Chapter 16: The Laboratory
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Jiang Jin instructed, “Sisi, tell General Ge that if anyone from another company comes to order carbon fiber, make it clear that we must give priority to supplying the Dragon Nation Academy of Sciences.”
“Also, if they place an advance order, they’ll have to pay a thirty-percent deposit.”
Although Jiang Jin had not asked, it did not take much imagination to figure out what the Dragon Nation Academy of Sciences intended to do with T1100-grade carbon fiber.
It was very likely destined for military aircraft and aerospace rockets. That would naturally take top priority.
Liu Zhi was very pleased to hear this, and his opinion of Jiang Jin improved several notches.
That evening, Jiang Jin treated the academy’s academicians to dinner to express his gratitude.
The following morning, the remaining payment for one hundred kilograms of X Alloy and the deposit for one hundred tons of T1100-grade carbon fiber arrived one after another, totaling sixty-six million Dragon Nation dollars.
The balance in Jiang Jin’s account reached seventy-nine point seven million. He had soon achieved one of his smaller financial goals!
After seeing Liu Zhi and the others off at the airport, Jiang Jin and Wu Qingya boarded a flight to the Magic Capital.
The Supernova Technology Laboratory was located in the western suburbs of the Magic Capital. It had already been two days since he, the owner, had received the property documents. It was time for him to show his face.
Besides, there was an auto show taking place in the Magic Capital over the next two days. He wanted to go admire the car models and, while he was at it, violate the family precepts once again...
Three hours later, Jiang Jin arrived alone by car at the entrance of the Supernova Technology Laboratory.
Although it was called a laboratory, its grounds were even larger than those of Supernova Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. The property documents stated that it occupied three hundred mu.
“Boss?”
Even the security personnel knew that Jiang Jin was the owner. The system really had thought of everything.
Even so, the necessary checks still had to be carried out.
Only after his fingerprints and iris had been verified did the gate slowly open. The strictness of the security here was plain to see!
Ding! The system has detected that the host has arrived at the Supernova Technology Laboratory. Would you like to sign in immediately?
“Sign in!”
Sign-in successful. You have received a reward of one hundred million Dragon Nation dollars!
Sign-in successful. You have obtained the permanent loyalty effect for all research personnel at the Supernova Laboratory.
Sign-in successful. All expenses of the Supernova Laboratory will be covered by the parent company.
Sign-in successful. You have obtained mastery of the natural sciences.
Question on Zhihu: What does it feel like to suddenly have one hundred million appear in your bank account?
Thanks for asking. I’m in the Magic Capital, having just gotten off a plane.
The respondent had just experienced such a low-probability event. At the moment, he felt... a little dizzy.
One hundred million Dragon Nation dollars—not one hundred million Zimbabwean dollars!
If he spent ten thousand on every visit to a club, he could go ten thousand times without stopping. That would take nearly thirty years.
He estimated that he would be gone before he managed to spend it all!
Right, what on earth did “mastery of the natural sciences” mean?
The instant Jiang Jin thought of this, an immense torrent of information surged into his mind.
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The natural sciences encompassed astronomy, physics, chemistry, earth science, biology, and other fundamental disciplines. Together with the social sciences and the sciences of thought, they constituted the three major fields of science.
The history of human development was the history of the natural sciences.
Nearly every technological achievement humanity had attained had come from the development of the natural sciences!
That alone showed how vast this torrent of information was.
With all this knowledge at his command, Jiang Jin would not be intimidated even if a leading expert in the natural sciences sought him out to discuss a specialized subject.
Over the course of the day, Jiang Jin met the laboratory’s principal personnel and familiarized himself with the situation.
At present, the laboratory had 10,020 research personnel, including twenty doctoral supervisors, two thousand PhDs, and eight thousand graduate students.
Most were graduates of prestigious universities, including Shuimu University, Capital University, Fudan University, Harvard, Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and many others. It was a gathering of extraordinary talent!
Even more astonishingly, their average age was only thirty-eight and a half. This was a young and highly creative team!
The laboratory also had two thousand logistics and security personnel.
Its research covered a remarkably broad range of fields, including the research and application of advanced materials, the development of computer and mobile-phone operating systems, the creation of seven-nanometer extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, and even the preliminary development of nuclear-fusion reactors and quantum computers.
However, apart from the two breakthroughs in the field of materials, the other fields had yet to make much progress.
According to the heads of the various projects, even the X Alloy and T1100-grade carbon fiber that had already been developed owed their key breakthroughs to Jiang Jin.
As a result, the laboratory’s researchers worshiped Jiang Jin.
Jiang Jin could guess without effort that this had something to do with the speed at which he completed his missions.
If he received a mission to develop a lithography machine, then as long as the money was in place, the laboratory could produce one!
Put simply, the Supernova Technology Laboratory was merely something the system had conjured up to eliminate a logical loophole.
The next day, Jiang Jin took Wu Qingya to the Magic Capital Auto Show.
“Wow, this car is really white!”
“This one’s pretty good too. Look how long those doors are!”
“Just look at those headlights. They’re so high-tech!”
Every time Jiang Jin stopped at an exhibition booth, he could not help praising the car at length.
Wu Qingya was so amused that she could hardly stand it. She muttered under her breath, “Are you praising the cars, or the models standing beside them?”
When Jiang Jin arrived at the Lamborghini booth, a pleasantly surprised voice rang out from a distance.
“Oh, Little Jiang! Here to see the auto show?”
Jiang Jin turned around and saw a middle-aged man walking toward him enthusiastically.
He was momentarily stunned before remembering that the man was Wei Jun, a businessman with assets exceeding one hundred million.
Before graduating, Jiang Jin had worked part-time at a real-estate agency for a while, where he had once assisted Wei Jun.
Jiang Jin smiled and exchanged pleasantries. “General Wei, what a coincidence. You came to join in the excitement at the auto show too?”
Wei Jun nodded. His gaze lingered on Wu Qingya for a moment before he asked, “Business hasn’t been too busy these past few days, so I took some time to look at cars. And who might this be?”
His eyes moved over Wu Qingya, carrying a barely perceptible heat.
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Jiang Jin was just about to introduce her when Wu Qingya beat him to it. In a gentle and proper voice, she said, “Hello, General Wei. I’m Jiang Jin’s girlfriend, Wu Qingya. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She had immediately seen that Wei Jun was interested in her. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she had chosen to use Jiang Jin as a shield.
After all, she had already played the role of Jiang Jin’s girlfriend once. Doing it again came naturally.
Wei Jun was somewhat surprised. “You’re Little Jiang’s girlfriend? Really?”
He had seen everything clearly just moments ago. There had been a small distance between Jiang Jin and Wu Qingya. They had not linked arms, much less held hands.
Only after he arrived had Wu Qingya taken the initiative to link her arm through Jiang Jin’s.
Was that how a couple was supposed to behave?
Jiang Jin frowned slightly. “What do you mean, General Wei? Why can’t Qingya be my girlfriend?”
Wei Jun forced a smile. “Don’t misunderstand me, Little Jiang. I didn’t mean that you weren’t good enough.”
Now that sounded more like something a person would say.
“I simply feel that, given Miss Wu’s qualities, she could certainly choose a boyfriend with better circumstances,” Wei Jun said meaningfully.
Very well. He was still saying that Jiang Jin was not good enough!
From Wei Jun’s perspective, Jiang Jin was merely a real-estate salesman.
That day, Jiang Jin’s Armani jacket had been sent to the cleaners, so he was wearing nothing but a Li-Ning tracksuit. Although he was wearing a Patek Philippe watch, Wei Jun had probably assumed it was a counterfeit.
Wu Qingya parted her lips and replied firmly, “In my eyes, Jiang Jin is the most outstanding man there is.”
The irritation in Jiang Jin’s heart vanished at once.
Whether it was true or merely something she had said for his sake, it sounded wonderful!
Wei Jun gave a faint smile and tried to judge the matter by a more practical standard. “A man’s excellence isn’t determined by his appearance alone. His financial strength matters too.”
“Take me, for example. If my girlfriend liked Lamborghinis, I could easily give her a Lamborghini Huracán.”
As he spoke, Wei Jun kept observing Wu Qingya from the corner of his eye.
To his disappointment, there was not the slightest change in her expression.
Could it be that this stunning beauty did not like supercars?
Jiang Jin silently cursed him. Your son is already in college, and you’re still thinking about finding yourself a girlfriend? Have you no shame?
On the surface, however, he remained impassive. Instead, he asked Wei Jun, “Then why don’t you give her a Lamborghini Aventador?”
Wei Jun waved his hand, assuming the air of a man speaking from experience. “You young people always aim too high! The cheapest Aventador costs more than seven million. Even I would wince at paying that much.”
Jiang Jin put on an astonished expression and drawled, “Oh, is that so...”
Then he turned to the sales representative beside him and said with a mild smile, “Hello. Do you have a fully loaded Aventador in stock? I’ll take one.”