Steel torrents pioneering a different world.

Chapter 336 Old Zhong is affectionate, the Federation is interested! A perfect match is reached (Please subscribe)

What would you do if you found that your opponent had become very strong and your win rate was not high?

If there is wise leadership, a strong organization, and clean and impartial supervision, they will definitely hide quietly and develop silently, at most secretly supporting other forces against their old rivals.

As for doing it myself, that's absolutely impossible.

I'm the boss!

However, when the federal government is inefficient, corrupt, riddled with problems, and lacks clear accountability, it has to fabricate all sorts of "victory theories" to protect its stock market. Naturally, those below cater to its desires. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the federal government gradually evolved into a super-huge conglomerate of capital conglomerates.

This alliance is well aware of the evil in human nature, and it tightly binds everyone to its own group, making them develop according to its own pace.

Those with ulterior motives who join will only be quickly assimilated.

Even a few idealists of high moral character can be marginalized or even killed.

This is the harsh reality!

When Peter's team discovered that their superiors had given them an order to get everything sorted out within a month, the outcome was already predetermined.

"BO, our old rivals are very strong, everyone knows they are! We're completely incapable of doing what the higher-ups ordered! We'll definitely die!"

"So what do we do? Create false information? That's useless. The men need real results."

"Bo, I know. I mean, recently, Lao Zhong's desire to expand outwards hasn't been strong." Declan Hawthorne's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of every team member.

He glanced around at his worried-looking colleagues and continued, "They showed off their strength a few days ago, but then quickly backed down; it was more like a deterrent."

"Doesn't this just show that they don't want to push things to the extreme, and that there's room for cooperation between us?"

"Cooperate? Isn't that just continuing to buy their stuff?" Peter's eyebrows furrowed as he glared at his most trusted subordinate, his tone unfriendly. "Hawthorne, are you mistaken? That's a 750-kilowatt strategic laser weapon! How do you expect to cooperate? Write to them and ask if they'll sell it?"

A suppressed chuckle echoed in the office, but the laughter carried more bitterness than anything else.

"Strategic weapons are certainly not for sale," Declan Hawthorne said nonchalantly, calmly opening the tablet on the table. "But laser weapons, on their side, are probably not some unattainable luxury anymore!"

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Peter nearly lost his temper. The Federation had spent an astronomical sum of money and still hadn't even gotten past the 150-kilowatt threshold, and now his subordinates were saying this thing wasn't a high-difficulty technology?

This is an insult to the entire federal scientific research system!

"IR, please look at this."

Declan Hawthorne did not argue, but simply pushed the tablet in front of Peter.

The video playing on the screen was taken from Yangdou, the most popular short video platform in Lao Zhong's area.

The video was shot very crudely, like a promotional video for a rural resort.

A middle-aged man dressed in blue overalls and wearing canvas shoes was grinning and speaking in a thick local dialect as he cheerfully introduced his company's new product, a high-power laser special removal machine, to the camera.

The background music was still that incredibly cheesy electronic suona.

Peter's lips twitched. He was about to scold Hawthorne for wasting time when the middle-aged man in the video pressed a red button on the control panel.

"Zi—"

'

A completely invisible beam of light shot out, and a round hole silently appeared in the middle of a wet wooden stake in the distance that required two people to hug.

Everyone saw a thin line appear on the wooden stake, and then less than ten seconds later, the upper half of the stake slid off with a crash, the cut was as smooth as a mirror, and the edges were carbonized due to the high temperature, emitting wisps of blue smoke.

Below the video, a line of bright red scrolling text is particularly jarring: "Specializing in cleaning all kinds of weeds, trees, sheet metal, and GG signs; high-altitude electrical circuit cleaning; bulk discounts available; seeking agents!"

Peter's pupils suddenly contracted.

His temples throbbed as a long-forgotten memory suddenly rushed into his mind—a phased array pig-catching radar that had been reduced to a dirt-cheap civilian price, giving them all a headache just by looking at it!

Long ago, some equipment companies built their own phased array radars to defend against wild boars coming down from the mountains to graze on their experimental fields.

Who knew that its performance would completely outperform their early warning radar prototype, which cost tens of millions of dollars to develop in the lab long ago!

From using phased array radar to catch pigs to using laser weapons to remove weeds —

Where has the technology of the people on this land progressed to?!

A deeper sense of powerlessness than when he faced the 750-kilowatt military laser gripped Peter's heart.

A strong military can be understood as the result of the nation's collective efforts.

But now, even small workshops can produce such things, which means that many of the other party's technologies are probably already commonplace in their country!

Moreover, the fact that the bidding process is open to the public indicates that the other party no longer sees it as a threat!

My God!

It's so disheartening!

He felt even more powerless than when his wife was making insatiable demands.

"IR, we've made initial contact with this company through some channels," Declan Hawthorne said at the opportune moment, a hint of barely perceptible excitement in his voice. "They hinted that, if the price is right, they could have these lawnmowers custom-made for us by a third-party company after some modifications."

"It's the mature model shown in the video, 120 kilowatts, and the price is very cheap compared to what we produce ourselves."

"Cheap?" Peter asked, his voice a little hoarse.

"Yes, compared to our own R&D costs, it's practically free," Declan Hawthorne added. "This stuff is more than enough to deal with Mr. Smith and the gentlemen. At least we've produced results, haven't we?"

This is like dancing with a knife to your throat!

Secretly purchasing obsolete civilian technologies from forces that are both enemies and allies, and then using them as cutting-edge research and development achievements for their own departments?

If this gets out, the whole department will be in big trouble!

Moreover, after they purchased cheap goods from Lao Zhong, some of their own arms manufacturers will probably be cursing.

but----

Damn it, those useless people waste so much money every year and don't even get any results.

They're all insects!

They're all useless!

Peter's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his fingers tapped unconsciously on the table.

This thing is extremely risky, but the rewards are equally amazing.

Jensen only gave them one month. In one month, they couldn't even get close to the enemy's base, let alone steal technology.

If that path is feasible, it's almost the only way to break the deadlock.

The silence, lasting only a few dozen seconds, felt like an eternity.

Finally, Peter stood up abruptly: "I need to report this to my superiors immediately."

He grabbed his clothes and phone, letting everyone discuss the matter first, before quickly walking into his private office.

The moment the door closed, everyone outside held their breath.

"Gentlemen, let's discuss how to secretly purchase their lawnmowers!"

"Uh, Hawthorne, BO hasn't agreed yet!" said a younger federal employee.

"BO will agree, and the higher-ups will agree too."

"this----"

"Come on, everyone, what do you all think? —"

Ten minutes later, the office door opened again.

Peter emerged, his weariness vanished, replaced by an expression that was a mixture of fervor and determination.

"Gentlemen, Mr. Jensen has agreed! He will contact some arms design companies, but they will have to share some of the profits!" His voice wasn't loud, but it boomed like a thunderclap in everyone's ears. "Let's initiate the secret intermediary procurement process!"

"Hawthorne, you're in charge! Remember, we not only want their civilian equipment, but we also need to find a way to get their complete technical data! This is the amount of funding we have."

"Wow! Ten million?"

Peter's face stiffened: "It's one hundred million!"

"Yes, ir!" A glint flashed in Declan Hawthorne's eyes. He pushed up his glasses and a confident smile curved his lips.

"Don't worry, BO. As long as the money is right, I can get them to send over engineers to personally teach us how to use laser grilling, not just technical expertise."

"One hundred million US dollars, without even haggling, and they just agreed?"

Li Weiguo tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, looking at the latest report Pan Guanyue handed him, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Aren't those guys afraid we're setting a trap?"

"Afraid? But they're probably clinging to the fishhook as a lifeline right now."

Pan Guanyue's expression was calm, but his words carried a hint of mockery.

"Oh?"

"President Li, the Information Center just intercepted information that the head of the Federal Military Equipment Department, that is, Smith, just declared at an internal meeting a couple of days ago that their directed energy weapons have made historic and remarkable progress and have completed secret experiments."

Li Weiguo's hand holding the teacup paused in mid-air, and the smile on his lips could no longer be held back, almost causing him to spill the tea.

A historic breakthrough?

Relying on buying our civilian lawnmowers?

"Since they're so eager to save face, let's sell that face at a higher price." Li Weiguo put down his teacup, his voice steady. "Let's stick to the plan and sell those outdated, low-potential special editions to them at a high price."

"Understood." Pan Guanyue understood immediately. "I'll make sure they get excellent value for their money."

Li Weiguo burst into laughter.

The so-called special edition is a product that has undergone a series of negative optimizations based on the original civilian model.

Pan Guanyue picked up the conversation, a hint of cunning flashing in his eyes behind his glasses: "The complete set of technical materials we're providing is nine parts true and one part false. The most crucial energy matrix and heat dissipation algorithm are outdated versions that we've already discarded three years ago. That's enough to keep their top team on the wrong path for over five years."

, 7

Li Weiguo nodded in satisfaction.

One hundred million yuan was spent on a bunch of fake technology and a bunch of defective products, and then they had to boast about it as a national treasure.

This deal is a good one.

Isn't the federal government just bragging?

Sending this set of data over there will put their engineers in a very difficult position.

And so, a trade deal that both sides considered to be full of sincerity was reached almost immediately.

Only after Pan Guanyue accepted the order and arranged for someone to handle the handover did Li Weiguo pick up the cup of tea, which had already cooled down.

He could almost foresee that before long, the Federation would eagerly hold a press conference to showcase their independently developed, revamped directed energy weapon to the world, and bestow upon it a resounding title such as "Number One in the World, Invincible Under Heaven."

Old Zhong received tangible benefits, and the Federation gained the face it wanted.

Everyone has a bright future!

Having dealt with this minor incident, Li Weiguo's attention returned to the main course—the other world.

After a period of contact, the relationship between the three races is undergoing subtle changes.

Thanks to the foundation laid by the dwarven ancestor Gazul, and the genuine mutual benefit between humans and dwarves in Pangulat Fortress and Tranquil Harbor, the relationship between humans and dwarves progressed most rapidly, almost to the point of being like brothers.

The once proud elves changed their attitude from initial resistance and wariness to actively showing goodwill.

The elven messenger Ethan even began to engage in lively discussions about poetry and art with the humans, and the commanders of the three races responsible for handling the Celestial Convergence invasion at the front lines also began to actively coordinate tactical actions with the human commanders.

Everything is steadily improving.

Besides the ever-increasing casualty figures in the battle reports, there is also a fundamental problem that remains unresolved to this day.

Li Weiguo looked at the latest exploration report, his brows slowly furrowing.

"After fighting for so long and searching for so long, we haven't even found a single high-value world suitable for intelligent life," he muttered to himself, his voice heavy with concern.

"This godforsaken place truly lives up to its reputation as a land untouched by military strategists—the Forsaken Continent!"

According to ancient elven texts and dwarven epics, such a massive celestial convergence spanning the entire continent is extremely dangerous, but also presents great opportunities.

They only appear once every three hundred years on average. Each time is a grand invasion and being invaded, or a super blind box opening event.

If you're lucky, you might discover a prosperous world where spring reigns all year round, and even races from other worlds might migrate there seeking better opportunities.

If you're unlucky, you'll be facing a scorched inferno; if you're even worse off, you'll be met with endless monsters eager to rush into the fertile land of the Holy Star.

It is precisely through this disordered exchange of time and space that the Sacred Star has become the diverse and ecologically rich place it is today.

What they need now is not rare plants and animals, but a new home where humans can settle down and make a living!

Of course, this requires at least that the creatures can adapt to the environment here. The weather in the far north is quite cold. When the sky meets the earth, other miscellaneous creatures appear, all of them attempting to invade. Very few of them directly retreat back to their original world to defend against the invasion of the Holy Star.

"Several spacetime rifts were discovered in the far north, but they either opened directly in deep space or the alternate world is a desolate, terrifying lava planet. Although the lava world has a large amount of superconducting material, it is completely unsuitable for human habitation!"

Li Weiguo was looking at the messages when he was suddenly drawn to one particular message.

"—We have discovered a spacetime rift deep within the ocean, near the forbidden glacier zone, in the Devil's Sea, where there is an area where the ocean merges with the world of life. Our probes have now begun exploring it—"

"While the rift deep in the ocean is appealing, its location thousands of meters below the surface makes large-scale entry into the other world extremely difficult!"

Li Weiguo rubbed his temples.

Then he looked at the last page of the report, which contained content that made him even more irritated.

In the southern forest belt, deep within the newly developed human territory, medium to large-sized rifts where the sky meets the earth are rapidly forming.

According to the elven scouts, the crack was opening at an unusually steady pace, and it probably wouldn't be long before it completely opened up.

A blind box shop opened in my own backyard.

It's open; it's a stairway to heaven.

If you don't handle it well, it's a direct path to hell.

The pioneering team has already set up a cordon around the area, and an elite force has also been assembled, ready to deal with anything that might rush out of the crack.

Li Weiguo rubbed his temples, trying to temporarily put these worries out of his mind.

The grand strategy of the other world was exhausting; he needed something more practical.

His gaze fell on another separate encrypted file on the desktop, the filename of which had only one name.

Linli.

"I wonder what this guy has been up to lately."

2

Li Weiguo muttered something and casually opened the operation report.

Surely this person who always brings him surprises wouldn't produce a report that raises blood pressure?