Steel torrents pioneering a different world.

Chapter 335 Specialist: We can't produce it ourselves, but we can spend money on Lao Zhong! (Please subscribe)

In the modern world, at the Zhuhe Base, in Li Weiguo's office.

"Mr. Li!"

Assistant Pan Guanyue pushed open the door and entered. His steps were hurried but not flustered. He suppressed his excitement and placed a document on the table.

"This is great news! The results of the secret tests on the new armor are in. The performance is excellent! The cost has also been confirmed to be 15 percent lower than traditional composite armor. In addition, we've made significant progress in electromagnetic weapons!"

"good!"

Pan Guanyue's breathing became somewhat rapid as he continued his report: "President Li, the principles behind the refining of several materials from that other world, after being improved, are also applicable here, and even have miraculous effects! Some of these techniques are even more than fifteen years ahead of the Federation!"

"Fifteen years!"

Li Weiguo repeated it, a smile appearing on his face.

Materials science typically takes about ten years to develop into a single generation. Given the pace of their old rivals, even if they were given twenty years to research it, they still wouldn't be able to get it right.

Because those guys don't have the finished materials from the other world, they can't turn the materials that undergo all sorts of magical changes in the other world into real objects!

"Mr. Li, would you like some water?"

Li Weiguo waved his hand, refusing Pan Guanyue's offer to take the water glass, and got up to walk to the tea table, slowly taking out some green tea.

Boiling water is poured into the Yixing teapot, and the rich aroma of tea instantly fills the air.

"Are the flies from the Western Federation still buzzing around a lot lately?" Li Weiguo asked without turning his head.

"Yeah, still as formidable as ever!" Pan Guanyue's cheek muscles tightened as he mentioned this. "The same old three tricks! But don't worry, the security department has tightened their net, and any few who show their faces can be caught in one fell swoop."

He paused, a hint of satisfaction creeping into his voice.

"By the way, Mr. Li, the bait we released according to plan has shown signs of activity."

"Oh?"

"It was that technology that we verified a few years ago by the Electromagnetic Manifestation True Lord that successfully caught fish with those outdated, completely impractical technical documents."

"Our people have confirmed that the other side—well, other factions as well—has already taken the bait."

"They actually took the bait—" Li Weiguo chuckled, pouring the first brew of tea into a cup, then steadily filling Pan Guanyue's small teacup. "I wonder if they'll be furious when they spend so many resources studying our waste paper solutions that we threw in the trash years ago, only to find that the performance can't be improved!"

"Yes! It's a pity some fools still think the Federation is still the Federation!" Pan Guanyue chuckled, then couldn't help but curse, "Greedy idiots!"

Those guys will sell anything for money!

If they weren't useful, they would have been dealt with long ago.

"Only cracked eggs attract flies." Li Weiguo poured himself a cup of tea, the tea soup red, thick, and clear.

He blew on the hot air and said slowly, "You can't expect everyone to be as enlightened as saints. People's hearts are complex, especially in these decades of rapid development. It's normal for some young people to be very active and shrewd because of the changes in the times."

Li Weiguo walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, gazing into the distance as if he could pierce through the clouds and see another place.

"Human nature! Alas—"

It's both sad and laughable that, most of the time, the idealists who emerge in peacetime are completely different from those who emerge during wartime.

Idealists in peacetime can never escape the mundane realities of daily life.

And these people can easily corrupt the world.

Self-interest is ingrained in human nature, because only by being self-interested can one achieve something better.

However, if left unchecked in society, it will eventually corrode the entire system.

The people in the Western Federation are best at exploiting human weaknesses, like a crowbar, to pry open their strongest fortresses.

Pan Guanyue held the teacup that Li Weiguo had just handed him with both hands and asked, "Mr. Li, should we close the net? If we let them keep running around like this, morale will rise."

"Desires are like weeds; they can't be burned out and they easily spring back to life! Sometimes, it's more useful to leave them!"

Pan Guanyue frowned: "But looking at the faces of those parasites, and then seeing them cursing behind their backs, it's really hard to swallow this."

"Then let's just consider it feeding pigs," Li Weiguo chuckled, a hint of coldness in his voice. "Pigs need to be fattened up before slaughtering to yield more meat. A known leak channel, monitored by us throughout, is a valve we can shut off at any time. Unknown vulnerabilities are like anthills on a dam, not easily monitored."

He turned around and his gaze fell on Pan Guanyue.

"Remember, we're not afraid of thieves stealing our gold bricks, but we're afraid of unknown, powerful thieves who have their eyes on our gold bricks. Those are the most dangerous."

"As long as the source remains under our control, everything will be fine."

Pan Guanyue nodded emphatically, and the pent-up frustration in his heart dissipated almost entirely.

Yes, instead of blindly guarding against thieves everywhere, it's better to figure out the thief's route thoroughly and make sure that everything he takes is something that can be leaked.

Mr. Li has a very far-sighted view of this game.

The office was quiet for a moment, with only the occasional soft sound of boiling water coming from the purple clay teapot.

After drinking his tea, Li Weiguo spoke again: "How is the physical rejuvenation project for those veteran scientists and heroes going?"

Mentioning this, Pan Guanyue's facial muscles, which had just relaxed, tensed up again instantly.

He pursed his lips, his voice lowering: "President Li, there have been some casualties."

Li Weiguo paused, staring intently at the other person.

The air in the office seemed to freeze.

"Five seniors, all over seventy-six years old and in poor health, underwent the first batch of vitality restoration experiments." Pan Guanyue recounted the sacrifices with a forced smile, speaking slowly, "Ultimately—only three survived."

Li Weiguo closed his eyes, took a long breath, and when he opened them again, his eyes were calm again.

"Have the causes of the failure been determined for the two comrades who sacrificed their lives?"

These elderly people all underwent appropriate adjustments when taking the Warrior's Medicine.

They were mentally prepared, but when sacrifices actually occurred, it would be a lie to say they weren't heartbroken.

"The Chinese Academy of Sciences' initial hypothesis is that it was caused by complications from underlying medical conditions. Both of them had a serious history of diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and their physical condition was too poor to withstand the massive cell division and energy surge during the cell remodeling process," Pan Guanyue added. "Both of these senior scholars signed the highest level of voluntary agreement, saying that even if they died, they would pave a bloody path for those who come after them."

Li Weiguo remained silent, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the mahogany table, producing a dull "tap, tap" sound.

After a long silence, he spoke again, his voice somewhat hoarse: "What rewards did their sacrifice bring? How much progress has been made in the reverse engineering of the warrior's potion?"

Sacrifice must be worthwhile.

Pan Guanyue looked troubled and shook his head: "As you know, biological research is always slow. To completely replicate it from the ground up, it will probably take a long time. We've only managed to develop some health-preserving medicines! There's still a long way to go before we can achieve any earth-shattering changes!"

Seeing the fleeting disappointment in Li Weiguo's eyes, Pan Guanyue abruptly changed the subject just as he was about to speak.

"But—President Li! While our own research is slow, President Su and her team in the other world have made a major breakthrough!"

He took an excited step forward, his fists clenched tightly.

"Just yesterday! Through a trade with the dwarves, we obtained a full five thousand doses of finished warrior potions!"

"Five thousand copies!?"

Li Weiguo's fingers, which were tapping the table, froze in mid-air, as if a pause button had been pressed.

His gaze was like lightning, fixed on Pan Guanyue's face. His Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was terribly hoarse.

"How much?"

"Five thousand portions! Mr. Li!" Pan Guanyue replied with a smile. "Mr. Su and his men traded our grain and refined steel for these from Bellegas! Not a single one missing!"

Li Weiguo suddenly stood up, placing his hands on the table. The solid mahogany table groaned slightly from the force.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled as if expelling the heavy sorrow brought by the sacrifice of those two old comrades.

Five thousand copies!

That's not just a cold, hard number.

That is a chance for five thousand top scientists, or for countless veterans who have suffered lifelong injuries on the battlefield, to be reborn!

It is also their most solid trump card when facing countless crises in the future!

"Okay! Okay! Okay!"

Li Weiguo said "good" three times in a row, and when he opened his eyes again, his eyes were a little red.

"Well done this time!"

He walked around the table and patted Pan Guanyue heavily on the shoulder. This man, usually as steady as a mountain, was now struggling to control his emotions: "Now that we have so many samples, they probably shouldn't be complaining about not having enough! Many more veterans can be saved!"

Pan Guanyue nodded repeatedly.

Li Weiguo's excitement came quickly and went quickly.

He quickly regained his composure, walked back to the French windows, looked out the window, and his voice became steady again, but with a hint of sharpness beneath that composure.

"Little Pan, don't be happy! Although this is a good thing, the warrior's potion is also a noose hanging over our necks."

Pan Guanyue's smile froze.

The warrior's potion is too powerful.

After testing, they confirmed that taking the Warrior's Potion in combination with the corresponding nutritional solution could rapidly increase the user's overall physical fitness by 30% or even 100%.

Experiments have shown that human elderly people who take this product can increase their lifespan by at least thirty years.

This thing could be described as a weaker version of the peach of immortality.

Yet this important thing was firmly held in the hands of the dwarves.

Li Weiguo stared at Pan Guanyue and said, "We can't make them ourselves; we have to exchange resources for them every time. Little Pan, those things require maintenance of overall stamina, and you need to take them every few years! If it were you, could you sleep at night?"

This question was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the fire in Pan Guanyue's heart.

It has always been a major taboo to have one's lifeline in someone else's hands.

"I understand, Mr. Li." Pan Guanyue's expression turned serious. "I will urge the Academy of Sciences again. I hope they don't dare to stop for a moment. We have enough samples now; reverse engineering should be just a matter of time!"

"However—" he changed the subject, a mysterious smile appearing on his face, "Mr. Li, speaking of this, there's something even more interesting!"

"Oh?" Li Weiguo raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't we working with the dwarves and elves of Tranquil Harbor to wipe out the deep-sea monster horde?" Pan Guanyue lowered his voice. "Wang Kaixuan sent word that the dwarf Belegas is buying up biological materials from us at exorbitant prices!"

"Moreover, the materials he specifically requested highly overlap with several core ingredients from the broken medicine formula we previously seized!"

"Perhaps the time is not far off for our warrior's potion to be replicated."

Federal Intelligence Center, inside an office.

The conference room was deathly silent, with only the monotonous hum of the central air conditioning vents.

On the long conference table, ashtrays were piled up like a small mountain, but no one dared to light another cigarette.

Jason's gaze swept over everyone present, his eyes scrutinizing a group of trash!

"The Bamboo Sea Airshow ended three days ago." He finally spoke, his voice hoarse, making everyone present's hearts skip a beat. "What did we get? A bunch of publicly available promotional brochures and thousands of run-of-the-mill videos. Is this the result of our top intelligence agency, the Federation?"

He picked up a document and casually tossed it into the center of the table, the papers scattering in a flurry.

"Their laser weapon, with a power of 750 kilowatts, cut a 3-centimeter-thick special steel plate live, and the cut was so smooth it could be used as a mirror! Our evaluation report says that it will take us at least ten more years to understand this technology!"

"Why haven't we made a single move regarding these things? Are the people in the intelligence system raised on shit?"

Jason braced himself on the table, leaning forward, and stared coldly at the crowd, saying each word slowly and deliberately, "The men are furious. They want to know why we're like blind men, unable to see anything!"

No one answered.

The air in the conference room seemed to freeze, making it hard to breathe.

"Gentlemen, think about your mortgages, think about your children's private school bills, think about everything you have to pay to maintain a decent life." Jason's voice grew colder. "The notice I received was very clear: if we don't get anything of value within a month—everyone here can prepare to experience the Alice in Wonderland storyline and get a taste of real life ahead of time."

"Alice Line" is a nickname for the federal poverty line; it is often called the "kill line" elsewhere.

Once you fall, it means losing everything you have.

Once you enter this line, you probably won't live for more than a few years.

In the corner, Peter, the team leader, subconsciously touched the collar of his crisp suit, feeling the expensive silk tie tighten around his neck like a rope.

He just had a lavish wedding, which cost him a lot of money lately. He's spent countless sums trying to take a small step into high society.

If he lost his federal job now, those installment bills would gnaw him dry like vultures, leaving him nothing but bones.

Even after they die, they'll be turned into disassembled Gundam parts!

He could even sense the same atmosphere of fear and despair emanating from his colleagues.

Everyone here is a graduate of a prestigious university, and they fought tooth and nail to get into this department. They thought they were the cream of the crop, but they never expected that the pressure would be even greater after they arrived here.

"I don't care what methods you use, one month!" Jason held up a finger, his eyes fierce. "I want to see the detailed technical specifications of that laser weapon, even if it's incomplete! And the power armor, all sorts of novel technologies, nuclear fusion, and all other information!"

"The officials are extremely keen on laser weapons. If we could obtain complete technical data, they promised a three-level promotion and the forgiveness of up to $200,000 of individual federal debt!"

The allure of money and the fear of unemployment intertwined, finally bringing a sense of life to the conference room, and everyone's breathing became heavy.

"Are you confident?" Jason looked around and asked.

His response was met with a chorus of enthusiastic voices.

"have!!!"

"Very good." Jason seemed unsurprised by the outcome. He straightened his tie. "Then get to work, gentlemen. Go and bring back good news for Mr. Smith and the councilmen."

As Jensen left, Peter also walked out of the conference room, feeling as if he would suffocate if he stayed another second longer.

Back in his team's office area, he began to gather his subordinates.

"Everyone, please watch the video first!"

The video played quickly.

This is the same laser weapon on display at the Bamboo Sea Airshow.

There was no deafening roar, only a beam of pale blue light silently shooting out. A few seconds later, a smooth, round hole appeared in the middle of the thick steel plate, its edges even radiating the brilliant colors of molten metal.

In the video, an experienced engineer is smiling as he explains to the visitors around him: "Don't worry, it's very safe. We've added an energy stabilizer, so there will be absolutely no accidental injuries—you can get a closer look, this cut is smoother than your girlfriend's temper."

A burst of good-natured laughter erupted around them.

Looking at his exhausted, now somewhat bewildered faces, Peter took a deep breath and, almost verbatim, unleashed the same pressure from Jason onto them—

"Gentlemen—for the boss—how is this possible? The enemy is like an impenetrable fortress; intelligence is extremely difficult to obtain!"

A young detective couldn't help but complain.

"Then let's get to the periphery! Investigate their shipping routes, check their scientists' social media accounts, trace their suppliers' ancestors back eighteen generations!" Peter waved his hand impatiently. "Don't ask me how, that's your job! If we don't finish the mission, we're all fired!"

The entire office area was filled with cries of despair.

It is precisely the technology that is openly and boldly displayed that inspires fear.

It should be noted that, to this day, the Federation cannot even handle laser weapons with a power output of 150 kilowatts.

Their old friends have already started exhibiting things in the 750-kilowatt range.

Don't underestimate this thing.

A typical 30-kilowatt drone is called a mosquito swatter, and it has the capability to grill a drone within a 4-kilometer radius.

A 100-kilowatt razor can slice through the outer shell of an armored vehicle.

What's truly formidable are the 300-kilowatt laser weapons; those have already begun to turn into furnaces.

Some shells fly into an airspace of 10 kilometers, where laser weapons can directly burn them up.

As for the even more powerful 500 kilowatt?

The official term for this thing is "strategic," while its unofficial nickname is "super welding torch."

With this level of power, a laser weapon can slice through cruise missiles as easily as cutting butter!

A weapon with 750 kilowatts of power is terrifying just to hear about.

Many people speculate that this thing can probably cut cruise missiles like butter with a hot knife at a distance of tens of kilometers, and may even be able to intercept some ballistic missiles.

You should know that ballistic missiles with speeds of tens of Mach are the ultimate weapons of mass destruction on Earth.

If even this thing can be intercepted.

The strategic balance will be completely broken!

Moreover, the emergence of this weapon, coupled with the laser weapon's powerful rate of fire, renders the previously speculated saturation bombing by drone swarms completely useless.

When two military technologies are completely different, anyone would despair.

Peter irritably loosened his collar, his gaze sweeping over the desperate faces, and his anger flared up again.

"Are they all mute? All they can do is wail?"

"Think of a way, and if you can't, just wait a month to collect welfare?"

One of the agents said listlessly, "Boss, how about we try kidnapping their engineer?"

Before he could finish speaking, someone next to him retorted, "Do you want to start World War III? Are you out of your mind?"

"How about using my beauty to seduce them?"

"The other party will definitely be heavily protected; it's absolutely unacceptable!"

"Then what should we do? Just bribe the families of these people who are in the public eye?"

Peter rubbed his aching temples, feeling his blood pressure soaring: "Old Zhong isn't what he used to be! He has money and technology now. Even with our bait, it takes time to catch fish! This won't work!"

Laughter filled the meeting room, but it was tinged with bitterness and self-deprecation.

Since the Federation has become increasingly worse, there are fewer and fewer people kneeling down and acting like dogs!

In this suffocating atmosphere, a man who had been wiping his glasses slowly spoke.

His name was Declan Hawthorne, one of Peter's subordinates. He was usually taciturn, but he always managed to say something surprising at crucial moments.

"Boo," Hawthorne adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting the eerie blue laser light from the screen, "Are we getting stuck on this?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Hawthorne continued unhurriedly, "Since we can't steal it, why don't we try—to buy it?"

The entire office area instantly became so quiet that the hum of the server fans could be heard.

"Purchasing?" Peter was taken aback, then looked at him as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "Hawthorne, are you still half asleep or did you bump your head on the way out? That's a strategic weapon! You call that a commodity?"

"Why not?" Hawthorne retorted, his tone eerily calm. "How much of our stuff have they bought this year to appease our unreasonable demands?"

"By the way, don't those bigwigs from the conglomerates think this is Old Zhong trying to appease us?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water, jolting everyone awake.

Yes, over the years, the Federation and Old Zhong have been openly locked in a life-or-death struggle, but their private trade cooperation has never ceased.

It was this "purchasing" behavior that gave the bigwigs and Wall Street giants the illusion that the other side still needed to rely on the federal market, which made them even more unscrupulous.

Who would have thought that they would turn around and pull out a laser weapon that could punch a hole in the sky?

Everything before seemed like a joke.

Peter's breathing quickened, and he stared intently at Hawthorne: "You mean—they'll sell?"

"Possibly." Hawthorne's eyes pierced through his glasses, revealing a cool madness. "It's common knowledge that what Old Zhong can publicly exhibit usually means they have a more stable, more advanced, or even a replacement product that has been deployed on a large scale."

In the office, the analyst who had previously been in charge of analyzing videos was typing something on the keyboard with trembling fingers.

He jerked his head up, his face deathly pale, his lips trembling as he said, "BO—Hawthorne is right. If—if they dare to show the 0-kilowatt model, or even consider exporting it—"

He paused, swallowed hard, and his voice was trembling with tears.

"That can only mean one thing: what they're working on is most likely the legendary 1,000-kilowatt level! And the simplified version we're seeing now, or even the 500-kilowatt version, is probably already in service with them!"