Chapter 74: Captured (Part One)
Translator: Kim_Guo Editor: Tehrn
Huang Xuan struggled to catch his breath as he returned to his room. They had abandoned all their equipment in the plane passage. The strong energy of the buffer zone would ensure they vanished into thin air.
He quickly recovered from his emotional state. “That tiny man who collapsed was about 5 km away from me,” Huang Xuan comforted himself.
When his guilt toward the French army had dissipated, Huang Xuan’s heart started to ache for another reason. They had used up a total of USD100,000,000, including what Rolin had spent in P112. Almost all of it was exchanged for energy, which was swallowed up by the guardian. Although the majority of the money was either owed or paid in advance, Huang Xuan found it difficult to accept that his assets had reduced by an eighth in merely two days.
Rolin, on the other hand, was rejoicing. He tried to comfort Huang Xuan, “You ought to be proud of yourself. We now have abundant energy in the buffer zone. The present P112 is probably more prosperous than it has been in the big plane age.”
“Is there really that much energy?” Huang Xuan was suspicious, “Didn’t you say that Napoleon was no big deal?”
“Just being a little deal is sufficient,” Rolin answered nonchalantly. “We gained about 4,000 Newtons. In other words, the traveler in our plane will have to work twice as hard if he intends to use the spatial and temporal oscillation to access the plane passage.”
“Does the traveler know?” Huang Xuan could not be bothered with what Rolin referred to as “Newtons”. The guardian was always concerned about these useless measurements. It was more practical to focus on his personal problems.
“I cannot be sure about that,” Rolin said frankly.
“Well, is it easier to track the position of this traveler now?”
The guardian boasted of being able to keep all of Nanjing under surveillance. Huang Xuan gave a snort of contempt. This base guardian was created tens of thousands years ahead of Huang Xuan’s time. Yet, he could only keep one city under surveillance – he couldn’t even watch the United States of America.
Of course, the student Rolin had his own reasons. He was not only watching people in Nanjing. He was watching everything, including non-humans. Every blade of grass was under his watch. Moreover, anything and anyone that left Nanjing remained under constant surveillance. Online information was no exception. As for what Huang Xuan referred to as “small”, Rolin’s reply was, “Currently, 300,000 kWh of energy is being consumed each hour while I’m in normal surveillance mode. If I double my surveillance area, my energy expenditure will increase by at least ten times. I might need 3,000,000 kWh, or even 30,000,000 kWh…”
Huang Xuan was clever. He immediately understood what Rolin was saying. He clearly needed money to function. But he could hardly blame Rolin. Understandably, if one were to bring an F-22 back in time by 50 years… Well, at least it would function better compared to if one were to bring it back in time by 200 years. It would at least be able to take off. Had Napoleon discovered the F-22, and even if he had been able to maintain the aircraft, how much would he have had to spend to build a standard runway? Imagine bringing the F-22 back in time by 10,000 years. One could probably have made use of something more convenient and practical, such as a pig slaughter line. Then again, would there have been pigs to slaughter? If the aircraft were to break down, there would have been no way to repair it. Even if one brought the whole of Nanjing City back in time by 10,000 years when there were only a handful of humans walking the earth, the survival of the city would have depended on the expiry date of the products.
Rolin’s present circumstances were much better. After all, the technology had improved. It was capable of producing more than a couple of precision instruments which consumed an infinite amount of energy. Rolin was completely durable. Moreover, bases were made to function in various planes. However, Rolin – who often boasted of being advanced in technology – was able to produce technology that could be used 100,000 years before he was created. “Why don’t we look around in a time period that’s closer to ours?”
Sighing, Huang Xuan collapsed on the bed. “Rolin, contact Charles for me. I want to discuss how we should continue to provide energy for you.”
“Okay.” Rolin immediately dialed Charles’ number for him.
While waiting for Charles to pick up, Huang Xuan asked, “How much energy do you have left?”
“Approximately 30,000,000 kWh.”
“How much more to your next upgrade?” Huang Xuan realized it would be useful if the base upgraded. At least he would be able to bring more things with him and stay for longer periods of time. Additionally, it seemed that the higher the base’s level, the less energy was needed to carry items while traveling. He did not confirm this with Rolin though. It was merely a gut feeling.
“Advancing bases have information storage systems equivalent to level 21 bases. More information is needed to upgrade once more.”
When Huang Xuan felt defeated, Dutoit’s voice always sounded, “Hi, Boss, good evening.”
“Good evening.” Huang Xuan smiled as he asked, “Are you in China now? I would like to check on the delivery of more crude oil and ethanol.”
“We have about 200,000 barrels of crude oil and 100,000 tons of ethanol. The majority of our deliveries will be completed within the week. The last batch will be delivered by next Tuesday.”
“That’s good.” Rolin was now an expert at keeping his tracks hidden. After he sold off the logistics company, Capres, Huang Xuan intentionally signed contracts with two small-scale logistics companies. He also split the storing department into different, smaller departments. All this time, nobody could figure out where the stock had been moved to. The messy state of the two small-scale logistics companies had exacerbated this. The company’s president, Modeste, thought that this was a temporary lack of trust that Huang Xuan had in Capres. He also thought the two small-scale logistics companies were affiliations. It was perfectly normal for holding companies to help affiliated companies, be it in America or Brazil. The only difference was in how many people minded.
From the looks of it, Modeste did not mind at all. However, the majority of the employees in Capres were dissatisfied with the confused state of the management. This, coupled with a variety of changes in the system, had pushed many people to tender their resignations. For the first time, the company’s work came to a standstill. Yet, Huang Xuan remained nonchalant and left things as they were.
Perhaps there were elites among the people who resigned, but so what? The safety of the base was of utmost priority. Moreover, a company that had so many old employees – employees who were even older than the boss – could not have been productive. On the contrary, some of these old employees had to leave for the company’s spirits to be lifted. It also served as a reminder of exactly who the boss was.
“How’s Furnas?” This electric power company which originally belonged to the Brazilians had already been sold to EDP. It owned nine power stations which had a total capacity of 90,800,000 kW. Their transmission lines (including AC lines that carried 138 to 750 kV and DC lines that carried approximately 600 kV) were 17,218 km long altogether.
At the mention of this, Dutoit elatedly reported, “Boss, I was just about to tell you. EDP has agreed, in principle, to our proposed purchase price of USD 218 million. You might want to take a look at your schedule and determine when you’d like to sign the contract.”
Talking about contracts reminded Huang Xuan about his failed attempt at capital management. Downcast, he replied, “Understood.”
Dutoit did not detect the disappointment in Huang Xuan’s voice. Oblivious, he continued to inform Huang Xuan about the status of Furnas. Huang Xuan interrupted, “Then, what do you think about me merging Furnas with CITIC Industrial? Do you have any suggestions?”
“You can do it anytime.” This was simple to Dutoit. He remarked, “Furnas already belongs to you. It’s a subsidiary that is under your complete control.”
Dutoit’s translator’s stuttering was bothering Huang Xuan. He relied instead on Rolin’s translations, and replied, “I don’t want a subsidiary. I want a brand new electric power company. On the whole, I hope to split Furnas into three parts. The nine power stations will constitute one part; the transmission lines, along with other structures, will constitute another part; everything else will constitute yet another part. I want them to be independent of one another.”
“You want to split Furnas into three separate companies?” Dutoit thought Huang Xuan was beginning to get too carried away with splitting his companies.
“Yes, three departments. They will be independent in terms of finances and manpower, but they will all belong to one company.”
“What’s the difference between having that and having three separate companies?” When it came down to business, Dutoit was more insistent than one could imagine.
Huang Xuan smiled, “In essence, they will be one company. They will have the same management and the same human resource department. I just do not want too much contact between those three parts of the company.”
“This isn’t a good idea.” Dutoit paused for a long while, deep in thought. Finally, he continued, “This will cause the company’s productivity levels to fall. I’m sure you understand that sharing information is essential for businesses to succeed.”
“Charles, split them into three parts! I want this process to begin the moment the contract’s signed.” Huang Xuan was not about to waste any more time on this topic.
“Okay. You’re the boss.”
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