Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 262 received even more extravagant treatment than Hua Zi.

Nelson wasn't the only one to resign; all four individuals involved in the hotel scandal resigned.

So much so that netizens jokingly said that Lin Ran had swept up half of NASA's high-ranking officials from thousands of miles away.

The effect of this strike was far too obvious.

Therefore, after the completion of manned spaceflight, many things remained the same as before, while many other things changed.

Firstly, regarding Shenhai, after Lin Ran returned to Shenhai, one leader after another came to inspect him, and he was featured on the front page of various news outlets.

Although Lin Ran rarely attended in person, with Song Nanping handling the reception, there were some occasions where he had to be present.

After the camera disappeared, the prefect of Songjiang joked, "Professor Lin, you definitely can't stay here in Huaqiao any longer."

If you didn't know better, you'd think Shenhai had treated you unfairly.

One after another, local leaders from Shanghai and Haikou have come to inspect the area, and they have probably offered you all sorts of benefits, from tax breaks and land incentives to free office buildings.

I think I've given them everything I could.

This is really not a problem.

According to local news from Shenhai, leaders from Shenhai visited Apollo Technology, a high-tech enterprise in Shenhai. The company recently completed the first manned spaceflight project by a private aerospace company. The company's astronauts stayed in space for up to 14 days, demonstrating the city's breakthrough achievements in the field of high-tech development.

That sounds incredibly inspiring.

In this era that advocates innovation, and in this era where high technology is an important economic driver, aerospace is a high-end industry that can drive the upstream and downstream of industries even more than the Internet.

The local media in Shanghai naturally reported on it extensively.

However, upon closer inspection, Shenhai High-tech Enterprise's office is located in Huaqiao.
The founder is a professor at our Shenhai Jiaotong University, and the capital behind it is Shenhai Science and Technology Investment, a local state-owned enterprise in Shenhai.

It always feels weird.

Shenhai leaders visited local Shenhai enterprises in Huaqiao, Kunshan.

Shen Hai can't afford to lose face like that.

The reason why Kunshan was chosen in the past was because Lin Ran himself chose Kunshan.

After the success of Burning One, various districts in Shanghai expressed their willingness to provide support and offered numerous preferential policies.

However, the preferential treatment offered is very limited, mainly consisting of tax breaks and office rental subsidies.

Not bad at all.

Compared to this office building belonging to Shenhai Science and Technology Investment, the conditions are definitely not favorable.

Later, after Lin Ran met that person at the Hengshan Hotel, the terms offered were different again.

This time the terms are much more favorable, but Lin Ran is too busy and can't make a decision without being in Shenhai.

Once manned spaceflight is achieved, all sorts of conditions will be thrown up like they're free.

After all, times have changed. With the realization of manned spaceflight, in the eyes of insightful people, Apollo Technology will be a company no less than SpaceX.

SpaceX has a total of 13000 employees, and Apollo Technology is at least of that size. The upstream and downstream industries it drives, the resulting regional effects, and the influence of the high-tech companies themselves greatly increase its attractiveness to various districts in Shenhai.

The most eager will definitely be Minhang, after all, the main campus is located there. In the future, Jiaotong University graduates will have everything taken care of from entering the school to graduation, without having to leave Dongchuan Road in Minhang.

Of course, Shenhai will definitely want to welcome back this brilliant son, while Kunshan, or more accurately, Suzhou, will definitely want to keep Apollo Technology here.

Local media in Suzhou emphasized in their reports that Apollo Technology is a private aerospace company located in Huaqiao, Kunshan, Suzhou.

As for whether Huaqiao considers itself part of Shenhai or part of Gusu, Gusu thinks it doesn't matter at all.

Your administrative division belongs to me, do you think it matters?
Suzhou's demands are: ideally, I could be moved to the industrial park by Jinji Lake; secondly, I could stay in Kunshan; and the worst-case scenario is returning to Shanghai.

It's not easy for a company of this caliber to emerge, and from a scale perspective, its potential is limitless. Naturally, Suzhou doesn't want to give up on it.

Businesses have a scale, and a more accurate term to describe this scale is the ceiling.

Internet companies like Dewu, Hupu, and Keep have a very limited ceiling, but the social benefits they can generate for a city are readily apparent.

It's hard to predict the upper limit of aerospace companies like Apollo Technologies. If it can develop into a behemoth like China's aerospace industry, with annual revenue exceeding $800 billion, while the GDP of the entire city of Suzhou is around 2.4 trillion RMB.

This is equivalent to 20% of the GDP of the entire Suzhou.

This upper limit sounds outrageous.

However, judging from Lin Ran's performance over the past year, it doesn't seem so outrageous.

In short, all the leaders who came to inspect the area during this period expressed similar sentiments.

I just want to know if you can come here.

Just ask for any policies or support you need.

The two places with the most enthusiasm are Suzhou and Minhang.

When the prefect of Songjiang came and made such a request, the other party naturally offered the best corresponding terms.

"Professor Lin, Shenhai will mobilize the entire city to cultivate Apollo Technology, and all kinds of support you can think of will be provided."

If you encounter any difficulties, you can contact me directly, and I will help you resolve them.

Lin Ran nodded: "Okay."

The other party then took out his phone, pulled up a map, pointed to a piece of land next to Shenhai Xintiandi, and said, "This is a plot of land on Ji'an Road in the HP District. It's in Xintiandi, the core of Shenhai."

This land will be injected into Apollo Technology's assets as an investment, after you successfully complete the moon landing, to serve as the headquarters of Apollo Technology.

This piece of land alone could fetch at least 100 billion RMB at auction.

Because of its geographical location, in Xintiandi.

This is the core area of ​​Shenhai.

Having lived in Shanghai for many years, Lin Ran naturally knew very well that Xintiandi was the favorite place for young professionals in Shanghai.

The Cuihu plot in Xintiandi can easily sell for more than 100,000 yuan per square meter.

This condition is undoubtedly a trump card.

Lin Ran just shook his head with a wry smile: "Thank you for your kindness, but this is more harmful than beneficial to us."

I would never put the company headquarters in a place like that.

We are not a high-tech company; we are a manufacturing company.

Placing the company headquarters in Xintiandi will only drag the company down. How can our employees afford to buy houses in the surrounding area if they work in such a place?

With the salary we can offer, the commute to and from get off work would take at least two hours each way. How can you concentrate on your work if you spend so much time on the road?

Aside from giving us a glamorous facade, I don't know what benefit it brings us.

This has significantly increased the company's costs.

Lin Ran immediately saw the drawbacks of doing so.

Is Xintiandi good? Of course it is.

But that's an excellent choice for companies in finance and the service industry.

This is of no benefit to manufacturing companies like theirs.

"If you really want to support us, why not give us some residential land in the surrounding area, in addition to commercial land? We can provide housing for our employees, even on Chongming Island. As long as there are housing benefits, we will have a natural advantage in recruiting talent."

The prefect of Songjiang smiled and clapped his hands, saying, "Professor Lin, that was just option one. As you said, we are offering another option: we have found a large open space for you on the outskirts of Yuepu Town in Baoshan District. You can use that as a center to expand outwards."

Baosteel is also located there, including its core production area and new materials production base in the Yuepu area.

Your cooperation with Baosteel in aerospace materials can be even closer.

This is true welfare.

No matter what you build, whether it's a rocket, a spaceship, or a satellite, all of these things rely on steel.

Musk's Starship makes extensive use of stainless steel.

This is almost the most common metallic material.

But that doesn't mean you don't need to research new materials.

While both are stainless steel, the 30X grade is SpaceX's own design, boasting higher strength and lower weight. It maintains excellent performance at extremely low or high temperatures and is significantly cheaper than carbon fiber, leading the industry to consider it a super material. Self-media outlets wildly tout Musk's Starship as using the most basic materials, unaware that even within stainless steel, there are differences.

The Songjiang prefect's proposal this time is undoubtedly much more practical.

Leaving aside whether Baosteel, as a traditional state-owned manufacturing enterprise, has sufficient material research and development capabilities, it certainly has no shortage of equipment, engineers, and workers.

They lacked research and development capabilities, but Lin Ran came and brought in new people, which gave them those capabilities.

“Okay, let’s go to Yuepu Town.” Lin Ran said without hesitation.

Lin Ran knew this place; he had a classmate from a family of Baosteel workers, and the housing prices there were cheap.

For Shenhai, it was a sure-fire way to make money.

Giving land to Apollo Technology is fine, but it can boost the overall energy volume of the entire Yuepu Town area.

"Then, on the residential land side, we will also build a number of talent apartments specifically for Apollo Technology in the future."

In Wolpu, there's basically an unlimited supply.

"Your employees can stay here as long as they want," the Songjiang prefect continued.

Lin Ran understood the other party's subtext: forget about allocating housing; your employees are tired of living in the talent apartments, so you should at least contribute to the real estate market in Yuepu Town, right?
Lin Ran could even guess that a large number of newly built plots of land would be launched, featuring new houses with good appearances, prices that would limit the income of Apollo Technology employees, and decent supporting educational and medical facilities, all targeting the young people associated with Apollo Technology.

Whether they work at Apollo Technology or in upstream and downstream supply chain companies, these young people will become the main force in the local renovation of old houses and the listing of new houses, as well as the upgrading of the urban landscape.

Lin Ran knew this so clearly because that's how Huntsville was back then.

NASA was founded in 1958, and as the Redstone base gradually became more populated, Huntsville began a major urban landscape upgrade.

Many young engineers working at the Redstone base have made contributions to the city of Huntsville.

Lin Ran nodded: "Okay, but the relocation will have to wait until after we land on the moon at the end of this year."

"Is it really possible to land on the moon this year?" the other party confirmed.

Lin Ran grinned and said, "The pledge has already been made, how could I possibly go back on my word?"

After meeting with the prefect of Songjiang, Lin Ran noticed that Li Xiaoman looked preoccupied: "Did your uncle and aunt come looking for you?"

Li Xiaoman nodded: "Yes, they were also taken in for questioning by the federal police, but their situation is better than Nilanjan's. They went home after the interrogation, but the federal police said that they may be summoned for questioning at any time, and they cannot leave America now."

Lin Ran noticed her hesitant expression and said, "Sister Xiaoman, do they want you to go back and stop working for me?"
It's that same old emotional appeal again.

Li Xiaoman nodded and then sighed, "Yes, they mean that if I continue to work here, the danger to them will only increase."

When we finally land on the moon, they will likely follow in Niranjan's footsteps and lose their freedom completely.

Lin Ran said, "If you go back, you'll be the one in danger."

Don't they know?
As the only female friend I have long-term contact with, if they still have even a shred of kinship, what they should do is beg you to help them leave America, even if it requires the power of China.

Instead of trying to persuade you to go back.

Once you go back, you'll be the one who loses your freedom, and they may not really have any freedom at all.

Sister Xiaoman, I'm not trying to comfort you, I'm just simply analyzing the pros and cons.

Because I've always disliked them. Why didn't they show any kinship in the past? After your parents passed away, you didn't see the inheritance they left behind. Once you turned eighteen, you had to pay for your own tuition, and you should also have a share in the property, but you didn't see that either.

It's ridiculous to talk about family ties now.

Even if they were nice to you, we wouldn't give up on you because of them now that we've come this far.

Li Xiaoman held Lin Ran's hand and said, "I know, I'm just a little melancholy."

They treated me like the Dursleys treated Harry Potter in Harry Potter. In the fairy tale world, the two sides can reconcile, but in the real world, we cannot.

But they are ultimately among the few remaining blood relatives I have in this world, and I still feel a mix of emotions.

Lin Ran didn't speak, but just stood quietly, listening to the other person's breathing and feeling the warmth from their hand.

But the troubles don't end there.

For Old Deng, it was simply unacceptable that during his term, a private Chinese company was planning to go to the moon.

First, a Democratic senator wrote a letter to the White House, in which he wrote:
"Your Excellency Minister Raimondo, Your Excellency Blinken:"
Our letter aims to emphasize the threat posed by Apollo technology to America and the liberal camp, and the necessity of preventing them from further exploiting the achievements of our Apollo moon landing in the 60s to attack America and NASA through multilateral cooperation and diplomatic means.

One of the funniest lines is: "Among all Chinese companies, Apollo Technology is the worst."

In a letter written to the White House in May 2025 by John Mullainar and Raja Krishnamurti, there was a sentence that read: "Huawei is the worst."

The original text is this: "Huawei is as bad as it gets."

(The last sentence of the third paragraph of this letter is: Huawei is as bad as it gets.)

Lin Ran was also surprised that their company would be able to enjoy Huawei's benefits ahead of schedule.

The White House is on high alert.

There's no other way but to face a formidable enemy; Apollo technology is progressing a bit too fast.

It's almost here; we'll be landing on the moon in the next couple of years.

The White House is well aware that NASA is definitely not going to be able to land on the moon in the next two years, and even if the mission were given to Musk as he wishes, he might not be able to handle it.

The White House is currently stuck.

That morning, Li Ni went to Bilibili's headquarters as usual.

She was very pleased with herself during this period.

Because her transformation plan was exceptionally successful, she had successfully invested in Apollo Technology, a company with great potential.

Bilibili is expected to make a significant profit from Apollo Technology, boosting its traffic, revenue, and overall earnings.

First, there's the OEM advertising. A steady stream of large companies are approaching them, hoping to get involved in Apollo Technology's manned spaceflight program; money is no object.

Will Moutai ever be unable to pay?
Last time, two liquor companies and two banks, one of which paid 20 million yuan, was just a drop in the bucket for them.

Bilibili will then stream Apollo Technologies' manned spaceflight program live, inserting advertisements to generate another large sum of money.

Although Apollo Technology is progressing very quickly, the 12 billion cannot be paid out slowly over ten years; it may have to be paid out in two years.

But the profits were also astonishing, with many manufacturers helping them share the expenses.

The revenue will cover the expenses.

Traffic and the new customers brought in by that traffic are both net profits.

More importantly, it's a documentary; they filmed the entire process and have exclusive broadcasting rights.

Bilibili plans to make it a paid viewing platform, allowing users to watch the first two episodes for free, but the rest will require payment, in order to cultivate users' willingness to pay.

This is even more important for companies like Bilibili that rely on content for their livelihood.

For this reason, the entire documentary team was replaced with the team that filmed "Life on a String," and Li Ni plans to personally oversee the quality of the final product.

She considers her bet on Apollo Technology to be a brilliant victory in her career.

If Apollo technology could actually land on the moon, that would be the most spectacular war ever.

Just like LeEco was able to live off the success of "Empresses in the Palace" for a lifetime, Bilibili can also live off the success of Apollo's moon landing for a very long time, with enough long-tail traffic.

However, as soon as she arrived at the company that day, she was called to the office, which was full of senior executives.

Sitting in the middle was Chen Rui, whose face was somber and who did not speak.

Instead, the company's chief financial officer, who is in charge of financial operations, said: "I'm sorry, everyone, I have some bad news to tell you. The Nasdaq committee just sent us an inquiry letter, asking us to provide a detailed explanation of our cooperation with Apollo Technology."

They believe that our collaboration with a company that seriously endangers their national security could lead to a delisting order under Section 13959.

"Huh?" Li Ni was completely dumbfounded. "No, I've seen so many Chinese companies cooperating with Huawei without any problems."

Where did this 13959 come from?

首席财务官接着说道：“13959是他们去年11月12日发布的行政命令，在今年的6月3日修订为14032。

Simply put, if we partner with a specific company, we may face delisting.

Now it's clear that America is determined to identify Apollo Technologies as such a specific company.

(End of this chapter)