Qin Zhendong, as a high-ranking official, has governed one region for many years.

Additionally, he himself is a graduate of a top university with a master's degree.

Therefore, he has a good understanding of resource management and costs.

For instance, last year when the light gates hadn't appeared yet, he inspected Modu's Zhangjiang supercomputing center.

Although Modu's three supercomputers belong to the category of having been wealthy in the past but are now struggling to keep up.

Yet, there's some commonality among supercomputers.

In Qin Zhendong's impression.

The annual electricity cost of Modu's three supercomputers is around 20 million, and only in a busy typhoon year would it exceed that slightly.

Sometimes, it even only costs over 10 million.

So how did Taihu Light, in less than two weeks, rack up an electricity bill over 50 million?

Faced with Qin Zhendong's query, Lin Li's expression didn't change much, evidently prepared.

Actually.

He also had doubts about this number at one time, and now he's just repeating it:

"Boss Qin, we need to clarify one thing first.

That is, one degree of electricity is the colloquial term for the energy unit of one kilowatt-hour.

Under normal circumstances.

An appliance of one kilowatt works for a day, which is 24 degrees of electricity."

Qin Zhendong nodded slightly, this is middle school knowledge.

He is not unfamiliar with it, so he knows.

Lin Li continued:

"And one megawatt is equal to 1000 kilowatts, so a fully loaded equipment of one megawatt represents consuming 24,000 degrees of electricity a day.

24,000x18, 18 megawatts is about 432,000 degrees of electricity.

In our homeland.

The price of electricity is roughly 0.6 yuan per degree, and scientific research electricity would be cheaper, around 0.2-0.3 yuan would suffice.

But in Damo Realm, there's no concept of research cost price for electricity.

And quite the opposite...

The higher the electricity consumption, the higher the cost."

Upon hearing this, Qin Zhendong roughly understood:

"Now that you mention it, I roughly get it...

Academician Lin, during this Thunder Tribulation period, what was the average price per degree of electricity?"

"Two yuan fifty, close to two yuan sixty."

Lin Li reported a number, then sighed:

"No choice, specialized capacitors providing megawatt-level power is very challenging.

We temporarily mobilized some reserve resources from the aviation sector to solve this problem.

And although this reserve resource has broken through technical barriers, its lifespan is essentially very short.

Thus, after this Thunder Tribulation, many components were permanently scrapped—damaged to the extent that they could directly be sent to the recycling center.

432,000X2.5X14, costing approximately 15 million Huaxia currency here.

Not to mention the supercomputer doesn't just have a single CPU module, as mentioned before, water cooling electricity consumption is also high.

If it hadn't been for the Yang Family's cultivator who brought a water source, our actual expenditure could have increased by another 60%.

Adding up several modules, eventually reaching the 47 million figure."

Qin Zhendong pursed his lips, his face somewhat somber.

The situation Lin Li described is actually quite common in the homeland.

For example, some people ordering takeout feel a certain meatball seems nice, and that chicken strip seems highly rated.

So, adding seven and eight together, at checkout, they find...

Damn, it actually costs sixty to seventy yuan?!

So.

They have to painfully remove some options, and often the time spent removing items is more than selecting dishes.

However, supercomputers don't allow you to freely add or remove at will, making equipment electricity costs quite daunting.

Lin Li paused for a moment, then continued:

"Another major expense is the reserve Mc290 and monster crystal high-pressure equipment expenditure.

Together with the energy storage equipment for condensing microorganisms, preparation and storage costs are approximately 250 million Huaxia currency."

Having laid the groundwork for the previous supercomputer expense, this time Qin Zhendong's expression was much calmer.

Of course.

This also relates to the type of expenditure:

For similarly large expenses, a single electricity consumption of tens of millions and spending billions on research equipment, the latter is actually easier to accept.

The interjection for the former is usually 'actually', and for the latter, many times it's 'only'.

It really is the case.

Internally, reserve Mc290 and monster crystal equipment reach as high as 160,000 atmospheres, which isn't something ordinary people can accomplish.

Although scientists can currently create an extreme environment of 2.8 million atmospheres for observing hydrogen ring changes.

That's under laboratory conditions.

Trying to recreate this environment at a Thunder Tribulation site with low difficulty and cost is impossible.

For example, the container material used by the rabbits this time.

The cost for just a fist-sized lump isn't less than 300,000.

Research burning money is no joke.

Take the recent Shenzhou 13 that went to space.

The total cost of 13 won't be less than 30 to 40 billion, with the spaceship alone costing over 1.5 billion.

And that doesn't include the expenditure for training astronauts.

"Therefore, in this Thunder Tribulation, our total expenditure on materials and labor is roughly 450 million."

In the office, Lin Li reported all the expenditure figures:

"This is considered our most expensive project to date, even higher than the Double-headed Bull Capture Battle back then."

Qin Zhendong gently nodded, took a cigarette out of his pocket.

Clicked it lit, while asking:

"So, Academician Lin, what are the gains?"

Upon hearing the word gains.

Lin Li first tactically took his tea cup and sipped, seemingly trying to suppress a certain expression.

But soon, his attempt failed:

See, this esteemed Huaxia Academician couldn't suppress the radiant smile spreading across the corner of his mouth.

Then he grinned and burst out four words:

"Massive profits!"

"Oh?"

It seems like Lin Li's smile was contagious.

Even though it wasn't clear how much they actually profited this time, a hint of a smile appeared on Qin Zhendong's face:

"Academician Lin, tell me how did we score big here?"

Take a look at that.

Even his hometown accent slipped out.

Hearing this, Lin Li took a deep breath and said:

"The first profit is a hundred demon lair slots, which was our original target.

In essence,

I personally think that just these hundred slots alone can cover our costs.

The second profit is spirit stones.

According to our agreement with the Yang Family,

after Yang Zhengchu successfully overcomes his tribulation, they will pay us half a million spirit stones.

Even at normal exchange rates, that's over thirty billion Huaxia currency.

Not to mention the value of a large number of spirit stones, which can't be measured in terms of money alone.

This part of the spirit stones is pending payment, expected to be settled within three months.

Actually, Professor Ma originally attempted to communicate with the Yang Family to see if they could barter goods instead.

The Yang Family replied that they have a lot of matters to handle recently, so goods weren't feasible."

"Goods aren't feasible, huh... If they aren't, they aren't, as long as the spirit stones come."

Qin Zhendong replied briefly, while adjusting to a more comfortable position on the sofa.

He knew.

The first two points Lin Li mentioned were definitely just appetizers.

Sure enough, Lin Li continued:

"Besides slots and spirit stones, we also acquired another type of material this time....

Demonic beast crystals!

You should remember, before the tribulation.

We agreed with the Yang Family on two thousand demonic beast crystals for generating iron-hydride microcrystals.

In fact, the Yang Family provided more than two thousand, with a total of 2351 crystals.

During the entire tribulation process, based on our data analysis, we temporarily adjusted the thickness of the crystal array.

Compressed from the preset 2.5 meters to one meter,

This resulted in the consumption of only 1137 demonic beast crystals in total—actually, this number could have been smaller; we were too cautious.

Because even during the final wave of the thunder tribulation, the impact on the crystal array only pushed it in by 10%.

In other words, we have a surplus of.....

1214 demonic beast crystals!"

Upon hearing this number, Qin Zhendong was momentarily stunned.

It took him almost half a minute.

When the special panda cigarette burned down to his fingers, the provincial governor snapped back to reality.

1214 demonic beast crystals!

You have to know.

In the binding crystal array designed by Tang Pin,

one demonic beast crystal can provide a sealing effect for nearly 3.5 cubic meters of space, lasting 45 hours.

Within this valid period.

The crystal array can completely bind a Nascent Soul cultivator like the binding device of the Hypolite aliens in Ultraman Ace.

And almost completely limit his actions.

Previously, the camp only had a reserve of seven demonic beast crystals.

Theoretically.

These seven demonic beast crystals can only support a sealing effect of twenty-five cubic meters.

Therefore, although the camp prepared several strategies to deal with Nascent Soul cultivators, implementing them required extremely high precision and conditions.

This was a bit like the guerilla squads during the toughest periods of the resistance war, saving every bullet and piece of ammunition.

The margin for error is extremely low, and without a protagonist's halo, it was easy for big problems to occur.

But there was no other way.

The reality was like this.

Without the ability to imagine, this was already the best defensive strategy the rabbits could devise.

And now, with the skyrocketing number of demonic beast crystals....

At least in the face of strong enemy attacks, the rabbits' defense measures could be more relaxed.

For example, previously considering the speed of Nascent Soul-level beings, the binding missiles made of demonic beast crystals could only be deployed in small clusters for perimeter defense.

If necessary, pilots might even have to engage in close combat.

There was a significant chance of escape for the opponent.

And a careless move could even lead to aircraft destruction and simultaneous ground assault.

But now it's different.

One demonic beast crystal can be broken down into 16200 missiles capable of sealing escape for ten seconds, at worst we'd use a firepower coverage strategy.

If a Nascent Soul cultivator attacks, taking twenty demonic beast crystals—equivalent to more than 300,000 missiles—to lay a firepower net, directly covering the area with firepower.

As long as the distance is managed well.

No known combat force can escape.

And being able to control the opponent for ten seconds is basically the same as capturing them alive.

Not to mention demonic beast crystals possess other functions as well.

For example, the detonating powder for 12.7mm spiritual energy armor-piercing bullets is synthesized from the fragments of this stuff.

The command center initially estimated a demonic beast crystal surplus of about four hundred, but now the number has nearly tripled.

So you see, how can Qin Zhendong not be pleased?

Meanwhile, across from him, Lin Li's words continued:

"Besides the tangible material assets, we also obtained conclusive information from the precursor civilization.

And collected a large amount of data samples.

These are invisible treasures...

The information on the precursor civilization speaks for itself, you should have already seen the relevant reports.

As for the data samples, aside from body-strengthening materials, we've also collected Yang Zhengchu's hair and blood residues.

Additionally...

Hmmm, his boogers and earwax picked out when he was bored—don't laugh, these are all valuable research samples.

These samples are already on their way back, and will soon arrive at the camp."

....

Note:

A sizable chapter, not counting as an extra update, think of it as a bedtime snack.

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