by <unknown>
Chen Chen shook his head and solemnly said, "This is a communications satellite developed by our Blacklight Biotechnology. My purpose for launching it is to provide my company with a unique encrypted communications technology."
"Encrypted?"
"Yes."
Chen Chen nodded. "After all, Mr. Musk, you have to understand that in our kind of high-tech companies, any technology leak represents billions or even tens of billions in losses. Therefore, technology leaks are very difficult for us to bear. However, if we have a unique communication channel, things are much simpler."
As he said, Chen Chen patted Musk on the shoulder. "Moreover, as for the Earth Federation Space Regulatory Agency, naturally I have my ways to make it happen. Mr. Musk, you only need to launch it into a geosynchronous orbit."
Hearing that, Musk could not refrain from shooting a deep look at Chen Chen, then slowly walked to the so-called satellite and touched it lightly.
Musk had an ominous feeling about this satellite, especially the totem-like patterns upon its surface. When he reached out and touched it, he even had the illusion that he was touching a wriggling maggot…
It was a revolting, spine-tingling sensation, like touching a living thing.
"The technology of this satellite is very advanced."
Chen Chen walked to Musk's side and appraised the satellite as if it was an artwork. "It weighs only about ten tons and your Falcon 9 can carry it easily."
"What I read in the Letter of Intent for Cooperation just now is that you're going to launch five such satellites in total?"
Musk asked, "With a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit, only three are needed to cover all areas on Earth except the north and south poles. So, you're launching five satellites to cover even the north and south poles at the same time?"
"Yes, that's what I had in mind."
Chen Chen nodded and then said invitingly, "Now that we've finished observing the satellite, what else do you want to see next?"
"Since I've come to the world-renowned Eco Science City, naturally the next step is to look at the life science technology of your company."
Musk did not want to probe too deeply into this satellite. He thought about it and took the initiative to switch the conversation to the longevity technology that was mentioned. "Didn't you say that there's a brand-new age-reversal project? If possible, I wish to take a look at that. I just hope this request doesn't bother you."
"Not at all, it's a great honor."
Chen Chen nodded. "Since you want to see it, I'll naturally do my best as your host."
While speaking, Chen Chen shot a meaningful glance at Cheng Cao, then turned around and walked out of the laboratory first.
…
The so-called satellite was nothing other than a part of the Gantz teleportation technology.
Chen Chen's goal was to use five Gantz satellites to fully cover every corner of Earth. Then he would only need to build a few larger-sized Gantz servers to be able to use Gantz technology for teleportation anywhere globally without delay.
At that time, Chen Chen would have an initial edge in contending against the Earth Federation…
The reason Chen Chen borrowed Musk's power to launch the satellites was very simple.
With the energy in Chen Chen's current USB drive, he could extract something around the level of a small Bugatti Spaceship at most. However, although this type of aircraft was agile and could even navigate space at will, it simply could not take on the weight of the Gantz satellite.
Although Chen Chen had applied for aerospace qualification in Namibia and had the interstellar spacecraft technology acquired from the dimension of Elysium, after all, he had no foundation in the aerospace industry. It was impossible to develop everything from scratch in just a few months and launch a ten-ton satellite from the ground into the sky.
Therefore, Chen Chen would not be able to put the Gantz satellites into a geosynchronous orbit on his own for at least one or two years. If Chen Chen wanted to launch the satellites, he must entrust this to other space agencies.
As the world's best private aerospace company, SpaceX, which was owned by Musk, was naturally a good choice.
In addition, it was not as if Chen Chen had not considered getting Musk to join him.
After everyone got into the vehicles again, the group of three cars turned around and drove toward the Eco Science City, but gradually, the bodyguard beside Musk suddenly felt that something was fishy.
This was because the bodyguards in the other two cars disappeared, along with their vehicles, when they passed a fork in the road.
"Boss, something's wrong…"
The bodyguard whispered a warning in Musk's ear and then he slowly put his hand into his pocket.
"If I were you, I wouldn't do that."
However, before the bodyguard could grab the gun in his pocket, Chen Chen, who was in the passenger's seat, suddenly turned his head and glanced at the bodyguard with a smile.
The next second, the bodyguard suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck. It seemed that something had pierced him lightly. He was shocked, but before he could respond, darkness washed over him and he immediately lost consciousness…
All this happened in the blink of an eye. Musk stared blankly as an anesthetic needle slowly slipped out of the bodyguard's neck, flew on its own into Chen Chen's palm, and was put away by Chen Chen.
"Mr, Mr. Chen, what's the meaning of this?"
Musk's expression darkened. "I haven't seemed to offend you, right? Is it just because I don't want to join God's Forbidden Zone that you have to attack me?"
"You've misunderstood."
Chen Chen shrugged and said innocently, "I have no intention of hurting you. The reason I'm doing this is just to ensure secrecy. After all, you'll soon see the real secrets of our God's Forbidden Zone…"
"The real secrets?"
Musk turned solemn. He looked at the busy traffic in the Eco Science City going by outside the window and was slightly relieved. "I hope that's the case."
Chen Chen smiled without explaining much.
Soon, Cheng Cao, as the driver, drove the Rolls Royce into the underground garage of a 5A office building.
At once, Musk's pupils contracted involuntarily when he saw that they had arrived at such a secluded area.
Still, this time, after the car officially stopped in the parking space, Chen Chen and Cheng Cao got out of the car first while Cheng Cao also considerately helped to open the door for Musk in the back.
Musk got out of the car reluctantly and a damp, cold, musty smell invaded his nose, making him sneeze.
"Please follow me."
Chen Chen nodded to the other party and walked to the elevator on the side first.
Musk hesitated slightly. He looked at Cheng Cao, who was staring at him, only to sigh secretly and slowly follow Chen Chen.
In this way, the three of them entered the elevator. However, when the elevator closed, no one pressed any floor button in the elevator, and the elevator moved automatically.
In addition, the elevator did not go up, it was going down…
As he sensed the declining elevator, Musk's pupils shrank even more. After all, in just half a minute, the elevator had probably descended over dozens of meters.
When the elevator reached the bottom and opened its doors again with a "ding", a 500-square-meter underground space was immediately revealed to Musk's eyes.
This was an empty subway platform.
The subway platform was empty, with only two tunnel trams that looked like small trains that were stopped by the platform.
The length of these two tunnel trams was about 5 meters and their entire body was fully made of alloy. The front of the carriage adopted a triangular design and the head was also marked with the Blackwatch Corporation logo.
Seeing this special underground cave, Musk was even more surprised. He subconsciously looked into the distance along the track but saw that except for the platform, the tunnel stretch
ing into the distance was completely dark.
"The Hive in Resident Evil?"
Musk could not refrain from cracking a joke in such a tense moment. "Now I finally understand why I've been getting a sense of déjà vu…"
"Stop kidding around, Mr. Musk."
Chen Chen boarded the tunnel tram first. "The Hive isn't as hidden and complex as this underground base I built."
"I'll like to see for myself too."
Musk replied and immediately got on the tram.
After he found his footing, there was a sizzle of electric current. The tram started slowly by itself and began to move toward the end of the tunnel.
Unlike the tunnel tram in Resident Evil, Chen Chen's tunnel tram was more user-friendly. It not only had three rows of seats but also had a large LCD monitor, which was constantly playing the Chinese version of Crayon Shin-chan.
Watching Crayon Shin-chan in the gloomy and depressing tunnel tram was a rather interesting experience.
The tunnel tram was extremely fast, only taking a few minutes to reach the end of the trip.
When Musk got off the train again, he was greeted by a subway platform that was almost the same as the previous one.
Unlike the previous platform, there was a circular corridor at the end of the platform. At the center of the corridor was the alloy gate of two elevators. Next to the corridor, three other passages were leading to three subway platforms in other directions.
In other words, across the surface of the Eco Science City, there were three other entrances in addition to the parking lot they were in.
Musk understood this at first glance.
Paying no mind to Musk's observation, Chen Chen walked to the elevator gates in the corridor. The elevator gates opened in response, revealing a larger elevator space.
This time, without Cheng Cao's coercion, Musk entered the elevator again. Now, Musk felt that the elevator was starting to descend at an even more alarming speed.
After several twists and turns, as Musk was increasingly gripped by intense shock, the three finally stepped into the interior of the Spire Experimental Base.
Chapter 355: A Thrilling Tour |
As he walked through the nightmarish corridor, Musk felt a shiver creeping up his neck.
One had to admit that Resident Evil was truly a significant cornerstone of Hollywood as even someone like Musk was familiar with it. He followed Chen Chen every step along the way, a lingering fear whispered in the back of his mind, afraid that a laser would suddenly appear in front and slice him in half.
After passing through the laser corridor, Musk saw a triple-layer reinforced explosion-proof gate, something that looked like it belonged in a nuclear bunker. After the three layers of gate shuffled open after the other, the escalator leading to the Spire Experimental Base was revealed.
The escalator went upward. By the looks of it, the escalator traveled at least fifty meters.
In other words, even if someone were to invade, they would be stalled by the fifty-meter-deep underground structure and would have no choice but to find a way to break through the nuclear bunker-like fortification.
"Such a reinforced defensive mechanism…"
Musk felt every inch of muscle on his cheeks pulsing uncontrollably. "To install such intricate defensive mechanisms even several hundred meters underground, you don't think this is a case of paranoia?"
"Better safe than sorry."
Chen Chen waved his hands. "To be honest, I still don't think it's secure enough. If possible, I'd like to further improve the fortification system."
"Are there any other exits?"
Musk stepped onto the escalator and asked with mild curiosity, "If the government army were to break in here, there's no point to having all these fortifications if you don't have an exit strategy."
"Of course."
Chen Chen shrugged. "Which is why I carve a kilometer-long tunnel in the underground base which passes through the Atlantic Ocean."
"What an absurd idea." Musk could only note Chen Chen's statement with a gentle nod. He was completely astounded by this underground base he was seeing.
At this point, there was very little that Musk could do so he only followed the two of them obediently. As the escalator brought them closer to the entrance, a brightly lit underground building complex quickly entered Musk's view.
The place was brightly lit with some sort of projection lamp shining overhead, creating an illusion of a blue sky and white clouds. Without paying close attention, it could easily fool its beholder.
There was an array of large buildings in the distance. The buildings were constructed of metal, giving off a strong impression of a futuristic utopian city.
Amid the arrays of buildings was an iconic building the shape of a Mayan pyramid acting as a landmark. It was nearly twenty stories tall and was a magnificent sight to behold in the underground space.
Plenty of fauna that did not require sunlight to grow was planted in the midst of these buildings, forming a vast and lush underground garden.
Everything Musk saw along the way was getting increasingly astonishing. Musk could feel his senses growing numb with every step he took. He felt like he just had to ask again, "You constructed all of these without discussing with the local government at all?"
Chen Chen did not answer his question but instead only continued showing him around the collection of buildings. They went to the dock with the gates shut tight, the military camp used for training the Black Knights as well as the soilless greenhouse. After that, they went to the power station of the underground base with Chen Chen leading the way.
Musk could no longer contain his disbelief when he saw a configurable nuclear fusion reactor in all its glory before him. "Are you kidding me? This is a branch of technology that nobody in the world can utilize and yet you're properly incorporating it here? Are you kidding me!"
"Calm down. As you can see, this is the real deal."
Chen Chen was not bothered by Musks' reaction. He continued staring ahead at the spherical device in front of him and informed, "It's also worth mentioning that what you're seeing is just an inertial confinement reactor, its output can barely compare to the tokamak reactor. A better implementation would be to install it on a spaceship to serve as the nuclear engine of an interstellar spacecraft."
Musk took in a deep breath when he heard this. He immediately thought of the brand-new spacecraft technology mentioned in the previous Letter of Intent for Cooperation.
As if sensing what Musk was thinking, Chen Chen promptly explained, "Our nuclear is currently in its research stages, it's essentially a miniaturized version of the international confinement reactor. We expect a breakthrough within two years. However, the new spacecraft technology mentioned in the letter isn't this…"
"You mean to say that you have other spacecraft technology?" Musk asked curiously.
"Yes."
Chen Chen nodded. "And I can guarantee that you'll be greatly inspired when you see it…"
Musk spent nearly an hour near this reactor. After all, this was the only usable nuclear fusion reactor in the entire world. There was no such thing as spending too long investigating it.
Chen Chen displayed great patience as well, not once did he urge Musk to hurry. After an hour had passed when Musk had finished observing the scientific marvel, Chen Chen brought him to the entrance of the central building of the Spire Experimental Base.
"This building is the Spire laboratory."
Chen Chen brought his guest into the Mayan pyramid-shaped building. He suddenly turned around. "Mr. Musk, would you like to look at our brand-new treatment technology right away or would you like to take a look at the other bioscience technology first?"
"Is there a difference?"
Musk became immediately intrigued.
"Of course, there's a difference."
Chen Chen flashed a smile. "In fact, we've mastered a branch of amnestic technique. Should you decide to not join our God's Forbidden Zone after you'v
e finished touring the base, we won't force you to do so as well. In that case, we'll be erasing your memory to ensure you don't leak our secrets to the outside world.
"However, if you choose to join us, we'll grant you access to our newest treatment technology at first notice. I understand that you have lingering trauma related to high blood pressure and diabetes, right? To the outside world, these diseases are extremely pesky to manage and may very well directly affect one's lifespan and life quality. However, such diseases are almost effortless for us to treat…"
"Is that true?"
Musk took a deep breath. A part of him was astounded by this memory-erasing technique mentioned, but he still managed to collect himself and asked rationally, "There's no such thing as a free lunch in the world. What do I have to contribute to become a part of God's Forbidden Zone?"
"If you decide to join, I'll grant you tier two qualifications as a member of the Disciple Council."
Chen Chen said, "The Disciples Council membership shifts every decade, I'm sure you're aware of the benefits. Your contribution is very simple. We only expect the obligation of mutual aid between the association."
"It's that simple?"
"Yes, it truly is just that simple."
Chen Chen's expression was sincere.
"Alright, please do show me your company's new treatment technology first."
Musk took another deep breath and stated decisively.
"Please come with me."
Chen Chen smiled quickly and brought Musk to the laboratory where the Medpod 3000 device was hosted.
The Medpod 3000 no longer looked like its previous form as Little X had added another layer of outer shell to it, reiterating its original appearance.
Now this Medpod 3000 device was no different from a regular NMR machine.
The reason this was done was that Chen Chen thought that as he instantiated more items from different movies, there was a larger chance of members of God's Forbidden Zone speculating theories of their own that they should not have.
After all, having one or two items from movies may be brushed off as a mere coincidence, but what if there were three or four of them? What if he had five or six of them altogether?
