Chapter 285: $500,000

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

There were reasons behind Dana Trump’s angry roaring. Although he did not have a good understanding of industrial processes, he did have some basic technical knowledge. High-precision industrial equipment could not simply be produced just because one improved the standard of the design. It was impossible to manufacture certain advanced equipment even with a full set of design blueprints. It was because the material technology could not meet the minimum standard needed. It was because the accuracy of industrial processing was not accurate enough, therefore, quality components could not be produced. It was the same reason why the earliest humans could not create a machine gun. It was useless even if one gave them the full set of design blueprints for the atomic bomb.

But the existence of the “virtual factory” was similar to that of a cheat code in a game. Your material technology was lacking? Well, the “virtual factory” would first help to simulate the materials, including its production process. Was the processing precision of the lathes not accurate enough? Ok, the “virtual factory” would first design a lathe machine for you. The “Virtual Factory” was not only used for the improvement of the chip manufacturing process, but it could also be used to rectify any flaws in the production process. This could be described as a kind of “multi-purpose” cheating tool.

How could Dana Trump not roar like a crazy and be an angry person after learning about this special feature? The next thing he did was to think about countermeasures! “Where are our navies and aircrafts?” Dana Trump subconsciously asked.

“Reporting to Mr. President, we have two groups of aircraft-led battle navies that are conducting mobile patrols in the Asia-Pacific, and one group that is carrying out missions in the Indian Ocean.”

“Send all of them to the surrounding areas of Z country! All!” Dana Trump brandished his fist.

“Mr. President, this is not a military issue. The aircraft and navy battle groups cannot solve the problem.” Capello felt compelled to remind him. He could not understand the president’s brain. They were fighting a war in the field of science and technology, not a military war.

“I know, I know, but this is the only way that I can get the Z people to comprehend my rage!” He said to Secretary of State Edmunds, “Edmunds, first go to the Z country’s ambassador in Merica, and then immediately go to Z country. Express the most severe protest and the angriest dissatisfaction on my behalf. We cannot tolerate this unfair competition. They must hand over the technology that is so extremely deadly; that threatens world peace! Otherwise, they will face the harshest punishment.”

“Yes, Mr. President!” This was diplomatic pressure.

Capello quietly shook his head. This was useless! With his understanding of the Z people, these two types of pressure were useless. It was not possible that Z would yield. He had to say, “Mr. President, what we should do now is not to expect Z country to surrender their technology, but to increase investment in intelligence work and find ways to get back the technology that belongs to us! This includes intelligent learning technology and the ‘virtual factory.’ But both are essentially products developed on the basis of the ‘smart learning technology’! Mr. President, it is impossible to count on the Z people to compromise. We can only rely on our own efforts, invest more money, develop more informants, and finally take back the technology that the Z people have stolen from us. Theoretically, it is impossible for that technology to have been born in Z country. They were despicable to have stolen the fruit from the wisdom and talent of our scientists. So, in addition to military and diplomatic pressure, the most urgent task at present is to increase the intensity of our intelligence-gathering. We should try our best to enable the informants to take back those precious technologies!” Obviously, Capello hoped that the informants could provide outstanding service for them; this was the most direct and effective method. They should not be using other methods of pressuring and wasting resources on useless efforts.

“What you said was logical, Capello.” Dana Trump nodded. “I will try to get Congress to approve a higher budget for you. But you have to show some results first. If the informants successfully take back the technology, believe me, your budget will increase by at least 50% next year.” He could only give a verbal promise and paint a rosy picture. After all, Merica had been so poor recently that the government was about to close down again. They accumulated a total amount of $28 trillion in national debt, which was close to $30 trillion. However, military spending was still maintained at a high amount of $700 billion per year. It was maintaining its hegemony with great effort. Nowadays, in the face of countless requests for money, Dana Trump could only throw out checks made up of empty promises.

“Okay, Mr. President!” Capello nodded helplessly.

…

“What? I have to sneak into the core R&D office and find a way to steal all the data relevant to the ‘virtual factory’?” Lin Lichung was taken aback. He did not expect the liaison officer to arrange such a herculean task for him.

He immediately refused. “I can’t do it, I don’t have the authority to access the core R&D room, and I don’t have any way to copy and steal such a huge amount of data.” Lin Lichung learned from the colleague that the package size of the virtual factory’s software was about 1,000TB. Including various data, the total amount of data would exceed 3,000TB. How could he steal such huge data?

“We will provide you with the relevant copying tools and a hundred mobile hard drives of 30TB each!”

“I’ve already said this. First of all, I can’t get into the core R&D room! Moreover, they have encryption and anti-copy measures on their computer equipment. They have sufficient protection in place for their hardware. It is impossible to copy and steal the entire ‘virtual factory.’ I really can’t do this.”

“You have to do it even if it’s impossible!” The liaison officer said with an unyielding tone, “Think about your family, think about your parents and younger sister and think about our Treasure Island. If you don’t do this, they will all be in danger.”

What? Lin Lichung’s eyes widened in shock. “What have you done to my parents and sister? You b*****ds!” At that moment, he felt endless remorse. What was wrong with working peacefully? Why had he been mixed in an affair that came to this point?

The liaison spoke bluntly, “We didn’t do anything to your family. They are safe now. But whether they will be safe in the future is up to you.”

“B*****d!!” Lin Lichung gritted his teeth with rage burning in his eyes.

…

He could not escape. He had been kidnapped by a pirate ship; there was no retreat. He could only do it according to the other party’s instructions. But, he really did not have the authority to access the core R&D room. With strict security measures, it was impossible for him to sneak into the core R&D room. He could only follow the advice of his liaison officer and develop his own “external connection.” He should get the staff who had the opportunity to enter the core R&D room to help him copy the data. Hence, Lin Lichung stared at the colleague with whom he had a good relationship. He planned to get his help again.

…

In a private room of a coffee shop, Lin Lichung took out the $100,000 cash that he withdrew from the bank and put it in front of his colleague. He pleaded, “Brother Ye, help me. This money is yours after the work is done!” Lin Lichung’s heart was bleeding. This was all his own hard-earned money. He was paying out of his own pocket!

His colleague widened his eyes and looked at him with shock. His face was filled with disbelief. He even said with a trembling voice, “Lichung, I treat you as a brother, a friend. But you are actually a foreigner’s spy, their lackey?!” Right now, his heart was a pit of endless disappointment and in a moment, it grew cold.

“No, no! Brother Ye, listen to me, I am not a spy, I was forced to…” Lin Lichung tried his best to explain. However, he found out that the more he tried to explain, the worse it sounded. His colleague shook his head, he could not listen to it any longer.

He could only push the $100,000 towards his colleague and say, “This $100,000 is yours. There’s more after the task is done! Brother Ye, just help me this once for this money!”

However, his colleague picked up the phone immediately and made a call.

“Brother Ye, who are you calling?” Lin Lichung asked with surprise.

“Call 110 and receive $500,000!”

…

Twenty minutes later, a crisp “clack” sounded out. A pair of ice-cold handcuffs were locked on Lin Lichung’s wrists. However, he breathed a sigh of relief.

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