed sanctions on Toshiba.
At that time, the Japanese Prime Minister had no choice but to issue an apology to the United States, even spending hundreds of millions of yen to publish what was a "Penance letter" in more than fifty American newspapers.
After that, following the establishment of the Earth Federation, the coordinating committee was officially disbanded.
However, its formulated list of prohibited exports was later inherited by the Wassenaar Agreement of the Earth Federation, until the current day…
The shipping method used by the three plutocrats was nearly identical to the method applied by Toshiba back then. The numerical control and the machine tool were shipped to Namibia in separate shipments. After more than half a month, five sets of ultra-high precision machine tools were under Chen Chen's possession.
Chen Chen was buying them at a premium price. On top of the hundred million per machine that he was paying, he also awarded the respective financial groups a thousand information credits for each machine tool delivered.
The process of finding a suitable workforce proved to be far simpler. With privileged access to the treatment plans in Eco Science City as part of the deal, he was able to easily recruit several top-class mechanical engineers above sixty years old.
As for the candidates who were not of age and saw no urgent need for the treatments any time soon, Chen Chen had other offers lined up for them.
To start, he presented them with curated footage of T-800 and an invitation letter to Namibia.
With this, Chen Chen's clone armies were dispatched on their very first mission as well. Just like how Chen Chen had done it in the past, the cloned soldiers would be carrying the memory eraser with them. If the mechanical engineers still insisted on declining even after watching the footage of T-800, the cloned soldier would erase their memory accordingly.
If they expressed keen interest upon seeing footage of T-800 and flew out to Namibia, then everybody would win.
Within two weeks, Blacklight Biotechnology saw a new batch of top-notch mechanical engineers joining their ranks.
During this duration, Chen Chen had also managed to acquire the materials laboratory near Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. He had all of the equipment in the laboratory moved to the research center to build a special workshop for coordinating reverse engineering research.
With the facilities and personnel all sorted out, Chen Chen could finally conduct reverse engineering research on equipment such as the GS Combat Suit and T-800 terminator.
Chapter 177: Dlamini's Visit |
At the Walvis Bay International Airport, a private plane was granted permission to land. It began its slow descend onto the airport.
When the plane came to a stop, an elderly man got off the plane.
The color on the elderly man's face was poor, his cheeks were sunken as if he had been stricken with a horrible disease. He could barely walk on his own and needed two female assistants to support him.
A dozen black-suited bodyguards followed closely behind the elderly man. Even the security guards of the airport could not help but fix their gaze on the parade.
After they had passed the immigration check, the elderly man and his crew exited the airport.
A fleet of vehicles was already parked outside the airport waiting for them.
"Sir Dlamini."
Brando went up to greet him along with a host of B.S.S. members, bowing slightly as he greeted, "Please come with me, Mr. Chen has been waiting."
"Brando, how're things going around here?"
A wry and crooked smile surfaced on Dlamini's gray face. "If you're not satisfied with how things have be
en going, you're more than welcome to come home anytime…"
"Sir Dlamini, you jest."
Brando frowned. "I'm doing fine here, Blacklight Biotechnology is my home."
"Is that so, that's a sha… Ahem… Cough, cough, cough!"
Dlamini shook his head and launched into a coughing fit before he even had time to finish his sentence.
He spat out bits of phlegm containing traces of blood as he coughed, causing Brando and the others to back away stoically.
Dlamini smiled bitterly. "Ahem, ahem! Hurry… Bring me to Mr. Chen Chen, I'm not sure how much longer this body can hold itself together."
Brando shot a look at the crew behind him before turning back to Dlamini with a smile. "Alright, please come with me."
With that, he opened the back door of the Rolls Royce Phantom parked at the head of the fleet and took Dlamini inside.
Apart from the two female assistants accompanying Dlamini, the rest of the bodyguards entered the vehicles parked behind the Phantom.
Brando hopped into the driver seat and started the engine. The fleet quickly advanced to the research center by taking the newly constructed road.
As the vehicle began moving, Dlamini stared at Brando's figure sitting in the front row. A gloom appeared in his eyes.
Dlamini had raised Brando himself. When Brando was still a child no more than five years old, his home was torn apart by the ongoing war that stripped him of his parents. In the end, he was shipped off and sold to Africa.
At the time, in the human trafficker market, Dlamini immediately caught the vicious glare in Brando's eyes. At such a young age, the child was able to survive the long voyage from Israel on the pirate ship. There was something different about this child.
Judging by how things turned out now, Dlamini's initial impression certainly proved to ring true. It did not take long for Brando to stand out among the pack of children. He further honed his skills and eventually became one of Dlamini's trump cards.
To his surprise, this man had jumped onto the God's Forbidden Zone bandwagon and hardly recognized his own godfather now. It was just as they said, only a fool would count on loyalty…
When Dlamini thought of this, he felt a pang in his throat and suddenly coughed violently, spitting out a clump of blood again.
While the two assistants fumbled hurriedly as they tried to wipe off Dlamini's blood, they accidentally opened his shirt which revealed large blots of scars and ulcers on his chest…
Brando stole a glance of it from the rearview mirror and did not appear to be caught off guard, considering this sort of symptom was very common in Africa.
Late symptoms of AIDS.
Based on the extravagant lifestyle Dlamini led in his youth, it was not too uncommon to contract such a disease in a hellish place like Africa.
AIDS generally had an incubation period of about ten years. It would appear that Dlamini was infected when he was around fifty years old and it happened to break out now...
The fleet of vehicles very quickly returned to the research center. As soon as they entered through the gate, a group of medical personnel wearing medical protective clothing with a stretcher cart at the ready was waiting by the gate.
As the vehicle came to a stop, the group immediately opened the door and put Dlamini on the stretcher before hauling him off to the intensive care unit.
The bodyguards trailing behind stepped off their vehicles and made to follow Dlamini but were stopped by the medical personnel. "Everyone, we'll see to it that the patient receives the best available treatment. However, as the patient has developed serious complications of tuberculosis, we'd appreciate it if you all would head to the section we prepared for secluded observation.
The bodyguards initially felt reluctant to follow along but as Brando and his host began to circle them, they had a sense that they were surrounded.
With this, the bodyguards obediently allowed themselves to be taken to the isolation zone.
After that, several medical personnel well protected from head to toe carried sterilizers with them and began spraying the seat Dlamini sat on. One of them turned around. "Mr. Brando, hope you don't mind."
"I understand."
Brando nodded and went to the isolation zone with the others.
Several hours later, Chen Chen was seated in the office with his legs folded. The computer display in front of him was broadcasting the ongoings in Dlamini's ward.
At the same time, the printer began printing a medical report.
When Chen Chen read the medical report, he had a hard time stifling a laugh.
The medical report provided details on oral Candida albicans infection, herpes zoster virus infection, tuberculosis, toxoplasma encephalopathy, sepsis, and the list went on.
The root cause of the disease was HIV destroying the body's immune system.
At this point, it could be said that Dlamini's body was a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. His immune system had been reduced to merely a sift, unable to prevent the spread of these bacteria and viruses in his body.
At this point, going by the medical standards in Africa, Dlamini may have as well been given a death sentence. He had less than half a month left.
However, Dlamini thought of God's Forbidden Zone and he thought of the Eco Science City.
In the end, Dlamini exercised his right as a member of God's Forbidden Zone and posted a mission. If the Eco Science City could effectively cure him, he was willing to pay a significant price.
There was a prompt reply from Chen Chen's end. While recovery was not possible due to the current global medical standards, the Eco Science City could guarantee to extend his remaining lifespan by at least five more years.
The price that Chen Chen named for Dlamini was the Tara Private Security Company valued at one billion U.S. dollars on the market.
Having nothing left to lose, Dlamini agreed.
"Sir Godfather, Dlamini would like to meet you." Right then, Little X's voice was suddenly broadcasted through the speakers.
"No need, just tell him that we'll do all we can to see to his treatment."
While staring at the medical report in his hand, Chen Chen slowly let go of it and pulled back his right hand. The strange thing was that the medical report remained floating in front of Chen Chen.
Immediately afterward, one corner of the medical report folded inward and then the other corner followed suit as well. The report turned into a triangular-shaped paper mid-air.
After that, the triangular paper folded into itself two more times and transformed into a paper plane. It was as if there was a phantom hand doing this.
After the paper plane was constructed, Chen Chen blew a puff of air. The paper plane seemed to have sprung to life as it began to dance in circles along the ceiling…
"In that case, should we assemble a research team to research a treatment for AIDS?" Little X enquired.
"No need."
Chen Chen stared at the gliding paper plane and expressed blankly, "Not counting the extremely rare cases of parental inheritance, this is a disease that's easily avoidable by being mindful of one's health."
"Furthermore, there are already developed vaccines and subsequent pre-treatment methods for this disease. Even with all that, Dlamini still managed to contract it, he's asking for it."
At the end of his note, Chen Chen snapped his fingers. The paper plane was instantly shredded into countless pieces by an invisible force!
Watching as the scraps rained down, Chen Chen shook his head. "I originally thought that this man had potential and was ready to help him take the next step to see if he could reach the level of 'that person'. It looks like that won't be necessary now."
Chen Chen tossed the scraps into a trashcan as he spoke and smiled faintly, "Little X, get ready for the transition."
Chapter 178: Meeting |
Dlamini's arrival was merely a small part of things in the grand scheme.
Several days later, Brando and the others emerged from the
isolation zone. With their proud and strong physique, there was very little chance of them contracting diseases such as tuberculosis in the first place.
After Brando came out, there was a call from the research center office, informing him that Chen Chen wanted to meet him.
Brando's knowledge of Chen Chen was as much as anybody else's, which was to say, not a lot. Chen Chen was an extremely peculiar individual.
One could say he was a businessman but he spent his days in the laboratory. Most of the business procedures were handled by other people while he pretty much took on a hands-off approach.
One could also say he was a researcher but he secretly colluded with Western financial groups, dealt with smuggled arms, formed illegal armed forces, and built underground secret bases among many other achievements. All of these did not seem like the job scope one would come to expect of a researcher.
There was even a period where Brando had an impression that Chen Chen was not trying to put together a biotechnology corporation but a terrorist organization instead…
Brando appraised Chen Chen as an ambitious man with a strong sense of individuality.
Though this current employer always made sure to keep a low profile, his previous employer, Dlamini, was almost as harmless as a little rabbit in comparison.
With these impressions in mind, Brando stepped into the office building and summoned the elevator.
The office building in the research center did not carry as much of a grave stature as the research building did, but it still possessed a prideful gravity that formal institutions should have. The walls were paved with speckless tiles, the snow-white ceiling accentuated by bright LED lights which were not harsh on the eyes.
This was the first time he had stepped foot into the office building. After all, he took on a military role in the company and this was a place for the administrative staff so it was no place for someone like him.
However, this time was an exception since it was Chen Chen who had specifically asked for him.
