The Chen Xudi Foundation has helped many veterans and has a very good reputation. When the Wolf Fang team called on their former comrades who had retired, many of them were quite idle at home. Upon hearing that they were going to the Spratly Islands and might be able to deal with the Filipino devils, they all came excitedly... Those who came here were all elites. The so-called elites were eagles in the air, overlords on the land, and... dragons in the water!
Don't worry about these people being unable to fight in water battles. They're from special forces; how could they be landlubbers?
There are four hundred of these people in total. They constitute the main force of Tongchi Island. As for what weapons they want, as long as they can name them, Chen Xu will pay for them!
Chen Xu has already contacted Yi Shuihan in the name of SMMH, instructing him to use all profits to invest in the construction of Tongchi Island... The first batch of funds, totaling four billion US dollars, will arrive within the next month.
However, this is clearly not enough!
This island gave Chen Xu an opportunity, and it also gave him an ambition!
Of course, Chen Xu did not want to be a king or dominate the world. However, since he obtained Xiao Min, a supercomputer from the future, more than a year has passed, and Chen Xu has grown a lot. In other words, he has gone from an unknown nobody to the current god of the internet and has come into contact with the most powerful forces in the world. All of this has given Chen Xu a new understanding.
An average student's awareness is probably just thinking about how to live a more comfortable life, find a beautiful girlfriend, have fun with friends, and not have to worry about life's problems.
However, Chen Xu now realizes that he must make a change. Having obtained this supercomputer, whether due to the mysterious Heavenly Dao or Chen Xu himself, wanting to keep a low profile and avoid trouble is simply a joke. Since so many people are causing trouble, if Chen Xu doesn't use some means, he might really lose his life.
Chen Xu, too, did not want to spend his life hiding and running away.
This island, this all-encompassing island, is the power Chen Xu built for himself!
Chen Xu has now realized that having a certain level of strength is useless, because on this earth, humans can't possibly become superhumans... Of course, not having strength is also useless. The US president is powerful enough, right? Just count how many US presidents have died from a single bullet?
But so what if he's a world fighting champion? Look at Chen Xu's opponents now, one controls the United States, and the other controls the whole of Europe... except for Britain, but it doesn't really matter. The EU and the US, how powerful are these two forces?
Chen Xu's goal is to transform Tongchi Island into a new force that neither of the two major powers dares to underestimate, and can even rival!
If anything happens to Chen Xu, whoever it is will face relentless and deadly retaliation from Tongchi Island!
That sounds easy, but how can Tongchi Island be transformed into such a power? It's a small island, barely larger than a prefecture-level city, lacking resources... How can it become a new force to rival the United States and the European Union?
This might seem like a pipe dream to others, but for Chen Xu, it's not impossible!
He possesses cutting-edge technology that is ahead of its time, and both of these organizations are now trying to win him over. He is rich, and while money isn't everything in this world, you can't do without it. With money, you can buy many things, and some of these things are even things that China doesn't have!
The thing he has saved time on research and development; it can be manufactured as long as the corresponding hardware is available!
In this respect, Chen Xu's advantage is unmatched!
Four billion US dollars is a lot?
That's right, 30 billion RMB does seem like a lot, but you have to know how much the US spends on its military every year! Chen Xu certainly can't compete with others in terms of quantity now, so he has to compete in terms of quality!
The main problem now is that many things simply cannot be manufactured!
First, we lack the equipment; second... we have no people!
The equipment wasn't too difficult to acquire, since both Tarot and X needed Chen Xu's help. Buying cutting-edge hardware through their channels wasn't a problem... Chen Xu spent a billion in a single day, buying two production lines... These were rare finds in all of China, treasures subject to absolute technological embargo! And this was at a special price for acquaintances... As for technological embargoes, the two major organizations dared to blockade China, but not SMMH, because they relied on Chen Xu to provide them with technology!
The most important thing about bringing out these high-tech gadgets is that your subordinates must be completely loyal to you! If they have even the slightest selfishness and leak this information, even just one leak would result in huge losses for Chen Xu!
But how easy is it to find such a loyal person?
Who with real ability would give Chen Xu face? Of course, it might be an exception if it's someone who's loyal to SMMH, but Chen Xu doesn't want someone without ability... So, Chen Xu set his sights on the scientists on this island.
These scientists originally belonged to the SPO. Getting them to pledge allegiance to Chen Xu would be no easier than getting Bin Laden and Bush to become sworn brothers. But what if it were done through some special means?
Jimmy is a typical example.
Well, this method is a bit shameless, but there's no other way. After all, Tarot is also our enemy, isn't it?
Chen Xu felt somewhat at ease thinking this way. Besides, he wouldn't do anything bad to these scientists; he was just using some subconscious influence to affect their thoughts and stances...
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Chen Xu had nothing to feel guilty about. Besides, for scientists like them, their greatest passion is research. Being able to research things that ordinary people cannot and explore the unknown is an immense temptation for them!
Just like Dr. Li, who is now completely "loyal" to Chen Xu. Although he didn't say it, everyone knows what he meant.
Because Dr. Li was no longer acceptable to SPO, it was already quite good that SPO didn't "deal with" him out of respect for Chen Xu or rather SMMH. Although Dr. Li himself was a bit dull when it came to scientific research, he still understood the principle. Now he could only stay in China. At this time, Chen Xu, on behalf of SMMH, extended an olive branch to him. When Dr. Li received the information from Chen Xu, he was so excited that he almost had a stroke!
"Human Brain Communication, Virtual Illusion!"
This document is not from the century-long scam. Chen Xu would never harm someone who is useful to him, especially someone he knows. He has been experiencing the virtual reality for over a year and the results have been excellent. The information he gave to Dr. Li is the initial research data on the virtual reality!
Imagine what virtual reality means to a top expert immersed in human brain research, and what it means to all of humanity. So Dr. Li, who was initially somewhat depressed, immediately threw himself into the research with great enthusiasm. The design of the helmet for Jimmy was also inspired by this information.
Of course, Dr. Li's strength and wisdom alone are not enough. Fortunately, seventy percent of the scientists on this island are like Dr. Li, focusing on brain science research, because the Tarot Organization originally hoped to take this opportunity to develop the secrets of the forbidden land of God.
However, the Forbidden Zone of God is fake, but the Virtual Illusion is real. Chen Xu deliberately used the Forbidden Zone of God to lure them, hoping to obtain these invaluable high-tech talents to help him create the Virtual Illusion!
The impact of virtual reality has reached an unimaginable level.
I remember when Xiaomin first introduced Virtual Reality, she said that it was the greatest invention of mankind after the steam engine, the use of electricity, and the computer!
"For some reason, my teacher can't show up. To be honest, this is the best he can do to produce these materials," Chen Xu said to Dr. Li. "I can assure you that these materials are absolutely correct, but having materials is useless without them. We need to experiment with a lot of the data, and this project is enormous... Doctor, you must understand the significance of this. Such a thing must not fall into the hands of others!"
Dr. Li nodded repeatedly; he certainly understood the significance of virtual reality! This would be an invention that could change the entire world!
"We must develop and put this into use as soon as possible... As for whether it can be used to make a profit, we can talk about that later. Doctor, can you think of the greatest use this thing could have for us?"
At this point, Dr. Li was completely petrified and his brain had shut down; he was no longer able to think.
Chen Xu looked at him and said, "The biggest benefit this virtual reality brings to us right now is not that we can release it to make money, but rather... use it as our laboratory!"
Chen Xu asked confidently, "Doctor, what do you think is the most difficult thing for us to do in conducting various experiments right now, besides having a large pool of talent?"
Dr. Li seemed to snap out of his daze at this moment, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "It's the environment, materials, instruments, equipment, and other hardware conditions... I know that base; I've been there. That base isn't exactly PRO's most advanced laboratory; at best, it's equivalent to the Harvard Institute for Life Sciences. But just the equipment itself is incredibly precious, like a treasure. Let alone accidental bumps and knocks, even under normal use, to ensure the accuracy of the equipment, we have to have a specialist come and repair it every three months... That costs a fortune! Not only is it expensive, but it's like having our lifeline in someone else's hands. And frankly, the equipment here might not even be enough to conduct some high-end experiments. In addition, there are many reagents and materials, such as tissue fluid, cell extracts, and so on. These are all incredibly expensive!"
Then Dr. Li gave a wry smile: "Now you know how we spend our billion dollars every year, right?" Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he exclaimed in surprise, "You mean, virtual reality..."
"That's right, virtual reality can simulate effects that are almost identical to those in reality! Our experiments can even be conducted within virtual reality! Of course, the final success of the experiment still needs to be verified in reality."
But in the virtual world, we are gods; we can have whatever we want, all we need to do is encode the data!
A fervent light flashed in Dr. Li's eyes, but it quickly dimmed as he shook his head and said, "How is that possible? Virtual reality might give people a sense of immersion, but scientific experiments are extremely rigorous. As the saying goes, a small error can lead to a huge mistake. How can data possibly represent everything that exists in reality?!"
Upon hearing Dr. Li's words, Chen Xu immediately smiled. The virtual world was indeed very different from the real world. Most importantly, everything in the virtual world was simulated using data. The simulated things could not compare with reality. Therefore, the virtual world system was constantly being upgraded. The more it was upgraded, the higher the realism became, eventually reaching a point where it was impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion.
However, Chen Xu, who understands virtual reality best in this era, said such a thing not because he is a novice.
If we're talking about creating a completely new experiment out of nothing, virtual reality clearly won't work. At the microscopic level, even 80 years from now, it's impossible to incorporate the entire microscopic world of the Earth.
However, what Chen Xu asked them to do in the virtual world was merely a verification of future technology!
In Xiaomin's world, almost every technology has incredibly detailed content, along with accompanying research materials and data. Although virtual reality is not omnipotent, within this specially designed professional template, it can still achieve the same effects as reality. In the future, the method of using virtual reality for preliminary research and then verifying it in reality after making certain progress has become the mainstream of scientific research. Moreover, Chen Xu is now simply verifying the data that has already been determined to be almost perfect.
Once the virtual reality system is developed, the scientists on Tongchi Island will no longer be limited by hardware conditions during their research! This is because Xiaomin's database contains a massive amount of scientific research information!
Some might ask, "Isn't all the manufacturing data already complete? Why not just start working directly? Why go through the trouble of verifying it again?"
Scientific research is not that simple. Although Xiaomin's materials contain a lot of advanced technologies from the future, it is important to note that they are from the future!
While the formulas for cutting-edge technology may be readily available, what about the manufacturing process?
How many times more advanced were the most advanced machine tools in 2008 compared to those in 1928?
For example, some parts require micrometer-level precision in manufacturing, but current hardware can only produce parts at the centimeter or even decimeter level. If you simply copy the specifications, you'll have the data, but you'll never be able to actually build the product! That's why some lighthearted novels depict protagonists traveling back to ancient times to manufacture firearms, seemingly able to do it just by having some related knowledge… How is that possible? Without the necessary hardware, you can't even manufacture the chamber, barrel, slide… or even the spring!
Therefore, the task of these scientists is to absorb as much of this advanced product knowledge as possible. If it can be directly applied to production, then there is no need to put in any effort. However, if it cannot be used for production, or if current technology cannot reach that level, then they can only try to see if they can reduce the performance of the product as little as possible through the data, but still manufacture it using current technology.
Even if these wonderful things from the future are discounted, their power and impact are still considerable.
Of course, the creation and deployment of any product must undergo repeated verification in reality. In other words, while the virtual reality can offset most of the island's dependence on external factors, it is not the whole story.
At least, not yet.
However, it's not that complicated for those soldiers. The virtual reality world has opened up countless resources on warfare. Let alone piloting an airplane that most people would never be able to fly in their entire lives, even flying a flying saucer is no problem!
However, Chen Xu is now troubled by another problem.
money!
After reading Jimmy's plan report on building Tongchi Island, Chen Xu realized... just how poor he really was!
The idea of turning Tongchi Island into an island that could rival the US and the EU with $4 billion is practically a pipe dream. Chen Xu didn't expect to accomplish anything significant with such a small amount of money... It's not even comparable to the assets of a high-level American family business!
However, Chen Xu thought that the software "Babel Tower Translator" was so popular, and Tarot would give him a billion dollars every year. Although this money was not enough to spend, it could probably last for a while. But what he did not expect was that, looking at Jimmy's financial budget, the four billion dollars would probably not even last three months!
Chen Xu wants to make Tongchi Island the world's number one island and have absolute authority, so first and foremost, the island's defense forces must be strong!
How strong is it?
They must at least be qualified to threaten the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Pacific!
Do you know how many years the Seventh Fleet has dominated the Pacific? It's a super deterrent force that's almost as powerful as a nuclear bomb!
Even with his advanced technology, Chen Xu wouldn't dare claim that a mere small island could defeat the Seventh Fleet within three years.
However, a threat doesn't mean destruction. Rather, it means that if a conflict breaks out between Tongchi Island and the Pacific Fleet in the future, even if Tongchi Island is razed to the ground, the Seventh Fleet will definitely not fare well! Not to mention destroying their flagship, the Blue Ridge, we will at least inflict more than half of their losses, creating another Pearl Harbor disaster!
Jimmy's work ability is undoubtedly outstanding; he is indeed a specially trained, one-in-a-hundred elite talent.
Following Chen Xu's instructions, he allowed him to fully unleash his creativity in planning, which also allowed the guy to incorporate many whimsical ideas.
After reading his plan, Chen Xu muttered, "He's insane, he's really insane!"
I don't know if he meant Jimmy was crazy, or himself, or... if the whole world would go crazy after this plan was completed?
Chapter 330 I'm Going to Make Money!
Jimmy is truly a talented person. Although he is only 20 years old, he has already earned a master's degree in social sciences from Yale University and is currently pursuing a master's degree in architecture.
In his words, they received the highest and most efficient education from a young age, and they had to study hard because if their grades didn't meet the standards, they would be eliminated... So everyone studied very hard, not for future success and glory, but to save their own lives. Therefore, they were definitely the most outstanding group among their peers, a world apart from many students who just coast through school these days.
“Our Tongchi Island is too small, so we need to connect the surrounding islands and reefs by building artificial islands.”
"In my opinion, the only way to develop our All-Eat Island is through two aspects. The first is tourism. We need to find a way to develop the island into a tourist destination. If that's the case, then we will give up all our armed forces. But that's clearly not what you want. You intend to build this island into a power that transcends the world, so armed forces are indispensable. Therefore, we need to implement the second plan: to build All-Eat Island into a second Atlantis!"
Atlantis is the ancient continent of Atlantis, a lost civilization. Plato revealed its existence two thousand years ago. This mysterious legendary continent sank into the sea twelve thousand years ago. Before it sank, Atlantis possessed a very advanced civilization. There are rumors that the civilization of Atlantis was even more advanced than that of modern civilization!
No one knows this, but the legend of Atlantis has been passed down to this day. Jimmy's idea is to use the technology at hand to transform Tongchi Island into a powerful existence similar to Atlantis!
"This is our vision for Tongchi Island," Jimmy said, his face beaming. "Vision is extremely important. It's like building a skyscraper. First, you have to define what the building is for—is it an office building or a residential building? Only then can you design the layout. My vision for Tongchi Island is to build it into the world's technology capital! To make it a holy land of technological civilization!"
He dared to say such arrogant things because Chen Xu had subtly told him that SMMH's technology was enough to make X and PRO, the two world-leading technological organizations, feel like elementary school students. So, Jimmy, who trusted Chen Xu implicitly, did some calculations and said such arrogant words... But actually, Chen Xu wasn't wrong. If we calculate it by age, the current technological era is like a newborn baby, so X and PRO, which are ten years ahead of Earth's technology, are like a little kid who has just started elementary school... Chen Xu is already eighty years old, which is rare in ancient times!
This information can be described as somewhat far-fetched, as many of the things in it do not exist in this era. However, Chen Xu knew that Jimmy's ability to come up with such things was not out of thin air, but rather guided by Chen Fei's subconscious. Many of the futuristic products in the information were recorded in Xiao Min's supercomputer!
"Our island needs strong defenses, otherwise our huge market share will definitely be swallowed up by others. In this era where technology equals strength, if we don't adopt defenses, it's as unsafe as a three-year-old carrying a huge pile of money on the street." These are Jimmy's exact words. "Generally speaking, the main source of naval defense is not the island's strength, but warships! If it were an ordinary person, the most important thing right now would probably be to quickly purchase a batch of warships to strengthen the sea's power... but we can't!"
"Our island, Tongchi Island, is in a very sensitive location. If we expand our military power, such as by developing a fleet, the first to attack will be the neighboring Philippines and Malaysia. After all, how can we allow others to sleep soundly next to us? Therefore, if we want to develop our own armed forces, we don't need to use conventional methods!"
"Moreover, our cooperation with Tarot is tentatively set for three years. This timeframe is definitely not without its limitations, because I know that Tarot is currently researching a great invention that could directly leap human civilization to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Once they succeed, they will have made a qualitative leap compared to current technological civilization. Whether they will still cooperate with us at that time will be a big question. But at least for the next year or two, they are unlikely to turn against us. With them, and your relationship with the X organization, with these two organizations protecting us, we are safe and do not need any powerful defensive forces... But during this period, we must develop such defensive forces!"
“We can’t take the conventional route, and we can’t just develop nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are too sensitive, they’re a minefield. Although they can have a great deterrent effect, they are too easy to provoke a strong backlash. I once got some information about SMMH from the X organization, which showed that SMMH seemed to have mastered a fairly high-tech satellite weapon… I think our ultimate mission is to send this satellite weapon into space!”